Journal Post 7/29/12

When I paint with watercolours, I have to tape the papers down with masking tape. Usually, I tape them down to a hardcover book. It's actually a gorgeous book filled with Hundertwasser's work. He is a man who clearly adored colour, who liked to transform boring, grey cityscapes into whimsical dreamscapes.



 I flipped through the book again for inspiration, and decided to play with solid blocks of saturated acrylic colour. The result looks nothing like the inspiration, but I could never create anything as amazing as Hundertwasser!

 

I am hoping for an awesome week! Maybe some fireworks, maybe some pride parades... prepping for the blueberry festival artwalk! We are supposed to bring a display easel, and the one that's sitting in our hallway now is extremely DIY and very old. I hope I can find a way to perfect it before saturday.

We also bought white paint for our kitchen... 0_0

No painting supplies, but the paint is here. It's like... semi-commitment.

New Mini Paintings

New mini paintings in the shop today!

Art Journal - Nice Dream

I may never grow tired of these art journals. Everything about them is perfect (for me). Perfect pages for lots of wet paint and glues, perfect size that fits easily in any bag/purse, perfect shape, flexible binding (it's not spiral but I can bend it anyway)...



Perfect for balancing on my knee with my markers and watersoluble crayons. You know, those days when I can't peel myself off of the couch. Might be a red wine and classic x-files kind of night.

Today Milo played in the bathtub, which eases my mind. He also ate his entire breakfast today! Eventually. I arrive home and this cat comes tearing around the corner, his claws digging into the carpet, his eyes begging for dinner, and I relax.

Now if only he would eat his dinner!



Available here.

Journal Post 7/25/12

Yay, a journal post. I am so incredibly stressed out I feel physically ill. A "surprise" day off from work can be the opposite of relaxing sometimes.



But I have a secret plan to get my cat Milo to stop starving himself, a plan my vet would probably dislike. Oh well. I can't just let him die, so...

I bought a small can of "urinary health" cat food. I took a small smidgen of it, added water to make a thin soup, then mixed it into some of the awful Hills S/O and it totally worked. I doubt that it will work for very long or for actual meals (he is too damn smart), but I am desperate to break his hunger strike!

Looking on the side of the can, I don't really know what makes it "urinary health formula". I don't know what makes any of the "prescription" (they're not really prescription, that's just a buzzword) foods different other than reducing the nutritional value and adding acidifiers. This is why I'm so mad.



So I am de-stressing by playing in my art journal to angry music. It doesn't really help that much, but it's better than nothing I guess.



I'm nearly finished this month's newsletter. If you haven't signed up for it yet, there is a box on the sidebar! ----->

Small Displays

I have begun to collect inspirational images for future craft show displays! My absolute favourite simple solution has to be the clothesline across a pretty frame trick. I don't buy frames, though. Instead, I take apart old canvas paintings because there is usually some lovely beveled wood hidden underneath! I painted this one turquoise. There are not enough eyelets left to finish it though.

I've signed up for a show this winter, but because craft shows aren't very affordable, I could only spring for a tiny 3-foot-wide space! I'm thinking the display above for the mini paintings, I'm thinking stacks of journals... maybe a narrow tiered display of some kind for prints and small paintings (if I can sneak them in)!

Do you have any ideas for super small spaces?

Handmade Art Journal - Violet Blossom

Today we went to the Honeybee Festival and watched someone extract honey. There was also a bee beard! I tried a root beer flavoured honey stick and it was pretty good! I'm not an avid honey eater, so the sticky texture was a bit... uncomfortable. Kind of reminded me of cough syrup, except it actually tasted good.

And then I came home and got to work putting together this journal!



Available Here.

Video - Ode to Milo

My cat is pretty much all I can think about this week! He came home on thursday in a bad way; it's obvious that he couldn't sleep for the two days he was at the hospital.

For every second of my free time I've been researching online, looking for preventative action against his blockages! There is a lot of heresay that the dry kibble diet is causing this horrorshow, and while a canned diet is awfully expensive (though less extreme than raw diet), I feel like we have no other choice.

I am caught between following our less-than-steller vet's advice of putting him on a terrible (and dry) diet of Hills C/D, or doing something that might actually MAKE SENSE.  I'm so overwhelmed with information that I can't seem to make a decision.

In the meantime, I painted a portrait of Milo while he was gone and recorded it for you guys. It's shocking the empty void he seems to leave when he isn't here!