cliodhna’s wave

… in the Art Park in Chihuahua.

It was nice. There was a bit of breeze and I met all the other artists.. Some of whom have been there forever. i got bored around three o clock and then there was a meeting which whiled away 40 mins or so.

I sold two greeting cards and made 100 pesos (approx 7 dollars) but I will give it a few week and see do I make any sales. They said there are more people when it gets a bit warmer. I laugh at that, if this was in ireland this weather would be the most amazing summer day ever. Here, its still a bit fresh for them.

I bought this bottle of beer to see what it tasted like. its not often really interesting beers arrive in the local wal-mart.

I poured it into a glass, half for me and half for paul and then took a sip. I was immediatly transported to winter, Ireland, a cozy pub with soft seats, the real traditional kind of pub with carpet on the floor and fixture of old guys sipping their guinnesses and holding up the bar. I had to give it its own post! It was the stout flavour of course but then the extra depth and spiciness of the chocolate gave me the kind of memory recall you get with an old familiar smell.

oh, and Paul hated it! but then the first time he tasted guinness he said it tasted like bananas.

i am in the process of getting my etsy store back together. This time under Green Bird Dreaming. I have been doing some embroideries for it, these are smaller.

The leaves are out on the tree in front of my workroom window. Now I work in a green shaded room with those squawky black birds that always remind me of dinosuars fighting in the branches.

Its hard here to find places to sell art work. I am joining a sunday art exhibition in a Park here in Chihuahua. Like what they have on Stephens Green except a lot smaller. Hopefully fingers crossed!

I just got a comment on the previous post from two really good friends of mine, Linsey who I went to art college with and Simon her husband who owns the nicest jewellry store in the world! ( dublin, wexford street) I worked there for many a happy hour polishing silver, deciding which piece I prefered, this would change by the day and i never really made up my mind. Too many choices

http://www.djinnjewellery.com/

i am going through a reinvention, again… I am thinking of changing my etsy shop name and actually doing some advertising to get some sales… simple stuff yes but a side of things i am quite hopeless at. I am doing some small embroideries I can sell on the store and then the shopping bags of course.

I have found some stores here in chihuahua I can put them also, at last!

Also, now a new game for driving around chihuahua, keep the kids happy and its educational at the same time

Its called ’spot the traffic infringement’ and you choose a traffic violation like breaking a red light or not using indicators or turning left across three lanes of other traffic all going straight or pulling out veeerrrrrry slowly in front of oncoming cars or speeding and zipping in and out of cars. Each one has points based on the severity of the rule breaking, seeing someone actually cause an accident garantees a win. The person who sees the most (or gets the most points) of their violation wins. I am still sorting it out and it will be out in the stores come june.

I know I am being flippant about this but chihauhua is filled with terrible drivers! I am on my gaurd 100% of the time driving around here and I expect the unexpected constantly. The speed limit is completely ignored, i have come to the conclusion that the only cars that do go the speed limit are old and can’t go any faster. If you want to stop at a red light you had better make your intentions clear because up to three seconds after the light changes to red its still fair game to sail across. I see accidents everyday at traffic lights.

two new pieces, both small, 4 inches by 8 inches each one.I am still working with the feathers, and these are one note each of a song. The feathers are so soft and light and feel delicious. It is almost a shame to have to put them behind glass. I have a few framed now, in gold and and copper mat boards and frames and they look wonderful. I love the metallic threads I am using. Finally I have a sewing machine here that can handle them. The last machine I had here, a cheap brother (which for the price was an excellent machine) didn’t like them at all and would break them immediately.

and a photo of my workspace. I had to take one for a festival I am applying for. Fingers crossed! There are numerous festivals in new Mexico and Arizona I am looking at but a lot of them want booth shots, which of ourse I don’t have until I actually do a festival.

I was in mexico city recently with my mum and dad and aunt and sister and we did all the usual touristy things, for me some of them for the fifth or sixth time.

One place we went where I had only been once before was the templo mayor in the Zocalo beside the cathedral. It is the old centre of the aztec civilisation and is now of course tumblind down and in ruins. There is a good museum attached to it with statues and finds from the area. I love the old statues from old mexico. The faces are so expressive.

These were my favourite. Stone knives with faces on them, they look so comical, like childrens toys.

And of course the ever present spiral. Had a thought about this one, like the spiral was been received by the bottom piece.

Of course if you are ever in mexico city you have to go to the Museum of Archeology. Amazing place and standing in the place of honour right at the back gallery is the sun stone. It is the aztec calender stone and was found buried under the zocalo in 1760. It is impressive in its size and carvings.

Had a thought about the mayan calender when I was there. All the meanings of the mayan calender will not be relevent after 2012. They will have to start again. New beginning, fresh wind, rewrite the world.

an old doctored picture i found. I think I sent it to him, I don’t know if he found it funny or not. I think its hilarious!

I have started using feathers in my embroidery. Exploring the texture and general fluffiness and yumminess of them with gold and silver fabrics. Trying to capture in visual terms bird song, the richness of a note that hangs in the air for a second and vanishes.

I have a new website at www.greenbirddreaming.com.

I was very impressed with myself when it was actually up and running on the internet. Its my first time making a website and getting it online. Its all very simple now that I know how but there were many times when my head felt like it was going to melt from an overload of information and the need to know about html, hosting, ftp files, page design, tables and making them do what I wanted them to do.

Now I know!

If anyone is wishing to make their own site here are some links that I used

www.fatcow.com is my hosting site and is very clear and easy and the tech support is great

http://pho.to/webalbum/ is the gallery i downloaded and then changed the colours and stuff to suit myself

http://kompozer.net/ is the free downloadable page editor to make your own pages

all good stuff and easy to navigate

good luck!