To My Youngers,
Sorry its been a while, I've been both fairly sick and fairly busy, and then I just got out of the habit... at any rate, I had a bit more time on my hands today so I thought I would catch up! Actually I should have had a bit of time on my hands yesterday as well, but things didn't go quite as planned...
I'm not really a cat person. I kind of used to hate cats, then strongly disliked them, and now its on more of a case by case basis (some I still really really can't stand, while El's two cats have won me over...) the point is though that I have never had cats before, nor had occasion to be around them much at all. I've had dog, sure, but there are some important differences. For example dogs don't really climb on tables and cats do. So when you have a dog you can leave a palate full of leftover (still wet) paint sitting on the kitchen table and there is nothing to worry about! you can go outside and hang up christmas lights and come back in and everything will look just as you left it... with cats? Yeah apparently its somewhat different. Little-blue-and-red-paw-prints-all-over-the-house kind of different...
So that took a while to clean up. As did the paws of said cat. Though I have to say I was impressed that no biting or scratching occurred over the forty five minutes we spent sitting on the bathroom floor with the cat wrapped firmly in a towel and me making every attempt to trip the paint-filed fur from his hooligan paws... I guess thats one of the reasons El's cats are actually alright... That and they sit on command. who knew?
-E
PS I also backdated one or two of the wrote-and-never-posted variety...
Showing posts with label painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label painting. Show all posts
Monday, November 28, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Zen of cutting [walls]
To My Youngers,
The other day El and I took to painting two of the rooms in our loverly house. Now it perhaps goes without saying (for those of you who know me, and perhaps only for those of you who don't know El) that we had some pretty awesome colours picked out. Well, one loverly yellow (standing int he room is like standing inside of a fresh pad of butter :o) and one an almost rosy white (a boring colour normally but El has big plans for bright accent colours, sheets, curtains etc) but the rest of the house has mango, bright turquoise, soon-to-be dark blue and possibly a robin's egg in the near future...
As usual the my painting partner took on the rollering and the task of cutting the walls fell to me. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, 'cutting' is the process of outlining the walls with paint. In other words making straight lines where the paint meets the ceiling, floor, doors and walls, and coating the corners where the roller can't reach. Its a process that takes a steady hand an a distinct ability to make a paintbrush do what you want it to do, and its one of the few things i have absolutely no problem admitting I am fantastic at. No, seriously! I am! I did house painting for two summers during university and we used to finish jobs literally twice as fast as we were 'supposed' to simply on the strength of my excellent cutting skillz. And I do mean excellent. No tape, to warbles (ok well, sometimes warbles if I know no one is gonna be able to see it... ) and no drips on carpet (drips on hardwood or linoleum or tiles are fine cuz its faster to just wipe them up before they dry!). And its not just that I'm good at it, I kind of really love doing it too!
Theres something about having a simple task that you know you can absolutely kill, and then just go, go, going with it. Putting on the music (in this case 90s punk music, I'm currently having a bit of a punk revival and El agrees with me that it is absolutely the best music to paint to), filling your little becel tub full of paint, getting on the snazzy bandanna and possibly coveralls (though in this case it was my pyjamas...) and painting. Painting. Straight. Lines. That is all.
Its strangely Zen...
Normally the things in my life that allow me this amount of focus involve getting lost in an episode of west wing, an Agatha Christie book, or a vlogbrothers video, but like biking down the canal on a warm summer's day, painting ceilings and corners makes me feel the kind of calm that makes the world feel like the most perfect place that ever could have existed.
So when my friend asked me if I would help him paint his whole house next week (for the low low payment of pizza and beer) and I jumped at the chance, I'm not sure that he knew he was almost doing me a favour... I think I'll leave it that way though, I don't want to make him feel that the pizza and beer are unwelcome ;o)
-E
The other day El and I took to painting two of the rooms in our loverly house. Now it perhaps goes without saying (for those of you who know me, and perhaps only for those of you who don't know El) that we had some pretty awesome colours picked out. Well, one loverly yellow (standing int he room is like standing inside of a fresh pad of butter :o) and one an almost rosy white (a boring colour normally but El has big plans for bright accent colours, sheets, curtains etc) but the rest of the house has mango, bright turquoise, soon-to-be dark blue and possibly a robin's egg in the near future...
As usual the my painting partner took on the rollering and the task of cutting the walls fell to me. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, 'cutting' is the process of outlining the walls with paint. In other words making straight lines where the paint meets the ceiling, floor, doors and walls, and coating the corners where the roller can't reach. Its a process that takes a steady hand an a distinct ability to make a paintbrush do what you want it to do, and its one of the few things i have absolutely no problem admitting I am fantastic at. No, seriously! I am! I did house painting for two summers during university and we used to finish jobs literally twice as fast as we were 'supposed' to simply on the strength of my excellent cutting skillz. And I do mean excellent. No tape, to warbles (ok well, sometimes warbles if I know no one is gonna be able to see it... ) and no drips on carpet (drips on hardwood or linoleum or tiles are fine cuz its faster to just wipe them up before they dry!). And its not just that I'm good at it, I kind of really love doing it too!
Theres something about having a simple task that you know you can absolutely kill, and then just go, go, going with it. Putting on the music (in this case 90s punk music, I'm currently having a bit of a punk revival and El agrees with me that it is absolutely the best music to paint to), filling your little becel tub full of paint, getting on the snazzy bandanna and possibly coveralls (though in this case it was my pyjamas...) and painting. Painting. Straight. Lines. That is all.
Its strangely Zen...
Normally the things in my life that allow me this amount of focus involve getting lost in an episode of west wing, an Agatha Christie book, or a vlogbrothers video, but like biking down the canal on a warm summer's day, painting ceilings and corners makes me feel the kind of calm that makes the world feel like the most perfect place that ever could have existed.
So when my friend asked me if I would help him paint his whole house next week (for the low low payment of pizza and beer) and I jumped at the chance, I'm not sure that he knew he was almost doing me a favour... I think I'll leave it that way though, I don't want to make him feel that the pizza and beer are unwelcome ;o)
-E
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Classifications of Systems
To My Youngers,
K once asked me how I would classify (aka organize) music if I could do it exactly the way I wanted... At the time I said by imaginary environments (like Elliot Brood would go in the 'saloon town' category and 'Portland' would expand to include all bands that sound like they should live near The Shins or The Decemberists...). I would still most certainly keep that as a type of classification, but I would also add another: weather.
Today was grey and cloudy- not quite raining, just that kind of sitting-in-a-mopey-cloud kind of day that makes you feel melancholia (though not sad) and spacey (though not slow) and (for me at least) buzzy with creativity... the kind of weather that always makes me want to listen to music and paint. Today my band of choice was The Decemberists. All of The Decemberists. Every CD, every EP, all in a row, all day long. (Even The Tain, a thirteen minute epic of story-telling genius). And it was awesome.
[sidebar: I absolutely love listening to The Decemberists and so much of that is because they always make me feel like making things- painting, drawing, sewing, building... and in such a way that I actually do make things! Today it was a big painting of a whale with a living room in its belly. Tomorrow? Who knows- but its a great feeling to have and even better to know all I have to do to bring it on is whip out a certain discography...]
So in the category of cloudy (but not rainy), cool (but not cold), and laid-back (but not sluggish) kin-o-days I put forth The Decemberists, entry number one. Add to the list as you see fit.
-E
K once asked me how I would classify (aka organize) music if I could do it exactly the way I wanted... At the time I said by imaginary environments (like Elliot Brood would go in the 'saloon town' category and 'Portland' would expand to include all bands that sound like they should live near The Shins or The Decemberists...). I would still most certainly keep that as a type of classification, but I would also add another: weather.
Today was grey and cloudy- not quite raining, just that kind of sitting-in-a-mopey-cloud kind of day that makes you feel melancholia (though not sad) and spacey (though not slow) and (for me at least) buzzy with creativity... the kind of weather that always makes me want to listen to music and paint. Today my band of choice was The Decemberists. All of The Decemberists. Every CD, every EP, all in a row, all day long. (Even The Tain, a thirteen minute epic of story-telling genius). And it was awesome.
[sidebar: I absolutely love listening to The Decemberists and so much of that is because they always make me feel like making things- painting, drawing, sewing, building... and in such a way that I actually do make things! Today it was a big painting of a whale with a living room in its belly. Tomorrow? Who knows- but its a great feeling to have and even better to know all I have to do to bring it on is whip out a certain discography...]
So in the category of cloudy (but not rainy), cool (but not cold), and laid-back (but not sluggish) kin-o-days I put forth The Decemberists, entry number one. Add to the list as you see fit.
-E
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