Archive for January, 2009
Thinking About Yourself
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Thinking about yourself and what makes you tick, I was tagged…so I had to sit quietly and dig into myself.
I was tagged by Evita, and didn’t know it until I caught up on my reading – she writes wonderfully and has such an insightful blog you can go there to realize faith & love reach out from every aspect of our lives. Evolving Beings
Tagging is reveling yourself and things people don’t know about you – so here goes, I’ll give it a whirl.
I find the emotion of jealousy to be a turn off, in any aspects of life, it’s a wasteful emotion. Yes, I have been envious of people before, I am not a saint. But when we let envy turn into the all encompassing jealousy that’s when people loose sight of focus.
I listen to Old Country Western from time to time – I am a rock/blues gal, but the roots of Mom’s kitchen radio still sing in my heart and if I want a happy memory I listen to sad songs. Oxy Moron yet, Willie, Waylon, Johnny & George Jones could belt out a tune. It seems to transport me back to Roberts Rd where I grew up.
I wish I had gone into the medical field, not sure as what, but it has always peeked my curiosity – Being the “in-charge” as my husband call’s me, when I am in those situations at Doctor’s or Hospitals, I want to be in the know or be in-charge!
I have been seen at Gilda’s Club reading fortunes for one of their annual events, dressed like the gypsies, beads stacked up on me like Mr. T, long eyelashes, bright red nails and a long, long wig. Because of the comments and the urging of many that I have read, this has taken me into more of the depths of the spiritual world that is around us trying to communicate, I believe there are spirit guides with all of us, I continue to work and meditate often so that I can hear mine when he speaks.
I volunteer for an organization called Midwest Soarring Foundation, a Native American group that started out with trying to repatriate the 10’s of thousands of remains of our Native American’s that are stored in the basements of city museums. It’s a group that has grown now into educating people on Native Cultures and teaching the correct history of their people. I handle all their memberships and have been volunteering for them for almost 15 years.
I would like to travel to Greasy Grass and lie down where so many had lost their lives. Where so many fought for what they believed in, I wonder if their energy can still be felt? They fought for their families, their food, and their environment, as it was when it was The American Frontier. There is a scene in Dances with Wolves, when Kevin Costner comes upon a hill, as he makes his way to the top, the land is vast, green and it seems to whisper “peace”. It is no longer like that, but when you close your eyes, you could imagine anything and I am pretty certain you could feel something.
I am supposed to tag some other to find out more about our cyber buddies – so here we go..
Danny – Guitar Players Center
One of my first online blogger connections – can’t wait til April!
Judy – All Things Vocal
Only knew her through a her famous song – Until I Met You – and one day.. I found this extraordinary singer as one of my fans on Stumble! One of my Fans? I’ve been listening to her.. since I was on Roberts Road!
LaTeasa – Teasas World
With a great insight to marketing and someone who loves the world around her.
Carol – Medium in Training
Carol just started her blogging venture and is a dear friend of mine that deserves all good things to come to her from this point forward!
Dennis – Visual Thoughts Photography
An old rocker at heart, with some totally inspiring photography
Mickey – Do Something Even if its Wrong
My sister – She lurks here often, doesn’t comment much and was angry I didn’t name her in my cabinet, SHE wouldn’t want to be in the cabinet, she’d want to be in charge. This will push her to update her blog that she hasn’t since October!!!!!!!!!!
Steve Marriott – Go On My Son
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Steve Marriott would have turned 62 tomorrow – January 30th.
A musician, singer, songwriter and guitar player, known from Humble Pie and Small Faces.
When I think of Steve Marriott, I think of 30 Days in the Hole..and I also think of the Lukas Clan.. mainly Jack. A guy whose life blood is the volume switch on the stereo.
One year, Jack invited us to a Marriott Memorial Birthday Party.. my son, thought this was awesome! Any reason to get together and listen to old rockers joke, laugh and give each other a rash of shit about times gone by and concerts they have seen together.
These are for Carol – Jack’s niece – who requested it! Rock on Little Sister, once the hair grows back, I know you will be tossing it around in that head banger fashion that I’ve grown to love!
In April of 1991, Steve Marriott lost his life at the age of 44 – having been born pre-mature and weighing in at 4 pounds 4 ounces..
I know of one person that will question those numbers after reading this.. I’ll wait for your 4:44 call! And I’ll love ya for 44 years
Having played in Moments, Small Faces & Humble Pie, his life intertwined with many names that we all know. Whole Lotta Love by Zeppelin bares a similar sound to Marriotts version of a song originally written by Willie Dixon – apparently harboring no ill feelings for Plant, Marriott is quoted as saying.. “Go On My Son”
Achieving greatness should carry with it a sense of “humble” – we don’t get places with out inspirations, we don’t get places without learning from someone.
No matter’s whose path you cross, you can learn at least one thing from them.
Here is a single line from “As Safe As Yesterday Is” by Humble Pie – I was in a meeting yesterday and there was a topic of the “fear” how our news broadcasts and how reading the daily paper is like an emotion blizzard-put on some good music today and eliminate a bit of your fear.
And you can’t be diseased by what you fear
Happy Birthday Steve Marriott!
When It Just Ain't Right
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I’ve got wood..but not the type Frank is talking about over at Tech Jaws.
This is a piece that I knew was BAD.. and just wasn’t right. I beat myself up for 24 hours, knowing I totally missed the deal on this as well it being an unjust to my favorite subject.
This is a piece of work that will be auctioned off at a charity event coming up in February. My husband did not understand my angst over it not being correct, but graciously spent several hours sanding it off for me.
I even asked my brother-in-laws opinion, and he said if I had to ask him, I knew it was not right! He always has an opininon.. most often times one that’s larger than he is. I am not proud of this one, and it just pissed me off.. reworking pencil on natural wood is a pain in the ass. I erased, re-drew, erased, re-drew and nothing, I just could not connect this time.
I highly suggest number one, if you are going to sketch on wood, as I have in the past, go lightly. I mean that literally, it would have saved me time as well as Buck, but determined to get the darker shades down, I laid it on thick.. and the wood just soaked it up..and no matter how I tried, the mistakes could not be corrected.
There has to be a lesson in it right? What makes us good? Going back at it and trying again. Not wanting to butcher another guitar biting sketch, I opted for another favorite pic, really which one of them is not one of my favorites. To many pictures of Stevie, too little time!
Walking away from a project or re-grouping early on is the best way of fixing something that is not going as you had planned. We can all be off our game on any given day, I took a breather and with wood had clean fresh slate which is now turning into something that I can with confidence sign my name to.
Not all the work we do is perfection, not all the projects we are involved in can be “spectacular”, walk away with a lesson & a plan for the next one.
The Sag Awards – Knock 'em Dead Mickey Rourke
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The Sag Awards, or Screen Actor Guild Awards, could have taken on a new meaning from one of the nominee’s tonight, the sagging career of Mickey Rourke seems to have gotten a face lift.
Being nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Best Male Actor in a Leading Role as Randy in The Wrestler, Rourke may yet again, walk away with another little bobble to put on his fire place.
I say rock on Rourke, it’s good to see someone pick themselves up by the bootstraps and get back in the game, no matter the rumors that have flown around for years. The daunting pictures of a not so well preserved Rourke.
It was obvious at the Golden Globes he was stunned to have won, I thought he was quite gracious, stating he was not a good speaker in public, acknowledging the Director that had to fight for him to be in this role, since his name was not worth anything.
Bad Boys & Underdogs, I guess I am a sucker for both, bruised, beaten and almost a has been in the film industry – let’s hope Rourke knocks ‘em out again. He may not be pretty, but he’s still got it!
Return to Innocence
Posted by: | CommentsEnigma said it best in their song called Return to Innocence
Don’t be afraid to be weak
Don’t be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself
We have in the news, Rod Blagojevich – we all know why. Britney Spears for a song with “nasty” connotations as well as Plastic Surgery for the Dead?
Perhaps I just don’t get it…. any of it….Blagojevich needs to trade his jogging suit for some big boy pants and let the state start a recovery effort.
Driving the tollways, his name is plastered all over the I-Pass lanes, if, he is guilty – I do not claim to be a “politician” or a “political junkie” so, I won’t weigh in on that one, but if he is guilty, how much money will be spent alone on removing his name from these signs?
The manpower, hours & money to do it?
Honoring people when they are gone is one thing, a dedicated highway for someone who has made a difference, or a street named after a famous ball player. I get that..but I do know where we have gotten so much helium to inflate the ego’s that exist in our society.
Returning to innocence – when will reporters report on those that make a difference other than those that are bringing down the moral fiber of the human race?
Plastic surgery for the dead? Do you think that King Arthur needed plastic surgery before they sent him afloat on his funeral pyre? Do we really need to have a revival of Britney Spears and her Memoirs? She was born in ’81, does she really have memories worth sharing after the age of 17?
What about those that have truly suffered tragedy? Just look into your heart my friend, that will be the return to yourself.
Take a day, turn off the tube, relinquish the remote control and find a story in your own life that will be good for someone unsuspecting. Return to Innocence, where you did things because they were fun, you learned, you made people laugh…..
Prompting this post was an inquiry that I had about a sketch, the subject of this inquiry is a driving force behind my passion for drawing, I was asked a price…I am finding it impossible in my heart to put a price on it…..most likely, I will be giving it away!
KISS my What?
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In the presence of my husband, if someone says “kiss my ass”, he quickly says, “mark a spot, you are all ass”
Here is Paul Stanley, guitarist from KISS – born in Queens in 1952 and a legendary rock figure, writing and co-writing a majority of their famous chart busting hits. It was with Paul’s encouragement that KISS took off their makeup sometime in the 80′s. Paul has a birthday coming up on Inauguration day, he will be 57 and still looking pretty good!
It’s tough for many to take off their make-up because we are a society driven by the anorexic look, face lifts, fat lips and boob jobs. What are we recognized for, is it our appearance, talent, brains or looks?
We have all heard Oprah whining lately about how upset she is with her appearance, she needs to loose weight by the Inauguration….. give me a break! I’ve got news for Oprah, many people would like to be employed, or be able to pay their bills on time. A worry such as 15 pounds should never throw us into such a tail spin.
We have stereo typical images of bad boys, dumb blondes, sex symbols, geeks, business men, career women and so on…Take off that stereo typical make up, there are so many things you can obsess over, other than appearance, I have battled my weight for many years, up 20, down 10, up 5, down 1.. I can’t physically keep up my “goal” as set by the Weight Watchers standards.
I am setting my own goal, it’s where I feel comfortable, where things fit that I like. Strive to be the best you can, don’t strive to be someone else, or look like someone else, because, underneath all that stereo typical make-up, there very well may be botox, silicione and alot of stitches & scars.
A great example of the not being stereo typical is Diane Keaton, she is who she is, and she is a beautiful woman!
To the rest, well.. KISS my…
What can you do with old?
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What can you do with old?
I am not talking issues related to Lipitor, or those old left overs that have grown mold that we may be able to turn into antibiotics, I am talking another persons junk can be your treasure.
Here is a door that I swear must have been used for those little people that lived under the stairs. I know there was a movie like that, before the one that John Goodman starred in – The Borrowers..but for the life of me, I can’t remember it.
so.. back to the drawing which I just realized the glare on it..stinks! But..so be it ! I did this very 3 Dimensional, using dried grass..and birch bark if you take a look at the birch tree on the right of the screen…the bark was not painted, it is hot glued on..and it’s real. Thanks Joseph Standing Bear.
The sand on the walkway is actual sand that I collected in the dust pan after my husband decided he needed to tar the cracks in the foundation outside our steps.. and the only way to sop it up was sand….but that sand was tracked in my house and used in the painting.
The dried grass at the very bottom left is real another brain child of mine that has gone mutant. I planted pampas grass…pa—my ass it should be..it’s every where, and invasive.. I highly recommend against it, unless you have an old door that a fraction of the grass can be used.
This piece was done with two pieces of cardboard that I used as my canvas. I used cardboard that was used to ship an auto-scrubber. Yes..you read it right.. an auto scrubber.
The legs that my husband made to support the old door were made from old pieces of base board that would have gone in the garbage or been burned.
So there you have it.. thats what you can do with old!
He Danced – Patrick Swayze
Posted by: | CommentsHe danced into our lives 20 years ago, with Dirty Dancing, I can’t believe it was that long ago..
I remember seeing Swayze in “Red Dawn” in 1984 – and for some reason last night, I remembered a line he had in that movie -
C’mon! We’re all going to die, die standing up!
A few years back, I had a discussion with a character I referred to as “Captain Chaos” and it was in regards to dying – it was regarding my friend that was told she was terminal, I said to Chaos, “I can’t imagine what it is like to wake up each morning knowing that” He looked at me quizzically and said, “it’s going to happen to all of us” Coming from someone who as by his nickname, I didn’t expect those words, but how damn true is that.
Patrick Swayze is living his life now with strength and drive, I have to say he was inspirational, scared out of his wits I am certain, but he is living now, for what he loves, for the passion that is within him.
Looking at his gaunt and sunken eyes, you can see fatigue and yet he pulls it together to continue doing what he loves for as long as he can. Do we really know what fatigue is these days?
We waste so much time on materialistic nonsense, petty arguments and trivial bull shit and for what? Is it fulfilling? Just watch the nightly news….scandel, scandel, scandel. Why? Everyone wants to have more or be more than the next person.
We shouldn’t wait to be in a situation like Patrick Swayze to get to the core of who we are and living for what we love.
“What winning is to me is not giving up, is no matter what’s thrown at me, I can take it, and I can keep going.” Patrick Swayze
What happened to Sexy?
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Sexy? A state of mind, person or place that makes us think someone else is sexy? I was reading news of Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler and walking down memory lane of old celebrities that as a young teen I thought were so hot that I’d forge their autographs on the Teen Beat Centerfolds and proudly hang them on my wall.
This picture depicts Mickey Rourke in 9-1/2 weeks and Kim Bassinger as she hangs on his every breath with weak knees, along with another hottie of current days, Vin Diesel – the boy with the biceps and full of attitudability. Is it what people wear, how they carry themselves, a certain body part that our eyes convince our emotions that they are sexy?
What happened to Sexy?
Mickey Rourke was extremely sexy, from 9-1/2 weeks to Harley Davidson & The Marlboro Man, he had that bad boy attitudability…the attitude that takes away a womans ability to resist, he still has attitude, but the looks have drastically changed.
If beauty is in they eye of the beholder, are we fickle beholders when we see a recent photo of a Leif Garrett, Mickey Rourke or Jeff Conway? Or have our tastes just changed over the years? What happens to sexy? If we take an actor or actress for the merits of their fame, are we being shallow when their looks are lost with time and we no longer find them sexy?
When we mature, sexy matures with you, when you alter it, people know you have altered it, and the illusion is lost. Altering yourself to re-capture your youth, rarely works, your “audience” is aging with you….
We all change over time, are we more likely to think one is sexy still when we see the changes happen slowly?
The Gift
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Watching as you softly sleep
What I’d give if I could keep Just this moment
if only time stood still.
Jim Brickman – The Gift
I did this pencil sketch of a woman and her cat during the holiday season and the entire story is really “The Gift”, it was clear when I turned on the ipod, and hit spin, and up came Jim Brickman and the song “The Gift”
I was contacted through my site and asked about a sketch. These are the words…
I would a like the sketch to be of the picture where her
and her cat are looking at each other. You don’t need to put any of the background stuff in. Just her sitting in the chair with the cat.
I had to do a little playing around with the pictures to capture the emotion I wanted for him. It was quite difficult capturing the all black ball of fur, or as Gary put it.. “fat blob of fur” I used all of the photo’s he sent to get the look of Denne’s eyes correct as well as trying to get the “nuzzling” effect of Nike.
It’s the little things that mean so much and for some reason, this inquiry meant a lot to me. “No rush over the holiday, just take your time” he said. We all have experienced loss in some way, and here is a man reaching out to do something for his wife.
I put myself in her shoes for a little bit, having lost a 17 year old cat several years back, and I have to say, I would be blown away if my husband took the initiative to find someone to do something like this for me. Even more so than the drawing itself, the compassion that he had to actually dig deep to find some way of comforting her and keeping the memories alive of Nike.
I am truly amazed at the people the internet has brought into my life…