Resurfacing

So I've been in Lowell nearly 6 months and life is finally returning to something like normal. Is it the new normal? The move ended up being tough because I was out of town two weekends in a row prior to the move and sure enough the night before I found myself up at 4 in the morning giving up on packing the kitchen. I ended up finishing the move the following weekend. But at least with what did get moved, the movers were great. They even came in under the estimate. I was worried about them having to deal with the stairs at the new place, but it wasn't a problem at all.

What ate up my summer was getting the place into liveable condition. Though everything was brand new, the floor was coated in some kind of weird rusty dust. It was drywall dust, but there were other things in it. Sweeping did virtually nothing. Vacuuming was laughable. The only thing that worked was scrub-scrub-scrubbing. I didn't have a shopvac so I just mopped it all up with big sponges. Had I not already moved in I would have stripped it with an acid wash. Because while the paint I used did adhere, it came up very easily with any little scuff. Over time it hardened a bit so it doesn't scrape up as easily as it did back in July. I went this way because I didn't want to deal with the dust any longer. It had to have been unhealthy. I'm planning to redo it maybe next year with a different kind of paint that will make it smoother. I totally miss being able to slide around in my socks like i could at the last place. I wish I knew how they did their floors. It might have been polished epoxy resin.

As I neared finishing the floor, my bed arrived. I'll go into detail about that in another blog post, but all I'll say right now is it was a major undertaking. It was expensive and scary, but it's awesome! Then there was the painting of the walls, the 2 attempts at getting the bathroom color right, the mural in the kitchen and most recently part 1 of a mural for the hallway. And so many other projects to come!

Somewhere in all of this I am slowly finding time to make artwork again and I've been opening up for open studios. It's funny to have been so distracted by the apartment thing since making art is the reason I'm here. At the same time I am reminded that about 10 years ago I briefly thought about going to school for either interior design or architecture. I figured since I couldn't find work as an information architect, why not be a real architect. 'Course now I know a lot of them struggle in various ways too. I'm still pretty obsessed with it. But I can still learn enough about all this stuff without going to school. It's the great thing about these modern times.

Leaving Lynn

So, as I hinted in the last post, I am indeed moving! I am moving to Lowell! When my noisy neighbors get to me, I find myself doing searches on craigslist and google. At some point in January just before I headed to Dublin, I came across the Western Avenue Lofts project. Essentially there is an incredibly successful complex of artist studios in Lowell called Western Avenue Studios and they decided to take over another building and carve out 50 live/work spaces. It is open to artists only and there are no income restrictions. Perfect for me!

But on top of that, the apartments will be delivered fairly raw with a minimal kitchen and bathroom. The walls come only primed, so residents get to paint and do pretty much whatever they want to the place. And not only do they allow us to go crazy inside, but they also want us to decorate the hallway outside of the apartment. When you walk the halls of the studio buildings you get a sense of the individual identities of the artists and they want to continue that. 

The apartments are still under construction, but I've been able to make a couple of visits and see the progress they're making. I totally can't wait to move in! I've already been very obsessed with how I will decorate and arrange things. I'm essentially doubling the amount of space I have. Also I will be participating in the monthly open studios so that will force me to do two things: keep the place clean and stay productive with my artwork. I've been slacking off the past few months, partly due to the new gig and partly due to the mild winter. Last year's snow storms totally kept me at my work table. This year, not so much. But I've got big plans and finally I will have the space to execute them, not to mention a supportive and thriving artists community. I feel so incredibly lucky to have found this place and to honor that I'll be working harder than ever!

i'm still here!

things got busy so i haven't posted in a long, long while. i started a new job a few weeks ago with Sapient and so far it has been really great. It's a large company (even bigger than the last), but doesn't really feel like it at all. I spend about half of my time working offsite at my client's office so it's a little hard not really having a home, but I'm getting used to it. i just have to remember where I am going in the morning when i get off the train...

so, it'll probably be a couple more years before I move to the west coast. it still is calling me. at minimum, i am hoping to move to a new apartment next spring. finding the right one at the right price is the hard part. everything that strikes my fancy (and there aren't every many that do) is rather expensive. i'm not exactly sure why so much real estate in boston is so expensive regardless of quality or location. at least in nyc there was a correlation so while it certainly isn't affordable, it's generally clear when you know how much you can spend, you can figure out where can you spend it. boston real estate, i still can not figure out.

a mini-high line in lynn?

This is a view from my window

I've always thought it would be neat to seed-bomb this little patch of grass that runs along the train tracks from Lynn Station to Silsbee St. It already has some wildflowers growing in the parts that get mowed. People wouldn't be able to walk around there as the tracks are still very active, but it would certainly add some much needed charm to the place.

Strangely, below all this is a series of retail spaces. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what kinds of businesses would this property suit. What would tolerate trains loudly rumbling over them every couple of hours? One space is some kind of weird commercial parking lot. There's no signage, so it's hard to tell what's really going on. If the train noise could be tolerated, there could be a really neat indoor/outdoor casual restaurant. Just as long as it's not yet another 99 cent store.

Either way, Lynn just needs more beauty and throwing some wildflower seeds up there would go a long way.

art class

I don't know what brought back this memory. In elementary school, I loved going to art class. It was a large room. I don't recall it having windows. I remember there were big tables covered in paper and arranged in a big U. In the back were shelves where supplies and in-progress projects were stored.

I remember a little girl getting mad at me because I noticed that she drew eyes as half circles. I thought that was a neat idea so I copied it.

I remember transforming a dish soap bottle into a woman. I must have made the head out of paper maché.

Classes were weekly. I don't remember going to them after the 3rd grade for some reason. We did art activities in our regular classrooms, I guess. I didn't take another art class until senior year of high school. I wish I hadn't waited so long.

And now I pay for the occasional art class. In a way, art class is all about finding new things to bring into practice. Practice is something I wish I did daily, but there is also work. Sadly I've never been that good at balance. Balance is never static anyway. Watch a tightrope walker and note how she never stops stops moving.

Just keep doing. Keep moving. Never retire.

Mile High City

There are times when I feel a little tug in my heart. I think it's the universe telling me it's time to visit the west coast. I've been wanting to visit Portland, OR forever. I may have a trip to CA in June or otherwise, maybe I can make it over in the fall. It's funny because I just got back from a conference in Denver, CO. Denver was surprising. I had no idea what sorts of people lived there or what the food was like.

Last year the conference was in Phoenix and visually the two cities look similar - high rises downtown, nice wide, clean, solidly gridded streets, surrounded by mountains on the periphery. The one thing Phoenix didn't seem to have was people. I would see folks headed to the baseball stadium in the afternoon and at Starbucks in the morning and that was pretty much it. The streets seemed strangely desolate, especially in the evening. I thought it might make a nice set for a superhero comic book. Others thought it suitable for a zombie movie. Denver, however, was teeming with people day and night particularly on the 16th St. mall which had a handy free bus. I don't particularly like crowds, but I recognize how important they can be to a city.

 Foodwise, the chefs of Denver are masters of comfort food. First of all there was macaroni & cheese and coleslaw everywhere. I had lunch at a diner near the hotel twice because it was so good. I want to go back and see how well they do pancakes. I have a feeling they would be awesome. Boon arranged a microbrew walking tour. I don't really drink beer all that often, but there were a couple that I actually liked (and one whose name I thought was a little too similar to a certain serial killer's nickname). I'm still laughing from when Katey was asked what her favorite beer was, she answered "Vodka!"

The best meal was at Euclid Hall, and actually it was the best meal I've had in a while. I had the chicken and sourdough waffles along with some grilled vegetables. Everything was perfectly cooked. Leah, who was sitting next to me, was kind enough to let me have a bite of her boudin. So amazing! I totally have to go back there.

I would say the only thing I didn't like about Denver was the dry air. I know some people had issues with the altitude, but I didn't really feel it. My skin, though, was not happy at all. I've never seen it so cracked and flaky, even in the hot Texas sun. I'm glad I'd brought some hand cream, but I really needed other reinforcements.

Besides the food, the other interesting part of Denver was outside of downtown. A small group of us made a bit of a pilgrimage to Plastic Chapel which is a nice little toy store. I'm not sure what the neighborhood was, but it reminded me of The Drag or South Lamar in Austin. Unfortunately it was raining (and then snowing) so we didn't really explore, but this is an area that totally warrants going back with a camera.

So a good trip westward and I'm looking forward to going even farther.

2 Quick Airport Bathroom Stories (not dirty!)

I flew to Philadelphia (on my way to some other state) last week and I can't remember which terminal we were in, but the women's bathroom near the baggage claim had gobs and gobs of free tampons!

I was in another bathroom before I flew back and there was an opaque glass wall receiving the full brunt of the late afternoon sun. It was so warm, but the glow was nice.

Yay Philly!