Friday, April 30, 2004
I should be sleeping....
I should be sleeping right now but I always get a bad case of nerves (good excited nerves though) and I'm wide eyed and bushy tailed until we get on the road the next day. I'm so going to be hating life tomorrow LOL! Road trips are fun even if they last 15 hours... I'm so going to be hating life tomorrow. Here is a self portrait of me right now... I know you guys have been waiting for another one of these. Check out my bed head... [LINE]
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[LINE] I'm going to be posting road trip pictures as soon as I get in so make sure to come back... I'll also be totally freaking out without access to my blog, is there any sort of drug for that??? isn't that sweet? I'm going to miss you guys... who'd a thunk it!?!? now get busy and leave me a note about how much you miss me... ahem... or not. I should get to bed now. ~jen
| Blogged By islandarts at 5:07 a.m.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Broken Bed
This is embarrassing, and I shouldn't even mention it but I gotta because I've been laughing myself silly for hours about it. Last night my husband and daughter were jumpin' on our bed. Being the happy moron I am, I thought I would join in. Even thought the bed is (was) this ginormous wooden structure, it probably wasn't designed to have [b]two [/b]full sized adults and a toddler jumping on it. All i did was leave the ground, and as soon as I landed on the bed **CRACK**! Followed by the sound of my dog yelp under the bed. The ebd collapsed on one side! Now, I'm almost possitive that the bed had a flawed piece of timber holding it up... you could tell by looking at it....ahem... that being said, we were looking for a new bed anyway. Anybody want a sleigh bed in need of minor repairs?? :oops: Now we have the mattress on the floor and you know, the room looks a hell of alot bigger! I wish I had taken pictures of the aftermath but I was so stunned and feeling like a bloated elephant I forgot to get the camera. Anyway, My hubby is a doll, he wasn't even angry... he just cleaned up the mess. I **LOVE** that guy! Today is Packing day... tomorrow we leave to Alberta for a holiday!! How exciting, it seems like forever since i saw my family!! Today is a happy day, and I finished another one of my 'fairy' paintings yesterday. I'll post it later when I have a chance to scan it in the computer. Keep your eyes peeled! Gotta run, ~jen P.S. My dog is fine, the bed thing just scared her!
| Blogged By islandarts at 11:24 a.m.
My daughter has RTS
That stands for [b]Rotton Toddler Syndrome.[/b] She's pretty much spent the day following me around from room to room screaming her head off. [line]
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Paige, pulling on my shirt and screaming... nice.
[line] WTF?!? I actually had to get her a bottle (to plug her mouth) and hold her down for awhile before she would cool off. It's amazing, I don't know how she has the energy to keep it up. Now she is playing in my closet... thank the lord. she can scream all she wants in there... but she is actually quiet right now and talking to herself... it's blissfull. I love the little monster- don't get me wrong but sometimes... [b]*insert music to 'tainted love' here*[/b] 'I Feel I got to, get away, I've got to run away...". I'm sure I'm not the only one... other mom's just don't talk about it for fear of looking like a 'bad mom'. Phooey. I'm a wicked mom. I play alot, sing songs, dance, make Mac and cheese everyday for lunch and especially love coloring! What kid wouldn't want me for a Mom??? Heck i'd want me for a mom! And if I had me for a mom, i would go off and play for 5 hours [b][i]by myself[/i][/b] so she could have some time to feel like an adult human being and read the news paper. Is that too much to ask? I didn't think so. ~jen
| Blogged By islandarts at 10:24 a.m.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Painting Part Deux
I was reading through my painting lessons of yesterday and discovered that I had forgotten a very important thing! BRUSHES!
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You can't paint anything without a brush. For watercolors you need a certain kind of brush- one with a short handle that is designed for watercolor (short handled brushes are for sitting to paint and long handles are for standing to paint- at an easel). I use only one kind of brush- which is my own personal preference- the style of brush is a [url=http://www.currys.com/brushimage/brushes2500.jpg]ROUND[/url] I have a few different sizes ranging form 4 to 8. I also have a large one inch [url=http://www.currys.com/brushimage/brushes202.jpg]BRIGHT[/url] that I use for washes. As for natural hair or synthetic... my favorite brushes are all made of tacklon, even though everyone raves about sable. In the past I had an extensive collection of [url=http://www.currys.com/brushimage/goathair.jpg]Chinese bamboo brushes[/url] - they are inexpensive and keep a fine point really well. They come in goat hair and sable hair, Sable is more expensive. When shopping for brushes think of it as an investment- these supplies will give you years of loyal service if taken care of properly. Now after you have invested some money in a brush or two, you will want to know how to take care of it. FIRST rule is NEVER and when I say NEVER I mean NEVER leave your brush in water, not even for a minute. The water will deteriorate the hair in your brush and can also cause the glue holding the hair to break down thus letting the hair out of your brush- very BAD. Also if you leave a nice pointy brush in a cup of water the tip will become bent and that really sucks when you are trying to paint- beleive me, I've done it. Roll your brushes in a place mat to prevent the ends from getting bent or crimped, this will permanently destroy a good brush. Yes, i've done this too. My daughter even bit the end of a brush once and crimped it at a 90 degree angle. Nothing i could do would get it back to normal. After every painting session make sure to clean your brushes very well, rinse them under cold water until no more paint comes out- then wash them some more. Some paint pigments stain the bristles but this doesn't effect the brush in any way. That's about all i have to share on that subject... Let me know if you have any questions or if I forgot something obvious. Now, GET PAINTING!! artfully yours, ~jen
| Blogged By islandarts at 4:08 p.m.
Stupid Skills to pay the bills.
Well I heard back from the client with the '3 Doxie' painting. She absolutely loved it and said it brought [u]a tear to her eye[/u]!! She even paid me 10 dollars more than I requested!! I did end up adding just a little bit to the background. basically a little more shading and some pattern on the chair that the dogs are nestled in.
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It looks fantastic and I'm so glad and releived that she loves it. Yahoo! Bring on another commission!!! ~jen
| Blogged By islandarts at 6:18 a.m.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
So you wanna Paint, Do ya??
I was recently asked by [url=http://jenarathbun.tblog.com]jenarathbun[/url] How should she go about starting to paint. I had so much to say on the matter that i thought I'd just do a blog on it. I started painting in watercolors for several reasons. First of all, to buy a full set of watercolors won't put your credit card in the red. They are inexpensive and though you may think the tubes are small- they last [b]FOREVER.[/b] You can get away with cheaper paints without a problem but DO NOT skimp on the paper. Quality paper is so important when learning- great paper can make painting fun and easy While cheap paper makes painting difficult and frustrating- even for those of us who have been painting for years.
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[b]A picture of my work space[/b][line]
Good Papers are: Arches (140lb and up) Bockingford (250 lb only) Saunders Waterford (200 lb & up) There are more kinds but these are the best of the economical ones. You will want to purchase a COLD Pressed paper- you will get the best results while learning the following techniques. and your paper should be taped down (on all four sides) to a rigid surface to avoid cockeling (warping) of the paper. Secondly watercolors are less messy- especially if you have little ones around. Most pigments will not stain surfaces or clothes which is really nice cause I am messy. To get started: I reccommend starting with learning the basic watercolor techniques. There are several and a few are; Washes Wet in wet Wet on dry dry brushing burnishing Lost edges and found edges pulling up paint (variations of this are endless) Salt technique (a favorite) If you are an accomplished drawer- try using a india ink pen (available at Micheals in the scrapbooking section) and sketching out a fun drawing and using the watercolors to wash in (I've done some funny random portraits this way except using crayon or acrylic for color). After you have had some practice learning several techniques you can try implementing them into a painting. You can use photos or do an abstract piece- I started with abstract peices so there wasn't so much pressure to have everything just perfect. It took me 10 years to be comfortable enough to attempt portraiture (super hard). But whatever you do, the most important is to paint what feels right to you and have fun, LOTS of fun!! If you guys want any help, pictures of techniques- books to read on painting- drop me a line and I'll be more than happy to help you out. The best way to learn is to teach something and I love sharing. Come on now, don't be shy!! ~jen
| Blogged By islandarts at 6:36 p.m.
