A new home!

Initially I was going to move this journal over to my new home, Flying Whale, but then thought, "why not start fresh?"  so, that's what I did.  i have a brand new blog and i'm ready to fill it with brand new thoughts, ideas, musing, and la dee da bits.  I would love for you to stop by and say hello.  it's a little breezy over there right now since it is new but i just had a fabulous art journey to Prince Edward Island which is going to make for a delicious post!

Thank you to everyone who followed and read Loop.dee.loo.  I wanted to be more concise with all of my online pieces and places and needed by blog to be an extension of my shop and facebook fanpage.  I do hope that you will continue to follow and read me in my new location.  I am working on contests and fun ideas and am excited for the freshness!

Come join me over at Flying Whale!

freshening up

Topiary - 4x4 mixed media on wood panel

I've been busy doing clean ups and updates in my shop (removing all the older work to make way for new pieces!), and on my facebook page for Flying Whale. Not to mention painting, i've been madly and gloriously painting! The next step is in the works, a new blog.

Loop.Dee.Loo will soon be no longer, it's time to move to something that flows more with Flying Whale (I started this blog thinking i needed a separate outlet and wanted a cute name). I've been reading Kelly Rae Robert's amazing e-book, 'Flying Lessons', and she stresses the importance of continuity when it comes to spreading your social wings online with your business. So, despite the fact that Flying Whale has already been taken as blog name (what the? has somebody else had the same recurring dream as me since childhood? how dare they fly a whale) I will be transferring everything over to a new blog home soon - sometimes you just have to get creative when someone else has your name ;) Just working on design and all that fun stuff! Time to work the blog world proper!

it's really spring!

in works

i'm working on changing the look of this here blog... again. a blog is important when making one's own way and i'm (hopefully) on the road to doing just that. *wink* *smiley face*

pop rocks & gin

New.

i'm working on a new project. it's almost ready to be released into the universe.

i really hold belief that this year will be a year of "new" for me. i will push myself to try new things, do new things. i've already started with this new project of mine and there are a few more "firsts" on my horizon (just put a deposit down on something i've always dreamed of doing, SUPER excited about that).

the other day i had a first in my house. i've lived here for about 5 years and have never had an incident on my crazy steep 1800's stairs. the other day, i did. carrying a fresh cup of tea up to my studio i stumbled and crashed down on, simultaneously, my shin, knee, and thigh. hot rooibos dripped from the walls and downward like a slinky along the steps. as one of my cats chased the river a stinging pain coursed up my leg and left me immobile. Damian was out at the time and all i could think was "am i going to have to sit here until he comes back? i have things to do dammit!" luckily sensation returned and i hobbled down towards the kitchen to refill my mug. i now have some artistic bruising in 3 spots on my leg, lovely colours i must say.

i have twice opened up to how i'm feeling to others (not like me, i tend to keep it all inside) and it has helped to lighten my metaphorical steps. lesson learned there, definitely.

newness and change opens creativity and this year i long for that more than ever. it's time, i've waited long enough. let's do this!

sensory imagination

A seashell sat beside me on the subway this evening. That is, a man who smelled of a seashell (an endearing scent on a shell but not so much on a human). He had a musty salted scent about him, like when you collect shells off a beach in a little plastic bag and seal it up until you get home. Upon re-opening it you are struck with a warm sea air mingled with plastic. the scent of an ocean home long ago abandoned by a little creature.

the seashell was picking his nose and reading my book over my shoulder. very un-seashell like if you ask me.

much like a little ocean creature, the seashell eventually relinquished his temporary home (the seat beside me). his exit made way for a summery clothes line of fresh linen with blonde hair. i enjoyed the remainder of my ride on an imaginary light breeze.

what say you, universe?

i wrecked that painting. i spent all afternoon and night working on it and then something happened, some beast took the reins and overworked it into a blotchy mess.

i guess it wasn't meant to look the way i intended it to. It didn't want to follow the path i was creating. I wonder what it's supposed to look like? We shall see, for I will attack it once again. Damian said "well i guess that's why pencils have erasers!" i liked that, it made me smile. in this case my eraser is a big bucket of gesso.

Do you ever have a visual in your head and then work that vision to death until it becomes something entirely different, like a muddled blob? My problem is that i think too much. i have to reprogram my head and stop doing that, i have to just go with it and let whatever voice from the universe that's trying to say something flow out and say it! Generally, as i've found out, the mess tends to recreate itself into something better. It's still hard to say goodbye to the pretty hidden under the pile of yuck but oh well, moving on.

First i think i'll have a cuppa and float under some bubbles, maybe flip through a magazine and get some inspiration for a new project i'll be playing with later. i'm so excited about it, it requires the use of Damian's workshop and safety goggles! Fun fun fun!!!

p.s. i just discovered a tangle of black paint in my hair. luckily it's in the ends because it might require scissors to remove it.

something about stillness

my sojourn into freedom is almost over. in a few hours i will have to go to bed in order to wake up at an hour which should be illegal to see (unless you're already awake and loving life as it approaches). It's been 2 weeks since i've had to wake up to 5:30am screaming an alarm of radio pop music at me, i'm not looking forward to doing it again.

this post is not (necessarily) a complaint, more of an observation.

yesterday as i sat cuddled into the corner of my couch with a fire burning and twinkling tree lights illuminating the room i realized just how much i love my house. i adore being home, i love the history my house holds (it's over 140 years old), i love the comfort of it's walls. I also realized how in these two weeks of unregimented time i was able to think again, come up with new ideas. My head was not the property of someone else's schedule, it was mine, all mine.

The ideas were flooding in at a feverish pace, i was getting excited to implement them. Now is the year (as everyone no doubt is saying) to change it all around. I can't spend another one as i did the last, full of monotony, commuting, and blah... for lack of a better word. I need some real LIFE this one around, life i can enjoy and be excited about. not that sitting behind a desk pushing papers and scheduling other people's meetings isn't full of adventure (i can't tell you how many times i had to climb glaciers to get a bag of chips to a meeting or outrun a bounty hunter when i didn't get my cab invoice in on time, phew). sarcasm at it's best baby.

Join me in the positivity, this is it! if 2012 really is the end of life as we know it then all we have is 1 year. Let's live it magical, colourful, wondrous, sexy, exuberant, daring, alive! Lets make 2011 our bitch!

au revoir '10

My last masterpieces for the year, i'm pretty impressed with myself. both are highly original and painted-by-numbers. Santa left them for me in my stocking. that one on the left there, belongs in the Louvre i'd say.

This year is almost over and i'm looking forward to new things, hopeful for freshness, adventures, chances, change, and perhaps more regular blog updates.

so goodnight 2010, i'm off to open a rather sexy bottle of champagne and watch you turn into 11.

the Ma wisdom

Today Damian & i had his mother over for lunch. She wanted to see my studio and what i was currently working on. I brought her up our treacherous 1865 staircase and into my paint splattered haven, she shifted left to right right, up to down with her eyes. Within those glances she had decided something, upon inviting reds and blues, and worn out papers into her minds eye she turned and said to me "quit your job and do this!"

we should always listen to our mother right? so should we not also always listen to our mothers-in-law? a mother is a mother and they always know best.

it was another boost to my dream within a span of 2 weeks. the first boost being that the piece i painted for auction at work ended up (after a starting bid of $30) going for $440!

bring it!

p.s. photo above is available as prints in my shop!

delinquent

i didn't want or mean to be away from my blog for this long. sigh. there's been a major change/shift in my day job, the 9-5 that pays my bills. this shift has resulted in less "me time", resulted in no lunch breaks and a tired worn out moi at the end of the day. this worn out me has lost her motivation and energy, she has lost her inspiration. all she wants to do by the time she gets home is tumble into the bunched up sheets on her bed.

luckily last weekend this "she" got sick. odd? yes, odd. Friday last week saw a sore throat develop. By Saturday the sore throat had invited a runny nose on board and together they began to collect humiliating thoughts of tampons in each nostril to quell the drip. Dayquil and whisky were taken to minimize, nay, mask the symptoms.

However, i had a stupendously productive day in my studio that Saturday (thank you Jack Daniel's). Two paintings were completed, one for auction (pictured above) and one for sale at a later date in my shop. From now on i will lick subway hangy-on poles and socialize with small virus infested children (paddy cake paddy cake bakers man, bake me a flu as fast as you can). who needs inspiration when you can get sick? apparently i work best under this sort of infected pressure.

building

current work in progress. i've been asked to donate a painting to a charitable cause, this might be the beginning of that piece, we'll see. i'll keep building and see what happens.

be. simply. wonder... always.

i do believe my house is being haunted by a woman of days ago. a woman who adorned herself in the springtime air of lilac. my house is 145 years old and i wouldn't go lower than 90 years in age when real estating in the future. i adore history, i love living where so many lives before me have built memories. the floor in my family room is the original from 1865 and as much as it needs to be replaced/fixed up, i love feeling it with my bare-feet. Imagine who has walked on it before me for so many years, the stories that are attached to those faded footprints. the passage of time in transparent unknowingness.

there is no reason for my upstairs washroom to be adrift in a floral scent yet i just walked in to wash glue off of my hands and was hit by a rather strong lilac smell. our shower products are scented with a more earthy smell, hints of cedar and sandalwood, so this new ingredient to the air was quite noticeable. i wonder who she is, or rather, was.

i love the idea of ghosts, as long as they aren't ticked off Amityville style spirits who want us out at no cost. I love paranormal everything, bring on the beyond baby!

I've felt abnormal breezes of cool air, seen shadow movement from the corner of my eye, watched my cats stare with intent at the top of the staircase, etc. life would be rather boring if i were to pass it off as a trick of the eye so i choose to believe otherwise.

i like mystery. please don't tell me how a magician does his "trick", it's magic dammit, that's it. no other explanation. life would be utterly dull to me if i knew how and why everything worked. i need to wonder, i need to be in awe of supernatural "things". I like to believe that when i walk through a forest trees hold their breath and faeries stop in tip toe stride so not to be found out. these things make me happy and curious. i will forever grab the reins tight and head on with the imaginative.

seven

i've been rewarded with the beautiful blogger award by the lovely Maria-Therese. it is my task, now, to reveal seven pieces of me and pass the award along to fellow bloggers to do the very same.

thank you so much for the award :)

the seven begin here:

1. my sister and i had a little business a few years ago, Sibling Rivalry. she made (fabulous) handbags and i made jewellery. we had an online shop (site no longer exists) as well as worked every saturday at the St. Lawrence Market downtown Toronto. we woke up early every weekend and set up our outdoor booth. we worked all summer right up until mid -to end- of November. it got pretty cold sitting out there with the wind whipping north off of the lake and straight onto our cheeks but it was still fun. we made friends with fellow vendors, had repeat customers who were absolutely fantastic and stayed around to chat and tell stories, spent a few bits of profit on the most delicious vegetarian egg-roles (located inside the market), and etcetera.

2. when i was ten years old i met Tom Cruise in Australia. i had the biggest crush on him and this moment was huge! i trembled and giggled in my gawky awkwardness, luckily a sweet man with a polaroid camera offered to take a photo for me....

....ok, this didn't really happen, Tom is a cutout but it IS in Australia and i DID have a major crush on him. i can't even tell you the number of times i watched Legend. believe this though, i'm over him and have been for many teenage and adult years. it's what happens when a dude does a movie about faeries & unicorns when you're in that impressionable stage.

3. i've been bitten by a rabbit and a dolphin. different years but exact same finger. i have the scars to prove it. docile creatures love the taste of my blood.

4. i wanted to be an actress. i took every drama class i possibly could in high-school and when i ran out i used my off time to sit in on another class and do their lighting. when i graduated i won the drama award (does that make me an award winning actress?). after school i studied at night with the Second City and finished my course with a performance where i had to sing an improvisation about doing the dishes in the style of opera.

5. i'm allergic to cats but have six of them. i already had two when i rescued a stray two years ago from the bitter January cold. that stray turned out to be pregnant. i'm sure you can take it from there. achoo.

6. i can pretty much guarantee that i will always make an ass of myself when meeting a celebrity. example of a past encounter; Colin Farrell. in an attempt to get his attention for my sister who was crushing on him at the time (and in town filming a movie) i (drunkenly) grabbed his shoulder as he was leaving a pub and questioned "what, are they kicking all the hot guys out?" i felt the sting of humiliation instantly, his little wink, grin, and comment of "oh stop" did very little to ease my blush. this was not the first time i said something i cringed at while meeting a "star".

7. apparently i'm a witch. i'm just waiting for my grandma to tell me more. i love this, i'm intrigued by this, i want this. she has told me stories of her own witchy dabblings and there are things in my life that lead me to believe she is not just being a cool eccentric grandma. when i was in high-school she gave me an actual pendant that was worn many centuries ago by a witch doctor. the hollowed out section was stuffed with herbs etc. and then used in rituals. sometimes i stare inside it and wonder at the past events it was a part of. 7 1/2. i love history and i love it even more when i can touch it.

And now to pass on the award. I tag thee:

Jessica

Kate

Mati

Michelle

Vivienne

within

'Within' - newest mixed media work in my shop. piece is on wood panel and measures 8" x 8"
i've been using a lot of bird imagery in my work lately. definitely symbolic of how i'm feeling. i'm also loving the look of soft, washed shades of blue with the boldness of reds or oranges. delicious!

dance the yawns

August Break #17

i hit a wall earlier this afternoon. all of a sudden i felt exhausted and could only imagine myself curling up for a nap. as i stood up straight and stretched out my neck i shook it off saying out loud to myself "you'll never get where you want to be by sleeping, wake up!" so, i put on a song and danced around my studio, conjuring energy.

for the past couple of weeks i've had a sliver of insomnia and the need to sleep seems to creep up on me when i can't shut my eyes or, when i'm relaxed, doing what i love to do. i won't have any of that. i refuse to be tired during "me time".

there's nothing quite like a solitary dance party to bring you back to life. i urge you to shake it, move wildly, sway back and forth, whip your body to the rhythm of tune. wake yourself up and spend time with you in a moment no one ever need be a part of. dance. fill a floor space with YOU!

save the pillows for later.

carnival

August Break #14, 15, 16

tuesdays drive

August Break #13

four long lines of metal creeping into the horizon, hoping to vanish home. dotting themselves with two fold cherry lights and sun bounced glass in a mask of illuminated pretty. the truth being that they were slowly (quicker than they new in actuality) killing the surface they drew lines on. the interiors of each metallic piece played music to drown by, music to flood out the monotony of days and the guilt of fumes expelled. silent swear words and arms thrown into the air declaring a state of anger towards the asphalts fellow patrons. it really is no one persons fault. these things happen, daily, we have to deal with it on a half inch of nerve. that half inch wears thin.

listen dammit

August Break #12

on my way into work this morning i was stopped by a sign, a random poster telling me what to do. i have no idea if it's a teaser ad or if it's guerrilla art or whatever but, i took it as a sign (no pun intended).

for the past few weeks my mind as been a flurry of constant thought, it's driving me crazy. i can't sleep because of it. i could be watching a movie on the couch when my eyes start to feel heavy and i whisk myself off to bed. once there, laying in the dark stillness, my once heavy eyes begin to widen and adjust to the shadows while my head starts pumping all sorts of randomness out. i'm exhausted.

so when i saw this today i stopped in my tracks, it made my laugh, it was perfect!