Though rice paper project attempt one is quite a failure (but at least my hands aren't stained!!!) I'm happy because, like in science, there are no real failures - only lessons.
Thank you to a soldier in Afghanistan for making me feel more motivated to keep at it today. I'm so sorry you're not stateside with your son, but I'm happy you're still the same great guy I knew and not as jaded/angry/hopeless as others I've known who've fought overseas.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Thank God
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul.
~Nelson Mandela
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Blue Love (aka: What the difference a frame makes)
This is going to be another post who's thoughts in-depth will have to be revisited and expanded another time 'cause I have to write quick to help fix a mega block castle.
(update: added photo of work thanks to Marcus Griep Photography but still not a lot of time to expand the idea.!)
My most recent piece of completed artwork, Blue Love, can serve well as a metaphor for life. How we frame things, both figuratively and literally, can make an amazingly huge difference in how it is received.
Why does Blue Love remind me of this?
Simply, on it's own it was whimsical but I didn't see why M liked it so much.
Matted it was marketable, but I still didn't like my own work as much as M did. I was merely contented with it enough not to hide it away.
Matted and framed, like a valued piece of art, I absolutely love it. It looks finished with the frame and it was that incomplete feeling that left me less than gratified with the piece. The frame doesn't alter the composition at all, it just gives it a platform from which to be better appreciated.
(update: added photo of work thanks to Marcus Griep Photography but still not a lot of time to expand the idea.!)
My most recent piece of completed artwork, Blue Love, can serve well as a metaphor for life. How we frame things, both figuratively and literally, can make an amazingly huge difference in how it is received.
Viewpoint is important. Context does count.
Why does Blue Love remind me of this?
Simply, on it's own it was whimsical but I didn't see why M liked it so much.
Matted it was marketable, but I still didn't like my own work as much as M did. I was merely contented with it enough not to hide it away.
Matted and framed, like a valued piece of art, I absolutely love it. It looks finished with the frame and it was that incomplete feeling that left me less than gratified with the piece. The frame doesn't alter the composition at all, it just gives it a platform from which to be better appreciated.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Spring Cleaning?
> >This is so true - Why being an adult can really suck. < <
And that, essentially, wonderfully, sums up my afternoon.
Except that I don't believe I nearly got as much truly accomplished in 4 hours as the spazzing cartoon did.
Damnit.
I have a pile of clothes, of my son's old clothes, to go try and trade in for new used clothes for him tomorrow.
This pile is still only 1/3 the size of the boxed pile of his old clothes I can't bring myself to part with yet?
What the hell is wrong with me?
The cartoon I should (and will eventually do for myself) will be similar to the Hyberbole and a Half one I linked to above (if I ever get the time AND a usable scanner... which is a rant in and of itself!) but my strip will be about the ridiculous struggle to get rid of my son's old clothes but be practical and sentimental at the same time. Practical and Sentimental at the same time. Do you hear that? Can you see that my problem is obvious and ridiculous from the onset? I think part of being an adult all too often is setting yourself up for failure.
F*ck.
And now, with laundry half done, closet cleaning half done, dishes half done, general cleaning half done, post not finished and no dinner cooked I must go. I not only have to go pick up my son but our cat literally threw up half way through this list of half dones. F*ck. Guess general cleaning isn't even half done now.
And that, essentially, wonderfully, sums up my afternoon.
Except that I don't believe I nearly got as much truly accomplished in 4 hours as the spazzing cartoon did.
Damnit.
I have a pile of clothes, of my son's old clothes, to go try and trade in for new used clothes for him tomorrow.
This pile is still only 1/3 the size of the boxed pile of his old clothes I can't bring myself to part with yet?
What the hell is wrong with me?
The cartoon I should (and will eventually do for myself) will be similar to the Hyberbole and a Half one I linked to above (if I ever get the time AND a usable scanner... which is a rant in and of itself!) but my strip will be about the ridiculous struggle to get rid of my son's old clothes but be practical and sentimental at the same time. Practical and Sentimental at the same time. Do you hear that? Can you see that my problem is obvious and ridiculous from the onset? I think part of being an adult all too often is setting yourself up for failure.
F*ck.
And now, with laundry half done, closet cleaning half done, dishes half done, general cleaning half done, post not finished and no dinner cooked I must go. I not only have to go pick up my son but our cat literally threw up half way through this list of half dones. F*ck. Guess general cleaning isn't even half done now.
Jinxed myself?
So I need to already be out the door but I'm so frustrated I'm afraid I won't get rid of this frown if I don't let it out by writing it down:
Did I jinx myself?
Binx is okay... but for 7 out of the past 8 days our other cat, our younger bigger cat, has vomited. I mean, there are now at least 20 spots on the living area carpet from her. I don't own a carpet shampooer so although I've cleaned up after her each time, it's still a mess. I had hoped and thought it was just her acting like a dog and woofing her food... so we reduced the amount she gets... but she just threw up mostly undigested cat food again.
I love our cats, but those with pets know that there is a balance involved in when you bring your pet to a veterinarian. The concern vs. cost ratio. The likelihood there's a problem vs likelihood the vet will charge you $90 to tell you that you're paranoid and it's simply hairballs. The pet owner gut always should win though. Unfortunately I'm waffling right now. I've been right with Binx - I've waited to take her but been right about something significant and treatable being wrong. And our vet is wonderful and thinks over my concerns and weeds out which are act-able and which (extremely few) are concerns that there's nothing to give a second thought to.
We don't feel any hardness in our Lucy's gut. She doesn't give us a pain indication. She is not stealing the other cat's medicated food (I've been watching like a hawk 'cause it would be the most likely culprit... but it's not). She's only 4 years old. Maybe "grandma" is right and she's caught a stomach bug or cold from my son or us. It's just normal to be concerned about any mammal vomiting for over a week. I don't want her to get dehydrated and feel worse 'cause of that. She's the baby girl of the house. I just want all of my family healthy. That includes her.
The question becomes whether or not I fill out and pay for pet insurance for Lucy before calling the vet tomorrow if she throws up again later.
Did I jinx myself?
Binx is okay... but for 7 out of the past 8 days our other cat, our younger bigger cat, has vomited. I mean, there are now at least 20 spots on the living area carpet from her. I don't own a carpet shampooer so although I've cleaned up after her each time, it's still a mess. I had hoped and thought it was just her acting like a dog and woofing her food... so we reduced the amount she gets... but she just threw up mostly undigested cat food again.
I love our cats, but those with pets know that there is a balance involved in when you bring your pet to a veterinarian. The concern vs. cost ratio. The likelihood there's a problem vs likelihood the vet will charge you $90 to tell you that you're paranoid and it's simply hairballs. The pet owner gut always should win though. Unfortunately I'm waffling right now. I've been right with Binx - I've waited to take her but been right about something significant and treatable being wrong. And our vet is wonderful and thinks over my concerns and weeds out which are act-able and which (extremely few) are concerns that there's nothing to give a second thought to.
 |
| Little girl's lazy back stretch (yes, she's quite long/tall) |
We don't feel any hardness in our Lucy's gut. She doesn't give us a pain indication. She is not stealing the other cat's medicated food (I've been watching like a hawk 'cause it would be the most likely culprit... but it's not). She's only 4 years old. Maybe "grandma" is right and she's caught a stomach bug or cold from my son or us. It's just normal to be concerned about any mammal vomiting for over a week. I don't want her to get dehydrated and feel worse 'cause of that. She's the baby girl of the house. I just want all of my family healthy. That includes her.
The question becomes whether or not I fill out and pay for pet insurance for Lucy before calling the vet tomorrow if she throws up again later.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Pet Care
At what point does pet insurance make sense?
A 18 year old cat who has racked up over $300 in vet bills, $200 in medication and is on 2 different medications and needs subdural saline injections has me quite curious as to where our threshold on the issue will be.
An American Short-hair, in case you're curious about her breed. Hyperthyroidism and Renal disease are her diagnoses. She's a good old girl, a full fledged member of our household. She is the least likely of any of us to hold a grudge, tiniest, and in some moments, the only sane one in my house. 2 adults, 1 child and 2 cats and it's the old cat with all her claws who is the sanest and least likely to break anything. Her balance isn't even the best in the house yet she is the least likely to break anything. Go figure!
And while we're sorting paperwork, sorting photos and trying to get our studio up and running last week, this is what she gets to do, because she is, afterall, an elderly domestic cat.
Open Studios
I'll have to write more later but the first Open Studios where any of my work could be seen went well. 207 mostly features xpdm photography, but some of my pieces got noticed.
"Lucky Ducky", which I showed in my previous post, even was snapped on cell phone cameras by a couple of teens to text to their friends, which makes me smile.
The unusual occurrence with my artwork was with "Premordial Party". It is a good sized acrylic on canvas that is actually still a work in progress. This particular piece is much like a plant in it's need for tending and growth, but in a paint and floating canvas form. People kept touching it! The first woman to touch it made me chuckle because of the look on her face when she did so. The second woman to do so was just younger than myself and whole handed, flat palmed put her entire hand on my painting. She "palmed" my painting as if she was a child making a card of her handprint for her grandmother. This irked me. I mean, I don't know how clean her hands are, she didn't know how set the paint was, and really, YOUR WHOLE HAND?!?! Adults should not have to be told not to do these things. The third person to do so was a teenager, who did so extremely gently and may have been accidentally as they were "tracing" movement in the piece while talking to the person they stepped in with.
Now, two days later, I'm even more amazed by this. Really what the hell is with people these days? In all the cases I had made eye contact with the person at some point before they touched the painting. None of them were as young as my son. Young children touching something I understand and expect. I do not expect adults to do this. It wasn't a three-dimensional painting (if you ignore the type of canvas), there was no "touch me" sign ANYWHERE in our studio, no one was considering buying it, yet 3 people actually touched the painting. Wait, let me more precisely word that. 2 people touched the painting and one grown woman groped my artwork. Seriously, she was like a teenage boy who lays his hand on a breast for the very first time and then doesn't know to take it away. And... it looked every bit as awkward and annoyed the owner almost every bit as much.
"Lucky Ducky", which I showed in my previous post, even was snapped on cell phone cameras by a couple of teens to text to their friends, which makes me smile.
The unusual occurrence with my artwork was with "Premordial Party". It is a good sized acrylic on canvas that is actually still a work in progress. This particular piece is much like a plant in it's need for tending and growth, but in a paint and floating canvas form. People kept touching it! The first woman to touch it made me chuckle because of the look on her face when she did so. The second woman to do so was just younger than myself and whole handed, flat palmed put her entire hand on my painting. She "palmed" my painting as if she was a child making a card of her handprint for her grandmother. This irked me. I mean, I don't know how clean her hands are, she didn't know how set the paint was, and really, YOUR WHOLE HAND?!?! Adults should not have to be told not to do these things. The third person to do so was a teenager, who did so extremely gently and may have been accidentally as they were "tracing" movement in the piece while talking to the person they stepped in with.
Now, two days later, I'm even more amazed by this. Really what the hell is with people these days? In all the cases I had made eye contact with the person at some point before they touched the painting. None of them were as young as my son. Young children touching something I understand and expect. I do not expect adults to do this. It wasn't a three-dimensional painting (if you ignore the type of canvas), there was no "touch me" sign ANYWHERE in our studio, no one was considering buying it, yet 3 people actually touched the painting. Wait, let me more precisely word that. 2 people touched the painting and one grown woman groped my artwork. Seriously, she was like a teenage boy who lays his hand on a breast for the very first time and then doesn't know to take it away. And... it looked every bit as awkward and annoyed the owner almost every bit as much.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Some 2010 Artwork
Just Ducky- Acrylic Fire Dragon - Acrylic
Darlene's Dreamcatcher - no glass, metals, plastic or glue used!2011 Resolutions
I resolved this year:
- To better act upon my intuition.
- To create more art
- To document my artwork
- To skip breakfast less often
- To go to the library at least once a month
In the first 4 weeks of the year I've been better about all these. Not great, but better than 2010 so I'm hopeful. Of course... I now owe the library a late fee!
- To better act upon my intuition.
- To create more art
- To document my artwork
- To skip breakfast less often
- To go to the library at least once a month
In the first 4 weeks of the year I've been better about all these. Not great, but better than 2010 so I'm hopeful. Of course... I now owe the library a late fee!
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