Pencil Shavings

Four Days?!?! So Much to Tell!

How negligent of me!

I'm usually better at keeping the blogoshpere informed on the 365 Days of Art and the meanderings of my family.

The weekend really busy and I have to admit it took a bit more out of me physically and emotionally than I had planned.  First I found out that a dear friend has thyroid cancer.  At first things looked very grim indeed but over the last four days it seems that things are looking up and I'm hoping for a really good outcome for him and his family.

Then on Saturday I went on the tour of the Visual Studies program facility at the University and got to see all the really amazing things they do, and all the great stuff I'm going to get to try.  I brought my kids along because I wanted them to have a picture in their minds of where Mom is going to be when she's at school.  The kids were fantastic, there was lots of art to look at (and boggle their minds over as well) and lots of neat ideas about what I might do (and what they might do if they come in with me when I'm not in class).

Then we went geocaching with some friends - alas both caches were missing, but we made some plans to create a cache of our own next time we get together.

Sunday my big brother was ordained as a Pastor.  We all went to celebrate with him, and had fun at the lunch after.  The girls had a great time, but were really itching for some playtime with their toys by Sunday afternoon.  (I was really itching for a nap!)

I'm working on starting a new project to run concurrently with the 365 Days of Art, and after it concludes depending on the response from you, dear readers, so stay tuned I'll have something to show you and ask you on Thursday.

your pal,

Kathleen

I know, I know... But Here's the Reason why I'm Late.

I am still painfully behind on updating the 365 Days of Art.  I'm sorry about that.  I will catch up I swear it!  I have loads of scans to update onto the blog, I was just dithering and distracted yesterday.

Yesterday I heard what Pat Robertson and Rush Limbough  said about the enormous humanitarian disaster in Haiti.  

I think that at least Pat Robertson's misguided and bizarre assertion at least came from a willingness to help. Although I do think he needs to read a history book or two.  Rush Libough's statements come from a place that I can't even imagine, they come from greed, arrogance, and selfishness.  Frankly, though, his statements did do some good, they prompted me to even further action in my desire to help the people of Haiti.

My feeling is that it's not them and us.  The people of Haiti are not some distant problem that we don't have to worry about, because someone else will care for them.  We all share this planet, we are all connected.  They ARE us, and we all need to pull together to help.

In that vein, I am pledging everything I can to help the people of Haiti.  I'm low on cash, but I am not low on creativity.

I have pledged to help Julie Van Rosendaal with her fundraising effort (along with dozens of other people).

I will be competing with a fellow artist next week auctioning off paintings on our Facebook Fanpages to see who can raise the most to donate. 

Also, ALL the proceeds (every cent) of profits I get from my Artfire Studio, my Cafe Press Shop and my Imagekind prints for the month of January are going to the Canadian Red Cross.  Every dollar that I donate will be matched by the Canadian Government.  So... If you by anything from me this month it will be worth twice the amount with the matching funds.

It's time to do something positive.  What are you going to do?

The Green Painter

It’s kind of surprising to think that so many artists who take their inspiration from nature are blindly polluting our world.

I suspect that there is a certain amount of pollution that we tolerate to live the lives we do, and some is inevitable.  But I do a lot to try and reduce my impact on the planet (and my families impact too) and that doesn’t stop when I sit down in front of my easel.

Firstly I always try to use paper that has less impact than some others.  I use recycled paper when it’s appropriate to do that, I also use windpower produced papers and papers that can be recycled.    I use a lot of cotton paper, and I’m still researching the benefits of that, although for now it is the best choice for my watercolour art.

I use watercolour paints which is generally not bad for the planet, in that there is little waste, and even though I am a “wet” painter I don’t actually use that much water and try to reuse my water as much as possible while I’m painting. 

For my acrylic work I never wash my palette after a painting session... pouring all that paint into the water system is something that doesn’t sit well with me.  So I save all my paint on the palette to dry, then when the layers on my palette are thick enough I roll them off and save these “skins” for collage projects eliminating the need for paint to go into the water system almost entirely.  I also try to filter my rinse water through coffee filters to try and get the biggest particles out.

Finally, and this is something that I don’t really advertise,  I contribute a portion of all my art sales to green charities.  Some years the contributions are larger than others.  The choice of my charity is personal to me, I choose as best I can charities that are not political or religious in affiliation.  I think there are enough people supporting those, I try to give where I think it is needed the most and where I think the money will go the furthest to solving my personal environmental concerns.

The Evil that Men Do

I believe it was Richard Dawkins (and please feel free to correct me) who said, “Good people do good things, evil people do evil things, but for good people to do evil things it takes religion.”

I sit in my quiet home, in a safe neighbourhood, and feel the tremors of the world gone mad in the name of one god or another. How can we ever evolve as a species if we stop thinking for ourselves and let others tell us what we are supposed to believe.

I Don't Get It – It's FICTION!

“(AP) - A senior Vatican official has called for a boycott of The Da Vinci Code, while the Council of Churches in Jordan and Roman Catholic activists in India want their governments to ban the film altogether. “

OK, I read the Da Vinci Code, and mostly enjoyed it. I do admire the way Dan Brown wove real life places and objects into his fiction, it certainly helped me suspend my disbelief.

But, people, please, it's FICTION! Even if Dan Brown states in his forward that parts of the book are based on the truth, it's sold in the fiction section of the book store... so... it's fiction

Ron Howard, who I respected before, but now want to invite for dinner, refused pleas to put the disclaimer “This is a work of fiction” at the beginning of the movie. Being quite sensible in saying that spy thrillers never have disclaimers. And they don't need to, because they are FICTION.

Just so we all are on the same page:

Non-fiction = real stuff

Fiction = made up stuff

Yann Martel's book “Life Of Pi” states clearly in the forward, this is a true story, and it will make you believe in god.

Well clearly it is not a real story and I didn't believe any more when I was finished than I did when I started. But I did read that book non-stop for four days and kept poking my husband in his sleep and saying... “you're not going to believe this!” But of course he wouldn't believe it... it's FICTION!