Sunday, April 30, 2006

IF - Under the Sea



well this is something I did earlier in the year for a friend at work...I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out...it's a wall hanging for the baby's nursery, the theme of which was "under the sea"....it was scroll saw cut from 1/4" plywood, painted, and glued together....sometimes it's hard letting something go that I've made and this was one of those...it would have been great in our bathroom ;)

go check out all the other cool illustrations at Illustration Friday...and thanks to everyone that leaves comments...I appreciate the encouragement and kind words!
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gardening observations and why planting


stuff is a faith based activity I can wrap my arms around....

maybe ten years ago I discovered gardening....up until that point I was a notorius houseplant killer and our one outdoor gardening project resulted in a little rose garden and a severe case of sunburn....I had accepted my fate...

my grandfather and my mother were always the kind that could make stuff grow no matter what....they just seemed to instinctively know what plants needed, where to put them, when to prune...they knew it all...

a few years after moving into our house in Decatur, we decided to be brave and bought a few 6 packs of bedding annuals...celosia and red salvia, I think...we planted them in the back yard around the lightpost....and amazingly they grew...we got a little braver, I started reading, getting into birds, butterflies and wildlife gardens and within a few years, we had an amazing series of perennial beds (if I do say so myself ;))...

I learned so much those years, not just the technical stuff - even though I have just the kind of bizarre memory that allows me to recall latin names of plants but not what I wore the day before....I learned patience (well some anyway), I learned that all things aren't destined to make it no matter how much you want them to, gardening helped me grow up in lots of ways...

so we moved here a few years ago and resisted planting anything at first because we didn't know how long we might be here, it's a rental and there was so much going on just settling in....that next year we couldn't stand it so I put in a few mums, a few herbs, some lantana and J planted a little succulent rock garden...last year we added some daylilies, another rosemary, some confederate roses and a butterfly bush....yesterday I finished putting in a flat of dahlias and portulaca, J has added to the rock garden and it occurred to me that we have finally have a butterfly garden again...

the colors in nature, the amazing transition plants make over the course of the year, the inter-connectedness of it all never disappoint me...

someone asked me a while back whether or not I had any faith based activity in my life at this point and I didn't even hesitate to answer "no", but that's really not true, I garden....and I have the faith that comes with gardening that life is cyclical and will carry on...

and if anyone is still reading after such a sappy post....here are the pictures of our little butterfly bed :)
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Thursday, April 27, 2006

life is good?


yes, life is good...

at least according to denise and she's god-like...go see...

I don't have time to do this the right way this afternoon, with a big list (maybe tonite?) but one of the things that I really like about my life right now is being able to make time for things that matter to me...more specifically, letting myself take the time to do things that matter to me....there's a difference....and that's important
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Wednesday, April 26, 2006

I got flowers

from my boss for Administrative Professionals Day...actually it's a plant with some miniature purple irises stuck in it - very pretty and always nice to be appreciated...maybe Erin will take a picture since I left my camera at home today and the lighting is not good enough for the camera phone....

is there some rule of the universe that the last days of work prior to going on vacation are the longest and most tedious of the year? there must be...

Happy Administrative Professionals Day and watch out for tornados

4/27/06 - edited to say - THANKS erin...:)
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Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Tommy Tuesday


my brother's band - 3 of their songs here...acoustic hip-hop, funk?
Rock on.
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Monday, April 24, 2006

what is this doing in my house monday?

good grief denise has already posted hers....

I realized Friday afternoon after Stuff Portrait Friday that I should use the metal strips I used to illustrate the first letter of my last name for this week's "What is this doing in my house Monday?"....I didn't explain exactly what they are and they definately qualify as an entry...

I picked these up at the auction a few months back...there are 3 of these stamped, painted pieces of metal that I just had to get (especially for a $1)...they're about 2' long and 4" wide...I'm sure there's a craft project in them somewhere, but right now other than almost cutting my toes off every time I open the hall closet door...they have no purpose...

c'mon play, show us something that you aren't sure why you have but it's taking up space in your house anyway...make sure and let me know you posted your stuff and I'll stop by to check it out!

em - I'm waiting for a follow-up to last week's best entry ever ;)
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Sunday, April 23, 2006

No Lucy - Stop Scout

the words most commonly heard around our house on the weekends if the dogs are inside.....

here's my Sunday afternoon weird quirk confession...or at least J thinks it's weird....I love recording different versions of the same song, back to back, by different artists....thanks to a version of "Angel Band" by George Jones and Vestal Goodman, I now think I have almost an entire cd's worth of that song....maybe I should suprise J for her birthday?

update on the rednecks - after a loud public grounding last weekend we haven't seen much of Boo or his skateboarding buddies this week, but summer is just around the corner.....Papa RN told me last week that he had yanked those bushes out in order to park a boat but the dude sold it out from under him...muddy bush holes still remain...he also mentioned in passing something about wanting to bring his ladder and electric hedge clippers into our back yard in order to trim the kudzu (vicious, weed vine that covers everything in its path for you non-Southerners) off the electric lines running from the pole to his house...hmm, is it selfish of me to be charging my camera batteries just in case?

those social skills kinds of things are often challening for me...
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Saturday, April 22, 2006

IF - Robot


for Illustration Friday this week's theme is Robot...inspired by the first robot I ever loved....the B-9 from Lost in Space....

I did this line drawing about a month ago...one of those Saturday afternoon doodles....I colored it in this afternoon on the computer...I've been real intimidated by you folks that use digital color in such incredible ways so be aware that I am keenly aware of my limitations with this medium....humor me? ;) it is kinda fun though
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Friday, April 21, 2006

stuff portrait friday - Initials


it's Friday, which means SPF at Kristine's ....take some pictures, play along and don't forget to tell everybody you did...

this week is a photographic monogram of sorts...

shots of things that begin with the letters of your name...cool, huh?

I got named after both grandmothers (my dad, aka Santini, loved family names - we all got 'em) which also meant I got saddled with what was commonly referred to as an "old lady name" when teachers would mistakenly call out my first name on the first day of school...people still laugh sometimes when they hear it...personally, I love it even though it did take some growing into to...and since I've got the duck journal right now what else could "D" stand for?

is for Ducks

my middle name is what I've always been called - don't know why, Southern thing maybe?...so last night I was switching bags from my functional black leather backpack to my functional black canvas messenger bag....(lesbians understand the importance of changing seasonal accessories, too!) and I knew instantly what "L" would be...something I'm never without...

is for my trusty Leatherman Micra

and finally, while looking for my functional black canvas messenger bag last night, I almost cut a toe off when these fell out of the closet near my feet...I picked these up a few months ago at the auctions because they just looked interesting and I'm sure there's something artsy I can do with them sometime....so.....

is for the long metal strips with sharp edges in the hall closet....

there it is.....did you play?

edited to say - the illuminated letters are because I've been watching Good Morning America's secret society special this week and all those guys have secret illuminated manuscripts written with letters like these....

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Wednesday, April 19, 2006

my view on Tuesday nights



at the auction...well one of my views...from sitting at the computer entering bids...

this is how my eyes feel on Wednesday mornings....

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Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Is it wrong to


want to marry the air conditioner? I don't think J would mind...since it was a quick sketch done pondering her beauty, I thought it was only appropriate to add some digital color to enhance her natural assets....obviously what I lack in skill is made up by my passion....

anybody else have an appliance love story????
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Monday, April 17, 2006

highlights from my weekend...

Catholic Churches are very colorful...no pun intended...I even tolerated several stations of the cross...

I miss plants and gardening...I bought a flat of bedding dahlias on Saturday and loved every sweaty minute I spent cutting the yard and tending our one small bed of flowers and herbs....

J's mom is a raging liberal and just happened to have a letter to the editor published in Sunday's paper slamming W and the war....my family are Bush supporting republicans (for the most part)...we all ate dinner together that afternoon...J gave her strict orders not to be controversial...

We found out we love air conditioning and are now the proud owners of our very own, first ever as adults...window units...damn that makes a difference...

I still can't figure out where to put the code in my template to get comments back down below the posts where they should be...

It's only 9 working days until we're on vacation....
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leopards invade Cayce, SC - Whatisthisdoinginmyhouse?

who woulda thought....there have been a rash of animal attacks lately....wonder if we should be concerned?

I guess this kinda qualifies as What Is This Doing In My House Monday.....except it's outside and I love it.....moving him is always interesting since it's about 7' tall....we get the weirdest looks....
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Saturday, April 15, 2006

don't I wish????

number 47 on my list of dream jobs and fantasy careers....(yeah, that's my name too)

see this booth is already waiting on me....I could hang my little painted yard dragons and birds, make birdfeeders, sell organic produce grown in the correct soil....play Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, and bluegrass all day long....

reality bites
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Thursday, April 13, 2006

waiting on the ducks


I got an email that the ducks are in transit....here's what I think they're doing on their way...

and if you're curious about the duck project - go here - 29,000 Floating Ducks and here's another group entirely doing a Flickr thing - Duck Project

It's officially the Year of the Duck I think....
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cat blogging

on Thursday...I'm a rebel



This is MIL's cat - Bobby...he's a great cat...doesn't annoy or irritate me at all, he stayed with us for about a week before MIL moved to SC from LA....

MIL took this picture of Bobby last summer....it wound up as the photo of the day or something in the local paper....he's famous...

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Wednesday, April 12, 2006

everything seems to be

annoying me right now...not in a make me angry way or in a manic overwhelming way....just in a normal I have no patience way...

things, people, work, news, family, animals, talking, listening....it's just all potentially irritating...and sometimes I have a tendency to snap...maybe answer a little too shortly or tune out and get busted for not listening...which is worse? being rude or distant? I'm not really in a bad mood just teetering...

so, J's mother's birthday was today (her 70th)...we took her out to eat, went back to the house, had cake, opened presents and she managed to talk about every possible thing that rubs me the wrong way...church, immigration, money, her funeral arrangements....blah blah blah....

Easter Sunday with my family and J's mom and brother may push me over the edge...how conspicuous would ear plugs be? I did find a great tie-dye t-shirt I'm planning to wear for lunch and I think I'll dye my hair too...maybe pull out the nosering...and there's the CO2 tatto gun we have for one of the nieces and her crazy brothers...oh, and the chocolate....so yeah, there's some sport to be had afterall...I have to keep reminding myself of that...

and there's the Catholic Church art trip on Friday morning...let's not forget that...a big pool of plexi-glass blood in front of the white marble alter with shadow flames bouncing around the walls has to be good...hopefully, we'll be able to fit at least one other in (Ebeneazer???)

okay, enough of that...life is good...you know the rest....I'll close with one of the irritating wolf dogs...he's cute though so that helps with the terrible whining and yelping :)
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Monday, April 10, 2006

commenting and trackback have been added to this blog....

more screwing around...sorry, all old comments should be restored tomorrow or so...I think...
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IF - Speed

an elf flying on the back of a bird has more speed than one on foot....at least that's what they tell me...
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what's this doing in my house monday??????


crazy, I'm actually putting this up on time on the right day....must be the full moon coming this week...

so - my entry is a box of hair color I bought a few weeks ago...it's the wrong color and I knew that when I bought it...I was being adventurous and now I'm scared to actually use it...I'm not even sure I know what medium bronze might be....

I don't color my hair very often...maybe once or twice a year when I get the urge....who know's maybe I'll do it Friday afternoon after the field trip to see this art installation...okay I can't find the link now but will post later....I'm a little nervous - okay, I found the link - This is in Columbia SC...how weird is that?

Happy Monday y'all - another holiday treat this week....the skateboarders are on spring break...how lucky am I? Let me know if you played - don't let me think I'm the only one with odd stuff in my possession....
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Sunday, April 09, 2006

new template

okay so I finally felt motivated to actually make some changes....new template...an actual banner (such as it is)...mostly everything is where it should be and appears to be working....and maybe I'll get around to updating my blogroll soon...I can't figure out where my blogger nav bar went though....nevermind :)

btw..this template came from blogger-templates and the site is really helpful and easy to understand...this is K1...they've got a couple of 3 columns too, that I may wind up playing with later...I just can't decide what the hell I'd actually put in 3 columns...
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mine could be a gecko....;)


or not...I just let Dirk the tattoo dude come up with something to go with the funky lily he had done before...y'all go check out Lou's cool new banner...

my pale legs....if it weren't for the tattoos...I'd glow in the dark ;)

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Friday, April 07, 2006

late afternoon trip to the art store

it was a busy ending to a busy day and I had a bunch of work related errands to run after I left the office that involved many stops in a hip, trendy, congested part of town on Friday afternoon...

people leaving work meet people coming to eat and drink...

traffic...I hate traffic but, in the midst of it all I squeezed in a trip to a little art supply place that you have to walk down stairs to get into cause it's in the basement of an old (civil-warish) building and they have lots of stuff crammed into a tiny little space...there's a gallery upstairs and I think mostly serious art types and students hang out there (of which I'm neither) but it was work related (foam core display board emergency) and I was waiting on a pizza and I've been trying to find a new sketchbook like the one I found last fall that I can't seem to find anywhere in town....so I hung out for a while....

I found a similiar sketchbook (spiral bound 6 1/2" x 8 1/2" with rigid covers)...

and I found some loose woodless color pencils that I'd bought a set of earlier this year....I LOVE THESE PENCILS...deep rich colors and they go on really smooth...7 colors I didn't have :)


Exciting Friday night, huh?...and we realized we got X-Men 2 from Netflix today and we just saw the trailer for X-Men 3 a few days ago....

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Thursday, April 06, 2006

stuff portrait friday



It's that time again - this week's topics were a little Random and Odd....make you think kinda stuff...getting to know your camera was the general theme...which sounds pretty good, but after a day of snapping pictures I'm not sure I feel any closer to my Sony...it was fun anyway even if I never warm up to her...since I was at both jobs today that's where the pictures come from...and since I'm indecisive I'll post a couple for each thing...

1. Macro: take a picture of something ‘close up’. Don’t use your zoom, make sure you have good lighting and make sure you’re steady. If you have to, set your camera down on something and then take the picture.

stalk of a plant outside my office....I think I also didn't have the flash on for this one because I didn't want to startle people in the lobby with blinking lights...not great but I love the texture of this plant

old cameras that will be up for auction next Tuesday...

2. NO FLASH: try swiching the flash off and taking pictures of your stuff without it. It may take a lot of pictures to get the right shot, but open the windows and find artifical light to get it to work.

yes, blurry I know but taken at dusk outside the armory...I just kinda liked it anyway

another two-fer, no flash in the back hallway on my way home for the day...cool perspective too I think

3. Perspective: get up high or down low…either way, change the perspective of your picture..tilt the camera sideways. Change the layout of the picture. Instead of having the subject framed perfectly in the middle of the picture…move it to the left or the right.

huge - really really huge - painting that sold this past Tuesday...it was some abstract piece with a funky clown girl in the middle that disturbed me...so big I'm guessing the person who bought it is having to make special pick-up arrangements

view from the base of the plant outside my office...this is the best growing space for indoor plants I've ever seen outside a greenhouse...crazy direct sunlight and on the second floor where it's like a sauna...there were lots of plants there when I started last January and I sort of took over watering and fussing on them...it's a little rainforest...

so who played? who knows their camera better? fess up...

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Wednesday, April 05, 2006

ABC's


I dated a boy in high school (yeah, you read that right and it was a LONG time ago) who was an incredible artist (and he was a cute redhead, redheads always get me in trouble)....he used to write the best notes...little skulls and candles and surfers in the margins...but he also used to do some of the coolest lettering....which was great for me because I spent hours and hours trying to come up with some new earth-shattering font (obviously didn't happen)....we used to hang out at Putt-Putt and play Pacman...

so the other day something made me think of Tommy and I got the urge to do an alphabet...I hope he actually gets paid to draw all these years later...wonder if he blogs?...anyway, I love doing letters, love illuminated manuscripts....so maybe I'll fill the last few pages of my sketchbook with alphabets...and wonder what my little redheaded ex-boyfriend from 20 years ago is doing....
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Jerry to the rescue....

for the last 2 mornings I've gotten up with this song in my head

Mexicali Blues

weird...so I gave in this morning and have the Dead playing which seems to have improved my mood some...unfortunately, I don't think I can get away with listening to them at work today....

...Is there anything a man don't stand to lose
When the devil wants to take it all away
Cherish well your thoughts, keep a tight grip on your booze
'Cause thinking and drinking are all I have today...
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Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Duck Update and related news

J swears that this has become the Year of the Rubber Duck....I'm not sure if there are more of them out there or if we're just more sensitive to their existence because of the duck journal....

but....regardless of either option...I see ducks everywhere now....here are 2 examples...

brochure for upcoming Rubber Duck Race for the Boys and Girls Club...big display in the grocery store last weekend

at the main post office downtown....they have all these glass display cases and the duck vignette is a part of one of their spring decorations...weird, huh?

and my most recent ATC arrivals - which btw I love getting fun mail....and will mention again, I am just looking for an excuse to another set of trading cards if anyone is interested.....but aren't these great?????

from Vicci

from miragee

from Leezy

from CAS

The journal is on it's way to SC, so I'm pretty excited that I'll get to see it soon....one last thing...here's what the ducks in SC are doing until their cousins arrive....sorry, quick sketch colored with hilighters at work this afternoon, LOL....

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whatisthisdoinginmyhouseMonday? - on Tuesday

yeah, yeah I'm late and have not been around much lately...but I got a touch of that spring fever stuff and it's affecting my already limited ability to concentrate....

we did some fairly intense cleaning over the weekend and while we didn't tackle any additional boxes we did manage to clear most flat surfaces of the things that have been accumulating on top of them for weeks...one item, however, is still sitting on the dining room table (aka the big shelf with legs) and we just cleaned around it...

the niece in Atlanta that we went to visit last month knows how much we like snacks and she especially knows how much her Aunt J loves chocolate...so every now and then she'll give us something crazy like this...


The world's largest Hershey kiss...almost 3 pounds of chocolate...and not only is it a big kiss by itself, it's filled with regular size kisses....

now a bag of kisses or a box of chocolate is one thing, but this is just crazy....I'm going to try and convince J to break it up and take it over to my dad's for Easter dinner in a few weeks...supplying all those kids with chocolate is what makes us special aunts...

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Sunday, April 02, 2006

Illustration Friday - Spring!




Nothing says spring like flowers and birds...the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds have begun their migration northward in earnest...sightings in North America noted on the map as recently as today :)
Something different this week, that was a result of a gourd cleaning and cutting experiment (the back side had crumpled up during the drying process and I cut it out)...I had no idea what to do with this gourd once I had cleaned and cut it yesterday so I decided to use part of a template J made years ago as a the basic design....a little cheap acrylic paint and varnish...and here you have it....this was a fairly small gourd...maybe 6 - 8" from top to bottom
An illustrated gourd counts, right...? :)
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