champion central

Some nice, hand-painted signs on a building in my town... I pass by them whenever I go to a certain coffee-dispensary.

This one says "central auto service" but I liked the "champion central" crop more:

On the same building:

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yesterday night in life

Last night I forgot to bring charcoal to Life Drawing. It's what I'm most comfortable with. Argh... But a little discomfort never hurt anybody...

I like these two 1-minute gestures. I think they are the loosest I've been in a long time... maybe ever. The cat agrees.

And the lady on the right there was done with an itty-bitty piece of charcoal I found in my pencil case. I liked her enough to put her on The Shelf today.

(The print in this picture says "A Farm on the Frontier". It fell out of a used sewing book I bought awhile ago. I'm thinking of painting something on it but haven't decided what just yet...)

night glitters

I have no idea why I stuck this piece of raggedy-ass paper-scrap to my window a few weeks ago. I suppose I was overcome by a fit of artsy-ness. It's not the kind of visual clutter I generally allow and yet it remains.

Anyway, the combination of snow and light the other night made it perfectly glittery in my little office and it was a bit magical and I liked it so I took pictures but the pictures don't do it justice but I think they do "something"...

for the love of fat

Here are some things we cooked and ate this weekend... building up fat stores to survive the rest of the winter:

Slow-roasted pork shoulder and a little rib roast right out of the oven.

The secret ingredient was supposed to be root beer but I used Dr. Pepper instead because Husband loves Dr. P. (I hate to drink it but it is nice in recipes... I've also made Dr. Pepper cupcakes and they were super-good!)

And here it is ripped to shreds, converted into a big pan of Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork to feed five big, hungry adults:

And Husband decided to try his hand at donuts. Turns out he has good hands for baking. Lucky me!

In other news, I got these shit-kickers for ONE DOLLAR at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store. They fit perfectly but the leather is pretty dried out.

and it's gonna be a good laundry day...

I thought this freshly laundered slip looked nice with the sun coming through it on a crisp, cold, winter's day.

The title of this post is a take off on the Sadies' song "Good Flying Day"... which you can hear here IF you can stand watching someone's parasailing home video on Youtube. It was the only link I could find for the song but it sure is a lovely tune.

Speaking of The Sadies, I saw them this weekend and they were awesome (as usual)(...imagine being so cool that your normal, resting state is quantifiably "awesome"?).

The stage of the theater they played was set for "To Kill a Mockingbird". There were four rickety, old porches and a gnarly old tree. It was kinda perfect.

catastrophic chain of events

Look at these darlings, Pink and Pearl. Cute no?

They've been at odds all day and are driving me up the wall.

Pearl (the one in the back of the bottommost pic), is making a creepy, low, growling noise every time Pink comes near her. Normally they're friends and they cuddle and spread cuteness and joy (and hairballs) all over the house.

But not today.

It all started last night in a bizarre episode that lasted only about 15 seconds.

I went into the bedroom where Husband has a desk. I leaned on the back of his chair to chat but then he pushed his chair out and ran over some of my toes. I roared, pushed the chair off my toes, and fell backward on the bed into a fetal position, grasping my foot.

No sooner did I land then something strikes the back of my head from above - really hard. My first thought was that somehow the commotion had caused the light fixture to fall off the ceiling but I rolled over and saw Pink rearing up and hissing. I got my arm up in time for his second swipe (better an arm than my face). I guess he must have been sleeping on the bed before I landed there. I think the very sudden action around him excited his "flight or fight" instincts and he opted to fight.

Meanwhile Pearl had come into the room to investigate and after the second swipe at me Pink turned his attention to the newcomer - someone more his size. So they literally had a "cat fight" while Husband chased them around the apartment trying to separate them.

I'm still on the bed and the shock of receiving three minor but TOTALLY unexpected injuries in the space of maybe 5-10 seconds has caused me to burst into tears... however, I'm also processing the craziness of the events and that is causing me to laugh hysterically at the same time.

So about 15 seconds into all this I'm having the strangest, most spontaneous, intense laughing/crying jag I've ever had... It was like going from 0 to 100 in 10 seconds... and THEN I feel warm liquid dripping on me and realize I must be bleeding pretty good.

Sure enough my arm was spurting blood.

Then I felt my head... I had NO IDEA how strong a medium-sized house cat was. They are strong! He seriously punched me in the head and I got a huge bump, blood, and a headache to prove it!

By this point the initial toe injury seems insignificant but when I finally catch enough breath to go to the bathroom to clean up I realize that walking is tricky.

Anyway, I'm fine now but the normally affectionate cats are still upset with each other more than 12 hours later - all because of 15 seconds of chaos.

What a clustercuss.

Must remember to cut the cats' nails.

this and thattle

I had a surprise visit from one of my sisters and her friend the other day. Went out for lunch at a great, little vegetarian place here in Guelph called The Cornerstone. My meal was delicious - the only thing missing was meat. hahaha...

Anyway, the restaurant is right beside an antique store so I had to peek in at Dis-a-Ray's. The owner, Ray, always cracks me up when I go there.

I purchased these two hand-painted signs. I forgot to ask where they came from but I have a guess (an old department store further down the street?). There were two others but I only wanted these two to make a headboard-thing for my bed.

See below:

(It's a bit of an inside joke... I sleep on the left, always cold and covered with many blankets. Freakishly-Furnacelike-Husband sleeps on the right below an open window with only a sheet and a pillow. There, now it's an "outside joke"... not a very funny one... but I need you to know my quirks have their own interior logic.)

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Life-drawing has started back up. I got pretty rusty over the holidays and didn't end up with any drawings I'm particularly proud of.. but here are the highlights anyways...

These are both from the long pose at the end. I didn't have the attention span (or any nice paper) for the pose so I just flitted around and did a bunch of shorter drawings. These two almost fit together.

I think the next one was 10 minutes... that's a pretty long time to not get to her head and arm drawn - shows how slow I am at drawing! But anyway, I thought there was some nice stuff happening in the inner thigh area. hahaha. That sounds suggestive but I'm serious.

This one was also 10 minutes and done in pencil for a change of pace.

I was happy with the outline and I think I actually got her to recede from the heels to the head... I'm generally not very good at that but I think I'm getting better.

Aesthetically, I kind of like how she slips into the fold of the paper at the top but I wish I hadn't run out of room (and time) to draw her hands. They looked interesting.

caged bird

This is the cover of an old book - I liked the embossed image.

All the volunteers at the thrift store I got it from are old Dutch people (except for one young Scottish anomaly) so when I bought it the older woman at the cash told me that Gekooide Vogels means "caged birds". Also, it was apparently written by a prison minister. The author's last name was Coolsma. What a cool name eh?

I think I might paint around the edges at some point...

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Below is an update photo of the avocado I'm trying to grow. In the daytime it sticks it leaves straight out (left) and just before sundown it curls it's leaves under (right).

(As a reminder, this is where it started from a few months ago... I only kept the taller of the two going.)

snowcapped

some snow pictures from around here today:

wave

wood

drain

patio furniture

this last one is just something i noticed today that i never noticed before.

i went into my bedroom around 4:30 and there were two curtain shapes. the shadow of the object is on the wall, right beside the actual object. this is due to a large mirror on the other side of the room and the angle of the reflection being just so...

it tickled my fancy i guess...

parka lovers united

I'm in serious-procrastination-mode so I went a'thriftin to "preward" (like an award you give yourself before you actually DO anything (I might have just made that word up - I'll have to check later (yay! more procrastination!)))* myself for all the hard work I'm going to do later today...

I have a weakness...

Anyway, on the drive there I went past a bus stop where I spotted this cuteness and I had to quickly commit it to paper as soon as I got home (as in, instead of getting down to work y'know).

I don't think they were kissing because their heads weren't close enough. I think they were just smooshing their furs together (get your mind out of the gutter) to stay warm, having a little tete-a-tete.

People are so hard on hipsters but I think they are adorable and I'm pretty sure I'd be one if I was younger and could wear leggings-as-pants without looking vulgar...

I'm rambling...

***interruption - phone call***

Oh geez - I just got another job. Now I REALLY REALLY have to get to work! Waves of regret for today's procrastination are flooding over me suddenly.

(Thank goodness I already prewarded myself with some excellent thrifts!)

Water level rising... most focus...

Adieu!

*Yes. That was a triple-bracket for those of you keeping score at home!

** Late edit: I DID NOT just make up that word. The urban dictionary has an entry from 2008. I'm just 2 years out of fashion is all... typical...

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on the horn with london

Totally out of the blue this morning an old friend skyped me from jolly ol' England - where she now resides. I was a little nervous when she first texted that she was going to call. We haven't talked in about 12(?) years, wouldn't it be horribly awkward?

But I was reassured from her very first giggle that it would be cool. Despite the "trans-atlantic" (as she calls it) accent she's developed she still laughs the same: a lot, infectiously, at the same stupid things I say, etc. We talked for an hour and it was really great. Our lives have progressed in alarmingly similar ways even though our careers and continents are so different.

She still inspires and challenges me. I'm still a little in awe of her - as I always was.

She felt bad that she was keeping me from work so I'm posting this doodle I did while we talked so she knows my hands were still busy.

This is a little boxer by the legendary "Stoney" from a Taschen book I have. I'll probably finish him on better paper, in ink, later on but for now I really DO have to get to work...

Keep Dancing!

FUN FINDS from the thrift store today:

- a framed movie poster of Singing in the Rain. I was attracted to this because it's a classic movie I enjoy, bonus the nice poster frame (glass) in great condition, then I noticed that it was autographed by Debbie Reynolds... all for a $7 price tag! I was sold.

I love that she signed it "Keep Dancing". Sage advice.

(I found a bunch of images of her autograph online and I'm pretty sure it's real... not that I think it's worth money or anything... I just think it's neat - especially since, if you know the history of this movie, Reynolds initially had some trouble with the dancing.)

- also a nice teapot... because after singing in the rain you'll need a spot of throat-soothing tea.

I liked the shape and colour, it has a stamp on the bottom I can't make out but I think it's old... but the thing that got me was the weird hole in the spout. I thought it might be for stopping that annoying tea-pot-drip-problem. 5 bucks was not a big enough barrier to keep me away from a possible dripless-teapot. I had to bring it home!

Verdict, if you pour slow at the end, no drip!

play-time

Today when I should have been working on sketches, I played with an old calligraphy set instead. I like to call it "skill-building" as opposed to "time-wasting".

I never did much calligraphy as a youngin' and haven't done any at all for about a decade but for whatever reason I've always had the tools around... time to learn how to use them!

The quote is from a drawing/animation book I've been reading by this old Disney animator called Walt Stanchfield.

Also today, I went downstairs to throw some junk away and came back upstairs with some other, different junk. I'm not sure what I'll do with these yet (maybe something on the backs?) but I'll just horse around and see what happens...

The reader (namely my husband) will be pleased to know that there was other tempting junk but I resisted taking the whole pile. Those plaqued family portraits from the 60s did beckon but I kept my wits about me!

Lastly, a reminder to myself that no handmade lines are ever perfect and also to remember/share how freakin' cool Margaret Kilgallen was, a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04ejN8ZlX4U