POISON IVY AND A VIDEO ON MULTIPOTENTIALITES THAT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER ABOUT WHO YOU ARE

It's been a horrible weekend. Last week Destyni and I had a boho style photography session in a field here by the lake. We took a few pics of each other as well, and apparently I chose the wrong place to take a seat.

You see, I have a raging case of poison ivy that decided to crop up Saturday morning on our way out of town. My entire right leg is about twice the size it should be, is so raw and painful from the blisters and plaques, and I can hardly bear weight on it. I went to urgent care Sunday to make sure it wasn't cellulitis, because all the signs were there minus a high fever. The doctor took one look at my legs, touched the leathery plaque that has replaced my thigh, and went oh my you need a steroid injection. Yes. Great. I thought. PLEASE.

Until she found out I was still nursing. Then she changed her mind and sent me home with a worthless cream. I cried the entire way home.

Luckily Chris stayed home from work yesterday to help me out with Camden. Otherwise I don't know what I would have done. It was pure misery and hell.

I have such an amazing husband. He went out and got us a rotisserie chicken for lunch, popcorn, and a few movies. This definitely helped ease the blow of the hellfire that was consuming my skin.

I have been a blob on the couch ever since.  I know these pictures were the culprit. I must have sat/laid down right on top of some poison ivy/oak/sumac/satan like a dumbass.

Ok enough ranting about my skin and poor choices. Yesterday, my Zite app delivered this awesome article from TED talks that I just wanted to share with you. The video is embedded below, but if you just want to read the transcript because you're sitting somewhere you can't watch a video (ike sitting next to a sleeping baby/sitting in a jury/generally afraid of getting caught watching videos at work or while out to dinner with a spouse) visit here. It's an incredible speech though, so it's definitely worth taking a moment to read/watch.

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HURRAY TO GETTING LOST AT EVERY AGE

I get Quora emails that come across my phone every once in a while that really spark my interest. This morning this one came across and I was so moved with the answer that I had to share it.
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Q: "Why are people in their twenties anxious about figuring out their life and career?"
By Dushka Zapata

A: "I am 46 years old. By this I mean that I have been 20 and 25 and 29 (and everything in between.) I have at every age been "anxious" to "figure it out".

If someone asked me what these years have given me, I would say "Hello. My name is Dushka, and I am an expert at getting lost".  Fortunately for me, stumbling around being lost is the only way to accumulate the experience required in getting found.

Here is the big fat secret adults keep from younger people. 

Ready?

The age where you think you will have everything figured out never comes. 

It doesn't exist.

To more directly answer your question, people in their late twenties are anxious about figuring out life because everyone is convinced that happiness lies on the other side of "figuring it out".  Instead, happiness is now.

Figuring it out is supposed to be fun. It's why we are here. Feeling like you are the only person who hasn't is an illusion created mostly by yourself. Figuring it out is another expression for the pursuit of happiness. 

Happiness is not "when I turn 30" or "when I find a boyfriend" or "once I get a job" or anywhere in the future. It's within the actual pursuit. 

Resolve to make it an adventure.

Finally, if you were to ask me if it was normal/common to feel lost at 20, 30 and 40 I would say yes. We are all trying to find ourselves.  Here is why: finding yourself is a moving target. The world changes constantly. We change constantly. Once you find yourself you have to begin again. 

Hurray to getting lost at every age."

"MAKAYLA" REVEAL JUST AROUND THE CORNER

Good morning lovelies!  It's finally October! Hooray!

Actually I'm not a crazy fan of October or anything like that. I'm not the pumpkin obsessing, sweater loving, boot wearing, straw bale sitting, hot chocolate sipping, fall fanatic like most girls. I know. Here is my female card.

I'm just really excited because I'm about to reveal my next painting in the Paint Our World in Gold project now that it is October, and I couldn't be more ecstatic.

Makayla is a beautiful 4 year old girl who won her battle with brain cancer. Her story is inspirational and she is a cancer warrior who came out swinging (and smiling). Stay tuned as I post sneak peeks of her artwork and her story!

HELP SOME KIDS WHILE YOU SHOP FOR ART

With September drawing to close, I want to remind everyone to take a step back and think about something for a minute for me.

1 in 300 kids are getting cancer these days.

Are you ok with these numbers? Are you ok knowing that those numbers are getting worse? What about the rest of these numbers?

Roughly 40,000 children are undergoing cancer treatment this year, and childhood cancer rates have been steadily increasing over the last 20 years, up 29%, despite recent scientific advances. 

Some speculate that our chemical laden environment is to blame. It has recently been discovered that babies today are born with over 200 toxic chemicals detected in their bloodstream at delivery. These children need answers. And unfortunately, there is not enough funding to get to those answers quickly enough and things are going to get worse. Less than 4% of federal cancer research funding goes to childhood cancer research, only 3 new pediatric cancer treatment drugs have been approved by the FDA in the last 20 years, and children are dying every day waiting for promising new treatments that they’ll never see.

"Jaxon" is now available, and prints and reproductions are available through fineartamerica.com through September 2016. All proceeds go to helping these kids! 

“By combining medicine, humanity, and art, I think this is an opportunity to raise awareness, increase financial support, and provide a little inspiration out there for kids who might need it,” she says. "Each month I'll be sharing one story of hope, strength, and courage. An accompanying painting will be created using the children's toys as inspiration, and reproductions will be available to the public. Because the symbol for pediatric cancer is the gold ribbon, each painting is created with gold leaf to stand as a representation of their fight, to share a piece of their courage with the world and leave their mark on it forever. These children represent the very definition of hero, and they want to share a small symbol of their heroism with you through art. So that we may be reminded in a world of overwhelming uncertainty and pain, there can also be an abundance of community, strength, and hope."

GOLD LEAF ALL THE THINGS | roundup of some pretty little goldish items for your Monday morning

May your coffee be strong and your Monday be short. Happy Monday lovelies!

Today I want to roundup some of my favorites over on my Pinterest board. Gold will never ever go out of style. It is a classic, and it is a timeless necessity that will be around forever, whether you like it or not. Gold can do so much for your decor, bringing shimmer and lovely to what is otherwise dull and boring. Here, I've compiled a whole bunch of photos with a single theme: gold leaf. I think it goes without saying that I think it looks SPECTACULAR on EVERYTHING HERE.

What do you think about all of this goldish decor? Would you outfit your home/self with any of these gold inspirations??

How about we start off our roundup with a nice pretty cake with some edible gold leaf?

Or how about gold leafing your entire ceiling? I'm pretty sure I would have a permacramp in my neck from staring at my ceiling day in and day out if this was my house.

Or how about these DIY gold leafing coasters that are pretty much the prettiest thing I've seen in my whole life.

I could definitely live with my decision to incorporate gold leaf into my wall dressings/staircase/baseboards/flooring.

How about this cute little canvas? Anybody with a few hours, some gold leaf skills, and a canvas could pull this one off pretty easily.

GASP. This backsplash is TO.DIE.FOR. It is absolute perfection and will probably end up in my next house...

How about gold leafing your globe?

Paper mache bowls? Yes please.

Um. Must. Have.
These business cards have definitely caught my eye and given me a few ideas for my next round of cards...

Big ol' sigh. I just love this chair.

And last but not least. Gold makeup. Loving her eyeshadow and lipstick, however the weird gold leaf mask covering her face...that I could probably do without.

All original image sources can be found here

What do you think? Do you have any fun gold leaf ideas you'd like to share with me? I'd love to hear about them.

I REALLY JUST WANT YOUR EYEBALLS TO MELT RIGHT OFF

I took two new pieces to the gallery yesterday. So they are now on display until some lucky soul decides to take one of them home.

I say lucky because that person will be the new owner of a truly one of a kind piece and will possess something I have meticulously poured my heart and soul into.  I care about every piece, every canvas, every frame, every brushstroke, as if it were my own child.

Plus I have what some would call a questionably unhealthy obsession with perfectionism, which usually results in a truly unique, one of a kind piece that will hopefully melt your eyeballs right off your face.

These two pieces are now available:

"Poolside minibar"
20x24inches
acrylic, gold leaf, glitter, and epoxy resin on canvas
$528

"I only care about pumpkin spice lattes and like 3 people"
16x20
acrylic, gold leaf, glitter, and epoxy resin on canvas
$432

AMAZING SELFIES ON INSTAGRAM, A MYSTICAL DIY EASEL, AND I ONLY CARE ABOUT PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES AND LIKE 3 PEOPLE

I was working on a pretty sick construction project yesterday ya'lls. I challenged myself to build a new easel, and I like to think it was a surprising success.

But first I want to say something. My art account on instagram (@poshpaint) follows a lot of totally random people. To show my sense of community, I will follow back most of the people that follow me (at least until they post something so dumb or spammy that I am forced to unfollow them). But in having so many people that I follow, I do see a lot of really random stuff show up on my home feed.

Ok, anyways.

Every time I see a mom post an amazing selfie on instagram, I have to remind myself that most likely A TON of prep work went into making it look so flawless and effortless. Or at least I have to tell myself that to make myself feel better.  She probably took 700 photos, spent hours on her hair and makeup, the photo she posted was most likely the best of 100 other retakes on her phone before she just hired a professional, she had a nanny to get the kids to behave, and so on. Well, like I said, at least that's what I have to tell myself when I need to feel better about day three of not showering and the dishes in the sink are piling up.

Instagram can be such an inspiration, and such a source of self loathing and curling up into a tiny ball in the closet to not exist for just a little while.

It's hard enough for me to take time out of my day while Q is napping, just to work on my art.  Which is why I was SUPER DUPER impressed with my time management skills when I built an easel during his nap yesterday. Yes, an entire easel. I know.

I had the wild idea that I needed a new easel. And I also wanted to make it myself. I had a bunch of lumber scraps, and my trusty power tools, so I though what the heck why not.  I like a good challenge. I drew a rough sketch of what I had in mind, and went to town.

A bunch of mystical shit happened, and 2 hours later, I wasn't entirely sure how I even ended up with what I had made. All I know is I was on a mission. I wish I could recap the steps for you, showing you step by step how to DIY your own easel (if you're into that kind of thing), but I really can't. I literally have no recollection of the efforts that went into it after measuring out the lengths of the pieces.

Behold. My new easel:

I know there is a random tomato planter there. Mental note to move that.

It has hinges, wheels, a minibar, the whole shebang. All in all pretty shocked it turned out the way I wanted. 

Not to get all braggy about my unusual/new found time management skills, but I also finished a new piece last night too.  I know. I need to spend all this new extra time on my hands showering and cleaning up my house before guests come in tonight (my mom and sis are coming in from Illinois).

So this piece is only 16 x 20 (which is small for what I normally do), but I wanted to have some smaller pieces to take over to the gallery for the weekend.

Wanna know what it's called?!?

"I only care about pumpkin spice lattes and like 3 people." Duh. because it's fall and all.

"I only care about pumpkin spice lattes and like 3 people"
16x20 inches
acrylic, glitter, gold leaf, epoxy resin on canvas
$432.00 

And for all you moms out there: OMIGOD THIS WHOLE CHILD REARING THING IS INSANE. How's it going for you? Any tips? I could use a few right now...

Peace out and happy Fri-yay!

MONSANTO'S INSTAGRAM FEED, HOW TO CHILL LIKE A BOSS, AND CHERRY CHIP COFFEE IS THE DEVIL

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Monsanto or any type of awareness campaign group against the company. I am simply an innocent bystander who happens to have made the following casual observations. These are my opinions and are provided purely for entertainment:)

Just when I started feeling a little lousy and down yesterday, it's like the universe knew I needed a little pick me up. I stumbled upon Monsanto's instagram feed by complete random accident. I have no idea how I even ended up there. But I'm glad I did because it was hilarious.

Their photos weren't hilarious. Don't be confused. They're not comedians posting worthy content to a humor craving audience. No. They are a food producing giant behind GMOs (food with DNA that has been spliced with bacterial DNA to better resist pests and disease - which sounds great in theory except people accuse them of playing God/GMO DNA can actually insert pieces of itself into human DNA when consumed/GMOs have been banned in most countries except ours/GMOs are linked to cancer in mammals).  They are also the company responsible for swindling scientific research results in their favor/paying off the FDA to approve things that shouldn't be approved/all kinds of awful crimes against humanity. Plus there is that whole aspartame thing they are responsible for. It was denied by the FDA 3 times, until they paid a pretty penny to finally get it approved. Even though there were clear links to brain tumors in all the research behind the chemical. Now aspartame is in everything.  Don't believe me? Just look online at all the articles about what they did.

Ok, so back to my original conversation. Seeing their photo stream was exactly the pick me up I needed. Why? Because each photo had about 300 comments that were pure genius. Hilarious jabs at the company. I think we are about to see a huge movement for natural, whole foods from the farm to the table. Buying and supporting local, natural ingredients. Consumers are fighting back against these corporate giants who lead the way in the day to day human experiment. <----By the way, if you haven't seen that documentary on Netflix, I highly recommend it.

I almost felt sorry for Monsanto for a second. Here they are, trying to post their fun loving pics to their Instagram account, hoping for a few likes and nice comments from friends. I feel bad for their PR guy that has this Instagram account on his phone.

Imagine for a second what it must be like to be this guy.

"Oh hey look, I have 200 new comments on that pic of the corn stalk I posted earlier."

*Slowly scrolls through comments in notifications tab*

"FML. I hate my job. I hate people."

*Takes another swig of vodka and swallows another Xanax.*

So as a reminder to appreciate where you are in life, at least you don't have that guy's job.

In other news, I tried cherry flavored coffee this morning and gagged on it. Cherry Chip to be exact. And it is the prime example of why I have trust issues. That and oatmeal raisin cookies that look like chocolate chips. This is not a haha or lol kinds of moment. This is real life, deeply rooted hatred for surprises in my food.

Yesterday, I took Cam to Home Depot with me to pick up some wood and some paint for upcoming art projects and other home improvement business. I love carting this kid around. He just loves shopping and chills out with me wherever we go. Prime example of his chilling capabilities below.

How to chill in the cart like a boss

I'll be working on some things today in the ol' studio. I have a special construction project I'm about to begin, and if it turns out ok, I'll post pictures. If it doesn't, we'll never speak of it again.

NEW INSPIRING COLOR PALETTES AND DO THEY MAKE SIPPY CUPS THAT DON'T LEAK??

I was casually perusing Pinterest last night, when all of a sudden, my eyeballs were held hostage by some pretty amazeballs color eye candy. I couldn't look away from the onslaught of color palettes I suddenly found myself swimming in. I just kept scrolling for more. No, I was not taking psychedelic drugs of any kind.

I'm quite certain that anyone following me on Pinterest was pretty ticked by the plethora of paint chips suddenly showing up in their feed. I mean, who else could possibly feel the same way about color that I do? That's right...probably not a soul alive. Like a pinning freak I pinned about 10-15 paint chips in a 5 second period before I told myself to quit before people unfollow me or report my account.

Do you have Pin Guilt like that? What is Pin Guilt? Pin Guilt is where you're actually afraid that you're going to piss people off by serially pinning things and spamming their feeds with dumb shit that no one else could possibly be interested in seeing but you. Highly neurotic tendencies is also a symptom. Pin Guilt can be alleviated by pinning this kind of stuff to a secret board, so only your eyes have to see your dumb shit. But sometimes it takes a lot of effort to make additional boards, or it makes sense to keep those pins with other things on a regular board. Which was my case.  That and I'm a raging neurotic.

All above image sources can be found here

ALSO, DO THEY MAKE SIPPY CUPS THAT DON'T LEAK??? Anybody have any good suggestions on cups that don't spilleth over? On a daily basis, I am constantly cleaning up leaked water. I've tried a half a dozen different sippy cups to no avail. And we have hardwood, so me and the kid are constantly slipping and sliding on the puddles. It's like a water park in my home most days.  Anyone else have this problem? Just us? Well alright.

HOW TO NAME ART

For me, naming my pieces is part of the fun of creating new art. I thrive on wacky titles. My newest piece is titled: "Is this how you do yoga?" I also thoroughly enjoy making the captions for these when I post on social media:) You may remember this tank top that has obviously inspired this title.

Follow me on Instagram to see more.

HALLOWEEN FUN

I know I mentioned before that I'm not a fan of fall. Well I love Halloween time! Something about gobs and gobs of candy, spooky decor, and kids parading around in costumes just gets me excited.

Mostly it's the gobs and gobs of candy. I can throw back some Reese's like it's my job.

For my next paint and wine class at the Vine, I'm pretty stoked to get people painting this piece I found on Pinterest:

I just love doing these. We have such a blast. And duh. It's wine. How could that not be fun??

BEGINNER'S PAINT AND WINE CLASS

Spend a relaxing evening painting with us on Wednesday, October 7th, from 6-8pm.

Paint, sip, nibble, relax. Absolutely no experience needed. First timers welcome! $30 Class fee includes all paint supplies to take home your very own masterpiece.

Hurry because space is limited! Register at:
http://thevinegallery.com/paint-and-wine-registration/

FALL IS COMING PEOPLE

Ugh. You either love fall or you hate it. I for one usually hate it (cue collective gasps from women everywhere.)

I know. Just before God sends each woman to earth, they are required to check the box where it says they are required to love fall and obsess over it constantly. Pumpkin spice lattes. Pumpkin candles. Chunky knit sweaters. Boots. Scarves. PUMPKIN EVERYTHING. I guess I just missed that checkbox. I've never been particularly skilled at correctly filling out forms anyways. And I really hate pumpkin.

But I do love the outfits. And winery-going weather. And the wine. Plus I've always been a sucker for the classic dress, boots, fun jewelry and/or scarves look of fall. But mostly I love the wine.

Image credits: These images are from my personal Pinterest account. Sources can be found by visiting here: pinterest.com

We're planning a few winery outings this fall, and with them come the fun part of finding a few cute outfits.  I love me some Banana Republic. Especially since there is a factory store just a few miles away from me.

Image credits: bananarepublic.com

SCULPTURE PHOTOS BY ME

I took some photos for The Vine last week. I took my dslr and paraded around like a moron in front of people to get some jazzy photos of the exhibit for "Fiber Sculptures by Peggy Wyman (Studio Casa Cielo)" who uses pine needles to create her unique works. Yes, you heard me correctly, pine needles. They're so cool though. And I have to say, I'm pretty happy with the way the photos turned out for them! Ok, well here are only two of my photos because my internet is lousy today (thanks for nothing Charter), but you can see more of my photos on their Facebook page.

As Peggy describes her unique sculptures in her bio: "It didn’t take long, however, before I became bored with coiling “traditional” shapes. One day I decided to see what would happen if I allowed the bias of the natural materials to dictate the direction of the piece. The result was so intriguing and unusual that I knew I was on to something important. Something I call “Fiber Sculpture”.


Hundreds of sculptures later, the materials are still leading and I am still following. Not knowing what is going to result when I start a new piece is the stimulus that keeps me inspired and trying new things. And working with natural materials serves as a constant reminder of the bounty and blessings of this big blue ball we call home."


Read more on her website at http://studio-casa-cielo.com/Index.html

LE SIGH

So I have a Pinterest board (and maybe a few secret boards) dedicated to a someday space full of soul shining, magical, wondrous art magic.  I have a current space and it serves its purpose just fine. But it's icky and nothing special. In fact I share it with a few really nasty beings. I've found a spider or two who have attempted to make it their home too. The hoe bags must really be into my Pandora stations lately or something.

But I dream of disappearing into my own little world of sunshine and paint. Canvas stretching and music. Probably a midday cocktail or two on a nice tufted sofa, surrounded by orchids and magical fairies. And how cool is that repurposed cabinet? It would hide the mess like nobody's biz.

The following spaces are on my mood board curations and definitely on my future construction radar.

Image credits: Visit my Pinterest curation to find the original sources for each image