art therapy

I need some of it pretty badly. Probably going to update photogrpahy until I can focus on gathering all of these thoughts.

This was from a shoot back in may, with the beautiful Nicole Martins. I will post some more in a bit.

This is me these days. I look at this and I get the feeling that I'm carrying secrets around, which is interesting because that's the opposite. I've been doing my best to express myself openly and honestly through not only my spoken words but through my music and art as well. There's not as much of me hidden in the shadows as this picture seems to portray. At least not these days.

Today was beyond wonderful. I took a walk to the market, which is up and down a few hills, about a 45 minute walk (30 minutes if I skip). Apparently the sight of me makes people scream, though. I was heading to the horse trail (all the while wary of road apples) and a boy in a lifted truck (of course) leaned out his window and hollered, "MYEAAAUUUUURGHHHAH!" I was so happy that he was able to communicate effectively.

After my time at the market, I met with MacKenzie and Trevor, two of my favorite people in the universe. I entertained them with my story of how I ended up in the rubber room (oh how they laughed) and the subsequent events that led me back to Orange County. One day I will write it all down, as it's quite a hoot (in my opinion, the madness wasn't so hilarious to some others) but for now the oral history will have to do.

After that I got some painting done, went to the park with my little Heidi monster, ate some homemade chicken noodle soup, and then went of to a little churchy type meeting. I met a sweet girl with whom I think I'll be great friends, and this all made me very happy.

Tonight will end with cake and a cigarette. I love my little life right now.

new songs, ahoy!

There are two, "She & Him" and "I Know You". As a preface, these new songs are by no means complete instrumentally. I just wanted them to venture out into the grand land of internets for a test run. Just an FYI, you can definitely hear me pause and turn the page of my songbook. Why can you hear it? Because I am retarded and forgot to cut that part out before rendering it. Why didn't I fix it? Well...I am lazy. And the song's coming down anyway when I re-record it and add THE VIOLIN!!!!!!

"I Know You" is just as raw but without any weird page-turns. However that will soon have a harmonica bit and a piano part as well.

I don't know why I'm cranking out the tunes...I've written four complete songs in the past month and about ten poems. I guess I've had a lot in my head that needed dumping out.

Anyways, the best is yet to come. My favorite new song I refuse to post until it is perfect perfect. I think you will enjoy it...it's a duet about a day that was trying for both parties involved. A song about differing perspectives of the same, beautiful world.

Tomorrow I'll post the finished tablemarkers and a pretty picture of some birds that I drew today. Speaking of birds, I hope my friend Dustin Burd is okay. He is living in a tent in Yosemite and he climbs rocks all day. Hence why he is my hero, but I do miss him so. I hear he is coming into town, maybe in time for my birthday!

Oh, and any of my generous friends living overseas, let's arrange some sort of Djarum trade. I'll knit you a boat for a carton of Kretek cigarettes. Anyone interested in letting me in on some black market Blacks, please email me soon.

oh fall

mmmm I love the air, the breeze, the trees, and all of the BUTTERFLIES WHICH DON'T EVEN BELONG HERE RIGHT NOW. I'm serious, I know butterflies aren't supposed to be flitting around this time of year but they are. They fly all around my head. And they are beautiful.

SOoooo I don't have any photography to share today. I finished Noelle's table markers for her wedding, but I didn't feel like taking any shots in my poorly lit garage. garbage light, I say. It took me a lot longer to finish the project because of follies of my own. I should have used my brain a bit more than I chose to, and it cost me, both in time and in monies. And then little hearts kept running away and hiding, so I had to make more, only to find the ones that ran away right after making more. Rather frustrating, but oh well. Oh well. I'm high from paint fumes. My head hurts and so does my back from hunching over and painting, but blah blah complaining does nothing. Yoga, however, will fix it alllll up.

More fun from godPod today. A few songs I liked were:

Futures - Zero 7

The London Boys - David Bowie

Teenager - Camera Obscura

More of interest tomorrow, maybe. Who can say?

oh oh oh ALSO!! I wrote a new song! And it's a duet, as is another I wrote a few weeks ago during my stay in the rubber room. I suppose I imagine conversations in my head and then they become songs. My brain is a weird playground.

painting on pot

Today was full of painting, plums, painting, cigarettes, painting, turkish soup, and oh yeah, painting. Did I mention pai- yeah, I think I did. Although I am sure that you are just itching to know about all of those plums, cigarettes, and, most interesting of all, the turkish soup, I regret

to inform you that I will probably only discuss the painting.

I've been working on a piece for the entryway of our office, which consists of pot. Our office has some great, earthy pots. They aren't stinky or hairy, but they are very pretty. Here are some of the vessels:

The lighting doesn't do them justice as that shot is lit with a fluorescent bulb from my bed lamp, but you get the picture. I'll post a shot of the office itself at some point to help you understand.

The piece is going to be a background of abstract ethereal swirls (as they have and always will be one of my favorite elements) with a realistic still life of pots in the foreground. I'm done with the background and am working on the pots right now. Here's a shot of the painting's progress in my makeshift studio set up in the garage:

Here's some pot:

I also had some fun shooting portions of my palettes. I usually paint on cigar boxes, as they make pretty containers for my various art supplies when I have completely covered the top with paint. Here's a finished one that currently houses a portion of my colored pencils:

However, with this snazzy new french easel thingy came another palette. I think I'll be saving that one for oil painting, whenever I can afford such a hobby/whenever the oil gods rain down upon me (hopefully not literally but I'll take what I can get at this point), but I have used it during my acrylic adventures. There are some pretty interesting incidental designs on it:

I like to look at that one as a joyful, disembodied elephant head with a happy nosebleed, flying away from the earth and on its way to a new and more exciting life elsewhere.

I see a lot of bugs and bats in this one. On the left, there's a ladybug being hugged (or eaten, probably eaten but I'm feeling rather positive today, so let's go with a hug) and then on the right there's a laughing bat wearing an antennae hat. There's more but I'll let you find it. Tell me your interpretations! I'd love to see what you see.

Oh, and you probably know this, obviously, but I believe that if you are a visitor, you can make a comment anyway and just be anonymous. You don't need a google ID in order to comment. Or you could go ahead and join the google family (we are usually pretty friendly and we don't bicker too much), make a silly user name, and then you can be headeatinggreenmonster23, or something just as rad. Even though that's the raddest thing I could think of at this moment. So please! Tell me what you see!

Pardon that aside.

The other painting was a bit more official, so to speak. My friend Noelle is betrothed and she needed pretty table numbers for her wedding reception. She commissioned me to make them, hence why my fingers are covered in black spraypaint.

She bought plain wooden frames with heart-shaped cutouts, pink paper, paintbrushes, and then handed all of the above to me along with a check and a plea. Her wedding colors are black and fuchsia (yeah, I love this girl) and so I needed to paint the frames black and then paint the table numbers with black and silver. I spray painted the wooden frames with flat black enamel, as well as the cardboard backings. This project is also unfinished, but I did all of the hard stuff today. Tomorrow I shall paint the numbers, first with pearlescent silver and then on top of that in black with a finer brush.

I just thought that this looked pretty cool, what with the contrast and the different materials:

I have shots of the fully painted frames but they aren't nearly as interesting as I feel the process shots look. When I've completed the project, you'll definitely see them.

While doing all of this, I listened to some rad music, as is my wont. Sometimes I'll put the pod on shuffle, which is then no longer referred to as an iPod but a godPod, since I allow the Lawd of Music (I think His name might be Lennon? Or Bach? Abba? the name changes with every song) guide my listening experience. A lot of the songs stuck out, and they'll probably end up on some dorky mix I'll put together and most likely give to someone someday (with a lame, hand-drawn cover to boot...I doubt these people ever listen to the crap I give them.)

Here's are some songs that I jotted down...they fit my mood, I suppose:

Barfight Revolution, Power Violence - Margot & The Nuclear So And So's (I imagine some people probably feel this way when I talk)

I Wanna be Loved - Elvis Costello (well don't we all?)

The Scientist - Johnette Napolitano (a beautiful cover, I almost didn't like it)

Small- Portishead (mmmm such truths in her eerie harmonies)

I love You- Esser (oh you men, you know how)

In the City - Now, Now Every Children (we all long for that city...or as Izzard says "the citeearrh")

Black Fur - Fredrik (perfect song for a brisk walk)

The Way We Are - Fleming & John (may we never forget..it's like the cardigans at times and then BAM HERE'S MY VOICE...I also love that it's a husband and wife duo)

Enough out of me. Don't forget to look for silly designs in the paint! And if you haven't yet, go check out my new song, "Crazy" and tell me what you think in this post.

I love you all, I really do.

~K

The scarf is completed! Earlier this year, enchildaplate and I made a little trade. She provided me with yarn of her choosing and some yarn of my choosing and in turn, I knit her a scarf! The yarn is from KnitPicks.com, Crème Brulée in 100% cotton(!!!),

and this thing is softer than your baby, I promise you.

Here are a few more pictures so you can see the scarf in its glory.

New Song!

I wrote this one after taking a walk yesterday afternoon. You can listen and download it from my myspace music page. Here are the lyrics:

"crazy"

by katherine gehl donovan

people say I'm crazy

reaching for everything

maybe they're just lazy

embracing nothing

who knows?

maybe I'm just lazy

maybe I'm just crazy

sometimes when you reach for everything

you're met with nothing

maybe I'm crazy

how can you expect anything

when you are embracing nothing

maybe they're just lazy

who knows

maybe I'm just crazy

who knows anything

people say I'm crazy

reaching for everything

maybe they're just lazy

embracing nothing

who knows?

can you tell me something?

how can you expect anything

when you are embracing nothing

maybe they're just lazy

maybe I'm just crazy

who knows?

who knows anything?

maybe I am crazy

yet I will embrace everything

even if I get nothing

even if I get nothing

(copyright 2009 katherine gehl donovan)