ROBIN LAUREL

To Meet Again!

2011-05-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

Hello again! I suppose it is time now to say that I have started a New Blog! and new bloggings are now underway. Let's see if I can make postings on a regular basis. Striving! Workin' at it, we'll see...! The new site is here... http://robinclugston.blogspot.com/ ...'be much obliged if you'd all stop by from time to time.

Thanks!

Robin

2011-03-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

2011-03-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

mind your own beeswax

2011-03-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

Bee-keepin', Candle-makin', Vegetable-growin' sons-o'-guns!

2011-03-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

This is a modern day/ different context for the concept of the Sisyphean Task. In my world, this is the ultimate Sisyphean Task: Trying to Keep the Kitchen of a Student Household Clean!

Not that I am alone in my endeavours, or even the one to do the most quote-unquote pushing of the rock...but I bet many people can relate!

Keep on keepin' on, Sisyphus! You rock.

brought to you by the letter S

2011-03-07T17:57:00.000-08:00

winter trans-por-ta-shon in my imagined post-oil world, we skate, we ski, we snowshoe, we walk, we sleigh! (Snow = transportation methods that start with the letter S).

well, some photos

2011-03-07T13:35:00.000-08:00

a green roof!

2011-03-07T10:44:00.000-08:00

A green roof, or 'living roof' really helps regulate the temperature of a house or building, keeping it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. You can even graze your goats on them! Indeed: goats can climb ladders, they are quite agile! generally only grass or wild plants that do not require deep soil are used or found on living roofs, and it is better to plan a building from the beginning to accomodate a green roof, retro-fitting is an expensive idea...but you can also have plant boxes on your roof, and even consider living walls! inside or out.

sustainable living, post-oil kitchen!

2011-03-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

The kitchen of your dreams? Kitchen of your nightmares? I've heard both when it comes to this piece...but personally I would love to have/ inhabit such a kitchen!
A wood-burning stove that not only smells great and heats your home, but also adds a wonderful smokey flavour to your breads, roasted vegetables, and other dishes that you cook along side the burning wood. You can use your frying pans, cast-iron pans on the stove top, as well as using the hot surface to boil water for washing dishes or for tea or coffee.
About you hang various plants - harvested from your own garden - that are drying out for use later on, to add flavour and spice to your cooking; and on the wall a variety of earthenware jars - perhaps created by the potter down the road, with whom you traded some preserves and vegetables to obtain these vessels - containing various essential oils, and sometimes spices, that you have made yourself.
The old electric stove lies dormant: A nice piece of pine covers up the old stovetop, upon which you have placed a beautiful assortment of potted plants.
Your water does not come from some huge industrial water-purifying plant that adds fluoride (and who knows what else?) to your water, it comes instead from an underground source that has past the test for safety and purity. You collect rainwater for menial water purposes - often boiling it first just in case if its to be used for things like dishes.
At night your light comes from candles - that have been made by the bee-keeping and candle-making family who live in the hills nearby - as well as lamps that burn kerosene, or animal fat (?), and the glow from your wood stove.
The rug is a braided one, made from strips of old material, braided and sewn in a circle.
Alternating between your stovetope and your old - but sturdy - wooden table you work, going about canning and preserving fruit and vegetables, making jams and sauces that source mainly from your own garden, and if not, then the garden of someone nearby, with whom you have traded.
Perhaps you tune in to music or interesting talk on your antique transistor radio as you do so, and in the afternoon take a break to go puruse your garden or the fruit trees and streams and forests in the hills nearby...

Pan and Findhorn

2011-03-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

"I became aware of a large figure lying in the ground. I could see him through the grass. It appeared to be a monk in a brown habit with the hood pulled over the head so that the features were concealed...As I watched, he raised his hands and rolled back the hood. It was Pan. He rose up out of the ground and stood facing us, an immense figure. He smiled and said: 'I am the servant of Almighty God, and I and my subjects are willing to come to the aid of mankind in spite of the way he has treated us and abused nature, if he affirms his belief in us and asks for help.'

"It became apparent that what was happening was a sort of reconciliation between the Nature Kingdom and man.

"Another encounter took place in September of the same year, 1966, at Attingham Park. I had attended a weekend course conducted by Sir George Trevelyan. Before leaving on the Monday morning, I was prompted to go to an area known as the Mile Walk on the extensive grounds of Attingham. The walk starts at a point on the bank of the River Tern where there are many trees and bushes. I followed it until I came to a slight bend in the river where a huge cedar tree with a seat around it is situated. To the left of the tree, at a right angle to the river, is the beginning of the Rhododendron Walk.

"I sat there for some time enjoying the beauty of the place. After a while I rose and went into the walk. As I did so, I felt a great buildup of power and an increase in awareness to a high degree. Colors and forms became more significant. I was aware of every single leaf on the bushes and trees, of every blade of grass on the path standing out with startling clarity. It was as if physical reality had become even more solid--a strange sharpening of vision. It is an overwhelming experience when it happens and nearly impossible to describe in words. It is a thing one must experience for oneself to understand fully. I had the impression of complete reality, and all that lies within and beyond it felt immediately imminent. The sense of awe and wonder this produced is not easy to convey. There was an acute feeling of being one with nature in a complete way as well as being one with the Divine, which produced great exultation.

"I was aware that he was walking by my side and of a strong bond between us. He stepped behind me and then walked into me so that we became one and I saw the surroundings through his eyes. At the same time, part of me--the recording, observing part--stood aside. The experience was not a form of possession but of identification.

"The moment he stepped into me, the woods became alive with myriads of beings--elementals, nymphs, dryads, fauns, elevs, gnomes, fairies--far too numerous to catalogue. They varied in size from tiny little beings a fraction of an inch in height--like the ones I saw swarming about on a clump of toadstools--to beautiful elfin creatures three of four feet tall. Some of them were dancing round me in a ring; all were welcoming and full of rejoicing. The Nature Spirits love and delight in the work they do and have to express this in movement.

"I felt as if I were outside time and space. Everything was happening in the Now. It is impossible to give more than a faint impression of the actuality of this experience, but I would stress the exultation and the feeling of joy and delight. In spite of the intense exhileration, there was an underlying peace, contentment, and a sense of spiritual presence.

"I found myself in a clearing at the end of this part of the Rhododendron Walk, where there is a great oak tree. I turned and walked back the way I had come. I now had pipes in my hands and was aware of shaggy legs and cloven hooves. I began to dance down the path, playing the pipes--the melody I had heard. The numerous birds responded, their songs making an exquisite counterpoint to the music of the pipes. All the nature beings were active, many dancing as they worked.

"When I had reached the spot where the experience had started, the heightened awareness began to fade and he withdrew, leaving me once more with my ordinary self. I stopped dancing and walked on. The pipes had gone. The change from this strange ecstatic experience to the normal reality of everyday life was not a disappointment. What I had experienced was still there; it is always there, as it is a part of the true reality. Because of our dulled sense and our habit of going through life wearing materialistic blinders in a condition verging on sleepwalking, we are unaware of the fantastic beauty of the life around us..."

Robert 'Roc' Crombie, quoted in the Magic of Findhorn (Paul Hawken)

some skecthes revisited slash resized!

2011-03-04T16:08:00.000-08:00

Poe

2011-02-01T07:50:00.000-08:00

This is a digital collage of some paintings i did during a life drawing sesh last semester. Law and Order!

desert dream

2011-01-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

I walked over the desert sands, my feet barely touching the coarse, shifting grains. As I walked, or flowed as it seemed, objects from my past appeared out of nowhere - but it was as if they had always been there; and I accepted each one without question.

Each object carried with it a combination of feelings from a certain time and place - landmarkers of time and emotion.

I left them all behind; I walked and walked.

No matter how long I kept on through this unpredictable landscape (and it seemed I had no choice or even thought of stopping), the sun remained - suspended - in the same spot in the sky, just above the horizon.

It was a tense, anxious sun, and the light it cast threatened that it would sink down at any moment, leaving me in darkness, in the vast wasteland of my own mind.

narrative proj - memory trigger

2011-01-09T20:48:00.000-08:00

(oodles 'o') doodles !

2011-01-09T20:34:00.000-08:00

2011-01-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

Barbados and cacti

2011-01-09T20:13:00.000-08:00

(written November something)

Lately I've been daydreaming about this coast in Barbadoes that i visited with my family when I was about 8. There was a long-abandoned hotel there, with an olympic-sized concrete swimming pool. Long-pillaged, long forgotten, merely a shell of past properity.

Anyhow, it was rather out of the way, in that not much else was close-by along that road. On that side of the island the water was much colder, and we found a large brain coral and many tiny jellyfish on the beach.

But it was a separate beach, below a cliff that continued out beyond where the hotel sat, that I keep thinking of. Both the cliff and the beach, I guess. I keep thinking about what that solitary beach would be like at night, and wanting to drive down that empty road on a clear night.

Imagine being on a small island in the middle of the ocean! Not too small, not a size that would make one feel vulnerable to the ocean, but an island of a size that you could drive from one end to the other in a day. (several hours long?) Still small enough though that you could get a sense of the entire thing, and you on it, surrounded by forever-deep, tumultuous, and sometimes gentle - WATER. Filled with LIFE! And so constant. And so ever-changing.

In Barbados I saw inside of a shark (no head), I swam in the ocean for the first time, and had my first exposure to Bob Marley. Also I learned the true meaning of a sun burn.

Barbados may be one of the first destinations.

illustrations!

2011-01-09T20:06:00.000-08:00

depicting community gardens/ vegetable gardening for thesis: my vision of the world post-oil

thesis: part of bee-keeping/ candle-making illustration

night in the hosta garden

we gathered in spring

2010-10-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

little edie animation

2010-04-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

for this assignment we were to take 10 second sound clip and animate it. I recently watched the movie 'Grey Gardens' based on the documentary about the eccentric/ reclusive cousin and aunt of Jackie Kennedy. And this is a clip from a ..longer clip I found on youtube from the actual documentary. Address for the full clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWEeJbuF3bM&feature=PlayList&p=A1638982C8217D29&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=16

2010-04-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

...to go with the animation, of course!

pencil crayon, marker endeavours

2010-03-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

more or less finished

2010-03-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

cropped for scanning purposes

predominantly pencil n pen (sketches, doodles)

2010-03-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

5 second animation!

2010-03-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

this was done in about 31 paintings/ photographs, my first stop motion/ painting animation. This process was inspired by the animations on http://www.blublu.org

carbonmade...

2010-01-19T11:18:00.000-08:00

link share! this is my carbonmade portfolio.

http://robinlaureltree.carbonmade.com

semi new, semi old

2010-01-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

this rainbow effect happened cause the neg was bent in my scanner. kinda like it though

the colors of some of these went kinda funny in translation from negative to digital...dunno what happened, but they appeared to have lost some of the colour, or saturation of colour that came out in the original prints....or, tone of the colours. So, I tried to make a few look more like the original prints, using photoshop, with sooomme success...still not so awesome. I would like to avoid using photoshop on my pictures, but here they are anyhow.

golden oldies!

2010-01-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

montreal

ottawa (above 3)

montreal

new york (above 9)

finally scanned old negs!

2009-12-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

syntheses

2009-12-09T21:26:00.000-08:00

last winter

2009-12-09T20:08:00.000-08:00

Beard Season in London!

2009-12-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

only the one pic of mike! it was very dark where he was standing unfortunately...

in any case, these were taken at a house show in London (ont.) last winter, of Beard Season! with Planet Earth videos projected onto the wall behind. Super cool! and great show too.

school work

2009-12-09T13:08:00.000-08:00

cut paper, water colour & ink...the assignment was to create an image of your interpretation of a 'perfectionist'

the New Yorker monacle man (Eustace Tilley!) redone.

playing around with mediaaa lalala

2009-10-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

a midence oliu millinery hat!

catch up, sketchiness

2009-10-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

spots!

2009-10-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

these were for a school project, we had to make 4 'spot' illustrations (4"x4") for statistics from a page of different ones we were given. I wanted them to look like old matchboxes, with few colors and with the colors slightly offsert. Drew and I tried to silkscreen them, but something happened with the emulsion, or somewhere along the way. so i colored these digitally but they still look almost screen-printed which is what i was going for. awesome!

on aveage children consume an extra 167 calories per hour of TV they watch.

this one had to do with a british non-profit organization turning weapins into tools for farmers in africa. accidentally colored over part of the hammer...

30% of Michigan counties have turned their paved roads to gravel ones to save money

there are 200 bikes for every 1 car in China

tea shoulders, a small animation

2009-10-06T07:50:00.000-07:00

2009-09-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

Midence Oliu Millinery

2009-09-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

this is a drawing of a hat created by Jorge (Midence Oliu Millinery) ! fierceliveshere.wordpress.com

amazing hats!

looking forward to more collab in tha fewcha.

fresh pink cattle !

2009-08-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

a dark scan of this oxen, in the frame.

octipedal heifer

on an old info-graphic illustration from last year..is not finished

2009-08-10T15:07:00.000-07:00

this is a charicature of hunter s. thompson, where the assignment was to experiment with a textured surface. when i looked up information about hunter s. the morning after making this portrait, i realised that this day was the 4th anniversary of his death! February 20th. i read that when he left a sheet of paper in his typewriter dated Feb. 22 '05, and with one word typed on it: 'counselor'.

scrassboard

2009-08-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

scratch board "halloween portrait" of myself done for media methods n materials.

also scratchboard, also media meth.

is a dinosaur doing a human-thing. icecream eating! we got to pull dinosaurs from a bag, and i got this velociraptor, i think its called...

direct trade!

2009-08-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

i learned the other day about something called 'direct trade' which apparently gives prices to farmers abour 25% higher than fair trade does....interesting. here is the link to the site:

http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/about/direct-trade

and below is a clutch/ wallet/ cloth envelope thing i made..
working on the sewing, still sort of beating about the bush with it though.

apoppyforpoppy

2009-08-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

(here it is poppy!!) the colours kinda changed when they were scanned, but talk to me gurl--tell me whatchoo think. i dont really like the leaves and stem action, but i can add or take away, let me know.
also, this is on the back of an old watercolour i did for painting class last year, thats why my name and other paint is on there...i dont know if i cropped it out, but it also says C 63 on it somewhere...haha! didn't do so well on that one..

hope i havent posted this one before...but, in any case, here is a small pun in celebration of the fact that i have new brakes on my bike! and bike is also now generally fixed up, thanks to papa bear on his visit here. my right (back) brake broke in september, it just popped as i was about to go down a hill! and the second one went the same way about 2 weeks ago maybe...just as i was trying to go around a car that was pulled out onto the sidewalk from an esso station (this was on a hill). i narrowly avoided hitting the car, but i hit drew who was ahead of me on his bike...it was one of the scariest experiences i can remember...only because it was on such a busy road and i was heading right for a busy intersection..yeeeshh..but all is well now :)

THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD BUY FAIR TRADE !!

2009-08-02T17:11:00.000-07:00

All throughout developing countries, farmers work tirelessly only to receive very little pay for their crops of coffee beans. Due to the unpredictability of the growing season, and the demands of large companies who care little about the people and places their coffees come from, farmers are having to sacrifice everything—including their land and the quality of the beans—to maximize production in order to feed and clothe their families. Though the market is still dominated by such companies, the growing Fair Trade industry is helping to turn this around.

The major difference between Fair Trading companies and large-scale conventional trading companies is the lack of middlemen. Fair Traders buy directly from small-scale farming cooperatives, formed by independent farmers—giving the farmers direct access to the “global marketplace,” and providing them with the opportunity to develop the confidence and skills needed to compete in the world of business. Fair Trade certification ensures that farmers will receive that fair price, according to international minimum prices, and the personal interaction allows for prices to be decided upon by both grower and buyer, through a policy of shared decisions and shared profits. Farmers are also guaranteed the security of advance credit in case bad weather or pests ruin their crops. These small graces allow for a steady living wage for farmers and their families, leading to higher living standards, thriving communities and more sustainable farming practices.

In the conventional coffee trading system, coffee is grown either on plantations, which pay their workers “day rates” for farm labor, or by independent growers who depend on local dealers to find importers and speculators. The green coffee is sent to the importers’ warehouses, and is then sold by the importers to roasters and retailers for up to 14 to 20 times the actual value of the goods and what was given to the grower. Since coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world, traders and speculators have plenty of options when it comes to who they buy from, and they decide on the price they will pay, taking full advantage of the fact that farmers have to take what they can get for their harvests in order to make any money at all. With the Fair Trade guaranteed advance credit, farmers don’t have to worry when, like other commodities, coffee production goes through times of shortage or oversupply. When dealing with conventional commodities traders, however, farmers often have to turn to clear-cutting their land and the use of harmful chemicals in order to maximize their profits. Even so, statistics show that while there have been periods where growers have received a higher price for their goods, for the majority of the time the average price has been below the cost of labor and production. As a result, farmers have even resorted to the growing of illicit plants such as coca, poppies and marijuana for the illegal drug trade—just to feed their families.

Farmers who work with Fair Trade cooperatives can put the profits they earn to good use. A community in East Timor, for example, has invested in a health care program which includes 8 permanent and 24 mobile clinics that provide free services to coffee growers and their families, and deal with more than 12,000 monthly cases on average. In Costa Rica, some of the money has been used to build roads and to pay for a bus service so that the children of the growers can go to school—something they couldn’t do 10 years ago. In a quote from a Fair Trade website, a farmer speaks of the impact Fair Trade has had on his community: “Before Fair Trade, our children were malnourished and many of us could not afford to put shoes on our feet! With Fair Trade we are able to do this and more. With the Fair Trade premium we have renovated a soccer field in town, put a new roof on the local school and paid for emergency medical expenses for some of our members.” Many farmers also put their money towards additional “cash crops” to give their land some diversity and so that they don’t have to rely solely on the sale of coffee beans for an income. The coffee plant itself is a sort of shrub that loves the shade and flourishes when grown under the canopy of diverse tree species. Traditional, or “shade-grown” coffee farms which serve as vital habitats for entire ecosystems—consisting of an array of plants, animals, insects, migratory and local birds and even micro-organisms—by maintaining this shade cover and diversity of trees. These forest ecosystems are one of the most endangered in the world because of the prevalence of modern coffee plantations—where the land is clear-cut and the coffee is not shade-grown—and all manner of wildlife are deprived of their natural habitat. By contrast, farmers under the Fair Trade system are given room to breathe and have time, money and incentive to care for the land and its ecosystems, because they can rely on long-term partnerships in trade which will last through good times and bad. This assures that farmers will use eco-friendly practices and procedures and that they grow products that are healthy for the environment and everyone involved.

Clear-cutting is a process which involves removing all of the trees from a forest or area of land. Large-scale, or “sun-grown” coffee production often stipulates intensive clear-cutting leaving just the coffee plants with the purpose of having room to plant more. This not only deprives wildlife of their home, thereby endangering many species and reducing biodiversity, but it also erodes the soil. The top layer of soil, called humus or topsoil, is rich in nutrients and is essential for plant growth. On traditional farms, the roots of the large trees around the coffee plants help to keep this layer in place—protecting against wind and rain, two of the most common causes of erosion. Without the trees, this layer is soon swept away, and the sun-grown plantations are left with soil that is infertile, and fertilizers are needed to enable coffee plants to grow. In the process of clear-cutting, worms and bacteria which enrich the soil and help protect the coffee plants from disease are also removed. On shade-grown farms, the many species of trees and plants create natural mulch on the forest floor as they decompose and provide all the nutrients coffee plants need—no artificial fertilizers are needed or used.

Large populations of many species of birds inhabit the Fair Trade coffee growing forests, but they are virtually absent from sun-grown plantations because of the lack of trees. In fact, it has been found that almost 95% fewer bird species inhabit these plantations. These birds eat the insects that harm coffee plants and ruin harvests. So, without them, the use of large amounts of pesticides is required. More chemicals are also needed to ward off the diseases which exposure to hot sun makes coffee more susceptible to. All of these chemicals—the fertilizers, pesticides and other toxic agro-chemicals—are detrimental and not only do they kill birds and harmless insects, but they have caused many pickers to fall ill and, in a few cases, some have even died. Furthermore, these chemicals sink into the soil where they infiltrate the groundwater, making it unsafe to drink. Without the large tree roots to hold them back, the chemicals are also swept away by the rain, along with the soil, only to pollute nearby lakes and rivers.

We are warned by a fair trade website which states, “If we use up the resources of the planet with no thought to the future, we are ensuring our own demise.” This is evident in the timber industry, where it was realized too late the effects clear-cutting has on the environment, the land and wildlife. The fishing industry is headed in the same direction. If conventional trading continues to dominate the coffee market, and if care is not taken to protect natural resources and ensure that we are harvesting the land in a sustainable fashion, then the coffee industry will shortly end up the same way. On a positive note, some cooperatives have used their Fair Trade profits to invest in new eco-friendly processing mills which greatly reduce the use of natural resources, and all use methods which will sustain the land for many future generations to come. However, recent studies show that the Earth’s resources are being depleted in unprecedented quantities. A new ethical model for business has been proposed by Fair Trade organizations to “sustain the resources on which it depends and includes a plan for includes a plan for recycling the waste a company generates.” As it stands, most Fair Trade farming co-ops are only able to sell a fraction of their yields to Fair Traders, as the demand for Fair Trade is not enough to consume the available supply. Farmers are forced to sell the rest to conventional buyers for much lower prices. As demand increases for Fair Trade products, it enables certified farming groups to sell a greater share of their harvests on Fair Trade terms. Hopefully, these groups will be able to expand further, extending the benefits of Fair Trade to more and more farmers.

By choosing to buy a cup of Fair Trade coffee, you are choosing to help sustain land for future generations; you are helping maintain a home for an array of flora and fauna; and you are helping to provide basic needs for families in developing countries—things like food, shelter, clothing and a decent education. Now that you know what’s behind the making of your latté, presented to you now with cocoa on top, just the way you like it, would you choose to support the exploitation of resources and the cheating of farmers in developing countries? Would you choose to place them in an uncertain financial situation and force them to clear-cut their land and possibly make themselves sick with the use of toxic chemicals? Or how about contributing to the endangerment and extinction of many species which rely on the ecosystem Fair Trade growing methods maintain? You may not think that buying a cup of conventionally grown coffee every now and then will make a difference, but why not put that two dollars towards a school in Guatemala, or a clinic in Peru?

2009-08-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

to the right to the right

2009-08-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

2009-07-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

these are our balcony plants! we have a tomato plant, oregano, parsley, basil and rosemary

this cat was stalking this lady, who was walking her dog, for so long! it was so funny. except for the part where i didnt get the dog in the picture.

telephoto-happy

2009-07-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

shizz-am new and old

2009-07-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

this is a scratchboard (ink on white plastic, or other white surface, then scratched away by a scratchboard tool once ink is dry) image of some of the architecture inside my school...goddamn perspective.

feist, lyrical

from the trusty oxford dictionaire!

i actually do own this chair, but not the desk ..yet :)

this is the beginning of a poppy i am drawing for my friend poppy. it may hopefully become a tattoo!

this, which was too much animal to fit in my scanner, was a project i did for media methods class last year. we had to experiment with gesso to make a 3-D ish texture on a monster of our own invention. the mane is the gesso part.. painted purple with yellow ochre brushed over the raised parts.

the same, another paper

drew fixes bike while trees grow leaves

2009-07-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

springtime in the valley

2009-07-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

2009-07-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

down on the corner

2009-07-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

2009-07-03T15:28:00.000-07:00

i want to feel like this woman looks. i cut her out of a national geographic because it inspired me...she looks so deeply happy and peaceful, like she is completely centred and has absolute faith in...something. what she wants to have faith in. in her face i see that sort of overwhelming joy that floods you and you can feel it tingling throughout...know what i mean? like you are almost crying you are so deeply and securely happy.

doodles, zoodles..

STUFF I LIKE

2009-07-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

this is 3D in real life, but doesnt actually work unfortunately.

2009-07-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

oxenmoreoxen

2009-07-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

and if it wasn't obvious, this one is on fabric :)

galaxies

2009-06-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

third day of summer

2009-06-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

front

back

this is a picture of a wierd looking espresso machine i found on the internet.

yet another satellite picture found in the garbage!

courtesy nat'l geo

i scanned a bunch of things that i like.

but this is not all of it...

so everything has felt different since the summer solstice, different astrological influence? people are nicer, certain things are easier, certain things just feel different...its hard to explain. and the day of the solstice itself was a bit intense and crazy, a climactic/ dramatic shift/turnover. i feel like everything has jumped forward a bit, and consciousness is a bit different..

its like the tide is pulling out, everything is relaxing and calming down.

I am able to look at things differently. and some things are more obvious now that weren't before.

i'm supposed to be cleaning my apartment right now. but i had to do this first, anything to procrastinate!

drew and i are thinking of putting grass om our balcony, no more concrete.

mail from lillian today ! recieving mail is one of the best, most exciting things ever ever. people always say to me, 'aw man.. i wish I got mail... ' but the thing is you have to send someone mail to get mail back! I highly recommend pen-palling. its good for the soul...

2009-06-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

2009-06-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

animals for sale!

2009-06-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

i am silkscreening oxen! and adding things to them. more to come..

2009-06-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

there is a room of henri moore statues at the AGO in TO

last last fall

these are before and after shots,

left: just awoken.

right: groomed and ready

this post is about travel

2009-06-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

colour photos taken at head-smashed-in buffalo jump in Alberta (?) or B.C. I think its Alberta. b/w photo i found in a thrift store in Guelph, there were many many pictures of steamers on the St. Lawrence or other, all by same photographer, over the 70s and 80s. wierd. so i bought a bunch. and the other is a coaster from val vill...

the place is called head-smashed-in not because it is where the native americans used to drive buffalo off the cliff there (such a complex and interesting proceedings) but because one time one native wanted to watch the buffalo falling from below, from the base of the cliff. i guess he got hit by one, or trapped under one, and then more and more...and was discovered at the end of it all, quite dead and ...with his head smashed in.

2009-06-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

2009-06-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

thanks, Katherine.

ode to national geographic

2009-06-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

when i painted this yellow one (on a tile a later found out is very likely an asbestos tile) i painted it sideways to how it is here, just placing colour and shape down, and only after completing it and turning it on its different sides did i see that i had painted a sun.

b(l)acklogue

2009-06-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

the chickens above were a photocopying mishap, happy-accident, and the head is an image i used for silkscreening on some tshirts that i am still working on adding things to. top image is a universe...

dictionary day

2009-06-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

i really like looking through illustrated dictionaries...something about the style of drawing. detailed, satisfying line drawings of cool things... learning facts is fun too!

drew and mike are TEAM AWESOME

2009-06-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

seriousness

2009-06-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

the bottom image on this one is from some book lillian had.... ^

when the mind wanders and things just appear on the page.

ridges

2009-06-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

this one i found in the garbage last summer.

you, know, THE garbage, the collective garbage of everyone who produces garbage, all of the garbage that IS. not 'someone's' garbage, 'the' garbage.

you can find some pretty crazy stuff sometimes. like a trove of wierd/ interesting overhead pictures of land that doesnt always look earthly....

wierd where you can find similar looking things...parallels, ridges, ranges, wrinkles, bends, folds, fabric, rock, bark.

the birds and the bees

2009-06-02T15:54:00.000-07:00

drawing by ernst haeckel

today's Shakti Gawain thought is:

"Most people do have some sense of what they would love to be doing, but this feeling is often repressed and is experienced only in the form of some wildly impractical fantasy. Get in touch with your fantasies. Observe and explore thoroughly your most incredible fantasy. There is truth in your desire, even if it seems impossible. It is telling you something about who you really are and what you want to be doing."

There is a new shop in Kensington Market called Good Blood Bad Blood (there may be an 'and' in there) and a few days ago Drew and I went in there and began chatting with the guy in there. He is one of (I think) 7 artists, mostly from OCAD who take shifts running the shop and who all make art to sell in their shop. It is mostly silkscreened prints and shirts, but also little fugurines and jewellry, drawings, etchings...so cool! they are renting the space together, and there is no cut on their sales because it is their own colectively owned store! wow. The guy working when we went in really inspired us to just make art! and not focus so much on an alternate job for income...so much energy and time goes into a full time retail or whatever job, not leaving much time for art, the passion. He said he is making less money, but is soo happy, happy to be making art all the time, and selling it.

living to work, or working to live?

other such fancies

2009-06-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

further little doodles...less recent, less time spent, still a flow from beyond the mind, or the conscious mind...

yesterday Drew and i found matching buttons at the goodwill that said "turn ideas into action.. DO IT NOW!" on them. A sentiment worth considering. We also found a little book by Shakti Gawain, with daily meditations. The one for June 1 said " Money is a symbol of our creative energy. The more willing and able we are to open to the universe, the more money we will have in our lives. Our ability to earn and spend money abundantly and wisely is based on our ability to be a channel for the universe. The stronger and more open our channel is, the more will flow through it" and the mantra for the day: "my channel is open and money is flowing to me".

I beleive it. And living entirely in the present, not in the past or future, and in the present observing everything and seeing the beauty in all helps greatly to open channels for the universe to flow through.

so while at the goodwill i bought a nice bag for three dollars, one like i had been wanting for a while. and when i got outside the store and looked into one of the many pockets, there was a twonie (toonie?) inside it! woah. the universe is amazing!

the recent moleskine

2009-06-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

so here are some of my newer drawings, and i am liking the direction they are going, or perhaps i just like the pen i have now...hard to tell. in any case, most of these were done on the plane home from calgary about a week ago. i went into some sort of high-altitude trance where i was very drawn (no pun) into what i was doing, and just drew fluidly for a long concentrated period of time. wierd. anyway, i like this pen i have. just a black ballpoint, but i find the pen and the paper you have can truly affect your art and your inspiration.

lately i have been endeavouring to just DRAW, and not THINK about it. not worry or consider the end result, just draw from my ..core i guess...if that makes any sense. kind of like a stream of consciousness from my brain or whatever down my arm and flowing out the pen. its hard sometimes, to not think and to let go...but its important to do that i think.

2009-04-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

final computers project, an animation based on a Vincent Price radio story/ clip called "Escape" ! lotsa fun. enjoy :)

2009-01-26T18:41:00.000-08:00

today i ate a grapefruit and actually thoroughly enjoyed it.

i found my inspiration in Gauguin.

class was great, i actually tried, went outside the minimum--my box of comfort, and loved it.

one time i went a bit crazy and i thought you would want to hear about it.

2008-12-16T11:54:00.000-08:00

july

Is it so bad to only remember the good? In times of strife she turns to writing. "Time cannot destroy what affection has built." Truth? "there is no such thing as a lie!" "I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled." Thoughts like fragments of clouds drifting across the moon, illumined briefly, then move on, dissapate.
As they walked out of the theatre to face the full moon (full on! full face!) she thought, she felt, that most of the time she couldn't see or move, so steeped was she in shoulds and supposed-to's. Fermented, berrated, her whole life, society surrounded her on all sides as though she was submerged entirely in a vast pool of it. Why was it that coming out of highschool it was not when or if, it was simply where--which school will you be attending next year? Schools were the only options. I didn't have a chance to consider other options, I wasnt given the time. Oh lucky, fortunate, certainly. But one begins to lose oneself in the lives of other people's visions for you--pleasing always came naturally. I did it for them. But don't tell them that. Parents begin to draw fear around them, draw her in, within the folds! Our fear will protect her, oh yes.
Why are we scared of things yet to come? They aren't a reality yet! How can you possibly know they will come to be? Why does fear of the future have to overpower the present? "Each moment should be treasured." A sign found while seeking abandoned bus transfers. Ah yes, those were the days..
What if the future never comes? And all our presents were spent, wasted ("lives cannot be spent!") planning for it? How would you feel then? We've lost our intuition, we've lost our connection with our bodies, the Earth, perhaps even eachother. What I value most can only come from experience. Living, you know. Gotta save up for the future, gotta plan it. Planet. plan it, dammit. Or just do it? Did you consider...living in the moment? What if we went along, guided by our feelings and intuitions, considered desires and bodily demands? Listen to your body! Feel it! Sit down, close your eyes and be yourself, listen to where there are aches and pains, and right them. feel that you are who you are, where you are, in this body, these hands, these veins, these muscles, this heart.
It seems to me that a lot of us are running on auto-pilot. Don't look ahead, be where you are! dedicate yourself to what you are currently doing, pour your focus and energy (your all!) into your present actions, and always try to be fully aware of every part of your body, and make sure it is comfortable and satisfied. Stress is for chumps, it will cause disease and take years off your life. This is to say, slooowww doowwwn.

Life is exciting, you know. It can be. If you want it. How could we have forgotten that life is an adventure!? Create your own story. whoa. And I think I forgot, too, that love is a good thing. Luckily Gladys Knight reminded me.
Need to figure out what I want, what I think, what I need. what what what. I I I. What if..? Don't leave space for what if's..!

Oh no, you CAN'T do what you WANT to do, you MUST do what you SHOULD do. Does that seem silly in some way?

She waited until her parents had gone to bed to go commune with the moon, but lo and behold, as she walked out into her backyard, into the night, she saw that clouds had completely obscured the moon and stars--the entire sky was shrouded
she
had
missed

her

chance.

"A tale of two milkcrates! that's right, not all milkcrates are created equal..." whoa, four months of summer. Time to accomplish pretty much anything. Man. that's so much time. And really 8 months goes by so quick, the work is pretty mindless anyway. Pick up a few tricks along the way, only 3 more years to go, and its good experience. I can pick up experience to prepare me for my Awesome future, awesome. "Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin' into the future..." ..Like a chain, this. Chain of letters, Chain of thought. "Chain of fools!" People would take me more seriously, I could be hired at a Good Job (do I want a Good Job?) for how I look on paper. That's the real world, sister. Need that diploma, gotta getch'r degree. Its only 3 more years.
My back is not happy. I will continue to write.
What if you regret not finishing it later on in life? Just get it over and done with, that's what they all say. I'll probably wish I'd finished when I'm older if I don't now. But do I need it..?

Law of attraction in the Universe! Anything you want--WILL come to you!

I envisioned a life, I was, we were
fixing a kite behind a small yellow cottage fronting onto a gorgeous little lake, quiet, populated with like-minded or otherwise interesting individuals..
A bedroom, a kitchen, living space, a porch. Few possessions, lamp light at night
Transitory, cute.

part-timers as one, so much time to DO what you want.
explore, create, evolve.
..an intuition.

THINK, PAINT, DIGEST, EXPLORE, SEW, READ, WANDER, LEARN, CANOE, TEACH, COOK, BUILD, TRY, VERB, VERB, VERB. SELL. ART. WRITE A BOOK! LEARN HOW TO...
HAVE CONVERSATIONS OF CHANCE MEETING.
CLOUDGAZE. BIKE. MEDITATE. EXCERCISE. YOGA.

dare to be multifaceted !

my internal strife of july 2008.
i just found it now, and i'm not sure how i feel yet. I'm afraid that i agree with much of what is said, but i've made my decision, against my better judgement, mainly because i don't have the guts to drop out of school, i am a bit afraid of the future, but i'm not sure if the fear is mine or not...

2008-12-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

HEY SO My threadless desgin is up for voting! So please vote! Thanksthanks :) hopefully it will be printed, but I do feel it could look a little better...anyway, Check it out here:

http://www.threadless.com/submission/186741/hoo_ombres

supposed to be doing research methods shizz right now, tallying surveys, drawing conclusions, making percentages, that kind of thing. I just have no interest in that...i'll get to it eventually...

Party a success! Band a-mazing!

just wanted everyone to know...it went well !

actually something interesting did happen. The next morning, I went out to check the mailbox, and happened to look to my right to the corner of the next street over, and who should be sitting there in the middle of the sidewalk looking perky ..but my bike! it was the wierdest thing. Kickstand down and everything, it had been taken and left about a block away. Probably because the back tire was totally flat. ahahaha

bUT upon arriving back home with my bike, I discovered, as I had expected to, that Kyle and Monica's bikes had been stolen.

THAT NIGHT however, Kyle, Kajsa, Drew and I were at this party in an apartment building, 14 floors up. halfway through the night, Kyle was looking over the balcony, and happened to see Monica's bike, illuminated, leaning against the pizza store down at street level.. (!)

Drew, Kyle and this other guy Dean (who had pepper spray and came along juss in case) went down to retrieve it. (i think this is how this part goes..)Walking back from locking it up at Drew's, the boys saw this gangstaaa standing where the bike had been, on his cell phone, guesturing and talking angrily.. (he had been at our party the night before, tryna sell drugs, it was not cool and we didnt know who he was) ANYWAY going back into the buildings, the guy ended up going in the elevator with our heroes, and pointed at Dean (the only one who hadnt been at our party) and said.."Do I know you? You look familiar" hahahaha sooo funnyyy..he ended up at the party we were at, which was slightly unnerving, this wasnt someone anyone really wanted around. egh, shudder.

Interesting though, how the things we lose have a way of finding us again... in the most unlikely of circumstances sometimes..

Gave away some clothes to the roomates today. step one..

2008-11-28T14:28:00.000-08:00

OUT OF COFFEE, how sad...

today is our party! my boyfriend's band Beard Season ( http://www.myspace.com/beardseasonband )will be playing, which is so exciting! I always heard these stories from my dad about parties with live bands...finally i get to experience one!

I have brought everything i own from dowstairs and around up into my room and it is now an absolute disaster! not that it wasnt before................But the point is, i need to both get rid of A LOT OF SHIT and also learn how to organize..this summer I gave away 5 garbage bags full of clothing, and I still have too much! I need to learn how to not be so attached to the objects that I have, because they just weigh me down and clutter my space, and though I try to deny it, because the natural state of my room, and any area i occupy, is CHAOS, a cluttered room sort of equals a cluttered mind...and I just dont like having a messy room! i cant fiiiind anything, I cant waaaalk anywhere........my stuff gets dusty or bent...

When you really think about it, there are SO MANY OBJECTS in the world, that almost anything you have, unless it is an original creation by someone, like a drawing or letter...can be found again elsewhere! or very nearly replicated at least. Perhaps replaced by something better! So why hoard these things when we dont need them? when need arises, then get what you need, find what you are looking for...but until then, why do I have so much STUFF??

I have multiples of most things, way too much random crap I never use, that I keep around because I like it...and I feel that that is okay, but I do have to get rid of a lot of it. i gotta de-clutter my life. soon.

2008-11-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

skipping class today.
need to clean the house for the S party.

and make tinfoil lightning bolts for my costume.

and EAT CHOCOLATE, my mom sent me 3 bars of cocoa camino chocolate in the mail (mint, bittersweet and espresso..mm!) as well as one of those advent calenders that has pictures when you open the tabs instead of chocolate..i like those better :)

this is a good thing to keep in mind:

(from a book my friend lillian was reading..)

"Two persons are sitting in the same draught.The one is injurously affected by it, the other experiences not even an inconvenience, but he rather enjoys it. The one is a creature of circumstances; he fears the draught, cringes before it, continually thinks of the harm it is doing him. In other words, he opens every avenue for it to enter and take hold of him, and so it, harmless and beneficient in itself, brings to him exactly what he has empowered it to bring. The other recognizes himself as a master over, and not the creature of, circumstances. He is not concerned by the draught, He puts himself into harmony with it, makes himself positive to it.

...the mental attitude we take towards anything determines to a greater or less extent its effect upon us."

-Ralph Waldo Trine

2008-11-26T17:25:00.000-08:00

space oddity it is!

bowwwiee

umm

having some troubles with teachers lately, or rather today...i find my style doesnt suit the projects or SOMETHING even if i try and i LOVE what i've done, I cant seem to please them, and i always receive poor marks...as in C's or D's, whether I try or not. I get the same marks. Its pretty....disheartening, i would say.

gotta do other things to be happy, like make my own art, think about hitting my teacher over the head with my paintinggIMEAN do yoga or something calming like that. My roomate Kajsa and I signed up for 8 weeks of yoga and we only went to one class! talk about lack of committment. i should try and do it on my own time, but the problem is location..

need to do silkscreening soon. i love it, and its soo satisfying

i read this in a book i have, this is the kind of mentality i want to have all the time, regarding every situation, but it is not so easy..

"Life is what you make it. Why not find the best in every situation and enjoy it to the full, no matter where you are and what you are doing? Never waste time and energy wishing you were somewhere else. You may not always understand why you find yourself where you are, but you may be sure there is a very good reason and that there is a lesson to be learnt. Do not fight against it, but find out what that lesson is and learn it quickly so that you can move on. You would not want to remain static would you? As you cease resisting and simply accept the lessons to be learnt, taking them all in your stride, you will find life much easier and, what is more, you will enjoy the changes which take place. A plant does not resist growth or change; it simply flows with it and unfolds in true perfection. Why don't you do the same?"

- Eileen Caddy

I feel like I need to confront my teachers about why I am getting such poor marks, so I can learn how to improve or please them more...as well as listen more closely to their demonstrations and explanations...and stop resisting their methods ...thinking mostly of painting here i guess ..

i enjoy it until i become disheartened by teachers who shut me down ..with comments or bad marks, like a 57 i got today on a painting i really enjoyed painting and was pretty happy with...who's to say who is in the wrong, if anyone is...i guess its all too subjective..

2008-11-25T20:07:00.000-08:00

sometimes, somebody such as mysself simply seems unable to summon a scintillating, super sweet IDEA, y'know?

So I'm hosting an S party this weekend. the theme is S. any costume that starts with the letter S... As one of the hosts, and the creator of this sweeeeeet idea, i feel obligated to have a super sweet costume, but i can't ssssink of a single one!

so far my ideas are:

- star spangled (tinfoil stars on black or silver dress)

- saturn (uhhh.....)

-silver(y)

- space oddity (bowie!)

- (a) swarm (of..)

- solar system

- splattered

-straight up O G

- sea
-silk(y)

ssssssssssighhh

i dunno

sssssssssuggestions, my few readers?

2008-11-25T17:03:00.000-08:00

Confucious said:

"the superior man attends to the spiritual things and not to his livelihood"

THE FROST

Young Man,

Seize every minute

of your time.

The days fly by;

Ere long you too

Will grow old.

If you beleive me not

See there, in the courtyard,

How the frost

Glitters white and cold and cruel

On the grass
That was once green.

- Tzu Yeh

despite this, these thoughts..

I've decided to stick it out. school. my cousin is done school in a few weeks, after 4 1/2 years of University, she is writing her last essay and now heading out into the world with a 1 way ticket to Europe.....but after putting in the work. I think, although i feel that i should do what i wanna do when i wanna do it, i will get school behind me completed. it'll be worth it in the end, i will just choose to enjoy what i'm doing when i'm doing it and not think about what other wonderful things i could be doing at this time, the time for those things will come......perhaps when i have earned them?

curiosities

2008-11-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

TODAY i saw a migration of robin-birds on my way back from class, i've been watching their agitation and group gatherings for some weeks now.

AND while taking out the garbage, i noticed that the object i had assumed to be a large bird house on the side of my house, as that is exactly what it looks like, actually was not a bird house at all. And in fact contained a blue corded phone which is attached to the house...it looks old but apparently was not there at the beginning of the year.

how strange.

2008-11-25T07:43:00.000-08:00

today's theme is green...and walls.

this one time, about a month after my landlord installed new floors in my room and i painted my walls, i spilled an entire bottle of ink in my lap/ on my wall and floor.... but i secretly love the spill. it has character or, rather, adds character to my room i suppose.

please note the toes.

2008-11-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

my other roomate monica climbing the same tree...

the photographs begin!

2008-11-24T20:11:00.000-08:00

So one of my main passions is photography, as a form of art to experiment with. I have a 35mm Asahi Pentax and up until now I had only prints...but my roomate Kyle was nice enough to scan some of my photographs today, which I am super excited about. This first one is of Kyle climbing a tree this summer when we wandered around downtown one day...taken behind the Nat'l art gallery..

2008-11-23T18:07:00.000-08:00