Christmas Ornament

Here is my version of a Christmas tree ornament for this year. I think that I had to rush through it and I'm not as fond of it as I am of my 2010 Christmas Zentangle doodle. However, it might be the choice of subject. Maybe next year I will draw another one and it will of course be a different one and I'll see what happens.

Christmas Zentangle doodle

I love to doodle when I only have snippits of spare time! I love how I can not have a plan and the drawing can "turn out". 2010 Christmas doodle is fun! I knew that I wanted the star and snowman motif and some trees but that was about it when I started it. I think this is a great use of my creative time!!

Have I said that I absolutely love prezzies? My friend says that I have only said it, "oh maybe a thousand times"! However, I have to get my own personal Santa moving because there are no prezzies under the tree for me ... yet!

It is beginning to feel like.....

Yes, I'm beginning to get into the spirit of the season! I had some time and took my inspiration from Canadian Christmas stamps (having finally sent out a Christmas card to friend down east!).

I used some STAEDTLER watercolour crayons and some Lyra water soluble crayons. I have used the hard Staedtler crayons before and had enjoyed using them. I have used them in my regular Moleskin sketchbook by using gesso on the pages so that the water will not leak through the pages. This time I used both products and found that I like using the Lyra water soluble crayons because of there soft creamy texture. the one downside is that it is impossible to apply more colour on top due to the waxy finish. I will have to try to add Lyra on top of Lyra and see if there is a difference.

Of course, I can see now that I have applied the colour a bit more haphazard than I had originally thought. I thing that I need to use a template (a glass or jar would have done quite nicely) to make the round shapes. Oh well, I was working on a nightshift and I was just so happy to have "created" anything let alone create something that should be "perfect".

Regardless, this quick watercolour "sketch" makes me happy!

The Zipper Rules

Ahhhhh! Just a quickie pencil sketch. This is a drawing of two things that were at hand while I was at work (slow nightshift!!). No, the zipper wasn't exactly a chance item since I had picked it up at the charity shop the day before in anticipation that the shift might be quiet and I could keep myself awake with a small project. It really is the only way to go when time drags endlessly and all of your thoughts are based on .... will this night shift "ever end"!!!??

I like this sketch just because it is a bit odd and the perspective is a "bit" off once again (bummer!). I had originally drawn the zipper but the page. seemed empty so I just added the ruler on the bottom. Had I planned out the page, I would have placed the zipper and ruler at a different juxtaposition that would have been a bit more pleasing to the eye.

Oh well, it was a night shift drawing and not intended to be a "piece of art" but a artistic way of passing the time and keeping myself awake and primed to "do my job"!!!!

Proto-type in Moleskine

I've been invited to a wedding for a long-time friend who has never yet been married. She wants to get married before she is fifty so the date has been set for January. I have wracked my brain on what type of card that I should buy for her. I love those expensive "pop-up" cards but then I thought... what the heck.... go for it and try to make something.

So I thought and thought..... then I recalled that I had a package of used from Casino Rama. They have never been used at my house since my hubby is not much of a card player. He never grew up playing cards like I did.

I got the idea from the cards and of course these are not Tarot, they did not speak to me or anything. I used them to represent to couple to be married. I thought that telling "their story" so to speak might be interesting. I think that I will do it up like an "art" card; no it isn't "fine" art but it is a handmade art card.

I started with a pencil sketch and you will see that it is only a sketch since I did not use any measuring tools. I just eye-balled it because I wanted to get myself moving, to get "into" it, get into the creative process of the "how". All with come together with "baby" steps; that means drawing first then a prototype in my Moleskin too.

Of course, I haven't gotten close to being finished and have added more text already so that I can "finish" the story of their relationship.

Now I have to figure out how I will make it into an actual card that I will be satisfied with. Writing the text in this way means that I use up lots of page space and that means I might have put it in a much larger watercolour page. It just so happens that I have several sheets but I will do up one more on paper and see how I like it.

Hibiscus

So here it is Halloween and I finally get to post again! The best part is that it is a pencil drawing from my Moleskine. It was good to finally draw something yesterday before I went in on nightshift. The bad part is that it isn't a great drawing in anyway. My point really is that I just need to put the pencil in my hand and make a mark on the page. It has been way too long.

This plant was given to me as a birthday gift and I am constantly amazed how it blooms. It has three orange blooms on it today and many more to come. I love bringing this plant indoors from its summer perch on our deck. When I look at it all winter, I longingly think of spring!

Tomatoes

We had a really great crop of tomatoes this year! We had a few varieties and they came in different sizes. So able to find the time to draw one. Not sure that I picked the best perspective, regardless it is a completed drawing.

Will be heading out on the IMAGES studio tour today with family so that will be great fun! Bringing the camera with me since it is such a fabulous day - another one!! We will be getting spoiled for sure!

Shibori and Zentangle

Wow! It is September and before I turned around it is the 10th already! What a lovely fall-like day! Unfortunately, it is the end of my favourite season although autumn is a very pretty season to. I'm trying to get a bunch of odds and ends done like making telephone calls that I have been avoiding (I only have one more to go!) and such like.

No time to finish my final art project unfortunately, so the hair on my picture remains at 70% complete. I had time on one of my night shifts to complete a zentangle doodle; for the first time I used a coloured background. The doodle is done with a brush micron pen and I had some brush markers that I broke out for the background. I love the doodle since I don't plan anything out and it was completely spontaneous. The result is okay with me although there are a couple of areas of the doodle what I would have changed their locations. Regardless, it was fun and it occupied my time in the wee hours of the morning which were exceptionally boring on my last night shift. This is something that I can do to keep myself awake and doesn't take too much brain power so I am not expending too much energy.

I wanted to post a pic of my silk chiffon scarf that I dyed. I think it is lovely but I can see now that I should have dipped it more often. That is a good lesson to learn from my first try at Shibori and indigo dying.

Indigo and Shibori Dye

Yesterday was my first ever attempt at indigo dying and checking out the concept of Shibori. I Googled "Shibori" and found out that: it is a Japanese term for several methods of dyeing cloth with a pattern by binding, stitching, folding, twisting....

It was lots of fun even though it was so hot yesterday. I was very happy with some of my projects. It is strange but I forgot to take a picture of the Shibori pole-wraped silk scarf!!! I still have some indigo left in my dye vat and I definitely want to do some more dying.

I invite anyone who is interested to check out these websites: http://shiborigirl.wordpress.com/

and

http://www.maiwa.com/documentaries/pc_callender.html

I just had to download a few of their informative podcasts too.

What a great experience! So, I wasn't really sure what to expect so I had "prepared" a few items for the dye bath. However, what I like the most wasn't my dyed pillowcases but the Shibori dyed silk scarf. I know that I have a few more packages of silk chiffon and my fingers are just itching to get them in the dye bath.

So, in the beginning ... there is plain white cotton and in this case, two pillowcases. I went to the dollar store and got some elastics (500 in a package no less) and started to "tie" my fabric. I was surprised to find out that elastics have changed from what I had used in the past (who knew?!!)

Okay there are a few things going on in the snap below. I have a piece of watercolour paper, an old sweater that had some stains on it and yes a pole. With some helpful instructions from my good friend Leanne, I have taped, wrapped and bound with crochet cotton my silk scarf to the outside of the pole.

I didn't know that the dye would at first appear to be green until the oxygen gets at the fabric and turns it the lovely blue shade.

One pillowcase successfully dyed!

So here is the one pillow case. The worst part of doing this was untying the elastic. I ripped out, snapped off as much as I could with a pair of scissors. I was just a bit concerned about doing that since I was afraid of cutting the fabric. Secondly, I was wondering how my fingers and nails would look the next day. My finger nails only have a slightly blue tinge today!

Oh so reminiscent of the 1970's!!! I love fun!

Oh and if you are wondering; yes, I am still doing hair on my final drawing project!!!

Okay, I'm at Starbucks in town so I can use the free WiFi internet and downloading the latest updates for my computer. Along comes an "old fella" and asked one of the men if he is here to get away from his parents basement. He thought that we were all way to engrossed on what is going on our respective computer screens. When I looked up to survey my colleagues at the table I would have surmised that we are all over the age of 35. Obviously, we look silly to the "old fella" who was wearing a white canvas fedora (while indoors no less).

Final Drawing Project

Working certainly makes me a very dull girl! I will be working for 7 straight days in a row so I haven't had time to do any art. So, darn it all but I have not finished my final drawing project for art class tonight. I will try to get some of the hair filled in before I have to leave for work today.

I completed the skin on the face and neck while only my lunch break yesterday at Tim Horton's yesterday and had a very sweet kid come up and make some interesting comments. He had some good pointers to offer and I ended up using my kneadable to take off some marks that I knew I needed to but had not yet gotten around to it. He did say that I had done a good job so far! Yippee!!!! Unfortunately, I had hoped to get more done on my final piece but we ended up chatting, he is a construction worker and also enjoys drawing, tattoo designs (he had lots of them) and clay work. I have never gone to Tim's and drawn anything in the past, usually I just sit there and read a book. So it was an interesting lunch which afforded an objective critique of my drawing by a person I do not know

Nope, I'm not going to post it here since it will become a birthday gift for a very dear friend.

Here is the cover of my sketchbook that I put some left over paint on and doodled.

Nasty Hair

I had a not so lovely experience yesterday! I had a date with the dental surgeon to get my implant. It has been a long time in coming when the tooth fractured last August. Healing and bone growth take time. This next phase will take quite some as well! I'm glad that I opted to sleep through the procedure. What a slick operation the dental specialist has!!!! In one door and out the back door; to ensure that the patient is closer to the elevator on leaving so that no one can see you with your ice pack on your face.

So, yes that means I am "still" working on hair. I don't know what it is but I thought that I had the drawing dark enough but the picture says otherwise. In addition, I can see some errors in my perception. So the question is, are the flaws in my drawing going to make a big difference and change the overall appearance of the person. No, I don't think so, my drawing is close even if I do say so myself. Sometimes I wonder exactly what I was thinking at the time that I did the contour drawing. I drew it in "quadrants" and coloured it in using the quadrant method as well and still I have made some obvious errors in the hair style. No, I have no idea what I was thinking and why it is that I didn't see the obvious until now. So I think that I will call my attempt at drawing hair - "impressionistic realism".

Drawing and Music

I have read lots of posts by bloggers who cite classical music as the cats meow for making art. I have read that jazz greats like Thelonius Monk is another perfect option. These suggestions are often made for music to be part of the creative process but pushed into the background. I like mind just a bit more front and centre.

Hmmm! As with art, music is definitely a personal preference. I agree that classical and Thelonius have their place and there is certainly a good "marriage" between the two artistic realms. I have tried out these different genres with some success but find that I prefer my music a bit more uptempo whether it is a cold or sultry day! Music is so very subjective and I do change my mind oftentimes it is based on my mood. Of late, I have been leaning towards Latin/salsa and music from Africa, and the Arab world (Turkey and Egypt). I have a Macbook and I have different playlists that I use (my lovely daughter bought me some fabulous Bose speakers for my computer). I prefer world music BECAUSE I can't understand the words so I am not actually listening that closely and can continue to concentrate on the work [the art] at hand. The beat is just enough that keeps me happy but not so much that I get out of my zone and find myself "toe tapping".

Each to her/his own!

Thank goodness we have music because I am working on hair again today and need the tunes!

Today, I am listening to:

The Greatest Songs Ever: Middle East

Turkey - The Greatest Songs Ever

Arabic Groove

African Guitar Summit II - (recorded in Toronto)

Africa - The Greatest Songs Ever

Sleepless in Oro

I would prefer to still be asleep but since I can't I can appreciate the net without feeling guilty. I don't feel obligated to doing any chores around the house and being on the net is a "quiet" activity. I have my cup of hot coffee on my desk beside me so life is good indeed.

I hope to tackle drawing hair a little bit later as it is the next step in my weekly art assignment. Oh boy!!! I thought teeth were hard! Hair is every bit as hard as the rest of the face. The instructor says that hair is tedious and has tried to simplify the process for us. For some reason I think that I am having difficulty grasping the concept. I started the assignment yesterday and I just don't "see" when I should be using island, parallel lines and star bursts. Some of what he showed us is so obvious if only I am able to see the "little intricacies" of the big picture that is HAIR (Cowsills song). On the other hand, the way I see it, some marks are completely subjective. I feel concerned about the rightness and wrongness of my mark making. I must remember that marks have to visually flow so that it replicates our normal world as closely as possible. For example, if there is a clump of wispy hair here then the hair near or "under" it will be darker; remember that hair is darker near a part. That is the sort of thing that is all true but not something that we actually "think" about. Without actually saying so, I think our instructor is trying to get us to change the way we "see" or at least "interpret" what we see and how we make that mark on the paper. It is exactly like my issues with the teeth, we all think we have white teeth when in fact we don't.

Ahhh well, come what may!

It is not always about drawing!!!

I love the abstract nature of this snap! I stopped at a little parkette that I have driven by on many an occasion. It is right beside Camp Hillbilly!!! (seeing this name always makes me chuckle). I decided to stop yesterday on my way home from Deerhurst Resort. It was great because it was so cool and shady on such a hot day. I love how the lily pads are strong and clear in the foreground and the background is all blurry because it is the reflection of the trees in the water. No, I will never be Monet (I think he was the famous artist that painted the lily pads). I like the way it has percolated my creative thoughts. It makes me feel all bubbly with what if I did that or this or the other. Unfortunately, I have no time to do right now! But no complaints!

I had to take a snap of this little flower (weed)! It was the only touch of red in the whole park! It immediately caught my eye! No wonder! I'm sure that colour theory was modelled from nature.

Okay, so here is my portrait project so far! As you can see the bottom half is clearly different from the top half (hmm where have I heard that before??!!). My instructor said that my top half was too light so I drew the bottom half completely in 2B other than the mapping in which I did using an H lead. I had hoped to have time to blend the two drawings together so they actually looked like they "belonged" to the same face and without the line in the centre. That obviously didn't happen!

I was at a conference so I didn't spend as much time "checking" my work using my camera as my guide. Our instructors' critique was that my teeth are way to white. I can certainly see that my teeth are indeed way "too white"!! They almost jump off the page! Ugh! In fact, I think that he might just have a point, I think the whole drawing shows way too much white paper through the pencil. I think it is all about practice, practice, practice and yes, more practice. I have a ways to go on that score!

There was a "life perspectives" coach at the conference and she says that we need to do "NEW" things. So here I am, doing and learning something new and loving it. It is hard work but well worth the effort.

Drawing Challenges

I have to get my picture finished today in preparation for lots of chores to do in town tomorrow. Then art class!

This latest homework assignment has been difficult. Our instructor said that it would be the most fun of all his assignments this far. That may be so but it is also the most difficult. I have to put in all of the skin lines and hair (eyelashes) and such today.

I will try and post my final pic along with the instructors critique. I find that since I am looking at it now, I see many mistakes. I think that I might do my next drawing exactly the way the instructor does; piece by piece. He draws in segments and fills in the "colour" in segments like fitting a puzzle together. I have been working "all over the place" and I think that I am doing myself a dis-service because when I do find a mistake then it is often just too difficult to correct. I just can't force myself to erase all the work that I have done and start over. Well, maybe that is exactly what I should have done; started over. No matter, I don't have the time for that and so this effort will have to suffice in its current state; warts and all.

Then later today I have to pack up for the weekend at our trailer in Bracebridge. From there, I am going directly to Huntsville for a conference. Only saving grace is that it is only 33 kms from where I'll be at the camp and only and hour and a bit back home! The conference is finished on Thursday and I'll be heading home southbound so there shouldn't be an issue with the northbound tourist traffic!

Thursday is drawing class night

The cherries this year are absolutely fantastic, nice and sweet! I was only able to find two bunches of black cherries that were still joined. I drew them and then re-worked them (read edit) but although I am not totally satisfied, here they are. Using a camera is sometimes very good since it is a truly an objective "critic".

Thought that I would post some "tools of the trade" so to speak. These are things that I never thought that I would ever use. Obviously, the instructor likes us to use European drawing materials. I have read on the internet that they have softer leads with higher pigmentation. I certainly understand the softer lead thing since I have used over an inch of my 2B pencil for this weeks homework project. I never ever thought I would use the sandpaper block but what a useful tool it is!

I am amazed at how much information is available on the internet about drawing but then again there is lots that isn't explained. I learn better with actual instruction and then applying what has been learned in the homework assignment.

Well done Mark! Go see his amazing art at his website www.marktumber.com

I have to say that although last week I was disappointed with my drawing efforts, I am looking forward to tonight. I seem to be having some difficulties with the "live model". I have to say that I had had a very busy day last week and was a bit tired. I hate to lay to blame elsewhere but I do have to say that the environment is really not conducive to drawing. The perspective is all off for me; she was standing directly in front of me but was standing on the table which make her way above my head. Nothing I drew was any good, I hope that it was just an "off" night that will not be repeated again tonight.

Pears

I am taking a drawing course down at Curry's art supply in town and I really should be doing my homework since it will require many many hours of work before the next class on Thursday night. But as always, I am a dilly dally sort of person and have been drawing fruit.

I find that there are times when the camera "does not lie" and I can see lots of errors in my drawings. It is a good to use the critical "lens" of the camera if you don't have anyone to critique your work. So yes, I can see the flaws in these little drawings but I'm putting them "out there" anyway.

Actually these two little drawings are from my Moleskin sketchbook because I know that I should to draw each and every day in order to improve my skill and technique. However, I did cheat on these and I used "shavings" from my pencil to darken the background. My drawing instructor thinks that is the lazy way since it is NOT actual "drawing" but smearing graphite on to a page with a stomp. He says 80 percent drawing and 20 percent stomping! I will try!

I will see if I can post his link here so you can check out how great he is: www.marktumber.com

In the Eye of the Beholder

Well, I do like the new backgrounds that blogger has let me change but I thought I could fool around with it so much more. More reading and learning is required it seems. I'm a bit miffed that all of my old posts won't show up since the new change because the print area is now white when before it was black. Hmm. Wonder if there is a work-a-round for this. So that means more reading and more learning. That is certainly a good thing.

Although I would never wear anything orange, I really do love the warmth the colour brings to the screen. I know that some readers don't appreciate the stark blackness. I thought that the black punctuated my photo's but possibly that is only for my eye only. Ya know, in the "eye of the beholder"!

Moleskin Sketch

I read lots of blogs where the blogger writes about why they have been absent from updating their blog. Sometimes they even write that they will endeavour to update more frequently in the future because they life has stabilized blah, blah, blah. I just refuse to make promises or to apologize. My absence is what it is, life happens.

I love my little red Moleskin sketchbook. It is all about being easy to carry in addition to my iPod! It is one of the two things that I just CAN NOT do without. So if I was stuck on a desert island, I would absolutely have to have my sketchbook and a minimum a 2B pencil.

I'm just started a drawing course this month so it has renewed my desire to get back to sketching and drawing. So here is a small one I did several nightshifts ago! I popped these cherries in my mouth after I drew them. Doing a drawing that has nothing to do with my class work was very satisfying!

Thinking Pink and Green

Pink and "spring" green is the spring/summer version of Christmas time red and green.

The blossoms on the crab apple tree have me thinking about the pinks and green of spring!!

I think that I will use these little silicone gems today. Can you guess what they are?? What a great invention silicone is, so useful, so versatile! And just in case you were wondering, there is nothing in this picture that signifies these useful items have any relationship to "helmet head".

Once I have something in my mind it becomes easier to see it everywhere I look. the thought of "colour" gets my creativity flowing and evolving. I ended up taking the yet uncut seedless watermelon and staging it for picture taking. Hmmm! Not too shabby for a quick snap!

Reclamation Project

I'm on holidays and I decided that it is time that I finished up some of the many "unfinished" projects that I have had on the go! I know, it is shocking but nevertheless so very true. I am "one of them"!

So for the last few days, I took it upon myself to finish a proto-type that I had started for the year-long project challenge for members of the Marmalade group! I hadn't liked the way it was going so I shoved it in a bag.

As it happens I had the mat and the frame has been cluttering around my workspace for years. Viola! I had a chance to use a RED frame. What was I thinking when I bought that thing? I have absolutely no idea!

I had named my project - The Reclamation Project - because I wanted everyone to make beautiful art from reclaimed materials. Of course, art is in the eye of the beholder but I think that this example demonstrates what I meant. Here I used old men's silk ties, painted coffee filters, painted dryer sheets and beads from my collection.

The Lady or the Tiger?

Something that I have read recently sparked my interest (I’m on holidays and I’m reading things that I find entertaining); that something was written by one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman. He had written an introduction to his children’s book, “M is for Magic” (a Hugo award winner for The Graveyard Book ). Here is what he said, “Stories you read when you are the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you will forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit”. This is the short story that impacted me the most since I read it at a young age, possibly 8 or 9 years of age. We lived in Mount Apica, a Canadian radar base in Quebec. It was a crappy three-roomed school but I found a book of short stories in the school library. I can still recall what I believe to be the right name of the story, “The Lady or the Tiger?” What I liked best about it was the fact that the reader is the one who must make the decision. Which ending is the one? Why do we think that one ending will prevail over any other probable ending? I guess that is one of the reasons why I like endings of the novels I read to be unexpected. That rarely happens, I am often disappointed. However, there was one other book where I was delighted that I could not for some unknown reason figure out the ending; the book was called, The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte (a Spanish journalist and novelist). He is not an author who would be read among my peers but this is a novel that has stuck with me due to the surprise I received on the last page. The next was a book about a mentally ill man called, The Confederacy of Dunces. It certainly was not a “gripping” novel. Again, the ending was not quite what I had anticipated although in the face of mental illness it is often highly accurate.

I have since completed a Google search and find that Frank R Stockton wrote The Lady or the Tiger and it was first published for a magazine in 1882. Here is a link whereby you can read the story for yourself; it is worth the short time it takes to read it!!

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml

In many respects I am loath to read it as an adult, because I don’t want to change the way it has resonated with me for so many years.

Podcast Audio Books

Have I said how much I love my Macbook laptop?!! I'm at Starbucks downloading podcasts to my heart content.

I have just finished another audio book podcast and have just started another. I love my iPod touch almost as much as this piece of technology! I can safely say that I can't recommend enough Mur Lafferty's podcast audio books. Just listened to "Playing for Keeps" and I plan on downloading "The Takeover" later. Right now I'm downloading the podcast that won the 2009 Parsecs Award for this genre. It is quite a lengthy story and I have had to download it piecemeal. Playing for Keeps is a story about super heros. I had thought that I mightn't like it all that much but I did indeed; it was recommended by the fella that podcasts the "Leviathan Chronicles". His podcast audio book is of such high quality adventure Mur's is a little less high tech but the story was great!

So in the meantime I have just started a new podcast audio book called "Nocturnal". This one is about crime and vampires and so far has been very exciting.

I wanted to spend a few minutes "doodling" and I located this page in my Moleskine that I had covered with graphite and rubbed with a stomp. I'm not sure what made me do this and it sure looked like something needed to be done with it. I just couldn't leave it that way forever.

So I used some white and silver paint pens and a sharpie to make a doodle picture. I'm not sure what made me pick flowers but I think that it looks interesting if nothing else. I had not anticipated what it would turn out like so it was a surprise. I like it when I don't have a plan while making art - even if it is just doodle art. I find that my like is so planned out already that not having one is some much more fun! So I take my hat off to everyone who can produce art without a plan.

Bee Clip Earings

I just loved these earrings when I saw them because they are intended to represent bees. If my memory serves bees are good luck. I checked on google and found out that they represent the notion that all things are possible! Really? I didn't know that.

Wait! I almost forgot, I have a pair of socks with a bee embroidered on them and I found a concert Tori Amos t-shirt (originally belonging to my daughter) that as a bee painted on it.

Then if found that in the ancient near east and Aegean cultures, the bee was believed to be the sacred insect that bridged the natural world to the underworld.

However, having said that, in Welsh lore it is good luck to have a strange swarm of bees come to your garden. Okay, I can understand that, but really, I'm scared to death of them. I can't imagine a swarm of bees anywhere near me! That reminds me that we did have a swarm of bees come to the house that we live in now. I had thought that they were rogue bees from a farm not too far away. Possibly a "rogue" queen who took the swarm with her to find a new home. Her choice of home was in our chimney!

My hubby had decided to burn some paper in the wood furnace and to his dismay the smoke filled the house. He awoke me and then our daughter before we anything happened. We had to get PCO to come to get rid of all of the wax, honey and "the bees". At first we had called around to local companies hoping they would help us but no one wanted to rid us of these pests. I know that they are pests really but they are if they are in the chimney that heats your house. PCO used liquid Vapona (remember the no-pest strip??!) in a machine that converted it to a smoke.

Have I mentioned that I am deathly scared of bee's?

Pastel small art work

I'm feeling a bit chilly today and had a few minutes to spare so I got my sketchbook out and for expediency, my soft pastels. What I thought was, I wanted to do some art that would feel warm. The only thing about abstract work is that one has to be careful not to "over work" the drawing or painting so that the fundamental feel of the work doesn't look contrived. Now, I don't really have that problem with this piece because it is just a gradation in colour but I could see that the colours were about to become "muddied" slightly and so I had to walk away.

My favourite part of this small "paining" (for the lack of a better word) is the saturated colour. A pastel girl, I am not, or at least for the most part!

As you can see in the picture, this box of short pastel pieces haven't had much use. I did remember that I need to clean off the residue off because it is one reason that the wrong colour is applied to the wrong area. I need to get out my books and find out more about the use and misuse of soft pastels.

Even my wiping cloth looks good plastered with colour!!!! Can you tell that I love colour???!!!

This was a fun way to start my day!!!!

The Paper Curl

I know that I have been lamenting about not having time to make any art. So.... I decided to quit whining and make something simple. I was surfing the net the other night an came across a site where the woman had done a simple pen and paper drawing of a paper curl. I like the simplistic nature of the piece so much I decided to put more effort into it and do this little pencil drawing. Yup, I used the lowly but lovely 2B woodless variety to make the drawing. My favourite choice of medium do to its cost and ease of use!!!!! I found an old sketchbook that I have not as of yet completed. I had to chuckle when I saw that the last drawing in it was from April 2009! So it was kind of fitting that I pick it up almost one year later.

I know that it is such a simple little thing but I was really happy to spend the hour thinking about nothing else but the little drawing. It was pure heaven!!!

Crackberry Sucks

I'm getting to my saturation point. If I get new technology I expect it to work and if it doesn't I expect to get a new product. Well Bell hasn't done that! I got a new crackberry in December and I tried to load some software on to it so that I could sync it to my MAC and the thing crashed. Bell has sent it to a repair centre, the slowest one in the world because it has been almost a month and I still haven't received it back. What nonsense! I know now that if I decide to make a purchase of a similar hand-held device, it will be a iPhone and I will buy it from Rogers. Sure it was great that Bell gave me a loaner but I had to input my contacts all over again. What a pain! The worst part is that the representative at Bell told me that they sent my device to the "slowest" repair centre. What the heck is that about?! I mean really, why do I need to know that Bell has sent my unit to the most inefficient department going? One must assume that the organization as a whole is likely similar.

Hmmm, now that I think about it, I think that many organizations are similar. My Dad sold his house and he moved into a retirement residence and I have been trying to cancel his security alarm service. Easier said than done. He called to to cancel but for some reason they want me to call them. Now, really that is ridiculous, he has already called you to cancel and his pays the bill and he is certainly capable of cancelling the service. I have never seen such incompetence in my life! I think that likely it is a cash grab as well and said as much to one of their representatives. I said I thought that they had fleeced a 90-year-old man out of his money for nothing. Thing is, I don't know how he got hood-winked into it. It seems that they sent a salesman around to the house and he signed up. Yup, the elderly are so very trusting and I am so very cynical.

Today is one of those days where I could rant about lots of others things as well but it would be best if I didn't. Got to try and keep myself calm so that I can have a relatively pleasant day.

The World Wide Web

I'm here at Starbucks and downloading a new audio drama podcast! Currently I'm listening to "The Leviathan Chronicles" a free podcast on iTunes. Great sci-fi story and superb audio quality. I have listened to many others and this one is by far the best yet!

I love the fact that for the cost of a coffee I can gain access to the internet and it doesn't go against my allowable internet usage on my mobile stick. This has been an issue with me since I can't seem to get high speed internet any other way. It is costing me an arm but is well worth it when the only other option is dial-up. My hubby has been checking out other methods and it seems that the mobile stick is still the best we can do for where we live. An I.T. fella from where he works told him that we should just move in to town if high speed is so important. O.M.G.!! Never!

I ordered a pair of sandals on line this morning from Etsy.com I hope that they will be as great when I get them as they looked on line. The woman is a Canadian currently living in Uruguay. Amazing that this is possible. I found her sandals while surfing the net on my last night shift since I had a few minutes to kill waiting for the day shift girls to show up.

I can't wait to see what they actually look like! I hope I like them as much as I like them in this picture! If they are as great as I hope they summer can't come soon enough.

When did it happen?

I have no idea of when that "pivotal" moment was when I became a LIP BALM JUNKIE but I became aware of it yesterday. Now the photograph shows the majority of them that I own but not all! Really, how many lip balm's does one woman need? I don't know because I keep them everywhere...at my computer desk, in the living room, in my bedroom, the bathroom, the spare room, in the pocket of difference jackets and coats. It seems that I can not be without them at any time or any place because my purse has many of them as well, tinted and un-tinted. I guess for an addiction this one is that has the least impact on self and others. Hmmmm! I think that it is possible that it is a "sign of the times"; we live in environments that are heated by gas, oil and electric methods with dry the skin. Then again, it could be because my skin is moving from the oily variety to the very dry. It would seem to me that there is a fifty/fifty split here.

I find it interesting that there are varying degree's of price point for these products. I like them all for different reasons and use them at differing times of the day as well. I got the comfrey leaf as a present and I use it before going to bed in the winter.

However, I have very fond memories of the so-called "classic" Chapstick. It is one that my mother used and I always wanted to have some of it on my own lips. I would have been 6-8 years old and I would to beg her to let me put it on my own lips. Reluctantly she would give in, but I was never allowed to actually own my own lip balm. Possibly that is the reason that I purchased this tube. It looks exactly the same as the one my mother had; hence the "classic". Every time I want to think of my mother, I apply it! Mostly what draws me is the smell and the taste. These two senses combined have produced a strong internal response by evoking such strong memories. It isn't so strange because there have been so many studies done on taste and smell that mirror my reaction.

This makes me smile, a blog post on lip balm. Who knew!!!

Diamonds on the Snow

I love sunlight and stood in the hallway window to feel the yellow light warm my face. I can not stress enough; I love sunshine in the winter!!!!!!

When I looked down I could see the sparkling snow below me on the front lawn. I grabbed my Nikon to see if I could capture the essence of the sparkling snow. Okay I took a picture of the snow but even with shadows in the snap and a bit of iPhoto modifications I still can't get the true essence of the sparking diamonds lying there waiting for me to scoop them up!!!! Yup, picture capture of these sparklers eludes me. It would be just as if I had attempted to physically scoop up those diamonds (and "rubies" depending where you are and how the light refracts) and hold them in my hand.

I guess this means that I might as well go out and by a lottery ticket for that prize will elude me too! I guess I have come full circle so that is my post for today!

Oh yes, this reminds me of a song by Paul Simon, "Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes" - I have it playing now on my computer!!!!

No Time for Sewing

I couldn't sleep last night so I decided that I could put that sleeplessness to good use. My focus is still on clearing out my Dad's house so .. I thought that I could sort through some of my photographs and put them into "albums". I had forgotten that I had been to a fibre art showing in Toronto with my daughter.

It was a one woman show housed at a "gallery" that allows the exhibit to be viewed from the street. For the life of me I don't recall the street name. I didn't get any photo's of the beautiful fibre art but I did make a purchase of these beautifully sewn greeting cards. Very lovely!

I am feeling sad that I asked my husband to buy my a sewing machine for Christmas last (yes, LAST YEAR) and I have not had the time to even take it out of the box. Wow!!! How sad is that? I have a brand new Janome that beckons but I must snub my nose at it. That reminds me that I must take in my old lovely Bernina for a friend who wants some parts for her machine.

From Alternative to Opera

I love having eclectic tastes, it means that I can sample all the good bits of life! I love music and I enjoy what iTunes considers "alternative" as well as classical/opera and almost everything in between. Right now I am listening to Steven Pasero's instrumental "guitar masterpieces" album on my computer (surprisingly it is not available on iTunes). I don't usually like guitar instrumentals but this album is exceptional. My hubby is in the kitchen making chicken florentine for supper tonight and he is watching "Surviorman" and I have no wish to watch that particular program. Although I am not in the process of making art, I find myself thinking about it more and more often as each day passes. I am formulating a new idea that will have to percolate there until I can expend the time really making art! When I am deep in the process of painting or drawing, I like to listen to music that doesn't have words that I would want to discern when I listening. I just want to have good music playing, in the background, in the foreground, it doesn't really matter to me. Having said that, I also like world music because I don't understand the words so it amounts to about the same thing.

I forgot my "crackberry" at work yesterday and had expected that I would go into town today to retrieve it. Then I had the presence of mind to re-think that. The more I thought about it, the more I didn't want to force myself to go. Tomorrow will undoubtedly be fine (I have to go to town anyway to check the house and take my Dad to his pre-op appointment)! I know that I am suppose to have the thing on 24/7 in case a "member" calls me but I have noticed little activity during the weekends. It would seem that our members prefer to only call when they are working. It is unfortunate that I am a shift worker and most of my callers are not. I had not thought that I would miss the new technology until I was given the "loaner" crackberry because I fried it when I tried to download some software. I don't think crackberry likes my MAC even though it claims that it does.

Something just came to mind about that album, I purchased that tape at a nifty, eclectic shop and restaurant in Orillia Ontario called Mariposa. They had it playing while I drank my coffee and I just had to buy it in their scent shop next door.

Hmmmm!! The smells of supper is wafting over my way!!!!

Where has the time gone?

Where has this month gone! I guess that really it is a good thing! I'm not a snow bunny so I actually hate the winter months. This means that we are closer to spring than we were. I have to say, that I am surprised at that last statement; I'm not usually a "glass half full" sort of person. Due to my working life experience I find that I am in fact very cynical. I often get very tired of acquaintances who views the world positively for I know that nothing really horrible has happened to them.

I'm still cleaning out my Dad's house and it is getting very stressful because we can't get anyone to buy his furniture. No one wants the solid oak dining room suite that my parents had thought was so fabulous. Unfortunately they made the purchase at a different time; today, people want furniture to fit in a smaller space. I hope that we don't have to just leave it for the new owners.

I had to laugh when I found a little Cabbage Patch dolly of my daughters, whose name escapes me. I wonder if she recalls it! However, I do remember when she got it for Christmas many years ago and it even came with its' own "adoption" papers. Regardless of the fact that her name is unknown, I just couldn't throw her out like so much garbage. It must be the "little girl" that still lives within me. Now I wonder if that "little girl" syndrome actually still resides in my daughter. Somehow I think not, as I see it, my daughter is as a woman who is matter of fact, very controlled; a woman who believes in minimalism. A woman who has grown up in a house with "stuff" and as an adult will not allow "attachment" issues or sentiment to permit her to hold on to useless things from her childhood. However, we will see!

I wonder if my daughter will want to keep her because I put a pair of sunglasses that I found on the doll. Will it make her smile or will she be all "business"; grab the sunglasses and put the doll aside. I will just have to wait and see.