Art update

Went and had a coffee and long chat with one of my best friends last night. She's an author (her fourth fiction novel comes out in 11 days!) and fellow artist and journaler. She had a whole bag of crafty stuff she was getting rid of, and of course...I had to take all of it. A really nice sketchbook, some blank books, beads, a couple of canvas boards that were painted on by her gran, but discarded, so they're ready to be new pictures or maybe journal covers, blank ATCs, all sorts of little paper-crafty paper bits and journal cards, most of a package of shrinky plastic sheets, and a full half-pint bottle of Liquitex liquid matte medium. Woot!

I found a place thru Amazon to order a Ranger Inkssentials Craft Sheet for only $3.20 plus S&H. It came right away but when I first opened it, I thought I'd gotten ripped off. I was expecting something more like the silpat baking sheet. This is thin, and kind of cheesy feeling. So...I went out and watched a video* about it and realized I had the right thing. But...it came just rolled up in a shipping tube, with no box or instructions, so with more research, I realized what this place is doing. They're buying this from the Ranger company, cutting it up into 15 x 18 inch pieces and reselling it. Clever. And...for less than half of what it would cost you if you bought the packaged one at retail.

*Caution: Valley Girl accent warning label.

So, I will be trying that out soon and letting you know if it's as wonderful as everyone touts.

Art, Heart & Healing photos.

The cover of my Art, Heart, and Healing art journal.

A portrait and message to myself.

A message to the little me for a wonderful life.

Speed bumps for the 'net

Do you know why streets and parking lots have speed bumps on them? Because of idiots. idiots who can't figure out you don't go blazing through a parking lot at mach2. There are pedestrians, kids running about (because of idiot parents who don't keep track of them), people backing out of parking spaces, shopping carts (left by lazy idiots who are too shiftless to take them to the cart corrals) sitting around waiting to be knocked into someone's car, and yet Mr and Ms Speedo think it's perfectly acceptable to blow through the Wal-de-Mart lot at 30 mph. Same with residential streets. Our street is posted 30 mph, but now is lined with mucking huge speed humps because of the idiots--not that it slows them down, they just get all pissy and hit the gas between the humps--who will go 50 down our hill, oblivious to the fact that people...oh my god...might actually LIVE on this street?  And the worst part is the fact that 80% of these idiots don't even live in our neighborhood and have no business being there in the first place (once again, too lazy to take the other routes, which btw, are FASTER).

Speed bumps are for idiots. Idiots who shouldn't be allowed to drive in the first place. Speed bumps ruin driving for those of us with a brain.

A very close friend of mine had to shut down the comments on her blog. Why? Because of immature idiots. I haven't seen the worst of the comments she's had to endure, but what I have seen is enough, coupled with the sheer pile of bullshit that accretes at the end of any news story these days, to once again convince me the world is full of idiots....idiots who shouldn't have permission to write on the internet.

Having to shut down your comments is like having to put speed bumps on your street all because of  idiots who ruin it for the rest of us.

Pop Quiz

Like my friend over at Pushing Furniture, I love a quiz, too. So for this one, HGTV's What's your architectural personality?, I am Spanish Colonial.

I actually love Spanish Colonial, believe it or not--well, let's be honest, they're talking Spanish Colonial Revival or Mediterranean Revival, or even Spanish eclectic; and I like the ones built in Texas and California in the 20s. But they're probably a bear to keep up. I am not wild about the typical "Spanish Colonial" furniture, though, and prefer something a little more rustic and comfy, with white painted accents and colorful fabrics. I adore this look and the colors here just make me happy. Boho--hippie funk--makes me happy, too.

Apparently, we lived in a 20s Spanish Revival in Coronado when I was hatched, strangely enough, I don't remember it. ;)  We have a few photos of parts of the exterior--white stucco--but I don't think an actual pic of the house. And it's long since been demolished and condos put up in place of it and its neighbors.

A cute Spanish eclectic in Sarasota, FL

I wonder what I would've gotten on the quiz if I'd said Reese Witherspoon instead of John Goodman....

I Stand Corrected...

http://www.madamebizarro.net/2012/10/something-stinks-like-rotten-fish.html

http://espn.go.com/sports/endurance/story/_/id/8845599/oprah-winfrey-confirms-lance-armstrong-admitted-doping

WOYWW #188

Hello again, all you lovely crafters at WOYWW. Sorry, I missed last week...was mainly just gessoing odd pages and...pffft...can't remember. This week I was working on one of those ubiquitous "journal page girls." Ridiculously bad, I must say. Started out as a sketch while waiting for my mother's CT scan. Wasn't complete rubbish, but then I added color to it. Bleah. Picasso eyes, way too widely spaced, squirrel tails for hair, and a giraffe's neck. Lovely. But, each drawing we do is a learning experience and practice for our hand.

The second thing, which is what I'm actually working on, is the first assignment in Willowing's Art, Heart, and Healing course. There's still a lot to go on it. She has her eyes closed, if you're wondering. I know the phone pic might not be so very clear.  It was done on a two page spread in a gessoed board book--the kind you get for toddlers. I had just tons of fun sanding and gessoing the dorky Barbie pages. LOL.  The medium is a Derwent water soluble GRAPHtone pencil in 8B Very Dark, and water. Still issues with the portrait, but it's far better than Giraffe Girl. for some reason the captions aren't showing on the blog...blogger weirdness.  anyway...remember to click on the picture!

Picasso Eyes....aka giraffe Girl. Ah, well, it's just practice.

Sort of a self-portrait. The only things that are accurate are the hair and gender...

82 pounds of snuggly dawg. Abby.