Spooks & Cinders

Dear October,

I'm loving your atmosphere, as usual.  You and your pendulous skies have me thinking of ghosts and their stories.  It's hauntingly cozy and smells of burned embers.

Thank you,
Amanda

Chill. Flame. Cinnamon

October finally came back to me.  It's my favourite month, along with December.  I know i'm probably the only one (besides my Damian who also favours the chilly months) but oh how i love to hunker down and bundle up in coziness.

Autumn/Winter are my "summer", the seasons i like to be outside in, the seasons i would prefer to take my vacation time.  I feel more alive when i can see my breath in front of me, when the chill bites down through my skin and into my bones forcing me to wrap myself in my own bundled arms.

I work much better when it's cold and find myself in my studio more than in summer.  A pot of tea sitting next to my paintbrushes, my window open to let a breeze and the scent of earth in, and my trusty orange hoody with the hole in the elbow keeping me warm.

Yesterday was only October 2nd, the proper chilly weather had just begun and yet it took me no time at all to blanket my house in the scent of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.  Damian and I jumped at the chance to build a raging fire in our old wood stove.

I love atmosphere and there's so much much of it once the mist, dark clouds, and colour roll in.

Whoopie!

 

I made these delicious beasts for a friends birthday last weekend. Chocolate whoopie pies with salted caramel filling, from scratch (the best way!) 

They were nice and moist and the filling was happily light, airy, salty, sweet and awesome (with enough left over to daub on top if desired).  They were fun to make too, the kitchen smelled like a carnival.  Now i'll have to play around with different fillings.

A "cool" way to see through heat

i recently purchased a new pair of spectacles... at the grocery store.  it was one of those impulse buys, one of those things you find hanging in the soup aisle of all places.  it made no sense to me to sell spectacles with cream of broccoli but i couldn't resist.  perhaps the placement oddity was part of my desire to acquire them.

these new devices of seeing are divinely perfect on a raging hot day.   you simply put them upon your face, place one end in a vessel containing a cool drink and the other in your mouth.  as you suck the liquid upwards a cooling sensation loops itself around your eyes and across your forehead, ahhh, such relief.

I figured it would be high class to enjoy a glass of pinot grigio this way. gorgeous. take me home and impress your Mum!

Jungle Bathing & Passion

Urban Jungle handmade soap by Future Primitive  

I just received the most AMAZING soap in the mail, seriously, this is what all of those mass produced crap soaps wish they could be.  there is nothing like handmade soap, trust me.  you know what's in it, it smells like magic, it softens & soothes the skin, and more often than not you buy it from the person who created it.  What could be better?

Tiggy is a true artist in so many ways.  She loves what she does, it's obvious the moment you open your package.  Just look at the beauty of the soap, the layers of colour are magnificent!  I'm in love.  She even has her very own branded parchment to wrap it in!  To think she does every bit of it... the researching, the experimenting, the creating, the marketing, the packaging, the shipping..... i'm drawn to people like this.  It's hard work but it's passion that keeps it going strong.  I find that true passion is a rarity these days which makes Tiggy's products that much more special.  

Genuine love for what one creates is felt by those who view, feel, experience it.  You can see through false attempt, heart is so important in creation, creating something you yourself love.  I had a drama teacher in high school who said to us during a dress rehearsal "do you see that lampshade there? it's slightly tilted.  the human eye will always be drawn to what is wrong".  This is so true, sadly, human nature tends to focus on the negative.  The positive to this negative is that when we stumble upon something truly heart/soulful we know it and it resonates, we know it's honest and rooted in love.

Here's to supporting the passion of others and creating our own self belonging!  Root yourself in true.

Sometimes you need to go to Paris for lunch

It's Thursday which means a longer drive home.  We live up north near cottage country, Thursday is when the cottagers start their exodus from the city.  These little darling treats should help pretty up the gridlock for us... as long as they don't melt first, we've got no AC! 

No AC means tangled hair and the odd wasp landing on your lap but i love an open window.  no matter how much it hurts as i try to comb the knots even Houdini would find challenging, i will always choose open window to air conditioning.

Much thanks to Maria-Therese for the macaron craving :)

music & edges

thoughts while a painting dries:

1. oh how i love and need music, i can't do anything without music it would seem (i'm such a Pisces).  while painting i need just the right aura of sound around me. sometimes while working i'll feel "off", like it just doesn't feel right somehow. Often the cure to this feeling is a switch in music.  when i land on the right notes the air changes, the moment begins to feel right.  that happened tonight.  often i like to put on a 1920's radio station and skip around my canvas with nostalgia for a past life (i'm SO convinced i used to live there, it's another post altogether).  tonight that didn't fit.  i scrolled through my library and fell on adorable and poetic Joanna Newsom and then... then there was synergy!  *side thought* - do you ever combine pieces of people you are inspired by and paper doll them into someone you would like to be when you grow up?  Joanna is definitely a piece of my paper.

2. you know how i said i was waiting for a painting to dry?  i'm actually waiting for three edges to dry so i can paint the fourth.  as i was painting over the bits of colour that spilled over i wondered "why do i cover this up?"  i love those run over bits, they show the process.  if i were buying a painting i would want to see that, the process, i love the "behind the scenes" bits.  i guess i've convinced myself that painting it over in a nice solid colour (in this case it's white) makes it more "sellable", like most people would like to purchase something that looked absolutely finished.  is that bad?  i'm sort of torn there, now that i've analyzed it.  well, i'll finish these edges since i started but for future pieces..... we'll see.

I think it's dry.