Perfect Pairs: Red, Yellow, Green

Bamboo and weeds growing through utility valves

Tulips in a garden

Unlikely Art

Check out the beautiful colors and textures in this piece of public art. I love the way the blues and greens flow into each other and contrast against the rugged rust background.

It IS public art, isn't it?

 

Wait for it...

 

Wait for it...

Proof that there's beauty in the UNLIKELIEST places.

Righteous Girl...shhhhhh!!!

Boy, can I hold a grudge. We're not just talking garden variety or even super-sized ones; oh no...these are King-Kong big, the kind that need a convoy of Sherpas to carry them.

That would be the work of "Righteous Girl".

Righteous Girl LOVES to make people, things and situations wrong. She zealously charges into battle to "protect" me. Many a time the world has heard her proclaim, "He/she is dead to me!" as she gathers up our toys to stomp home when she determines we have been wronged/insulted/ignored.

Righteous Girl is really, really good at her job. And how could it be any other way? She came into existence PRECISELY to be...well, righteous.

And you know what? When Righteous Girl takes care of business, I feel really, really good...for about 30 minutes. And then I'm really sad and angry and hurting. I look around and Righteous Girl is nowhere to be seen. She's done her job and she's off duty, probably taking a nap.

What I saw is that the bigger the fit Righteous Girl throws, the worse I feel. Because basically Righteous Girl is screaming at the top of her lungs, "THIS SHOULDN'T BE THIS WAY!"

But you know what? It IS what it IS, and it ISN'T what it ISN'T. It's actually just that simple.

It is HARD work to resist what's so. It can be downright exhausting...like that poor schmoe from Greek mythology who had to keep pushing that rock up the hill. And since I get to choose whether I want to keep doing that, it's kind of mental to keep doing it.

So now when Righteous Girl clamors to be heard, I thank her for being on the lookout to protect us. I thank her for being so willing to do her job. And then I sit her down at a virtual table with drawing paper and crayons and a glass of chocolate milk and tell her, "Thanks, I've got this one. You can just hang out here."

And more times than not, she listens to me.

That's one of the things I got from Landmark Education.

A Case of the Mondays, #3

For this week's Monday inspiration, I stepped outside and gathered up some fall leaves to embellish these 2 pages from the lovely Cavallini nature calendar I have up in my office:

I just used a little double sided tape...and presto! chango!

Bonus Assignment:  What natural elements can you spot that would embellish your office space?

Rowdy Reds!

Chippy Chipmunk

Who doesn't love a chipmunk?  This little guy ran back and forth about 50 times in front of me this past weekend when I was hiking with some friends in the lava fields near Bend, Oregon.  Alright, alright!  I'll take your picture, you big ham.

Is THIS my better side?

Or is THIS?

Perhaps you prefer me during a quiet, contemplative moment?

Or perhaps my whimsical side?

Ooops...gotta go!



Gratuitous Cute Animal Shots

OK, I admit it...there's no point to this post except that it contains pictures of my ridiculously cute cat, Indy (aka "Mr. Peebody" due to his occasional naughty spraying habit).

Here he is lounging in front of his favorite pillow, handmade especially for him (or so he thinks) by fellow cat lover, Lisa:

Tired of being stalked by paparazzi, Indy lets down his guard:

Perfect Pairs: Quick Books!

Closeup of a sculpture at the Kirkland Library

Enscribed brick at Kirkland Library

Surprise! It's Yelling Girl

Here's a multi-media journal page thingy I made a long time ago that I just uncovered while cleaning my studio.  Yay for fun surprises!  I love this zany little girl...and the combination of orange and pink...and using staples instead of glue...and fake rhinestones...and butterflies...and ephemera...and hand stamped paper.

A Case of the Mondays, #2

Continuing our scavenger hunt to find creative inspiration in our work places...even on a Monday:

Another month from the Cheesy Vendor Calendar (CVC) turned into a color study, along with the Pantone Color Guide in all its peacock-like glory:

Bonus assignment:  How many sparks of color can you see from where you're sitting right now?

Thank you, Christine!

All the way from Europe, Christine Clemmensen sent me these delightful postcards:

Even the envelope was fancy:

And there were even two tiny prizes inside.  I LOVE prizes!

Perfect Pairs: Petals!

Single flower

Mass of flowers

Perfect Pairs: Growling Monsters

Abandoned truck in Georgetown

Spooky graffiti ghost in Georgetown

Tiddlywinks in Phoenix in August

I swear I was trying to be good.  I had gone for my morning walk and was rushing home to meet a landscape guy who was going to give me an estimate for work on my backyard "slope from hell"...when much to my wandering eyes should appear...an estate sale sign.  I need more stuff like I need a hole in my head, but my car veered on its own, and what could I do but follow it?

Oh...my...goodness.  The previous owner of this house had a LOT of stuff.  I mean, a LOT of stuff.  A lot of which were bags and bags and bags and more bags of colorful plastic beads.  And that was just in the garage. 

Now plastic beads are not my thing...but when I saw these crazy funky berry-shaped beads I had to snap them up. 

Those and the weird ones that look like plastic discs that melted a little in the heat...kind of like a Tiddlywinks game that someone left in a car in Phoenix in August.   Now I'm obsessed with figuring out how old someone has to be to know about Tiddlywinks.  Do they still sell them?  Does anyone still play with them?  Did I actually play with them?  And how on earth did they come to be called Tiddlywinks? (See frightening note below, but don't say I didn't warn you.)

There are a LOT of them.  Hopefully I'll figure out what to use them for before someone buys them from MY estate sale.

Frightening note:  There is actually a World Tiddlywinks Championship Society.  Grown people flip little plastic disks. COMPETITIVELY.  Wow.  Sad news for fans of perennial favorites Sev & Ferd...they lost to Larry & Matt in a feverish battle for the crown.  Next year, Sev & Ferd, next year!  Meanwhile, let's pray no one puts an eye out by a scrunging cracker!

Even more frightening note:  the following words are real, live tiddlewink terms (care of Wikipedia).  Particularly disturbing is the "John Lennon Memorial Shot"...

Blitz: an attempt to pot all six winks of a player's colour early in the game

Bomb: to send a wink at a pile, usually from distance, in the hope of significantly disturbing it

Boondock: to free a squopped wink by sending it a long way away, leaving the squopping wink free in the battle area

Bristol: a shot which moves a pile of two or more winks as a single unit; the shot is played by holding the squidger at a right angle to its normal plane

Carnovsky (US)/Penhaligon (UK): potting a wink from the baseline (i.e., from 3 feet away)

Cracker: a simultaneous knock-off and squop, i.e. a shot which knocks one wink off the top of another while simultaneously squopping it

Crud: a forceful shot whose purpose is to destroy a pile completely

Good shot: named after John Good. The shot consists of playing a flat wink (one not involved in a pile) through a nearby pile with the intent of destroying the pile

Gromp: an attempt to jump a pile onto another wink (usually with the squidger held in a conventional rather than Bristol fashion)

John Lennon memorial shot: a simultaneous boondock and squop

Lunch: to pot a squopped wink (usually belonging to an opponent)

Scrunge (UK): to bounce out of the pot

Squidger: the disc used to shoot a wink

Squop: to play a wink so that it comes to rest above another wink

Sub: to play a wink so that it ends up (unintentionally) under another wink

Perfect Pairs: Tough Guys

Banty rooster at Saturday market on Vashon Island

Stencilled plywood near railroad tracks in Georgetown

Vote for the Silliest Cindy...and win a prize!

I came across this photo of me when I was not quite 2.  Hi-larious!  I have the feeling I still make this exact face sometimes.

Having WAY too much time on my hands I decided to play around with it and create a logo of sorts.  Vote for your favorite.   I'll randomly select one of the votees and you'll win a prize selected especially for you!  OK, maybe not selected ESPECIALLY for you...but I promise it will be fun!

Silly Cindy #1

Silly Cindy #2

Silly Cindy #3

Voting will end a week from today.  But why wait...it's fun, it's free, it's low-carb.

A Case of the Mondays, #1

Welcome to a new feature here on Artgirl Island...A Case of the Mondays.

Have you seen the cult classic movie, Office Space?  It is hi-larious.  It's about 3 disgruntled computer geeks who work for the boss from hell at the company from hell.  As they grumble into their soul-less cubicles on Monday morning the office chatterbox greets them with a revoltingly cheerful, "Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays!"

But here on Artgirl Island, Mondays are different.  Mondays are just one more opportunity to be inspired and to create a little bit of art wherever we happen to find ourselves.

So each Monday I'll post something that I hope will jolt your creativity, with the catch being that I'll only use things that I find in or around my office.  Once I started looking, I was surprised at the amount of creative fodder that I had been overlooking.

So without further ado, here's your first A Case of the Mondays...Artgirl Island style.

We all have those cheesy vendor calendars laying around, right?  You know the ones I'm talking about; they either have predictable nature photos or dorky inspirational quotes or worse...both.  I snagged one such calendar off the wall and borrowed the Engineering Department's Pantone Color Guide...and presto, chango...a cool color study in fabulous blues and brilliant yellows.

Bonus Assignment:  Take a moment and look around YOUR work space...where is there a bit of color or texture or design that draws your eye, lights you up?  Let me know what you find!

Perfect Pairs: Offerings

Mural of a French restaurant in Kirkland

Status of St. Francis of Assisi in Kirkland

Gloria...a cautionary tale