The Muppets: Ringing of the Bells

I love this! Muppets are made of awesome sauce.

Winsor Newton Squirrel Quill brushes on eBay

I bought a listing of 4 brushes, two #000s and two #2s for $25.

Argh. I should have waited. Look at these listings!
http://cgi.ebay.com/WINSOR-NEWTON-SERIES-250-SQUIRREL-HAIR-WATERCOLOR-BRUSh-/160521487181
http://cgi.ebay.com/WINSOR-NEWTON-SERIES-250-SQUIRREL-HAIR-WATERCOLOR-BRUSh-/160521787387
http://cgi.ebay.com/WINSOR-NEWTON-SERIES-250-SQUIRREL-HAIR-WATERCOLOR-BRUSh-/160521487122

Bidding starts at $34.99!

Ah well....

Oh, great...

Argh. I love the Catholic religion. I love how we have a prayer and ritual and patron saint for almost everything. That said, sometimes I hate other Catholics.

Like William Donohue and his Catholic League. (BTW, William Donohue says that the Church does not have a pedophilia crisis, but a homosexual crisis. I'm not even going to reply to that because I'll get too angry.

Anyway, go to this link to see how this stupid Catholic League bullied the Smithsonian into taking down “Fire in My Belly”.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/opinion/12rich.html

Simon's Cat in 'Santa Claws'

Rolling Ruler and Ruling Pen Video

Finals from the Student Art Sale at Eastfield

Figures for the Art Sale...

Student Art Sale 2010 by the numbers:
Total Sales $1978.00
20% of sales from students $398.00 (which are added to the Scholarship fund)
Raffle donations $155.00
Total for scholarship Fund $553.00

So yeah! Thanks to anyone who helped spread the word, or who came by and purchased something.

Art Sale presented by Eastfield College Students

It's the annual Student Art Sale at Eastfield College. November 1 and 2, from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in Room C 135. The reception is November 1, 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. The raffle drawing will be November 2 at 3:00 pm. Items for the raffle are artworks donated by the nationally recognized art faculty. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Eastfield College Fine Arts Scholarship Fund.

Eastfield College link...
http://www.eastfieldcollege.edu/

Eastfield College on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/people/Eastfield-Dallas/1790458101

Come on by! There are some bargains. I know a couple students were selling off works that were a couple years old and they really under-priced the items.

Uptown Dallas sketch group

Yeah! A sketch group close to my area. Most sketch groups are in Plano (which is at least a 45 minute drive away, and probably close to 50 miles from me.) But Uptown is pretty close. First meetup is this Thursday. Hope we get more folks.

http://www.meetup.com/Uptown-Dallas-Sketch-Group/

As seen on Etsy

http://www.etsy.com/listing/52937083/24-derwent-inktense-pencils
Not bad on the price. If I hadn't already purchased the set of 24 I'd be very tempted to buy these.

Cool deal at Dick Blick

If you like Derwent Inktense pencils or you've been wanting to try them check out this listing.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/derwent-inktense-pencils/

The pack of 24 is only $26.32, plus it comes with a four pack of Winsor & Newton brushes. They are the smaller brushes, but they're not eeny little ones only a miniaturist could use. There was a size 1 rigger, a short flat, and two rounds, a 1 and a 5. Plus the Inktense set came with a small 4 1/2 by 6 inch sketchbook attached. All that for about $30.00!

*gives high sqee*

Sorry, it's just that I've been wanting the 24 set of Inktense pencils and they've been going for almost $20 on eBay. So I figured at that price I might as well buy from Dick Blick and pay a little extra for shipping to get the free gift. I didn't expect to get a sketchbook as well.

Anyway if y'all know any art supply addicts pass the word. I'm thinking of ordering another set for a friend's daughter. I got her a set of 24 watercolor pencils for 5.88 (eBay) and a set of 24 Graphitint (Michael's clearance; was 54.99, priced down to 7.99)

Now I don't know what to do with my gently used Inktense pencils. Maybe sell them on Etsy for shipping cost only?

Actually Etsy won't let you do that, you have to charge for what it would cost to ship, and put shipping down as 'free'.

Found that out from someone who sells off her scrap watercolor paper. (I think her shop does graphics and scrap booking printed stuff.) She ends up with these rectangular scraps after cutting down her 22x30 sheets so she 'sells' them for shipping only on Etsy.

They actually sell too. A lot faster than other supplies.

Anyway if y'all know any other arty types let them know about the Inktense pencils in case they want some.

Edit: The person selling the watercolor cutting blanks is Orange Art Cat. Orange Art Cat does art photography and prints on the watercolor paper.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/orangecatart

Call for art show entries in Saratosa Florida

Eye for Art hosted by Art & Frame of Saratosa Florida. (I'm on Art & Frame's emailing list so I get notices of sales and such.)

Scroll down about 1/3 of the page.
http://www.art-supplies-sarasota.com/events.html

If you live nearby it might be worthwhile to enter this.

Good luck to all who enter. And if your piece doesn't get chosen, don't take it personally. You never know what the Juror (judge who judges the entries) is looking for. I've seen shows where everything looked the same and ones where everything looked wildly different.

Some small stuff

Sketchbook Project

I'm trying to decide on a theme.

Has anyone done this project before?

Stamp sets sale for Ethan's Rodeo

Alicia is selling stamp sets to help raise money for neuroblastoma research, specifically NB Alliance. Read more here (including about her son Ethan whom died in June 2009 from neuroblastoma cancer.
http://happystamp.blogspot.com/2010/09/pti-stamp-sets-for-sale-for-ethans.html

NB Alliance
http://www.nballiance.org/

Boosting the signal would be greatly appreciated.

Sigh, tonight at work

R (co-worker at retail) really has some issues.

Last Thursday she forgot to change the date on the RF unit and so it was showing the sale sign information for that day instead of the next day. She scanned menswear, then remarked to me that none of her sale signs changed. I asked her if she had changed the date to tomorrow's date. R said... "Oh... s***!" Thankfully she only had a small portion of menswear so it wasn't too bad.

Today when we started I reminded her about changing the date on the walkies we use at work.

And....


drumroll...

She left up the expired sale signs on what she scanned today. I asked P (store supervisor) if he heard me remind her. He said he did. Good. I reminded her so that this in no way my fault that the newbie screwed up again.

Oh and P and R had this little exchange...

R, going past P: "How are you today, B."
P was busy looking down at her RF and didn't reply. So R asks her again.
P looks up and responds. "I wouldn't know how B is doing."
R; "Why wouldn't you know how you are doing?"
P, "I'm not B."
R "Well, then who are you today?"
P, "Same person everyday; I'm P."
R, "Oh...."

I find that with R, you have to break stuff down as into as simple bits as possible. Showing her works sometimes. And a *lot* of times she gives you this blank look when you are explaining something to her. She'll say "Okay" when you ask her if she got it. Then later you find out she didn't understand what you were trying to tell her. If you don't understand me, let me know, dagnabbit!

J (our new supervisor) said whatever she's on, he wants some. lol!

The darned thing is that one of the supervisors really likes her and when we've complained about R having problems doing the job, she will get after us and remind us that Ad Set is a team and we have to help each other. But we spend an hour or more fixing her mistakes.

Sigh... I'm frustrated... I want a new job.

Afghanistan Unveiled

AFGHANISTAN UNVEILED

by Brigitte Brault and AINA

Filmed by the first-ever team of women video journalists trained in Afghanistan, this uncompromising film reveals the effects on Afghan women of the Taliban's repressive rule and of the U.S.-sponsored bombing campaign. Leaving Kabul for the first time and traveling to rural regions of the country, the filmmakers present footage of women whose lives have been decimated by recent events.

http://www.pbs.org/itvs/globalvoices/afghanistanunveiled.html

And another link

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/afghanistanunveiled/film.html

*edited because my brain had teh dumb for a bit*

And another great short

Q&A
Synopsis
The groundbreaking public radio project StoryCorps will enter into the world of television for the first time with a series of animated shorts that will air on POV later this summer. Q&A is a three-minute film featuring the audio recording of Joshua Littman, a 12-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome, interviewing his mother, Sarah. Joshua's unique questions and Sarah's loving, unguarded answers reveal a beautiful relationship that reminds us of the best — and the most challenging — parts of being a mother.
http://www.pbs.org/pov/qanda/

Great little short

This was a great animated short.
Germans in the Woods
Synopsis
Joseph Robertson was an infantryman in the U.S. Army during World War II, and he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. The stark black and white images in this short haunt the viewer — just as Robertson is haunted still by his memories of that battle.
http://www.pbs.org/pov/germans/

Go watch. It's wonderful.

These folks went painting

in the snow and cold in the mountains! As a native Texan, heat really doesn't bother me. But I'm impressed by their painting in the cold.

http://clicks.robertgenn.com/bigger-questions.php

Go check out the link and view the pictures. Aren't the mountains pretty?

Cool self made pencil cases

As seen on this post
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6515259&postcount=58
and this post
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9718801#post9718801

In case you can't see the posts, here are the images...

Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Lego

Just a little test page. Well two really.

I found some art supplies at Michael's on the clearance rack! I love clearance.

My mom needed something from Michael's and I happened to look at their clearance. I saw a tin of 24 Derwent Graphitint and a Derwent 24 Watercolor Collection. Both had been originally 54.99, one was priced at 29.99 and the other was priced little bit lower.

I decided to go ahead and get them as I've been wanting to try out the graphitints. At the register, the Watercolor collection came up as 7.99 and the Graphitint as 10.99! I went back and got the other two remaining tins (1 Graphitint, one WC collection) plus 3 tins of 12 Aquatone.

I love clearance!

Not sure what I'll do with the extra sets. Maybe give them away as Christmas presents?

The WC collection one is interesting, as I've not seen one with these pencils. Most I've seen have half Aquatone, half pencils. This one has 6 Aquatone, 6 Inktense, 1 water-soluble graphite, 8 watercolor pencils. (Though now it's 7 as I tossed out the Chinese white.) Also has an eraser, brush and pencil sharpener.

Does anyone really use Chinese white? I'm rethinking having tossed it out because I have a pad of colored watercolor paper by Strathmore. I might need the white in that. Don't know, I've never tried it. (I didn't throw the chinese white pencil away, it's in my pencil glass.)

The one with the bird at the bottom is the Derwent Watercolor collection. The other is the Graphitint.

I am so going to go to two other Michael's I've discovered. Wonder if they have more art supplies on clearance.

I'll admit that I am an art supply addict.

The Sketchbook Project: 2011 » Art House Co-op | We build art projects and communities

The Sketchbook Project: 2011 » Art House Co-op | We build art projects and communities

Yeah!

I can't figure what theme to go for? My street? I don't know about doing paintings on my street. (Lot of section 8 houses on it now.)

In 5 minutes sounds interesting...

Is this a cool dragonfly or what? The bricks on the wall are 2 1/2 inches wide by 11 1/2 inches long.

April - June 2010 - Winsor & Newton Artists' Acrylic

Winners for the Winsor & Newton Artists' Acrylic April - June 2010 competition.
April - June 2010 - Winsor & Newton Artists' Acrylic

They also have a July -September 2010 competition, with the theme of "matte". If you want to submit something, click on the above link.

Rob's Art Supply Reviews

If you are a beginning artist, you can sometimes be overwhelmed by the choice of supplies. You can go broke buying good paint, or buy the cheaper brand of paints, and then find that the cheaper ones look like mud when mixed together.

Well I found this guy on Blogger...
Rob's Art Supply Reviews
http://robs-art-supply-reviews.blogspot.com/

It's wonderful! If I could kiss Rob for doing these reviews I would!

CASA Playhouses are at Northpark Mall

The 2010 Parade of Playhouses will be at Northpark Mall through Sunday. The playhouses were created by local designers and corporations for CASA. CASA is raffling off the playhouses for their benefit. Tickets are $5.00 each or 5 for $20.

You can go to this link to see the playhouses (if you live outside of the DFW area or you don't feel like beating the crowd to the mall on tax free weekend, right before school starts.) http://dallascasa.org/events/parade-of-playhouses-raffle.html

I love going to look at the playhouses. They come up with some interesting designs. My favorite one year was a playhouse made with weathered looking wood in the shape of a fish. The fish playhouse had a sort of steampunk feel. The eyes of the fish were the windows. There were other windows as well.

And the teeny sheriff's office with jail cell, and wooden rifle rack another year was too cute.

Link to CASA Dallas' homepage, which will tell you what they do...
http://dallascasa.org/
I don't think I could do what their volunteers do. I'd have a breakdown, I'm sure.

Boosting the signal would be appreciated.

Now when you buy a ticket you are supposed to put the kid's name down on the ticket. Hmmm... I know someone who has a 2 year old and I could put his name on the ticket... but would I be jumping things wanting to put a 4 month old kid's name on one of the tickets?

Simon's Cat in 'The Box'

Cool link

http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/palette1.html

It has a lot of information on lightfastness and the pigments that go into watercolor paints.

Cool artist box

Okay where does one find something like this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380249692299

Makes me wish I had wood working tools!

HTML5: Up And Running - Book Review

HTML5: Up And Running - Book Review

Have you seen Lisa Porter

Go here for more information. She has been missing since July 30th and the police are involved.
http://helpfindlisaporter.org/

She also has a facebook page...
http://www.facebook.com/hallewes/

Passing on the signal would be greatly appreciated.

From Children's hospital Boston's blog

One last post.... it made me say "Awwww...."

http://childrenshospitalblog.org/father-of-a-transgender-tween-speaks-out/

Graduating Maria second auction

is going on now.
http://community.livejournal.com/graduate_maria/

Please help out if you can. Boosting the signal would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

(^_^)/

*trying to stay cool in Dallas, Texas with no ac*

Captain Hopes Tools for School Drive

Captain Hopes Tools for School Drive
http://www.captainhope.org/bts2010

This Saturday is the deadline, folks! Please help if you can.




On that note...

Okay, I'll admit that I bought the big box of 64 crayons rather than the box of 24 that was on the list. Hope that's okay.

It's just that when I was little I always wanted the big box of crayons, but my mom would never buy them for me or my sister. In my mom's defense, I was terrible with my markers and crayons. I was always leaving my markers uncapped on white articles of clothing. (I swear those markers dragged themselves there!) Or I left my crayons on the floor, and then accidentally trod on them, thus grinding them into the carpet. I'm sure my mom was picturing the mess the big box of crayons would leave once I scattered them all over the carpet and jumped on them.

And there was always this odd thing going on too, in school with the boxes of crayons. Those kids who had the big box of crayons always looked snootily down on the ones who only had the small box. So I thinking how some kid might feel really cool, stepping into school with the BIG box of crayons. And then I started sniffing the big box of crayons... and well...

I do hope it's okay I bought the larger box.

And now I salute you parents who go back to school shopping all the time! Especially if you have your kids with you. I got lost in the school supply section. It took me way too long to get the stuff, and I didn't even have kids with me!

I'm surprised that I've never seen any kids duct taped to the shopping carts. I suppose CPS frowns on that.

Captain Hope's Backpack Fill drive

Captain Hopes Tools for School Drive
http://www.captainhope.org/bts2010

On that page you can find a list of school supplies needed and a donate now button.

This organization helps homeless kids. Go here for their main web page and to find out about what they do.
http://www.captainhope.org/?gclid=CNL-oPe8nKMCFQ1HnQod4VoVmA

If you are in the Dallas area and want to drop off stuff at their offices; 10555 Newkirk, Dallas, TX 75220

You can see a bit of the backpack fill drive on Meetup.com
http://www.meetup.com/randomacts/calendar/13899326/

If you can help, please do. Boosting this signal would also be greatly appreciated.

Firefighters Save Puppies From Burning SoHo Apartment, One Revived by CPR - DNAinfo.com

Firefighters Save Puppies From Burning SoHo Apartment, One Revived by CPR - DNAinfo.com

Art Box Wooden Varnished - Hobby Lobby

Art Box Wooden Varnished - Hobby Lobby

Lovely box

makes me wish I had wood working skills

VICTORIAN WOODEN ARTISTS WATERCOLOUR PAINT BOX JMMANUEL

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300446707913

Isn't it beautiful. Worth every penny, IMHO. I just don't have that kind of money right now.

I should take some of my older paintings off to iSoldit and see if they can sell them for me. (Seeing as how I've never sold on eBay and I have no idea how to do shipping.)

Signal boost for Usullusa

I don't kow Usullusa other than what Spark in Darkness has posted on his LJ.

Anyway... snipped from Sparky's LJ...
http://sparkindarkness.livejournal.com/350183.html

Usullusa is going through several kinds of hell after coming out to the family. Parents have not taken it well and are making life quite intolerable. All kinds of chaos and terrible sh**ness abound – I am so deeply sorry for them, no-one should have to endure this rollercoaster.

As detailed here (http://usullusa.livejournal.com/88843.html?view=210443) usullusa is looking for part time work, casual work or otherwise in the NYC area, help bring some order out of the chaos.

If you or anyone you know in the NYC area can help please do.

Desperately needing a supervisor at my place of employment

One of my part time jobs has been without a supervisor for 6 months!

I was attempting to do the supervisor's job for a bit but I've given up now. It's just too hard to do both my job and the super's as well. Plus I'm not getting paid any extra to do that job. I am beginning to feel disgruntled and taken advantage of. I started doing the extra work with the anticipation that there would be a new supervisor soon. It's been six months and no new supervisor. I feel like the company has taken advantage of my good willingness to help out in a time of need.

So I've given up attempting to do it.

I mean how hard can it be to find a part time supervisor in this economy? I have the impression that they are not really trying to find a supervisor.

It's a part time position at a major retail company. If you want more information please contact me via email or private message.

VINTAGE ROBERSON ARTISTS PAINT BOX SET on eBay

BEAUTIFUL VINTAGE ROBERSON ARTISTS PAINT BOX SET
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300446705099

Is that not a beautiful set? Perfect for watercoloring. But way beyond my budget.

Hmmm... now how would I make a set like this? I have a small VanGogh watercolor set. I'd need a strip of leather wide enough and long enough. I have never tried sewing on a buckle. Perhaps just a tie. Two buttons and a string to go around them?

How would one do the inside pockets? (As I don't have much sewing skill.) I love how one of the brushes was just cut to fit. Hmmm...maybe a wide elastic would be better at holding the pencil and brushes in place. And a small plastic palette would be lighter than the ceramic one. I like the eeny water bottle/flask near the watercolor pan box.

This is too funny

And now I keep hearing that line from Blackadder about groups of sinewy tough men roaming the Welsh countryside terrorizing folks with their close harmony singing.

But you should go watch this. I would pay money for this single.

Doesn't anyone review easels today?

Some months back I was looking at Hobby Lobby's website and notice that no one had reviewed the art materials. So I went and left reviews on art materials I had used. Reviews are good for folks whom are just starting art and want to try to decide what to buy.

I was trying to find information on table top easels. I have found enough information that if I can find pre-1940s easels on eBay I should buy them.

I was trying to decide between a Winsor and Newton Arun table easel, and a Jullian Plein Air table easel. I'm not finding enough reviews to help me decide which one. Sigh...

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Both these easels are on eBay. The one deciding factor might be that the W&N is new, while the Jullian is an estate sale find. (So it's probably older and therefore might be better made.)