103

I usually find younger people to be less interesting to draw, although with the advent of so much cosmetic surgery and botox, older people may not be so much fun either. This girl, however, was intriguing to me with her upturned nose and deep set eyes. She was perfect for a book discarded from the North Arkansas Regional Library.

I miss the south. There is a beauty to the desert, but it doesn't speak to my soul. I hope I won't be wandering around in it for 40 years like a child of Moses.

One of the good things about Arizona is that there is little opportunity for fires such as the ones I unexpectedly visited over the weekend in California. Here, there is nothing to burn but rocks.

I suppose every place has its problems.

101 and 102

More Library People. I enjoy doing these, although I am not certain why exactly. These two are from a new group of books I got recently. I was particularly pleased to get this one from the Public Library of Detroit, Michigan.

I am off to Los Angeles to visit some of my husband's relatives for the weekend. I have the car so completely packed with children's stuff and bird cages that I am unsure if we will be able to move at all. I always think we will pack lighter next time, but it never really happens.

You can click on the pictures above to go to the auctions for these pieces. Thanks so much for dropping by.

Illustration Friday: Extremes

I suppose this week's topic is very appropriate in light of these two pieces I finished last night. They are extremely different from what I usually do. I had a couple of linoleum block prints sitting around that needed to be spiffed up a bit, and it went downhill from there.

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The picture of Mona uses a discarded library book cover, leather finished mat board, decorative papers, beads, table knives, vintage metallic wallpaper, and the aforementioned linoleum block print.

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The Blingless piece uses a pair of discarded library book covers, leather finished mat board, nuts and bolts, linoleum block print, large wooden letter blocks, and beads.

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I have a commentary on the adhesives used in the pieces on my art supply blog. The blingless one will go up for auction on eBay tonight, and the one of dear Mona will go up for auction on eBay Sunday night as part of the art squared theme week on redoing the old masters. Just follow the eBay link in the sidebar to reach either one as they come available.

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Thanks for visiting, and y'all come back now, y'hear?

And 100

Yes, it's Library People #100. It's a milestone for me, and somehow an accomplishment at a time in my life where every day is somehow the same, even though it isn't.

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My husband is home for the weekend, and he brought a terrible cold with him. I feel like the whole house is a biohazard. I am spending the weekend sleeping on the couch and otherwise avoiding being in the same airspace with him. I so hope I and the kids don't catch it.

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I just got a shipment o discarded library books, thanks to the fabulous efforts of my friend Zack. [Thanks Zack] I plan to get on to more Library People this week, assuming I don't catch this crud.

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I think I'll go have some orange juice.

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PS - you can purchase him on eBay right now. Follow the eBay link, and feel free to bid early and often.

99

Well, here we are at the precipice of a personal milestone. This is my 99th Library People drawing. I should have #100 done sometime this week, but I think there is something special about the 99th one, too. It's a little like a race wherein the finish line has come into view.

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Not that I'm finished with the series. I may never be finished as long as I am able to find the old books I need to draw in, and I suspect there will be old books for some time to come.

What will be the future of books, though? How long will it be that we use paper and shelves to house information? Wouldn't it be much easier if everything was housed on a tiny little drive that could fit in your pocket? Think of the space I could clear in my house for other, more useful things like......... OK, maybe not.

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Incidentally, the book was previously stamped as being from Bertrand Smith's Acres of Books in Long Beach, CA.

Illustration Friday: Open ...[and shut]

Intriguing, this week's Illustration Friday. It's been a very long time since I entered a show, so I hope you'll save a vote for me. I am actually going to enter this one. Scary.

I used to enter art shows all the time. They are an exciting, albeit expensive hobby. First, the artist pays to have the artwork reproduced on a slide [do they still do that? what a pain that is] then the artist pays a hefty sum to have the slide considered, then the artist must pay to ship the artwork if it is accepted, and then the artist must pay to have the artwork return shipped if it doesn't sell, and if it does, then the artist must pay another 50% to the sponsoring gallery, and wait 6 months through numerous whiney phone calls to get paid. I know how galleries can stay in business.

The last gallery I showed in was erl originals in Winston-Salem, NC. Despite whatever signed agreement they had, you were easily 6 months getting paid. No one ever told you when something sold. Finally, in frustration, I called them to say I would be coming in the morning to pick up my work and a check for whatever had sold. It was a 5 hour drive. An assistant had it waiting for me at the door, and the gallery owners wouldn't even come out to see me. They went belly up a few months later, owing hundreds of artists hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was lucky.

So, for me to enter an art show is a big deal. If I don't get in, that will be OK. I did this linoleum cut from an image of a man with a black eye that I had also drawn recently. One eye open, one eye shut; a good metaphor for life. If it gets into the show, you can see it and purchase a cheap original print, 6" x 6". It will also be listed in my eBay store if you live nowhere near the show in question, or should it not make its way into the show, just click the picture or title above. Or you can purchase one directly through me, sending me $10 to nschorr2@cox.net through Paypal for US , $11 for Canada, and $12 anywhere else. Be sure you have a correct mailing address. And thanks. I need the money.

Illustration Friday: The Blues

I don't usually stray too far from graphite, but this time I did. I suppose "the blues" is a good description of my life just now.

The Effects of Garlic on the Perimenopausal Woman

I go to a little coffee shop on Saturday evenings before church. There I can actually chat with my husband without constant interruption from the kids, and occasionally, that's pretty cool. I notice these women about my age, and every week they are there ordering the same thing - garlic bread.

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What's with that?

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I crave garlic all the time. I put powdered garlic on just about everything on my plate. My husband and children think I am psychotic. And smelly. They are probably not far from right, although I am still stable enough to remember not to put it in my coffee.

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An old dictionary gave its life for this drawing. I feel kind of sad for it, because the person who put the Ex Libris sticker in it never bothered to fill in a name. Hopefully the dictionary is uplifted by having this drawing inside its cover, even if the guy looks a bit psychotic. Kind of like me, only with less hair.

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Maybe he needs some garlic on his toast. You can purchase the real piece by following one of the eBay links, such as the one in the title. He's also in my Cafepress shop.

Blood Oranges

I think I've posted this drawing before, but I can't remember, and I am disinclined to sort through months of posts to find it. It has been a week since Otto passed, and I would like to say the grief is more managable, but I don't really think I've progressed significantly, so I am posting old work.

Because the economy is so lousy, I have started selling off some of my old kimono collection on eBay. There is little emotion attached to it, so that makes it easier to handle. It's really just stuff.

This piece reminds me of a teacher or two I had growing up. Grumpy, and haloed by a slice of blood orange. I suspect sainthood was a whole different thing for her. It's graphite and colored pencil. It is titled Dirge. I don't know the place in me from which it came, but it is close by.

In Memoriam

This is my dear Otto, as he was 17 years ago when I got him. He passed away over the weekend. I cannot possibly express how much it hurts.

Abstract Eyes

I did some more abstracts. I enjoyed doing them. This is one of them. It's not what I usually do, but I am doing more of this sort of thing. I'm not sure if it is the result of maturity or menopause. My son's birthday is in a few days. He will be 9. His great aunt bought him the giant Harry Potter Lego set from hell. It has castles and characters and all kinds of stuff. We bought him the Mars Mission Lego set, and he also has one on its way from Grandma, so we will soon begin constructing outbuildings of legos. Our planning skills obviously need some fine tuning.

Illustration Friday: Momentum

Momentum. I am trying to regain some momentum. Sales have been pretty slow, but I think that's got a lot to do with the national economy going down the drain. That spiraling downward momentum seems to be building, and recovery seems in doubt until after all the stuff with the sub-prime mortgages is flushed away. Just what I needed.

I decided to work on an abstract piece, taking a departure from the usual figurative work, although there are still eyes in it, so all is not lost. If you'd really love to have it on a tshirt or a greeting card or something like that, then visit my Cafepress store, and if you'd like to see the original, visit my listing on eBay.

Thanks for enduring that shameless moment of self promotion. What can I say? The kids need new shoes...

The Life of a Domestic Goddess

Today. Cook, clean, laundry, stand in front of grocery store for 2 hours selling Scout-a-Rama tix, decorate birthday cake, bake cinnamon buns, make lunch, eat dinner out, attend church service, prepare Sunday School lesson for tomorrow on Job, sing happy birthday and take pictures of son opening gifts, feed dog, two birds, and one tortoise.

Swim.

Would like a nap, but that seems unlikely.

Goddess accoutrements at Cafepress.

Domestic Goddess Part Two

More fun with Domestic Goddesses. Obviously, I have no real life.

Domestic Goddesses and others

I am not a domestic goddess. Ask anyone in my family. I have a very hard time motivating myself to clean house. So while we manage to have clean dishes and clothes, we also accumulate dust bunnies and piles of bird seed in corners and under chairs. It is fortunate that cleanliness is not a prescribed prerequisite for admission into heaven.

I did some collages on a domestic goddess theme a couple of years ago. They were fun, but not entirely special, so I decided they could use a digital revamp. I feel this one has all the essentials; a fork, a spoon two coffee pots and a pair of Maytags. What else could she possibly need?

A maid. *

You can find my growing line of domestic goddesses at my Cafepress store. Just follow any of the links.

Illustration Friday: Alphabets

I was excited to see today's word, because I was thinking of doing some elaborate initials for my Cafepress shop. It is all more easily said than done.

I used to have really beautiful handwriting when I was in elementary school. When I reached junior high, however, there were kids who would threaten to beat me up if I didn't let them copy my homework. It didn't take long for me to figure out the meaning of the word "intimidation." So I began to develop really poor handwriting, so poor in fact that the thugs couldn't read it to copy it, and eventually they left me alone.

I hated school.

All this left me with a less than perfect relationship with letters. Doing a really fancy letter is a challenge. Keeping up a style for an entire alphabet is an art form unto itself, and I am not likely to go there. But I hope you enjoy a couple of this morning's adaptations of letters I had hanging around the house. I think I'll do some more...

Peas and Carrots

Today is my daughter's 12th birthday, and although it is not yet 8 in the morning, we have already opened presents and had birthday cake for breakfast. What would Jenny Craig say? My daughter wanted a carrot cake for her birthday, so yesterday was devoted to that. We downloaded a recipe from foodtv.com, one that was marked "easy." I imagine it is easy if you have the right tools. We did not. But we persevered through the hand grating of carrots, lack of allspice, and broken hand mixer to make a cake so heavy it would take a forklift to pick it up. * In reality, the cake was not all that heavy, there was just a whole lot of it. Add to that a heap of homemade cream cheese icing, and two large cans of decorative icing in orange and green in the hands of an almost 12 year old, and it was quite a piece of work. She has planned a day of shopping, knitting, and bookstores, not to mention more eating. I think we'd all better stay out of the pool for awhile. We're likely to sink. *

Illustration Friday: Visitors

I pretty much hate visitors. Not ones I know are coming and plan for, but the drop-in-anytime kind. I don't drop in on others without asking. I wish the Jehovah's Witnesses could take the hint. Not that I mind them coming by, only that I wish they's make an appointment.

Years and years ago, I moved to the beach in NC. a lovely place to visit. I had lived far away for a long time, so I just knew all my family and siblings would just love to come and visit.

Or not.

Now I live in the Arizona desert where it is 115 F every day, and no one visits me. And, at this point in my life, I guess that's good. The drawing is of my longsuffering husband, with a visitor of sorts. He didn't like this drawing very much. It's available on eBay right now. You can also read about how I did it on ottosartsupplyreview.blogspot.com.

PS to my siblings who read regularly and never comment, I know you're there. *

Telephone Time

Remember when telephones had cords, and you were always stretching them to the limit so you could talk on the phone while cooking dinner? That was convenience. Who knew? *

I wonder whose idea it was to name a phone a bluetooth? I marvel at the mind that thinks something like that up. I wonder what caused them to put "blue" and "tooth" together, and what might they have tried before settling on bluetooth? And why tooth, if you are going to clip the thing to your ear? Shouldn't it be blueear? Maybe that doesn't work as well because of the double "e's." Or could it be that we're just wearing them wrong? I'll have to think on that a bit.

I did this little piece today in ink, with a little watercolor. You can read more about the how on otto's art supply review blog. *

Illustration Friday: Captain

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done; The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won... W. Whitman

Poetry is a hard thing to teach. See, I homeschool my children, and sometimes they view my interests with more than a little suspicion. Suspicion is good, especially when it comes to politics, but a little more trying when it comes to poetry. Whitman's poem immediately came to mind when I saw today's word, so I set about constructing a thinking cap for the occasion.

"What's that supposed to be?" my son asked warily.

"A thinking cap. It makes you love things I love... like poetry and lima beans."

"But Mom, you hate poetry and lima beans." He was now backing out of the room. No matter. Before the morning was up, everyone in the family had been pressed into a pose in the aforementioned cap. This one happens to be my daughter. You can see how happy she was to comply. *

You can purchase this piece by following the eBay link, where it is on auction. [Already? it's barely dry!] You can also read about how it was done in my new blog, ottoblotto's art supply review.

Stuff dries really quickly here in the desert. Even watching paint dry is no fun. *

Illustration Friday: Emergency

I had all sorts of thoughts about exploiting my family members for this week's Illustration Friday, but I didn't. I decided to draw a recently smashed up guy from one of my picture files. I found this old book on drinking and alcoholism, and the two just went together like a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich.

Personally, I've never had a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich, but a dear friend used to swear by them. Odd. Anyway, this piece will go on auction on eBay starting at 5:15 Arizona time today, which is the same as Pacific time until such time as the rest of the nation falls back, which is in October, I think. Then, we will be on Mountain time again until everyone springs forward once more, which perhaps accounts for the fact that everyone here is late for everything. Go figure. *

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270155703337

Illustration Friday: Missing

There are many things missing from my life right now, not the least of which is, perhaps, a life. I wrote "GET A LIFE" on the top of my to do list a few months ago. I am still working on it.

I do not seem to be able to assimilate well here in the desert otherwise known as Phoenix. Apparently everyone who possibly can flees for higher ground once the heat settles in. I think I will be glad to see the snowbirds return in their Bermuda shorts and dark socks, peering warily over their steering wheels. Right now, no one goes out, and I am curious as to what they do indoors all day.

To help with the loneliness, I acquired a good second hand cockatiel. His name is Tweety, which kind of messes everything up because all my other pets have names that are palindromes. He can say "Pretty Boy Tweety," over and over and over. The vet warned me not to play silly music for him when I'm gone because he might learn some tune that I won't love, like the theme to Barney or the opening to the Andy Griffith show. It had never occurred to me that he'd want to hear music in the first place, so I thought carefully before inserting a CD on my way to the grocery store. I chose Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Now when I walk into the room, all he says is "Four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio..."

Where is Barney when you need him? *

Illustration Friday: Poem

I was never much on poetry. When I was in 6th grade, we had to write poems. My teacher redlined my whole poem because I had not included enough adjectives. Apparently, there was a quota of adjectives equal to about 2 per noun, and my stats revealed approximately 1.7 adjectives per noun. She took the liberty of inserting adjectives for me, and told me to copy it over clean. I did, signing her name to the bottom instead of my own. It resulted in my first and only trip to the principal's office. Both my parents were called to be in attendance at this shameful act of rebellion. To my utter surprise, my father took my side.

My parents, while very nice people, are the first to think any idea I have is absurd. In fact, that sort of knee-jerk reaction pretty much cuts across the board with my family. Perhaps the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but in my case, I was thrown there from a passing car. Probably a VW Microbus. While I try very hard to love them, and ignore their total embarassment of me, it can be trying.

I am very busy writing these days, and not very busy illustrating, but this little sketch is fun. It reminds me a bit of the aforementioned 6th grade teacher. It's one of the reasons I homeschool.

One of many. *

Illustration Friday: Geeky

I suspect sometimes that I am geeky when I notice my children distancing themselves from me at the grocery store. Or perhaps it is just the heat. The water temperature in my pool is 90 degrees. This sounds hot, but when the air temperature is 115, it becomes rather refreshing. The thermostat on my car showed it to be 122 the other day. It's a little hard to imagine, but consider what it would feel like to have 37 of your closest friends all pointing their blowdriers at you on high. Why 37? I just made that up. Anyway, the weather brings out the geekiness in my attire, because basically, I don't care so long as I can be reasonably cool. I wear a large straw hat to keep from crisping. I'm at the time of life that I am on the precipice between being ripe and rotting, so the hat is there to ward off the fruit flies. Anyway, I have chosen this other rather geeky fellow to join me for Illustration Friday. I hope you like him. *

To see what I'm really up to these days, go to http://www.fishheadpublications.com/.

Illustration Friday: Fortune

Today is my husband's birthday. He is closing in on 50, which is in its own way a little mindboggling. Actually, he is pretty laid back about it, for which we are all grateful. I feel pretty fortunate to have him around, even if it is Friday the 13th. *

My husband has the good fortune of being rather timeless. He looks the same now as he did when we met 14 years ago. I, on the other hand, bear little resemblance to the person I was then, at least outwardly. It's a good thing God looks at the heart. This is a drawing I did of my husband about 7 years ago, although it could have been done just yesterday.

He is always a good sport when it comes to posing for me. *

CafePress.com

Illustration Friday: Green

I have a store on cafepress.com where I sell some of my artwork on t-shirts and journals and stuff like that. Business was pretty slow, so I decided that in order to drive a few more people to my humble little store, I would do some designs for political bumper stickers and stuff, in the hopes that it might send a little business my way. Barack Obama is big right now, and there are scads of designs for him. The two gals in the Green Party, however, had only a paltry sprinkling of designs, so I decided to do some for them.

Now personally, I am a registered independant, which is apparently the scariest kind of voter, as no one seems to know which way the independants will lean, making politics just a little more interesting in the season to come. Which is a good thing, as the situation couldn't get much worse. And while I have no idea what the Green Party stands for, I live for the day I see one of my buttons on someone on the street. I got pumped up enough to draw someone in green pencil. It's a scary departure for me, and who knows where it will lead. You can see some of my political designs at CafePress.com

And prepare for a long political season.

Illustration Friday: I Spy...

There are many things in life that make no sense to me, and now that I live in Arizona, I find most things to be a bewildering blur of excess. I did a book last year on the theme of the Seven Deadly Sins. Each "sin" had a person peeking out from behind an illuminated manuscript inspired framework. This one happens to be "Gluttony." I wonder what he spies from behind the border of his page? He reminds me of the guy in the Hummer in front of me that refused to let me merge.

People here are enormously wound up in appearances, be it cars, clothes, or hair color. A friend who is developing the tiniest streak of grey tells me someone had remarked how confident she must be to wear it.

If grey hair is indicative of wisdom and confidence, I must be Yoda. *

Buy some art. You know you can afford it, and I need the money. http://stores.ebay.com/Natalie-Schorr_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm

The Joy of Paint

I am painting my house just now. Usually, I paint with very muted, unobtrusive colors, kind of like my drawings. Now that I am here in Arizona, where the landscape is pretty muted unless you are just really into brown, I decided to spice things up a bit and use some real colors. The kids are responding very well, although my husband has yet to see what's going on. I'll be interested to see his reaction. I also thought I'd do a few drawings in color, which is really stepping out for me. They are still just drawings of dead people on trash, but maybe someone will take a risk on one. I hope so.

And if my husband hates it, I can always repaint. *

Both are available at http://stores.ebay.com/Natalie-Schorr_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm

Illustration Friday: Total

I am on a diet. While this is not really news, as I am perpetually on a diet, I am trying to take this one very seriously. Since my surgery, the list of what I can't eat is almost larger than the list of what I can eat. No popcorn, nuts, seeds, berries, etc. Because I am supposed to take in some phenomenal amount of fiber daily, you might guess that my diet has become mostly vegetables. That's OK, as I like veggies, but the amount I need to eat to get the requisite daily fiber count is making me totally crazy. When my husband came in and found me drawing tortured turnips and onions, he backed slowly out of the room. I guess I can't blame him.

I have a tendency to exaggerate. *

http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto?pid=8246890 See me here

Illustration Friday: Wired

Like most Americans, I am not good in the morning until I've had a little coffee. Not that I ever drink enough to get truly wired. Leaving a bit of a dull edge can certainly have its advantages. Americans, Baby Boomers specifically, seem to have an uncontrollable need to be enormously busy, multitasking themselves through every waking hour. I am a Boomer, so why don't I feel like that? Perhaps it is time for a serious confession.

I have never been to a Starbucks. *

Now, I know that is hard to believe. I looked into one from inside a bookstore recently, but I couldn't make heads of tails of how to order, so I decided not to go in. Since I have no shortage of humbling experiences these days, I figured it was best not to invite shame and humiliation by stuttering through some incomprehensible order while the people in line behind me speculate as to which planet I had just fallen from. I think I will stick to McDonalds. There, I can ask for coffee, and be reasonably assured that what I get will be close to what I want.

Good thing my standards aren't too high. *

See this work at http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto.112398700

Illustration Friday: Hide

I recently had a heated debate with my gas grill. The grill won. To say that I have looked frightful for the last couple of weeks would be a gross understatement. First and second degree burns over my entire face and neck, and frizzled remnants of hair have certainly made me want to hide, even in a place where I am completely anonymous to begin with. Nonetheless, life goes on, so I have been forced to accompany my children to their dizzying array of activities and bear up to the stares of others the best that I can. It is a humbling task, one from which I would rather hide.

Hiding is not the same as being hidden. Here, I am hidden despite my best efforts, even though I am not hiding. There are rules to hide behind, expectations and memories, and I am still there, peeking out, waiting for the gentle breeze that will tell me what's next.

http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto.161505196See me here.

On Being Seen and Not Heard

I used to wonder how people could just disappear, pick up and go somewhere, change their name, assume a new life, and start over as a totally new person. Now, though, it seems not only plausible, but relatively easy to do. One of the interesting things about relocating is the overwhelming anonymity I have acquired. I suppose that when you've lived somewhere for a long time and developed roots, there also exists a certain responsibility for behavior, a sort of what-would-the-neighbors-think mentality. Being free of that poses opportunities for reinvention, risk, and perhaps, failure, that I might not have considered before. Still, there is something unsettling about being unknown, invisible, and transient.

It is very quiet.

http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto/3506727

Illustration Friday: Communication

Isolation is not exactly what I pictured for my life years ago. Although I enjoy my anonymity, recently my life often seems to consist of snippets of information as I carry my children from one activity to another, and rarely anything that might resemble a meaningful conversation. I remember growing up in the 60's, and looking at the women's magazines at my aunt's house on Sunday afternoons when there was little else to do. It seemed the whole world was having interesting parties, barbeques, and get togethers with neighbors. It looked so intriguing and glamorous in the glossy pages printed with modern colors that I could only dream of on her cold, pleather sofa. Yet here we were, suspended in a limbo of boredom.

Now that I have relocated 2500 miles from "home", I find myself again suspended in that limbo. My attempts at conversation frequently fall on the ears of others as though I were speaking a foreign language. Last night I managed to have only the second real conversation with someone outside my family since I moved here. It was nice to feel a little connected to this part of the world.

If only for a moment.

http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto/3575847

Illustration Friday: Red

I don't generally use a lot of red in my work. I tend to gravitate toward cool and neutral colors, and prefer to think about the life and quiet work of the soul in the people I draw. Lately, however, experience has forced me to embrace colors and feelings about which I am unsure, colors that make me uncomfortable. There is something inherently not safe about red for me. Risks have always come for me in awkward lumps, like sleeping on an unmade bed. Then, in the between times, I am floating in a cool water, safely knowing the bottom is in reach.

Just now I am wrestling with the covers, in a lumpy bed, half awake, waiting for morning.

http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto.112435994

Illustration Friday: Super Hero

There have been a lot of super heroes in my life recently. A very close brush with death in December allowed me to become acquainted with a number of super heroes including, but not limited to the paramedics, surgeons, and nurses at the hospital, my loving family, and perhaps a couple of angels. [Good thing I wasn't getting my teeth cleaned - see previous post.] The best of the super heroes was, of course, my husband. He took off work for a month to be "me", carting children around and taking care of the house. In January, he happily fled back to his job, working on the tv series Heroes. It's a good spot for him. And I am back to art at last. It's a good spot for me, too. http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto/3547093

Valley of the Sun

It sounds so warm and pleasant, Valley of the Sun. One envisions palm trees, sparkling pools, and happy people with umbrellas in their drinks listening to Frank Sinatra on transistor radios by the aforementioned sparkling pools. Not. I often think I must have a third eye, as people tend to act as though I have fallen here from another planet. I suspect the feeling is mutual more often than not. Adapting to a new environment has not been easy, and perhaps I am too old to make this transition gracefully, but I am persevering, nonetheless. Still, I run afoul of local custom too frequently. Who knew one must show up at the dentist with your own set of xrays? It's the law, here, I'm told. If you don't bring your xrays [like I carry them around in my purse] then you can not have your teeth cleaned. Interesting concept. The people at the Department of Motor Vehicles make up their own rules as they go. What is OK by one teller is definitely against the law with another. It's a bit like the twilight zone. I intend to make this work. Maybe I need to slip an umbrella into my lemonade and chill a bit by the pool. As soon as it warms up. http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto/3547076

No Maps

Moving across the country has been an experience I would not readily repeat for a very long time. The logistics of moving one's home, business, children, pets, licenses, bank accounts... [the list goes on forever], are incredibly overwhelming with or without proper medication. Moving does not come with an instruction manual, and as such, it has been a learning experience. The good news is that the piles of boxes have almost disappeared, and my studio is mostly workable. Of course, life in a seriously suburban setting is giving me plenty to think and write about. I'll explore that another day. * http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto?pid=8246890

Illustration Friday: Skyline

I rarely paint anymore, as my family frequently disrupts my work time, so I am forced to stick with drawing these days. However, I enjoyed painting, and thought I'd pull out an old one for this week's Illustration Friday. It is a rooftop view of part of Pittsburgh, during the winter. I painted from a photo I took on a typically bleak day in January. Thankfully, those days are behind me now as I pack for the desert, which is stark, but never bleak. At least I hope. * http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto?pid=8246890

Home Improvement Hell

Somewhere along in April we decided the thing to do was to sell our house and move to the desert before the next hurricane takes it all away. It was a deceptively easy plan, just fix up the house and list it. How hard could that be? Since that time, with the exception of some sick leave, I have lived in Home Improvement Hell. What were we thinking? Just to get the house ready for the market required a serious look, and suddenly all those things I'd meant to do someday reared their slimey little heads and hollered, "We'll make your life miserable to the end!" They are doing a fine job of it, I must say. Of course, I expect to triumph in the end, which is nowhere in sight, or did I mention that? But I must say that the purge of excess stuff has been exceptionally gratifying, albeit a bit frightful at first. I can envision myself basking in the warmth of the Phoenix sun, sipping from a tall, fruity drink with a parasol in it, by a crystal blue pool. After I get it all unpacked again. http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto?pid=8246890