A little Progress

Despite the busy weekend, I did get some studio time in...

Your Luck Has Been Completely Changed Today

A few years ago, my husband and I were Chinese Food Junkies. Our college town had a different Chinese Food Restaurant on every block. We frequented them all. There’s nothing like some Egg Drop Soup and some fried Wantons to make two broke college kids feel full bellied and decadent. I collected the slips of paper from our fortune cookies religiously. There was enough to fill pages of my sketch book. There was a stretch when every fortune cookie Al opened had the same exact message. And this is over a couple months eating at different places. The message- Your Luck Has been Completely Changed Today. We tried to figure out if, when the stretch ended, his luck was good finally or bad. Kind of a “she loves me, she loves me not.” If he started with good luck, well that meant he ended with bad. But what kind of luck did he begin with?

Is this figure lady Luck? Or is She just another innocent bystander? The pattern of clouds is inspired by a Chinese porcelain design that signified changing fortune in the interlocking clouds. Compasses lie beneath her feet, and shield her from the rain. Changing Direction, Changing fortune... These are the things I am thinking about.

A couple months ago we ate at our favorite Thai restaurant here in Bend. When Al opened his cookie- there was the message again- Your luck has been completely changed today. Either fortune cookie makers are in a rut, or Lady Luck has a torturous, fickle crush.

Sailors Take Warning

Red Sky at Night, Sailors Delight. Red Sky in Morning, Sailors Take Warning.”

My mom just said this phrase is in the Old Testament. I didn’t remember it being biblical, but despite where it came from, it is a phrase that I use quite often. Granted, I have always been landlocked (though closer to the sea these days being only three hours from the dramatic Oregon Coast). It will be years before I have a sailboat. So why does this phrase intrigue me so? It has a slightly foreboding poetry to it that gives me comfort in some slightly odd way. Maybe I just take after my weather channel addicted father, and look to the sky to see how my day will shape up.

The moral of the story- Invest in a good umbrella.