Musings of my Mind

Some recent paintings…

artwerx — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 17:45:03 +0000

My alter ego

artwerx — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 21:48:31 +0000

Have you been to my other site, The Romantic Relic? You can follow along as I play with metal to make jewelry. Click on the pic or go to www.theromanticrelic.com Come by and say hello!

OR vs OUR, ER vs RE, L vs LL

artwerx — Mon, 28 May 2012 00:16:45 +0000

Spelling is not my strong suit. My Mom will certainly agree, and acts as my personal spell check when I forget to actually use it.

Growing up as a Canadian kid, but watching American shows like Sesame Street, I learned how to spell so many things the American way. When I was old enough to be in school, all those American spellings were quickly replaced by Canadian spellings. Some words I just like the looks of the American way, so I didn’t care if my Canadian teachers marked them wrong, for example ‘color’ looks way nicer than ‘colour’, so I continued to spell it the way I learned on Sesame Street, being the rebel speller that I was. I guess I have loyalties both ways because I continue to spell ’cheque’ this way, not ‘check’.

I’ve lived in USA for 14 years, this June 28th. For 14 years now I continue to get the infamous wavy red line under my words. Partly because, well, I’m not a strong speller, partly because I type faster than my brain can handle, and mostly because my blog, my texts, my facebook, etc don’t like my Canadian way of spelling things.

Good ol’ Noah Webster ‘Americanized’ the spelling of many words, in the 1800′s. And the ironic thing about all this Canadian vs American spelling is that my name is now Webster, since I married an American. You can see a list of the most common words that have dual spelling here.

Sneak Peek

artwerx — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:01:07 +0000

Some new work is almost done. I’m layering resin with paint for some new dimension. It will cure enough to take the tape off overnight, but a few days to really harden up. There are a few days of rain in the forecast so it might need extra time.

Happy Birthday Chewie

artwerx — Sun, 06 May 2012 03:48:59 +0000

Everyone needs a Chewie …

I was never a dog person until I got Chewie. I was intensely afraid of dogs. Every kind of dog… big ones, little ones, even the ‘invisible’ ones. Do you remember invisible dogs? They used to sell leashes on a wire, at the carnivals, and you walked along with this leash that floated along beside you, looking like you had an invisible dog. OMG those were the worst! I mean geez, I was already afraid of dogs, and if there was an invisible dog that might get me, how do I know where he is? Whew! Glad those days are over and I’m in love with dogs now, big, little and I guess invisible ;)

I didn’t go shopping for a dog – actually I was shopping for a fish, and when I was leaving, Chewie put his paws on the fence and let out the most cute sound you have ever heard. I looked over and there was this teeny tiny dog with his tail wagging. I went over and picked him up and he nuzzled his teeny tiny head in my neck and that was it. In about 15 minutes, I was driving home with this teeny tiny dog. I had no idea what to do with a dog – I was a cat person.

He was like a duck that saw me first and imprinted me as his mother. He never let me out of his sight. It was like there was a tether between us, if I got more than a few feet away, he was following me. I was lucky enough to be working from home, so we dealt with the potty training pretty easily. I brought his food dish into my office and he was happy as clam to be my office mate. He is my buddy and totally soothed my baby urges :) Mr. Chewie Monster is my little fur baby. He turned 3 this month!! He’s been 5 lbs 7 oz for 2 years now. He popped into my life at the perfect time, and vice versa. He ended up being very sick – having seizures because he would not eat unless he had someone there beside him. At the crappy pet store where I ‘rescued’ him from, they just left him outside all day and he didn’t eat, became anemic and started having seizures. The vet said he would have died if I hadn’t come along when I did. Although I paid a small fortune for him, I consider him a rescue because the lame store did not look after him. I think we saved each other. I would be lost without him.

March – random fun

artwerx — Sat, 05 May 2012 23:38:10 +0000

We got a skiff of snow!

I learned how etch metal quite a few years ago, but never did anything with it, but now I’m totally charmed with metal jewelry, and am trying my hand at creating things by hand. Below are a few of things I’ve been working on this month:

February – the short & short of it

artwerx — Sat, 05 May 2012 23:06:46 +0000

A short month, and short on news, lol.

I was out of inspiration for photo taking, but got busy in my studio painting. (it’s sold now)

January – in a nutshell

artwerx — Sat, 05 May 2012 22:47:08 +0000

I always enjoy the fresh start of a new year, but instead of blogging, I took the challenge on to do a photo a day. It was the biggest commitment that I actually accomplished, as far as a daily activity. Journaling is not my thing, and blogging has been an obstacle for me too, but I was bound and determined to put my new iPhone to use snapping pics and posting them here: http://shuttercal.com/calendar/artwerx/2012/1/ As I write this (in May – see blogging as has not been my thing), I am loving looking back at my pics. I hope you enjoy this little peek into my life.

back in the game…

artwerx — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 02:00:28 +0000

I have had more than my share of blog tech troubles, but I’ve reinstalled, updated, etc etc and I should be back in the game now :) So rather than recap the past, I’m just going to start fresh.

I worked my shift at the gallery today, and while it was a quiet Sunday morning, I pulled my trusty travel watercolors out of my purse and played around. Of course a weed grew on my page… I’m still in that kick, so I decided to have fun with it and use all kinds of colors on the leaves.

First day of spring

artwerx — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:45:54 +0000

I love the change of seasons. Here in Florence, we don’t have huge temperature changes, but moving from winter to spring means buds on on the rhody bushes are getting bigger and brighter, daffodils are popping up, and the misty rain is full swing, turning everything a luscious green. These two little birds were hard at work getting their birdhouse ready for a new year, and took a rest on my balcony for a few minutes.