Lovely TV Shows

Today was Queen's Day.

Once a year everyone dresses up in orange and goes outside to either sell their old stuff or buy other people's old stuff. I chose the latter.

It was raining at first, everything was getting wet and after a few minutes I was willing to give up, but I didn't and it turned out to be a great day in the end.

I will share a few pictures with you this weekend, but today I'd like to talk about just one of my acquisitions, a brand new box of Dirty Sexy Money's first season.

I love that show, but I hear they won't be making any new episodes. If any of you know whether that's true or not, please tell me.

It was just so much fun to watch, it had humor, a great plot and a killer cast. My absolute favorite person is Lisa George, the lead character's wife played by Zoe McLellan, who you might know from J.A.G.(which was awesome too). I just love her and she may or may not have been the most important reason to get the dvd box.

Here's a little fanmade trailer to give you an idea:

P.S. Against my own rules, although I did have an excuse, I made a few new bookmarks for my Etsy. I have two bow bookmarks, here and here, and there will be a few more listed soon.

Nikon Time

There's a lovely giveaway over at Goodnight Little Spoon. Bianca's giving away a one year Flickr Pro account. It's an amazing prize, something I've been wanting for a while actually. You can join in too here.

What you have to do to join is send in a photo of something that makes you happy.

Timing's great because I just went to a concert yesterday that made me really happy. Of course I shot some pictures.

I was supposed to go meet someone at the concert, but she couldn't make it so I ended up going alone. To be honest I didn't really knew Amanda Palmer's music (although I had heard of her), nor did I ever hear of Jason Wembley. But I looked it up, gave it a listen and immediately fell in love with their latest project.

They are currently on a world tour as the conjoined twins Evelyn Evelyn and they're doing one hell of a job. Not only is it a great show, with great humorous as well as a few sensitive songs, but can you imagine one instrument being played by two people? One holding the chords on the guitar while the other strums, that's just really hard.

After the combined show they each did a solo show as well. And there was also an opening act, so it got pretty late.

It was one of the best times I ever had and even though I was there on my own, I had some nice small talk with strangers and also got to meet the artists. There was a nice photographer waiting in line so I asked him if he could take a picture of me and the artists with my camera and he did.

Here's a little video so you can see what their shows are like:

The host is Sxip Shirey who also did the opening act. He was really nice and signed and decorated the cd I bought. It was just such a fun night.

And another fun day tomorrow, because it's Queen's Day, but more on that later.

Portfolio

It might not be my 150th post anymore, but what I'm about to show you is kind of special, or at least exciting for me.

Taking pictures of my paintings was way harder than I expected, the colors can look completely different as well as the structures. But I gave it my best shot.

First off is a sneak peek of a self portrait I'm working on.

It's hard to paint yourself, because you look different than you think you do and it's hard to be objective, but it's going quite well so far. There are still some weird things going on though, for instance half of my hair is missing, which looks really creepy, so just a little peek today.

Below is a portrait I'm still working on. This was the hardest one to photograph and it still doesn't look like it does in the flesh. The background is way more teal in real life. Oh well, just to give you an idea:

Here's a little close up.

Next up is a still life. One day I surprised my mom with something nice from the bakery, we also had a banana and this is what we were left with in the end:

Lastly a quick portrait I drew of a friend. The rest were all oil paintings so I thought I'd throw a good old simple pencil drawing in the mix.

I've been working on my self portrait these past few days, I hope I can finish it soon, because I need to make way more. I've been doing mostly portraits, but I think I need some abstract work as well as still lifes and lots and lots of model drawings. Plus I want to try some other techniques. And even though I love oil paint I need to use acrylic more often, because it's so much quicker.

Six weeks left and the clock is ticking. I have to try to keep myself focused. I love to draw and paint, but when I know I should be working on it, I start to dread it even though I know I love doing it. Once I'm busy there's no problem, but getting started...

Oh well, it's getting better and I've been painting more and more.

Owl Things Considered

We've made it to the 150th post! How awesome is that?! Now I wish I had something special planned, but I don't really. However this is an owl post I'm very excited about.

{Source and Shirt}

Do you see this amazing owl t-shirt below? It was sold on TeeFury, an amazing website that sells limited edition t-shirts for one day only. I kept my eyes open for an owl shirt and one day they had this one.

Not only is the print in my favorite color, it's also gorgeous and weird in the best way possible.

I really liked the interview in the sidebar too, this is what the artist, Sean Nicholls, said about his childhood encounter with an owl:"I looked out the window and saw a huge owl trying to fly in through the closed window... and then It started playing rap music and shooting at me."

I ordered it a few weeks back and thought it would take about 2 months to reach me, so I was pleasantly surprised when I got to wear it within 3 weeks. It's already one of my favorites!

Marvelous Music

First off let me just say that as of today I have two new followers, that for me is reason enough to be happy, but I am truly ecstatic, because that means I've hit 50 subscribers!

Thank you all!

I am also very close to my 150th post which will be tomorrow.

Now onto today's artist.

I have to admit that I mostly listen to one song by Catherine Feeny. I occasionally do to the rest as well, but Mr. Blue is definitely my favorite. It's just such a nice song and the video is so very cute, to me it looks like a polaroid world.

May I just point out that Catherine Feeny has to be the person you get when you combine Lena Headey and Josh Hartnett in photoshop. I hope that if you don't know who they are you can still see the resemblance from these pictures.

Well, that's it for today, I hope you are all having a great time too. And eating as much ice cream as I am these days.

I'd love to...

> watch "I love you Philip Morris", I just have to see Ewan McGregor in that part

> go to Ben & Jerry's on Free Cone Day

> start an abstract painting, because I'd like to try it some more and I also need more in my portfolio

Wishlist

You might recongnize this screenshot from the video assignment I had in art school. It's my pair of H&M Dr.Martens look-a-likes. (I would've taken a decent picture had it not been almost midnight.)

I had seen them in store and always thought they were quite funny, little did I know that I would actually get a pair when they were on sale. So a few weeks later they were mine and I've grown very fond of them. So fond that I might someday go for the real deal.

Only downside is no zippers. I love that my fake ones have them because it's so much quicker.

However the variety in designs might outweigh that, from kick-ass pairs to cute florals. This one appeals to me because I like to wear purple and even have a purple leopard print shirt.

This next one is a design I wouldn't buy, but since they're cool and funny I thought I'd post them anyway.

Playing guitar myself and having gone through a black/pink phase, these caught my eye.

As you know I'm afraid to wear my "good" clothes when I'm painting. The same goes for shoes, so maybe I should get a pair of these.

Like the Dr.Martens designs my own style tends to switch quite often, it's not that I really grow out of phases, it's just that I wear what I feel like. Sometimes a cute dress, sometimes my new studded jeans and sometimes a basic outfit in just one lovely color. But preferably always with a nice pair of comfortable and gorgeous shoes.

Pretty Paintings

Lori Early's art definitely fits into the category "realistic, but surrealistic". It looks so real, like you could touch the women in her paintings. But at the same time you would never ever see someone like that just walking down the street.

Again, it's creepy and a bit sad, but gorgeous at the same time.

She's also really good at painting tattoos, which is super hard to do. Not that I've tried it myself. Yet.

Even though her color palets can vary from black to white to bright pink or blue, you will always recognize them as one of hers.

The way she makes up these characters, the flawless perfection and the neverending backgrounds.

I think she's just an all round amazing artist. Ok, her compositions may be a bit simple, even predictable maybe, but that only adds up to the ominous effect.

Let me know what you think.

Owl Things Considered

The photoshopped pictures on Worth1000 always make me laugh. But it's gotten even better when I discovered some owls that were posted on there. I think I will post more pictures in the future, but here are a few to get you started.

{source}

{source}

{source}

{source}

Marvelous Music

Because the weather's getting better I am feeling all summery. The trees in front of my home have gone from bare to full and green in two days, I drank my first iced tea of the year and I wore sunglasses on multiple occasions.

This summer feeling also affects my taste in music. So I've picked up my Donavon Frankenreiter CDs.

He is friends with Jack Johnson (and G. Love) and they often jam (and surf) together. Donavon also has that uplifting sound, but apart from sweet guitar songs, also knows how to make things funky.

Just a Little Update

It's been a busy weekend. My birthday and of course the last art school class. We had a little exhibition, then had a celebratory drink and later on even pizza with a bunch of people. It was such great fun and I'm so glad that I'm going to a museum with some of my classmates this weekend already.

However it was a very long day and I am still exhausted. Hopefully I'll feel more active and awake tomorrow, so I can paint and catch up on my blog reading and commenting. And I'd love to post on a daily basis again too.

See you soon!

Birthday through My Nikon

Today was my birthday and I thought I'd share some pictures with you. It was a great day, better than I expected.

First off is the cake of course, one of the most important ingredients to a birthday party. Instead of baking one I decided to buy it after all. I might bake something when I invite some friends over though.

Don't you think the cake is adorable? It tasted as good as it looks and even though it's small, there are still a few pieces left for tomorrow.

When I bought the cake yesterday, I noticed H&M had a sale. Now I never really used to get a new birthday outfit from my mom, but I did this year. The cardigan is new as well as the (rockstar like, studded) jeans. (Jewelry is from Chouettes btw.)

Now onto the presents. This bird is magnetic and can be used to keep paperclips together, it also sings and looks adorable.

Here is the expected nailpolish as well as a notebook and two tiny tins of fun goodies.

I also got Bollywood stationary and curry flavored mints.

This last picture shows the gifts from my dear friend Lily that arrived by post today, perfect timing, isn't it? My first Mark Ryden book! (and postcards too.) Along with some gorgeous Japanese items, owl giftbag, owl post-its and retro candy.

As you can see it went great in the gift department, but it was just a fun day all round. My dad also gave me some nice gifts, including a book from Keri Smith as well as a copy of "Into the Wild" that I've been wanting to read ever since I saw the movie.

Tomorrow is a bittersweet day since it's the last day of art school. We'll have a little exhibition and will probably grab a bite or drink afterwards. As much as I'm looking forward to it, I'm also a bit nervous and sad. This is really it.

I'm happy to have made it to every single class and to have met some amazing people whom I'll hopefully stay in touch with. It was a great couple of months in which I've learned so much and laughed even more. I never thought it would be, but I guess it's true what they say, this really is the best time of my life.

I hope you are having a blast too.

Wishlist

Every birthday I get a few gifts I know I'll get. Sometimes me and my mom go shopping and it's just easier for her to buy it then instead of waiting and going back later. This year it's nail polish. I had tried one on a promotional store party and loved it, it was Montreal #65 by Herome's World Inspired Colors.

Apart from that I was looking for a mint green or tealish color without any glitter. I know that it's a hot item at the moment, but it's still very hard to find. However back in the store with all the different kinds of nail polish I spotted one, and my mom got me those two colors for my birthday.

I still have to wait till tomorrow to receive them, so I thought it'd be just in time to post them on my wishlist now.