A Sort of Office Special & Stuff

So I had an retail-therapy moment yesterday. Of course, because I'm me, retail therapy does not mean a splurge on new clothes, oh no. I don't derive that much enjoyment from modern clothing. To me it's something to put on for modesty's sake and no more. There are no 'I-Love-Me-Clothes' as my sister calls them. The closest thing I come to being a clothes nut is the historic thing. Otherwise, a pair of comfy jeans and a shapeless sweater will do. I think if I felt more comfortable with my body, I might like clothes more, but since they never fit me like I wish they would, I just don't bother.

For me, retail therapy can often entail fabric purchases. I did that recently and bought $180 worth of silk velvet just because. It was so bad. But in the case of yesterday, retail therapy comprised dropping a couple of Jacksons on art supplies I probably didn't need. I already have a nice set of watercolour pencils at home. I have graphic pens, I have sketching pencils, I have a case. What did I do? I basically duplicated these things (except the coloured pencils are just coloured pencils, no water-colour features included this time). I bought a new set of each, and a new case and a pad of sketching paper.

I am not sure why. I think because it just made me feel good to open up that new tin of 24 colours and to roll my fingers across them. It felt good to open up the fresh sketch book and to pencil out the lines of what would become the image above.

It is in essence one of my 'office specials' except this time, it wasn't made with my muddy collection of pencils I found in the supply closet... the pencil sketching wasn't done with a mechanical pencil with a worn-down eraser, and it wasn't inked with as sharpie. It wasn't done on my printer paper. This was a commission from my etsy shop; someone wanted 'A Wee Bit of Tea' with an owl instead of a chipmunk. I'm not entirely happy with the snowy owl.

Since I already own these thing at home, I'm thinking of keeping this new set of art items here at work for my office-special breaks and lunches. Maybe that's a good way to justify having the second set of everything.


Yes. It is nigh. The 22nd will drag me kicking-and-screaming into my 38th year on this planet. Where did my twenties go? Where did my thirties go? It's so weird how time just seems to accelerate with each passing year. As a child, a week felt like a month (except in summer time). I'm starting to think that the secret is ANTICIPATION. As a child there is so much to anticipate, that time just seems to trudge along. As an adult, there's more to dread, and dreading is like an accelerant. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it. Hopefully I won't spend my birthday alone. Husband has a tentative return date of Thursday. I am not counting on it though. His original stint was supposed to be two weeks. We're pushing seven weeks right now. So I night be sitting at home on a pile of 17 ounce Trader Joe Chocolate Bars on Sunday night, watching something appropriately depressing and feeling sorry for myself. Who knows? ::heh::


I added a couple of more prints to my etsy shop last night. I added the new drawing above, but also a couple of my classic 'Five Oaks Friends' series. I went on a sheep binge when I was taking care of the livestock on my sister's farm back in '03 & '04. These are two of many drawings I made from that time. I have some goat images I will be adding in later on. But they're on now. Maybe someone'll like them. Fiber artists maybe?