Friday, July 25, 2008

Get to work...

Everyday I get a lovely and inspring poem sent to my inbox via Poetry Chaikhana. These lines, from today's poem "Screening its face amongst lotus stalks," particularly spoke to me:

Let no obstacle stand in your way;
get to work --
you are young and fresh.
Break this fake sleep and snap out of your dreams

I am always in a dream state, and this state usually consists of grandeur dreams of fame and fortune. Yes, my first novella will most certainly be the talk of the town, BUT...it must be written first :)

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tagged

I was tagged, quite some time ago, by Tee's Closet and am now just getting around to the reply! The challenge is to share five facts about myself, so here you go:

1. I am always going through phases. Any close friend or family member can name most of the phases I have gone through because they probably had to endure countless hours of random facts about said phases. Each one was like a crush I couldn't stop talking about. It was all about The Lion King and Casper (the new Casper - remember? With Christina Ricci?) in my childhood days. There was also the chess phase in which I spent too much time reading books about Bobby Fischer's game against so-and-so. No one can forget the NASA phase (??), the let's-be-dead-people phase (???), and the punk and surfer girl phase (not at the same time). There were a few others mixed in, but I'm onto the French phase as we speak. How long it will last - no one knows. The real question is, what will I do with all the French decorations I've acquired when I'm over it?

2. The praying mantis is the devil's spawn. I had a very traumatic experience as a kid - I was sitting in a tree, just as cheery as could be, when I looked down at the branch behind me and saw an icky, green demon staring straight into my eyes. The thing was looking straight at me!!! Perhaps it was trying to steal my soul. I cannot even look at one in pictures now.

3. I hatehatehate green peas, tomatoes, and caramel.

4. I became a vegetarian at age 18, but not because I felt sorry for the cows or because meat is bad, but because I just didn't like it. Shortly after, I got sick from not eating well enough, so I decided I'd only eat 2 legged animals. I can handle chicken and turkey.

5. I would love to live in a little cottage by the sea.

Now it's your turn, if you'd like a challenge. Have fun :)

Thursday, July 17, 2008

According to this website, here are my top strengths:


-Appreciation of beauty and excellence
-Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness
-Love of learning
-Gratitude
-Curiosity and interest in the world

Hurray!


What are yours?

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

so true...

" The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."

~ Henry Miller

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

It seems to me that my artwork can get a bit messy. Especially this one...



but I'm okay with it because I'm experimenting, and it's good for me to get my hands dirty. Put away all the organized, prim and proper way of doing things. That's the method I usually use - always carefully planning the next step. Well, I didn't plan anything out on this particular piece. I just kind of threw it together and viola! I like letting the paint lead me ;)

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Two of my favorite things...


Not my macarons!

The blueberry French macarons...well...it wasn't a complete fail. They taste delicious, but the presentation is less than desirable and the blueberry, cream cheese filling is more like a cookie dip than a filling. It was a battle last night, let me tell you. The pastry bags rebelled against us. The filling had to be mixed twice because the butter and cream cheese didn't blend together the first try and the whole thing looked like speckled blueberry syrup. My batch of cookies slightly burned on the bottom and they were way too small. But alas, I have promised to master these delicate pastries. Who knew it would be so difficult to create such a small piece of heaven?

~

In other news, I am proud to say I have discovered what is now one of my favorite shops in Knoxville - The Book Eddy. This is a quaint bookshop whose sign boasts, "Not your mainstream bookstore," and that is exactly why I love it! I have been eying it for a few months now - always curious as to what treasures were hidden inside and on Saturday, during a spontaneous trip to Disc Exchange (Luc's favorite music shop located next door to The Book Eddy), I finally gave in to my curiosity. The inside reminded me of every old bookshop I've ever seen in movies. Most recently, Audrey Hepburn's bookstore in Funny Face. The bookshelves go on forever, like an old library in a dream. Even the floor is peppered with books just waiting to be explored.

I found The Gift by Hilda Doolittle - a book I've been looking for for years! My heart practically jumped out of my chest at the sight of it. I found tons of books about Ezra Pound, his early poetry, even a book by Colette, a classic French icon. I am a lover of old literature and this shop has all of it! I could spend hours just sitting on the floor looking through all the books.

Luc found his share of treasures too - used records. Bands I've never heard of, except for Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Needless to say, I was the happiest girl in the galaxy after my discovery. Finally, a place that caters to all the people who care about more than what's on the best seller's list!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

I've been taking an online "summer school" art class by Karyn Gartel (aka Altered Diva) called Softly Spoken and it's all about creating backgrounds for collage work. Just what I needed! This is the first piece I made using acrylic paint, stamps, gesso, colored pencils, charcoal pencil, white grease pencil, and collage images from Karyn. I call this The Caged Bird.



And this is my second one called My Stars. The quote comes from an Emilie Autumn song. Both pieces were done on watercolor paper. Even though I've done a few mixed media collages on canvas, I feel I need to concentrate more on practicing on the paper for now. I have some ideas of pieces I'd like to do, but I need to work on my color combinations. Sometimes they just turn out muddy and brown.



Karyn's blog is listed in the blogs to see on the right. Her workshop information is here. She's an amazing artist!

What else...what else...
I have been contemplating buying a bike. A vintage looking one, robin's egg blue or pink. A cruiser of sorts, although maybe that isn't the best idea since I am surrounded by hills. Nonetheless, I keep telling myself, a bike would be a grand birthday present (Aug 4). Then, after much excitement at the prospect of a new bike I remember...there's no way to get it home.

That's not completely true. My boyfriend and I went bike shopping in early spring. We took my little Ford Focus because a) his car is smaller than mine and houses large speakers in the trunk and b) we believed it could hold anything. We had stuffed a big screen tv in the backseat, a patio table in the trunk, and my whole room (when I moved from Texas) in every nook and cranny of the thing. Surely a bike would fit. That was not the case. A bike is an awkward shape and no matter how many ways we tried to shove it in, it just wouldn't go. Soo...the boyfriend decided to ride it home. I thought he was crazy, as it was getting dark outside and he had to ride it down a busy street with no shoulder! He made it home in about 30 minutes and said he enjoyed the experience. Good for him, but *I'm* not going to ride a bike from Kalamazoo to the house.

I'm wondering if stores deliver. Also, I keep going back in forth in my head whether or not I will really ride it. Sometimes I think I only want one because I love the aesthetics of a vintage bicycle.

Oh! And I must tell you that I had the most delicious dream the other night about eating French macarons. They were purple and tasted like heaven. This weekend I'm going to try my hand at making some. There's a recipe for blueberry ones in the latest Tea Time magazine. You wouldn't believe how excited I was to find that!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Summer is...


Sea island cotton Taking naps underneath the cool of the fan Fresh fruit for lunch Toast and strawberry jam at breakfast Good wine, cheese, pears and chocolate Lazy days by the pool Hikes in the mountains Making wings and glittery stars Strolls through the park Late night coffee breaks French movies The cicada's song Firefly fireworks

Simple and slow
Life isn't a drive-in