Arty art art

Had a great conversation with my husband's brother & sister in-law (there's got to be a better way to signify relations) last night. She's fresh from a trip to Peru & so my vicarious lust for travel was fulfilled by her stories & recollections. During the call, I was able to tell him how much I enjoyed his story of his recent attendance at a Charlotte Bobcats game. Jeez, he can write! We caught up about all the goings on in the family. Good times.

This last few weeks have been inspiring, though at times tough. I got to visit with Eero and relive some of our college years, not to mention getting glimpses of the work we do now. Last weekend, I was invited to Yvonne's wedding shower tea, which was lovely & warm. Various projects have been revisited & rekindled, which is a good thing. J & I have taken turns cooking like fiends to keep our house stocked with good eats during the week. Working together with him on the weekends has been a real highlight. I feel like I have a chance to acclimate and hope to use this time to generate some new work, even in seed form.

I'm very hungry to do more work. During the phone call last night, I went through the sort of elaborate process I enjoyed while most artistically productive. There was a point where I began working in sketchbooks, translated those to wood blocks, photos, photocopies, prints and paintings. I'm still stalling over even one piece of that -- I'm beginning to think the content of the work may start out more personal and/or ragged than what I've been working on for the last few years. The other pieces I want to get back to are big & that's just not happening now.

Over time, I've become less candid. Some folks, who hear me talk about things that confuse me may not feel that way, but in comparison to where I started from it is true. If I have to do unskilled and emotionally ragged stuff, it's not likely that I'll share it. Not so much from a place of insecurity, way moreso for the purposes of honoring my own ongoing, developing privacy.

Really seems like it's time to get a move on.

A post about a cat: n misen jeman sungurun

Jema - This is a story about her name, with a bit thrown in about how we met.

In the late 80's, I moved to Seattle. As part of a political action community, at that time, it wasn't very difficult to find a rental among like minded folks. The house I moved in to was big, in a "bad" part of town & was occupied by a public defender, a massage therapist & an aspiring botanist/merchant. There were two dogs, Carmine & Comet. Carmine was a big ol' lab sweetie, though she could be fiesty at times. Comet was very pretty (can't recall his breed) and was renown for his recent kill of a hapless lamb. Shortly after I moved in, Comet & his person moved out, leaving a vacancy we were eager to fill.

A friend of a friend knew of someone coming back from Mali, from the Peace Corps. By that time, I had become close to the botanist/merchant & to this day, our lasting gripe about this character who became our next roomie was that he insisted that we pronounce his name the French way, being I guess new to the States from Canada & having suffered from an insistant & dull American pronounciation during a brief period of American living in his youth. We heard he doesn't so much insist on that now, which is the reason why we gripe. Consistency, people! Anyway, he worked as an environmental scientist, testing water tables & pollutant levels in areas around Western Washington.

One day, coming home from school, I heard a scratching and small sounds coming from somewhere in the house. After checking the dog and wandering a bit, it became obvious that the sound was coming from Phillipe's room. I cracked the door when the scratching increased as I approached. A white kitten peered around the door.

I am a sucker for cats. I was a sucker for this one. I picked her up & she made herself comfortable. She purred. I was a total goner. You may have seen her, she is pretty.

I spoke with Phillipe, who had found her in a swamp on a day where the full moon was visible. We guessed she was about two months old. I asked if I could have her & we agreed that it was ok. Next, we set her in the same room with Carmine, to see if I could actually have her. Carmine lay on the ground with her person as I brought Jema into room. Jema was fearless & went right up to Carmine. Carmine, evidently, was a sucker for this cat. She was fine with Jema & for the two or three years that they lived together, they found a bunch of ways to entertain themselves, regardless of the scale issues of big lab dog & small cat.

Now that it was clear that Jema could stay, I needed a name for her. As Phillipe had just returned from Mali, I asked for his help in picking a name for her in the language used most commonly in Mali. I did not know that French was the most common language, or that Bambara came in second. I did know what I wanted to call her; my little white girlfriend. She was so dainty and friendly, it seemed like a fun name for me to know I was saying. After a while of thinking, Phillipe said "n'Jema" was the part he could figure out. "n" being "My" & "Jema" being the rest. I was content with that & figured that I would explore more on my own. Since this was years before the internet & my contact with Malians has not included lots of time to ask questions about my cats name, it's taken a bit to catch up.

For years, I have been calling her Jema - n'jema is really the spelling. The internet has caught up with Bambara & I have her full name now from the online Lexicon. Jema is close to the Bambara for white & I suppose I've been calling her "My white" for all this time.

I like to think he bailed on the Bambara & went with the Swahili for "good", which is n'jema (as in "n'jema Safari!" a phrase travelers would be familiar with). It would be nice to think I've been calling her good all this time. So, what I discovered is that "my little white girlfriend" in Bambara is n misen jeman sungurun. That's a literal translation, I don't know the order of adjectives or other grammatical nuances, especially for sentence fragments.

Once I figure out how to pronounce and construct the name, I'll give it a shot... until then...

I'm getting the hang of comments these days. Feel free to leave a story of your pet(s) name & how you got it, if you like.

Drawing time!

Saw Eero last week & it was a delight! After looking at this post on her site, I took a drawing/personality test, results here:




What does your drawing say about YOU?

Here's what they said:
You tend to pursue many different activities simultaneously. When misfortune does happen, it doesn't actually dishearten you all that much. You are a thoughtful and cautious person. You like to think about your method, seeking to pursue your goal in the most effective way. You like following the rules and being objective. You are precise and meticulous, and like to evaluate decisions before making them. You have a sunny, cheerful disposition.

More soon, a great weekend is left to be described -- but will have to wait!

Old days pic

I've uploaded photos from the '96 graduation of the Art Department at Cornish. Click the picture for more.

It's been a good weekend - more working out, we did our taxes & I actually painted. J just got back from a bike ride... I hope to paint some tonight. Next week is all about getting a paying job & catching up with friends I've not seen in a while.