Funny Face

Although it is difficult to maintain a certain degree of positivity when one is experiencing difficult times, I never have any trouble when my doggie is keeping me company. When I'm reading, she's at my feet, her little paws curled around my toes. She follows me when I walk around my apartment, to my room, to the kitchen, to the living room, always curious: what is she doing now. Even though I come home after the longest, most tediously agravating day I've ever experienced, she always does a special happy "dance" to welcome me home (which usually consists of tail wagging, jumping up and down from the couch, and smiley face panting). Her ears are so soft and her still-young puppy coat smells so fresh. Whenever she wants to play, she'll toss her ball at my feet and stare at me with happy eyes beckoning me to throw it for her.
Awww... how can I refuse?
I came to the conclusion that I was meant to find her.
I remember when I first saw her, she was a scrawny little black tuft of fur but she made direct eye contact with me and licked my chin the first time I held her. She trusts me to take care of her and keep her safe. She respects my space (most of the time--she's only 18 months), and I respect hers. When she lies on the floor, her two back legs shoot out behind her; she's part frog, it seems. Oh, and part otter and part ferret. I call her Funny Face, or my Big Funny because she's always full of energy and life, ready to play at ANY time of the day. (Midnight, three o'clock in the morning or in the afternoon-- it doesn't matter to her. Fun is fun is fun.)

Animals are so intuitive. I'm amazed by her brilliance everyday. Even though this past year and a half has been difficult and tiring, I come home to her every night. She puts a smile on my face and, I hope, I put a smile on hers... well, her tongue sticks out and it LOOKS like a smile.

Spark!

Colour Mania!

I found this video on YouTube and I think the techniques are really cool. I think I'll give it a try. The colours are beyond vibrant but the mix of spray paint, markers and what I think is acrylic paint is what makes the paintings pop. The painter's name is Jelene and the YouTube member is called cheeryohs, FIY.

The final product reminds me of Beetlejuice, a crazy but imaginative cartoon. I've always enjoyed the colours and off-beat atmosphere of that show. These paintings have that same weirdness but in really intriguing way.

Crafty Idea No.1: Personalized Notebooks, Journals and Memory Books

Five or six years ago, I found an old box of pictures from the 60s and 70s. They were of my parents, my grandfather, aunts and uncles back in the day when they were young and full of mischief. The photographs themselves were square, kinda cool in a retro way. Also, it was neat to see my parents in their twenties and thirties... the clothes, the hair, the sideburns... jeepers! I decided to use them in my journal but I didn't want to ruin the only copies we had, so I went to Staples and had them colour photocopied. The colour and atmosphere of the photographs turned out incredible and didn't even look like a copy at all. I even found some REALLY old photographs from the late nineteenth century and early twentieth of my relatives. Some were from the old country in Europe and several of them were taken in Canada. Again, I just photocopied them, still using the colour copier even though they were black and white because the image comes out really crisp. These photographs added so much charm and history to my journals that I started to brainstorm and rummage around in my shelves for something else to personalize my notebooks. I soon began to do colour copies of Waterhouse, Dali, and other paintings. They made beautiful covers and, to finish it off, I had them laminated. I did colour copies of my favourite novels, the covers of cd jackets, illustrations of favourite childhood storybooks, comic books I used to read when I was in grade school. Of course, if you were to do the same, your image library would be entirely different. Search through old photo albums and see what you find. You might come across a picture of your father in a pastel coloured polyester suit, which may be traumatizing, but that's the fun of it. Dig deep enough and the most interesting things can rise to the surface. You could use photographs of your own work to the pages of your journal and layer it with even more colour and imagery.

Check it out: Making Memory Books and Journals by Hand , Thunder Bay Press. It is full of inspiring ideas and cool techniques. One of the artists uses old corks from whine bottles to make modern stamps with plain black ink. Very cool.

Speaking of imagery and colour, a long while ago I came across a newspaper article about a collaboration between Salvador Dali and Walt Disney. This seemed like an odd pair but full of possibility. Who knew? Anyhoo, it's actually quite beautiful and, in true Dali style, very bizarre but I wouldn't have it any other way. Check out the video, Destino. It's quite the artistic project.

It's All Coming Back to Me Now

When I finished grad school, I felt empty. There was simply nothing left of myself to give. I had poured my brain into my degree and could not and did not feel creative in the least. I am finally starting to come around. I am writing again, something that used to be so easy. I am painting and mucking around with paper and colour again. It took forever for me to start reading without thinking I had to contextualize everything for a research paper. For once, in a long long time, I was reading something for my own pleasure. Even though it's slow, I am sitting in front of the computer and writing something for myself instead of yet another research paper or seminar proposal. I owe a thank you to Suzi Blu whose videos and blog inspired me to throw myself back into the creative ring without so much self doubt. This music video, "I Love Myself Today" just kicks ass and sometimes we all need a little extra confidence on our Off-Days.

Dido and Julie Delpy

Every time I hear this song, I pause. There is something about it.

WANTED: Creative Career

Well, I am eating a yummy smoothie right now. It's full of raspberries, blueberries and pom juice, one banana and some ice. Highly addictive. I suggest you give it a whirl.



Now, if you find yourself walking through your local bookstore with only a vague idea of what you are looking for, allow me to make a few suggestions. These are some novels I found particularly interesting, and I thought that you might feel the same way too.



The Night Ferry by Robotham

This is a mystery novel set in London and Amsterdam. The writer is quite clever, a male writing from the perspective of a very quick witted Sikh female police detective. His story is very grand, and explores many twenty first issues we've all heard about on various news programs such as prostitution and human trafficking. His writing is comedic yet dark, effective yet vague. A linguistic chameleon, so to speak.



The Way of the Whore by Tamara Faith Berger

A novel unlike any other. I can't even describe it. The main character Mira is disturbing, intelligent, beautiful, and scary. It unleashes a literary discussion of various women's sexuality issues in a way that no other author would even dream of attempting. Gritty, uncomfortable, and outright paranoid but extremely relevant for any woman, regardless.



In the Cut by S. Moore

Do not be turned off of this novel because Meg Ryan played the main character in the film. It is very well written, socially observant, and daring. Yes, I agree that she was not the right choice for the part but the role can be seen in two very interesting lights: the film version and the novel. Each have a different yet bold ending.



What I am reading now: The Night Watch

Critics have called it Harry Potter, Russian Style, but I am finding the translation difficult to follow. The sentences are a little choppy and I have a feeling that it would sound better in its
original Russian, a language I would love to learn if I had the additional time. However, the concept is very fun and creative. I feel as though I have travelled to Russia every time I finish a chapter. I am only a few chapters in, and it took some time to get into the text's rhythm, but it has potential.



Anyhoo, on a completely random note, I am beginning to discover that it is very difficult to find a creative career (or any job for that matter). I have often toyed with parlaying my artistic tendencies into a career, a business of my very own. It really is about time. The Nike phrase, JUST DO IT comes to mind. It is only a matter of pooling my resources but I think it is entirely doable.

Simple Summer Pleasures

1. Popsicles of any flavour
2. Watching re-runs of Golden Girls on You Tube. (You'll laugh your head off!!) Thank you to a member called GoingGolden who posted a million episodes.
3. Reading murder mysteries on Sunday afternoons.
4. Journaling and painting. (Although these can bring pleasure any time of the year.)
5. Going for a jog in the sweltering heat and then having a cold glass of water.
6. Crafting and playing with colours.
7. Walking my doggie.
8. Writing on the balcony.
9. Having pasta salad because it's too hot to use the stove.
10. Having a nap.

Go for a run

The best feeling in the world: meditation via running. All you need is a comfortable pair of runners and some music. Get into the zone. The zone I'm talking about is not a "diet" fad but an honest to goodness ZONE of awareness. It is a great time to get some thinking done, a great time to work out your problems without feeling overwhelmed. Not only that, you feel like you can breathe that much deeper once you've completed your run.

Calling all writers and artists!

What do you do for inspiration? Do you wait until it comes to you magically or do you slap something down on paper for the fun of it? I have a horrible habit of editing everything I do, something I can't untrain myself to do... university drilled it into my brain. I need to learn to let go of the artistic process and just create something that makes me happy.