Still Cloudy

Here's a photo of some of the succulent that grow in the Village. The succulents influence my drawings on a conscious or unconscious level. I'm currently working on some sketches for some new etchings, and all the ones I've drawn are of plants, some with strange flowers. I like to create plant life that is recognizeable, but not realistic, not photo perfect. And the succulents are so unusual to begin with that it's really easy to morph them into something else. I notice the tourists are frequently amazed and intrigued by the succulents. I always see them with their cameras up close, taking photos.

Yesterday was a hot day, relatively speaking for San Diego anyway, getting up to the low 80's I think. I sat outside at my table and worked on several necklaces. I think it's going to be important for me to sit outside on weekends, where people can see me, and see my jewelry. But during the week, I'm probably going to work inside. Actually, though, I enjoyed being outside so much yesterday that I might consider being out there this week as well, during the week. Tomorrow though I want to prepare my copper plates for etchings, so that I can get them ready. My goal is to be ready to print by the middle of July. That doesn't give me a great deal of time. The other thing is that if I take advantage of the warm weather, it is conducive to warming the plates and making the creation process go a little better. The asphaltum is warmer and easier to work with. So that's my goal for this week.

Aside from the etching plates, I want to begin a new book, one I make myself. I have an idea of making one out of brown paper bags from the grocery store. Then I plan to fill the book with paper that I've collected and call it something like "The Paper of My Life." We encounter so much paper everyday, and I'd like to chronicle it. I started to do that once before, but I wound up throwing away all the paper I had saved. I was spending alot of time eating at fast food drive-thrus and I had lots of burger wrappers and such. Now my eating patterns are different, so my book will be as well. Anyway, it's something to get started on. I'm planning to continue working with paper and when the next jurying comes around in January, I'll take the best pieces and try to enter again. It will be a good break between making pieces of jewelry.