Please Stand By...

...we are experiencing technical difficulties.

Ed, my husband, in all his great wisdom this morning said, "It's like you're gay and in the closet. Except you're depressed and are afraid to tell anyone."

But how full of myself am I, that I'm not only a painter, but an artist, and a depressed one at that.

"I am very depressed and deeply disgusted with painting. It is really a continual torture." (Claude Monet)

The past few weeks have been exhausting on both myself and my family. I feel every bad thing in the whole world then nothing at all.

"I am in that temper that if I were under water I would scarcely kick to come to the top." (John Keats)

I slug around, moping and sleepy and can barely do a single thing in one day.

"Every act of life, from the morning toothbrush to the friend at dinner, became an effort. I hated the night when I couldn't sleep and I hated the day because it went toward night." (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

I struggle to express what's going on in my head only to mumble a bit and...

"To have gone to all this trouble to get to this is just too stupid! Outside there's brilliant sunshine but I don't feel up to looking at it..." (Claude Monet)

If I were to look at me from the outside, I'd kick myself in the arse and go shopping instead.

"What's the use? The people are too stupid. They do not understand." (Winslow Homer)

I am taking my life moment by moment. I do not know what I will eat for dinner tonight. I don't even know IF I will eat. I'm not even clear on what I'm doing now. I got up today and that's about the best I can offer you right now.

"Keep painting your demons." (Jack Beal)

I'm trying. 

All I ask of you, dear reader is to give me a moment to collect my thoughts and stick around a bit longer as I'm sure the medicine will kick in soon enough and I will be painting quicker than you can say...

Many thanks to http://quote.robertgenn.com/

If you would like to know more about dysthymic disorder or major depression, I've found this article to be helpful and comprehensive.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/290686-overview



Cupcake Heaven

I have the unpleasant task of creating an illustration for Tattoo Flash Magazine involving cupcakes. I am totally kidding. About the 'unpleasant' nature not the illustration. So I went to Google image search and up pops this:

Brilliance and deliciousness all rolled into a tasty hand-held package. These wonderful creations are done by Hello Naomi. She makes cakes, cupcakes and cookies and each one looks better than the next.

Peruse her site and partake of her sweet goodness :D

Rapture

I don't like to talk about politics or religion in conjunction with my little business here. I figure if people like my work or what I write about, I'll leave it at that.

But then Ed found this site this morning and I am dumbfounded. I have so many questions I can't write one down. So I'll leave you to peruse it yourself and come up with your own conclusions and questions, because my brain hurts. Enjoy.

Eternal Earth-Bound Pets in a post-Rapture World

Kick Ass Stitching

I was going to do a little entry about Ernst Haeckel and feature some pics of other artist's interpretations of him. Then I got to talking with Penny Nickels and well, this is just going to be about her!

I saw her work below on Flickr and just about shat myself. Not only is it of one of my favorite E. Haeckel pieces (Siphonophorae) but it's just so...impressively large!

What a long way we've come from the days of only having needlework patterns that involved eagles or kittens or winter snow scenes. Now we have brilliance such as this:

Penny Nickels -- work in progress, 200 hours in and barely halfway done (dear lord it's...amazing!)

A close up

What I loved most after chatting with Penny is that she was looking to challenge herself (and hopefully other artists will take a cue from her) by not doing the 'usual' needlework patterns.

"I just felt like, if we're going to stitch someone else's work, let's pick something that's beautiful and unusual." -- Penny

I agree, Penny, I totally agree! Keep on going - you're doing great!

Visit her blog that she writes alongside Johnny Murder -- Donkeywolf, their Etsy shop and enjoy!

Everything is Relative

This has been a very hard winter here in the northeastern US. In fact, it's been pretty hard for the entire US. Record rainfall in the west, snow in the south and blizzards up here. Two blizzards in one week, in fact. We're complaining and cold and tired of shoveling. Just went out today to buy a new shovel or maybe even something gas powered to help with the ol' back and there's patio furniture out! Ugh. Not one shovel in any store here.

So to help myself feel a bit better and not think to much about the snow piling up on our roof, I searched out some photos of Yuki-no-tani, or 'snow corridor' in japanese. The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route sees snowfall near the 20 meter mark and allows for snowplows to create these corridors which attract tourists the world over. I wouldn't mind seeing it in person some day myself.

The Doodlebug

I'm not big on taking on commissions involving people's pets, but only because I have no self-esteem when it comes to my work. I've got my set shape and pose and trying to capture someone's beloved pet is too much for me to handle.

Then along came The Doodlebug. Andrew Moore contacted me about doing a commission for his wife, Pamela, of their dog, Felicity. But she's not called Felicity, she's called The Doodlebug. She's even got her own blog, It's the Doodlebug!

After seeing this pic of her when she was a pup, I had to try and do something.

I hope I did justice to the Doodlebug as she seems like a lovely pup. Many thanks to Andrew and Pamela for believing in my work. Enjoy!

Funny

I have nothing inspiring for you today. I looked and if anything there's TOO much out there right now for my brain to choose just one thing to showcase today. And yet, I felt there was a need for me to show you something. This, my dear friends, is from Bubbledog on their Flickr page. Enjoy!

Beautiful Tea

Some wonderful friends of ours came over this weekend and brought some tea from Tea Forte. It was the most beautifully packaged item I've seen since Vosges chocolate. The tea bags themselves are little works of art and after looking at their site they also have wonderful accessories to complement that design. Their Cafe Cup was just one of those accessories.

Start your morning beautifully, enjoy!

New Amazing Lockets!

...by the wonderful Catherine Ivins of Polarity featuring some of my artwork!!! I posted about these adorable lockets a few months ago and after emailing Catherine she graciously decided to include me as one of her featured artists. The first set is 'Juicy' and you get three magnetic lids with your cute locket on a generous 30" chain. She has loads of other wonderful images and you can even mix and match your lids with other artists. So go take a look and watch out for more wonderful things in the near future :D

I am Bacon. Hear Me Roar.

My love of food is no secret. All my memories involve food in one way or another and everything that I want to do now involves food as well. It's all around me and in me and I paint it and I love it!

So finding the blog foodzie was just the thing to spur me into creating this post instead of going back to my nap. Trouble is it's only 4 pm and I don't have any of these great items in my house. I shall simply drool over the photos and dream of maple and bacon and crispy, salty, sweet snacks like this Bacon Peanut Brittle:

I mean, Esquire and the New York Times gave this great reviews. What more do you want? Go buy some. And then come back so we can talk about it ;-)