smashed pennies.

Obsession runs deep in this kid. I can't get enough of these smashed pennies. Its gotten to the point where weekend trips will revolve around whether or not a smashed penny machine exists at the location. Unfortunately for me, both of the penny machines at the Blank Park Zoo were out of order (it didn't stop me from trying, I lost two bucks. Damnit)...I was a little disappointed.

But the the Botanical Center had a machine. Thank goodness. I bought all four and couldn't be happier with the beautiful penny designs. But it gets even better. You may notice the penny on the top right has no design. Trevor made me a smashed penny...he laid some pennies on a train track and went back the next day to collect the cool objects. Old school smashed penny, not too shabby.

Highlight of my trip to the Blank Park Zoo: the carp pond. Holy hell was that pond packed with gigantic goldfish. These things had to be 10 pounds a piece and were hungry as hell. I'm kind of scared of fish so I decided to do something bold....I stuck my finger in a carp mouth! It bit me! But it made me laugh so hard I almost fell into the stinky fish pond.

Check out this beastly caterpillar. Regular sized spoon...gigantic caterpillar.

animal photos from vacation-time!

1. An afternoon jaunt turned into a rare animal sighting. Apparently, albino squirrels are fairly common around the Minneapolis area and every local has several albino squirrel sighting stories. It's lucky Rachel spotted one, now we have a story as well.

2. I found a fuzzy and hilarious caterpillar at the Springdale Cemetary in Peoria. Poor buddy, we harassed him for a full ten minute photo session before releasing him on a nearby tree. (identification: the Banded Tussock Moth, Halysidota tessellaris.)
3. The sheep donned fancy outfits at the Minnesota State Fair. I can't decide if I think the outfits are adorable or clannish.
4. I almost stepped on this gnarly fellow.
5. Suckling pigs! They're cute but those teets are kind of grossing me out. Have a nice Friday, guys

end of summer haiku.

farmers combine corn.

the fields are empty, leaves fall.

Goodbye summer birds.

the mall of america.

We left Peoria and drove to see Matt in Minneapolis. Minneapolis is a great city for smashed penny collectors mostly because of the Mall of America...sort of because of the State Fair. Before I left on the trip I went to www.pennycollector.com and looked up all of the pennies available at the Mall of America...I was hell bent on collecting all of them. We walked around the mall for hours...we went through a mirror maze (baffling ordeal), rode a roller coaster (horrifying) and a mechanical bull (i stayed on for 11 seconds), all the while collecting smashed pennies. I ended up with well over 25 and for some reason they had a "I love Canada" machine. I know Minnesota is close to Canada but Minneapolis isn't...what's the deal? Mostly, there are a lot of Rainforest Cafe pennies. That place sucks.

As for the fair, it boasted something I've never seen. A free, FREE smashed penny machine. The only problem with that is the line. A huge line full of children, inept at smashing, stood behind the machine. Of course I waited, they were free.

vacation pt.2

Good morning world! It's a beautiful Monday morning, the grass is wet, the birds are cold, and I didn't hit any horses on the way to work. Good deal. I'm content with all of these facts.

I'm still rolling along with the vacation blogs but am realizing that I'm not doing it very diligently. I didn't write at all last week, I blame stress and diet. But, I kept a sketchbook the entire trip and it's filled with a bunch of narrative. I plan on scanning in a few choice entries for a blog. But until then,

Peoria

Rachel and I were in Peoria for a few days. We had some adventures and were ridiculously social. Some highlights include: a visit with Juice and her puppy, letterboxing jaunts in various historic graveyards, lots of salivating over really nice road bikes. Steve worried about sewage in a basement, we all ate way too much ice cream (and Avanti's cheap Italian food, delicious), and rachel and I found a hilarious caterpillar.
Some Peoria Hot Spot Stops include: Avanti's, One world, Emo's, Co op Records, Mexican food, country road driving, pool, Blue, The Peoria Art Guild, Art Show, etc
Some people I saw: Rik, Juice, Erica, Gabe, Gabe, Bruce, Drew, Steve, Chris, Shannon, Christian, Bethany, Rachel's mom, Oscar, Ann, Sarah, Heather, Dave, Sarah, Eliz, Beth, Christy, Janet, oh man and the list goes on, I'll add to it...if I forgot your name it's because it's early and I still love you.

And in case you're wondering about the clown photograph, let me explain. This clown is the face of Peoria as far as I'm concerned. It's the Emo's ice cream shack marquee. I have countless memories of friends and I sitting on colorful parking lot benches while we munched on coney island dogs. Their ice cream is fabulous and the place does all it's math by hand. No fancy registers at that place (a math teacher opened up the icecream place many years ago. To encourage his young employees to be diligent at basic math he eliminated the register).

The first time I went to Emo's a girl named Dani brought her rabbit with us. The rabbit's name was Yishi Spudnick and I wanted to hold her while I ate my ice cream. Bad idea. The rabbit peed all over me and I dropped my cone. I learned two things that day: rabbits pee way more then you think they do and giant flying bugs like to land in cheese dip. Oh, I forgot to mention that right after a rabbit urinated on me a giant bug flew into my cheese fry cheese dip...rendering it useless. You'd think an experience like that would turn me off to Emo's but nope.

Needless to say (which I say a lot needlessly), I had to come back to Emo's at some point during my stay in Peoria. Rachel and I hiked over and were pleased to find out that they had lemon flavored ice cream...it tasted like a girl scout cookie. I got a cherry dipped cone and some cheese fries. It was good times.

Check out what I almost Hit on the way to work.

Its 6:30am and I'm heading to my car and I'm mad. I've got to go to work. I've got a bunch of deadlines. I need to exercise. I'm hungry. I'm in a bad mood and when I'm in a bad mood I like to drive faster then necessary.

I slam my car door, buckle up, turn on the engine, drive down the alley and turn onto the country road that heads towards work. Driving 80 feels great at the moment. I'm living dangerously and crack the windows to feel the morning air. My mood improves.

At the bottom of a hill I can see large shadows loitering in the road. I have no idea what they are. I'm going 80 mph and these shadowss are huge! I brake as hard as I can, the car begins to swerve and there are SEVEN horses right in front of me. I finally stop and need a paper bag to breathe into. I'm 10 feet away from the horses that almost did me in. Jittery as hell and barely able to hold the steering wheel I try to gain composure but all I can smell is burning rubber.

I honk at those stupid horses until they start running, I follow them with my car into the area where I assume they came from. And I drive to work.

Stupid fucking morning. I was so happy I didn't hit them I brought doughnuts to work.

That was Quite a Vacation. Day ONE!

Hey guys. My blog hiatus is over and, unfortunately, so is my time off from work . However, it was whirlwind of a vacation and it felt like Rachel, Matt and I didn't stop moving the entire time.

The trip began with a lovely jaunt to the Des Moines airport where Rachel landed at the ungodly hour of 11:15pm. It was too late to drive to Peoria and too early to settle down. We decided to have a couple coronas at a nearly abandoned bar then get a room at the Super 8. We made the mistake of ordering Papa John's when we got there. I haven't eaten that stuff in well over a year...I remember why. The horrible food coma and ridiculous BLOATING.

The morning came soon enough and we hit the road hard. Peoria was only 4 hours away but I had a lot to do. The reason being...2 freakin' art shows! The second we got into town we were greeted by Steve, Chris, Shannon and their entire gang. Steve and Chris live in a home that houses traveling musicians, wayward bike riders, and good people all around. It almost feels like a hostel. But it was a quick Hello followed by a quick goodbye. Shannon, Rachel and I had some errands to run

1. Hang the salon style show at Blue

2. Buy 90 beers and drag them to the Peoria Art Guild

3. Set up the cheese tray.

And I don't like to brag but the show looked amazing. Ryan Nelson, of the Peoria Art Guild, totally rehabbed the first floor gallery. It was a beautiful flowing space and all of the artist's work hung together like it was always supposed to hang together. Jillian's work was immaculately beautiful and delicate, Chris's work was humerus, complicated and multi-layered, and mine...my work looked OK too. Shit, it must have looked good because someone bought two pieces at the show. They wanted to remain anonymous and I'll never get to know who they are (but I hope they know me and Chris appreciate their generosity)

There was a constant flow of people through the gallery. I saw my old professors, my old school mates, Erica came in from St. Louis, Brian came in from Chicago, even Rachel's mom was there (i was worried she thought I was drunk but I was really just nervous). It warmed the heart to see so many close friends in the same room together for the first time in a dog's age. As a matter of fact, I felt warm and fuzzy the whole night...or maybe it was that cooler of 90 beers that helped everyone feel warm and fuzzy that night.

The evening continued until 2am... the after party was at the Peoria bar called Blue. My friend, Shannon was nice enough to help me plan the whole event. Damn, it was a party and I smoked too many cigarettes and drank too many beers but at least I got some quality time with quality people. I even sold some t-shirts (with my drawings on them) and wow did that help pay for my trip. Eventually, the night ended with Erica and I in Steve's basement...we talked about art and boys.

Tomorrow, Day 2.

We Interrupt This Hiatus

This is Jane's old pal Rishika. Hop on over to my blog I am in South Korea to read about my recent travels to Shanghai!

Happy reading! ^^

one week hiatus.

Can you see the shells in the limestone fossil? Not quite as fabulous as the last fossil-find but a find none the less. Its humble and looks like it would break easily.

As for me, I'm going on vacation today. I'm excited. My buddy Rachel is flying in from Eugene, Oregon to join me this evening. we'll order some Chinese food, bullshit, and leave for Illinois in the morning.

...And if you happen to be in Illinois tomorrow, I curated and am participating in a show at the Peoria Art Guild (along with Christoper Hutson and Jillian Ludwig. Its on 203 Harrison street in downtown Peoria. Free beer and handshakes for all who come and are of age...so, I guess handshakes for everyone!

click on the image for a better view. Can any of you blogger people tell me how to make giant posts with giant images?

Happy Friday!

A real sign from the Iowa State Fair. Don't even think about using those butt fans you've been hiding...its not gonna fly.

Iowa is an acronym. People around here joke that Iowa stands for

I diots
O ut
W alking
A round

This is one of the more truthful statements I've heard about the state. But, really, people just kind of walk around and look for stuff. Bait for fishing, arrowheads, fossils, wild asparagus, wild mushrooms, wild game...its pretty impressive. Iowa has a treasure hunting culture...so, I fit in in that respect.

While I was an idiot out walking around I stumbled upon a piece of Native American pottery. I reached down to pick it up and saw a bunch of pottery chips scattered by my toes...they were probably all from the same pot. I grid walked the area and found well over 30 pieces of broken pottery in a 10 foot area.

Yup, that was my day. Not too shabby.

click on image for a better view.

wow, this is a large fossil.

People who suffer from mental illness or delusions should not hunt rocks. When someone believes books, movies, inanimate objects, music, or symbols are relaying special messages to them, they're going crazy. A good example of this : Charlie Manson and the Beatles' White Album.

Another good example of this...me while I rock hunt. I went to art school for 7 years...artists are trained to yank out all of the symbolism in an image. A rose is never just a rose. Everything has a hidden messages and hidden symbols. This skill is a blessing and a curse, I can't look at anything without over analyzing it.

Which is why rock hunting brings out the crazy in me. Rocks have shapes. Its really pretty wild how varied their shapes can be. I've seen animal shapes, phallic shapes, tool shapes, people, buildings...all sorts of stuff. And when you're in a particular mood the shapes can tell you things. They didn't tell me to murder slews of people or start a cult but one rock told me to keep looking.

We were in a ditch searching for arrowheads and fossils. It was buggy but nice. The only problem was that the surrounding trees had dropped their leaves all over every sandy patch in the ditch. A tree leaf looks exactly like an arrowhead, they trick your eyes. I was getting a wee bit frustrated, every time I bent down to pick up a nice looking rock...it was a damn leaf.

I was getting ready to call it quits when I looked down and picked up a rock that looked exactly like a human eyeball. I thought,

"why not just go crazy for a minute and assume this rock is talking to me?"

So, I did. And I decided the rock was telling me to keep my eyes open. I kept them open and around the bend I saw a large orange/pink rock. I picked up the rock and it was the best fossil I've ever found. Period. Good thing I allowed myself to go schizophrenic for a brief moment or I may have walked past this bad boy.

some finds.

The Des Moines river is running low. Rocks and indian artifacts have been under water are exposed...fossils that have been hidden for millions of years finally make their way to the surface.
Yesterday, Kyle and I took the boat out and went on a fossil hunt. It was a successful hunt, we found a handful of wonderful fossils (seen above in the photo).

found: horned coral, colonial coral, brachiopods, and foraminifera! I'm in hog heaven.

And since I'm on a fossil kick I decided to post the fossils I aquired 5 years ago. I was at a gas station in rural Wyoming (wait...I think all of Wyoming is rural) and right next to their candy isle was was a fossil isle. Trilobites, Pleistocene horse teeth, shark teeth...all sorts of fancy rocks. Right next to the candy isle. Needless to say, I bought them.

We're going out to hunt on Saturday. Hopefully, I'll have some photos to post. Ta-ta.

penny time.

I went to Adventureland park over the weekend and had a damn fine time. I rode some roller coasters, drank a warm beer while eating an overpriced Phili cheese steak, screamed a lot, almost threw up on a spinney ride, and did some excellent people watching. I saw three people with one leg, two people with one arm, one woman who was covered in warts, and I observed the obesity epidemic while waiting in line.

My one beef about the park is that they didn't have a smashed penny machine. Its an old, historic park...it should have had a smashed penny machine. Well, since they didn't have one I decided to post more of my collection.

p.s. I just found a comprehensive list of all of the penny smashing machines in the united states.

http://pennycollector.com/

This is my beta fish, Meatloaf. This week was our one year anniversary. We made it, Meatloaf! I've kept your bowl clean and you haven't kicked the bucket (knock on wood, knock on wood!).

Other Stupid names I've given my Beta Fish.

1. Vanillaroma (named after a car air freshener, the name rolls off the tongue)
2. Beef Wellington (Mr. Beefy for short)
3. John Fredrick Esq. (named after my English boyfriend...I think it freaked him out, I was 18)
4. Opie-Fish (he creeped me out. I think he was an albino)

Happy Anniversary, Fish. May we celebrate again next year...but i won't hold my breath.

art show.

Image: Love Whoopsies, Jillian ludwig.


I put together a three man show. Its called Gurgle Growl Gulp.

http://www.pjstar.com/entertainment/x1510863111/ARTSplus-Art-guilds-latest-exhibition-takes-on-playful-tone

The Peoria Journal Star put together a nice article. Have yourself a read. Maybe I'll see you at the show.

www.jillianludwig.com

www.chrishutsonart.com

www.janeryder.com

Check out our work.

lost and found.

I rent an old, creaky/creepy apartment. It has a creepy basement, a creepy coal shoot, a creepy shower, and a couple of creepy neighbors that scream for no reason (no one knows if they're married or siblings but I'm pretty sure they go through my mailbox and steal my coupons). Its the kind of place a young child would love, it has hidden nooks and crannies everywhere. It would be an excellent apartment for hide and seek.

I was "cleaning" up my hide and seek bathroom the other day and found a hidden shelf. I know its not a good idea to put your hands into dark, random holes (insert "that's what he said") but I was curious and reached deep inside. I pulled out a small vintage box. The photo pretty much explains what I found...but its so odd. Oh so very random. Oh so entertaining. I wonder what else is hidden throughout this creepy place.

Happy Friday!

which one of these things doesn't belong?...click on the image for a better view.

(but isn't it the coolest duck on the block?)

muscatine mayfly.

Well, isn't this disgusting? Hoards of winged insects plastered against tavern glass. Kyle, George and I recently visited Muscatine, Iowa and this is what I remember...mayflies.
Because these bugs so thoroughly grossed me out I had to do a little research bout' em'...what did I learn?

1. Male and female mayflies have two sets of genitalia.
2. The larval stage lasts for over a year.
3. The adults live anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours. They are a short lived creature and their primary function is procreation (which happens mid-air with double genitalia, interesting).
4. The insects have mouths but they are vestigial...their mouth serves absolutely no function. Why does it even exist?
5. They are related to dragonflies and damselflies.

Overall, I'd say that the mayfly is a silly creature. I don't understand why they exist, they kind of scare me, and they come out like a plague. I hope I don't run into them again.

everything is so small.

http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=43

While I walk, I stare at my feet...that's why I find so many things. I found this guy by my big toe. He was about as big as my thumbnail. What a neat lil' specimen for my photo archives.

why, hello. you're an eagle.

It was a bright, blue, crisp day. Buzzards, Herons, Kingfishers, and Cormorants were ubiquitous but not easy to photograph. My bad luck was beginning to frustrate me until we spotted a giant eagle nest deep/high in the timber. Sadly...it was too deep in the timber to get a good shot. I was about to put my camera away when I heard an ear piercing shriek. The eagle in charge of the nest decided to make her presence known. She did not want us near the nest. I've never seen a bird make such intense eye contact with humans before. She was flapping, shaking her head around, and vocalizing her distaste for us. I snapped a couple shots, apologized to the bird for disturbing her peace, and we got the hell out of there.

poem for a porch.

Her plastic body, filled with dirt
just birthed a baby flower.

The summer sun she bathes upon
gets brighter every hour.

A brittle vessel, filled with seeds
that never feel cool air.

This lucky one, born of a thumb
will wait for solar flares.

My marigold garden is looking pretty fine.

I noticed my flower's proliferation yesterday. Little, tiny marigold greens are popping up all over the place. I was clumsily weeding when I saw the marigold babies. I yanked a few (by accident) before I realized what they were...in my defense, I am not a gardener.

A list of things I like about marigolds.

1. they smell odd.
2. I've heard they attract bees.
3. orange, yellow, etc!
4. Nirvana wrote a song about them.

enjoy the song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqhh9Vvi0mA

wow, another fantastic trip to Des Moines.

Des Moines is never a bad time. When you live in a rural area you learn to appreciate all those things you took for granted. . . Like bars that make drinks in Tiki cups. This is a photo at the bar in Fong's pizza. One day I will drink out of this monkey's head. Jeez, it seems like everything I think/talk about is Fong's pizza. I love that place. This time we had the Thai Chicken pizza. It came with cilantro and peanut sauce. Delicious.
Nice little addition to the sign, skateboarders. Good work. Now all the roller-blader folk are going to be offended/hurt.

Wall DRAGON has captured my imagination. I've been thinking about dragons a lot, I don't only think about Fong's pizza. Too bad the wall dragon bar wasn't open, I would have enjoyed sitting with a tiki drink under the beast. That damn place is never open.

its been a good bird week.

This Robin, named Bandit Rodchester, has a zip tie on his ankle. My only guess is someone hand raised him before he flew the coop. He's been hanging out at the campsite for over two weeks. I can hand feed him mulberries.
These are the turkey vultures of Buzzard Island. I don't know why they hang out on the wood pile but sometimes there's as many as 50 turkey vultures walking around. It's pretty gruesome.
Cranes from the wall of Fongs Pizza.
Iowa has pelicans. This still shocks me. Why are you here? Why?

i drew. i was a kid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gz1DIIxmEE

the truck sunk.

A couple weeks ago this truck sunk in the DesMoines River. After a few days of submersion, car help arrived and the wet truck was yanked out of the muddy depths.
The debris looks nice wrapped around the hood ornament. It looks like the eagle is making a nest.
The interior was filled with silt and dead fish. Notice there are no human bodies present, no one was hurt when the truck sank. Lucky ducks.
I don't know where it came from but there was a deer skull laying in the truck bed. It couldn't have been in there before the truck sank, a skull would have floated away. Did someone throw it in there after the accident? I wanted to take the skull home with me...but I'm pretty sure that would have given me bad luck.

Small brown bat. Photographed on the hood of my Honda by the DesMoines River.

Animal specimens helps inform the content of my work (no animals are ever harmed by my hands and have died natural deaths). I am able to get an up close encounter without all the hassle of harassing small mammals. The photographs are often incorporated into complicated paintings or drawings. Real observations of real animals are important to my work and its more personal then picking an image to draw off of google image search (not that I don't do that occasionally).

cute guys.

The toad has a natural defense mechanism. Urine. Noone likes to get peed on. He tried to pee on me but only managed to pee all over the porch. His natural defense didn't work on me...but I'm pretty sure his skin secretions gave me a mini-rash.
This slug was about 4 inches long. Brag-able? nope.