This morning I learned a bit more about my Sheltie sale. Apparently, it was bought by a lady who owned a Sheltie for seventeen years and was very fond of it. And the painting reminded her of hers, so that moved her to get it. This is exactly the sort of buyer I was hoping to get for that piece, and I feel like it found a good home.
something I am grateful for today
Dec. 13th, 2022 07:56 pmhaving a shopping trip turn into a much nicer experience than expected: the store was nowhere near the zoo I expect in December, and I got to visit with people while dropping things off to them, and the weather was lovely, and it all ended up being a joy
something I am grateful for today
Dec. 14th, 2020 10:12 pmmy grandmother's eyes
They were a beautiful, deep, warm, luminous brown that always brought to my mind the word lambent. They remained vivid and vibrant her entire life, and I can still remember them as clearly as I can remember anything.
They were a beautiful, deep, warm, luminous brown that always brought to my mind the word lambent. They remained vivid and vibrant her entire life, and I can still remember them as clearly as I can remember anything.
I decided to share my seventeenth painting here because it has a bit of an interesting story to it.
This is based on a photo of author-slash-polymath![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
blissmorgan, a friend for a good few years now. How her picture came to be a painting happened like this:
I was looking at my acrylic paints, and I was struck by the way that all my cadmium paints -- Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium Orange, and Cadmium Yellow Light -- look like nothing found in nature. It's even a challenge to blend them with other paints and mix a colour that doesn't still have a whiff of that plastic artificial feel to it. Suddenly I thought that it might be fun to try using those colours, full blast, to depict something that absolutely is natural and organic -- I felt that the tension might give the painting an interesting energy.
Didn't know what to paint, though.
So I spent a while browsing through photos, looking for inspiration... and when I came across this, it struck me that the tones in the face would lend themselves to my cadmium colours very easily. So I went for it, and ended up pretty satisfied with the result, more abstracted than what I usually do. Hoping to find an avenue for more adventurous colour again, sometime in future....
This is based on a photo of author-slash-polymath
blissmorgan, a friend for a good few years now. How her picture came to be a painting happened like this: I was looking at my acrylic paints, and I was struck by the way that all my cadmium paints -- Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium Orange, and Cadmium Yellow Light -- look like nothing found in nature. It's even a challenge to blend them with other paints and mix a colour that doesn't still have a whiff of that plastic artificial feel to it. Suddenly I thought that it might be fun to try using those colours, full blast, to depict something that absolutely is natural and organic -- I felt that the tension might give the painting an interesting energy.
Didn't know what to paint, though.
So I spent a while browsing through photos, looking for inspiration... and when I came across this, it struck me that the tones in the face would lend themselves to my cadmium colours very easily. So I went for it, and ended up pretty satisfied with the result, more abstracted than what I usually do. Hoping to find an avenue for more adventurous colour again, sometime in future....
I've recently been rereading my novels to A) try and get back in gear for my next one and B) reacquaint myself with characters who are due to reappear. My books are rarely sexually explicit, but last night I was reading what is [so far] my only prolonged [chapter-length] sex scene, and something clicked with me. Something not just about how I write, but how I am.
Sex is something I revere.
When I describe it, I describe it with reverence and respect. Not meaning coyly, with Victorian euphemisms or whatnot, but with an awareness of the spiritual beauty of its intense physical pleasures. And this got me thinking about how out of touch I feel with my culture at large, at least as it reveals itself to me online, which is where most of my interactions happen these days.
I find it distasteful when other people use childish or silly language to describe sexual things. Some people's sex scenes make me feel like I stepped in something when I read them, just because of their tone. It isn't the sex per se that disturbs me -- I'm not a prude -- but rather the "pearls before swine" disrespect. Similarly, degradation of any sort has no place in sex as far as I'm concerned -- worship is more like what feels natural to me. On a bad day, it even seems to me that saying that sex is "fun" runs the risk of trivializing it. But that's just me.
I'm not saying my way is better, just that I know what works for me and what doesn't. Not saying that people aren't free to like what they like. If people mutually enjoy calling their body parts stupid names or talking to each other like enemies, then so be it. My point is more that I feel so out of touch, all at sea on the ocean of sexuality. I see almost no representation of my perspective from anyone else out there. Is it a generational thing? Is the romantic point of view inherently quieter?
I dunno. But I have no plans to change my slant on it to get in tune with everyone else. I remain a stubborn cuss to the end.
Sex is something I revere.
When I describe it, I describe it with reverence and respect. Not meaning coyly, with Victorian euphemisms or whatnot, but with an awareness of the spiritual beauty of its intense physical pleasures. And this got me thinking about how out of touch I feel with my culture at large, at least as it reveals itself to me online, which is where most of my interactions happen these days.
I find it distasteful when other people use childish or silly language to describe sexual things. Some people's sex scenes make me feel like I stepped in something when I read them, just because of their tone. It isn't the sex per se that disturbs me -- I'm not a prude -- but rather the "pearls before swine" disrespect. Similarly, degradation of any sort has no place in sex as far as I'm concerned -- worship is more like what feels natural to me. On a bad day, it even seems to me that saying that sex is "fun" runs the risk of trivializing it. But that's just me.
I'm not saying my way is better, just that I know what works for me and what doesn't. Not saying that people aren't free to like what they like. If people mutually enjoy calling their body parts stupid names or talking to each other like enemies, then so be it. My point is more that I feel so out of touch, all at sea on the ocean of sexuality. I see almost no representation of my perspective from anyone else out there. Is it a generational thing? Is the romantic point of view inherently quieter?
I dunno. But I have no plans to change my slant on it to get in tune with everyone else. I remain a stubborn cuss to the end.
#30DaySongChallenge - Day 3
Apr. 28th, 2020 10:53 amDay 3: Your favorite post-breakup song
Maybe You'll Be There as recorded by Diana Krall
It's not that I associate this song with any particular breakup, but I find it does a great job of capturing my feeling in general. Diana's version is, for me, particularly touching. Some people dismiss her as being too commercial, on account of her phenomenal success, but when I listened to her work closely, I found more genuine quality and depth than I went in expecting. She clicks with me.
Maybe You'll Be There as recorded by Diana Krall
It's not that I associate this song with any particular breakup, but I find it does a great job of capturing my feeling in general. Diana's version is, for me, particularly touching. Some people dismiss her as being too commercial, on account of her phenomenal success, but when I listened to her work closely, I found more genuine quality and depth than I went in expecting. She clicks with me.
something I am grateful for today
Aug. 21st, 2019 02:22 pma moment where I became keenly aware of a convergence of blessings:
this morning, I felt well enough [and had the time and freedom] to go out on a beautiful sunny morning, driving a car that runs smoothly on roads clean and dry and maintained, to spend quality time with my daughter who is one of the most precious people in my world -- I found myself on the verge of tears
this morning, I felt well enough [and had the time and freedom] to go out on a beautiful sunny morning, driving a car that runs smoothly on roads clean and dry and maintained, to spend quality time with my daughter who is one of the most precious people in my world -- I found myself on the verge of tears
something I am grateful for today
Feb. 19th, 2019 04:56 pmreceiving encouraging and supportive feedback from a friend of long standing
pax vobiscum
Jan. 13th, 2019 01:15 pmOn more than one occasion, Barbara has remarked to me something along the lines of "you are such a loving person", and she says it in such a way as to imply that she means unusually so, more than she is used to seeing. And I do feel like that is a large part of who I am, both a romantic and a humanitarian. That being said, I had a strange spontaneous moment this morning:
While out driving alone this morning, I was consciously enjoying the peace (enhanced by the sunny beauty of the day). And I got thinking about how often lately I have been savouring peaceful moments when I find them, and making more efforts to seek those out. And thinking further about how important peace has become in my life. And then I had a sudden flash, an awareness of something shapeless but along the lines of: Peace is even more important than love. If I could only have love or peace in my life, never both, and had to choose, I would choose peace.
I never expected to find that in myself. And I don't know for sure that it's true. But it came up on its own, and it came from somewhere. I'm wondering if it was another spontaneous flash of non-attachment, similar to what I wrote about previously. Once again, I will need to sit with this...
While out driving alone this morning, I was consciously enjoying the peace (enhanced by the sunny beauty of the day). And I got thinking about how often lately I have been savouring peaceful moments when I find them, and making more efforts to seek those out. And thinking further about how important peace has become in my life. And then I had a sudden flash, an awareness of something shapeless but along the lines of: Peace is even more important than love. If I could only have love or peace in my life, never both, and had to choose, I would choose peace.
I never expected to find that in myself. And I don't know for sure that it's true. But it came up on its own, and it came from somewhere. I'm wondering if it was another spontaneous flash of non-attachment, similar to what I wrote about previously. Once again, I will need to sit with this...
something I am grateful for today
Jan. 7th, 2019 12:42 pmbirthdays [and no, today is not mine] -- when you think about it, it's a really swell concept, for everyone else to decide that the event of you arriving into their world is a special one, and one worth commemorating and celebrating... I mean there's a lot of good esteem goin' down there
As it happens, birthdays are an important and recurrent theme in my NaNo novel, so apparently, on some fundamental level, I believe in their power.
As it happens, birthdays are an important and recurrent theme in my NaNo novel, so apparently, on some fundamental level, I believe in their power.
something I am grateful for today
Oct. 2nd, 2018 10:52 amForty years ago yesterday, I was on campus visiting my close friend Michael. (I had graduated in the summer but he had a year still to go.) He told me that he had made a new friend of one of the people new on campus that semester, and he really wanted me to meet them cuz he was sure we would hit it off. In fact, we all had a coffee date the following morning.
So, forty years ago today, Michael and I went to the campus coffee shop to meet this new friend. And as it turns out, he was right, we did hit it off. But I don't think any of the three of us suspected on that date that I would end up marrying that new friend.
So, forty years ago today, Michael and I went to the campus coffee shop to meet this new friend. And as it turns out, he was right, we did hit it off. But I don't think any of the three of us suspected on that date that I would end up marrying that new friend.
