rain, tornados, moons, and stars

Well, LA has had some "unstable" weather this past week and a half or so. Last monday it rained, then steadily the temp rose to over 100 degrees until about tuesday, then we had tornado -ish winds on wendsday, a down pour of rain on thursday flooding and really screwing up traffic and some tornado winds near riverside, wierd strange (earthquake) weather.
I dont know how to get dressed in the morning anymore, do I wear sandals and shorts for 95 degrees or do I wear a rain coat and sweater for the cold and rain?
It is really unfortunate we have this storm hovering above because tonite the space station will be visable in the night sky. If the clouds would clear, or if your in an area where there is no cloud cover and you looked up into the sky at about 8:19pm and you can seen the space statio move across the sky for approx. 5 minutes. You can see it by the light of the moon. Its a solid light, not blinking, and it looks like a huge shooting star going over.

66max elevation
10above SW approach
12above NE departure

Check here to find exact coordinates for your area.

I may need to take a drive tonite.

I love this tea set I saw in front of a boutique on Robertson. It made me think macaroons and Marie Antoinette.

OK, So I cant take it anymore, Its time to get political on this blog.
I have tried to restrain myself and keep this art and craft related with a few slips here and there, but this really urked me!
I was watching some talk show this weekend(maybe Chelsea Lately) and Shia Labeouf was on saying he got arrested in Burbank for smoking. WHAT?!? Well, he wasnt actually arrested like he said on the show but he did get cited. Apparently, this law went into effect may 12, 2007. I must have juked the cops on my last IKEA visit.
I ran across an article while researching on the subject that I really agreed with. It said...
"Women are already being forced to nurse their children out of public view because this natural and necessary event is repugnant to some. Women are being pulled off of airplanes because somebody considered their dress inapropriate. Recent articles speculate that being fat is contagious. Will we next say that no fat people are allowed within 5 ft of outdoor gathering places and event areas? Maybe bulimia is also contagious. Will thin people be next on the banned list? "No! That's ridiculous," you say. That's precisely what smokers were saying twenty years ago, and that is why I now see things differently. Now, I realize that the loss of one person's rights ultimately means the loss of rights for us all."

OK, cars and burning fossil fuels are a greater harm to people and the environment but they are not banned, there is no ban on sodium laureth sulfate which is in most shampoos and contains dioxane a known human carcinogen, there is no ban on hydrogenated trans-fat yet in large amounts are known to lead to obesity. The point is its YOUR CHOICE! Everyone makes their own daily decisions. These are called CIVIL LIBERTIES!
I could go on and on. I think the point is made.
That article again... "American society seems bent on taking political correctness to outrageous lengths. Soon there will be no segment of society except rich white male nonsmokers allowed in public places. There will always be some reason identified to ban another group."

So from this point on, I say...

FUCK YOU, Burbank

You have made it very clear that you do not want my business. From now on I will drive to the IKEA in Carson or Covina and I will instead drive to Eagle Rock to shop at Target. I will never visit your homogenized chain restraunts and mall.

Audrey for no 5

One of my favorite actresses is going to be the new face of Chanel no 5 ad campaigns replacing Nicole Kidman. Rumor is that “Amélie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet will reunite with Tautou for the spot.

I just love this parisian beauty, isnt she the prettiest little thing...

She will also be in a new French film starring as fashion visionary Coco Chanel (in production).

See her films:
Hors de Prix (Priceless)
Venus Beauty Institute
Happenstance
Amélie
God Is Great, I'm Not
The Spanish Apartment
Dirty Pretty Things
A Very Long Engagement
The Da Vinci Code
Also see director Jean-Pierre Jeunet films:
Delicatessen
La Cité des enfants perdus (City of lost childern)
Foutaises(Things I like, Things I dont like)
Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A very long engagement)

Aprons! Aprons!

I have been so busy on the weekends with painting and apron making, sometimes both in the same day. But I can move on with my life now since the painting part is done.

The apron making will have to continue tho. I am selling aprons designed exclusively for Planet Cookies in Old Town Monrovia. Each one is unique and one of a kind. This style and set of colors Chocolate/Blue and Chocolate/Pink will only be sold there. Along with yummy cookies, pretty cakes and delicious salads and sandwiches. Luckily I have help in this little venture, my sister and I are sharing the work and turning some of our weekend hours into sewing parties. Its fun, and we always hang out and chit chat anyways, so now we sew too. Its a little sisterly bonding and crafting goodness.
We have been at it for a while, making, selling, and cant seem to make enough to keep the store stocked.

Vroom vroom

Im FINALLY finished with this window mural for a hot rod shop I have been working on for the past 2 months of my weekends. I had to do the whole thing from the inside of the window (so it lasts) . That meant doing the entire painting in reverse. I had to do the black outline first(that part was difficult cuz the black was not opaque at all and I needed about 3 passes to get it to be solid), then the highlights, then shadows, last color. It was a really fun project. It reminded me of painting cels for animation so long ago, its exactly the same reverse process.

Bye Buddy

Good boy, sweet Pistol

Wise old Owl

Sat on an Oak

The more that he Saw

The less that he Spoke,

The less that he Spoke

The more that he Heard

Why cant we all be like that Wise Old Bird

Old Skool Benetton

When I was a teenager in the 90's I used to plaster my bedroom walls with magazine tears of cool images I found. I was inspired by my best friends older cooler sister who had her entire room including the ceiling covered. I found this awsome ad with a bunch of hippie stuff like troll dolls, pins, patches etc up there, alot of anti-war stuff from the first invasion of Iraq, and all the United Colors of Benetton ads I could get my hands on.

These are some of the early-90's ones I remember. There are so many more that I cant find. They are ALL in here, (I want).
All of these ads had a purpose back in the day. The one above was from 1991 during the first "gulf war". And then the ads just got crazier and more controvercial from there. But each one had a clear message to raise public awareness of the important social issue of the time - racism, religion, AIDS, sexism, tolerance, war, female power, safe sex, etc. These ads were amazing to me at 11-12 years old and on and helped shape the way I see the world in a positive way. Maybe it was just my age at the time, but it felt like the 90's were all about awareness. We were wearing cross colours and listening to arrested development. Good times.

Company motto:
'communication should not be commissioned from outside the company, but conceived from within its heart.'
From that assumption stems the advertising strategy of a brand that has aimed, for over 20 years, to create “value” by capitalizing on an image.

Read the whole story here. I dont know of any other clothing company that has done anything like this.

I found the one above in vogue just before easter, I was inspired to make braided rope garlands like these, I also wanted to do hats and wear them as our easter bonnets but I didnt have enough time.

Weekend madness

Another estate sale, looking out my dirty windows, my old books the kid got out and layed out all over the floor in perfect formation for me to capture in photos, the baby kittys are half rascals and half sweeties, damn good small town breakfast.