How Rude!

So yesterday evening, I was fixing dinner and getting ready to eat when I got a phone call on my land line.

No one ever calls me on my land line. No one interesting that is. I checked the phone number and I could tell that it was an unlisted number.

Typically, I don't answer if I don't recognize the number. But with family and friends scattered all around the world, I decided to answer it.

Me: Hello?
Guy: Hello!!!! Is this the lady of the house?

Me: Staring at the phone. This person obviously does not know me. Or else, he would never call me lady of the house. What an antiquated term! Just like the word house wife. Who marries a house? When I stayed at home and raised my kiddos, I hated it when people called me a house wife. I would always tell them, "I married a man and not a house. I stay at home and raise my kids. If somewhere along the line I take care of the house, good deal. But I am not married to the house!"

Anyways. You can probably sense my mood by now. I was having one of those power surge moments. My family would probably say that I've been having a decade of power surges but let's ignore them. Shall we?

Me: Who is this? Is this a solicitation phone call? I am on the do not call list.
Guy: Well mam I am calling to let you know about the pest control service we are offering in your neighborhood.

Me really wanting to say: And would that entail getting rid of pests like you who call me at inconvenient times? Even though I am on the do not call list?

Me exercising some self control: Thanks so much for the offer but I am not interested and kindly remove my number from your list.

Guy: But wait Mam! You really haven't heard about the wonderful deal I have to offer!!!

Me not too happy: You know what? This is not a good time for me. Why don't you give me your name, your cell phone number, your home address and your email id and I will get back with you as soon as possible.

Guy: Uuuummm... We are not allowed to give you our personal information. But you can contact our office at...

Me: Really? You have all my personal information and can call me anytime but I can't call you? Isn't that a tad ironic?

Guy: Hmmmm...

And. then. he. hung. up. on. me.

How rude! How very rude!

Ok I get it. He is just trying to do a job and make a semi-honest living. I say semi-honest because I am on the do not call list and he should not be calling me. He either hasn't checked the list or doesn't care about it. Not very honest or smart in my opinion.

So there you have it. A phone solicitor hung up on me. Can you top that?

Ugh!

Based on what I have posted lately, you must thing that I am making amazing progress as an artist.

Not true.

This piece started off very lovely.





See?

And then aliens invaded my body. Or... I went crazy.

Pardon my french but WTF?

I made a few mistakes and tried to correct them. And I made mistake after mistake.

All I wanted to do was draw a cool looking eye in the center. Or something. And what the heck did I do?

Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

This painting looks like a fish is going to an ER and threw up on the way.

Ugh times million.

But...

I think I'll start over on this one. I have no choice.

And I'll keep you posted.

Encaustics

So yesterday, I went to the most amazing encaustics workshop ever. Taught by the uber talented artist Sharon Kyle Kuhn, it was the most fun I've ever had with beeswax, wooden panel and a heating gun.

For those who don't know, encaustics is an ancient art. It was almost a lost art form until artists like Sharon revived it. Not only did she revive it, she also made it current and relevant for today's world. I am a HUGE fan of her artwork. Unlike faux arteests like me, she is a true artist. I mean who wakes up in the morning and goes... today I am going to take a mother board, glue it to a wooden panel and pour hot lime-green wax over it.

How creative!

So these are some pieces I made yesterday.




Some commonly asked questions about this form of art.

Is this a new art form?

Nope. It is an ancient art.

Will the wax melt?

Nope. Typically, you add a resin to the beeswax that prevents it from melting.






In this workshop, we used found objects to embed in the artwork. I used some leftover Italian yarn. But you can use any thing from leaves, to beads, to wine corks to anything. And instead of color pigments, you can add turmeric, red pepper, saffron etc.

Fun. Right?

So what do you think I should call these pieces?

Funk

I guess I've been in a funk lately.

On paper it looks like I am doing so much. But I feel like I'm bored and on a road to nowhere. Just running around in circles.

You guys ever go through that?

Any suggestions for me? How do I get out of this funk?

Do tell. I am open to all ideas (G rated) and the weekend is just around the corner.

Ugh. I can already anticipate getting at least one comment that involves exercise.

Double Ugh. But at this point, I am ready to try almost anything. So do tell!

Sunflowers

Painting with A

This weekend, I got together with my friend A. and we both painted some. It was fun.

She is using oils and I can tell you that they are messier than acrylics. And less forgiving. Here is what she is working on.



It is not complete yet. We'll get together at some point again and paint some more.

I made one painting that is absolutely horrible. Will have to post a photo soon. I'll have to fix it but am not sure what to do. So I am just letting it sit.

Here is hoping that you all have a fantastic week.

Job Offer

I recently got a job offer that I thought I would share with you...

____________________________________________________________________

Dear Scriber's Web,

Of course you probably don't know this since I prefer to remain anonymous and work through middle men, but I am the one, in fact, who just acquired your company. Of course, I want to keep you with the company, but I expect increased productivity in the following areas:

1. Painting

2. Photography

3. Blogging

Of course a happy worker is a productive worker, so I have expanded your benefit package to include a pampering allowance. Shopping for shoes is also a company write-off, so I hope you will enjoy that as well. I am also closing a deal with a gourmet catering company, so that you and other employees can have delicious food on demand. Lunch time begins whenever you are hungry and lasts until you have taken a nap and feel ready to return to work. Need a vacation? The new company phones will have a speed dial feature which allows you to request such at the press of a button. All requests will be honored in a prompt manner, and depending on demand volume, most vacations can begin in as little as 3 minutes. There will be no obnoxious muzak, if you are put on hold. Instead, you will be linked to a travel agency and can begin to make arrangements.

We hope our little improvements to the workplace will make your life more comfortable and productive.

Sincerely, Dan's Myth
Executive Director

_______________________________________________________________________

It sounds tempting but there is no mention of a full time beautician on site. That may be a deal breaker. What do you say?

Friday

What is it about Friday that makes it so exciting? To me at least. I wake up early in the morning and am all pumped up. I make a mental list of everything I accomplished that week. Some weeks are great. Others are probably slow. I make plans for the weekend and for the next week. Exciting.

I have numerous friends who are retired or have un-traditional work hours. To them, Friday is the same as any other day. At first I am very envious. I mean isn't it nice that you can decide what you want to do everyday? Go jogging middle of the afternoon? No problem.

But then I realize that they miss out on the adventure a weekend is. Everyday is the same. That can be boring too.

So I am excited about Friday and the upcoming weekend. I hope that you have a fabulous, fun filled weekend.

BTW, Today is my 26th wedding anniversary. Someone please give a medal to my hubby. He has earned it.

Stairs

Going up or down?

Update: I just realized that today is Thursday and not Wednesday. My days are just going too fast! I was telling someone yesterday that I blink and 3 days have gone by. LOL.

Painting 101

So you've never painted in life and think you can't. Stop right there. If I can paint, so can you. I never thought I could do it until my friend Mary Gatling encouraged me to do it. Many, many thanks for that. She not only encouraged me to do this, but also showed me painting techniques. My life will never be the same again and I will be eternally greatful.

Here is how I painted with a cheese knife and a chop stick...

1. On a canvas, draw some shapes using a charcoal pencil.



2. Gather some supplies. I used acrylic paint, a cheese knife and a chop stick. No brushes were used in this painting.





3. With the cheese knife, start filling on the shapes with the paint. Apply a thick layer and don't worry if it drips a little on the canvas.






4. More colors and more dripping. Use only the cheese knife. Don't worry about the dripping. Notice that I am trying to have some balance on my canvas. Also, do not try to make perfect shapes. And feel free to paint outside the lines!


5. More paint and colors. At this point, you may ask yourself, "what the heck am I doing? A 2 year old can do better than this!" Don't worry. Believe in yourself and keep adding paint.



6. All filled in. Doesn't look that great does it? Remember to believe in yourself.



7. Now while the paint is still wet, take out that chop stick and draw lines on the painting. Blend the paint a bit. Also remember to cover any bald canvas spots with your chop stick.




8. Here is what my painting looked like when I was done drawing lines. I propped it on 4 cans and let it dry overnight.




9. The next day, I applied thick acrylic on it. It looks white but once it dries, it becomes transparent and glossy.



10. See? Very cool once it dries.

I learned this technique from a book called Painting Abstracts by Rolina van Vliet. I highly recommend the book.

If you do follow these instructions, I would love to hear from you.

Supplies you'll need:

1 stretched canvas. I recommend getting at least 8 by 11 or a larger size
Charcoal pencil
Acrylic paint. I used white, yellow, red, blue and green
Pallete knife. I used a cheese knife because I was too lazy to go out to buy this.
Chop stick. Or any stick. You could do this with the back of a brush.
Acrylic gloss

Now go paint!

Big Fish Small Fish

The company I work for got acquired by another big company.

Is this good news? I think it is. There are a lot of uncertainties right now but I am positive it will all get sorted out eventually.

Does that mean that I am not worried? Absolutely not. But I am very optimistic about it. I think it will be an exciting adventure. But only time will how everything will pan out.

Meanwhile, in my future is tons of exciting meetings and long work hours.

Change is always difficult to absorb. Even if it is a good change. Say you win a million dollar lottery. While that is a positive change for you, there will still be some issues to resolve. Suddenly you will be rich and you may or may not know how to handle the money, who to trust, who to lend money to yada yada...

So today, I am going to embrace this change and move forward with positive energy and attitude.

I hope you too take whatever is handed to you in life and make the most out of it.

Breaking the Break

Let me begin by saying that breaks are way overrated. They are b.o.r.i.n.g.

I am just kinda gal who needs to do 10 things at one time. Even on beach vacations I am writing, photographing, networking, planning etc. etc. etc. I am always thinking about projects to do. And anything that has nothing to do with house work is up for grabs.

So I am breaking my break. I am so so bored. I miss the bloggy land and my bloggy friends.

I took a break because I had to. It was thrust upon me. My computer got infested with a virus again and had to go to the shop. I was banned from the internet and I can prove it.

It was a HUGE shock to me. I actually went through all the stages of mourning. How many are there? I swear I went through twice that much.

Last weekend (it was a 3 day weekend) was so so boring! I did laundry, cleaned my house, cooked, did dishes, blah, blah blah. But no computer. I was bereft with grief. I felt totally disoriented. I could not wait to get back to work.

Here is my life formula:

Life = Computer = Games + Internet = FUN. All is good.

If you are thinking that I am addicted to internet, you are probably right. But who cares? There are worse addictions. Just bite me.

To be honest, I had limited access to computers and internet. I had access at work but I don't blog from there. I had limited access to another computer at home but it just wasn't the same.

I had absolutely no chemistry with the computers I had access to. It just wasn't the same. I felt like I was cheating on my computer by using another one. I would stare longingly at it but nothing happened. Exactly like when I am watching a Brad Pitt movie.

I.wanted.my.computer.back.

So here I am. No more break. Breaks are for wimps and I am a macho chicka. And I am back.

Hope you missed me! I know I missed you guys!

PS: The photograph is a painting that I did a week or so ago. It is titled the River of Life but I may change the title. Any suggestions?

xoxo

Break!

Due to certain logistics problems, I will be taking off this month. Will catch up with you soon.

Peace!