JJ Worden

... so the procrastinating reading worked! And I've been making meaningful progress on a couple of outstanding projects ... two remaining Assemblage Challenges.

This one from my friend Chris:




Chris's stuff was quite difficult to decide how to approach other than the box which, obviously, begged to be the containing portion of the piece. And what about all those little water bomb "grenades"? And the copious amount of  safety pins?!?

Well I didn't come up with anything for the balloons ... that rubber/plastic would definitely degrade over time. But the safety pins ...oh. yah... they worked out quite nicely!



Chris's piece has since been finished but as I have yet to give it to her you'll just have to wait for photos of the finished product. I think (I hope!) she'll like it!

Now on to Denise's pile o'stuff:

And what a delicious pile, n'est ce pas?! So many choices. So little time. The hearts were definitely speaking to me. And that little china body sadly lacking arms and legs but allow me to come up with replacements from the myriad of items. Some bones perhaps? Well sure they'd work only there were these knitting needle ends that remind me of D's background, being Sydney's premier yarn bomber from back in the day and all. Couldn't let that just fly by, now could I?!

So. Cute!

Now I'm in the process of making her housing which is progressing a lot slower than the little dolly above. But. I'm simply happy to be back in the studio with lots of ideas and detritus floating around so all's right with the world.

Back to it then!

Don't know about you but I find it hard ... really really hard... to get back into a making groove after being gone for awhile. I know the answer is to Just Do It.
Show up.
Get hands dirty.
Make marks.
Act as if.

And I've been trying ...tidying, putting things back where they belong, doing small bits on works in progress but it seems that unless that brain switch has been tripped I tend toward big fat messes rather than making magic happen.

So I read. I look. I browse. (I putz with web stuff) I continue to move things around in the studio, hoping against hope that THIS day will be the day that pieces begin to fit back into the puzzle.

Things I've been looking at ... reading... browsing... (you may have already seen the web putzing!)

• Nicholas Wilton is a smart man. I rarely read his posts without nodding vehemently.
  This piece does not disappoint: When Your Art Doesn't Sell
• Darryl Joel Berger is one of those rare people who tell it like it is.
  He also just happens to make phenomenal art as well.
  You should buy something from him.
• Images I stuffed in my computer Inspiration folder. Sadly I don't know who they belong to (well the first one is my NZ friend Azirca who no longer makes/updates) If you recognize any of these, let me know please!

... insert flu here ...

And I'm back. The second week of our Road Trip - Southwest Style featured Napa and San Francisco and Yosemite and Death Valley and Las Vegas and Zion. Yup. Whirlwind tour a la "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belguim". So many places. So little time.

I'm not sure why I didn't take any photos of Napa other than I was totally underwhelmed. If other wine growing regions aspire to that over-hype? I suggest they rethink the whole idea. And while I did take an obligatory crossing the Golden Gate Bridge photo I was less than impressed with San Francisco as well. Musta been the day!

As we left our overnight in Hayward CA I was taken with what I would consider this "quintessentially Californian" scene. I see those hills (sans windmills) so often in our advertising it has become part of my visual lexicon.

Go figure!


And as we headed into Yosemite we witnessed the aftermath of all the forest fires that ripped up so many acres ... so dry. so much destruction. It went on and on. And on. Though as we learned certain species of pine can only regenerate through fire. So there's that.

Yosemite was pretty. And busy. We didn't realize we'd chosen to drive through on a National Park free fee day. (uhm. dudes! it's only $20!!) And even though the understory was different from our West Coast (and East Coast) I felt like I might have seen the topography before.

We did get to see a small black bear run across the road. Bonus points!


And then ... Death Valley.

I'd kinda sorta anticipated the nothingness but was wholly unprepared for its vastness. I felt as if all of earth's predecessors were reverberating through my body. It was a visceral, spiritual experience.

 And as we headed out the other side of Furnace Creek ... this (above), Furnace Creek Resort. uhm. wtf?!?


Which kinda led into our evening in Las Vegas and I couldn't help thinking that Las Vegas just might be the sum of all that is wrong with our world.  I know. I know. Lighten the fuck up Jen, right? eesh!


 And then there was Zion. And the planets aligned and the world came into focus. In some bizarre part of me I felt I'd arrived "home". Maybe because I've been waiting so. long. to see big skies and red rocks. Or maybe in some previous life I was a warrior indian crossing the plains bareback, wind in my hair.

 Part of our rationale for covering so much ground in so little time was to get a glimpse of where we might want to spend more time. And Zion, for both of us, definitely filled that bill. We were completely enamoured with the topography. Springdale UT in particular but I'm sure other towns in northern AZ & NM would work too. Smitten!

And there you have it, our 2 week southwestern zippididoodah road trip ... Sayonara from Zion, yo!

For the longest time I've wanted to visit southwestern USA and this fall finally had the opportunity. Once we finished supporting our son for his Xterra Championship Race in Snow Basin, Utah, we headed out on a two week road trip which went from Salt Lake City across to Oregon, south to San Francisco and back to Utah via Las Vegas, NV.

In between we visited the Bonneville Salt Flats ...

Thunder Mountain Monument alongside I-80 near Imlay, NV (weird and bizarre but well worth the stop!) ...

Reno, NV (such a melancholy vibe) ...

lovely Stephanie and husband Vince in Rogue River (no photos! what was I thinking?!?) ...
long time online friend Corinne and husband Larry in Medford, OR  (bonus: I got to see her Altered Book show!)...
experienced a big sky rainstorm outside of Williams, CA...

And that was just the first week!