Slowly but surely, I've been hanging my favorite photographs I've taken in my travels over the years on the walls of my new place. A few paintings are making their way onto my walls as well. I have a framed Snoopy picture I got years ago in my kitchen. A cupcake themed apron I received for my birthday perks up the white walls near my stove.
I have my arts and crafts things organized into bins. I love any chance I get to haul those things out and work on projects. Lately, I've been hand-cutting my own stamps out of rubber and printing with them. I hope to add a mini Speedball press to my art supplies to help me print these stamps. I had initially found rubber stamp supplies in a Japanese bookstore in Los Angeles. Little cutting tools and mini slabs of rubber are not unlike cutting linoleum or wood blocks in printmaking in design. However, the ease of cutting the surfaces makes it such an enjoyable process.
I remember when I took a Precious Metal Clay workshop in Tennessee four years ago, I loved creating little stamps out of hard rubber erasers to press into rolled out PMC. The designs were crisp but also had a handmade aesthetic.
It's been gratifying to take an opportunity out of my busy schedule to work on something artistic. I'm very sure it's keeping my brain healthy as I meander through my day to day requirements and activities.
Eric and I are taking a trip to Arkansas next week. It fit a series of parameters for a vacation for the both of us. We wanted a road trip to a place neither of us had visited. He had an opportunity to visit friends in Conway, and thus a vacation was born. We found an affordable bed and breakfast north of Little Rock and we'll take day trips to other places around Arkansas for an extended weekend. Hopefully more photos for my wall of travel pics will be extended.
Coming up for myself, I am hoping to visit Los Angeles with my sister to visit my grandmother. Trying to squeeze this in before school starts seems like a viable option. With a full-time job and 2 classes of graduate school, I will probably have little time for travels, let alone a social life. However, I'm very excited at beginning this portion of my life. I love school. I love education. I would have been a professional student if the option had been extended to me.
On the other hand, I'm grateful for my time off between my undergraduate and graduate degrees. I'm glad that a semblance of my life makes a bit more sense than before at this juncture.
To say I'm happy could be a simplistic or loaded statement. But I am very happy indeed.
Here is one of my favorite photos from Amsterdam in 2007. Their bikes are rad, to say the least...
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