This week I went to Mood fabric store for my artist date. Whenever my mom took me to the fabric store as a kid, I would stare at all the different kinds of buttons. Mood (a Project Runway haunt) provided me a very nice selection. I also wanted to inject some color into my blog before I go back to my usual darker ‘moods’.

During the winter I’m usually so cold I don’t want to lift my head to look up and so I end up staring at miles of dirty sidewalks until spring comes.

I have started the Artist Way, which includes a series of exercises that will hopefully make me more creative. One of the lessons is to have an artist date with yourself once a week. It can be anything that you want but it should have a very personal meaning. This past week, I went to 7-Eleven for a Slurpee and and ice cream sandwich (I had to make due with a Pop Tart in lieu of the ice cream). When I was growing up, it was a weekly ritual for me to walk to the local 7-Eleven with my hard-earned allowance. I was hoping to recapture those days and to some extent I did but I also took home a slightly upset stomach. All very worth it, upset tummy and all.

My friend Marcos’s interview with me came at a really good time — http://www.marcossalazar.com/. Sometimes I feel I have a long way to go with my art, but I need to step back once in a while and acknowledge the things I have accomplished. You might recognize some of these images from previous blog posts but here is the complete collection that appears in the documentary, “A Nation Remembers — The Story of the Pentagon Memorial” http://www.flickr.com/photos/ploger/sets/72157607456987698/ which will air on national television sometime next year and can also be purchased here — http://www.45northcommunications.com/.

A rare, but, if I might add, effective use of flash used on super star Frances.