Hello Friday

That moment when you have just signed on to blog about something and then totally forgotten what you were going to talk about.

I think it was about......

No it wasn't............

About doing that............

No it wasn't that either.

I have completely forgotten. Time to resort to some random mumblings.....

mumble, rumble, mum-rumble-umble-um.

It's been a long week.

Hello Friday - Thank god.

27

If you have been reading these posts regularly you should know that I went to the Lovebox festival the other day and found a new band to listen to called Ms Mr. You should also know, especially if you know me for real, that I am obsessed with the number 27.

And, 27, I mean totally, 27, unutterably obsessed.

27

Well look what I  found:

Introducing Twenty Seven by Ms Mr. Maybe not the cheeriest lyrics but I like it anyway.

Updated, upgraded - upstanding.

So it seems I might have cursed myself slightly having blogged quite frequently and then left it for 10 days. Typical. The ten in-between days have been productive though - two paintings completed, one on the way as we speak (or as I type) one premier gallery competition won and another one entered, one brother's wedding attended and a website updated. I consider the fact that I have just been charged an extra £5 for going over my broadband usage to be proof that I have worked hard over the last few days (and not just watched too many YouTube videos).

I have an artwork tracker that I update so I can keep an eye on what paintings have gone online, where they are, whether I have all file types saved, prices sorted, blah blah blah. It was rather out of date - 7 paintings missing and 39 photos! Ouch. I can't even vaguely pretend that I haven't slipped off the ball a bit. It is up to date now though and the missing items are currently being added onto the sites I have neglected for the last 3 months......

This is becoming disturbing - could I actually be getting everything back together whilst still doing architectural work and managing to sleep and leave the house? My word, this might be it - I might finally be managing to juggle everything and keep all the balls in the air.

At some point over the last few days I must have been upgraded.....

A perfect day (unless you are an ostrich)

Look at this! I am seriously racking up some posts. For some strange (and ultimately superb) reason my work/life balance currently seems to be perfect. A straight line between enough free time to sort some things out and enough money to buy some new gym shorts so I can stop looking like a 90's break dancer when I go to zumba. No one, absolutely no one should have to wear the giant baggy monstrosities I am currently shamefully and humiliatingly sporting to the leisure centre. Zumba is usually jam packed except I recently seem to be accruing a large amount of space around me unpopulated by fellow zumbarers, zumbees? I am not sure whether this is due to my dress sense, my peculiarly elastic legs, my involuntary 'jazz hands' or the fact I jump around far too much. Jury is out.

Anyway, I saw some more live music over the weekend as I was treated to a fabulous day out at the Sunday Lovebox festival in Victoria Park.

Sun in the sky, cider in one hand, ostrich burger in the other (very tasty by the way), enthusiastic friend to my right, Kelis on stage. Oh yes, yes, yes. She was absolutely superb. Played some newbies, mashed together the classics, gave everyone something they could sing too, gave everyone something they could get behind, jump to, shout about and more than enough fire to get the party started.

Kelis I salute you - definitely my act of the day (Miss Mister where pretty darn good as well and Purity Ring but no doubt there will be more on them later).

 

Kate Miller Heidke

As a surprise Kate Miller Heidke was also at the Amanda Palmer gig last week and she was kind enough to play a song.

The song was quite funny.

Men *sigh* Facebook *sigh*

Amanda Palmer

My salmon pink, baby food, sky blue painting turned out ok in the end with very little aggravation. I am looking forward to having another go at painting the Grand Canyon at my supposed, currently free weekend coming up in 5 days.

Potentially a 'watch this space' moment.

Potentially....

Firstly I have some good news regarding the painting currently going on display in a gallery in Burton-on-Trent. The show is almost ready to open and I should have some photos of the exhibition winging themselves my way soon....another 'watch this space moment.'

In the meantime I have been catching up on some live music. The Friday before last I went to see Amanda Palmer at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm. What a great venue! I want to see something else there again soon. Miss Palmer's show was a slightly mixed bag - started with a bang, got a bit depressed in the middle and then ended with a real lift. All-in-all definitely worth seeing and kudos to her for getting on with everything after a bit of bad press. You have to love this woman for her lyrics - some of her songs are real gems, both insightful and clever.

Music wise I am including a slower, quieter song for your enjoyment on here because I love the piano work - most of her songs are more hard hitting, punchier and LOUD.

1, 2 buckle my shoe, 3, 4 knock on the door, 5, 6 fiddlesticks...

Today I will be mostly multi-tasking. I have finally found some time to paint, when I say found some time, I really mean lost some time in which I should be sleeping, but time is time however it comes. I am multi-tasking because I thought I would blog whilst I was waiting for the background of my latest work to dry. I am currently apprehensive as I have just created a horrible colour combination of sky blue, salmon pink and baby food green. If this makes you feel sick then congratulations you are imagining it correctly.

What have I done? Or more to the point what am I doing? The downside of not pre-planning an image is that every step is a risk (read: probable mistake) but you take the rough with the smooth. Sometimes you can be surprised by something amazing, sometimes it is a torturous route just to end up with something acceptable. (Yes we all know this is going to fall into the second category). The problem at the moment is that I am trying to paint something new - the Grand Canyon - and I am not painting regularly enough to learn or progress from painting to painting, so yes, I genuinely am just making it up as I go along, but that is exciting in its own way.

So anyway, attempt number 1 is below, as usual becoming more to my liking the older it gets....