Hey people. Today's Fav Music Fri is value-packed. I love it when art, music, and writing collide. As I've been telling you, I'm still frantically making art for my next show, but my brain is rapidly sliding into revisionland. This makes things like little hooks-- snippets of stories, catch my attention.

I've been hearing some Elvis Costello lately on The Current (One of the last decent music stations out there btw.) (And they have a new website, AND they stream...) A couple of songs have really grown on me. Check out this cool excerpt of "Complicated Shadows" below-- I love the mood, the inferences. It totally makes me want to know more. It's very much like the vibe of my stories.



Here's another I really like-- "Sulphur to Sugarcane." It's not the whole song which is sassy and sultry and cool as hell, but take a look at this clip.



These vids were both produced by Blip Boutique who used artist Takashi Kawashima. Can you imagine how cool a book trailer with the right music would be? For those non-writey types out there, book trailers are becoming huge. They're a great marketing tool, especially for YA (my genre). What better way to get buzz going on a teen book than a viral video? If I ever get to this point and actually have a budget, I'll be checking out places like Blip Boutique. (They are not boring- as you can see for yourself.)



This next one isn't connected to them (apparently). I couldn't find any information about who the director/artist involved was but it remains one of my fav's, and since Halloween is coming up again I thought I'd repost it. Enjoy "Walking With A Ghost" by the White Stripes, (original song by Tegan & Sara.)



Erm.. Okay- I guess it tells you who the director is right in the beginning of the vid. Hello! (Hey, no caffeine yet.) Again very in sync with all the stories rolling around in my head, about ghosts and intrigue, plus another great example of that cool silhouette style..

Today I'll once again be welding away out in my shop, jamming-out and trying to untangle about four plot lines. I have three weeks until my next show. After that I want to make a final pre-holiday push to get some stuff out to the galleries, but then am really looking forward to taking about three or four weeks and just writing my ass off.

Weird Wed-- They're BaAack.....

Hey people. It's all about the disembodied heads today. Check out this one, "EEEP! I have sky blue eyeshadow on and no hands with which to scrub it off!"

And this was actually in a locked glass display case. Just in case someone wants to steal the one eyed, decapitated doll head. Or the legless tiny doll next to it. Or the other partially dismembered naked doll behind it...

Even without bodies they project arrogance. YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN US BITCHES! You're only HEADS!

Pouty-lipped emo boy and his twelve year old girlfriend. "People just don't get us."

"We, the committee, have ruled against you. You are not austere enough, and have no fancy hat. Be gone, peasant."

She was the only one who looked kind of fun-- like she maybe has a pistol in her handbag. But oh-- yeah, no hands. Nevermind.

"Just so you all know, I'm the *fanciest*." Her hair is actually kind of cute.

This isn't technically a head, but she had to go somewhere. First of all-- transgender? You tell me. Next there is the "Oh yeah-- I'm SO working it" posture, but what you can't see-- is that she has purple nail polish on, and it looks like she's making us check it out. Saucy.

When I was a kid I came up with a comic book character who was a wig head salesman by day. His briefcase was shaped like a head, and his car was full of heads. I got so caught up in that aspect of it I failed to give him any super powers, and nothing really interesting ever happened, besides head related misunderstandings. So you can see, I've always been incredibly strange.

In other SueNews:

My brain is being hijacked by writing stuff this week. It's like the writer in me has stomped into the art studio in my brain and swept all the paints and stuff off the tables and begun spreading out all kinds of complicated maps and talking a mile a minute about stuff I'm not quite following.

I'm convinced this is one thing that eff'd my ride up sun. (btw- I had so many more bruises the next day it wasn't even funny. I guess my little over the bars deal did do a little damage after all. Nothing serious though.) I can run and let stuff unreel in my head, but I can't ride like that. I'm not good enough yet. I have to think about my ride the whole time.

The timing on this could be better because I can't really dig in to any writing stuff until next month, but maybe by then things will have cooked down to something cohesive. In the meantime-- art to be made!

Octvember

Hey people. Canada began "eh" bombing us last week with frigid air masses. It SNOWED! The leaves haven't even all turned colors yet!

Whole stems launched themselves off our butternut trees in leafy mass suicides. It was surreal.

Everyone's acting like it's already winter around here. Tootie and Mike have reignited their annual "hot stuff" winter romance.

And I've busted out my winter uniform-- the Sue Heffner get-up. That's right-- The Love Robe and Uggs are back. (Nice laundry basket huh? Suzie Homemaker I'm not.) Dan still refuses to recognize this as a sexy outfit and tries to heat up the house enough when he's home that I get too hot and opt for less clothing. Clearly a win win for me. ;D

My awesome bird bracelet has been getting caught on my long sleeves, and hidden, so I decided to make it into a necklace for winter. I kind of seasonally change jewelry, so I ditched the mass of bike gears and beads I wore all summer and this will be my winter neck-wear.

Here's a better view. One advantage of making jewelry for shows once in a while-- you can rob your own store. I think it translated pretty well.

The trail has been taking its toll on me this week. I'm so rusty, the first time I went back out, I kept shifting up instead of down-- or however it works-- I'd shift into a harder gear by mistake right when I needed an easier one. One section that's always given me trouble-- I've yet to climb the rocky uphill curve-- I was determined to pwn.

I told myself-- "No matter how ugly it gets, just keep pedaling." Yeah, didn't exactly work that time. I tumbled off the side and backwards down the hill on the rocks. "Ow."

I rode 4 days this week, the third was awesome, fairly zoomy feeling despite some mistakes. Sun I went out alone and stunk the place up big time. Even the scary, rooty descent I conquered a while back tried to eat me.

You know when people say, "I'm going to do so and so or die trying."? I've decide that'll be me. I can really stink at things I want to do at times, but I'm willing to suck, and suck, and suck at something in order to improve. That's how it is with riding, writing, art, almost anything I can think of. You have to risk failure, fail, and learn in order to progress. At least I do.

Sunday I learned it's possible to go over the bars and miraculously not get hurt, even a little, by kind of doing a flip and forming a ball. This was not a ninja-like display of skill, but purely accidental. Good to know though, and I'd never have figured it out if I hadn't screwed-up and gotten tossed into the woods. So much WAY better than the flying face plant.

I got in a big conversation with someone not too long ago about fear of failure. They actually said they'd rather not try things they were worried they couldn't do, because it allowed them to maintain their self-esteem. I can't imagine living that way. I'll always be rewriting novels, starting new ones, trying to get better at the activities I enjoy, -- no matter how crappy I may be at them-- getting better at the art (be it opening-up creatively or mastering my tech skills more)-- and trying new things.

We're all going to die anyway, no matter what. You might as well die trying.

Time To Pretend

I'm feelin' rough, I'm feelin' raw, I'm in the prime of my life...
Hey people.
MGMT is a group that has grown on me. Their music has this almost calliope-ish, galloping forward momentum, and a sense of humor too. In today's Fav Music Fri pic, "Time To Pretend" they send up the rock lifestyle-- "Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives."

I love how their videos show one of my own fantasies-- little "lost tribe" imaginary worlds. Shirtless cherubic rockstars drumming, surfing psychedelic rainbows, frolicking with the lost boys and girls and riding cats! It's like someone's imagination exploded onto the screen. What's not to love?!



Here's a "making of" video that's kind of interesting too.



In other SueNews:

Got back to biking the trail in the last couple days. Man, do I suck now! Oh well. That's what happens when you take a couple weeks off. Got to get back on it. Yesterday went better than the day before. I haven't completely lost it, but I know I'm way slower. Still very fun to be back in the woods which are mind blowingly beautiful now.

Art is still the main focus right now. I have another show in a month, but it's not a gallery show, so slightly less pressure in terms of the work itself, but I need to come up with salable things, smaller, gifty stuff. So it's still pretty labor intensive.

Writing-- I've been getting really positive reactions to my queries and 1st chapter so have a few fulls out there. One really cool agent wrote back a 2 page letter laying out all the pro's and con's of the manuscript as it stands, suggesting revisions. I may go that way-- it would involve a complete overhaul, breaking my one & 3/4 current manuscripts into a trilogy, but I've had my own reservations about the plot/s as they stand and think if I went at it again I could shore tings up significantly. We'll see. There are still some really good agents reading what I have.

That's it for now. Have a good weekend!

Hair Today...

Gone Tomorrow. Hey people. Don't panic. Although I have been known to just grab a fistful of my hair and go effing Apache on it, that isn't what's happened this time. I went with a trained professional, but more on that later.

This post is all about hair, and since it's Weird Wed-- weird hair!

I've always had kind of a love-hate relationship with mine. It's been every color except full-on blond, and every length from down to my waist to about an inch-and-a-half long all over. I've had strange colored streaks (blue recently) and things woven into it and weird hippyish paraphernalia dangling from the ends. I hate to break it to you Sanjaya-- but back in the late eighties I even sported the faux-hawk a few times, so you did not invent it.

I love the idea of your hair being kind of a creative palette. You can be all wild, like getting a tattoo, but it always grows out, or you can color over it. This is called "scene" hair, not to be confused with "emo" hair. I'd have been all over this when I was younger.

Would you let your kid do this? Hey-- if you're not going to do it when you're young, you'll lose your chance. Go for it kids! Weird us out! Someday a cubicle will gobble you up and you'll have to look all normal (unless you become an artist). Be weird while you can!

What's the weirdest (accidental or on purpose) hair you've ever sported?

There is a super funny pic of me and sis from back in the eighties where we both have massive, super hairsprayed do's and we look like we think we are SO COOL-- and we look like the biggest idiots. I call it our "eurotrash" portrait. Not that long ago I had really short hair that was three different colors of red and had orange/blond streaks. I called it the atomic fireball. It was pretty rad.

When I was trying to decide what to do this time I put up this pic (below) on FB & Twitter to get opinions. I got a lot of "cutes", and a lot of "Too mullet-y"'s, and from sis-- "You in high school." (Which is kind of true. If anyone is ancient enough to remember what Eddie VanHalen's hair looked like-- that was me basically. Not that far from this cut.)

(Wow- just noticed "the girls". Ugh. Put them away Katy!)

Then I put up this one and lots of people were into it. My hair is curly so this could actually be a cut that wouldn't require a full time staff to maintain. I'd love to just not give a crap about it and walk around like a normal person, completely unconcerned my hair has decided to partake in some bizarre antics without my knowledge. (This happens more often than you know!)

So this is how it turned out... Okay- I know it doesnlt look exactly like the picture, but come on-- I didn't get a face transplant, plus, not 20 anymore, and BESIDES- last night I took a shower and went to bed and it looked like this when I woke up! No effing around with it. I'm good with it.

On top of that, this updated do lets me now have Andrew VanWyngarden (MGMT) hair instead of Eddy VanHalen hair. (You can see what he looks like Fri- or just take my word for it, he looks kind of like this...)

In other SueNews:

If I've sounded weird this week it's because I am, but don't worry. I'm on it. I just let myself get worn a little too thin. I'll even out again once I've gotten back into my regular work-out schedule. It's a maintenance/cyclical thing.

Once when I was talking to my mom about all the stuff I do to make sure Sue's wheels don't fall off (regular intense work-outs, staying connected to friends, eating right, etc) she said, "Don't you wish you were just normal and could just live and not think about any of that?" (Translation-- You should be on meds.)

I said no, because being forced to live conscious of maintaining a balance makes me proactive about my life-- custodial of it. It makes me try new things, make new connections, and constantly challenge myself. If I was "normal" I'd probably become complacent. This may be a pain, but it's better.

Show Pony

Hey people. This is what it looked like when I got to the gallery Fri afternoon. I was very worried about not having enough work, but as usual gallery staffers worked their magic and everything looked great, and somehow filled the room.

These things are just SO bizarre. Everything I do connected to my creative stuff is very private. I work all alone every day, often not seeing another human until Trusty Pam shows up for our evening ride or run-- which is usually not super conversation filled. The main thing is-- no one is ever watching. I think of ideas, I weld, I dorkily jam-out, I get mad and throw shit around, but no one ever sees. At these things, EVERYONE is watching everything I do. It is so completely weird.

At one point the gallery owner asked me to sign my name on the wall for the show in chalk. She brought a little stool over for me to stand on so I got up there, and of course several people gathered to watch me sign my name-- (how weird is that?) I scrawled it out in my usual way- making little horizontal dashes for the "E's", trying not to feel like a giant ass. I got done and someone (probably totally innocently and unrelated to anything) made some little noise behind me, and that was enough to make me second guess MY OWN SIGNATURE. I hastily made the little down strokes to complete the "E's", and as I was doing this someone else behind me goes-- "Oh... You ruined it." So now two of the "E's" have vertical lines, and the last one doesn't.

I should just hire someone to go be "me" at these things.

Here is a really cool woman-- a friend of a friend, who I could become friends with too if we spend more time together. She bought one of my favorite pieces ever. Remember Jezebel? She bought her. This makes me feel very good. She's going to a good home, where I may even see her again someday.

Here we are talking before she'd made up her mind. BTW-- I was a total fashion fail at this thing. I did not feel at all comfortable in my grown-up lady costume. See that look on my face? Yeah, whoever I hire to be me would be WAY more sure of herself. Look at the guy behind me-- the gallery owner's husband. Funny huh? At one point he chewed my ass a little for talking to my friends over on the far side of the gallery. "People are here to look at your art-- and YOU. Get back over there show pony." (okay- this was not word for word, but it was the gist.)

These are the shoes I started out in. They are the effing shit no? LOOK at these babies...

On the backs they have these satin bows. Meow. Yeah, I lasted exactly an hour and had to bust out these other much uglier boots that transformed my already shaky fashion fail into complete frumpwear. There are supposedly all these rules about how women over 40 are to dress and look and I just don't fit any of it.

These were my second runners-up (not the ones that wrecked my already bad outfit), what I call my "Acht-tung baby" boots. They are super badass, but I felt like I should have a riding crop to go with them, so the bow shoes won-out.

Also, once again my hair was totally uncooperative. All I can say is "woof." (And I'm totally getting my hair cut different on Tues.) Oh well. It was one night and it's thankfully over.

The cool part of it was talking to everyone who showed-up. Some friends came, some I was surprised to see and some that always come to my shows. Seeing friends at these things is like someone tossing me a lifeline. "Whew-- I am still just normal old me. Don't freak out Sue."

There were also clients--- some blurring over into friend territory I've known them so long and they've been supporters of my work for so long. (Hello veryniceunitarianwisconsinites.) They are fun to talk to and reconnect with.

It's always nice, but very surreal when people like art professors or collectors want to talk to you and shake your hand and ask you things about big capital A art. I didn't go to art school, or much of any school actually. Weirdly, once they hear this they become more impressed. Now I am an exotic of some kind, imbued with strange powers to somehow conjure the art. This makes me want to go hide in the bathroom even though they are trying to be nice.

As usual, one of my favorite people was a guy who got dragged to this thing by his wife. He shyly approached me, probably sensing my own discomfort, and grinned and shook my hand and said, "I just wanted to tell you I really like looking at your artwork. I'm a boilermaker, and your welding is really good." Then we had a laugh about how a couple of my pieces are made from old water heaters.

I also got to talk to lots of just nice seeming regular people, out for a fun night. At one point I got to discuss structure and natural forms with a super handsome architect. That was fun but I could never be with someone like him. I have to be the pretty one I guess. Dan lets me feel that way even when I don't believe it most of the time. (He just came by and saw me typing all this in my fishnets, badass boots and a T-shirt with no make-up on and wild homeless woman hair. He says, "THAT'S what you should have worn," and leered at me. Thanks baby.)

This week I have to get back to being me. I haven't been in the woods for about 2 weeks, and besides doing that crazy ride last Sunday haven't taken any time off or seen any of my family or friends for a while. I still have a ton of work to get done for next month's show, but I need to get rebalanced over here.

It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again...

Hey people. My head is STUFFED with things I'm thinking about and want to talk about but I am still scrambling trying to get last minute things ready for the show. Let's just say after a nightmare 7 + hour load-out and delivery (to a show destination only an hour away) after a string of 12 - 17+ hours workdays, my art is (mostly) all at the gallery and should be all set up and looking great by tonight.

Once again I don't know what I would have done without Dan. Probably laid down by the side of the road and started bawling. Or set my jaw and sucked it up, because we do what we have to, but I am so grateful to have him to help me out when things go all fubar.

Normally my only job on the day of a gallery show is to moisturize, because I'm expected to show up looking presentable. I can bring it in the full-on ladywear when I have to, but it kind of feels like a costume to me. This makes it both more fun, and kind of nerve-wracking because I'm certain I walk around with some dorky hopeful/pained expression the whole time that gives me away as a rather reluctant adult. (You could probably tell from the race pics my comfort zone is being a giant eleven year old.)

Anyway--- akkk! What am I doing? I don't have time for this! Here-- Enjoy "sleepyhead", an infectious little electronica number from "Passion Pit". I promise a full update Monday. Have a good weekend.