not such a great day.  feeling anxious over lack of progress and depressing weather.  All bottled up and frustrating.

distracted by computer, and stupid little things.

drawing fish and otters, nuts and an occasional dog.  Nothing sticking.

obsessing over D.A.'s new music, and B.W.  Watched crazy "beauty brothers" and other YT videos.  All crazy and beautiful and rotten.  All his B.S. just gets to me.  The fantasy that he has perpetuated.  I can't believe there is nothing on web about him being gay.  It's just crazy.  Reminds me very much of J.S.  But he is soooooo infuential on fashion / photography / gay culture / me.  Leaves me feeling gross, but I can't help but love his work (deeply).

rain
rain
go
away

day 2 in the week, and we expect rain for the rest of it.

Got my flat file today - and feel really lucky.  A little tough lugging it up the stairs (and around the block), but all worked out.

so so day.  Wish I was more accomplished.

New cards
postcard
shirts for MCA
labels for MCA

all ahead.

- - - - - - - -
realized I needed more grace period in getting studio up and running, so I undropped corcoran for the summer.  As much as I want to go, I'm afraid I'll have a tough time getting everything together, and getting prints made.  We'll see.

Good productive weekend, with new changes round the bend.
Finished 3 dogs (today), remi to great falls, parcheesi, cafe Asia.

Done for day, and typing on phone. More tomorrow.

fine day.  Happy to get some great plywood, cut it all down, and prepared to print tomorrow.  Should come out awesome.

mothers day cards out.  Shirts out.  pretty productive.

dear dave,

H st install worked out great.  I brought larger pieces (via Trohv) earlier in the day, so we had just enough room in the car for the rest.  Got over there quickly, found parking easily, and hung show fast.  Great walls and space, and by now, hex and I are old pros.

Brought only one print back, which was great.  Out of there in about an hour.

Fingers crossed I sell some…

Good day today.  Sunny and warmish.  Was off to Buzz's on some errands, and dropped off new mothers day cards.

Pizza tonight with Lee.  Feeling calm and cool and relaxed.  H A P P Y to have the past few weeks behind.  Taxes and printing, tough commissions and anxiety and Easter and the show.  Feeling like I have a a fresh page and start.  Spring is springing.  Feeling hopeful and content.

----
looked at old movies of Remi, three days after picking her up.  So heartwarming.  my baby.

ready or not (h st. coffee), here we come!

installing "new" show tonight.  Always an anxiety inducing experience.  What goes where.  Time pressure.  parking, unpacking, packing.

Hopefully it will all go smoothly.

Anxious to move beyond it.  I've been focused on this deadline for too long now.  I'll be so productive afterwards (i tell myself)

-----
sent out a mailchimp email today, after a YEAR (!)  I can't believe it's been that long.  No september email about festivals, no holiday emails about mini prints and cards.  Bizarro.  I can't figure out why.  Anyway, nice to get back on the horse.  Fun to see those opens and clicks, and to see it actually have some impact.

----
excited for Hadria, and her super duper kickstarter success!  wow.

video diary (early 00's)

what to keep vs. what to toss away.

not a new topic or theme, but came to the surface again.  Looking for BSUR stickers for Carly forces me to rake through all my keepsakes.  Drawings, taxes, mementos, pictures, memories.  It's easy to feel overwhelmed, and just stuff it all back away.  Under the table, in the drawer, locked up in the wooden box.

I've gotten more and more into tossing away.  Ever since my dramatic move from 10th and P to the Hudson.  Still have some, but it's minimal compared.

Took 4 more boxes down from the attic for dad.  And  replaced a wreath for the door for jimmy.  Two sides of the same coin.  Papers, taxes, books, records, silk flowers and dusty wreaths.  So much stuff that is stored and forgotten, and very rarely thought of or used.  Eventually we will have to deal with it. But thats put off until then.

Magazines in the giant chest in the basement

Ink in the garage

receipts in the cup

paint in the closet

shorts on the shelf

postcards in the den

prints at Buzz and trohv

#clutter
#nostalgia
#hoarding
#sentimental
#springcleaning
#freshstart
#parentsoldhouse
#trash
#save
#anxiety
#stuff
#identity
#keepsakes
#bsurfoillogosticker

m o t h e r ' s d a y c a r d s ! ! !

http://www.branddave.com/freehand/greeting_cards.html

taxes finished, which always feels good.

A return to colder weather, after a fun in the sun weekend.

Saturday: printed at corcoran (struggled!), and metro'd to rossylyn for pollo rico with sheon and co.  Nice to walk the key bridge for a movie in Georgetown, and then Hexy and I walked home afterwards.  Fun and memorable.

Sunday: Hex got up early, and made another plum buckle (4th or 5th??).  We walked downtown to picnic with Sheon and Daniel and Tanya under the cherry blossoms.  Perfect weather, warm and breezy.  Super crowded, but that was expected.

We walked home tired and hot, and bogged down with our spent food and coffee.  Napped then rallied and metro'd out to Rockville for quick 2 games of parcheesi (and fries).  Lots of fun and spontaneous, and a great way to keep the spirit of the spring weekend going.

Yesterday I was back at the corcoran, and made a bully pegboard.  A good conclusion to a battle in my mind (what to print on this pegboard?? (for H St))

Such a struggle this spring > stale shows, slow sales, waning creativity, frustration.  As much as I want new, I need something!  These print days come up, and I need to fill the time, and have something to show for it.  It turns into a cycle of creative despair. <being dramatic>  Rather then do nothing, I have to do something.  Just waiting for some sort of breakthrough.

Corcoran is just this swamp of breaking equipment, messy tables, flooding drains, tight quarters, crazy characters, stretched supplies.  Every time I arrive I have to assess the situation.  Never go in feeling inspired and excited.  Always a little mix of dread, anxiety, frustration and impatience.  Clearly, that's not optimal for growing and changing and challenging myself.  I guess I'm just waiting for time to force a change.

blah - had to change all passwords because of "bleeding heart" whatever.  Security is so false.  there is no security.

ok day - hoping for better.  Still feel slumped creativity wise.

Lots of logistics to work out, which I'm avoiding.  Prints go to here, then there.  Planning and scheming.  How to maximize my collection / sales, and minimize effort and waste.  In the end it's always a crap shoot anyway.  Control (and security!) is just an illusion.

yikes > grumpy.  Not sure why, all is fine!  Just feel bogged down in my own brain.  Heavy eyes (allergies?)

Pizza night tonight without hexy.  another mystery!

better day.  brighter and more centered - thanks to massage yesterday.

trying to be productive, and move all things forward.

this was on maryellen's bulliten board for years, and I was always tempted to steal it!

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

ok weekend.

saturday: coffee, corcoran, studio, redbox, hunger games,  bed.

(finished monsters, mantis monkey, cookie situation)

sunday:  farmers market, starbucks, grilled cheese, great falls, rockville, parcheesi, home, law and order criminal intent

(dave 3, jimmy 2, sue 0, hex 0)

today I'm gearing up to go back to the corcoran to work on Forsythia.  A newish version, fingers crossed it comes out well!  Rainy monday.

yikes

GRUMPY!  but I'll get over it.

focus on the positive:

taxes almost done
garden cleaned up a bit, and sprouting
kind of warmer weather here
progress on a long difficult drawing
remi's ears are much better
pizza tonight with B&L
I have the whole day ahead of me.

thurs night cake with 7 minute frosting

reclaimed and warped screen (pic to Dennis)

La Colombe with hexita bonita

New(er) Branches

Buzz - navy yard

fine couple of days.  weather ahead is warmer and brighter, which is good.

saturday > corcoran, branches.
sunday > rain, hermits (hex and I)
monday > corcoran, monsters.

today I worked on drawing, and think I made some progress.  bugging out a little early to vote in DC primary.

coming up:  taxes :(