a short december

Each year as the weather turns cool and December appears on the horizon I begin to think about having some free time. With the end of fall semester I turn in my grades and get to enjoy having only 2 jobs for about a month. By Thanksgiving I entertain ideas of what my December will be like. I have visions of nights at home with the family. I compile ideas for all the new drawings I'll complete. I form a list of movies I've missed over the last year and plan to see during the break. Then I'll buy a book and think about how I'll read it as I sit by the fireplace and contemplate the absolute wonderment of a quiet winter's night.

And each year, almost without fail, December darts past me in a rush leaving me to wonder where all my free time went, wondering if I'll ever get to watch a movie again, and hoping I can still find that book I bought back in November.

I did accomplish a lot of tasks during this break (which ends in just 7 more days). I made a boat-load of frames, finished a tiny multitude of small sketchy drawings, started a new graphite drawing, updated & organized all sorts of things, and got vomited on. That last one wasn't really on my list of things to do, but it happened none-the-less.

One of my not-so-secret concerns with having a child was how it would affect my creative life. I worried that I would not have as much time to draw or sculpt. Selfish, I know, but a genuine concern for an artist. Now 2 1/2 years into it, I'm realizing how his point of view of the world is shaping my research interests and providing me with more interesting ideas and images. Everything is amazing if you look at it the right way. Just ask him.

So while I try to find that book I was supposed to read, you go ahead and have some coffee and enjoy the photographic highlights of the last week or so:

Pearson's Falls, Tryon, NC

Ri Ra's New Years Eve Hooligans, Charlotte, NC

Joe Kwan (the man, the myth, the legend) & his Avett friends in Charlotte