Painting and Old Toys

Here's my most recent painting. Its not done, but I have a plan! I think a silhouette done in a faint wash of color over it would look cool. Will update when it is done! Right now it looks too much like a 70's placemat for my taste.

And look what I found in the top of my parent's bard. Fashion plates! I loved these when I was little and I'll love them even more now. Fun!

And while I'm dream shopping, I'd like this too.

I'm not big on dust gatherers, but this is pretty darn cute and un-kill-able!

Ooooh....pretty....

I want this:

Looking at this mirror would make everyday that much better (even if I looked like crap in it). Isn't it pretty?

Found via Folk and Fairy (which is pretty adorable itself).

In which the girl reviews everything in the known universe

Admittedly, I've been reading and watching many many videos lately. Which means I can share them with you all.

I finished Anansi Boys very recently. It was fun and good. Not American Gods good, but definitely a breezy read. I do heart me some Neil Gaiman. If you like trickster tales, this would make a nice summer poolside read.


Sexy Beast was odd. Very very odd. I mean I liked it mostly. The main character was relate-able and Ben Kingsley was so good in his nutso nutso role, but some weird twisty parts are likely to give me unpleasant dreams for a little bit. It did have Ian McShane, Swearingen from Deadwood, which was a bonus - but I think I like him better in the wild west.

Stage Beauty was fun and adorable. Not a typical movie at all and it has me jonesing to see some Shakespeare. Its surprisingly hard to locate productions around here, but I shall! Oh and I would highly reccomend this movie even if the story was subpar (which it wasn't) just so everyone could appreciate the wonder that is Rupert Everett. He makes every movie I've seen him in just that much better.

Aaannnd I watched a documentary - Daughter from Danang. So good! Kee the hankies nearby cause you'll need them. All about a woman being reunited with her Vietnamese mother and family. I'm awestruck by the honesty and emotion shown in this film.

I do have a painting to share later today. I thought it was finished, but it really needs something more. I'll post it tonight.

Icarus

t h e . b i r t h . o f . m a n
Originally uploaded by Whisquissos

Love this shot from Whisquissos on flickr. Very dreamlike. Reminded me of the following poem:

Waiting for Icarus - Muriel Rukeyser

He said he would be back and we'd drink wine together
He said that everything would be better than before
He said we were on the edge of a new relation
He said he would never again cringe before his father
He said that he was going to invent full-time
He said he loved me that going into me
He said was going into the world and the sky
He said all the buckles were very firm
He said the wax was the best wax
He said Wait for me here on the beach
He said Just don't cry

I remember the gulls and the waves
I remember the islands going dark on the sea
I remember the girls laughing
I remember they said he only wanted to get away from me
I remember mother saying: Inventors are like poets, a trashy lot
I remember she told me those who try out inventions are worse
I remember she added: Women who love such are the worst of all
I have been waiting all day, or perhaps longer.
I would have liked to try those wings myself.
It would have been better than this.

Etsy News

My boy has put up an etsy shop! He's calling it In The Sun Studio and he's got about a dozen of his photographs up there. Very exciting! One day I'll figure out something I'm good at enough to sell.

Here's his shop - In The Sun Studio.

And here's one of my favorites of his shots:

Etsy Purchase!

I recently purchases this fab painting from Stiletto Heights shop on etsy. I love it!

Its called Her Gypsy Soul. Perfect, right? The artist also has a terrific blog at http://stilettoheights.blogspot.com.

Now I just have to decide where she's gonna live...

Dancing rabbits

I love this poem. I had to share.

CASSEL ROAD by Sandra Maddux-Creech

Look…
the rabbits actually danced
on their hind legs
in the smoky moonlight
all about the black fields
and gray gravel road
staring us down
in the trail of our headlights
How dare we come there?

I swear
we drove backward
for two miles

Found here.

I watched some more movies lately. Its the perfect entertainment while folding origami stars or other mindless craft-related activities.

The Painted Veil was so good! Pretty pretty scenery. And Edward Norton and Naomi Watts smoldered onscreen. I liked it a great deal.

I also watched Volver which I'd been looking forward too. It didn't blow me away but I liked it. Penelope Cruz was spunky and really good in the role. And the actress who played her sister was good.

The Squid and the Whale has been on my list for a very long time. I liked it. It felt very honest and real and the kids were terrific in this one.

Now I cannot wait for Deadwood Season three to come out. I'm hooked! The characters are intriguing and its a great mix of brutal and funny. Love love love Swearingen and Doc and Jane and Dan - and almost everyone really. If you haven''t watched these, you shoudl do so. And stick with it even when it starts out so horribly dark and violent. You end up rooting for the most unexpected characters.

This blog is getting a little heavily skewed towards book and movie reviews. I promise I do have projects in the works! Pottery class is on hiatus until mid-June so all my half-finished projects are on hold. But I'm working on a painting that I'm so very proud of. It should be done this weekend. No clue what I'll work on next. Maybe more felt things.

Two Good Ones and a Stinker

I've been in a fit of reading and movie watching lately. (And crafting but nothing finished enough to show yet). Love love loved this book:

The writing was so lyrical and delicious. At first it seemed like it was paced too slowly to hold my attention, but I got sucked in by the language and the pacing was perfect for the story.


And I watched Wuthering Heights so I could compare it to the book. It only told half the story and it did bend things to make the two main characters more likeable, but I liked it. Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon are amazing in this. And stunning to look at.

This one I didn't like. Quirky but not that interesting in the end. I'm sad that I wasted my time on it.

Oh and I read this quote somewhere and loved it. I had to share.

"I don't know about you, but I'm kind of fed up with realism. After all, there's enough reality already; why make more of it? Why not leave realism for the memoirs of drug addicts, the histories of salt, the biographies of porn stars? Why must we continue to read about the travails of divorced people or mildly depressed Canadians when we could be contemplating the shopping habits of zombies, or the difficulties that ensue when living and dead people marry each other? We should be demanding more stories about faery handbags and pyjamas inscribed with the diaries of strange women. We should not rest until someone writes about a television show that features the Free People's World-Tree Library, with its elaborate waterfalls and Forbidden Books and Pirate-Magicians. We should be pining for a house haunted by rabbits." – Kelly Link

New Painting and ATC cards

Here's my last painting. I like it enough to possibly keep. Its rather large.




And new ATCs. I need to figure out how to get better pictures of these without using a scanner (cause I hate using scanners).

Dog days

Dog days
Originally uploaded by lincoln_loggers.

Have I mentioned that I have the freakin cutest dog ever? Cause I do.

I didn't take this shot, my hubby did. I love it.

Meez too!

Copying Jamie again. Here's my Meez:

I love this lady's style. Kinda old school, almost rockabilly-ish. Without the cig, of course.


Found via The Sartorialist.

Star Garlands - finally!

Feast your eyes.

Cowboys and the End of the World

Loved the first season of Deadwood! At first I was worried that it was gonna be way too voilent and dark for me to handle, but I ended up loving it. The lady who plays Calamity Jane is marvelous.

In other randomness, here's a poem I like:

Song on the End of the World by Czeslaw Milosz

On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover,
A Fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspout young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it it should always be.

On the day the world ends
Women walk through fields under their umbrellas
A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,
Vegetable peddlers shout in the street
And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,
The voice of a violin lasts in the air
And leads into a starry night.

And those who expected lightning and thunder
Are disappointed.
And those who expected signs and archangels' trumps
Do not believe it is happening now.
As long as the sun and the moon are above,
As long as the bumblebee visits a rose
As long as rosy infants are born
No one believes it is happening now.

Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet,
Yet is not a prophet, for he's much too busy,
Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:
No other end of the world there will be,
No other end of the world there will be.


Don't forget to put a bag of canned goods next to your mail box or slot on Saturday morning. Letter carriers are picking them up for the local food banks and pantries. Easy and a good cause - you don't get that very often!

Pretty Things I Want

I need pretty clothes. These would do!

This sweater.

This great jacket.

The two above pieces were found at EmilyStyle. Great blog!
And this dress I just wandered into. Really fun!

Yes Please!

Added to my ever-growing wish list is this dress:

I've had a major jones for retro dresses lately. This one would be perfect!

Found via the always amazing fasshonaburu.

Ooooh

This purse is made of the exact same fabric as my wedding dress.

Cool!

Copying the Incredible Miss Jamie

When my birthday comes, I never know what to ask for. But Jamie posts the coolest birthday hints. So even though my birthday isn't until August, I'm gonna copy her geniusness.

I want this super cute shirt dress:

A bee necklace from Smallthings.

Keds parrot skimmers:

A medicine ball.

A kayak:

Dance lessons - specifically salsa and bellydancing.

Ooooh - this is fun.