Happy Clouds

Artist Stuart Semple set some "Happy Clouds" afloat over London this weekend in collaboration with the Tate Modern museum. Made out of some kind of soap mixed with helium, these pink-y happy faces can be seen floating around in video on Stuart's site, and please stick around to check out his other artworks. You can also catch an interview of him on Telegraph.


Stuart says, "I've had enough of the doom and gloom in the air and I wanted to show something completely positive floating up to the sky. This was the most straight forward way I could think of to literally contribute something happy to the atmosphere. I'm hoping it might put a smile on a few people's faces as they go through their day." Mr. Semple, I believe you have!

And for anyone who's thinking they'd like to get some fluffy soap bubble shapes flying around their neck of the woods, see how they do it at Flogos. (Thanks to buzzfeed reader Meghan for the link).

Weekend works

This past weekend I was unusually productive with my artwork, even in the midst of fighting a cold, doing early spring cleaning, getting back on the yoga wagon, etc. It felt really good to get so much done! See messy work area above....Here's a peek at what I accomplished....I need to scan these or take better pictures though, I'm not happy with the lack of detail on these pics.


This is a test for the patterns I'll be making on a larger canvas that I've already prepped with background colors. I kind of like this one just as it is though! Sort of raw and unstudied.



This is a tiny canvas, just 3" x 4"! For fun, really. I need to go back and sharpen the dark pink veining.



This was totally experimental, a salvage of a horrible attempt at a butterfly flitting around in the sky, not sure what I was thinking there! I'd had this thought in the back of my head for months about sewing into a stretched canvas, so I thought, why not do that here? I just sewed the yarn on randomly....then painted the bowl & objects in over the original image. Still needs some work, but I'm rather liking the broken look in some of the areas where the yarn passes through.


This is "Turquoise Seas," I've been working on it for a while. Changing and changing the colors to get the right combo. I think this will be one of those paintings that never feel finished. I can always change "just this one thing," right? I need to be done with this soon for my sanity!



And this was my happiest surprise, totally unplanned and off-the-cuff. This pic does not do it justice at all. It's really happy feeling piece in person, for some reason I couldn't really capture that mood with the camera. I'm thinking a ladybug or two would be perfect to complete this.

That's all I have for now!

Non Sans Droit

I'm not sure why but I've always been drawn to artwork in which the subject's faces have been obscured in some way. Veiled, X-ed out, covered up, or removed. I love the sense of mystery conveyed and the shock given to the observer.

Somewhat like in the drawings above, wherein apparently a coat-of-arms stands in for each face. These are by Maya Hayuk....I wish there were more of them, but didn't see any others on her site. If you like the way she's portrayed the hairstyles here, go check out her work "Hair Totems" as well.

"Non Sans Droit, Vol. 1-6" by Maya Hayuk, originally seen on desire to inspire.

* P.S. I have materials for several collages that have been sitting on the sidelines, waiting for me to work on them. They are in the vein of what I described above - when they're finished, I'll have to post them here. Hopefully sooner than later!

A whole week has gone by...

...and I haven't even visited the blogosphere once. I've been fighting this cold, swamped at work, and too tired to think about it once I get home. Sorry for the lack of updates!!!

I wonder if anyone out there is watching my blog for new posts. In all honesty, I've been to scared to look into whether or not anyone's even visited my blog. All I know is that I've been writing this blog mainly for myself, as an outlet, and haven't let myself think too much about an audience. I still think of this blog as an experiment... I'm not sure when/if it will get up to the level of all those wonderful blogs I read and admire, but I certainly hope that one day, not too far off, I'll get there.

On that note, I'd better get to work on more posts! If you're out there, please check back later today, when I'll have something fun posted, I promise!

Vacay's Over

Got back today from my trip to the Central Coast here in California. It was lots of fun, we did a lot of sightseeing, and even the rain on Friday and today didn't get in our way. Neither did the cold I came down with yesterday! I was hoping to come back with lots of pictures, but towards the end of our second day my camera's battery died, and I hadn't brought the cord to charge it. But I did get some good pictures in Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo. Hopefully C., my travel companion, will send me the pictures she took. I say hope, because she still hasn't sent me pics from our last trip about a year ago!

Here are a few of the better pics I got this weekend. Enjoy!


The famous rock in Morro Bay.


An old-style wooden boat coming in to dock as we were getting ready to leave Morro Bay.


Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa - you can't see from this angle, but the entry was taped off for some restoration work.


Another shot of the Mission, located in downtown San Luis Obispo (SLO)


Park between the Mission and some of the restaurants in downtown SLO

Long Weekend

I'm going out of town tomorrow! Four nights away on the central coast of CA....a little fun in the rain (where's that heatwave we just had the other week? I could use it now!) Three days off from work, which is fine since we're slow right now - thanks, economy! I'll be doing my part to try to inject a little cashflow into the hotel and retail industries during the trip :-)

A use for those old cassette tapes...

...you know, those relics of the 80's that you may or may not have lying around your home. Has anyone seen these on designboom? Well, people have been making bowls and ashtrays out of vinyl records for years, it's about time someone came up with this idea:



Looking at these I want to make a few myself! If only I hadn't finally thrown my old mixtapes away a couple years back. Luckily, none of us have to figure out how to make these ourselves, we can simply buy one at designboom's store.

A little Ozzy, anyone?

How fast can you change?

They say if you try to make too many changes at once, they won't stick. Is this really true? Well I've been trying to make lots of changes so far this year. And while I'm finding that it is true I've lacked the appropriate focus necessary to change one habit while attempting to change many at once, there is a change taking place within me. So maybe, just maybe, it is possible - not in actions, but in attitude. And I'm finding that I am looking at things a little bit differently each day, with a greater impetus to make those changes happen. And, any lasting change comes from first changing your frame of mind, doesn't it?

Lessons Learned

Lately it seems I've been learning some things about life that I probably would have learned earlier, if only I'd been paying attention. Now that I am (paying attention, that is), I thought I'd catalog my findings as they come about. Without further ado, here is Life Lesson #1:

~If you consistently underestimate how much time it takes to get ready or get somewhere, you will always be late. Denying the length of prep time won't make the clock miraculously stop for you.

Tiredness

I haven't been posting consistently lately. Between work drama and home drama, I haven't been making the time for things I NEED to do for myself. Like yoga...art...eating healthy....Don't even ask me why I'm still awake right now, I should be in bed. Oh schedule, where have you gone?

SF Half Marathon

Today was a beautiful day up in San Francisco! The weather was exceptionally clear and warm for a winter day. The Kaiser-Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon was going on, I drove up there with my friend Am. to watch my cousin C. and her friend M. walk. It was great to see her accomplish thirteen miles! And it couldn't have been a better day for it.

Afterwards, Am. and I went to Fisherman's Wharf and hung out, had lunch and rode around on bicycles. It was nice and warm in the sunshine, the perfect day. I'm hoping I'm not sore tomorrow from all the biking - I don't think I've been on a bike since junior high! I kinda felt like a kid again, which is always a great feeling :-)

Check out these pictures I caught at the pier - Alcatraz and the Bay. Don't you wish you'd been there too?