Today

Eating the largest strawberries and watching the Blackhawks in game 2 of their 2nd round of playoffs against the Red Wings. 

I want to share with you...

My love for Bob's Burgers- 

 

A very early preview of my installation for Seldom Seen music, art, and lit festival

And this excerpt from the 2007 film Om Shanti Om

Sunday

Good 'ay on this chilly and sunny Sun'ay! Here: drinking a Sam Adams White Christmas ale (nothing like holiday party booze overflow!) and the Blackhawks just scored against the LA Kings. The mozzarella stix are in the oven. 

It's been a great weekend of getting stuff done and having fun. On Friday I drank homemade apple pie liquor while hiking the Mines of Spain in Dubuque. On Saturday I helped my dad with some yard work, watched my ***adopted*** cat, Milou, run crazily around the backyard and up trees after squirrels, saw Silver Linings Playbook, and joined my parents and their friends for a trivia night at a church a few towns over. 

Highlights of trivia night: Furthering my team from questions regarding The Simpsons and Jay-Z • Eating walking tacos • Being among only one other (a nine-year old squirrely girl with crimped hair) to sit down during a process of elimination, the elimination statement being "sit down if you listen to Justin Bieber"... Have to be an honest contestant when you're a first timer (especially within a church group, of course!) • And talking to an 83 year-old man who once met Ernest Hemingway at a bull fight in Barcelona. He told me they remained in contact for a short time through letters and that Hemingway once visited him at his Dubuque home. Talk about a good evening with some good people.

So now after a successful morning serving breakfast, I feel very relaxed and await the coming week... one which includes birthdays of three of my closest friends, substitute teaching, and reading a lot. 

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Above, a photo taken by my Ann Arbor pen pal, Emily, of a hanging piece I made for her. Circular frames laser-cut by my dad and connected by wire S hooks. One side of each frame includes a personalized painting done by moi and the other includes other paper design/imagery. Hang it on your wall, in front of a window, in a corner, wherever. Would you like one? Would you like to do a creative exchange of some sort, i.e. making music mixes, writing short stories, sharing anything and everything? If so, email me at Sogaard.Kirsten@gmail.com. 

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Lastly, this fantastic song played in the kitchen at work today, and I can't get it out of my head... so HERE! YOU get it in your head now!

This to That

THIS •• TO •• THAT

Um, THANK YOU to whoever came up with this site!

End of a Week

Currently holding down the front desk at the newspaper my mom works at while the whole office gang is out for a meeting. Bring on the telephone calls and visitors! 

Since I've graduated, I'll soon be subbing in the local district and hopefully doing some waitressing. In the meantime, I've been using my time wisely: watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, deer-watching/feeding, and buffing up via my parents' home-gym. This time has also spurred me to start painting again, so as you can see above, i'm finishing a piece I started last spring. I'm looking forward to sharing more paintings on here, and I see this as a motivation for me to keep getting my brushes out. 

Also posted above are some treats I brought back from my grandma's after spending yesterday afternoon with her. She told me she's in a "get-rid-of-it-all" mode, so I took it upon myself to help her out. The necklaces and bowls were owned by my great-grandmothers and by my grandparents when they lived in KY, and the stationery/stickers by my aunts when they were little. It is an honor to now own these pieces, and I especially look forward to displaying the celery bowl on my future living room table. 

Last thing: Now I know I have a weekly blog reader-ship of about 30 views, and who knows if one person is responsible for all these views (Katrina?!), but regardless, if you enjoy my bloggity blog or like viewing my content often, leave me a comment on this post whether I know you or not, and say hi. Share your blog address with me if you have one. And if you'd like to do a creative exchange of sorts (mail/email), let me know. I have a lot of time on my hands right now! 

A Few Things

Above, you can see a little woodland paper cut-out I made as a Christmas gift. Really creates a beautiful silhouette in the window. I'm hoping to keep up the paper cutting and put my X-acto knife to good use! 

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A few friends and I spent New Year's in Chicago, so we ate lunch with my sister and bro-in-law at The Berghoff and then checked out the Art Institute and roamed around for 31/2 hours. Was my first time there! I was most amazed to see the work of van Gogh, Matisse, O. Louis Guglielmi, Peter Blume, and Jacob Lawrence. MMMmm!  

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY

In Honor

A quick comic I made last year about my late kitty cat, Issy. We'd call her "Grandma cat", and I sometimes liked to think of her as "prissy Issy". I often pictured her wearing my hat, drinking red wine, and reading my books whenever I'd be out of the house, so here is that in comic form. 

Gary David, Woodcrafter

Today I had the chance to visit the workshop of an artist, Gary David, in Potosi, WI. My uncle Ole, who is visiting from Denmark, teaches woodworking and was able to spend the afternoon in the shop cutting out bow-tie joints and sanding table legs. 

Working with wood, Gary creates benches, tables, chairs, altars, and bar countertops. He's just created an altar for the St. Thomas church in Potosi, and he's also made the enormous main bar in the Potosi brewery. Alongside him in the shop, his maybe 12 year-old son works on the lathe, carving candlestick holders and baseball bats with precision. A box of used crayons sits on top of the lathe, ready to be heated and melted onto the candlestick holders for layer dying.

What a great place that must be to work in! With a spring right out front of it and the Potosi Brewery right across the street. Below are photos of his shop and of the bar in the brewery:

Walnut Jewelry Stand

Walnut wood jewelry stand designed and cut on a laser engraver by my dad. Can be disassembled into two flat pieces by way of a lap joint. Stands at 7.75" X 17.5".

Necklace

A boomerang necklace I made in my metals/jewelry class, made from brass and looped with copper jump rings.

Final Studio Projects

Our final ceramics assignment was to help keep up the wood fire kiln. The first photo shows some classmates with all the pieces that were fired. The last four photos show my stuff. Some were warped by the nature of the wood kiln (clay was thrown too thin) and came out a little wobbly, but I love them for what they are!
 

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For my final metals assignment I made a few pairs of earrings (one pair is red anodized aluminum; another was made from an old bracelet of my mom's; and the third pair is bent aluminum with fake moss and bird nest sticks). I also made a mini earring holder from brass and a necklace (spun wallpaper pieces from an old necklace, also my mom's, that a neighbor of her's had made). The last photo shows me wearing it and how it falls when worn.

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For my final painting assignment, I painted a six-piece series that is titled "My brother's room".

 

This Week

Howdy! Here are a few photos I'd like to share from this fast-moving and fun week of getting work done:

• Day of sitting at the window to finish up my final painting series! 
• Keeping up the wood fire kiln for my ceramics class. Pictured is a wonderful classmate of mine with her face shield. 
• Visited my fort... there I am with it and the mysterious fake rock. The pond in the front yard is filled, so little ducklings and their parents have been swimming about.
• No, no, not the "TRY OUR NEW FIESTA SALSA ARE YOU LOCO" sign, the dog!
• Lollygagging in the car while dad checks out a motorcycle shop.
• Dad and me, heading back to my apartment to cozy in with mom but stopping first to play around with the best silhouette wall on the south-side of town!


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