Zoe and her Skunk
11″ x 14″, acrylic on canvas
available in the shop

My new painting, Zoe and her Skunk, is now up for sale in my Etsy shop. I’ve been nabbing frames of various sizes when I see them on sale lately, so it was nice to be able to photograph it looking…finished. I don’t mind hanging canvas paintings without frames, as long as the edges are painted, but sometimes a frame helps a piece look a little more important, gives it a little more oomph. This is particularly true with the size of canvases I like to paint on. They can feel lost on a big blank wall without a frame to anchor them.

In other totally random, train of thought blogging, an audiobook recommendation – Stephen King’s Under the Dome. I’ve been listening to it over the past few weeks while I paint and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s definitely not an easy listen or read – there are some seriously disturbing scenes of violence against women – but it wouldn’t be considered “horror”. Think more Lord of the Flies for grown-ups. If you read (or listen to) the first chapter, you’ll be hooked until the very end, if for no other reason than to find out how the dome got there in the first place.

Now what should I listen to next?

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One of the things I like doing best when people are here to visit is going to movies. I know…kind of defeats the purpose of visiting when you can’t talk, but with my ADD-adled brain, I just don’t do well when there’s a bunch of different conversations going on at one time. One on one? Fine! Bigger groups are fine too if the conversations are one person at a time, one speaker addressing the group. It’s those dinner party situations where someone sitting across from me is trying to talk while the person beside me is talking to someone else at the end of the table that throw my brain for a loop. I catch a bit of the other table conversations & my mind (& usually my eyes too) jump over there. My mister says I’m like a dog; focus, focus, focus – squirrel! Focus, focus, focus – bouncy ball!

And with that, here are my latest movie recommendations:

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Recommended. Loved it! As soon as the folding stage came on screen, I was hooked. It’s like a paper doll theatre, but life size! The layers of trees, the way it all folds up and DRIVES AWAY, the little compartments that still exist when it is all folded up for sleeping or chatting or playing with costumes and make-up…*swoon*. My eyes were big as saucers watching it unfold and after whispering, “I want that” to my mister, I spent the rest of the movie trying to figure out how we could build it. Or where we would put it. Awesomeness.

FYI: the rest of the movie is good too. The way they finished Heath Ledger’s scenes with other actors works beautifully and Lily Cole is an absolute doll.

Sherlock Holmes

Recommended. I was never a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. I’m sure I’ve read at least one of the books, but not for a good 15 years. Still, a good story is a good story and the characters are fabulous fun. Robert Downey Jr has such an expressive face, he can crack me up with one eyebrow. The little nods to the future were interesting too.

It’s Complicated

Not Recommended. Admittedly, I didn’t have huge hopes for this one and 80% of the movie was perfectly fine, fulfilling its romantic comedy duties nicely. I adore Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock and the trailers looked like he was going to be the same smarmy character in this flick. Sold! There were lots of funny, sweet moments, but the ending just didn’t make sense to anyone I saw it with. If you haven’t seen it yet (& want to), you should probably stop reading here – spoilers ahead!

It’s not that I would’ve ended it differently, but the reasons she gave for not getting back with her ex did not seem to match up at all with the movie I’d just watched. Them sitting on the bench agreeing that it had never felt “right”? Huh? When was that, exactly???

She could’ve said she didn’t want to risk trying again and then disappointing the children all over again. She could’ve said that she was so hurt from him standing her up that she realized she would never be able to forgive years of problems and truly start over with a clean slate. If they had fleshed out the Steve Martin character more she could say that though she still cared for her ex, she didn’t think she could ever be in love with him again. But after one date? Really?

Movies like this really irk me because it feels like the writer or the director just ran out of time and needed to end it, so they slap in an ending regardless of the fact that it doesn’t fit with everything they’ve spent the last hour and a half telling us about the characters. Fracture is another one (totally different genre) that springs to mind. The genius mastermind is tripped up in the end by a really basic legal loophole that even I, a lowly painter, has heard of? Not buying it.

Have you seen any movies lately that you’d recommend? And don’t say Avatar.

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#1) Gala Darling

www.GalaDarling.com

I’m not sure if she’s the originator of TILT, but her site is the first place I saw it & one of my regular reads when I need a pick me up. She’s glitter & sprinkles & love. She always has interesting links to amazing photography, great fashion & just generally rad stuff. It’s funny…my inner hermit is too anti-people looking at me to ever be like Gala myself, but I wish I she could be my big sister. Then I’d sneak into her room whenever she went out to try on her clothes & play with her make up. hehe

#2) Puppy Snuggling

It’s been rainy & cold all week, so puppy snuggling? High on the list. I’m switching to flannel sheets today too so that may bump it up to number one.

#3) Joel McHale

Ah, my secret boyfriend. I loathe reality television & all of those fake reality soap operas (The Hills, Laguna Beach etc.), but they do make excellent fodder for The Soup, one of the top crowd pleasing shows in our household. The Soup basically rounds up all the weird, stupid things that are said & done on television, compiles a show of clips & then makes fun of them.  Low brow? Totally. But Joel McHale’s snarky commentary wins me over every time so I was extra excited when I heard he was in the new show Community – also starring Chevy Chase, the British guy from the Daily Show & a bunch of other people that you’ll recognize from somewhere, you’re just not sure where.

Anyway, it’s awesome. Watch it.

#4) Bored to Death

Also in the TV department (did I mention it’s cold & raining outside?), I’m loving the new HBO show Bored to Death with Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson & Zach Galifianakis (from the movie “The Hangover”). It’s quirky & cute & has all the appeal of one of Jason Schwartzman’s movies, but in a weekly format. So. Good.

#5) Cute Rubber Boots

Origami Me by Plueys

I’ve had my yellow plaid pair for 2 years now & they’ve served me well. No leaks, still comfy (though they could use a springy insole) & I’m not totally sick of them. But bright pink with origami cranes on them? *swoon*

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