Life
Katherine Delaunay
Memories of Dan

I’ve kind of been avoiding writing this stuff down. On one hand, I want to always remember Dan and how amazing he was, but on the other, writing it down forces me to sit with it. To remember all the good things, the sad things, and the things I can’t do anything about any more. As vibrant as my memories of Dan are, as admirable his passion, dedication, and talent were, he is gone and the future will give me no new memories with him. 

Memories of Dan
Katherine Delaunay
Seeking Sustainable Change

We’re creeping up on 2 years since I broke my leg. It’s a little frightening to think about how much time has passed and how quickly it feels like it went by. Even though the bone was mended well enough for me to walk without crutches or a boot in about 4 months, the rest of the year felt lost to pain and physical therapy. The past two years have been a series of ups and downs, but they’ve helped me define and refocus on what makes me happy.

Life
Katherine Delaunay
Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

I’ve come to the moment that every pet owner avoids thinking about. I avoided it so hard that I developed a mythology in my head that my cat was some kind of vampire who would live forever because he always looked so damn young and healthy. But over the past month or so, my cat Midnight has been telling us that he’s ready to go. 

Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend
Katherine Delaunay
Reaching out
Katherine Delaunay
Kaizen

I really like the word "Kaizen". It is a Japanese word that means "Good Change" or "Change for the Better" and represents the idea of continuous change to improve all functions of an organization. It is a popular business philosophy that helps increase productivity using increased awareness and action informed by that awareness. The idea is that when changes (great or small) are made over time they can result in great improvements on productivity. While this is most often used as a business strategy, it's easy to apply this idea to one's personal life. It's been an helpful tool for me because I can easily become overwhelmed when I try to change too many things at once. This weekend, my Kaizen focus was cleaning and organizing my studio/office. 

Kaizen

painting

Paintings for Julian 2014 Status Update

Paintings for Julian 2014 Status Update

It's been a while since I posted a journal entry. For the past few months I've been focusing on healing and doing a mostly okay job with that... mostly being the keyword. I was feeling really good up until I became overconfident with my leg and took a shortcut by vaulting over a fence (for the record, I had excellent form for not having done a lazy vault in months!). The loud POP I heard and the intense pain I felt in my leg lead me to being worried I had re-broken it but fortunately I just ticked off a tendon. My leg was x-rayed again and the bone is healing very nicely (x-ray of my leg hidden for the squeamish). I'm just really impatient with this process...

Anyway, I wanted to provide a quick update about the Paintings for Julian 2014 project, first to express my sincere appreciation for everyone's support and second to check-in about the project overall and show you some paintings!

Mannequin Progress and other Adventures

Went to my first Roller Derby last night at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium with Mike. I thought it was crazy awesome and can't wait for the next bout. The seats might have been less than awesome but we definitely got a birds eye view of the action. Next time it might be nice to have ringside seats to see if any derby girls fall in our laps (but they say that we can't take them home with us if they do...darn) Knowing very little about Derby before coming I was really excited to figure out the rules and see how it all works. I also didn't know who to cheer for so I randomly chose the Garda Belts (based on their intro that featured bag pipers) and the Dagger Dolls (based on the fact that some of them were wearing tutus). Sadly they both got trounced by the Atomic Bombshells and the Rockits (respectively) but that's okay...they played really well... The game was all sold out so I was really glad Mike got tickets earlier this week. Super Win.

Just in case you thought I was slacking off on the mannequin I thought I'd update with some pictures so you knew that wasn't the case. It's been a little dull because I was determined to get the base coats done on all of the limbs so that I could paint on them simultaneously and make sure things came together alright. Have a little bit of touching up to do but I'm pretty much at the point where things will get interesting! yay!

In addition to the Mannequin project, I've taken on a collaboration project with my graphic designer friend who wanted a series of paintings for his newly painted office. He designed the layout and the subject matter, I'm going to paint it...should be interesting...especially with the crazy tree he decided to throw at me...jerk... Just started griding off the canvases based on the photoshop file he sent me last night and can't wait to get started! :D Cause you know...I need a new project like I need a hole in my head... oh well...it should keep me out of trouble. :p

Good times...very good times...

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Paintings...quite a few of them (in various states of completion)

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Last week I went to the new Blick store in Edina and spent entirely too much on new painting supplies to celebrate my new free time. Since then, I've painted every night at least...practically all day when I can. I'm having so much fun experimenting and playing again, I don't really care if it isn't good, I'm just enjoying the journey. so here's a sampling of what I've been doing, in various states of completion and goodness... sorry about the crappy light and camera...not much I can do about it. I would say that most of these aren't done yet. but I was too excited not to post something and share what I've been working on. Feedback welcome! [gallery order="DESC" columns="2"]