Day 193. The Storyteller

The Storyteller

 **************

Using my hand as a palette.  Seems to happen all the time...wonder what these pigments are doing as they seep into my skin.

Day 192. Animal Spirit Guides

His future direction clouded from view, Heinrich listened intently to his animal spirit guides for advisement.

Day 191. Happy Independence Day!

Growing up, one of my favorite aspects of the 4th of July was the fireworks.  Back then we couldn't get them legally in Illinois, but as soon as you hit the Missouri border, you could stockpile up, baby!  We'd buy all the sparklers, bottle caps, and bottle rockets our parents would allow, and we'd save them up until the 4th.  My favorite of this booty were the "Black Snakes."  They definitely weren't colorful, but you'd light those little black tablets and they would start slowly and then grow in velocity into grotesque, misshapen snake-like creatures.  My friend and I would never tire of seeing how they would bend and turn into charred, twisted ropes.  Kids are funny like that.

I still love fireworks.  I feel cheated if I don't get to see them every year.  Now that I've grown up, though, what I especially hold dear to my heart, is not "Happy July 4th" but rather the concept of Independence Day.  The value of being able to live in independence as you take this brief journey on earth.  So, my hope to all, no matter what your race, sex, religious belief, sexual orientation, or what country you call home, is that you are able to live your life as you please.

Happy Independence Day, citizens of the world.  (-:

Now, here's a recipe to make your own homemade snakes.  I've never tried it, just a recipe I grapped from the internet (about.com) so I accept no responsibility on the outcome.  See, you're free to try it or not.  Ain't life grand?

Soda & Sugar Black Snake Materials

• sand
• alcohol or fuel oil (I (the writer of the recipe) didn't have any high-proof alcohol on hand, so I used lighter fluid left over from the handheld fireballs project)
• baking soda
• sugar (I used powdered sugar, but you can grind table sugar in a coffee grinder)

Make Snakes

• Mix 4 parts powdered sugar with 1 part baking soda. (I used 4 tsp sugar and 1 tsp baking soda.)
• Make a mound with the sand. Push a depression into the middle of the sand.
• Pour the alcohol or other fuel into the sand to wet it.
• Pour the sugar and soda mixture into the depression.
• Ignite the mound, using a lighter or match.

At first, you'll get a flame and some small scattered blackened balls. Once the reaction gets going, the carbon dioxide will puff up the carbonate into the continuously extruded 'snake'. Actually, you don't even need the sand. I tried this project using baking soda and sugar in a metal mixing bowl, added the fuel, and lit the mixture. It worked fine. The old firework snakes had a distinct smell. These have a smell too... burnt marshmallows! If you use pure ethanol, sugar, and baking soda, then there is nothing toxic about this project. One caution: Don't add fuel to the burning snake, since you risk igniting the alcohol stream.

How Black Snakes Work
The sugar and baking soda snake proceeds according to the following chemical reactions, where sodium bicarbonate breaks down into sodium carbonate, water vapor, and carbon dioxide gas while burning the sugar in oxygen produces water vapor and carbon dioxide gas. The snake is carbonate with black carbon particles:
2 NaHCO₃ → Na₂CO₃ + H₂O + CO₂
C₂H₅OH + 3 O₂ → 2 CO₂ + 3 H₂O
These instructions were adapted from a tutorial given on Boing Boing which in turn came from a defunct Russian site.

Day 190. Extreme Plumber in the House (No Longer Available)

Extreme Plumber in the House - unfortunate view from above.

Day 189. Confined by the Page

Confined by the page.

Oil pastel, ink, brush pen

Day 188. Could I Have Another Shovel, Please?

Do you ever look around yourself and think, o.k., how did I get here?  You've dug yourself in deep and now you need, obviously, a different shovel to dig yourself out.  Well, maybe you don't need a different one; maybe you just need to point the shovel you have into a different direction.

Anyway, here's to recovery and digging toward the life you want.  It's the beginning of a brand new week and a brand new month.  Happy July, lovelies!

Day 187. Big Head Mushrooms

As my hound dog sniffs the world, I gaze at it instead.  Bird soaring, lawnmower running, live band playing in the distance. And then my eyes fall to the ground, and I spot mushrooms...warty looking things burbling up whitish-gray from lawns--they're everywhere right now.

But what's this?  Two chocolatey-topped creatures, their silvery stems bent over by their weighty heads.  Delicate bells amongst the bulbous fungi masses.

Day 186. Lost in Thought (No Longer Available)

Lost in thought.

Day 185. A Ballerina and Her Stone Fruit Kiss

Jeffrey never intended to be at a ballet, but one of his clients had given him a ticket at the last moment.  With nothing else to do, he accepted this unasked for bestowal and settled into his seat.

On some level, he knew he remained in this rooted position, yet it felt as if his whole being was levitating upright when he first viewed the beautiful Russian creature dancing across the stage.  Just as the performance was about the intertwining of death and love within life itself, he simultaneously felt euphoric and green with sickness as he was thunderstruck by her beauty.  How could she contort herself into such complex positions?  Her partner disappeared from view, as if he did not even exist.  Jeffrey imagined sending her expensive gifts which she would accept with gratefulness and growing affection.

Even Fate, that most reticent participant in changing life's inevitable ebb and flow, took pity on the delusional chap.  He knew this gorgeous ballerina was completely out of Jeffrey's league.  Fate tried to blow cooling breezes onto the tangled, amorous emotions of the poor fellow, but alas, it was too late.  What Jeffrey thought was a gift from the universe, brought to him on the wings of a bird of happiness, was in truth, a torment that he would barely escape from with his life.

All that grief waited in front of him, however.  For now, he was completely naive to its unfolding.  Instead, he recalled when he had secretly watched every episode of "Sex and the City," and he specifically remembered the episode when Carrie Bradshaw went out with her Russian, Aleksandr Petrovsky* (Mikhail Baryshnikov).  Aleksandr told her of his country's tradition of sweetening tea with black cherries.  Later that night when their lips first met, Carrie said their kiss tasted like them...would his Russian's sweet lips also taste like purple stone fruit?  He couldn't wait to find out.

*Season 6, Episode 12, September 14, 2003 "ONE"  Nothing available of this fantastic episode on YouTube.  you'll have to watch the one and only Mikhail Baryshnikov by buying on amazon.com if you don't already have it.

Day 184. Getting the Monkey Off Your Back (SOLD)

Getting the monkey off your back

or in other words, 

Be Free.

Watercolor and Ink

Day 183. SIX MONTHS!

Well, I've been doing this drawing and painting a day for 6 months.  It's hard to believe.  Now I just have 6 months to go.  I guess I'm on the downward slide instead of the upward slide, but people, I'm tellin' ya', I can't look that far ahead.  If I do, my brain will freak out like a Medusa head.  So I will continue, one day at a time, one day at a time until one day I collapse into a blubbering mass, fingers trembling from their effort, and I'll say, "I did it!  I'm done."

Until then, onward ho!

 

Here was my first attempt (on the opposite side of above), but there wasn't enough room to continue.

 

Day 182. Mother Nature Is Always Watching (SOLD)

Mother nature is always watching.

This painting is a bit of a dreamy one.  It makes me feel suspended in a slow motion half sleep, somehow.

Day 181. It's Monday. (SOLD)

It's Monday.  Lordy.

Day 180. Sniff

SNIFF

 How it started.  See the outline of paint residue on my desk?  That was my inspiration.

Day 179. Becoming One with His Limeade

Sweat pouring off of him after a particularly strenuous grass cutting in the melting summer heat, Fred unscrewed the top of his bottle of limeade.  With each gulp, he could feel the refreshing zestiness swirling within him and cooling him down. 

Not even the sweat bees circling his head could interrupt his becoming one with his limeade.

Day 178. Garlic Breath

To my friend L:  No, I did not smell your garlic breath, but thanks for sparking an idea! (-;

The palette:

Day 177. Whisperings from La Mère Poule (the Mother Hen) (SOLD)

Just as the vitamin-enriched egg yolk nourished him as a chick, Lester felt the whisperings of his mother's advice was guiding him towards a richer life.

Day 176. His Tube of Lipstick Taunted Him

As Salvatore gazed into his mirror, his tube of lipstick levitated next to his cheek and gently taunted him.

"Do you really think you can become a real estate agent like your father?"

He already knew the answer.  He wanted to be a makeup artist and have his own makeup line like Kevin Aucoin, may he rest in peace.

That was it; he had his answer.  He would follow the path of beauty.

(Acrylic, charcoal, paper)

Day 175. What the World Is Like When You Eat a Jelly Doughnut (SOLD)

Let's say you are craving a jelly doughnut.

Here's what the world looks and feels like when...

you crave a jelly doughnut;
you let yourself have a jelly doughnut;
you eat the jelly doughnut with utter, hedonistic joy devoid of all guilt.

Beautiful--the world--isn't it?

Day 174. Lady Waiting in Doctor's Office

Here's a drawing I did in ink and watercolor of a lady waiting to go into the doctor's office. I only did the ink in the office and tried to be discreet, but she might have known I was drawing her.  Anyway, she never gave me the evil eye so I may have gotten away with it. (-;

Day 173. Congratulations, Rachel and Chase - Wedding Day Part 2 (No Longer Available)

O.K., so on the other side of this gift box (see Day 172 if you don't know what I heck I'm talking about) I have a portrait of Rachel and on a third side, a little happy bearer of congratulatory wedding bliss!  Congratulations on your new journey, lovebirds!

I can tell I put the lid back on the box here--there's a little bit of a shadow at the top. I love the cute little diamond wedding band!

Here's the 3rd side (I actually added a few more crystal accents on this side, but my camera battery is recharging right now so I'll give you the first picture I had taken):

 

Here it is from 2 angles at I time.

Day 172. Congratulations Rachel and Chase - Wedding Day Part I (No Longer Available)

My 2nd cousin (my cousin's son) is getting married today.  I had gotten a friend of mine, Kim Herout, to make something for them--I won't post what it is now for fear of ruining the surprise.  Anyway, I needed something to put these delicate somethings into, and they needed a box for their awkward fit.

I'm wandering the aisles of Target, and low and behold, I saw something that would work!  A file folder container on clearance.  Hmm...what could I do with this!  My mind, it be a spinnin'!  My brain started sparking, and well, you can see what I can up with below.

How it started:

Complete with a man's wedding band...

and boutonniere, of course.

Day 171. Trying to Get That Other Boot On

 

Sometimes no shoehorn can help.

 

Day 170. Endurance of a Hockey Player - Stanley Cup 2013

How in the world did the Blackhawk and Bruin players race around in 3 overtimes in the first game of the Stanley Cup 2013 playoffs?  The lung capacity, the endurance--I mean--unbelievable!  Congratulations to both teams--what a phenomenal game that was!  I was tired, and I was just sitting on the couch (well, I guess there was a lot of jumping up and down on my part!) Ha!

Day 169. Watermelon Grass

Maybe it's just me, but after lawns have been mowed and just the right temperature sets in, the freshly trimmed grass smells like watermelon.

I haven't smelled it a lot this year yet.  The first time was in late April, when it was still cool, and everyone was happy to be running their lawnmowers after a long winter and chilly spring.  It smelled like, slightly under-ripe watermelon, but it was still there.  As July and August approaches, the smell is more intense, like when you get a big ol' fat melon and you barely lay your knife against it's green overcoat, and it suddenly just seems to burst open--you can hear the sound of it break apart in juiciness...WHOOSH!  Mmm, can't wait to taste it and smell that intense summertime scent again.