Fur In The Paint

I have been hiding out for a couple of days. I fell and may well have cracked a rib. (Apparently I don’t bounce as well as I used to.) So I am taking yet another personal day to recuperate just a bit. I am not really in much pain unless I laugh, breath too deeply or God forbid, sneeze. Sleeping is really the only thing that hurts. Well . . . not sleeping exactly. Its more the rolling over bit. I really am working on some actual posts that deal with either art, animals or living the creative life. (just not for today)

Since I am trying to rest up, I have spent the past 36 hours or so, horizontal on the couch. I watched a couple of intrigueing shows last night. The first was Dumped on BBC America. 10 people are dropped off in the middle of a landfill and will spend the next 3-4 weeks, living off the refuse of others. At the moment, they get their food and water supplied (I have a suspicion, that may come to an end at some point.) But everything else, including housing, bathroom facilities, pots & pans and household supplies are rummaged for. The goal, is that at the end of their time, they will have created a totally sustainable living on the landfill. The whole project is to raise awareness about what we toss away and our impact on the planet.

I must add, they have an artist in the group. And as an working artist, I am a little disconcerted by what their artist is up to. While others are rummaging to create better living conditions for the group, she is off making a sculpture, in the belief that her art will make a statement about what they are doing. Now, while I like her spiritual and artistic mentality, I find it annoying that she leaves most of the mundane tasks to the others, while she creates. Sort of that stereotypical artist living off the community (government). Expecting that creating art, is a fair exchange for shelter and living necessities. I am probably just transferring my own issues about artists who spend their time between creating art and writing grants to sustain them. So I better drop the subject.

The other show was I Can Make You Thin with Paul Mckenna on TLC. Apparently, he is some relatively famous British diet guru. His mantra, “eat all you want and what you want and still lose weight.” (yeah, I know. . . let the rolling of eyes commence.) It is a 5 week series. And I am curious enough, that I think I will follow along.

Week 1.
The 4 Golden Rules.
1. Eat when your hungry. The reason behind this is if you ignore hunger, your body thinks it is being starved. It slows your metabolism and then when you do eat. It stores as much as it can as fat for future starvation.

2. Eat what you want. He say anything goes. If you want to live on pizza and potato chips, have at it. Toss out any foods you eat because you think you should. Toss anything you don’t like. (I am a diabetic, so I can’t truely do this part.)

3. Eat consciously. Eat slowly, chewing 20 times per bite. Put down your utensils between bites. Do not watch tv or read. Be in the moment while eating. If you are distracted, you don’t notice the full signal, your body is sending.

4. When your full, stop eating.

Sounds easy enough. I think I can manage the eating slow bit. But we eat our dinner in front of the tv every night. Most often because we eat later at night and since we have a really busy lifestyle, it is kinda guilt free tv. (I’m big into multitasking.) It should be an interesting experiment. If you want more information visit, the TLC website.

Upcoming Posts
I have spent much of today, elbow deep in art fair applications. Not a task I enjoy. I am waiting on the UPS man, to bring me a fresh batch of slides for the half dozen or so apps, (which are not yet taking digital submissions) that I need to get out in the next week. (Yes, I did put them off to the last minute again this year. But hey, I was painting!)

I have finished my portrait of Catch and will post a pic of it completed, after Carol has received her painting. Plans are already underway for the next horse painting. I will get some WIP’s up just as soon as I begin.

Also, I have plans on discussing a couple of ways to frame oil pastel paintings, (since it has some special requirements) sometime in the next 10 days.

Warmer Weather
I just returned from a lovely walk. At 5pm it was still 45 degrees. Ah! This kind of weather fills a girls head with visions of Spring. The snow is melting and the birdies are singing. Chicory is dozing in the sun and the barn kitties are frolicking. (Umm. . .well, not quite frolicking exactly. More like, establishing a dominance hierarchy for the upcoming breeding season. But that just doesn’t have an idyllic ring to it.)

Anywho, totally gorgeous outside and the forecast is for warmer weather still. Wahoo!

Reality TV
Now I am not talking about those shows where they put a dozen hormonally pumped, morally challenged young people in a house, and wait to see what mayhem ensues. (If I was into that sorta thing, I would just watch the barn cats frolick.)

What I am talking about is, creative challenge type shows like Bravo’s Project Runway. (Love this show, every single season of it.) Unfortunately this season came to an end last week. The good news . . . Bravo is replacing it with Top Chef. (again, Love it!) Considering I am not much into cooking, I do seem to like the cooking shows. Top Chef, The Last Restaurant Standing, Iron Chef and as already discussed, anything with Gordon Ramsey. (particularly Kitchen Nightmares and The F Word)

Luxury and Features

I finally got myself a new drafting chair. Isn’t it lovely. (insert angelic chorus here) The one I had, was one that came with my drafting table. And being as aged as it was, it had seen better days. It was covered in miscellaneous stains and oil pastel smears. As well as the seat and backrest where snagged and chewed on, by not one but two teething kittens. Also, the occasional bolt kinda stuck through the wafer thin padding, and poked me bum. (I’ve been watching a little too much Brit TV of late.) But the clincher was when a wheel popped off. (Yeah, that pretty much makes it junk.)

So we went shopping for a new chair. Now while this isn’t say . . the Cadillac of drafting chairs (I passed on the leather). It is still a fine example of comfort and luxury. And in keeping with the car metaphor, my last chair was more like an 80’s pinto. Tough, small, occasionally difficult, and not pretty to look at. It did the job, but it didn’t make you want to pet it when you walked by.

But my new chair, makes me sigh with blissful contentment. I mean really, just look at the fully adjustable thick padded seat and huge supportive backrest. Admire, its opulent size and sturdy construction. Caress, the lovely scotch-guarded fabric with that new chair smell. Oh, and did I mention it comes with features (Oh. . . features) and a 3 year warranty. Not some cheapo warranty either. Complete coverage, short of me hitching up Chicory and using it for buggy rides.

Now if it just had a cup holder, heated shiatsu massage and a motor, I would never leave it.

I am dragging a bit this morning. I’ve had my usual jolt of caffeine courtesy of diet coke. Ah… sweet nectar. Still not 100% yet. I went to bed last night at a moderately reasonable hour. But still I tossed and turned and couldn’t quite pass out. I usually try to squeeze as much out of everyday as possible. And so sometimes when the day is done I rehash How I could have sqeezed just a little bit more out of it. Now, thats not to say I don’t take any me time. I try to walk 2 miles everyday and I enjoy a hot (as in scalding my butt pink for 20 minutes after its over, hot) bath. So I lay awake last night wondering how I’ll manage to get it all done and make it all work. I tried to do some relaxation techniques with moderate success. Anywho, somewhere in the wee hours I faded off.

WARNING! The following paragraph contains muttering and whining. Please move on to the next entry if you don’t want to have the seeds of a crusty attitude implanted.

I recently finished reading The Secret by Byron someone ( think his name was Byron?). Some of my artsy friend had been talking about it and got my curiosity up. The jist of it is visualize what you want, Send that thought energy out into the universe and it will manifest itself unto you. The catch is you have to Believe that it will work, for it to work. Your cancer will be cured if you believe it enough. You will become rich beyond your wildest dreams…just believe. I follow some practices of visualization but it is the Believing that I struggle with. Making small things happen like a cup of coffee or a parking space easy enough. That I will be healed of being a diabetic. Hmm… can’t quite muster the blind faith. And yes, I think in many ways it really is just a spin off of religion. Both require faith and a certain amount of ritual. And if things don’t work out the way you want, well then there is no one to blame but yourself. You just didn’t believe it enough. Try harder.

Apologies. I really do employ visualization techniques for my personal life as well as business. And I believe they are successful in most cases or I wouldn’t continue to do them. There was just something about the book that smacked of a marketing ploy on the desperate. Probably just my mood and tomorrow I will be extolling the virtues of it. Fickle woman that I am.