Wednesday, November 07, 2007

but first, this breaking news...

Now New Jersey Has Driving Bears

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Add this stranger-than-fiction story to the annals of Weird NJ. From The Star Ledger:

A bruin with a sweet tooth smashed its way into a minivan in Vernon early this morning to gobble up a bag of Halloween candy inside, then took the vehicle for a "joyride," police said.

An officer patrolling Highland Lakes at 2 a.m. found a 2004 Mazda minivan parked on a road shoulder with a front passenger side window smashed out.

The "obvious signs" that this was a bear burglary included paw prints, gobs of drool, claw marks and a large quantity of black bear hair, police said.

But this was no typical bear break-in.
The van was a stickshift, and the bear apparently dislodged the parking brake while noshing on leftover Halloween treats. The vehicle rolled out of a driveway and about 40 feet down the road before stopping, police said.

Aside from drool and hair, all that was left were a bunch of empty candy wrappers inside and outside the van.

In a tongue-in-cheek press release titled, "Black Bear Goes For a Joyride," police also said that the patrolman "followed the candy wrapper trail into the woods, but was unable to locate the defendant black bear."

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Not nearly as interesting... In the past few weeks I have put aside my Pro Fab paints and have been painting and screening with thickened dyes. Today I had a few hours in the studio and played with some resists. Here is the fabric just after I printed it with my new favorite MX color - butterscotch. Mmmm.It looked yummy, but after I had steamed and washed it, the color had become less vivid. Well, this just means I need to go back in and add another layer. Do I need an excuse? In my last post I talked about discharging by throwing the fabric into the steamer. Here is a piece that was so dark, you couldn't see the writing. Now, of course, it is too pale. Monday, when I was discharging, I had only one of my screens in the studio so I used it on everything. Well, at least there will be some underlying family resemblance - LOL. I won't bore you with the rest of them.
Tomorrow I hope to spend most of the day in the studio again. I now have a copy machine over there, which I found on Craig's List for a song. Next is my Thermofax.

The good news is that more artists are moving into our building. Tom Nussbaum, a sculptor and printmaker, is taking the space and subdividing it - so across the hall, there will ultimately be 4 or 5 more artists. Hooray!

Vinny, the guy in the other space on our floor, was evicted for non-payment of rent. Sidebar: he told us he had a video business. Once he was leaving, we found out what kinds of videos he was making in there -- and I have to say, we all got a big chuckle out of it, after the fact. No wonder he was always there working late at night! You should see some of the items that came out of there - LOL.

6 comments:

TALL GIRL said...

Re: the butterscotch; maybe it needs chocolate sauce, marshmallow cream, chubby hubby and peanuts? I may not be eating it, but I am still thinking about it...yum!

Re: the bear...wouldn't that dried drool have made a wonderful screen?!!!

Rayna said...

LOL, Carol. EEEEW. On both counts.

Judy said...

so, with just one screen, it sounds like you were working in a series, huh?

belated hb wishes! sounds like you had a great day!

xo

Anonymous said...

Try some chartreuse with that butterescotch. Those 2 and eggplant are some of my new fav's.

Anonymous said...

I too just bought a copier -- laser toner so that I can make thermofaxes at home I'm 1/2 hour away from a copy machine) and then what happens, but I break my HP all in one that I use for color printing. If it isnt one thing... and the little crafty shows I was counting on for selling off some scarves and notebooks was canceled, so the income for the month looks a bit sketchy! Sometimes is seems hard to get ahead -- I am indulging in a slight rant here you can tell. I thought the bear would sympathize.

TB said...

I very much like the butterscotch piece.

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