True Confessions.

I ruined my "home" project.

I was making a linocut, working on it in the evenings....it was a quote by Emily Dickinson: "My friends are my estate." Those who've never done printmaking may not know that whatever you cut will be a mirror image once printed. Therefore, all text must be cut backwards. Lo and behold, when I inked it up to print a draft, I had forgotten to reverse ONE "s". The one in "friends." Therefore, once printed, that "s" was backwards. My dyslexic self was very frustrated. You can't "fix" a linocut gone wrong.

So, I hope to re-do it. But I'm getting a bit busy, and it may be awhile. *sigh*
But isn't that a great quote: "my friends are my estate" ?

SPC: October

I got this from the Self-Portrait Challenge site:

October is going to be a little different, a little uncomfortable. It will involve some soul searching.

Look beyond the surface of your life, dig into your imperfect self and reveal it to us. I want to see the down and dirty you, the messy, gross and ugly you, the side of yourself that you always try to hide, give us some insight into your dreadful secrets. This can be your physical self or your personal space or within your wider life. Be not afraid!

Hmm...this could be interesting...

SP with a lizard.

When your special friends live half-a-country away, you're forced, like mountain mama, to take pics of the pic.....

Lizard and I met in art school....printmaking is a favorite of ours.

Can't you still smell the inks? Imagine spreading it out onto the glass with the metal spatula...matboard squeegees and cheesecloth....soak your paper, too.....run it all through the press....staple it to the wall....

this is a book read aloud

wooden floors. screen door. children's laughter in the yard. food on the table. friends to laugh & sigh with. this is a book read aloud. this is comfort. welcome home.

Home

I'll post some thoughts in the comments.

Two for the price of one.........

The first image is of my friend Lori and her baby Lila Kate. Like Wedding Girl's Sarah, Lori is my family here. My kindred spirit. When I think of Lori, I think of ' strength'. And she makes my favorite pie in the whole entire world-Derby Pie. : ) Yum, yum.

The second of course, is my beautiful, squishy, precious Ethan.

SPC: Sarah

Sarah is more than just a good friend. She's my family away from home. She's my shopping buddy, knitting buddy and I-need-to-have-a-momentary-emotional-breakdown buddy. She and her husband are some of the first people we met in Boston 3 years ago and they have been incredible friends ever since. They've always been there for us...in low times and in good, good times. Love you, Sarah!

Self-Portrait in a Navy Bell

This image is actually almost a year old, but I just recently printed it, framed it and put it up in my new apartment so I thought I'd share.

I've been too busy to take photos with anyone other than my husband, but I have dinner dates with several of my girlfriends next week, so I'll finally have a few fun people to introduce to you via my self-portraits.

(The flesh colored line off to the right is Stephen. I'll take this opportunity to say that he's awesome. I love that guy...)

self portal with husband

friend you are what i dream to be. bird free. on the road and livin' large... selfishly i say i want you close to me. always. yet i respect you are away. i miss you and admire you.

....................

This is your friendly reminder that the due date for 'Home' is coming up. I hope you have some ideas rattling around your heads. I've had a lot of rattling and little actual art making.

SP: nearly-self-portrait: HOME

this one's the almost-self-portrait, and it's also my *HOME* post for september...

mamma and bubba.
wild. sunny. sandy. surfy.

our hearts. connected.

i love your red-gold hair.
i love your giggle.
i love your early morning snuggles.
i love the way you love me.

beach. breathing. earthed. we are HOME. together.

SPC: Baby on Back

With Lexi, in the Mei Tai


Better pic, but not a "self-portrait"

SPC: with BFF...

....with matching noses....

Dear friend, we have now been friends for over a decade! I'm so thankful for you.

Hope breaks through.....

home

Miss Hannah has completed the "home" assignment on her blog....go enjoy her thoughts and pics here.

SPC: With Someone

the one i knew was for me, just hoped he would figure it out.....let it go....moved on.....he came back round when i least expected it...total surprise....fell in love....can't believe it......courting through letters....a two-month engagement, highly recommended.....two years of loving, growing, loss, hope....

See? Self-Portrait with Tiny Brown Munchkins.

We spent most of this week babysitting some lovely little ones while their parents were in NYC....Two are adopted from foster care and one from Cambodia.....

We are blessed to have a church and school family with LOTS of adopted little ones running around. We've learned alot by observing these families so full of love that they open their homes to those who aren't their own blood....they MAKE them their own.

Who is that pale woman with those gorgeous children?

Love of my life

Admittedly, this photo is at least a few years old. I post it because Macon is my best friend, lover, partner, soul mate. I also post it because we were in a vineyard in North Carolina, and I miss both the beauty of NC and the yumminess of a good red wine. I look forward to when I can savor both of them again.

For those of you who partake, may I recommend enjoying "Le Marechal" (a french swiss cheese) with a bottle of Tempranillo (a Spanish Red)? Please, have some and enjoy it for me. If you do, let me know what you think.


(and no, we are not planning on moving back to NC, but we'll definitely go and visit sometime)

hope fulfilled

i waited A LONG time for motherhood....so many prayers, so many tears, so MUCH waiting....
so thankful that the Lord blessed me with my sweet baby girl.....such joy and delight and a blessing to finally be a mother....

SP with hubby: Red Bus Tour, Champ de Mars, Paris.

poet, muse, lover, soul mate.
babe, after twenty years of knowing you,
you still really light my fire.
you spark something within me
that makes me ache for you.
"we are bound by the bonds of love,
and nothing can track that..."

seff-port with son

at times at best just a shadow of self. all i have to offer is this hard hot clay.
but we'll trudge along together and i'll show you waht i can. my son. you are a light. on my back. we'll have ourselves a ride...

Self-Portrait with Sweetpea (Retro)

These self-portraits were taken sometime in 1997 when Sweetpea and I lived with our friend Mia. (Man, that couch was ugly and is that a Jesus candle on the table?)

Sweetpea is one of my favorite people ever. She's brilliant, beautiful, hillarious and an amazing artist. I'm so glad that she's my friend!!! We've had some good times...

Self-Portrait with Sam

My sweet, serene Sam. You are beauty and strength and you are taking me on a great adventure through Narnia, over the Misty Mountains and even to the ends of the Galaxy! I love you.

Lizard's 'little' brother...

At 6'4" my brother is 8 years younger than I am and 8 inches taller. He has a new roommate who has given him a bag of new free t-shirts. He showed up the other day with this one on. It made me smile. (There are apparently limits to my Samsungs ability to take pictures.)

self portrait: mirror image

yep. it's me and mini-me..
off on a girlz weekend today..
it's a joy being your mamma,
your confidante, your friend.

self-port. with girl-child

greetings little mirror.
you remind me of me.
of more than i could ever hope to be.
stronger. more wild. more free.
come little one. hand in hand. face to face.
teach me again how it feels.
to be you. to be me.

Self-Portrait Challenge --Self-Portrait with Dog.

I find myself alone a lot these days. Lots of one-sided conversations with two little dogs.

Self-Portrait with Stephen Triptych

I felt like it was ok to use Stephen (my husband) as my other person because last week he took the photo. =)

I took these photos last night after we'd spent the day discussing the coming semester, year and next several years. We're both feeling a little restless in this total transitional season. We could be in Boston for 5 or more years or we could leave as soon as he's finished with school; he could take 3 or 4 more semesters to finish; we could be in Paris in the spring; I may or may not shoot weddings next year; we may or may not get pregnant/have children at any point in this process...

It's all going to be fine no matter what happens, but I think I'm just realizing how unsettled it makes me/us feel sometimes. We know for sure that we don't want to be in Boston forever and we're leaning towards moving to California eventually, but the timeline of all that is uncertain.

Assignment 2

For our September Assignment I've chosen something a little more open: Home.

'Home' could be a physical place, an object or even a person. So many things could be 'home'.

Part of my inspiration for this months theme came from the blog "redclay..." listed on our main blogs sidebar. Look through her flickr images and you will see some beautiful examples of 'home'.

September Challenge---

From the website.....looks like Wedding Girl is ahead of us all!!!

A bit of a looser theme for September - but still some restrictions.
- Begins September 1.

September is ‘with someone‘ month - that means you must include someone else in your self portrait. Someone meaningful to your life or to the moment or to a specific event that you wish to document.

Guidelines:1. each week in the month use a different person in your self portait.2. either talk about that person or illustrate in the photograph why you have included them and how they are meaningful.

new site

okay, I think Self-Portrait Tuesdays turned to Self-Portrait Challenge.....

....wondered why the SPT site hadn't been updated in awhile.

here's the address: www.selfportraitchallenge.net