Journal Post 3/5/12

Just checking in with a journal post! I'm not sure if I use the violet end of the colour spectrum very often... I decided to doodle another stamp on another piece of polystyrene and decided to ink it up with a stamp pad instead of paint. It still doesn't work flawlessly!

But anyway I really liked the colour of the ink pad. Kind of a red-violet I guess. How I choose colours is quite basic - I reach for two tubes of acrylic paint and whichever two are on top are the ones I use.

(and when there are only three choices, it's even MORE basic! You can mix any colour with the specific red, yellow and blue paints I have on hand, so I don't really bother with pre-mixed colours anymore)



I think I'm on the mend, now, and the sun has come out just in time for today's driving lesson! Oh goodie.

*note to self - bring sunglasses!

Speed Painting - He Who Yells Loudest

Oh my goodness, this is not a good morning! I seriously can't wait for this to be over... I am stressing out over this soreness and lack of good food and going to work and hoping I will be well enough for a driving lesson on monday (outlook, not so good).

I will run out of painkillers tonight :/

So I am in a pretty lousy mood today and am no longer as clear headed as I was recently so poop on that.

Wednesday I decided to distract myself by filming a painting session. I'm not particularly fond of the result, but I posted it anyway. Eventually. Youtube was being mean to me.



I have no idea what to do about my face, today. I mean, it's nice that I'm not sporting the "bruised squirrel" look just yet, but it kinda looks like I have some sort of thrush... and if I have to avoid sugar in order to fix that I'm gonna be pretty miserable. ;)

Resting

All of my wisdom teeth are gone! I assume. I refuse to check.
General anaesthetic was a very good idea! The doctors were so super nice and I got to nap in a dark, quiet room upon waking.

There was a moment of panic when I arrived at the office and it was closed. Ha ha! ha. And then again when the nurse neglected to weigh me, saying "Oh I'll take your word for it!"

Crazy girl! I don't know how much I weigh, I just put down a number that sounded right!

And so today I discovered that I am 160lbs. Woot woot. Not awful, not great.

Okay, so, it's hard to do anything productive when I've been holding ice on my face for the past... five hours. BUT! Painting inspiration has struck at least so I will have something to work on when I am better.

Submitted for a group exhibition in Delta, wish me luck!

ps: I would really like some ice cream. Should I?

Waiting and Fretting

Today has not been a productive day and I think I'm just going to let that one go. Weird, because it's nice weather out for once and I don't even want to leave the house or sit at my desk where the pretty sunlight is coming in.

So today there has been no journaling, no painting, no sketching. Though I did send out the newsletter this morning, and wrote a hefty cheque for the city licensing department (etsy shop could be open soon! Good thing too, because now we're poor lol).

I think I am just too distracted by the fact that I'm about to get all of my wisdom teeth removed tomorrow and never really realized the gravity of such a thing. I thought maybe it would be just achy and swollen and now I'm hearing that I will be unable to work and there are risks of "dry sockets" and other unpleasant sounding things that I wasn't warned about before. Shucks!

Sucks to be my employers right now - heh. Ah well. Oh please let me be one of those people who shrug it off, NOT one of those people who are bedridden for a week!

Journal Post 2/24/12

I haven't been writing in my journal lately so I'm about four pages ahead. Oh well!

(Perhaps this is why things keep chasing me in my sleep...)



One of the things I FINALLY wanted to try was foam printing using this technique. Mine didn't turn out very well, but then again I am using paint and a brush instead of ink and a brayer. And an uneven surface. I'm sure it makes a huge difference, lol.

Well anyway, apart from having the wrong tools and surfaces, it's a pretty easy project to do!

Custom stamps

What an awesome mail week!



I ordered this custom return address stamp from modernartstamps a while ago. I fell in love with these designs and wanted one for myself. After all, writing the return address gets a bit tedious after a while. And it never involves adorable flowers.



There were so many cute designs to choose from... I think the only reason I settled on the mod flowers is because I was worried that more complicated designs would become too large for small envelopes, and the postal service is easily confused.



This one is unmounted and doesn't (according to the shop) cling to mounting blocks. I haven't actually tried yet because it's sturdy enough that I can stamp it without using any additional tools.

Obviously, I'm going to have to get an inkpad in some colour other than light blue, lol.

I love surprises!

I got something completely unexpected in the mail yesterday. In fact, after its arrival I decided to gaze at it suspiciously instead of read it.



Creative Quarterly sent me their most recent issue of their magazine! I don't know why and I'm afraid to ask. Perhaps this is the first issue that I submitted to (and failed to be included), but I didn't keep track of it. It seems unusual that non-winners would get a copy, so I don't know if this is awesome or a mistake! lol Whatever, I'm happy.



You know what automatically gets them in my "good" books? The fact that canadian selling price is only a dollar higher than american. Hell yes. When novels are DOUBLE the price in canada (for political reasons, not good ones), this is a refreshing change! You rock!



The only other mag of theirs I've seen is the 3x3 issue I bought a few years ago. And the art in this magazine is almost identical, actually. Do they keep publishing the same artists over and over? I don't know.

Anyway, it was a lovely surprise! And the artwork inside is fantastic. I don't know about other places but it's a struggle to find magazines like this here. It's like stores skip from photography tips right into country-time scrapbooking without ever acknowledging large categories of fine art! It's puzzling to me. I only ever saw one single copy of Creative Quarterly (3x3) in a store and I snatched it up, even though it cost $25 and I was even poorer then, haha.



One thing: I think I spend too much time on the internet because reading some of these artist profiles and opportunities reminded me of how posh and exclusive the professional art world can be. I couldn't help but feel way out of my league when reading the artist profiles. Seeing the qualifications I may never have. Reading the answers to the questions and feeling suddenly inadequate.

Am I inadequate? Am I supposed to be fond of reading essays? Are my parents supposed to be the most influencial people in my life? Should I only watch classic films? Should "travel" be how I spend my free time? Should I joke about religion and politics in my answers, if only to show how smart and educated I am?

It seems like a completely different world when visiting galleries and reading magazines. It's really no wonder why I was so discouraged from art careers before.

Does this mean I am naive now that I have a bit of hope?

I'd prefer to think that the world is being turned up over its own heels, that ideas and beauty and opportunities and fulfillment are no longer reserved for the upper class! I'd prefer to think that someday we are going to take it all back...