I'm IT!

Apparently, you’re never too old to play tag. I just got tagged by Vern Schwarz. Here are the rules:

1. Place a link to the person that tagged you
2. List seven unusual things about yourself
3. Tag (and link to) seven other artists at the end of your post, and post on their blogs to let them know they’ve been tagged.

It took me a long time to think up seven things about myself. I don’t know why they feel like confessions, but given the subtitle of my blog I suppose it’s appropriate:

1. I used to draw incessantly when I was a kid (pre-teen/teenager) and then went cold turkey with my art until a couple of years ago. Now I’m even more obsessed than I was back then.

2. I sometimes have a major “ugly stage” where I hate whatever I’m working on, and I seriously consider trashing it. Once in a while I actually do give up and start over, but usually I keep working and it ends up okay. After realizing that this is just part of my process, I have made peace with the ugly stage. I don’t look forward to it, but I don’t have to talk myself off a ledge either.

3. (Okay, here’s a gross one which shows my desperation in thinking up interesting things.) In high school, my best friend and I shared a locker. Just to amuse ourselves, when we were finished with our chewing gum we would stick it inside the door of the locker, especially in the ventilation slots (it stuck better there). People would walk by and comment on how disgusting it was, then ask if they could add their gum to it. It was really a work of art, a sort of community project. Until someone ratted us out, or else one of the teachers noticed gum poking out the slots, and we had to take it all down.

4. I never took art classes because I didn’t think it was possible to have a career in art (the whole “starving artist” thing seemed unappealing). In fact, I wanted to be an architect until I took my first (and last!) architecture class in college. Some of the things they made us do were mind-numbingly tedious.

5. My husband and I both grew up in southern California. It took me a few years, but I finally persuaded him to move to Washington, even though I had never been here before and we didn’t know anyone who lived here. I know it’s strange, but I just knew this was where I was supposed to be. We’ve been here 16 years now and are very happy.

6. I used to go on autopilot whenever I would drive. I’d miss my offramp, or go the wrong way and not know it, until I would all of a sudden become aware that I was completely lost. When I got pregnant with my first child and had gotten lost on the way to my OB/GYN appointment for the third time, I decided I had to change. It’s extremely rare that it happens these days, but my kids think it’s hilarious when it does. I’m just grateful my car has a navigation system.

7. I purposely chose April 15 for my wedding day because I knew it would be impossible for me to forget our anniversary. It worked. And as a bonus, we’re always motivated to get our taxes done early so we don’t ruin our anniversary with tax stress.

Now that you know more about me than you ever wanted to know, here are the artists I’m tagging: Pat Burns, Tracey Allyn Greene, Tif Matthews, Kim Niles, Frankie Paquin, Heather Simms, and Torrie Smiley. It may take them a while, or they may not want to play, and that's okay, too. :)