Still Blushing

I’m still so embarrassed about the happenings of last evening. As my husband and I were walking home from the gym, we see billowing steam or smoke coming from a box like contraption on the curb about a block from our apartment. We kinda looked at one another and contemplated what it could be. “I mean, what was that?” came out of my mouth twice. I thought we should report it to someone, so like any good New Yorker that reads “If you see Something, say Something” at least once a day, I picked up the phone and called 311. The 311 operator stayed on the line, but transferred me to 911, who then called the fire department. Three operators are on the line asking me questions and I said, I think it is steam or smoke coming out of a 2 x 3 foot box at this address. They take my number and hang up. About 2 minutes later, Coury and I hear the sirens. I was impressed with their response time. Then I get a private number call and it’s the Firemen, they can’t find the box. I say I’ll be right there. I walk out my front door to the sight of 4 Fire Trucks and around 20 Fully suited Firemen at the end of my block. I walk up to them and say it’s right over here. Of course by now, nothing is spewing out of the box. The chief Firemen who called says, “You mean this air conditioner?” as he shines his light on the harmless looking piece of junk on the curb. I said “yeah, but before it looked really ominous and smelled awful” I say to the young firemen beside me, “Sorry, I just called 311 to report it, I didn’t thing they’d send 4 trucks” He just shrugged and said it wasn’t a big deal. Big Fire Chief said it was better to be safe than sorry and I sheepishly snuck away and headed back to my apartment, feeling silly all night for having bothered calling and wasting our tax dollars.

This incident got me thinking about all the Blushing moments in my life and how important they were in shaping who I am today.

Many uncomfortable, red-cheeked moments occurred during Art School critiques. The most memorable Class was a Fundamentals class with a typically “slightly off” teacher that wanted to assign vague projects and expect amazing results. Since I attended a huge state school, there were a huge variety of students, all different ages and talent levels. I felt like I was very behind in knowing myself as an artist at this time. I still had my feelers out for who I wanted to be and what I wanted to achieve. They were so harsh. I remember having to hold back tears and concentrate on breathing. I developed a thick skin fairly quickly. Every new medium seemed to be the same thing. It’s one of my faults. I always want to launch right into doing, not so much the plotting and planning of the final piece. I always liked the process of creating. If only there were limitless time and I could fiddle with this and that all day long.

I’ve had a few blushing moments when I started Printing too. It took a while to find my way. The first thing I printed without rollers. Not my best work. I used a hand roller because the rollers were on order and I wanted to print Thank you notes for my friends wedding present. It was a great first project, but would have been so much better post proper rollers. This swimming card was one of my first as well. I drew the lily pads in Illustrator; they were part of my first photopolymer plate purchase. The swimmer block was an Ebay purchase. I still have a few cards as I was over zealous and printed a shit ton. I have a soft spot for them. You can see how over inked the swimmer is and how unevenly the lily pads printed. I might reprint them now to see the difference after learning a few tricks. At that time, I was testing many different papers too. I loved this orange, but it was a little too glossy for cards and a pain to score and fold.

So many blushing moments have been painfully etched into my brain, but I wouldn’t trade them. I don’t think I’ve repeated too many of them. You learn from mistakes in life. In a way, College was easier than grown up life. I don’t have a team of opinionated artists to tell me what they think of my creations before they go out on display for the whole world to see. I have to be my own critic, which is very hard sometimes. I hope to continue blushing throughout my life and continue to learn from them.

Bonus: Favorite onscreen blushing moment happens in one of my all time favorite Movies, Man in the Moon. Resse Witherspoon puckers up for Jason London and it’s so awkward it takes you back to the way us girls squeamishly felt at 12 and 13.