Tuesday, July 31, 2007

On Not Having OCD

Who says a disorder is really a disorder?

"Art really has nothing to do with talent. You can have all the talent in the world, but if not used what good is it. The drive to create has more to do with an obsessive, compulsive nature, than talent. It's something you HAVE to do"
~ Shelly Bedsaul
ebsqart

Sigh. Thats my problem. I'm not obsessive or compulsive. Of course, this is not a new discovery for me. Be sure to check out her portfolio. (see tab at top of ebsqart page) Very nice art work.

Do You Like Bacon?

If you like bacon, but avoid it because of, well, because its bacon, you may be interested in this. Bacon Salt.

It sounds yummy. After checking out the seasoning shelves, I think I'll be dropping off a note for the store to consider stocking it. I heard that question. I heard "why don't you order it yourself?" Its because I'm thinking of others first. That and the fact that I need to stay away from salt as much as possible and I'm figuring since its called 'bacon salt'... well, you know.

The site also links to a blog and there's some recipes there, if you're interested.
If you get some, let me know what you think. (Hickory flavor seems to be the best one to start with.)

Monday, July 30, 2007

Monday's Show-and-Tell

I had to scramble around to come up with something for show-and-tell. I don't have much. With my last move, I decluttered a lot and simplified my belongings a great deal. (so... 'decluttered' might be misleading cause, you know, I do have clutter around, but you know what I mean.)

I have a scrapbook. It says "Photo" on the front, but its a scrapbook in disguise. I would cut out pictures from magazines that I liked to look at and put them in the scrapbook for inspiration. I haven't added anything in a very long time. I stopped buying magazines. You know, the decluttering thing. But I still enjoy looking at what I do have every once in a while. I refer to it as my 'inspiration book', but.... sigh.

Sorry for the blurry picture(s). Shakey hands. And the pictures are under a protecting sheet of plastic... my archival system. Two pictures are of women painting, but the last one is of an enclosed porch area with ceilings and everything. One of many 'dream homes'.
 

 

 


I shall keep my scrapbook out a while and travel through it with my second cup of coffee this morning. The weather is pleasant at the moment and it seems like a nice activity for the morning.
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Saturday, July 28, 2007

Cletus

I was listening to Michael Feldman's Whada'Ya Know radio program this morning. He talks to a lot of the audience members and there was apparently one guy who had on some BRIGHT and COLORFUL pants. When asked about wearing them ('how do you get away with it'), he answered "because I'm an artist and I'm old enough that I can get away with wearing anything I want." I liked him immediately.

He was very talkative and was trying to plug his paintings and web site. He said "just google me... just put in 'Cletus' and I'll come up!" So I did. And he did.

He's a very colorful painter and theres a lot to look at. Click on the images to get a larger view.

Friday, July 27, 2007

To Change the Subject: Chinese Painting

DAMN IT!

Bush needs to put his drunken, lilly-white ass in combat gear and take his spoiled ass to Iraq for 15 months. And take his lying stinking cronies with him!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,2125978,00.html

GET HIS INCOMPETENT ASS OUTTA THERE!! AND HIS LITTLE DOG TOTO, TOO!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Looks Like a Fun Place!

Short (1.5 minutes) slide show of the Alice Moseley Museum.

Ya gotta check out her web site, too!! Inspiration for us crones. All I'm missing now is ambition!

Flowing Art

Besides the beautiful art work, its interesting to watch one scene meld into another. 2 minutes.

Follow up to "Sharing My Space"

Yesterday evening something caught my eye .... there on the closed window blind was my moth-beetle thingy. It was darkish in the apartment and the flood lights were on outside. Maybe he was pining away for the light... "Go To the Light." He was very still, even as I hoovered around him, moving things to get a good shot. I had a huge plastic jar and I used that to catch him in so I could take him outside. "Catch" really isn't the right word to use. It conjures up images of a chase and there wasn't one. He just fell into the jar... I put a piece of paper over the top, took him outside, and shook him out.

He immediately flew to the light and began buzzing it. I wonder if its a sexual thing? Him and the light.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Traffic Sucked

Because of the police action a few blocks away, roped off streets (see entry below), the traffic around here sucked for a few hours. Tired and cranky people just wanting to get home... it was a mess.
 

 

 

After taking these pictures I turned around and the streets, for all intent and purpose, is deserted now. Well, not deserted, but compared to the mess earlier, it seems deserted. Clearly the police got their guys in custody and have opened up all the major throughways.
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"So... Whazzup in the hood, man?"

Sirens to the left of me.... Sirens to the right of me.... and the program COPS is on TV. How appropriate.

We're having a little excitement in the hood. I had made a quick run to the store and on my way back, traffic was stopped at a couple of different places to let several police cars through with their sirens and lights going. They weren't dallying, either.

I got to my apartment and all the while I could hear police sirens coming from various directions. I saw several more police cars wizz by at different times, then came a SERT vechile. (Special Emergency Response Team) A few minutes later a Fire Rescue truck went by and thats when I noticed a TV news helicopter flying over head, circling. Up from the South came another helicopter from a different TV station. I went out to look to see where they ended up going and it looked as though it was a few blocks away.... whatever "it" was.

Apparently four people robbed a liquor store and they abandoned their car about four blocks away from here and each ran out into the neighborhood. It happened at a place where I frequently go by when out shopping. Thats about as close as I want to be to any police action.

The helicopters are still circling, Interstate Avenue is blocked (rush hour traffic, too) and the hunt continues. I must go see if anything else is on the news now.

On Sharing My Space

I'm sharing my apartment with a huge moth-like creature. I currently don't know where it is and I wouldn't have known about the sharing had I not woke up in the middle of the night and turned on a light.

As I was doing something I glanced up and there in the shadows where the ceiling meets the wall was this huge creature. Huge, as insects go... I'm estimating 2 inches long. (insert shudder here.)

When I got up this morning, it was no longer there. And I'm not looking for it, either! Yucko Yucko Yucko

We have flood lights outside and they attract a lot of flying things. Often, when I open the door to go out or come in, these creature zip into the apartment. Sigh.

Nature... you're getting too damn close!!

Monday, July 23, 2007

As Requested - 1

It only takes one request (okay, so the word 'comment' is closer to the truth, but hey... 'request' works for me!)... here are some previous work I've done.
 

 

 
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As Requested - 2

 

 

 
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Online art lessons

I was following some of the links on Sandy's blog and one of them mentioned the artist Charles Sovek, who very recently passed away. I haven't checked out the whole web site, but noticed "Lessons from the Easel" (check tabs across top of home page) and took a quick look. I thought others might be interested, too... thus this referral.

Monday's Show and Tell

This is my cheater. My "Tracer Jr. Projector"
 

 

 

Several years ago my son took me to Art Media and told me to get whatever I wanted. (00) "Okay!!" But there was always the thought "oh, its going to add up to too much." I tried to find out just how much he was prepared to spend, but he wouldn't tell me. I think it came up to around $500... and I was conservative. One of the big-ticket items was my easel that was on sale for $250. I really could have gotten a LOT MORE, but I kept myself in check.

As I was heading for the checkout counter I spotted this projector on sale for $35 and I grabbed it. (The price really should have been $10.) Its just a plastic cover with a light bulb and mirror. It has a small range to adjust the image and I can only use small photos. You also need a dark room for the image to shine on the wall or art surface. But its come in handy a few times. And its saved time too... not to mention frustration after erasing a drawing 10,000 times trying to get a likeness.

I've tried not to become dependent upon it and I feel I've been successful. After all, to become dependent would mean I would have to actually draw something. BWAH HA HA HA HA I crack me up sometimes!

I think using a projector is becoming a little more accepted in the art world as long as one doesn't try to fool people. I've checked out some web sites of artists who do portraits from photographs and you can tell a projector was used. But so what... it saves time and one still needs artistic skill and talent to paint a good portrait. A projector just saves time at the beginning.

I wish I had a printer. I've collected some reference material from the web and a projector would help capture it (like Sandy's portrait) but I can't print anything out, so the projector doesn't do any good. (I use to have a printer but at the time I couldn't afford to get any ink ($40 a pop and I'm counting pennies) so I loaned it to one of my daughters.) I just thought of something!! There's other ways I have to get something printed, so I'll be looking into that.

My my... I'm talking too much.
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Saturday, July 21, 2007

Out of Time

 
 
 
I can't procrastinate any longer. Sigh. So... my plan is to complete a 'commissioned' painting this weekend. Thats why I'm sitting here at the pc posting a blog entry instead of standing at the easel.

I like to do the hard parts first. So I dragged out the easel and set it up in the kitchen area. Its the only place without a rug, should I drop a loaded brush. I always like to cover the canvas surface with a neutral color so the white isn't slapping my vision with its blankness.

The photos are my references... combining the fellas with the trailer/mobile home in the background. I shall be adding a large sign that reads "Park It" across the top.... the name of a movie this person is going to be making. He said I didn't need to make the guys look like themselves so that pressure is off... but I'm sure he would be pleased if it did look like the gang.

Well... the fun part is over now. Now starts the part where all the mistakes are made.
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Nature's Food Source

 
 
 
I'm clearly missing out on some free food. The plot next to us has sprouted things other than just grass. To me it looks like trees trying to grow, but who knows for sure.

These two Asian ladies were out there picking leaves and putting them in their plastic bags. They seemed to be picky, if you'll pardon the pun, and would select only certain leaves. My first thought was salad ingredients but then came the thought that it might be used to make tea.

Since I don't have a clue, I decided not to go out there and pick anything myself. I want a store to sue should I become ill.
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Friday, July 20, 2007

The Yes Men

Have you heard of The Yes Men? They perform satire and play out spoofs on our current systems. They pretend to be powerful people and spokespersons for prominent organizations and present outrageous possibilities to huge corporations and governments in an attempt to point out how dehumanizing our current beliefs and actions are and can become.

An example of 'outrageous possibilities' was their presentation stating that human bodies could be "rendered" in order to replace our use of oil. And you know what the scary part is..... it was that many of these so called leaders-of-industry believed them. They were taking the idea and were immediately beginning to think about how it could be implemented. WTF?!?!?!?!

ohmygawd!! Its so scary.... so scary that so many of these so called smart people believed them!! A Twilight Zone nightmare coming true!!
The Yes Men website.

Another youtube painting video

I like this guy's style and watching how he creates his paintings. I think this artist is known as "annonoman" (in case you want to search for more on youtube) although this video was posted by "krokart". ?? (Perhaps they are the same, perhaps not.... who knows. Notice... the artist has an assistant, too. "Go get me a cup of coffee, please." This comment is based on other videos I watched... not so much this one, although he pops in view towards the end.) I think I've posted other painting videos from this artist here. I share this in case it looks familar. And whoa ... that traffic looks dangerous. I just have to remember that its speeded up. This video is around 5 minutes long.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

"Singing in the Rain"

"I'm singing in the rain
Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin'
I'm happy again"

Thats right, folks. Its raining here. Although it is not a hard rain, its more than a shower...more than a sprinkle. Its a rain. And I've got my two windows open to let in the fresh clean air.

The downside is.... fender-benders all over the city.

Thank you.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Monday's Show-and-Tell 1

 
 
This morning as I'm surfing the blogs, once again the words came out of my mouth. "WTF? You mean its Monday, already?!? What can I use for show and tell??"

I'm running out of things. Well... things I'm willing to put on the web. I looked around for something. What? What? The toilet paper package caught my eye, but I'll hold off on that until I'm really desparate. Which should be next week.

My eye then landed on this blue box at the bottom of a stack of things. I pulled it out. The dust was thick. I wiped it off. It was a pretty blue box. Kind of a gift box I got many many years ago when Barnes and Noble was having a clearance sale. I had gotten this Tarot kit thinking it would make a clever gift for someone. After I got it and put a little more thought into it, I realized there wasn't anyone I knew in person that would be "into" tarot cards. "Oh dear... guess I'll have to keep it for myself. Sigh."

The cards are stacked together and tied with a nice blue ribbon. There is a scarf that is to be used for laying the cards on... and it is not to be used for anything else. "Aye Aye, Sir." And then there is the instruction/description book. A look through it showed LOTS 'O READING needed.

I read a little and then packed everything back up and put it away. Its been put away ever since. And sorry for the shaky photos... I guess I'm still shaking from the ant episode.

Oh.. and if you want to join in, or just read others, go to Sandy's Show And Tell blog.
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show-and-tell 2

 

 
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Oh Crap! I guess its my turn.

Its my turn for an invasion. An invasion of ants. Baby ants, too. It must be the season.

I've been here just under two years and have only encountered a scout or two in the bathroom or by the front door. This morning when I got up I noticed a bunch of pepper on the counter. "What the h....?" I grabbed my glasses and took a closer look. The pepper was moving. Moving all over the counter. "Oh YUCK!! OH 'CRAP'!!"
('Crap' is in single quotes because thats not really the word I used.) "ANTS... and not the cute ones from the movie, either!!"

I glanced around looking for something to use. Nothing. Then I grabbed one of my sandals off my foot and started battering the he..ck out of them. I'm all for nature, but keep it outside, would ya. Bang. Bang-Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang-Bang-Bang.

After about ten minutes the 'pepper' all stayed in one place. I got some paper towels, wet it, and started cleaning up the carnage. Bang. A survivor or two. Bang. Bang. "Oh yuck oh yuck oh yuck. Creepy Creepy Creepy."

Then I noticed a herd of them along the baseboard... in a corner where my sandal could not get to them. Adrenaline rush. What to use.... What to use? What could any self-respecting woman use when she doesn't have any poison in a can?? It didn't matter. All that mattered was that I had a can that sprayed.... so I used it. And used it. And used it some more. If I couldn't get to them with my sandal I would drown them in air freshner.

Oh sure, you may be laughing and feeling all mentally smug because I sprayed them with air freshner...... but it was Air Wick. Thats right... Air Wick Air Freshner. And anyone who has ever used Air Wick knows that you can't breath afterwards. So I got a few more under control. They'll be the best smelling corpses around.

Oh creepy creepy. Whaaaa!!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Just Ruminating...

 

Got my second cup of coffee sitting off to the side. Even though they might be the same, a second or third cup of coffee never seems to taste as good as that first one of the day.

I just got back from sending a money gram to my youngest. I will be so relieved when she gets herself in order and is doing better financially. She's getting a little too old for this and I would like to stop carrying around that mother's worry thing. She's been good about paying it back so thats a good thing... It will just be nice when she doesn't have to do it on a routine basis.

Talk of impeachment is getting louder. I watched a program on PBS yesterday and the historical and constitutional experts talked about how Bush is putting himself above the law and above the constitution. Thats not good. Especially for a psuedo democracy, know what I mean? They mentioned how the check-and-balance folks aren't doing their jobs either (Legislature).... nor is the news media doing a good job. They should be screaming out loud about the offenses to the constitution. (Bush tells Mier she doesn't have to appear before the committee... what the hell is that, anyway?) And lordy, don't let us learn a damn thing from history. We're too busy kidnapping and torturing people. Lets just keep repeating it all, whadda say gang?

It was a good program and good points were made. They vocalized what I couldn't put my finger on... I just knew something was amiss.

The mayor here, on a trial basis, is leaving two public restrooms open at the court house 24 hrs a day with a security guard on duty. I applaud him, but others are screaming "waste of our tax dollars!!" These people have clearly not stepped in human waste or had homeless people urinate on their buildings... otherwise they might think twice. I like the mayor. He seems to know a little bit about what its like to be poor, homeless, or disadvantaged in some way. The screamers just want to get in their SUVs and run over the poor folks. Of course, they'd still be screaming "get outta my way!!" and "Look what you did to my car, damn it. You got your blood all over the grill!!!"

Yesterday was kind of depressing. Nothing in particular happened, but I still felt badly. I had a 'wondering' if I had put my foot in my mouth... again. Sometimes my attempt at humor falls flat and leaves a big stink in the room. Thats all I have to say about that. Want a piece of chocolate?

Then an email I sent out wasn't delivered. That happens here and there all the time... ever since I got my own pc. Trust level for deliveries runs about 75%. Sigh.

I then started getting the chatty phone calls from my youngest. You know, to set the stage for the request. I knew what was happening, but I also know its a good thing to let me have time to process things first. Once that was all done, things seemed to lighten up a bit.

Its a bit muggy today. Cooler now, but muggy nonetheless. Hot and dry/warm and muggy... each have their drawbacks.

Oh... and I almost pooped my pants when I saw how much milk had gone up. Holy Crap, Batman!! When I got up off the floor I had to quickly check to make sure my pants weren't stained. They weren't, so at least I could finish my shopping.
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Friday, July 13, 2007

Need Healing? Grab Your Cat!

Its the vibrations. The vibrations from a cat's purr. Here's an article that explains it further.

"Here, kitty kitty."

Thursday, July 12, 2007

The Amazing Human Spirit

Here is a 10 minute video demonstrating what the human spirit can accomplish even though faced with mighty difficulties.

Over Coffee.....

This morning I went dancing outside singing. The predictors were mistaken. Its not going to be another 100+ degree day. It may get to the high 80s, but what a difference. A great reason for a smile.

I did a little shopping this morning. I had gotten some birthday money from a dear friend and I did not want it to just sit in my pocket, if you know what I mean. I got two types of pens. A black permanent marker. I use this to blacken out identifying information on junk mail before I toss it. I also do a little tearing, but not so much is needed when the marker is also used. And 'just because it was there', I also bought a Faber-Castell artist pen. My other one is starting to go dry. I got the medium sized nib... fine nibs are too fine for my style.
 


I also picked up another fan. I am now the proud owner of three. Two reside in the living/kitchen area and the one I got this morning is for the pc area in the bedroom. Its small and although it will fit my needs, I do not recommend it, though. Its not strong enough .... it doesn't put out enough wind for me. I like my hair to flow horizontal and the wrinkles around my mouth to smooth out when I turn on a fan. Know what I mean? This tower fan would be for someone very delicate. That ain't me. But it will do....
 


(The author started to bring out the trumpets, but thought better of it and put them back.) AND... I bought a watermelon!! I can't remember the last time I had one. I just finished eating one end of it and it was good. Sweet and juicy. See the spot on my shirt? Its also red.
 


Well... I enjoyed myself this morning. I still have lots of errands to do tomorrow, but I made several dents in the to-do list this morning. I hope your day is grand, too.
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Binoculars

I've been wishing for some binoculars for a while now, but either I wasn't willing to pay the price, or the binoculars I could afford looked like toys. Today I saw some at a local Rite Aid store that I was willing to take a chance on... $10. $9.99 to be exact.
 


They're big and sturdy. (that means a little on the heavy side.) And I like the magnification of them.
 


What makes me scratch my head is the deal on the price. As I mentioned, the store was selling them for $9.99. The "suggested retail price" on the box is $49.99. An example of markups, to be sure.
 

Its kind of like the drug companies charging $150 for stuff that costs fifty cents to make. I realize there are processing costs, etc. but this is ridiculous.
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

I'm Grateful

 
I'm grateful I'm at the top of the food chain... you know, just under the government and corporate capitalism. Mother Nature is a bitch.

I was outside and saw a beautiful yellow and black butterfly go by.... very quickly. Right after it came a small bird. The bird was chasing the butterfly. I never thought of a butterfly being a food source for fowl. They both flew over a wall so I couldn't see the outcome, but the bird came back in a moment or two. I wonder if this is the crazy bird I wrote about the other day.

My feeling about the butterfly showed up my bias. Would I have felt the same if I had seen a bird getting a worm? Probably not. I consider the butterfly a beautiful creature. The worm, not so much. Its not fair. But thats what I felt. Sigh.

Pretty or beautiful creatures get more sympathy. Sigh again.

Okay... I'm going to try to let the visual of the chase leave my memory. I don't want to keep it around. And that crazy bird needs to be institutionalized or medicated.
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I Can't Even Whine About It!

The heat... I can't even whine about because it looks like the entire nation is dealing with it. But here in the Pacific Northwest, the green part, it doesn't happen all that often.

Its just a few minutes after 6am and I've already closed the windows up for the day. The temperature outside and inside seemed to be the same. The sun has been up for perhaps 30 minutes and its warming up already. (The windows have been open all night.)

I will be quickly checking some of my favorite sites and then turn off the pc. Too much heat generated. I'm hoping to sleep a lot today.

I hope ya'll keep cool.

Monday, July 09, 2007

How Thoughtful....

A friend just sent me an email.
.
.
.
.
.
ATTENTION:

Aliens are coming to abduct all the good looking and sexy people.

You will be safe.

I'm just emailing to say goodbye.

Monday's Show and Tell

'Argue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours.'
~Illusions : the adventures of a reluctant messiah
by Richard Bach

I'm not sure if I got the exact quote, but its close enough to get the gist of it. I read the book decades ago and it has always stayed with me. And the symbol for this quote is a feather.... a blue feather. One of the characters in the book was testing a theory... what you desire will come to you. The character decided to test it by desiring a blue feather to come to him. And it did. Not a real feather, but on a picture on a milk carton. The dairy used a blue feather on its cartons. Ever since then, whenever I see a feather, especially a blue one, I always think of this quote.

 

The other day a feather came to me. I had been out a couple of times to have a smoke. This one time I went out and there right in front of my face, well...in front of my feet, was this feather. Its not really blue in the true sense of the word... but I can stretch gray into blue if I want to...

 

 

I brought the feather in and washed it off. "Hey... I could use this for Show and Tell!"

We've had a crazy little bird swooping around here the last few days. It really looks like its pissed off, too. It dive-bombs a crow that eats in the field next to us. I've seen similar happenings when a crow has gotten too close to a nest, but these attacks seem to be out of the blue. (My guess it that that crow did something in the past.) The little bird dives straight at the crow as fast as it can.... the crow ducks its head and its a good thing too, because thats just how close this little bird comes to hitting it.

Once in a while another small bird joins in the crazy flight, but I always imagine it to be a friend trying to get the crazy bird to calm down. "Cindy... wait up. Calm down. You're going to hurt yourself. Come back here!"

Maybe the crazy little bird is a mother and the crow did something to her baby. I could see a certain craziness happening.

Go here to check out other participants of Monday's Show and Tell.
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