29 June 2016

Why you should watch Wynonna Earp plus bits of real life

If you follow me on twitter (where spoilers abound), you probably know I'm a fan of the show Wynonna Earp. It's kind of ridiculous how much I've fallen for this show. To avoid spoilers from later episodes, here is a link to episode 1 (seems like you need a cable provider to see full episodes). It's also available on iTunes.

If you liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you should definitely give this a try. The bonus of Wynonna Earp is that the characters are mostly in their twenties rather than in high school or college.

Initially, I didn't think it was for me because it has horror elements which is where the first episode starts.

However, the potential of this scene from episode two convinced me to give the show another try from the beginning:


You just have to hang in a little bit longer in episode one to start seeing the humor and superb banter in the show. Simply put, reserve judgement until Wynonna's sister Waverly is introduced. The two of them have such great chemistry and are a treat to watch.

Wynonna is troubled, badass, funny, sexy, and vulnerable often in quick succession. Melanie Scrofano brings her to life full of delicious seeming contradictions that make her feel real.

Now back to the clip above:

When I first saw it, I thought, "I want to be as smooth as Nicole!"

The more I thought about it (another sign that a show is something special), I realized I've been on both sides of that scene. I've tended to be more circumspect in feeling someone out, which I suppose is fine since I've discovered people were taken or straight. But I like Nicole's unapologetic confidence and forthrightness.

In life, I would probably miss the import of Waverly saying, "I'd love to," first, focusing instead on her saying she can't when asked to coffee (which I don't drink in any case). But perhaps my people reading skills have improved some over the years. Alas, there's no one I want to introduce myself to at the moment.

On the flip side, I have been in Waverly's position although I haven't been approached by anyone who provoked delight. Mostly men, but one woman. At the time, I was working in a state where I could be fired for not being straight which added an additional edge to the encounter.

I've even had my own tank top moment though it was more like Wynonna (which actually makes me kind of proud) than Waverly.

I'd been traveling across country for a few months with my car packed to the brim with my essential possessions. I was back in LA staying with a dear friend in the apartment complex I used to live in. My previous roommate who I'd once dated (let's call him Fred) also still lived in the building with his now wife. She'd lived with us for months rent free and then bitched me out when my next apartment fell through. I had been surprisingly calm as she yelled at me, looking at Fred to see if he recognized how extreme she was being. Fred just sat in silence as she raged. I moved out in less than 10 days and left town.

It was now a year or two later.

My car was parked out front next to Fred's truck. I needed a nicer shirt, so I pulled one from the top of the loose pile of clothes on my back seat. No one was around on the street, so I pulled off the t-shirt I'd been wearing and tossed it in with a bag of dirty clothes.

Before I had a chance to put on the new shirt, Fred walked around the corner to see me just wearing a tank top, no brassiere.

Normally embarrassment would be my go-to reaction, but in this case, my brain thought, "Fuck that. Here's what you're missing, buddy," as we chatted and caught up a bit before he left.

*********

To sum up, there are aspects of Wynonna, Waverly, and Nicole I'd like to be more like. Sometimes I wonder if I were their age if that would already be more true, though I reckon I'd still be a hardcore introvert.

In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed season 1 and highly recommend it.

I sincerely hope Syfy renews it for more seasons as these characters and stories inspire me, make me laugh, curse the villains, and cheer (and also sometimes curse) the heroes. It's a lot of fun.


10 years ago on TTaT: Safe and Sound

24 June 2016

Life of Art SitRep #332 The tree cutters!

Hmm, let's see.

I created 264 photographs and 17 videos, and then ditched 104 and 7, respectively. I created 1 horizontal and 6 vertical panoramas (I get such a kick out of that function in Lightroom. I wish the HDR option worked as well.).

From last year's photographs, I culled 139. I am so close to done with that task! Only four or five more folders to go.

From last week's shoot, I culled 90.

Did a bit of archive work on some drawings but realized they probably need further adjustments.

A slim week by the looks of it, but I think that was the right choice. I could've plowed ahead but I felt prone to making errors and I didn't want to botch something important.

Hopefully the tree cutters will finish Friday, or at least finish except for the stump grinding. There's at least one more trunk to come down and there's the piles and piles of trunk sections on both sides of the street to remove.

Someone suggested that my difficulty sleeping recently could be in part due to all of the allergens their cutting has kicked up and released. Definitely possible which makes me optimistic my rest will improve as they clear out. Fingers crossed. The all day chainsaw/truck rumble/wood chipping will eventually cease which will also improve my state of mind. (At least they provided interesting things to photograph.)

How was your week?


10 years & a day ago on TTaT: Not cutoffs 2: Entropy strikes back

20 June 2016

Tree Cutters' Haiku

Showers of sawdust
fall from above. The tall trees
come down in pieces.

Chainsaw whine,
constant truck rumble,
chipper grinds.

Another week of
noise at least. I shall endure
in exchange for sky.


10 years ago on TTaT: Hurdles

17 June 2016

Life of Art SitRep #331 Soul-ripped

My concentration has been elsewhere most of this week, the mass murder at Pulse Orlando filling me with sorrow and fury. I channeled that anger into letters to my senators, representative, and the President, calling on them all to establish gun control that would help prevent these now commonplace mass shootings.

Deep breaths.

To the art of the week:

Remade Dare postcard with a vibrant blue background:

Rearranged my collections a little, putting gay pride stuff up top. I did that last Friday, before the shooting, because it's Pride month.

Selected more photographs for my side project as possibilities.

Deleted 17 photos from 2010, 36 from 2011, 12 from 2015.

I culled 39 products from my store. Updated 2 Powis case descriptions.

Finished editing one gouache painting scan so it can repeat sideways but not up and down. Also continued working on another painting scan in progress so it can be an all over repeat.

Edited four photographs for a father's day gift. Figured out how to get them two to a page but still need to print them.

Discovered two of my products for sale on a site I don't use. Sent DMCA takedown notice and follow up with proof of ownership.

And finally, I shot a ton of photographs (I haven't uploaded them yet) at a beautiful old restored estate with gorgeous gardens and an outdoor sculpture exhibit. It took a while for me to emotionally sink into the place but it did my soul good once I did.


10 years ago on TTaT: And now for some cacti

11 June 2016

Lust & Wonder

Lust & Wonder29. Lust & Wonder by Augusten Burroughs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Another engaging read by Augusten Burroughs.

This one had me mentally shouting from the sidelines like an avid fan at a sporting event, "No! Not again!" while always rooting for him as he relates tales of relationships.

I also enjoyed reading about how he got into advertising and writing, and later his struggles with writing. The events in this book come after his memoir Dry.


10 years ago on TTaT: Brenda's return

10 June 2016

Life of Art SitRep #330 Creating, Curating, Cultivating, and Culling

When it comes to photography, I find that creating and culling go hand in hand...when I'm keeping up in a timely fashion. This week, I created 77 photographs and culled 34 of them.

Oddly it was a more satisfying accomplishment to ditch 139 photos I took last year. Getting closer to finishing that large culling process which was postponed due to computer issues last year. Believe me, it's much easier if you can weed your images as you upload them.

Also deleted 13 images from further back in my archive. Need to get in a habit of doing that. If I'm scrolling through images and see some that should obviously go, I need to at least mark them as such so I don't waste time looking past them again.

Finished creating my new line of Seafoam Green and Navy Stripes products. I really like how this birthday card came out. All the text is customizable if you want a different number or to make it for an anniversary instead:
Outdoor Seafoam Green and Navy Stripes Outdoor Pillow
Outdoor Seafoam Green and Navy Stripes Outdoor Pillow by RocklawnArts
Look at Seafoam green navy stripes Pillows online at Zazzle.com
Diagonal Beach Stripes, Seafoam Green and Navy Fleece Blanket
Diagonal Beach Stripes, Seafoam Green and Navy Fleece Blanket by RocklawnArts
Find other Diagonal beach stripes Fleece Blankets at zazzle.com

Revised my Classic Navy and White Gingham Plaid Blocks Fabric:

Curated a new collection of Blue Geometric Fabrics:

Rocklawn Arts blogged New Luggage at Rocklawn Arts!, New Seafoam Green and Navy Stripes pattern, and New Blue Geometric Fabrics Collection. (The last will be up on Tuesday next week.)

Took another small step with my side project. Starting looking through a smart collection of photographs and put a few possibilities in another collection.

Watched the free 30 Days of Genius interview with Tina Roth Eisenberg—fun and inspiring.

Watched 3 Brush Lettering workshops on Creative Live. Definitely some things I want to try. This is where the cultivating comes in, cultivating new ideas and processes.

Also watched How To Digitize Hand-Drawn Art workshop. It was free to download. Mostly things I already knew but might be helpful if you had no idea where to start.

Deleted 12 products from my shop. I'd meant to do more.

Made monthly backups. Have you backed up lately?


10 years ago on TTaT: Original Broadway Cast Recording

06 June 2016

How am I not myself?

The other night I went out to dinner with my parents at an old drive up restaurant. Which is to say, you drive up, peruse the menu painted across the edge of the overhang, get out of your car, walk to one of the windows, place your order, get a poker chip with a faded number written on it in Sharpie, and then wait for them to call your number to go pick up your food.

It was sunny and rather warm. I left my sunglasses on when I walked up to order and was surprised by just how out of character it felt. I can't think of another time I've done that. Surely I must have at some point but certainly not in the past 10 years. It just feels disrespectful to leave your sunglasses on when you're talking to someone. I was just so tired that night I left them on.

Later:

I was standing in the garden section of a Super Walmart doing some mobility stretches while I waited. My left shoulder had been in a lot of pain not long ago but doing pec stretches really helped, so I continue to do them for a couple minutes here and there throughout the day as I try to get the final kinks out.

The thing is, it's an aggressive looking stretch. You clasp your hands behind your back, roll your shoulders back and straighten your arms. Then you lift up your arms as much as you can and/or bring your palms together to increase the stretch.

The flip side of having your arms behind you is that it thrusts your breasts forward in a probably provocative fashion.

There weren't many people around, so I was just staying out of the way and counting out two minutes in my head.

After that stretch, I still had time so I tried a yoga pose where you do prayer hands behind your back. That is, hands palm to palm facing down and then you flip them around so they are facing up against your back between your shoulder blades. After the pec stretch, this wasn't that bad.

A young woman with long black hair and a blue Walmart vest on said something to me. She was about ten feet away and I assumed she was asking if I needed help with anything.

"I'm fine, thanks," I said.

Then she said something else that I didn't catch because I wasn't paying attention except to realize I'd probably mistaken the first thing she'd said.

"Wait, what?" I said, bringing my attention to her, and dropping my hands to my sides.

I missed the first part of what she said but caught, "You're just staring out over the flowers?" She smiled at me.

"Oh, I'm just waiting for my parents," I said, gesturing to the checkout area.

"That makes sense," she said and then started watering some flowers with a sprayer attached to a hose.

Yup, that was the least cool thing I could've said. Now that's like me.


11 years ago on TTaT: tip of the week- opening stuck windows

04 June 2016

Now what?

Changed my mind about going to Ben & Jerry's for dessert because after a few minutes it no longer sounded good to me.

Even three years ago I would not have believed this could happen. I'm surprised even now because I'd been thinking about Ben & Jerry's for dessert most of the past week.

Now what? I find myself asking. It's a familiar problem: how do you reward/treat yourself without food when you don't have a lot of spare cash?

For now, I will enjoy the fact I skipped something that wouldn't have made me feel better and probably would've made me feel worse. (Already exhausted today so the sugar crash would've been brutal.)


10 years ago on TTaT: Dipping a toe in

03 June 2016

Life of Art SitRep #329 Seafoam

Felt more productive this week.

Scanning the color chart turned out to be a great idea. Much easier to balance scans of paintings for color and contrast with it than trying to do it by eye. Made some headway there.

Shot 173 photographs but only kept 62.

Started culling another folder shot in 2015.

Took one infinitesimal step on a personal project I've got in mind. Hardly worth mentioning but it was do that one practically insignificant thing or nothing, so I did the one thing.

Created a new Seafoam Green and Navy Stripes pattern and started adding it to some products in my shop:
Mint Green and Navy Stripes Wrapping Paper
Mint Green and Navy Stripes Wrapping Paper by RocklawnArts
View other Seafoam green and navy stripes Wrapping Paper at Zazzle.com
Angled Light Green and Navy Stripes Grosgrain Ribbon
Angled Light Green and Navy Stripes Grosgrain Ribbon by RocklawnArts
Check out more Angled light green navy stripes Ribbon at Zazzle

Made a new Rugged iPhone 6/6s OtterBox Cases collection:

Rocklawn Arts blogged Rugged iPhone 6/6s OtterBox Cases Collection.

Reorganized collections some.

Made another piece of Luggage:
Light Blue & Black Diamonds and Chevrons Luggage
Light Blue & Black Diamonds and Chevrons Luggage by RocklawnArts
Browse more Customize Pieces of Luggage at Zazzle

Updated LOA, links, and sales files for end of month.

How was your week?


10 years ago on TTaT: Move yourself