Tales from Studio Mailbox

Easter Sewing Pattern Sale

Hey gang!  I hope you're cloaked in craftiness for the upcoming weekend.  I wanted to let you know about my girlfriend Heather's amazing deal hosted by Gigi's Petals for the next three days.  If you love sewing kid's stuff, I thought you might appreciate this:

Click here to be redirected to grocery store, tea party and princess party patterns on sale now for $6.50.

As most of you know, I've been out of the US for nearly a decade.  I cannot tell you how deeply sad I was to discover that our retail stores now sell pre-stuffed plastic eggs in various cartoon characters for the traditional easter egg hunt.  What a shocker for me to realize that apparently we can't fill our own hollow plastic eggs anymore, and instead just buy them already done for us.

Heather's patterns make me smile thinking about the moms who might be sneaking in a few handmade treasures into baskets among the Barbie and Spongebob crap. 

(This is not a post intended to hit any moms out there with the shame train.  Just for the record, my kid is getting all kinds of plastic stuff this year and sadly not one homemade gift.  His eggs are shrink wrapped with lighting McQueen decals and probably filled with treats made entirely from high fructose corn syrup.  Yet with this confession, I am going to try harder next year).

Maybe if every morning this year that I made scrambled eggs I could blow-out the shells and have something like this in my yard next year:  a traditional German Easter Egg tree, decorated with real eggs painted by children and hung with string.  Now that's something to make a farmer smile!

Happy New Year

Here's to 2012, whatever it may bring.  Just having a little fun here, love you guys!!  xx tj

Big Bloody Eye

This photo pretty much sums it up right now.  We knew moving was going to prove difficult, but I wasn't quite ready for this.

I don't know what the hell has happened to America while I was away for the majority of the last decade, so instead I'm trying to think about what the hell has changed in me.   Who knows what the problem is, but I suspect it's that all my art supplies have been floating on a ship for weeks and I'm going nuts without them.

So although every day I've been faced with crap like this sign while I have four bags of luggage to move, there are also mornings where I wake up to my beautiful new city and feel pretty sure that it's just going to take a little time before things start feeling better.

For the immediate future I'm listening to a friend who advised me to give myself "permission to not be creative." 

Probably not a bad idea since a blood vessel blew in my left eye, turning it red and making me look like an escaped circus clown.  I laughed so hard when I read that a subconjunctival hemorrhage is "generally a painless and harmless condition."  I thought, "well not to my reputation it isn't!"  I've decided that when my body starts exploding, it's time to ease off a bit and take a break.

Once I can return to blogging, I'll start out by sharing some exciting news as well as some fun photos of the groove-a-licious hotel I'm staying in.  (Look closely at the rainbow photo for a sneak peek.  Notice the reflection of the frosted glass mirror in the window?  Now that's what I'm talkin' about!) 

Oh yeah, you're in for a treat... just hang in there with me and we'll get through this...

right?

*Sorry for the re-post gang, something went wrong with my link and when I went to fix it everything went crazy.  Ironic or no?

Seatmate Summary

Despite the jet-lag, it's good to be back in Germany.  I hope I didn't bore you all to death while I was gone, and that maybe some readers are still hanging around here.  And boy did I appreciate the comments you left knowing that I couldn't respond!  Every now and then I'd get wi-fi and my emails would come into my phone and there were your kind words!  *Ahhh*

Since I don't have any artwork to show you, I was thinking you guys might like a summary of the seatmates I had on the trip. I might start a journal just for flights and keeping track of the random people that cross my path in this lifetime.  Wouldn't that be cool?  Then again, if you were settling yourself into an airplane and the person next to you got out a book and started trying to connect with you it might seem a bit creepy.  (Excuse me sir, can I take your picture?  Can I trace around your hand in this book?) I can just see myself hoping for a middle seat because I could make two journal entries instead of one...

Well anyway here's a breakdown of the journey:

Frankfurt - Chicago and My New Friend Al

The best leg of the whole trip was right off the bat.  I cannot write enough about Al!  The ironic thing is that we were seated in the absolute worst possible aisle of the entire airplane.  We were in a row of 4 seats directly behind a of row of 5.  This means our feet had to straddle the legs of the chairs in front of us and our TVs were not centered in front of our faces.  We got to watch our entertainment with tilted heads while trying to compensate for the glare. 

Al was simply awesome.  He hadn't been home to the US for 8 years.  We didn't really interact at all in the beginning except I offered to give him the aisle seat.  Of course he declined which was terrific news for my long legs.  What I liked best about him was that he was such a good sport.  When the flight attendant yelled at him for wanting sugar with his tea, he laughed.  When the guy in front of me reclined his seat and I couldn't see my screen, he shared his.  When he needed a pen for his customs form and I shook my giant bag full of art markers at him, he got the joke!  And since Al was looking so sharp in his suit, a little boy in Chicago looked up to him and screamed, "Hi Obama!"  and what did Al do?  He took it in stride with a big grin.  Then we erupted in laughter while I declared that the mother of that kid would be cringing for days.  "But your mom is going to be so proud!" I told him, "small children confuse you for the president!"   I was sad to part ways with Al and I really hope he had a wonderful time back home.

Chicago - Duluth and Princesses Self-Absorbo

On the second leg of the trip I found myself sitting in a tiny jet next to a woman who was completely disassociated with everything around her.  I stood over her in the aisle while she wildly texted on her Blackberry.  I had to ask her to let me into the window seat.  Without looking up, she grunted some sort of acknowledgement and moved out of my way but not without tearing her eyes from her device.  Before I had my seat-belt buckled, she switched over to an iPhone.  Then as the plane prepared for take off she went through a ritual of gum, Bose noise-reducing headgear, and Kindle reader. 40 minutes later she reversed the order of the ritual and packed it all away.  Before the wheels hit the tarmac she fired up both phones and was having a loud conversation before I could ask her to let me stand up in the aisle.  She had no idea I had been traveling all day, she had no idea anybody else was really even there. 

Duluth - Chicago and a Woman from Arkansas

The first leg of my return trip had me sitting next to an older woman for the short journey to Chicago.  She was very upset that they had taken her hand luggage and really worried how and where she was going to get it back.  I realized immediately she didn't fly a lot and using my most reassuring voice I explained that they would give it back to her at the gate.  "Well they better!" she told me in such an accusatory way that I knew right then and there if I was somehow wrong she was going to open up a can of Arkansas whoop-ass on me that I'd never be the same again.  That's what I get for trying to be nice. I made myself as small as possible while huddling next to the window.  We mostly ignored each other for the rest of the flight until she started asking me about her connecting flight to Arkansas.  Inside I was thinking, "Lady, I don't work here" but then decided to be compassionate and explain how to find her next gate.

Chicago - Frankfurt and the Odd Couple

The male half of the couple seated next to me on the last leg of the journey was a grumpy fella.  The pair had such overstuffed hand luggage that he struggled to get it into the overhead compartments.  This isn't normally such a horrible offense, but when you slam down the door so violently that I'm worried you've broken my laptop or camera, the window of opportunity for friendship starts closing pretty quickly.  Plus, psycho behavior makes me scared in general.  Then, when I tried to help his wife adjust the air vent that she couldn't reach, he rolled his eyes at me.  That's right friends.  The full cartoon eye roll.  So it was official.  I didn't like him.  At all.  Normally, it takes me years to dislike a person.  But hey, there are always exceptions! 

After a few hours I decided the woman was alright.  She was German and returning for the first time in 13 years.  I was impressed that she was so nice despite being married to such an adverse companion.  She shed a few tears as we landed in Frankfurt and I was happy she was getting to visit her home. I hope she ditches her worse half somewhere in the Blackforest and abandons him to be eaten alive by gnomes. 

In other travel related interactions

I thanked several soldiers for serving our country.  I held and snuggled the world's heaviest Swedish baby and I discussed the perfect hand luggage with a lovely soft spoken woman named Beatrix.  I learned how to speak Starbucks again, "tall-skim-mocha-no-whip, havea niceday!"

For kicks here's a shot of Al and me for you.  My head looks gi-normous in this shot, but hey we're smiling which was no easy feat in our terrible seats...

New Quay, Wales

Life has me thinking about how we make up rules about the world based on what we've experienced and what we "know" to be true and sometimes we'll go to any length to protect those rules.

A few summers ago, my hubby's wish was to "see dolphins" during our summer holiday.  At the time we were living in SouthWest London, and instead of bringing him to the zoo, I went on-line and started searching for "whale watching" or "dolphin spotting."  Sure enough, I found the answer to our wish, New Quay on Cardigan Bay in West Wales!  We formulated a plan, and drove across the United Kingdom in search of the dolphins of Cardigan Bay.

Now, I could go on and on about how we were lucky enough to see a Sea Lion come to shore, or how the world's loveliest Welsch man gave me a personal tour of his wollen mill, but this post is about the fact that when we told people that we were in New Quay (pronounced "new key") Wales, they took the liberty of "correcting" and informing us that we were actually in Newquay, Cornwall.

So we would say, "no, we were in Wales" and they would say, "no, you were in Cornwall."  We even had a couple of angry acquaintences who made so much fun of us for "being so stupid" that we were supposedly still in England and merely thinking we were in Wales.

Hmmm.  How do you even respond to that?  Let's see...so we sat in a car and read the signs as we changed COUNTRIES and drove for a million miles getting stuck behind farmers moving livestock from one pasture to the next, yet we were really on a giant treadmill, not leaving England at all, and just simply following signs to Newquay which we assume was in Wales but was actually still in England?? 

Is that what these people were getting at?

So here's the summary of the story:  there's more than one New Quay.  One spelled New Quay and the other Newquay.  Both destinations sounding identical when spoken.  These places are in two different coutries.  The one in Cornwall is far more famous, and since my hubby and myself were both foreigners, it was ASSUMED that we had made some kind of gross geographical mistake in thinking that we were in Wales.

Again and again I wonder why humans are so invested in being "right" all the time.  It's as if not knowing something exposes us in a way that's FAR too scary.  Why is it that when we process a story where the pieces aren't fitting together, that we immediately assume that the other person is wrong instead of simply wondering if there's more than one answer. 

Just for the record, there's more than one Las Vegas too.  There is Las Vegas, New Mexico as well as the more famous Las Vegas, Nevada.  So if you see a European at a party telling you that Las Vegas was such a lovely city while they visited New Mexico, consider the fact that YOU DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING.  Nobody does.

EHEC - what the heck?

I have lived in Germany during the bird and swine flu epidemics so I'd like to share how it is to be a foreigner who does not fully comprehend the news. 

This is something like the time when I realized there was a gas leak in our neighborhood.  I called a pregnant friend who didn't speak 10 words of German and told her to close all her windows and stay inside until she noticed that people had resumed activity.  I'll never forget her response when she said, "I wondered where the hell everybody was today!"

Anyone planning to visit Germany right now needs to know that there is an outbreak of bacteria on our vegetables.  Dear readers, please do not use this post as a public health announcement. I'm just a goofy artist who documents my responses to my environment.  This is not a laughing matter however because people have already died from complications resulting from the EHEC bacteria.  Make sure and research some intelligently reported news on this subject before you arrive and start eating, especially if you're traveling with small children or the elderly.

That being said, here was my interpretation of what was happening (before I googled anything).  This is what it's like to know "something bad" is happening, but not really know what. *Note to new readers: German is not my native language.

Here was TJ's comprehension of the EHEC situation gathered mainly from radio news:

Raw vegetables, especially salad, tomato and cucumbers are being tested because there is a strain of bacteria that is causing digestive problems.  Reports on Spanish and German farms.  Something is toxic in the compost or the water and it has contaminated the crops. Organic produce is ironically the most dangerous.  It's either ON the vegetables or it's IN the flesh of the vegetables.  Cucumbers are bad. Maybe tomatoes are to blame.  Economic experts are calculating the revenue being lost by piles of rotting food, and the EU will be fining for this.  The Spanish minister of Cucumbers announced something very important.  The health administers are convening and compiling data and everybody wants answers! It's best not to eat any raw vegetables in restaurants. There is no immunization available, but hygiene is your greatest defense.  Wash your cutting boards, knives and hands. Something about 2 minutes at 70 degrees and then meat. Never eat red bloody meat.

The first symptom of being infected with this bacteria is diarrhea.  It's possible that if infected you may need to be hospitalized.  This bacteria is extremely dangerous and highly resistant to antibiotics.  Your liver may need to be washed, something about dialysis.  The international football congressional has stated that last week was a complete scandal!  (Because they rolled right into football, I have no idea if it was a segue relating the food problem to the sport or not).

Next, TJ googled around a bit and gathered a few additional thoughts:

Poor Spain!  The source of the problem is unclear. Is it a virus or is it a bacteria?  Do you contract it only from fresh veggies or is it a virus that can be contracted between humans or both? Germany seems to be sorry that the uproar has put the Spanish farmers in crisis.   Because the bacteria is so rare and evidence doesn't match up, there is suspicion that this could possibly be a terrorist attack.  This post clarified that it's not the liver but the kidneys that can be affected by the bacteria.  (*note to self: learn German anatomy).  The World Health Organization spells out the strain of coli bacteria quite clearly.

As an observer, I've been watching what people have in their carts at the supermarkets.  The big stores have stopped ordering fresh produce.  We're being told the safest thing to do is to buy locally. Yet I see lots of people buying produce in the stores as usual.  Somehow this is comforting to me.   Other than that, we're all just waiting for the experts to determine where it's coming from and what the recommended protocol is. 

Thanks everybody for the emails and concern, luckily our family seems fine.  Our hearts go out to the people who have already experienced tragedy.  I'd like to encourage everybody to keep your foreign friends and neighbors in mind when public announcements are made.  What might seem blatantly obvious to native people, is not necessarily apparent to everyone. 

PS- what do you guys think of the tomato art?  Good visuals or in bad taste?

Learning to Embrace my Rhythm

Normally at times like these I have a few posts up my sleeve that I can pin up here and pretend I was working all day.  Well oopsie, I'm out.

Yesterday and today completely sucked.  And I hate even saying that because I've got a great life and good health, so if I'm not enjoying my time here, what's the deal?

Dinner's burning on the stove so let me sum it up by sharing the last thing that happened. The doorbell rang and the postal woman asked me if some random person lived here. 

I look down at my feet and there is a HUGE box that's clearly holding a big ass bouquet of flowers.  And it's all marketed in English and there's even a heart on the side with the word "Valentine" scrawled across it.

And although this box was marked with my address, it sadly lacked my name.

So she efficiently snapped a stack of bills into my hand, bent over and scooped up the box and marched away.

Peeps, I just started laughing like a LOON. 

The universe is such a wiley joker; "Hey TJ, here's flowers for you, NOT!!"

I can't even express how weirdly perfect it was.  Oh well, let's have a great creative weekend anyway hey?  What else is there?

PS - and since I've given you so little, I'd recommend reading this post if you want a great laugh about creative rhythms.  It's a classic!

 

Sore Loser

It's been disappointing days here at Studio Mailbox.  Again, another artwork submission of mine has been passed by and again it was done in a way that was quite dismissive and lacked basic business skills.

So here's the deal world: if you make a call for artwork and you accept submissions from artists it is generally assumed that you will later follow up with your project and simply INFORM those who created artwork (using time/energy/heart/soul/postage money, etc etc) and let them know if the work is accepted or rejected.

Rejection isn't the problem.  A blatant lack of manners is. 

This feels so much like getting dumped by a guy who just disappears without explanation instead of having enough respect to tell you it's over. 

Well guess what Germany?  IT'S NOT OVER.  It hasn't even begun.  (Insert psycho girlfriend face and cue dramatic music).

No seriously.  So what if it's at the half-way mark for the year and not one of 10 artwork submissions has manifested into anything?  So what if my grand total earnings for the year has been a whopping 8 euros?  (Can you believe I actually just typed that? Jesus that's depressing).  If I let my mind go to a bad place, I might just come to the conclusion that my art actually sucks and that maybe I should just forget all this. 

It would be just easier to buy a ticket for the F'r bus and hate everybody around me. 

But I'm not going to.  I'm here to say:

"You're going to have to pry a paintbrush from my cold dead hand."

Lost and Found!

I have no idea why I'm attracted to these things and why I actually photograph them.  I think it has something to do with honoring humanity's nature to "display" lost stuff that clearly belongs to children. 

Adult crap; who cares? 

But kid stuff brings out the hope for a reunion...even in the biggest grumps.

The top one was taken with my iPhone.  I think the dolly was with my big camera. 

Please "Like" Me

Ok it's time for me to eat some serious crow now.  I have been a ruthless teaser of all things Facebook, and have even gone so far as professing I'm a Conscientious Facebook Objector.

Although I personally stand by these earlier convictions, Studio Mailbox has just crossed over to the dark side.  I've got no idea what I'm doing over there yet, but apparently this is some kind of necessary evil in the business world and I do not want to be so close-minded that I miss the opportunity to connect and interact with all the wonderful artists who are currently in Kelly Rae Robert's e-course with me.

For those of you on Facebook, it would mean so much if you would please go search for the Studio Mailbox Fan Page and then give me the thumbs-up "Like" symbol. 

If you have other friends who love mixed media art or German culture, it would also be so helpful if you would spread the word. 

At the moment I'm feeling super mixed emotions about all of this.  I'm not sure if this is something I really want to do and if I'm suddenly heading down a road I don't even want to be on.  In the end I've decided it's worth making the effort and contact with people, and if I find that this is something that doesn't work for me, then I'll break up with Facebook and go on my merry little way.  Wish me luck (I need it).