I LOVE my RED BAG! Sketch

Art Struck!

The New York Times repeats this same ad over and over again.  I don't mind because it is so striking and for whatever reason, I can relate.  It is an ad for a Louis Vuitton Red Bag with Michelle Williams in a stark black jacket, white blonde spiky hair clutching her prized possession, a lipstick Red LV oversized bag.  Her look is fierce with her flawless pale skin and bold matching red lips.

Whenever I see this ad, I pause and always say out loud how much I love this shot, this bag, the whole deal.  My husband said to me, "You should paint it."  Huh.  Yeah. I should.

So, I felt inspired.  I can't sketch or paint if my heart isn't in it, and I haven't felt moved to do so in a quite a while.  This moved me.  I found a lipstick red bag of my own, online on Black Friday.  It was my gift to me.  No. It isn't this particular bag and no. It isn't by Louis V.  It's by Nine West and I love it.  It is big, but not too much. It is the same awesome just right red color, with an interior of leopard print, which isn't usually my thing, but in this case, it works!!  I found a wallet at Target that matches perfectly.  I am in love with my pocketbook and want to clutch it, grip it like in this ad.  That's how much I love this bag.  Funny, when you find an object that you just identify with and truly love it.  It is so me, kind of feeling.  It's just a thing, but what is it about pocketbooks that make me go crazy like this?  It is kind of crazy to feel this way, but I do!

Anyway, art struck and I'm on my way to creating something cool.  I might do an Andy Warhol like look with bold color popping out...watercolor and ink?? or Arcrylic and ink??

Hmmmm.  We'll see...this is an act of love....for The Red Bag.

2014. Dear God, May It Be a Good One!

I think I'm due for a good year.  I do.  For the love of God, please let it be smooth, peaceful and fruitful.  Yeah. 

I can use a little fruit, especially of the green persuasion.  You know, green backs? Dough? Moola? Geesh.  Don't make me say it.  Sigh.  I need some money.  More than what has been coming my way.  I desperately need to pay off debt, my Masters Degree student loan in particular.  Oh, do I need a car as it struggles and gasps as I try to go up a long winding hill that is part of my commute to and from work. Well, one way is downhill, the other up.

But I would never be so bold to ask for more wealth above health, though.  I do wish to maintain and pray for excellent health for my family and me.  After that, financial liquidity would be greatly appreciated and I do feel its about damn time I earn what I deserve, cause right now that isn't the case.

Anyway, I am of the sandwich generation where I worry not only about myself and my family with two kids heading into their college years (Yikes! Talk about needing plenty of dough!!!!) but I worry about my 80 year old father who is battling Multiple Mylenoma, which for the last few months has been above the fray for needing chemotherapy treatment, holding steady until now.  Here we go again with the chemo, which he has actually tolerated well except for restlessness the night the chemo was received.  But will it work again?  His doctor wanted him to go to the next level of medicine, but after my father read all of the side effects, he knew it would do him more harm then good.  His doctor said, "You know this isn't going to work forever." My father flatly replied, "I'm not going to live forever."  The doctor acknowledged that he had him there...so onward to the chemo treatment he has been receiving and God Bless it.

Worries.  When will worries not be a part of my life?  Or, I should say, when will worries not be on top of my list of things on my mind.  My Dad falling, chemo not working, being his Health Proxy, my health - my bones suck, headaches, my husband's crazy triglycerides, his overall health, my boys' life and happiness, their health, their college choices....Oh God, they might do military...Marines for Music and Coast Guard.....I yi yi.  I never thought I'd  be a military mother...but it isn't anyway typical when one enters the Marines to play in the Marines Band, "The President's Own" Band.  I read up on it and it is steeped in history and tradition starting with President John Adams.

But for whatever reason you enter the Marines, you do Boot Camp.  "It'll Destroy You," The recruiting officer said that bluntly to me and my son.  Those words haunt me.  This is my son we are talking about.  How can I and he get past that? Fear. Pure utter fear is what I feel.  I, as a mother, do not want him to feel that kind of fear either.

Ugh.
Ugh.
Ugh.

Okay.  Resolution.  Turn off your brain.  Learn to push the worries aside and sieze the moment.  Enjoy the moment, because really, that is all you have. Now.  Today. Stop worrying about tomorrow.

So, turning computer off and listening to the Shamrock and The Thistle....sweet.

Like the Scots for a Happy New Year I'm going to get a lump of coal, a loaf of shortbread and a bottle of whiskey!

Happy New Year!

Right now, this moment, it feels peaceful in the house with heavenly Celtic music playing, my husband asleep beside me, my boys relaxing downstairs....ahhhhhh.

Halloween...Do You Believe In Ghosts?

To be honest, I want to believe in ghosts and I don't.  I used to live for the show Ghost Hunters, Pychic Kids, and crazy Zak Begans from Ghost Adventures. Why do I want to believe? Well, it's kind of a confession. I want proof that there is something more than this life. That we have a spirit, a soul that goes on when our physical body gives out.  But here is the disturbing kicker... I don't like these kind of spirits or ghosts because these spirits are trapped, not moved on and some are even evil dark spirits.  I don't like to think that there are dark evil entities out there and I don't like to think of spirits that are trapped or are non-intelligent hauntings...meaning, it's like a rerun of an event, or action over and over again. What is that?

It is Halloween where I read the great divide between the living and the dead is lessened.  The veil that separates the spirits of the deceased is lifted a little bit so that we can reach out to our loved ones.  So, if you there is a time to try to communicate with our loved ones and go dancing in a cemetery, now would be a good time.

 

Like UFO's, spirits are sure hard to find and validate with video or photography. Why is that? 

 

Do you believe in ghosts? I'll let you know if I get in touch with anyone tonight!

Beckett and Castle

Oh my God. I can't stop watching this show episode after episode! First, I used to watch The Mentalist but then it just seemed like endless grisly murders with Red John and Patrick Jane's revenge and grief.

But now, I'm hooked on Castle on TNT. Beckett and Castle are infectious and the mystery unravels in such a way that you cling to the next scene breathlessly. Plus, it's slick, sexy and the understory pulls at you.

Excuse me. I have to go. It's back on!

Secrets? In Today's World Is It Even Possible?

Secrets. Spies. Oh my.  When you mention the word Secret, it conjures up something sneaky, snarky, and yet, dreadfully important that it remain, just that, secret.  The National Security Assoiation, The CIA, The FBI,  The White House even supposedly has a Book of Secrets passed down from President to President.  Even Secret Societies exist today that are veiled in secrets, The Free Masons, The Illuminati, and even The Vatican.  Today, can anyone really keep a secret? Is it possible to keep a secret with all the communication technology we have?  We text, we email, we SKYPE, we have FACE time, we tweet, instagram, vine, and blah blah blah...to keep a secret today seems, well, silly.  We put everything out there. We are all connected and want to be.  So, why and how is phone tapping such an alarming secret revealed?  I'm not fazed about it, not one bit.  You listen? Really? I would think someone is paying attention to communications to watch for danger.  I am a mere civilian, and I know of the governement listening to the "chatter" of terrorist activity will raise our alert level to yellow or orange.  Based on the "chatter" the danger is high or low making an "event" likely or more likely.  Chatter means we listen to people talking.  Guess what?  Terrorists could be Americans or living in America.  The 9/11 terrorists were learning how to fly in Florida.  The Boston bombers lived in Boston.  They are here people and THAT is no secret.  I am more scared of this Edward Snowden and what secrets he knows and is now sharing with anyone and everyone.  He, himself, is more dangerous than any phone tapping that could ever be done especially since he fled our country and is now in Hong Kong.  But his secret is out because he can't help himself by video programming himself and answering questions, so he is letting his own secret out that we will track.  Secrets?  There are no secrets anymore.

OMG!! I LOVE The Voice!!!!!

These four judges are so infectious, so fun as they interact with each other.  There are no big egos here even though you would be sure there would be, but nope.  None.  It is just pure passion for listening to good music and finding and nurturing new talent.  They are so funny, honest, and genuinely enthused.  LOVE LOVE LOVE this show!  It truly is the chemistry and of these four judges that make the show so easy to fall in love with, my boys look forward to this show as well.  They actually put down their cell phones for this show!  Tune in and enjoy! It's back on! Gotta go!

Workplace Acting Like High School- Y Generation?

Have you ever noticed that colleagues have forgotten that they are no longer in high school and forget what it means to comport themselves with professionalism, consideration of others, and plain out respect and maturity?  I miss the greatest generation where good manners and true caring for one another prevailed.  The greatest genreation refers to our seniors that lived through the Depression and World War II, our now elderly generation that have friends for life.  Today friends come and go because it is such a transient generation; no one stays for 31 years at a job any more, therefore, no one truly commits or invests in people.  With that comes no trust and an attitude of "everything all out for me." 

This I've noticed is the modis operandis of the supposed "Y" generation:  "Me! Me! Me!  Look at me!  Notice me!  Look what I did!  Aren't I great?" The instant social media intensity carries through with instant steam rolling of colleagues while being completely mindless of another's feelings.  Get all you can and do it as fast as you can; do it now!  What happened to doing things thoughtfully, carefully, wisely and inform all parties involved?  What is worse is the whispering, the closing of doors, the rubbing ones good fortune in another's face.  It's absolutely repulsive, disgraceful. 

Today, I felt like I was back in high school with that horrible squirmy feeling of being on the outside, "not in the know" in my own department (a department of three people for Christ's sake.)  I felt like there were clicks going on, CLICKS?!  and let me tell you, I was horrified to realize, duh, I'm at my place of employment. 

Jesus.  I felt like I was in high school musical with a ridiculous cast of characters playing their parts to a grotesque tee.  I felt like I was in a fun house with the mirrors that distort your image; everyone seemed like the funhouse mirror image. Ugly.  The main course of deportment at this place of business is CYA because there is so much paranoia and cut throat behavior all in efforts to protect  your job security.  There is so much whispering, back stabbing and gossiping that it's as if a horrible virus permeates the air and you get sucked into the paranoid madness. 
Well, lesson learned.  I prefer to rise above and comport myself with dignity and true caring of others.  My father has friends for life and he has lived through difficult times and suffering, yet he gives...gives of himself even when he has so little to give.  So, amidst the circus like atmosphere, I have to set all of that aside and do my job with my chin held up high and I plan on treating my good friend and co-worker to lunch!

Winter Blues became Bored Brigid! ArtAttack!

I almost threw this painting away.  It was coming out awful.  I was doing a bored, wintery blues kind of feel and it just came out awful with her skin greyish tan and her hair an awful yellow!  Set it aside.  Then I was bored and feeling unfulfilled not letting my art out, picked up my brushes and this picture, and started attacking it with vengence.  It's not perfect and her eye is a little crossed, but it became something from God Awful to Celtic Angel, in my eyes anyway.  My husband loves it and that means a lot!  It makes me happy.  Faces are never ever my thing, and I do have so much to learn, but perfection isn't the point in my art.  Color.  Mood.  Feeling.  Story.  And, it is a creative outlet that I need and enjoy, well, it always is a bit torturous, but I feel sooo much better after I created something that actually looks pleasing to the eye.  So, that was my Art Explosion and it gave me great satsifaction.  I love her hair the most....I call her by another name: Flame Girl!

Bittersweet 16 Girl

This painting started with a full page ad in the NY Times that featured this tall sleek haired blonde in a gorgeous lacy pink dress that I thought could draw and then paint.  I just couldn't get the skirt to flow, or the face and hair...nothing was turning out as I intended.  Then I used an ink pen and tried to fix it or add to it.  I added some pink to it...and then, walked away from it.  The girl in my drawing peeked out at me looking very goth and dark.  This is so not what I do, not what I paint. I paint pretty Regency Clad ladies who are caught in a time period that they have very little control, or voice but looked beautiful in the process with inner strength shining through.  Meanwhile, I attacked the painting again, tired of striving for perfection and  rolled with the more abstract edigier look and went with it.  Thus, far from my original NY Times ad inspiration became "Bittersweet 16 Girl."  I submitted this to HitRECord as an image for collaboration. 

It illicits the question, "What's the story?"  That, is what I often strive for...but the story is in the eyes of the beholder.  Each person that looks at this could come up with a different story and it will be perfect.  So, readers, "What is the Story?"

Something bittersweet.....I bet.

Winter Blues and Art

I am feeling a little low these daysperhaps due to the fact that i'm highly sensitive to world events, govermental drag, financial endless pinch, wackiness to the enth degree at work, guns guns guns....ugh...and the cold gray days of winter.
Plus, there is always that pervasive feeling that I should be doing something else with my life.  Like as if I took a wrong turn and now I am good and lost.  Even worse, I feel like I stumbled into a dark pit and can't get out.  It sucks and does not feel good at all.
I sketched a picture called  "Winter Blues" as perhaps that is all it is...but deep down, I know it's more.  I am on a soul search quest to discover my true life's purpose.
When I figure it out, I'll let you know.

Cool Thing! Joined HitRECord today.

http://www.hitrecord.org/

I stumbled on this interesting artist collabortion production company through Twitter.  Yeah.  Surprise. Surprise. I tweet.  Never thought it would happen, but I'm glad I did.  It is amazing how connected to more of the world you are through Twitter.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt must have been following someone that I follow, so I decided to follow him.  I think he is an amazing actor, but didn't have a clue what else this guy did/does!  Director, actor...hosting the Sundance Film Festival this year...creative genius, really.

Anyway, I discovered his production company HitRECord which really is a medium for artists to create, and then re-create and re-create some more.  Submissions of writing, images, music, film become "records" for which other artists can tap into and RE-mix it with something else.  Not all too sure how the Re-mixing works but I am going to start myself with some submissions of Records...10minute writing challenge and some images that I'll draw or paint that will no doubt leave the question..."What's the story here?"

That's what I've always loved about art...the provacativeness that teases, and taunts making you wonder...What is that person thinking in the image..what was the artist thinking...the beauty is the answer is anything and everything. 

This should be interesting...so here I go!

Check out the link above.  (If you figure out the Re-mixing part, please let me know!)