cliodhna’s wave

Hiya, its monday morning and I am awake after really strange dreams. In one I was in a zombie film where we (the survivors) were getting ready to leave the earth. The sun had also been damaged. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. The earth still looked so beautiful and I didn’t really want to go into the great vastness and blackness and coldness of space.

I recieved the ‘You make my day award’ from Lori at The MorningGlory Vine, a nice surprise. She also tagged me to share seven odd random facts about myself and then I got tagged by pherenike also! so seven odd random facts here we come..

(1) I once had a sixties party to be able to wear this very cool long orange paisley dress I bought in a second hand clothes shop. It was one of the coolest parties I had. Everyone turned up in sixties dress, some beatnik some hippy.

(2) I believe everything is possible (by everything I do mean everything) its just I haven’t discovered how yet. When I find out the answers I’ll let ye all know

(3) Some of my favourite books are ‘Gormenghast’ by Mervyn Peake, the Moomin family stories by Tove Jannson, ‘Winne the Pooh’ for his wonderful outlook on life, ‘Momo’ and ‘The Neverending story’ by Micheal Ende. Good science fiction and anything by Neil Gaiman (he wrote the Sandman Comics). Oh, and ‘My Family and other Animals’ by Gerald Durrell. a comic classic of his familys time living in corsica just before the second world war.

(3) My favourite colour is prussian blue, preferably in just applied oil paint. I once painted a big canvas in prussian blue in preparation for more images and I just could not paint over it. I would sit and just stare at it!

this is hard! I am stuck… ok, think cliodhna think! ah ah!

(4) I hate the way I can never think of the perfect thing to say when I need it! either when I am angry or want to say something funny or like right now trying to think of seven odd things about me. Actually it works much better in spanish for some reason, don’t understand why.

(5) I have to have my feet outside the bedclothes at night. Have to, I get claustraphobic otherwise. I even cut the bottom out of one of those tubular sleeping bags once (i sewed it up and everything so it wouldn’t fall apart.)

(6)my biggest fan is my dog, a big slobbery rotweiller. Actually both me and Paul receive sheer mindless adoration (unless of course there is food around when we are completely ignored in favour of the possessor of snacks) . There is also the cat, she is part siamese and is beautiful and she follows me round the house during the day also, but she is more contained and comfort based in her affection.

(7)I had a previous life as a musician, playing fiddle with bands. Jazz, traditional folk, rock, who ever needed a fiddle player. I decided to concentrate on my pictures. I prefer the process of painting a picture. Plus its mine, whereas with music I was always contributing to someone elses art. It was good fun though. Check this link out, its from a band I played with about fifteen years ago. We were cool, I liked playing their music. The River Babies

Ok, so now to pass the award on. I have to pass it on to seven people and I reckon I will do what Lori did and tag the people I give the award to, so seven random facts folks!

To Susanne Ils at The Bone Singer. She has beautiful pictures and a wonderful connection to the mythological and magical side of ireland

To Sheena Ludlow for her cool blog where there always something round and yummy to look at (including a story about a hamster ball )

The Irish Sally Gardens, a blog about sustainable living in ireland. Always an interesting read. Makes me want to move to my own farm!

Into the Hermitage for her stories and wonderful strange images

To a blog called ‘Snozzberries??!? Who ever heard of a snozzberry’, cause of the name and she makes me laugh

Sepia Art Studio for her art, delicate and evocative

and to Florence at Windbag and Thunder for her toys and her blog Crackle Mountain full of asian folk tales

What else this monday morning? I finished my t-shirt design

I posted it on threadless and they will contact me in a few business days to tell me its in the running. its all very exciting! I will inform ye when its up and ye can all go vote for me :)!

Ok, time to go paint for a while, I have been working on the computer for the last few days and I itch to get a paintbrush in my hand again. Happy week! make a monday wish, write it on a piece of paper and hang it from a tree till next monday… xx

I am designing a t-shirt at the moment for a site called Threadless. If you don’t know them check them out, fabulously cool t-shirts. Its an open submission site with scoring from other members and finally if your design is picked to be printed you get paid from them.

So, I got into action and have been painting for the last two days and working on the computer. Its interesting, I am only allowed use eight colours, (shades of a colour count as a colour) so its restricting but challenging at the same time. Reminded me of being in college when the tutors would give us an exercise and then a rule to go with it.

I will post the design when I am finished but there are snowflakes in it and I went searching on the web for inspiration. When I draw snowflakes they always end up looking like stars and I wanted very definite snowflake looking snowflakes. Unmistakably large soft quiet looking snowflakes.

After searching a while I ended up in a treasure trove of snowflake portraiture. (that reminds me, Paul told me the next morning he was dreaming of snowflakes but each one had a differant face!).

Wilson A. Bentley took his first photo of a snowflake in 1885, when photography was still a new developing science and he went on to take hundreds of photos of snowflakes. He was known in the local area in Vermont as the snowflake man. There is a library of some of the images at the Bentley Snow Crystal Collection

They are all beautiful and all different. Like people, maybe thats why Paul dream’t them with faces. They are like people, each one is unique..

they are honestly.. well ok, in the top five I have seen in my short time on this earth.

The first one I saw at an animation shorts festival a few years ago and have been wanting to see it again but didn’t know the name or the makers. Its the story of the world told through the eyes of two rocks sitting on a hill watching the times pass by. here is the link to the animation. You can make it into full screen.

Das Rad

The second one I discovered on a the telly one night and tells the story of the dog who didn’t want to be a dog and has the help of a gecko to realise his dream. This has minor cult status amongst my family and some friends. By irish film maker Rory Bresnihan.

Guy’s Dog

ok, go watch and enjoy.

Hi everyone, sorry for the delay, my internet dissapeared today all day! and I was planning to post this this morning but alas now it is late now as i sit in a badly lit internet cafe, flickering bulbs, clunky keyboard, very slooooooow computer.

So anyway, I wrote all the numbers on a piece of paper and put them in a cup and drew out the first name and it was Naomi Michelle from the Belle Modiste blog, which I just checked and saw she has won two already, so heres another one for you! must be your month or something or maybe St Valentine is smiling sweetly at you.

Now I figured with all the people having entered I would draw another one for an embroidered card. And the winner isssss Susie…

I went to a thermal waters hotel yesterday for the day with Paul. Near Leon, we swam in heated mineral waters (strong in sulphur!), then we had a bath in a sunken bath with lots of bubbles and then after dinner I filled the jacuzzi and sat in that for a while. Poor Paul sacked out at this stage worn out from work, poor dear. Feeling very hydrated today. Its just wonderful what soaking in water can do for you!

ok, better go, meeting a freind back up at the house to watch a film and this keyboard is driving me crazy. Its like an old piano, you know when you have to hit the keys directly on top and quite hard to get them to write anything!

have a fun weekend!

I see new artists all the time now, on etsy and outside through others blogs. Some I like, some I don’t really have a connection with, some are really sweet, some I know I like because they remind me of my style and some I look at with a critical eye and would love to give them a few tips or ideas on pushing the edge of where they are. A very few I love, because they inspire me or because they make me happy or I connect with the person who is making the art on some level or just something abstract that art critics have been trying to define for centuries. ‘Why do you like a particular piece of art and not another?’

But! very very rarely I see someone elses art and it just makes me stop. Makes me come to a halt and almost get jealous, (well, ok, leave out the almost) for a second or two. Can’t compare! I have my own paintings to paint!

this is the shop I found the other day ‘obsoleteworld‘

They make me sad and lonesome and draw me into the little worlds that are in each picture. I showed them to Paul and another artist friend later that night and we ooohed and ahhed and ‘this one is my favourite’ and ‘no, this one is I think’! Read her profile too..

Well, time to return to my personal world and keep on with the two paintings I started. I have taken pictures of them and am going to post as they progress! Happy days when my hands are covered in prussian blue and my head aches slightly from the smell of white spirit. Have to move onto linseed oil but I find if I use oil for the earlier layers of a painting it becomes to glossy and washes won’t stick. I actually know nothing about oil painting, I just love the medium and am discovering tricks as I go.

Here is the first stage of the paintings..

I have been wandering around the web and etsy and am coming across such strange marvels. I am particularily drawn to the wonderful range of strange creatures that are being stitched and invented by fellow etsians. Supposed to be for children but you know, I reckon would grace any bedroom or living space with their quirkyness.

Here is one by morninglori’s shop … her name is ellie

and this guy, kermit, the longlimbed sock dog, is sooooo cute, almost mournful, waiting for love, by doodlebugfinery’s

and one last one, called a snow walker by flyingstartoys’s shop, a tall elegant creature stepping his slow way across a snowy plain

for me, I continue to get my stuff together, going down to get prints today, hopefully looking at cameras, I have finished off some more embroideries and am generally getting closer to being able to put it all aside and starting on some new stuff. I have to make a plan about how many hours to spend doing business/blog/etsy things and how much time to spend creating.. wow, it makes me feel quite grown up!