Yuletide Time!

It's that time of year again!  The time when I revisit all the things I loved as a child and all the movies I have watched season after season.  With that, here's one of the best excerpts from A Claymation Christmas.  "Angels We Have Heard on High" with ice skating walrus'.  

Post Scrpt

Of course, I'll be waiting for the day when we learn to paint these in class!

http://www.lostateminor.com/2013/01/10/traditional-chinese-brush-painting-of-aliens/

Art Endeavors

I have always enjoyed making art in all it's different mediums.  So when I moved to the city I naturally thought, this is my opportunity to take classes and learn things I wouldn't have otherwise.  Of course, I decided to take a class in, possibly, one of the hardest art forms to conquer: Chinese brush painting.  

Me trying to figure out how to paint grapes properly.

Why is this technique so hard, you might ask?   Well, as watercolorists know, unlike oil or acrylic painting, you can't paint over your mistakes.   Unlike western watercolor, Chinese brush painting is rather strict on how you paint.  For example, the first item I learned to paint was the grape.  A grape is supposed to take only two brush strokes and the brush must be held vertically in order to achieve the right effect with the water and the paint.

See the mohawk on the bird?  Yeah, that's not supposed to happen.

To make things even more difficult for a westerner, the chances that you haven't learned Chinese calligraphy are pretty high.  This means that you haven't learned to control the water in the brush and that leads to a lot of spreading.  

And this is the class I've chosen to take, for three quarters.  So far.  But Master Yang, my teacher, says I'm doing well.  I'll have to take his word for it.  And it never seems to get easier.  

My grapes came out eventually

Last quarter, we students put up three pieces, that had been passed by Master Yang, in an oil and vinegar shop near Pike's Place.  They stay up for two months and come down December 2nd.  

Those are my peaches in the middle

While it's pretty neat to have your own "artwork" on display somewhere, I still cringe when I look at it next to everyone else's.  

See how better my bird looks without the mohawk? 

But as Master Yang says, who must be in his 80's and has been painting for over 70 years, we shouldn't expect to be as good as he is right now.  After all, you must learn to crawl before you walk.  

Good thing cats are cute no matter how many mistakes you make.  

I will leave you with our latest, and my favorite, subject.  Kitties!  Or in Chinese, mao.  

With a Little Madness from my Friends

I have a friend up here who is, it being Seattle, a musician.  I think he's pretty fantastic, and you should too!  I will shamelessly plug him now.  Please take a couple minutes to listen and like his song: You Drive Me to Madness - Belgian Fog
And/Or read a brief blog about him here:  Ladywood

You Drive Me to Madness - Belgian Fog

Once More, with Feeling

Well, here I am again.  Another attempt at trying to make this blog thing a regular activity.  In my defense, things have been a little nutty here the last couple of months.  I'm finally at full time hours with my job.  Around the same time I started working my 40-hour weeks, my sister moved to Illinois and, as a result, I moved to another apartment.  To make matters worse, I have had the worst luck with the internet.  I've been in the new apartment for roughly six weeks and this is the first time I've had steady internet.  It has been a trying journey with Comcast.

So this is just a quick post to say "hello" and a warning that there should be more to come.  And in case you've forgotten, I always like to add a little pic to spice things up.  So here's my cat, which I've never shared a picture of on here (shame on me).  She was tired of me taking pictures of her and grabbed my hands.

The Art of Packaging

So the post on further nerdom that I promised a few weeks ago is just not coming together for me.  I'll still keep in ruminating in my drafts, but move on to other things in the meantime.

For instance, one of my first posts on this blog was basically showing off some marvelous packaging that some tea I bought came in.  I'm sure I mentioned in that post how much I appreciate something that is packaged with care.  Well!, yesterday I received a belated birthday gift that just made me feel like a classy lady from the 20's.  I can't even tell you how excited I was about this.

Obviously, there's a pair of nylons inside.  But the fact that it came in a box, alone made me feel like I was in an episode of "Jeeves and Wooster".

And they're wrapped in tissue?!  Be still my beating heart.

And there they are, nylons.  Maybe not silk, like they would've been back in the day, but a girl can pretend.  

And in case I needed to be transported any further into the 20's, look at the design on them.  Fan-TAB-ulous!  

And in case you wanted to get a pair of these beauties for yourself: https://www.etsy.com/shop/galstern

The Iron Lady

Because there is no glory greater then to be a Ruler of the Realm!  And my glory must be shared.

I win.

Persephone

It's still National Poetry Month people!  So here's another one for you.  Hope you can read it.

Background is by *artorifreedom 

A Song for a Little Bird

In further celebration of National Poetry Month, I present you with a poem.  Or a song.  But I first knew it as a poem.  Anyway, here you go:

A Quick Note

I was, for a brief period of time, fairly regular at updating my blog.  I believe this period lasted about two weeks.  In an attempt to get back into gear, I am throwing this little Hello! out into the ether while I compose my next entry - a further examination of nerdom.  With that, I will wish you Happy National Poetry Month and here's a picture of my favorite poem to leave you with.

A Lady Beheaded

Today is my last day as a lady of leisure.
Having become unemployed on Oct. 26th and now starting back up in the work force after over three months, I find myself reflecting on the time spent (or wasted, see previous blog) and what the future holds.   Well, it's more that I sit wishing and hoping that work will not take over my life and will leave me time for a fraction of the leisurely activities that I have enjoyed the past few months.
There is another thought that dogs me.  Work, as I have known it, is something that must be done out of necessity.  If it is more stressful work, it consumes time and energy, leaving little energy for life's pleasures.  But, what about the possibility of getting pleasure out of your work?  It seems like such a foreign concept, to build a career out of a passion, especially when, like me, your passions are mostly artistic.  It has been almost four years since I graduated college.  When I was in school, surrounded by people who were determined to move to LA and make it work for them in the film industry, I felt inspired to work in film and maybe even theatre.  I was determined that I would become a producer and make films that were artistically old-fashioned.  I think that sort of mania is catching.  I made the decision not to move to LA when I graduated and spent the last three years working in a doctor's office.  The further removed I am from those school chums, the less appealing working in the industry is to me.  The reason for this is, of course, a story for another day.
Needless to say, I see myself approaching 30 and floundering for an idea of what it is I want to do with my life.  Landing a parttime job in a retail store at the age of almost 29 has brought this all home for me, aka I feel like a failure!  And I just needed someone to share it with.  So, thank you faceless internet, for listening to me moan for a bit.
And don't worry about me.  Things are looking up.  After all, series 3 of Luther just wrapped, and series 3 of Sherlock will begin filming soon.  As long as the BBC is around, life really can't be that bad.


Post-script:  After nearly three weeks at the job, I would like to say that I feel much better about myself.  There are other women who work there who are around my age.  In fact, there are some women who are in or around their 40's.  I appreciate this fact beyond words.
That is all.

Time Spent Watching

So much to watch, so little time.

I've been rather remiss in my blog duties lately.  I'd like to say it's because I'm crazy busy and just don't have time, but that's not really the case.  Not at all, actually.
It's hard to come up with things to write about, mainly because I'm not doing much.  I recently moved and am not yet employed.  I'd like to say I spend my time honing different skills like painting or drawing, crocheting or sewing, but let's be honest...I spend way too much time on the internet for that!
Being jobless and mainly friendless in this new city, I have rediscovered the art of watching things.  Ages ago, when I was on my own and going to school to study film, I had so much time to watch things.  It seemed like my nights and weekends, when not socializing, were filled with an endless parade of foreign films and classic movies, of BBC shows and anime series'.   And then I got one of those 9 to 5s and a boyfriend to boot.  My watching repertoire was reduced to new movies, mainly of a SciFi type or something starring Daniel Day Lewis.   I think we might have watched one foreign film in three years, but usually he was too tired to read the subtitles.
So it appears that I've decided to spend my free time (that isn't being spent looking for a job) making up for lost time.  At least, while I sit and rewatch Twin Peaks, I can finish crocheting that scarf that was supposed to be a Christmas present two months ago.  Or while I finally watch that Kurosawa film I've been meaning to see for years, I can think "I should try drawing some of these characters" and never actually get around to it.