Tuesday Tunes

White Birch// Your Spain

Leonard Cohen// Is This What You Wanted

Other news!

I forgot! I got a job. 

I will be nannying a 13 month old little girl, 4 hours a day for like the rest of university (hopefully!).

She's hoping to rework the schedule around mine when I'm back in school. 

It sounds like the dream job. Not only do I get to hang out with a baby every day, but the mom is an artist. She needs me so she can start painting again- how coool is this?! I'm really looking forward to it. It's also a good opportunity for me to have part time work that will allow me to come home and have time to work on my own art. I kind of have a goal this summer to paint like crazy and start showing in The Well Alliston, and any other possible venues in Toronto and see if I can get my name out there and maybe sell a few paintings. If it doesn't go that well, I can always get a job for the evenings. Although I'm kind of hoping I don't have to. But you know.... money + tuition......

I will also be making a new website. You may have seen my last one, but I think I'm going to actually pay for a domain and everything and make it nice, shiny, and professional. 

Thanks for all of your support you guys. 

I'm coming up on 3000 page views, within the last month or so. Which is really exciting for me. I hate asking people to share my blog and stuff. But I do have those lil buttons under here, so if you do wanna- go ahead ! ;) I'll probably start promoting it more once I start selling my work. Then I'll be asking like crazy. 

I have been so blessed. 

All my love,

H

Sad News: Thinks that broke in the move

There were a few things that were dropped, or thrown, or jumbled around during the move. And since we moved most of the stuff ourselves, there's nobody we can even blame.

First: Our speakers. They cost us $8 at a garage sale, (with a knife block thrown in!) and were actually pretty good.

They certainly went loud enough for our apartment building, and we were happy with them. They even matched most of our furniture. Unfortunately when we were finally settled enough to set them up, we found out that they had somehow blown in the move. They work, but buzz a lot now with ANY music. Aj tried to fix them (that's what the t-shirt stuffed into it is about)... but it didn't really help so we've resorted to using my bass amp.

And now you can see why I haven't posted pictures of our place yet. It's a mess. We're in the middle of final projects, and exams. And there's art stuff EVERYWHERE. Also you'll notice those weird cushions in the background. That brings me to the next one:

The couch:

Our couch was kind of infamous for being a few things.

1. Really freakin' heavy

2. Very uncomfortable

3. Too big to get in the front door of the apartment

Yes, it was dragged up the fire escape to get into the last apartment. And there's an equally interesting story about how it was taken out but I'll let Andrew write about that one. If he doesn't within the next few days, I'll probably just tell you because it's slightly hilarious, and also really sad.

Anywho, it's gone. We just kept the cushions. I'm planning on making them floor cushions - we don't really need a couch, especially not that one. But for now they sit there and are ugly and uncomfortable. But hey. They're the same comfi-ness as the couch, because they are the same couch reduced to cushions. 

I dropped the PS3 out of the truck while we were moving. It did like 6 somersaults. However, it still works. Good job Sony.

The last thing, and possibly the saddest thing, is one of our record players.

It stopped working altogether when we first got here. Aj fixed it temporarily- maybe I'll get him to write about it because all I know is that he put that little red button on, and it started working. He says it still isn't quite right, but right now it's hard to say since the speakers are broken and that's all it would play on. So hopefully this one ends up being ok, but for now we're a little bit worried. It's pretty new. (not the BEST quality, but it was still a recent purchase and one that we actually bought new instead of used...)

So yes, that's the sad news of the day.

On the bright side, we're having beautiful weather and have been making an effort (and actually following through with it) to go for walks every day, and keep on top of our homework.

 I may post some pictures later of our final projects, but for now they're not quite finished. Aj's working on a sweet self-portrait, and a sculpture, both are lovely.

I'm working on a self-portrait as well, and a big drawing of a forest. We'll see how that goes.

Happy weekend ! 

Is it Possible to Love Anyone Forever?

So I just came across an article called "Is it Possible to Love Anyone Forever?" and was pretty disappointed when I read it. Here's the link for the article if you want to be incredibly discouraged for your future:

Is it Possible to Love Anyone Forever?

I have a few issues with the article. I am not an expert- I am currently unmarried, but living with my boyfriend. We've only been together a year and a half. But I have very good examples in my life of strong marriages, and I want to share what they have taught me about a marriage and about love. I have one big issue with this article. (a few small ones, but one big one)

The guy that wrote this writes, "Love is, after all, an emotion—and just like anger, despair, or euphoria, it can be insubordinate to our conscious wishes."

As soon as I read that I thought- no wonder he can't keep anyone around. My parents have taught me, as well as led by example that love is an action. It is something you choose. If my parents ever fought (and apparently they did), I wouldn't have known. I don't once EVER remember my parents being angry at eachother, or unloving. They made a point of choosing love when we were around. I have been very blessed to live in a home like this: I never heard my parents fight. And guys- that's a HUGE deal, because what this guy is saying is true for a LOT of people.

At first, maybe it's those butterflies, and feeling warm, and being infatuated with someone, but if we all left our partners as soon as we didn't feel those things- nobody would last. And chances are, you'll feel those things again if you stick it out. It might even get better. Andrew has said to me a ton of times that when we moved in together, his dad said to him, "Choose your battles." and I think that's what love is about. It's really hard to try to define love, so I don't want to sound like I am. But I think a part of it is just making loving choices. Choose joy, choose peace, choose love in your relationships. I talked to my grandmother recently, and since my grandfather has died she's been making an effort to share with us more about them and their lives. She said to me (I'm paraphrasing here), that love is hard. It sucks sometimes. It could definitely be easier to be single. But after sticking it out for 50 years, she could say that she still loved my grandpa. They were still in love. Because they chose to be.

She talked about moving to Canada, and that it was a hard time for them. When Grandma got to Canada, she hated it and the thing she had feared the most happened - her mom died while she was abroad. And she kind of blamed my Grandpa for bringing her here. She could have packed her bags, and headed back to Scotland when she went for the funeral. Her kids were old enough to take care of themselves with Grandpa. She could have left. But by staying, and facing some rocky patches in her relationship with my Grandpa, and sticking out some lonely years not knowing anyone, and having ugly weather here, she wouldn't change a thing. She has no regrets. Neither of them do. And I think making it to their 50th anniversary this year is huge. I want to be able to do that too. But it's going to be pretty freaking hard to make it there if I walk out on Andrew after petty fights, or slight disagreements. Love has always been hard, I don't think it's getting harder- maybe we're getting worse at being in love; obviously society is changing along with our mindsets, maybe the staggering divorce rates are discouraging (or encouraging if you're getting divorced- everyone else is doing it right?), but I don't think love is getting harder.

We've all got this weird idea that being in love is easy. Something effortless, and nice, and pretty. That we could all be in lifestyle magazines or blogs, and have showy perfect lives. But here's the truth. That's BS. And if you ask me, I'd rather have one partner that's been to hell and back with me, than a handful that are still getting to know me when they say 'see yea! love is hard.'

So if you read that article, or if you read my little one here- I hope you're encouraged. It is possible to be in love forever. My grandparents were, and they're the best people in the world.

And my parents will be. I can tell you that I KNOW that. They made a vow to eachother 20 years ago, that they will not break. If they were going to, they would have already- because it's been hard. But they're fighters - for eachother, not against eachother.

Andrew, I love you, namaste, I am for you.

Encaustic Wax Painting

Hey! I'm working on a project right now that I used encaustic wax painting for, and I thought I'd show you how to do it. Everytime I think of doing it, I think it's going to be a huge hassle, but it's not. It's really fun, and straight-forward.

Here's what you need:
beeswax
oil paint
tin cans (one for every colour you plan on using)
Wooden panel/canvas
drop sheet (if you're as messy as I am)

optional: you can use things like lighters, blow torches, scraping tools, and whatever else you can think of to shape the wax, or reheat it, melt it, scratch into it, wipe paint into it- it's very forgiving and very experimental. The nice thing about it, is that if you don't like what you've done, wait for it to cool and scrape it off. Not only can you scrape off what you don't like, but you can reuse it by making a 'dump can' where you put all your scrapings to reheat.

I use this beeswax which is available at Curries:

And I use these oil paints, although if you're doing this and don't have oil paints- the large tubes are wholly unnecessary. You barely need any paint to do this. Just a little squirt.

the following things you will need, and you'll want to find ones you never want to use again because if you're planning on cleaning this up, good luck and it will be a hassle every time- we just found ours at thrift stores and keep them for encaustic only:

an electric frying pan
paint brushes (poor quality is fine, probably better because they will indefinitely have wax on them)
knives, ladles

Set up:

Choose how many colours you want to use, and choose a can for each one. Place a tiny squirt (I'd say smaller than a pea, you can always add more later...) of your pigment into the can and a chunk of beeswax. Again, don't worry too much about quantity- you can add more later if the consistency feels wrong, or you want thinner colours, or you've used too much paint. It'll take some experimenting.

Set your cans aside.

Set your electric frying pan to 200-220 F, I like 220 but it will depend on your frying pan and how you like the consistency of your wax. Don't go hotter.

Place a chunk of beeswax in your electric frying pan, when it melts you want between 1/2" to an inch covering the bottom of your pan. Once it has melted, you can place the cans in and the beeswax in them will melt as well. (After the first time set up, you don't need to remove the cans when heating it up because they will have wax under and around them). When the wax in the cans has melted, stir them up to see your colours.

This set up works well because you can use the wax in the bottom for an uncoloured wax if you want to use it, and you can ladle it into the cans if your cans are getting low. Try not to get paint in there!

Now to start painting! 

You want to start with one layer of plain wax on a panel. Panels are best for these, I tried canvas once- it was ok, but I found the wood works much better.

The coolest thing (I think) about encaustic is that you can stick anything into it and it will stay. For example, with this assignment I did a google maps printout of an abandoned farm in Alliston. I laid it down on my clear layer of wax, and then painted the wax on over it to hold it in place. And that's it- it will dry and hold the image there. I've done this with money, fabric, paper, photos, etc. The possibilities are endless! haha.

I also used burlap in this one later on. You can also make some neat textures by pressing textures into the wax, or drip wax onto it to create little mountains and hills, or valleys. 

I like this method: you can scratch (with a knife or toothpick or whatever) little designs into the wax, then take a rag and dip oil paint onto it (not wax paint) and when you wipe the rag over your designs, it will leave paint in the tracks and your image will appear. I think it's simply magical. There are so many cool techniques you can do with this, and it's so easy, and like I said- easy to experiment with and easy to redo things. 

Your brushes will have to stay waxy. I try to get as much off as I can, then I keep them in a sock- I usually do one brush for each colour.
And when you turn off the fryer, and it hardens it will look like this. All you have to do next time is plug it in!