Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Well....the Mobile HS Internet Connection gadget thingy FAILED. Great idea that flopped upon application. First: it kept cutting out on me all the time. Boo Second: you have a 500 MB download/upload limit before they start chucking on extra charges. I can do that in one day with all the research/cruising I do (For ART you naughty people!) BOO 2X and third: my scanner went flooey and wouldn't work with the mobile key plugged in. I USe my scanner A LOT! BOO X3
I am sadly disillusioned.
If anyone out there knows who I can advocate/whine to at TELUS for HS service out here -and in my defense let me say that the cable network is all in place in my little part of the planet- I'd be VERY happy to know!
Back to the turtle......rabbit needs some work underneath his flashy exterior.

Mermaid or Whale?

Mermaid or Whale?Share
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 10:13am


Recently, in a large French city, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan
woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said, “THIS SUMMER DO YOU WANT
TO BE A MERMAID OR A WHALE?”

A middle aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of
the woman in the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the
gym.

To Whom It May Concern:

Whales are always surrounded by friends - dolphins, sea lions, curious
humans. They have an active sex life, and they get pregnant and have
adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with all their sea
friends. They play and swim in the seas of the world, seeing wonderful
places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea, and the coral reefs of Polynesia .
Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are
incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans.
They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone and everything in
the world.

Mermaids, on the other hand, don't exist. If they did exist, they would
be lining up outside the offices of psychoanalysts due to identity crisis.
Fish or human? They wouldn’t have sex lives because stories tell that
they kill men who get close to them. Besides, how could they have sex?
Just look at them...where is IT? Therefore, they wouldn’t have kids
either. And what man would want to get close to a girl who smells like a
fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me; I want to be a whale.

We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny
people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a
piece of chocolate with my friends, and a good dinner with a man who makes
me shiver. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much
information and wisdom in our heads. When there is no more room in our
heads, the information and wisdom distribute out to the rest of our
bodies.

So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.
Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror, I will think, “Good
grief, just look how smart I am!”

BRILLIANT! Wish I'd written it......and to honor this, a Rubens nude.

Mix and Match

thought I'd try matching my paintings.....after all, I'm just another canvas to myself.

My 15 Minutes

Hah, I was so focused on that painting that I forgot all about 'THE BIG NIGHT'....you know, winning the Diane Farris Juror's Award. Yeah, that.
Well....it was a surreal moment fraught with my usual bizarro overtones. I was nervous. I get nervous having to walk onto a stage - I think 'cause in my mind there is always the possibility that a '3 stooges moment' will ensue. My dear friend was beside me for support - thank goodness - and then there was my painting flashed up on the big screen and up I tottered to the front - on my hand painted RED high heel shoes, might I add - and it wasn't Diane Farris presenting but a member of the Art Show and it was a real 'get-them-processed-fast' second...the certificate shovelled into my hot sweaty palm with my back to the audience.
Huh. So much for that 15 minutes of fame.
And folks are asking if my head is swelled from all this.
Not so much.
Picture is a cool photo of Melyssa (??) by Derek Blank. Very cool, non? I think it captures the whole story of 'fragile Ego and Fame's two-edged sword'.

I Hear and Obey

I did a painting about 2 years ago...well, closer to 1 1/2 years as it was for a Christmas Gala and the last one that was held was Dec 2008. The thing about the Christmas Gala is that it's a charity fund raiser for a number of local things, like the aquarium and food bank here on the coast. I donate a painting to this and for that one I had painted an image of four 'mature' women eating ice cream cones and laughing with each other on the beach. They weren't your usual 'model vogue' types but lovely lush and ordinary. The woman who bid and won this painting hung it in her B&B here in town and it's been seen by the many guests she has from all over. My 'Gallery Guy' told me last week that he has about 4 people a week come in and ask him if there are any prints of this painting they can purchase. The thing about that painting is it wasn't 'my' image - I copied the picture. Now this is something that is not really on the 'up and up' but as I was not getting any money at all for the donation and the money was for charity, I was easy with this decision. My Gallery Guy wanted to make prints from the painting but I am not comfortable with that, even though he said that it was my own interpretation - it just doesn't seem ethical to me. However it seems to be a popular subject so hence and etc......this is my own painting in that theme.
It's called: EAT, PLAY, LOVE....EAT ice cream, PLAY on the beach, LOVE your friends.

My Bags Are Packed, I'm Ready To Go...

OOO....this is it! The 'BIG' weekend. And apart from some transportation issues due to the 'wild card' ex; it's all good.
Am I excited?
Bet yer ass!
And just to prove it, I decided, in my 'let's-make-a-good-impression' way, that I was going to dye my hair to match my paintings....ah huh.....good in theory, not so much in actuality. Instead of wild auburn and scarlet streaks, we have a rather 'old punk never dies (sic)' kinda thing.....Ah well, it will be noticeable to say the least.
Break a Leg, like the old saying goes!
Or in my case, an arm??

Painting is by Belinda Eaton, a contemporary artist that I absolutely am in love with!

Now Look Down; Look Wa-a-aay Down

I 'wrote' a book about the photographs and the stories behind my paintings. It's down below, so take a peek and let me know what you think. I used a really fantastically easy program from the BLURB site, and I am pleased with the result...did have a funny 'extra couple of pages' thing happen but the overall product is nice. I'd sure like to have it for this Friday as it would make a nice 'portfolio' add-on, but considering it has to come all the way from the States....prob'ly not.
Oh, and the 'other' thing......we got HIGH SPEED Internet connection now!!
WOOP! WOOP!!
Watching all the YouTube videos I've never seen.....Life is grand.

Just Foolin' Around...

Here's the next little 'Egon Schiele' styled painting. I think my oldest/bestest friend might have her eye on it....
What's up with folks wanting the 'immitation' ones? I've had all sorts go crazy over them....well, I guess that's why the original artists are famous.....

"TRADE-SIES"

Lately, I've tapped into an age old tradition in the life of an artist, to wit: Trading. It's no secret many artists throughout time have traded their work for food or more supplies or what have you. This is how some fantastic paintings have ended up in some odd places; such as attics or old trunks; only to be discovered decades later by the great-great-great grand niece as she cleans out the ancestral digs.

So in this honored tradition I am trading for: New teeth (my dentist had Jack Shadbolt and Tony Onely as patients so he was right cool with the idea) (awesome!) and a new hairdo.

You gotta love the whole idea of 'tradesies', which, by the by, was in place long before money got it's miserable claws into us.

What you see above is the painting I'm trading to my hairdresser - gots ta look swell for the BIG day next Friday! I actually like trading. I generally choose to work out a new thought or copy-in-my-own-way style an artist I admire. The above is after Egon Schiele, whom I adore; sexy thing that he was. AND! I always label the painting as such - I'm not trying to 'hoodwink' anyone. My hairdresser did request a 'color scheme' which is fine with me as it gives me some new ways to work with color that I may not have thought of before.

I really like this one!

From Head to Toe

I'm working on a new painting and the darn FEET are making me nuts. They look too big they look too small they look flat ...bla bla bla.....sigh.

Anywhatastupidthingtocomplainaboutway, I went to my personal fav resource, the INTERNET and did an image search in the attempt to find some drawing feet tips.

Well, I seemed to have tapped into the 'human strange room' with this seemingly innocuous search item. I got a plethora of 'foot fetish' pics.

And, boy oh boy, it was mind boggling. Not the whole 'whatever floats your boat' deal, but just the amount of odd stuff out there attached to sex. It got me musing on just how, well, messed up human sexuality is. Really, you have to admit we are a weird bunch when it comes to something that is a basic instinct. It's become a driving force in our world, it causes huge amounts of suffering and unethical behavior and it makes most of us slightly nuts. (and by the way, I count myself in with this) Most of us are walking around confused as heck as to what is right, or enough or doing it right or enough and all the little 'bits' in between. We are all stewing away paranoid as hell about ourselves and SEX.

I once read a great science fiction series by Greg Bear - 'Hominids' where the females lived apart in large communal towns from the males; who lived in their own communal towns; except for their twice yearly ' mating seasons'. OK, brushing aside the male/female living arrangement thing, (which I think is brilliant, but that's another post) the whole thing of having a cycle much akin to animals would make much more sense. Now think about it. Women, I don't have to point out what benefits this would bring...right? (don't lie!)

Anywhatinheaven'snamehaveIdoneway, I could go on and on and on, but won't Suffice to say, we ARE messed up about sex and body image.

Pick any song from way back to now and if the subject is "love" you have to agree. Paintings? Same.

Pic is "Nero" by the surrealist painter Vladimir Kush. I don't know why 'Nero' - Artist privilege to name their work with unfathomable (at times) (and yes, I count myself in with this too) titles but I like it because it makes me think of all the layers we place around ourselves.

Pretty As A Picture

I have TEETH! (And 'what teeth you have, Grandma'! ) Went to the dentist this a.m. on emergency basis and boy he did a miracle there, folks! Not only do I now have a new left front incisor but he straightened up my jagged tooth line and polished it all up.....and I got my fallen-out crown stuck back in good and tight!

I have better teeth now than I have had in 10 years! I keep looking at them in the mirror!

OK! Bring on smiley award artist gig!

Painting is: "Girl in a Green Dress" by Tamara Lempicka....Canadian too my dears! Fascinating woman. Well worth Google-ing!

Graphic Smack Down

Think I'm a big deal, huh? Well just to show you how life keeps me in check....this is a pic of the tooth that snapped off last night.

Fan-bloody-tastic.

Now that I have to be presented in front of a large audience when I get my award.......and I have no funds to deal with a tooth issue......sigh.

No worries MY head will swell beyond all proportion......I'll be the one with duct tape across my lips.

OH, HIT ME AGAIN!!

AND this morning in my email box, the following message:

Dear Marla Thirsk,

Congratulations! Your artwork, Disconnect, has been selected as a finalist in the Portrait/Figure
category of The Artist's Magazine 27th Annual Art Competition. The top award winners have already been chosen and notified, but as a finalist your name will be featured in the December 2010 issue of the magazine.

Your accomplishment is one to be proud of. Congratulations and thank you for your participation.

Sincerely,
Maureen Bloomfield
Editor

....really, I haven't any more to add to this surreal moment other than to add:
BRING IT ON ART WORLD! (please insert wild maniacal laughter)

Get OUT!!

I'm so gobsmacked right now, I can hardly think of words to describe what's just happened...!

Let's set the scene for you.....

This am when I was FB chatting with my friend Don, he asked if I had picked up my work from the Sooke Jury Show.

"Wha'?" says I, "I thought they phoned to let you know if you're in." "Nosiree" Don replies. "You had to pick up/ find out on Sunday last!"

Now, Sooke is a 4 1/2 hr drive down Island for me like I may have mentioned, so just hopping in the van and whippin' round is not an option. What did we do?

We panicked, of course.

Got on the phone and called the Sooke Arts folk and - you guessed it - no one was there. Left panicky message and then bit nails and tried to figure out what/how to get paintings. Meanwhile, upstairs-flatmate says he needs van as truck is hooped and I've yet to do the town stuff. This is after he's been away the last week with van and left me with the hooped truck. This is how it usually goes, right?

Anywhataflapwe'reinway, we rush into town to see the Gallery guy and hit the Library and etc etc. Get back home after 2 hrs of that tweetie stuff and no messages.

Decide to call Sooke folk again.

This time a lovely lady answers and lets me know she isn't where the list is so will have to call later but does know 2 works were accepted and, yes, it's ok for someone else to pick them up as long as they have all the info.

Okey dokey.

I'm busy writing email to friend Don to see if he'll pick up for me when I get another call.

"Hi, Marla? It's Fiona from the Sooke show and I'd like to tell you that not only did "DISCONNECT" get in, but it won the DIANNE FARRIS JUROR's AWARD!"

So folks, on July 23rd, I'll be front and center at the SEAPARK Center in Sooke, B.C. receiving the $500.00 award for the Dianne Farris Juror's pick.

Yeah, right now being an Artist is the SWEETEST thing!

But best of all is Dianne Farris is one of the premier art divas out here on Van Island and this is where I've wanted to be for so long.

I'll just excuse myself to run around screaming happily for a bit.......

Inspiration

One of the bonuses of living in a remote area like I do is the fact that you can see stars at night. I sat on my little front patio last night and looked at the stars and listened to ....nothing. That's another sweet thing, the peace. Anyohrubitinway, it got me musing on Inspiration. I guess for most creative souls it just takes some, um, 'click' in our brain that turns on the tape, so to speak. For me it's purely visual, as witness the old photos I'm currently wrapped up in. But there's always the problem of being influenced by what the world expects from you or thinks of as 'pretty' and, opposite of that, as 'edgy'; especially in this art world full of pretentious bullshit.

Yep, I said that.

I pick up old issues of 'Canada Art' at the Library when they throw them on the discard pile and then browse through them being alternately gobsmacked and depressed. I don't think I'm weird enough. ( really? ) Also I was listening, as I was painting 'Lush', to a talking book 'Genius' by Jesse Kellerman that was the story of an NY art gallery owner and his discovery of a new unknown talent; (great story by the way!) and true to the myth, this fellow's artists were ALL weird in some way. I kept thinking of how to get stranger than I am so to garner Art Galley attention.

..............sheesh...................

Ok, we've veered into the ozone and need to get back to topic.

The thing about inspiration is that we all get it. I don't care if you're artistic or not, you are inspired by all around you. If you're a gardener, you see other gardens or the plethora of magazines out there that make you want the 'look' too or if you cook- same thing. Heck-o-roonies, you can put it to anything. Clothing, feelings, people, fitness, LIFE!

Kinda cool, that.

Think about your inspirations. And may it make you so.

Pic is: 'Starry Night' by Van Gogh and if you don't know this one, I am really gobsmacked!

LUSH

ALL DONE! Yay! And I gots ta say I'm pretty chuffed with the way the whole new background technique worked out. However I am not really sure if it saved time or not because I kept going back and reconfiguring it but still!

The Info: LUSH

30 X 36

Acrylic, Handmade paper with ink jet printed image, Indigo Pencilcrayon

Yeah.

Now I'm thinking about doing a really large painting re-visiting an old image I used of Mom. Need to go out and photo some kick-ass gardens for the background........Sue? Butchart?

I also need to do my damn housework......