Getting away from the processed life

Here's my daughter and husband flying a kite at the beach.
This is at least one activity I've been doing while neglecting this blog.

I wish I could excuse my lack of blogging for something impressive. I wish I could say I've been incredibly prolific and created a mind blowing amount of fantastic artwork. I wish I could say I wrote a novel and to celebrate I've been throwing fabulous parties every night with tapas that have garnishes of caviar I squeezed out of a 10' sturgeon I caught with my bare hands as I parasailed along the Fraser River.

But no.

I dunno what the heck I've been doing. Experimenting with art materials that have noxious fumes may be partly to blame for my inability to think of what to write on this blog. Mostly I've been carrying on with the ebb and flow of life.

A friend challenged me to 30 days of shopping for nothing but necessities based on this article she read. No big deal, I hate shopping. I am the antithesis of the girly woman who just has to have those cute pair of shoes. I cut my hair about once every summer Olympics. I buy because I have to with the exception of books, art and art supplies. Those are my little luxuries. So I've taken her on and made it a family affair. No shopping for anything but food and necessities like toilet paper and soap. No snack food, no Starbucks, no food bought that is individually wrapped or processed and ready to eat out of it's container.

Today is day 1. I had to stop myself from getting a latte and sandwich for lunch as I was running around town. I stopped myself from buying crackers while food shopping. As I stood in line at the grocery store checkout, I was pleased by the purity of my goods - apples, lettuce, flour, all the staples, nothing frivolous. I'm committed to making as much as I can from scratch for the next month. Then I spotted the June issue of Chatelaine magazine and I remembered my friend Patricia was featured in an article, so without a second thought, I bought it.

Day 1 and I failed.

Ironically, the article is about how to stop spending money in the recession with a subheading that reads, "The joy of frugality". Ah well. Tomorrow I'll be back on track and if anyone would like to join in the challenge, let me know.

Since I'm on the topic of money and our glorious consumption of stuff, you may remember this post mentioning The Yes Men, activists who upset the status quo, posing as leaders of corporations and world organizations. They're back with a new documentary. It looks like good fun. The kind of laughing in spite of yourself, squirming in your seat fun with the added benefit of making you think. These guys have balls, ovaries, guts, you name it and they feel more relevant today than ever. Here's the trailer....

Kid Stuff

Weaving Intangibles
acrylic, ink, pencil, thread
Ellen Sereda

I never tire of putting my children into my art. I do however have a few half finished portraits of my kids in idyllic settings - the beach, near pretty flowers in the park, all very cliche and certain to never be finished. A camera catches these moments in time better than a brush or a pen. But let me loose with other materials, like thread so I can do some wonky sewing, then add a crow and I'm a happy artist.

I have an astonishingly good memory of childhood. Luckily my childhood was pretty normal and happy, so a good memory isn't a curse. I don't romanticize those years or long for the perceived innocence of them. If you watch children for any length of time, you'll realize naivety is not the same of innocence. An example this past weekend:

Me to my youngest daughter: You need to apologize to your sister for poking her in the eye.

Her: But I didn't mean to poke her eye!

Translation - I meant to hurt her in another part of her face and not get caught

The lecture on my part went on about the importance of taking responsibility for actions and making amends. She then started mumbling under her breath, "I don't know what you mean, I don't know what you're saying". In my frustration I blurted out, "What! are you Billy Bob Thorton?!" I was so pleased with myself for getting in a topical reference even if she didn't know what the hell I was talking about.

Kids at any age are fascinating to watch and listen to. They share some of the qualities of manic depressives. Their highs are really high and their lows are like the end of the world. The key difference of course is everything in childhood is so transient, nothing lingers. Their best friend is their worst enemy until another day passes and it's all reversed. I think what we most treasure about the memory of childhood is not innocence but the intrinsic qualities of children that lead them to explore, imagine and discover.

One of my favourite picture books is Maurice Sendaks', "Where the Wild things Are", a simple book that has just the right balance of excitement and fear. When I heard a movie was being made from it, I thought, NO, not another Cat in the Hat, trying to flesh out a 32 page story into a bad Hollywood moneymaker. But then I saw the trailer. This might be good. An Arcade Fire song in the trailer? I am sold. (I just noticed if you have a 14" computer screen, the trailer will be cut off when you view it. Click on it to get the full widescreen version on YouTube)

**Just a note for those of you who subscribe in a reader. Yesterdays post didn't seem to show up in any feeds. 2 posts in 2 days? Quirky I know, can't imagine it becoming a habit.

Turning Over a New Leaf

I read a blog last year by an extreme plant lover. She wrote about plants having feelings, consciousness and good karma associated with being good to plants. If this is true....

I...am...screwed.

However, I am convinced that my plant above, a philo - whatever, a green houseplant of some kind, is dying not so much from my neglect as it is from fright. I think it's being haunted by the ghosts of all the plants I've killed...uh, yeah, I guess that doesn't help my case any. But I'm changing, really. I feel bad. I've been learning a lot about plants as I have a big project in the works. With the help of this book....

I will be turning the side of my house (about 1/3 of my yard) from this....

to something a little like this urban homestead. 1/10 of an acre in the city of Pasedena has been cultivated to produce 6000 lbs of fruits and vegetables a year.


We've started work on this. I chopped down a 15 foot bamboo patch that had mostly died from our particularly harsh winter. My husband has started the plans for grading the yard and getting together the wood. Eventually we hope to make more of our property productive. I wonder how our neighbours would feel about a mini wheat field in the front yard. Baby steps...baby steps. First, I need to get good with my karma and try to save my poor houseplant.

Art Workshop

Untitled (work in progress?)
Ellen Sereda

I had the privilege of taking an assemblage workshop this past weekend given by artist Michael de Meng. I would love to show you pictures, but in my worry to make it there on time I forgot my camera at home. Thinking I would arrive early, I ended up late. My sense of direction is freakishly bad. I'm like a homing pigeon whose been given Timothy Leary doses of LSD. I start out with good intentions but somewhere along the way the journey gets wildly confusing.

I am glad I wasn't too late because it was one of the best workshops I've ever taken. We transformed ordinary, in some cases extraordinary, boxes, containers and found objects into strange and compelling works of art. Michael has a great spirit and I learned a lot. Not the least, I faced my fear of power tools. In truth, I didn't actually use any. After improperly locking a cutting tool on a dremel and have it fly off a few feet, I got an itty bit nervous and asked someone to kindly cut something for me. Okay, I'm a wimp, but now I see the amazing options in using these tools and I'm psyched to try again. I may even go off and spend a few hours just slicing up cutlery for the heck of it.

My piece above was meant to hold the ceramic figurine I made a few years ago. When I came home, I scrounged around my house for more things to add to this assemblage and the ceramic piece has now just become part of the narrative. I'm a pushover for narrative. Not narrative that is obvious or definite, but ambiguous, mysterious and layered. That's why I was taken by Michael de Meng's work when I first came across it several months ago. His transformations of objects into a strange new reality are mesmerizing. Bits and pieces of junk and often some interesting obscure paraphernalia are made into a haunting, cohesive whole. When you examine them closely you notice more details emerging from murky depths of oily and rusty paint finishes. Far more articulate reading about his work can be found here. He is also the author of Secrets of Rusty Things: Transforming Found Objects into Art.

Also check out his blog for the video of his recent trip to the Dead Doll Island in Mexico. Bizarre. We're planning a Mexican trip soon, I'm disappointed we'll be nowhere near this place, although my daughters are more than relieved.

Here's a few examples of de Meng's work:

Sienna

Adaptations

Hot

High Seas Misadventure

Apparently my sea legs were amputated when I went whale watching this past weekend. While people aboard the boat were marveling at the sight of 3 gray whales close by I saw nothing but the inside of a barf bag.

I wasn't the only one. About a third of the passengers were also sick. One of them was my youngest daughter. My other daughter was terrified of the big waves thrashing the boat around like a scene from The Perfect Storm. Yes, I'm inserting my moment of high drama here. The worst was that I couldn't be any comfort to my kids as I was hacking up several vital organs from my body and I WAS SURE I WAS GOING TO DIE. The crew (who sort of did look like the cast from The Perfect Storm...coincidence?) comforted my kids so well that I vow to go out in the world, attain incredible wealth and come back one day and buy them houses and BIGGER boats. I love them and I don't care who knows it.

In calmer waters, I managed to get this photo of stellar sea lions lounging in the fog. Probably not the best animal to come across after enduring an intense bout of sea sickness. You can smell them a mile away, literally. It's been measured, for a good mile the stench of them travels. They are stinky.

One the bright side (and there always is one), I went back to the cottage we were staying in and felt the most intense joy over a warm shower, a couch that was immobile and the heat from the fireplace. I have never taken that much comfort in comfort before. It was almost worth the experience (actually no, not even close).

Aside from the whale (not) watching expedition, the trip was wonderful. Here's a few shots of the beach a short path away from our cottage.

Below is the bog walk we went on in Pacific Rim National Park. Some of these trees are hundreds of years old and would normally grow straight and tall, but the soil is so acidic they end up stunted and deformed.

I can't help including this humorous cartoon. It's about the twitter rage and hey, it's relevant (sort of), because there's a whale in it, one I didn't miss.

Whale Song

The lengthy post I had in mind will have to wait. I'm off. I will be walking along the chilly beaches of Tofino and travelling the open waters of the Pacific hoping to see some of these. I have memorized this song from my childhood and will be singing it loud and strong until the whales come...or the other passengers throw me overboard.

Art Giveaway Draw and no gerbils were harmed in the writing of this blog

My daughter helped in the draw. In fact she got pretty into it and orchestrated the whole thing, adding all the names of the girls in her class to the hat as well. Not boys of course, because boys are poopy-icky still and I'll command her to maintain that attitude until she is at least 18. (Me? dysfunctional parent? nawww) .

The first grown up person's name she drew was...Veronica!

Congratulations Veronica! Please email me at ellesereda(at)gmail(dot)com with your address so I can send you the crow drawing.

The Kiva sale still continues. I've discovered that 97.78% of loans to Kiva are paid back. That means there is a 97.78% chance that the artwork you buy through my sale will end up being COMPLETELY FREE. Excuse me for a moment while I sound like a infomercial, but I can't help it...
97.78% FREE!!!
97.78% FREE!!!
97.78% FREE!!!

The only thing better than 97.78% free is 97.79% - 100% Free OR 97.78% free and a bonus gerbil. However, they tend to chew through bubble wrap and don't ship well.

Another artist friend of mine has also decided to donate a portion of her art sales to Kiva. Check out Paula's amazing clocks and artwork made from found objects and materials. She is generously donating $100 from each of RR Plate Limited Edition Clocks available through her Etsy store to Kiva through her Kiva account . I own this clock that Paula made and it's super cool awesome and makes me happy every time I look at it.

I will be back to blogging soon (without asking you to buy anything). To quote a dear artist friend of mine, my blogging voice has laryngitis these days. I think I'm recovering though, as I'm finishing off an epic post with lots of embarrassing pictures and personal anecdotes that may very well start several lawsuits against me. Ah, what the heck, it's my blog. I'll be back.

Art Giveaway and Kiva Sale

This past year I've sold, given away and thrown out a lot of older art. I have a few eclectic pieces I've held onto, ranging from children's illustration I like to do from time to time, to older linocut prints to semi- abstract paintings. I like all these pieces for one reason or another but want to declutter my art studio so I'm having a sale.

Here's how it works. I've put a selection of art for sale here in my Etsy shop. All shipping is free and EVERY penny you pay for the purchase of the art goes directly to Kiva. Kiva is an organization that pays out micro loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries. You decide who and where you want to give the loan to from the Kiva website. You may get the loan paid back one day, you may not, but it's a great charity for helping people out of poverty into self sufficiency. If you see something you like for sale, but it exceeds your budget, make me an offer at ellesereda(at)gmail(dot)com, I'm pretty flexible. It's a win win win situation for everyone. I get to make more space in my studio, you get some very affordable original art and someone, somewhere gets a little help to make their own livelihood.

I promised a giveaway in my last post and so here it is. Blue Crow

This is an original mixed media piece I just finished - pen, coloured pencil and acrylic (5"x5"). The background is not grey but a lovely metallic silver. I think I am spending far too much time with crows because every time I look at shiny things I become MES-MER-IZED, the silver paint is so pretty, I just like to stare at it. This scan doesn't do justice to the drawing. It comes matted in a 9"x9" white mat that fits the inexpensive Ribba frames available at Ikea.

I was going to give this piece to the first person who bought something from the Kiva sale, but that wouldn't be a giveaway, that would be a little attempt at bribery. So instead, I'll do a draw for this piece for all those who comment in this post for the next week. However, if you'd like to promote and support the Kiva sale, well, that'd be nice. And of course, if you do and win this crow artwork then I certainly must bestow upon you a pack of Freakin' Magical Unicorn Gum just to spread around a little more happiness.

Everyone loves Unicorns!

2 weeks since my last post. In blogging world that means you're dead, in Twitter world that means you're mummified. I was going to report on the Twitter awards, because these things exist now. The winners have advice on how to be a famous twitterer? twit???? I didn't have the attention span to read the entire article because I'm a 21st century gal and the myelin in my brain has become excessively frayed from years of lighted screens.

The first rule of success has something to do with having mobile internet access in which you tweet every 20 minutes and glance down at your mobile device every 28-47 seconds for 12-14 hours EVERY DAY. Never mind that every relationship you have in the real world will fall apart because really, it's your online connections that count as your true friends. Never forget that.

I know most of you have stopped dropping by. Yet the numbers of visitors to this blog has exploded due to 2 side by side random words left in a comment 6 months ago that unintentionally forms the name of a new person on the porn scene. I (of course) had to google all this to find out what the heck was going on. So, sadly only horny and then completely disappointed people have been the main visitors to Creative Laundry lately....Yay...

I'm working on a little pet project that I'll be posting about within the next few days, and to entice you back here, I'll be giving away prizes! Yep, a free piece of original art (TBA) and THIS! the most awesomest thing ever! Freakin' Magical Unicorn Gum!

Fruit flavoured deliciousness that as you can see from the back of the box will give you magical powers of sunshine pooping happiness!

See you soon!