dkmercer's blog

can’t sleep in: my brain is buzzing

dkmercer — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:08:08 +0000

An Wei Wei's Zodiac Animals at LACMA

Even though it’s a rare rainy Saturday, I can’t seem to stay asleep in the cozy flannel sheets. Too many thoughts roiling my brain. My to-do lists are constantly growing instead of decreasing, and I never seem to get everything noted on the desktop “stickies” which help me keep track. So up and at’em, and I’ve already had breakfast and designed a new blog header before 8 am! What do you think? This iteration has only artworks from the past year – not as a boast but to keep me picking up my sketchbook or fabric and making something. That’s what keeps me happy.

I realized after the first 2012 entry that my goals for the year didn’t mention Travel! That is also high on the list for this year, but as always there are challenges. Mercer won’t leave Yoko in a kennel, so we rarely go anywhere together that Dog isn’t welcome. Also I need to get to Virginia to see the family, and I try for two visits a year. That means our parameters are usually circumscribed to car trips that take place during my teaching breaks. We both really want to go to Europe again, but until Miss Yoko checks out, I’m afraid that’s pretty unlikely. Maybe we can rent a camper and do an American wander this summer…time to do some research!

Devon comes home this week so can’t wait to see her – we’re planning to go to the new exhibit at the Annenberg Space for Photography next Saturday to see “Digital Darkroom”. I’m sure it will be fun as we’re all fascinated by the possibilities of image manipulation to make visible the imagination.

Maybe this year?

dkmercer — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:15:12 +0000

Can’t believe I skipped all of 2011 on this blog, but it’s not so surprising since I was working and taking a full graduate load towards my Masters! That latter challenge is now accomplished, so perhaps this year I can make time to blog.

Friday was my mother’s 92nd birthday – a milestone my father reached last May. They are such an inspiration to me, and if I’m going to perhaps be around that long, I better make some plans!

To Do (2012 resolutions sort of):

Keep up with my teaching preparation, and do more in my role as academy coordinator.

Keep up with my own creative endeavors – drawing, sewing, crafting, gardening

Happy New Year 2010

dkmercer — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 23:00:23 +0000

Seems I never have time to write this blog lately with teaching and going to school. I even had to do a new blog just for my master’s classes so this one is sadly neglected. Anyway, anyone still checking it: HAPPY NEW YEAR! We’ve had very mellow holidays, with Devon home since the 18th and Pat and Mike here from Beaufort since the 22nd: a houseful is nice to share Christmas cheer! There were 10 of us for Christmas dinner, which was an ultra smooth production with Pat helping in the kitchen. She cleans as soon as you put anything down, so I’ve already tried to book her for next year’s parties! Our weather hasn’t been on best behavior, what with the solid week of rain and no sun, but lately the chill is mitigated by bright sunny skies. Yesterday morning there was ice in the back yard, but by afternoon it was very pleasant – especially when you see the snow storms back east!

We’ve done lots of museums with Pat: Pasadena Museum of California Art, LACMA, MOCA, and today all of us went to the Autry for their free New Year’s Day special. Yesterday we took the Metro downtown and walked Pat’s legs off, then stayed in for New Year’s Eve and watched “Inception”. They are heading to Palm Springs tomorrow for the rest of their visit, and Devon leaves for Santa Cruz on Monday. It will be awfully quiet here without the company…

However, I start my second quarter of master’s this week with classes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Teaching resumes next Monday – back to the grind but with some new twists: Aazam is leaving us and Gabby and I will be undertaking her out-of-class coordination load for the Academy. I’ll be teaching 4 periods instead of 5, and doing business the other period. However, we did not fill Aazam’s position and have a jerryrigged stopgap set up to cover 5 art classes. An English/film teacher is going to take over my drawing class, so I expect he will need lots of coaching and support from me. Stay tuned for reports from the front!

I think it will be an exciting year just trying to juggle all my eggs, and hopefully the summer will be a chance to recharge and get away. I never really find mental rest when I’m home with worries just tucked into the corners. So look out all – I may be heading your way come June! Happy 2011 to us every one.

Happy Thanksgiving!

dkmercer — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:22:44 +0000

We’ll be heading to the dessert tomorrow if all comes together today – running late with prep since there were storms and wet over last weekend and now Mercer has been sick for 3 days – Argh! The girls both are here for the week, so fun will be had whatever comes.

Happy day of thanks to all and remember how wonderful our lives are when you look at the suffering that others endure. Give something back!

almost halloween

dkmercer — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 05:02:51 +0000

Long stretches between entries because I’m double working now: teaching and going to school concurrently. And the latter is a real time-eater – 3 classes a quarter is pretty crazy. So it was fun to dance on the lighter side some this week, with two opportunities to do “dress ups” at my job! Wednesday was the Greek Symposium for all our 10th grade magnet kids, with togas and peplos and Greek arts and entertainment and food: I stitched a sheet into my peplos. Then today was the Halloween costume funnery and I decided to don the Dexter T-shirt and cap our neighbor – who is the location manager for the hit show – gave us. It was subtle but those who got it loved it. Then after school Mercer and I met up at the local arthouse theater to see opening day of new Millenium Trilogy film, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. I think it’s time for bed…

Sunday PS playing

dkmercer — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:04:54 +0000

I sat down at the computer to check email, then explored a craft site, then opened some raw scans in PhotoShop and decided to play a bit. I really have to get to my “to do” list since this is my last day off of our furlough week, but hey, sidetracks happen.

Strawberry Creek behind our cabin

It has been a lovely week – did some artmaking, some house cleaning, two museums, and a short escape up the mountain for our anniversary. I even graded several stacks of school work, including an essay exam for the art history class. Very productive, which always makes me happy. Now I have to go back to the grind, with plans and lessons ready, and know that the following week I’ll be doing two jobs: teaching AND learning, as I start my Master’s Degree program at night. Gotta say, I’m very anxious about that double load and hoping I don’t turn into a short-tempered ogre instead of coping gracefully with my own chosen path.

painting by Gerome, Getty

The fear of overload is complicated by what – in normal circumstances – would be the pure joy of anticipation. We have 4 wavesof family/house-guests arriving at Chez Mercer in the next 4 months!! So here’s hoping I can keep my sanity and enjoy the company fully, live in the moment, and not PANIC! Breath in, breath out….

Roman head, LACMA

Scat, Cat!

dkmercer — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:00:51 +0000

We’ve had an escalating problem with the neighborhood “outdoor cats” coming into our yard to sit on our cars, leaving dirty paw prints, but far worse are the deposits they leave in the flower beds. These barely buried poops stink up the whole porch and yard, and attract swarms of flies – yuck! We tried spreading red pepper powder (three $5 bags) but that gets washed away when we water. Then we read (online) that cats don’t like certain smells, especially citrus, and we thought we had the solution. There is plenty of free citrus – our neighbor’s grapefruit tree overhangs the driveway – so Mercer sliced, diced and scattered the fruit around the plantings. No change, cats kept pooping. Last Sunday we went up to the local nursery and inquired about repellents but their recommendation was a $12 spray – which again would dissipate with watering. I’d also read that marigolds were icky to cats, so we bought four 6-packs and headed home. Mercer then had a brilliant idea: we have an abundance of terracotta roof tiles removed when we remodeled, and if we broke them up we could cover the target dirt with an attractive (to humans) mosaic that would block cats from their favorite litter box! Photos above show the winning solution: marigolds around the tree, surrounded by broken tiles, several of which are strategically placed pointy side up. We also covered a good portion of the dirt planting bed along the porch, another cat fave, and so far there has been no smell…a cheap, environmentally friendly and pretty new look. Now if we could just get the dogs – walked by criminal owners who don’t pick up after them – to stop using the grass for their toilet. Sigh…a fence or hedge is probably the only dog-owner deterrent.

Almost August

dkmercer — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:58:14 +0000

Sorry, remaining loyal readers, for my absence from blogland! I’ve had some nice travels and projects this summer, and now I’m turning my thoughts back to school prep – far too early this year since we shifted our calendar to finish first semester before winter break! It was great to spend time with Whitney in Chicago, my folks in Virginia, friends and family in the Smoky Mountains, and family in Hanford and Santa Cruz. We even had a surprise visit from Devon when she figured out how to get back to SC after driving down with me for a week in LA (thanks, Danny!).

The photomontage above is images of Santa Cruz – a lovely little old beach town where Devon has settled in. I’m sure it will be hard to leave when she finishes college this winter! Tomorrow Cathy is coming back from Hanford to spend a few days before her flight back to Richmond – my last hurrah of summer break. Today I hope to finish the “essentials” tutorials on Adobe Illustrator, a design program that has been one of my least used so least familiar. I promised my students I would learn it this summer, as they are often asking me for help which I’m unable to give. Revisit my blog and hopefully I’ll have some new digital images to post!

To see more of my summer travel pix, go to

http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/SmokyMtn2010_1#

http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/SmokyMtn2010_cathySPix#

http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/SmokyMtn2010_3#

http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/SmokyMtn2010_4#

and

http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/HanfordAndSantaCruz#

chicago smiles

dkmercer — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:59:10 +0000

This is a really fun city – beautiful in the summer with flowering planters everywhere, lots of colorful sites and events. We walked our legs off yesterday and did the Lincoln Park area: bakery where friend Rachel works, Green City Market, Zoo, North Avenue Beach, back by Wrigley Field to Trader Joe’s. We caught lots of trains and buses, but mostly walked, and my new sandals were comfortable until my feet just said “enough!”

These snaps are the “painted trees” – an eye-opener between the zoo and the beach. Read about them at http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Fmathie&id=7399320

And that’s me on the beach – the Lake was a lovely teal blue with whitecaps from the wind and people swimming in the clear water. Whit says when it’s hot on the weekend, you can’t even see the sand for the bodies, but it was wide open yesterday.

Lovin’ Summer!

dkmercer — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:41:46 +0000

It’s a week today since school got out, and I’m relaxed and excited both – feeling like I accomplished a good bit in a week, and thrilled that I’m off tomorrow to visit the folks, and to get creative at our 2nd annual art retreat!! The adventure starts in Chicago, and I find Whitney’s city to be very stimulating – arts, history, environmentalism, dynamic youth all in a wonderful recipe which she cooks up for my enjoyment each visit. This year she’s in another old house but this one has a dedicated “farmette” with veggies and chickens, and now she has her own large room and bath, but the trade-off is a tiny kitchen. I’m sure it will be full of personality. She and I both just read “Devil in the White City” about the Chicago “World Columbian Exposition” of 1893, so I hope we can seek out some remnants of that pivotal event. And I’ve never been to the beach there so hopefully the weather cooperates…