I like not having burned hands.

Today I woke up and since its Saturday I ate some waffles. yum yum. I was disappointed by the lack of turkey bacon in my fridge to compliment said waffles so I turned on my computer to drown my sorrows and waste some time on the internet.

I started my Googling (how did that become a verb again?) The Royal College of Art and Design since its been a while since I popped in for a visit. A couple of links later (aka the 6 degrees of the Internet) I came across this video on youtube which shows a video of Scott Amron’s Heatswell.

Now I am intrigued enough to continue my search for this mystery man (who for the record did not attend the Royal College of Art and Design but has several really nice degrees in Engineering) and possibly see some of this other designs which lead me to his website, Amron Experimental

Where I find myself disappointed. Lots of information about magnets, which I have little to know interest in, but alas all the truly original designs know as the Die Electric Line of products are unavailable for my perusal, since when I check on the picture I’m sent to an unrelated spam website.

There are a couple of fun little things on the website which gave me the giggles such as the Batbox video , or the Chocolate File

Alas the damage has been done and I’ve been disappointed twice before noon on a Saturday….sigh.

Internet lesson of the day : Don’t post broken links to your work on your own website.

-K

"When your will is broken
When it slips from your hands
When there's no time for joking
There's a hole in the plan”

-Nelly Furtado "Say it Right"

Business is up and running

So a few weeks (a month?) ago let you guys know that I was planning on getting a little business up and running. Many a question has been asked about my future plans so here is the Cole’s Notes:

The fall of 2008 after I returned from my summer in abroad I had a gentlemen who had seen my work approach me for a large painting commission. Cha Ching! Blam! Money in my pocket which basically translated into my shiny new MacBook Pro and a ridiculously expensive pair of leather boots.

What I didn’t realize is that in the time since then a lot of people have been through his house loving my work. Thusly I’ve recently been approached for two other paintings of similar size. HOORAY!

Meanwhile about a year ago I did a drawing of a friend’s dog for her birthday. People must have liked it because just before christmas I received phone calls from people asking for my work. I’ve had 6 dog portrait orders and 4 more in the works, I also have been asked to draw 3 children’s portraits (YAY people!) and possibly another painting.

I’ve also been approached to donate my artwork for an online charity auction in the spring. (and thats what we like to call “free” advertising!)

Now I’m trying to figure out how to build a website (Gulp!), make some business cards (pft easy peesy) and complete my orders….. all from my bed.

Hey you can’t always pick the time when everything falls into place! I’m just gonna roll with it.

-K

"My shadow lays with me
underneath the Big Wide Sun
My shadow stays with me
as we leave it all
we leave it all Far Behind”

-Eddie Vedder “Far Behind"

Something more epic then me.

My last couple of post were lame. Lame in that pathetic sort of way where if this were the olden days people might be thinking its time to take me out back and shoot me. I’m wracking my brains trying to come up with something awesome, witty or at least more interesting then soap, however I’m finding it difficult when the most awesome part of my day lately is when I try and count the number of swirls in my light fixture.

FAIL.

It doesn’t help that my writer friend Scott Bartlett has an impressive new blog called Batshite which is way more epic then mine ever will be.

Damn his Lexicon to hell!!

Peer pressure demands that you go check it out and automatically bookmark it if you want to be cool or if you wanna pretend your cool like me. Drop him a comment while your there if you like what he has to say and become part of his witty social banter.

-K


"From here, it's clear, that I'm not getting better
when I fall down, you put me back together
I'm alone, in my room, I don't know what to do
When I fall down, you put me back together”

-Weezer “Put Me Back Together"

How Odd

As I take down my Christmas Tree and retrieve the gifts which have been lying wistful under it for the past several weeks it occurs to me as i look at the bounty that I’ve reached a crossroads in my life.

I received awesome presents this year, however I have a cardboard box one foot square full of items which have made it extremely clear that I’ve become “that person”

Namely "that person" you don’t know what to buy for.

Here is a list of the items that tipped me off (mostly because these are the things I buy people when I don’t know what the hell to get them):
3 tropical fish Christmas Tree Ornaments
3 other misc Tree Ornaments
3 Boxes of Chocolate
3 Bottles of Red Wine
1 gift box of 6 french organic soaps
1 gift set of Jolly Orange Body Shop Products
1 Gift set of Pink Grapefruit Body Shop products
2 loofahs
Hemp Hand cream
Lip Gloss
A Back Scrubber
Peppermint Foot Moisturizer
Carrot Moisturizer (what do I use this for???)
3 bottles of scented hand sanitizer.
1 Karma Bath Bomb from Lush
1 Karma soap from Lush
1 Black Currant soap from Lush (Its the Jelly one?)
8 nail files
1 nail buffer

……. yeah. Either people are trying to tell me I have a massive BO Problem and need to take better care of my hygiene or I need to get a new hobby where all the paraphernalia isn’t expensive as hell.

*sniff Sniff*….. *Shrugs* Smells good to me.

And don’t get me wrong I totally love the gifts (I love the expensive smelly shit and now I can smell yummy all year! Oh boy!), after all I think a lot of thought must have gone into them since there isn’t one scent there that I don’t love. (Smells I hate include: fake chocolate, vanilla, and rose. Kudos on the citrus, hemp, pachouli and yummy black currant)

So maybe I haven’t become “that person" after all. Maybe people just know that I like to take showers with awesome smelling bath products, could send all day at the Aquarium section of the Zoo, and that I like to eat chocolates and drink red wine.

Yeah lets go with that.


-K


"And so it is
The shorter story
No love, no glory
No hero in her sky”

-Damien Rice “the Blower’s Daughter"

Romance

I’ve always considered myself a romantic and I’m a strong believer in fate. Then again I’ve grown up with the fairy tail blind date meeting of my parents at one Winter Ball thirty-one years ago.

He was a handsome university graduate bachelor in his late twenties, she was living at home, her twin sister married off the previous summer. Their parents were friends and needless to say desperate to get them married off, so that they could start with the baby making.

Hence the plot was hatched. The Winter ball was coming up, and my father would only go if he had a date, so one was arranged. They met, they danced, and my father came home and told his sister that he has found “the one”.

A year passes during which the had a some what long distance relationship

Then 30 years ago to this day my father pulls up in front of the local jewelry store and says lovingly to my mother “ I hear I should have gotten you a ring for Christmas, so we gonna get a ring or wha?”


Hey, I never said my dad was the romantic, but apparently that was ok by my mother because she said yes.


-K

“Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love.”

-William Shakespeare

Thank god for Apple

I have never been so happy in my life to have purchased an apple product and signed up for the Apple Care Protection Plan! I know there were some nawsayers out there who protested my purchase, some who even out right laughed in my face. "Your paying an extra $300 dollars for a protection plan on a Mac? but they hardly have any problems!!! You crazy.”

However when my adapter (you know that thing that powers my MacBook Pro AKA Baby Computron) decided not to work on Christmas Eve I was at a loss. So I call up my good buddies at Apple and kindly asked for a new one. And low and Behold! They said sure! where would you like it sent? No Charge! Just send us back the old one in a box that we will prepay.

I never got service like that with my PC!

Hot Damn.

Did I mention that when I went to the Apple Store in Toronto they fixed my computer problems ( I lacked apple dvd player on my mac for some reason…weird I hope I didn’t delete it.. :s ) at the genius bar while I waited (approx 5 minutes?) Now THATS What I’m talkin’ bout!

-K

"Once you go Mac, you never go back.”
-Me

Done Suckers

I don’t know what I was worried about. I finished that last commission in 2 hours and then had a nap (damn I’m good)

I checked my mail today for the first time in 3 days. I had 3 Christmas Cards and a gift ( I hope its slippers!). JACKPOT. Booyah gonna be a merry christmas indeed.

-K

"So raise your glass if you are wrong
In all the right ways
All my underdogs, we will never be, never be
Anything but loud
And nitty gritty dirty little freaks
Won't you come on, and come on, and
Raise your glass”

-Pink “Raise your glass"

Portrait

I have to finish my last Christmas Commission in the next 2 days for it to be picked up on Christmas Eve…and all I want to do is anything but draw…. Shhhhiiiiiiiiiiiittt. So many Christmas Specials I am missing. So much yummy egg nog not in my belly… sigh.. ok so in the mean time here’s new favourite song: Check it Out

-K

"Snowflakes in the air
Carols everywhere
Olden times and ancient rhymes
Of love and dreams to share”

Charlie Brown Christmas - Christmas Time is Here

wow I’m a slacker

Ok sooo I know is been a while, and I have no one to blame but my own laziness. Actually I have nothing to blame but my own hectic social life, which by the way was rather awesome and the fact that I pretty much destroyed my old laptop last spring and it took me awhile to remember all my internet commitments.

However, recent events that were put in motion by my arch nemesis (AKA figure skating) jumping through a rip in the space time continuum to the time when my body was at the tender age of six. There it attacked me in the most horridness way to insure that in the here and now, I would be most pitifully injured through the natural aging process. Bastard.

Not to be one to be one to focus on the negative (I’m sure the pain killers helped), I’ve spent little of the past 3 months of which I’ve been bed ridden depressed. Instead I spent the time bettering myself for the time when I shall be ready to face the world again.

Week 1-2: I caught up on pretty much every television show I’ve ever watched or wanted to watch.

Week 3: Started doing cross stitch (quickly lost interest) Ordered all my Christmas gifts online.

Week 4: Moved on to video games, and contemplated going back to school.

Week 5: Starting doing crossword puzzles and other puzzle games to insure that my brain did indeed keep functioning incase I decided to go back to school)

Week 6-7: Got commissions for some portraits, and processed to adjust my style so that I could create while lying down. Draw and watch ever home decorating show on television

Week 8: Sign up for NetFlix once I started to redecorate people’s homes in my head. Contacted my school of choice to discuss the program of choice.

Week 9: Watched a lot of movies

Week 10: Finally decided to get my act together when it comes to making money with my art. Ordered a tablet. Started creating business cards and contacted a friend who actually gets paid to help people start their business and another whose an accountant (who knew I had connections? *shrugs*)

Week 11: Wrapped presents and watched every Christmas Special EVER. Waiting for santa (Please bring me an ipod touch!)


I’m not really sure what to expect in the upcoming weeks, I’m getting better little by little so I don’t really care as long as things keep heading in this direction.

What I do know is that I have 4 portrait orders for the new year and 2 large painting orders and a request from an organization to donate a portrait for their online auction. so I guess every cloud has its silver lining. I probably wouldn’t have taken the time out of my schedule to get this project off the ground if this hadn’t happened. And since my new business is going to be named after this site I figure you’ll be seeing a lot more of me.

-K

"Oh we could do it any way you want
We only like you cause you're cute and young
You gotta work what daddy gave you, son
Go on and show me that you know how to use it
And do your duty
And get on the floor
Don't make a fuss just do it
Look out I'm fixing to thrill”

-Dragonette: Fixin’ to Thrill

Been a while

Wow its been awhile since I've posted anything... hmmm let me give you the run down on why. So I ended a almost 6 year long relationship, don't worry no hard feelings it just had to happen. However because of that I had to move, and quit my job and find a new job, and pack up my stuff (in a week) and unpack my stuff, repack my stuff and finally store most of my stuff, and finish my commission (which took a while cause I couldn't find my paints) and basically rethink my entire life/future.

Wow its been a busy couple of months.

Besides all that I didn't just move home and sit around my parent's basement I did the in the Run for the Cure in October (and yes it was a miserable cold sunday), took up the guitar (I can now play four songs in the finger picking style and 4 in the traditional strumming working on my 5th), Joined a gym, Lost 7 pounds (and counting), took up the sport of Curling (which by the way is soo much fun its crazy) and now am a regular volunteer with the local division of Junior Achievement and I am an advisor to the Company Program (that's right folks I'm helping to mold the future leaders of tomorrow, MUWHAHAHAHAHA!).

Hmm what else? Well I feel more productive and happy then I have in a really really long time. Positive out looks only and am really curious to see what the future has in store. After all if anything the past couple of months have taught me that you can't plan anything, just let the possibilities and fate guild you and you'll always find your way.


-K

"I wanna live life and never be cruel.
I wanna live life and be good to you.
And I wanna fly and never come down.
And live my life and have friends around."

-Coldplay "We never change"

Ok so I'm not dead.

and I have been drawing/ other art works. Finished 3 paintings actually, But alas no pictures. Why because my life has been so crazy busy these past few months that I forgot. Not to mention Major Plumbing issues, which resulted in about 2 months of utter chaos in my home. I've also been having some computer problems, but I'm hoping that very soon I shall have a brand new computer baby to love and cherish for about 6 weeks before it becomes obsolete. Loves and rainbows and what nots. Oh what the hell I'll give you a crappy little sketch I did while I was in england a year ago. Its a lizard with two tails. Loves it.

-K

"Try to be different
Well get a different disease
Seems it's in fashion
To need the coldsore cream

Yeah, I'm a freak of nature"

-SilverChair: Freak

This is all I've got to give.

Its been a rough week, lets just say my plumbing backed up and I had to move out for a few days till it was cleaned up. So this is a picture I took a year ago, while ride on a bus, not my best photo. In fact I don't know if its a good photo, but this is all I got.

-K

"I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink
I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink
No,no,no."

-The Beatles: I'm so Tired

Labrador

So I survived the ferry ride to Labrador, but alas no pictures for you, I did however bring my ancient SLR and have been taking pictures which I'll scan the good ones for when I get home. They're be icebergs which was fun we circled the harbour for 5 hours while the tide was dragging them out so we could get to shore! I bet your jealous aren't you?

ROAD TRIP!

so I've been a little busy lately. Lots of laundry and packing cause I'm getting ready to head up to Labrador this weekend to hang out with my friend Steph. WHOOT ROAD TRIP! I'm excited! So heres a picture of the last road trip I went on. Which was a trip across the island around christms time. Also it was during a blizzard. FUN!

What I did on Tueday Morning.

Today I got my studded winter tires off my car! Hooray exciting! I just love sitting around in a building with a much of men that smells like gasoline. Actually I kind of like it reminds me of my grand father who was a mechanic before he retired, what I don't like was having to wait the 2 hours in next to a man that clears his nasally throat like every five seconds... gross. Anywho, so on the way home one of my favorite songs came on the radio! Barenaked Ladies' "Shoe Box"! so then I proceeded to sing the song at the top of my lungs. Barenaked Ladies were my first music loves. I hated the usual young girls bands of the day A.K.A New Kids on the Block and later Hanson and Back street Boys. Give me a little BNL and I was the happiest 7 year old on the block. Thanks Barenaked Ladies you made my day/childhood!

-K

"A key in the door, a step on the floor
A note on the table, and a meal in the micro
Note says "I'm in bed, please make sure that you're fed
if you're taking a shower, you can borrow my bathrobe
When I'm asleep I dream you move in next week"
I crumple the note and save it to put inside

Chorus:
My shoe box
Shoe box of lies
Shoe box
Shoe box of lies"

-Barenaked Ladies - "Shoe Box"

Clouds

So yeah I like Clouds. Clouds are pretty, and not enough people look at them. So here's a pretty photo of some clouds. They're Swirly.

-K

"'cuz I don't wanna come back down from this cloud
it's taken me all this time to find out what I need
yeah, yeah, yeah
I don't wanna come back down from this cloud
it's taken me all this
all this time"
-Bush : "This Cloud"

I like Crabs.

I made Spicy Cajun Gumbo Soup for Supper. It had crabs in it, which reminds me of three things. My Father, which is a long and complicated and rather funny story, The Little Mermaid and Van Gogh. See when we went to the National Gallery in London, all the people were soo focused on the Sunflower painting that most of them failed to take notice of what was right next to it, which turns out to be my favourite Van Gogh Painting ever, called Two Crabs. So heres a little picture of a crab, which was yummy in my soup. He looks sad.... probably cause I ate him. Yum.

-K

"Under the sea, under the sea
When the sardine begin the beguine
It's music to me
What do they got, a lot of sand
We got a hot crustacean band"

-Sebastian (The Crab) Disney's Little Mermaid : "Under the Sea"

A little tea

So here's another quick drawing, this one is of me and my friend Steph and I drinking Tea. You know its Steph cause she has her pinky sticking out, and you know that's me cause I'm gesturing wildly with my hand. Anyways she's like my homie homes and I love her to bits. Maybe more then bits, possibly pulp. I'm hoping to drive up to see her soon in the next couple of weeks cause I miss her. We live 4 hours and a ferry ride away from each other, and I can't wait to party. aka drink some tea, and talk about her life and my life and the men in our lives and the craziness. I'm excited. Don't judge me. Also I'm gonna add a little bit of lyrics to the end of my posts that I think are relavent from now on. Can ya dig it? :p


-K

"I fly like paper, get high like planes
If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name
If you come around here, I make 'em all day
I get one down in a second if you wait"
-M.I.A - "Paper Planes"

What I did Wednesday Morning.

So I went shopping today at 9am for shoelaces. So I went to the only place in town open at 9am which was Walmart. Oh silly me, that I thought I could go to Walmart and only buy shoelaces. I found the shoelaces easy enough and since it was my day off and I had yet to finish my coffee I thought why not look around and see what else is here that I might need. I looked at sheets, and toys, and movies and fabric, and beauty products all without contimplation of purchase. Well not really if I had seen a set of sheets that weren't completely ugly i might have bought some, but anywho, was all good I thought I was going to get out of there with my 4 dollar purchase. Alas it was not to be, for in the electronics section I found my down fall. An Fm transmitter for my MP3 player, gasp something that works with MP3 players other then IPODs! So I picked one up, along with a 4 pack of Full Throttle for the man and an Arazona Ice Tea for me. Its because of people like me that Walmart has more money then god, but then again they are the only place in town open before 10 and after 6. Yup. Sad I know. So, then I came home and drew a quick little 5 minute drawing of me all looking in spiffy with my vest and scarf, and my skull bat skater shoes, walking through Wally World. Huzzah!

Henry Henry Moore, Henry Moore, Henry Henry Moore.

So I lied. My sketches won;t all be from the lake. This is a little drawing of Henry Moore, a God among Artist's. This man's Bronze sculptures will makes you weep. When we went to Henry Moorse Studios the best thing was that you got to touch the sculptures, feel the warmth of the bronze in the sun and the textures of the surface. Friend of mine reminded me of our trip, one thing led to another, Henry Moore resulted.