Author: Shelly

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings

Pear Crisp

Shelly

Bosc Pear
Bosc Pear (detail)

I like the way this one turned out. I glued down a page from an 1850s patent book, using acrylic medium, then topped it off with a layer of medium, to seal it. Otherwise, as soon as you add water to it, the paper peels and rolls up.

The under-layer of pigment was done in a really wet wash, with the upper layers being finger blended, without adding water.

The detail is about 50% larger than usual, which shows the texture pretty well. The swirly marks are from the underlying layer of acrylic medium. The sharp chisel marks around the dark edge of the pear are from an Xacto knife. Scratching into the paper not only mimics the reflected light, but it also creates a barrier, stopping the watercolor from flowing outside the area.

Tomorrow, I’m going to make pear crisp. Mmmm!

Pets, Photography

Work Bench

Shelly

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My messy coffee table slash work bench. It used to be a desk, but I took the legs off and turned it into a coffee table. It weighs about a million pounds and is really beat up, but it’s functional and I don’t have to worry about trashing it because, hey, it’s already trashed.

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It sleeted, iced, and snowed last night. This morning, there was just a thin film of snow on the patio, so it doesn’t seem to have amounted to much. Right now, I can hear water dripping outside, so it must have warmed up. I should go out and clear the little bit of snow that’s left on my car’s windshield and front bumper, but I’m not feeling too motivated in that direction. Maybe I’ll do it when I check the mail.

Photography

Fog and Sunrise

Shelly

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Taken from the 3rd floor of the Wells Library.

I looked out the south windows, and could see the sun coming up, so I went out in the hallway and took a couple of pictures. As I was going back to my desk, I was facing the north windows, and the view there could not have been more different. It was foggy and wet, without a hint of orange or pink anywhere to be seen.

It’s about 11:30pm now, and the sky is spewing ice. Not good! Thankfully, I don’t have to go in tomorrow.

Uncategorized

Re-locked

Shelly

The maintenance guys have come and gone, and I not only have fancy, new locks but two shiny, new keys. Yay! It’s good to have a spare.

While they worked, the guys and I had a little chat about the Stompy Girls and their wake-and-bake activities. The smell in the hallway was so overpowering that while the locks were being changed, waves of stinkiness rolled into my apartment.

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings

Golden Bosc Pear

Shelly

Bosc Pear
Golden Bosc Pear (detail)
collage with acrylic and Neocolors II on 90lb Stonehenge paper
9 1/4 x 11 5/8 inches

I did this one a little differently, by starting with an acrylic glaze as a background. The collage bit isn’t so much collage as just using an ad straight from a catalog. I grabbed an old Ethan Allen catalog, thinking it might have something in the right color palette to use as a background, but then I saw this dining room scene with a bowl of pears, and I couldn’t resist. I did do a little bit of stamping across the bottom, to tie the two pages together, but the book is a little too tall for my scanner, so it’s mostly cut off. If I weren’t so lazy, I’d scan both pages separately and stitch them together, but I am so lazy, so that ain’t gonna happen.

Crankypantsing

Locks

Shelly

I got home this afternoon to find that:

1. My key was sticking in the small lock. I was able to get it to unlock, finally, but only after a good bit of fiddling.

2. The deadbolt, which my key has never worked in, was mysteriously locked. I can only lock that one from the inside, so how did it get engaged?[1]

Thankfully, I didn’t stop at Target on my way home to pick up laundry detergent, like I’d planned. I had just enough time to get to the leasing office before they closed, and they sent a maintenance guy over. He sprayed graphite in the deadbolt, and his master key worked fine. Mine still refused to budge.

They’re bringing a new set of locks over tomorrow. That means, yet another unplanned day off work and yet another make-up Friday. Hrmf! It’s probably good timing, though, because we’re supposed to have Weather tonight.

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1. I found out from the management folks that my key ought to work in both locks. Who knew?! It’s never worked in the deadbolt.

I also found out that they have no spare keys for my apartment. The lock problem may be a key problem. In fact, it’s likely to be a key problem, since it’s affecting both locks, but since they do not have any other keys for my locks, they’ll have to be replaced.