chair ridden

Ran the Baltimore half-marathon yesterday and suffered (well, two) injuries halfway through the race. To remedy this, I am now chair-ridden for the next couple of weeks. It blows, but I did finish this little piece yesterday:

embroidery body

I’m jazzed where the rest of the piece is going. Bought some additional embroidery thread on Friday, much to my excitement.

The race did not go as expected, needless to say. The first 6 miles were great – my pace was about where I wanted it, and I ran well with the knowledge that the last 3 miles (a half marathon is 13.1 miles) would be a gentle decent and I could make up any extra time I had added before then.

Around mile 6, I felt a tear in my right hip. It wasn’t just a pull – the pain was sharp and instantaneous. I kept running, trying to power through. Around mile 8, I felt the same sensation. The last two miles were a limp-run. I realized I could still have a decent time if I just kept running, so I did. I finished about 6 minutes slower than I really wanted to (1:51:33), which works out to be about 8:30 a mile. All in all, not bad, but I still cried like a little babby after the race (mostly out of frustration).

I did feel better when a friend pointed out that my finish was in the top 7% of females for that race, so really all my ill feelings are all in vain. It could have been so much worse. This video kept running through my head the last half:


we used to wait

This weekend was sort of exhausting, but fun. Road tripped to Brooklyn with one of my best friends and visited two of my favorite people. FINALLY bought a new Monroe piercing that fit properly, and took the Olive Garden Never-Ending Pasta Challenge with Missy. Also ordered a bottle of wine at the table of the Olive Garden, because, why not?

Traffic back to Baltimore was awful, especially around the Delaware/MD border. A trip that should have taken 3.5 hours took 5. Needless to say, I was ready to decompress, but not before finishing this:

World outside

Conceptually, I like the stuff outside the “cave” I’ve put this character in, but I think I don’t like that stuff outside as much. It’s growing on me, I think. What do YOU think?


brown paper bag

Boy, it’s been forever. This week has been jammed-pack with activities after work. Last weekend wasn’t very relaxing and didn’t really feel like weekend. Headed to Brooklyn on Saturday (excited!).

Still going strong with Brown Paper Bag. Art Together , a collaboration/interview, is a feature I’ve been posting on the site. Here’s something I sent off to an artist recently (like, this morning).

Art Together

I saw Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s in DC last weekend. I was introduced to them by an ex boyfriend back in 2006ish, and they’ve always held a dear place in my heart. Finally seeing them in concert was somewhat disappointing. The lead singer was wasted, and not in fun way. More like, mumbling between songs, making fun of Ben’s Chili Bowl, and lying to the audience. Lame.


day of birth

Here’s a new piece that I started this week:

Hill - Progress

It’s also my birthday. I am a twin, so it’s his birthday too. Happy birthday, brother Barnes! The day has started out swimmingly with a midnight phone call from one of my very best friends.

Tonight all I want to do is relax at home and work on some art. Tomorrow party.


over the weekend

Finished this over the weekend:

Buried - raw edge

Buried - cropped

and a detail:

Detail - Buried

My original plan was to have a cropped, clean edge on this image. After doing that, I find I like the raw edges much more. What do you think?


heerrooo, fall

Well, I went away for two weeks and came back to the beginning of fall in Baltimore.

The Vermont Studio Center was beautiful and secluded and exactly what I needed.  I was able to indulge my workaholic tendencies and be in the studio all day, everyday. I also went running, which was INSANE.  You see, Johnson, Vermont is in a valley.  The only place to run is up.  I ran so many hills!  I did a 9mile run that had multiple half-mile hills tacked on to it.  Beautiful scenery, but a frustrating run.

A few choice pictures.  (You can see more on my Flickr)

a mass, masked

cut out

my favorite sign

Also, remember when I posted about the Bumbershoot Arts and Music Festival?  Installed pieces below.  I am really pleased with how they turned out!

Seattle Street Biennial 2010

Seattle Street Biennial 2010

I was feeling renewed to be able to have these couple weeks of focus, in addition to return to Baltimore with all the freelance stuff taken care of.  The Friday before I left Vermont, however, I got an email about a project that had never been finished and now needs to be worked on.  Guess that’s the way it goes, eh?


time capsule

I was going through my external hard drive today and found this piece of the past:

Top:  Christopher Sausto

Bottom: Yours truly

Taken by our friend Chris Simpson, my junior year at MICA, their sophomore year.  Those guys are great.

My hair was so much darker! No Monroe piercing! No tattoos! A blank canvas.


bumbershoot

WAFA was invited to contribute work to Bumbershoot, an arts and music festival in Seattle, specifically street art.  A couple members are local to Seattle and are (wheat) pasting work up for not only themselves, but for those who aren’t local (like me!).

My contribution:

secret city 1

I like the idea of creating a “secret city” or “second city” on the streets… characters that have a narrative that you’d see around town. I had intended to paste this, but just hadn’t done it yet. Bumbershoot seemed perfect.

Many thanks to Vinny for organizing/doing the heavy lifting on this!

Also: A million thanks to Steph Leung for helping me color in allllllll that.


old threads

These are pretty cool.  If they weren’t so expensive, I would buy them:

Threads of Old (etsy store)

Once I finish my grad school apps and stuff, I want to get into making mini quilts.  I asked for a book on it for my birthday.


don’t know when but that day is gonna come

Today it finally set in that next week is my last full week of work before Vermont.  While I am happy about that fact, I have so much to do before I get there.  Eye Can Art will run my life for the next two weeks (more so than it already has! Luckily I enjoy the project).

I have started training for my half marathon.  Finally remembering what it feels like to run, and I think that I will be able to break 2hrs for that race. Too bad the last serious training I did for a race was during high school cross country season.  This body of mine, it just ain’t what it used to be.  Ran 7miles on Monday, felt awful for the next 7 hours.  My knees ache.  I don’t remember that happening when I was 16.