Boston...

The sun rises over Boston

(view from my porch)

Really still trying to wrap my head what went on this past week. If you know Boston, you know sports... It's kind of shoved down your throat whether you're into it or not. But that's okay... because really, routing for the home team is a lot of fun. Which is what Patriots Day really has become. Yes, we still have the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington... in fact there's always 2 guys dressed in the 3 corner hats riding down Massachusetts Avenue on horseback. The games, both Red Sox and Bruins, were scheduled. And of course, the Marathon.

Monday:

I had tickets to that Bruins game. I was sitting at my desk (it's optional here to take the day off or not) and at around 3:30 - 4 a hoard of coworkers went by my desk to the conference room where the TV is. I followed them. NECN coverage, photographs from the scene. My coworker: "Holy shit, that's blood."

My neighbor ran the marathon. I was texting her begging her to respond to me. She did, about 30-40 minutes later. She later told me she was crossed the finish line 15 minutes before it happened and was eating a sandwich with her boyfriend at a local restaurant. I was calling the Garden, (I must admit here that I was a little in denial, "it can't be that bad.") to see what was up with the game. Got a recording that it wasnt' cancelled. Called Tracy who was at home (and was planning on going to the game with me)

T: No I think it's cancelled. Where are you?

C: still at work. Are you sure?

T: Chrissy, there saying there may be more bombs on the T

C; No way.

T: WAY!

C; I'll call again.

T: Ok, on Twitter. Bruins page says its cancelled.

call back

C: Yep its cancelled...

After that conversation I just went home. Walked, mind you. I don't think I had it in me to ride the train. Jason was fishing (he had the day off). When I called him, we talked a little about what happened. He then told me it was his mum's birthday and would be going out to dinner with his family. I had to wait til 11pm to get a hug. What a horrible day.

Tuesday:

Business as usual in Boston/Cambridge.... kind of. People a little on edge. Everyone asking each other, "are you okay?"

Wednesday:

I'm not a big TV watcher. I look at the Internet a lot and will admit, a bit addicted to Facebook. Really, I don't think its good, but that's a story for another day. Instead, I listen to NPR in the morning. And it was Wednesday morning, when they played a recording of when the bombs went off. That's when it hit me:

the panic. You could hear it in the screams. fucking awful.

I also did yoga on Wednesday after work. I really believe that this alleviated my body of all the stress and tension that I had been feeling, not even realizing, these past few days. On my walk home, I noticed a small pink stuffed animal lying face down in the gutter. Oh, this just breaks my heart. Why? Because all I can think of is that small child that dropped it and is now having a meltdown because she lost her 'bubby' on the way home. I picked it up, brushed off the dirt and put it in one of the flower/plant displays that adorn our city on the 'islands' of sidewalk. And then just absolutely broke down. Sobbing. All the rest of the way home. That poor family. Those poor people. Why does this have to happen? Why here? Why do we do it to other people? What's going to happen.... now? Jason came home and saw me upset. I told him the whole story and he hugged me tight. sigh.

Thursday:

Better, but not yet perfect. But hell, I was really looking forward to Jason's gig at OBriens later that night. I really thought everyone could use a drink and some hard rock and heavy metal at this point. And it was fun. A lot of fun. Then at about 12am people hearing and talking about a shooting over at MIT about a mile away. People standing around, "what is this world coming to?" I had no idea that it was related to Monday's bombing. It got eerily quite except for the cop cars FLYING up Cambridge Street. Shit was going down.

Friday:

Phone was ringing at 6:30am. I was thinking "who the hell is calling here" and by the time I got up to answer it, the caller had hung up. Oh, bastards. And yes, I was very hungover. It wasn't til later that I realized that phone call was a "Reverse 911" call telling us to stay in. Went back to bed for those precious 20 minutes before having to get up and get ready for work. Again, turned the radio on to NPR.

Lockdown.

Holy Shit.

AND apparently my cell was on vibrate, so I didn't get the gazillion texts/calls from my mother. Woops. But I did call her at that point and told her that I was fine. I woke Jason up. And it was kind of surreal, this whole lock down thing. What was going to happen? I put Luna's harness on in case we wanted to get out, Fast. Lord knows I didn't want to have to deal with a cat carrier. And then we just waited. And waited. I painted a little... did some laundry. I felt like this guy could be anywhere... was he in my basement? But no, he was in Watertown. Hiding. Bleeding. In a boat that was in a yard for the winter season. And they got him.

I believe that the things that happened this past week is a real reflection on humankind. Both bad and good.  Monday was horrific, Tuesday was edgy. Will things be back to "normal"? No, never. I will never look at Copley the same way again. I'll always think of the people down there on the finish line who were witness to this madness. I'm glad to be a part of this town, for all of it's Massholes and Wicked Pissahs. That's what they mean by Boston Strong.



2011 Wrap Up

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, as much fun as I had over the past year, I'm kinda glad it's over. Full of ups and downs 2011 was. I turned 40 (!), Jason lost his job, art sales and commissions were practically non existent. But this blog isn't about bitching, it's about celebrating. So lets go through the better parts :)

Wu Tang at the Wilber Theater, Boston

What better way to start off a show season with Wu Tang (if you want a great drinking game, go to a Wu show and drink every time they mention Ol Dirty Bastard... you'll be silly in no time!) Other shows included Mastodon, Deftones, Helmet, the reunion of Honkeyball, Queens of the Stone Age, A Perfect Circle, Clutch, Wrought Iron Hex (which is J's band and probably one of the best things to come out of 2011) Gut, All Dinosaurs, Ella Riot, Sherman Burns (another 2011 discovery!) the Lepers, the Kills, Corrosion of Comformity, Taiwan Typhoon (so freakin' awesome) Motorhead, Twilight Singers, Planetoid, X, Gozu, Explosions in the Sky, Give Up, White Denim, Rival Schools, Doomriders, Opeth, Helmet, Black Thai, Karma to Burn, Beneath the Stone and Black Helicopter. Of course there were more, I just don't remember your names LOL... Yes, as you know love watching live music. For 2012 I'm already have tickets to Mission of Burma, Tool and the Kills.. Love this town. :)

Chester's front yard February 2011

If you were in the northeast this past winter of 2011, I don't have to tell you the obscene amount of snow we received. Jason and I spent a lot of weekends going to Chester and working on maintaining feed for the deer that were there. Cutting small trees so that they can eat the browse is mostly what we did. There were times I was stuck in snow drifts up to my hips. And living in the city with no driveway wasn't all that fun either. I hoping that this year won't be so nasty, but we've only just begun!

Shed Antler found in Boxford MA

If you don't know, white tail deer drop their antlers every winter after the mating season is over. Jason and I will go out looking for them in the woods every year from March to May. They don't last as rodents will eat them for the calcium and they are difficult to find. J's been on a roll lately and will usually find them all where I find none... until this year! I wandered down to the swamp on my parents property and finally found my first shed! I also had about 7 tics on me too. Gross.




Me and Heidi at Black Thai, April 2011

2011 and Heidi. Unfortunately, one of my closest friends has gone and moved to LA. She got a job offer she couldn't refuse. We made some serious waves in 2011 together. Best of luck, H. Love you.






Dead Leaf & Stick



16x20 Acrylic




I really started to explore more acrylic this past year and this piece I think was the best that came out of the experimentation. This will also be on exhibit at the Turners Falls Discovery Center in December 2012 and January 2013. Santa Tracy also bought me some water based oil paints for Christmas and I'm so excited to use them!!



Me, June 2011

So in Feb 2011, I was accepted into the Cambridge Y Weight Challenge. Like Biggest Loser, except instead of measuring pounds lost, this was measured for fat percentage lost. I came in second with 14lbs of fat lost, 8 lbs of muscle gained and went down from a size 12 to an 8. I had always been going to the gym, turns out I just was eating the wrong things at the wrong time of day. I felt like I broke a secret code and couldn't be happier. I mean, look at those biceps!! I'm so much stronger and feel so much better now. The only thing I've really stopped eating is potato chips and heavy beers (ie. Sierra Nevada). Bud lights and/or Crown Royal from now on! LOL



Glacier National Park Montana
June 2011







Me and J

GNP June 2011



So, this past June I turned 40 and Jason and I celebrated by making a trip to the Northern part of Montana. It was a great trip and it was made better by being with the love of my life! The whole trip was a "constant upgrade" from our rental car, lodging and we managed to see some grizzly bears. I can't tell you how badly I want to go back!!



My Boots!
Nothing significant, just love a good leopard print :)











My Art at the Douglas Paul Real Estate Office

Allston MA

Unfortunately, the selling of art and commissions wasn't that great in 2011. So, I focused energies elsewhere and was able to hang my work in the Douglas Paul real estate office for the Allston Art walk that happened in September. I also met some people like Alana Olsen, the head of the Allston Villages program, who are working hard to clean up and culture our little neighborhood. I also became heavily involved in the Allston Open Studios and hope these efforts will make Allston less like a drunken college town and more like a funky hip place where people can see art and hear music. This is an ongoing effort for sure!

My space at the Allston Open Studios

November 2011



Lucy and her portrait

Lucy's owner Chris C was the winner of my gift certificate for a 5x7" pet portrait that I donated to PBRC (Pit Bull Rescue Center) She sent me this picture after the holidays and I love it! Lucy's such a good dog!

So I'm excited for 2012. I've always felt that the "even" years tend to be a bit tamer than the odd ones so,

Here's to 2012

May it be the best year yet!

Happy Halloweeeeeeeeen!

Yes, the big weekend is here! And I have orders to paint! Of course I'm going to get crackin' but but it's Halloween and I have a faboo costume and MUST go out. Here in Boston the music scene does "Ghosting". What this means is that local bands (not cover bands, mind you) will pick an artist and sing all their songs for their performance. Last year we went to a Kiss ghosting although I must admit I was kind of disappointed that they didn't wear the Kiss makeup. This year, my plan was to go down to Great Scotts http://www.greatscottboston.com/ and check out Vostok 4 ghosting as Talking Heads and then hang for the Pill dance party (which is something I've been wanting to check out for some time). My friend, and Halloween pal, T, is a huge TH fan so I thought this would be perfect. BUT THEN... I just found out Church http://www.churchofboston.com/ is doing a whole night of Guys doing the Girls with Lights Out doing MADONNA!! Did you know I'm a huge Madge fan???? Now you do! But I can't do both!! Both financially and I need to stay in one night and work on commissions (I'm working on one now that's a challenge and have 2 in waiting).... oh dear!! What am I to do??? :)

KC beginning

16"x20" watercolor

Here Kitty Kitty! A 16"x20" is always exciting and challenging for me, since I'm always working small. I am kinda having a tough time with this one. Some of the green has already bled into the white of the cat, and the cat is white. I've never used masking before so I wouldn't know where to begin with that stuff. And thank dog there was a big green cedar tree behind KC and not a blue sky because I suck at doing washes!! (A wash is the solid color without any dark spots, puddles or streaks.) So last night I spent more time on those green cedars and I have to remember to mix my palette not so close to the painting because some paint did fleck out of the well and nearly got on the kitty! Yikes!!

This past Tuesday we had a creative get together and carved pumpkins. I used a stencil (that I had made!) and it was of Elvis. Can you tell that it looks like the King? Kind of? Yeah, I agree. J said not really at all and gave me one of those "Nice Try" looks. The mouth reminds me of Mummenschanz http://www.mummenschanz.com/index.asp which I always wanted to see when I was a kid.

So without giving it away....


This is my crown for my costume for Halloween. Ha Ha!! It's going to be great!!!! Have a happy and safe one!!

Allston Rock City

So Friday I got the news that long time local club Harpers Ferry is closing it's doors after 40 years of bringing live music to Allston. You don't know how much this breaks my heart. I love going to see live music and I love the fact that I had at least 3 clubs within walking distance to my condo. Harpers was one of them. Some think that the local music scene is dead or dying and I'm here to tell you it's NOT. In fact, people have poo-pooing the local music scene for years. I say: Pish Posh! YOU are the local music scene. The bands are there, and they are playing. It's YOU who needs to show your support by going out!! I've actually talked with musicians about it. The scene is this: Bands play, you go out and watch them. You have a couple of beers while your there and support the establishment that is hosting the show. You might like the band, you might not. But how would you ever know? Hell, the band could suck donkey but the bass player is hot and you just may have a lovely time watching him. You might be the oldest one there (who cares?) you might be the only girl there (Hey - shorter line for the ladies room!) but you got to get out there. There's so many places to see music. Make some plans this Columbus day weekend and get out there! SUPPORT THE ARTS!

So this is what I did this past weekend:

Black Thai

I went to O'Brien's on Saturday night to check out Black Thai and Gozu. I had only heard good things about these 2 bands. Above is a picture of Black Thai that I took off their website. The only name I know is Jim Healy (far left) and have seen his solo stuff http://thepedigreeartist.blogspot.com/2010/04/hey-i-like-what-i-like-everything-else.html

and his other project We're All Gonna Die and am a fan. I was happy to see this band too. They we're really good. The only thing I didn't like is that I really couldn't hear Jim's singing voice and it's really worth taking a listen to! http://www.blackthaiband.com/

Gozu

Gozu found me on Twitter and became a follower. I then checked out their stuff and it is Bad Ass! I now follow them and was ecstatic to see them down at OB's. It's hard, funky, and a whole lot of guitar! Love love love this band. If you like Queens of the Stone Age, Black Sabbath or anything that's Groove Metal, you will love these guys. http://www.myspace.com/gozu666

Okay - back to the art. Christmas is coming and I've already started getting commissions for the holidays! Good sign! I was also able to get in some painting for my own portfolio AND dropped of my application for the Allston Open Studios. There's also going to be an art show at the Honan Allston Library and plan to show works there as well. New England Arts for Animals is having another members show down at the Fernwood Gallery in Norwood come this November and of course the JP First Church Christmas Art Show will be happening the first weekend of December. After that - a painting maniac I will be. Oh - and I still have NEAFA 2011 calendars for all those who are interested. I will be selling these for $10 a piece. Can I say it again? SUPPORT THE ARTS!!

Onyx

5"x7" watercolor and colored pencil