Blizards, Brownies, and Cardboard.

Seasons Greetings everyone!

Joy is in the air as well as mass amounts of snow and Mellington with Cabin Fever. I have been stuck inside for 5 days straight due to an unusual amount of snowfall in the Pacific Northwest area as well as all over the northern top half of the USA.

Lots of ice and crazy car accidents are happening in my area since nobody around here are use to snow and the max amount of snow we get in a year is about a foot. In the past week Olympia, WA has about a foot and a half of snow! EEEKKK! Luckily the never-ending rain will come and answer out prayers with more overcast skies, steady damp downpour and what seems to be a long and dark winter..... which I personally love!
So you may think me masochistic for this thought? Well... not so much since every rainy day I have I view as yet another attempt to be productive indoors and not distracted or made sleepy my the happiness of sunshine.

I love sunshine, don't get me wrong! However I notice that whenever it comes out I have this strong urge to stop whatever I am doing (working, making art, cleaning, driving a car, being responsible, putting out fires, etc.) and run out into the sunshine, lie on the grass and do NOTHING! ....which is fine for a day or two... but weeks of sunshine not only get me sleepy (from lack of sun at all during Northwest winters) but the also put me into super lazy auto pilot.

With that said... snow, pretty and bitchy, rain dark and damp but productive. wheee!

Recently I have given myself a couple days off and a self-inflicted lobotomy by downloading old TV show series that I missed while living overseas. Yep... I sat in bed and lost 3 days of my life while eating brownies, cookie dough ice cream and glasses of rum eggnog. I think I am on a campaign to get fat since it's winter and my body is way too rock hard from exercise... :P

When not excercising the "inner" tummy muscles I have begun a new series of cardboard houses. Once upon a time in Thailand my little niece looked at my tattoo of cities and roads and buildings and asked "what is in the houses" I said... GOOD QUESTION!.. I think there's lots of storage boxes full of junk and presents." And ever since then I have been talking to myself about what is exactly inside those little buildings I have been making.

....and for some reason the insides really want to be made of cardboard! So I have been working with my jewelers saw and cutting our cardboard doors and windows and and tiny shapes and patterns. When my mother saw my work she screamed "not more bird houses!" and I had to calm her nerves with a cup of tea....


Hope everyone is doing well and you are all safe and sounds and with friends and family, or alone escaping it all... Happy Holidays!

-Mellington Cartwright