new work sketches by kenn goodall..

Loving Kenn Goodall's latest sketches, commissions and new work he has been uploading on his blog.The above piece is Animal Collective for Beard Magazine. Have you gotten their new album yet? If not you need to, it's seriously the perfect accompaniment to Spring 09!

our first and failed attempt potty training part 1

So help me, if one more person tells me that my son is too young for me “to be trying to potty train him”, my head is going to explode into 87 bajillion tiny pieces.I am not the one wanting to potty train. Please believe me, I did not initiate this. Sure, I bought some potties from Ikea and a book or two about how big boys put their poop and pee into the potty, but that’s about it.And then one day he started telling me before he needed to poop.For the most part, we use cloth diapers (although this summer we have earned a whopping D- in that department, road trips, vacations, and general laziness, then whoops! Will you look at that? We just went through an entire Costco case of ‘sposies. ::hangs head::) which I think has helped a lot in the self-initiation of potty training. A soiled cloth diaper is just not as comfortable as a soiled disposable diaper and I think OBoy caught on to what was up down there because of that.Alright, so the poop thing happened here an there, but really my arms are full of baby these days, so I wasn’t really chomping at the potty training bit. Until one time, when OBoy told me he had to poop and I ignored him.::lalala fingers in my ears I don’t have time for this right now thankyouverymuch::Until he had to just put it in his diaper out of necessity.O, the mother guilt. My kiddo had figured out that he doesn’t want to put his poop in his diaper and I was not proud or encouraging or helpful. Oooooo, the guilt.And so it was that after feeling like a right proper wench for doing what I did, I decided that OBoy deserves better. He deserves for me to help him learn what he wants to know. He deserves to be encouraged and supported.{{Even about pooping.}}To test the waters, I checked out a book from the library called “How to Potty Train your Kid in One Day”. HA. HAhahahahah. One day. I read it with a few truckloads of salt grains, because if there’s anything parenting has taught me it’s that the books are FULL OF IT, especially the ones that make promises. But it WAS helpful for breaking up all of the skills involved in training – pulling down and up pants and undies, washing and drying hands, wiping, flushing, etc. – things I’d never really considered. It’s just all about getting the P&P where it needs to go, right? I also read an extensive article online about the “three day” potty training method. This one was more my style, so we made plans to do that soon, but in the time being, we began to work on those skills.We started having OBoy wipe himself when we were changing his diaper. We started letting him flush after we went potty. We started having him pull up and down his pants. We spent a LOT of time talking about diapers and potties and undies and where things are supposed to go. I bought a couple kiddo books and checked out others from the library about big boy potties.Then, one Saturday two weeks ago we finally dove into the potty training deep end.And it sucked.Like, really, really sucked.We followed the three day training model where you basically put potties all around the house (no, seriously, we own 5 potties for such a time as this), take off the kiddo’s pants and diaper, and WATCH HIM. Watch him watch him watch him while pumping him full of liquids, liquids, and salty snacks so he’ll drink more liquids. Then, when he starts to go, you rush him to the nearest potty and try to get some in it. Eventually he comes to associate what he now sees happening with the feeling that it’s about to happen. Sounds like a hoot, right?{just drawing with chalk… pants-less}So it’s 9am and we’re drinking and watching, drinking and watching. Then it’s 10. Drinking, watching, snacking, drinking. Then it’s noon. Watching, drinking… you get it. Then it’s 1:00 and we admit defeat, put a diaper on him, and lay him down for nap.ONE O’CLOCK! NO POOP OR PEE IN A 4 HOUR PERIOD, and a very well hydrated 4 hour period no less. DanO and I followed that kid around like secret service agents and nothing. Not a drop.He did of course, soak his way clear through his naptime diaper, though. {{Surprise!}}DanO and I were so beyond frustrated. How are we supposed to be reinforcing something so that he learns it when it only happens once in a blue moon? Frustrated parents do not good potty trainers make, so we threw in the towel. We did! We said forget this, he can be in diapers until he’s 10 or figures it out on his own because it’s not worth the amount of anxiety and frustration that we just felt.To be continued…{{because really, no one wants to read 1,000 words about potty training in one sitting, plus my “poop” quota for the day has been met and exceeded.}}

holly wales..

seeing as i am a typical new englander and all i can do is talk about the weather i thought i'd post holly wales graphic images of wintery landscapes. aren't they lovely? oh what i wouldn't do to be inside one of those toasty little triangular bungalows, sippin on some coca...oh, sorry i'm fading out over here. not only is holly incredibly talented, she's also a real hoot and a holler. here's part of her artist bio:

holly wales, one-time bicycle connoisseur,spends her time gallavanting about the countryside and contradictingherself at will. she can often be found 'midst the drizzle and thesleet in a london tea-haus drawing pictures and leaving them behind forthe amusement of deaf german tourists.

holly recently designed a print for early griffin, mentioned in a post last month, which is brilliant. class of 72 isa limited edition print which recreates a yearbook that somebody took amarker to. (my sister, brother and i did this to my mom's yearbook. she wasn't that stoked. surprise!) make sure to check out holly's other images. she's got a lot of great images on her site as well as some pretty sweet duct tape animal sculptures.

stephanie dowell. part one..

once stephanie dowell moved to austin, tx she was forced to experiment w/ all sorts of different mediums after leaving her oils and canvases behind in a storage unit in portland. having worked mainly w/ oils since she was only a wee five year old, stephanie began to experiment w/ all sorts of mediums. stephanie employs everything from glitter pens, metallic pencils, pearlescent inks to colored pencils and water colors. she's been having a grand time sorting out her process w/ her latest work. she draws, scans, tweaks in photoshop, then draws some more, scans them again, photoshops a bit more and then repeats the process til she's happy w/ her images. what has emerged are adorably forlorn electro kitties, flourescent mazes and acid trip landsacapes. a little bit reminiscent of the black velvet paintings i so badly wanted by bff's older brother douglas to win for me when i was 12, i can't help but want one of these images for my bedroom. oh but wait! stephanie is also a super talented photographer...just check out the post below.

to my three-years husband

Our marriage is still first and foremost about each other, but I have to tell you what an honor it is to share my heart with you in a new way now: to love you through our son.Our relationship is growing with us and our family. We have worked harder, dug deeper and loved stronger this year than either of the previous. It has been a difficult, powerful, and incredible year filled with change and growth. Through these challenges and by His grace, may we grow together into the likeness of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.I love you,Allison

amy sacksteder..

i recently saw amy sacksteder's work in the spetember/october issue of new american paintings. i texted her name to my email address, googled her, found her website and contacted her as soon as i got home. the above painting entitled in all sincerity really caught my eye, there's a patience and frenetic energy that co-exists calmly. it's clear why amy was accepted into the prestigous publication. she has some solo shows coming up, check out her site for more information and to see older work, new work and work in progress.

in all sincerity, detail.

Reader LOVE Jessica Robles..

Jessica Robies sent me an email recently introducing herself that was so short and sweet. I try and look at every link I am sent. I may not always respond, but i always look. I was immediately captivated by the drawings cataloging her shoes and the one line anecdotes that go along with them on Jessica's flickr page. She's a clever girl who can draw with super cute taste in shoes to boot. (Ugh, no pun intended. I swear!)

red booties, little swords and colorful tears..

matthew feyld has instantly become one of my favorite artists of late. his drawings and paintings are whimsical and colorful, yet have a sort of bittersweet under tone, which always appeals to me. his images remind me of this book that was read to me as a child, but for the life of me i cannot place the name or anything really other than that the main character was a sad boy w/ a pointed head who lived in the woods. i googled it and everything; pointed head, sad, children's book. nothing.

feyld's characters are men w/ bulbous heads (w/ beards, i'm a big fan of the beard), bears, rabbits, and birds. they are usually carrying sticks or swords. prancing or running in tights w/ little booties, usually red. his attention to detail is what i really like.there is so much fine detail around the actual faces of the characters, each exhibiting really subtle expressions of hope or sadness. many of his subjects have colorful tears running down their cheeks, little crosses on their foreheads, lots of detail around the eyes, rays shooting from the booties. you can see the care and hard work in each and every piece.

so far this is what i have found on him as in terms of his bio...

"Matthew Feyld, Saskatoon-based artist, is a lad who grew up with abirth defect that made his head swell unbelievably. This happened atthe worst times possible: during show and tell, at the science fair, onhis first date... It happened from stress. He found that keeping calmhelped his head stay normal and drawing, painting, scribbling was hiscure. His work is almost voodoo to keep his swollen head fromreappearing. It recreates his greatest fears: beady eyed monsters withgiant balloon heads fighting off the world in tights."

so cute. funnily enough it just reminds me more of that children's book i cannot seem to remember.

although unemployed, i am saving for a piece of his. yep. i'll subsist on beans alone if i have to.

you can see his stuff on flickr or check out his blog.

Home Improvement Center Some understanding Into choosing the Best Water medicine principles For You

Most population realize that the potential of our water has been going south for some time. Many are involved sufficient to whether filter the H2O they’re using or purchase a product they believe to be clean. There are countless ways to deal with contaminants but what exactly is the

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Most population realize that the potential of our water has been going south for some time. Many are involved sufficient to whether filter the H2O they’re using or purchase a product they believe to be clean. There are countless ways to deal with contaminants but what exactly is the best water treatment system? Maybe this can help.
Options for residential purification run the gamut. Carbon is a popular filtering medium and can be found in whether granulated or solid block form. Carbon is good at enthralling chemicals and some heavy metals, like lead. These are things you without fail don’t want in your drinking water and most movable filters, such as carafes, use this carbon process to filter liquid for drinking, cooking and ice.
Clean HouseThe problems with these carafes, which have become quite popular, is that, in order to be effective the filters need to be changed frequently, as in every two weeks or so. This starts running into money and is the hypothesize why the maker roughly gives the units away. They want your repeat maintenance business.
Also, these carbon filters are only good at removing safe bet contaminants, such as chlorine and lead. Whole house treatment systems can purify the water throughout your entire house and can be designed to fairly well address any specific problems you’re experiencing. If your supply is ‘hard’, i. E., contains a large attention of minerals, this is best handled by a softener. This will give you cleaner water in the shower or bath and also in the sinks. It will also soften your clothes washing motor hook-up, which should improve your laundry results and also save you money on the purchase of cleaning supplies.
If you opt to soften the supply arrival into the house it’s a good idea to think further treatment of the stuff you’ll be drinking, using for cooking and for development ice cubes. Softened water isn’t very good for consumption and softening basically removes minerals only. You want your drinking product to be much more purified than this.
Rather than selecting to consume a store-bought or carafe-filtered product it might be worth your venture to get a reverse osmosis drinking system. This can be an adjunct to your softener, and will take off nearly every contaminant found in residential supplies. This may be the best water treatment system for home use. Shop around. Prices in this area vary greatly from unit to unit.
Some understanding Into choosing the Best Water medicine principles For Your Home


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Tags: Choosing, medicine, principles, understanding

The Dogs The Teensiest Sheep Herder

The Dogs :The Teensiest Sheep Herder

So adorable! Maybe a new trick for Montecristo to learn??? Haha

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So adorable!

Maybe a new trick for Montecristo to learn??? Haha

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What theyve been up to

My Wedding Show is only 10 days away!! So I have been doing nothing but cakes lately.. But that doesnt mean the Miles and Aaron haven’t been up to a lot!I am very thankful for a husband that sends me pictures at work all day long. It helps me feel a little more connected..Miles got new toys! He loves his bead roller coaster…

So much so that he can’t take his hands off of it even to eat. by the way, this is the only way he holds his bottles now.. silly kid..
Did I mention he also got a train set???? I’m pretty sure Aaron bought it for himself. Miles doesn’t seem to mind..

He gets distracted by the tv very easily. Yesterday I was singing the little Einstein’s song and he immediately turned towards the off tv. I guess he thought rocket was on!
He has done some snoozing in the car…
And there has been lots and lots of tickling…
A little wipy eating…
(on a side note, we actually changed wipes. For some reason when you pulled the wipes out of these packages he would gag. Really strange, and kind of funny.. He loves playing with the empty package, but pulling the wipes out was rough on him. The new wipes seem to be going better..)

He loves his little elmo…

(please ignore the cord, I promise its not plugged into anything. It is just really his favorite toy. it’s actually 1 of 3 cords in his “toy pile”)

They sit outside and wait for me to come home everyday. This is by far my favorite time of the day…

He flashes cheezy grins and daddy..

And plays with his tutu!
And Aaron tries desperately to capture the 2 !!!!!!!!!! top teeth!

We are now up to 4 teeth. The bottom 2 came in right as he turned 7 months old. Almost the same exact time. (days a apart) and we noticed the first top tooth at church on Sunday. It had broken all the way through, and Aaron says the second top on has also.

In other big news, I think he may have officially doubled his birth weight! This typically happens between 4-6 months. I think by 9 months he will be there! He has plenty of 9-12 month outfits. But believe it or not, I still catch Aaron dressing him in 3 month outfits! And they still fit. He is mostly in 6 months.

He is getting soooo close to being able to crawl. He really wants too. I think one day it will just happen and he wont even realize it..

We’re toying with the idea of a new car set. Not because he doesnt fit. Heck, he’s probably still fit in his infant carrier till he’s two! But we’re just getting sick of it. I have the worst time making decisions about his kind of this. I have researched to the end of the earth and I think I might be coming up with a choice very soon!

Allergies are going well. We reintroduced sweet potatoes. It went well, but he hasnt had them again since. We also introduced peaches last weekend. That went well too. So we are on peaches, apple sauce and sweet potatoes. Right now he’s basically getting apple sauce every few days. Its the only one that we feel 100% comfortable with. This allergy still has me so baffled, its amazing how different kids with the same condition can be. Some can’t do apple sauce, yet its our only “safe” food. Thankfully, no more episodes! YAY!

ugly ducklings..

hey, do you want to be inspired? do you want to get out of the winter doldrums and start creating again? do you want to stop acting like tivo is your new bff (i'm partly talking to myself here, sorry.) and feel rejuvied all over again? if so, go here and watch the trailer to the documentary, beautiful losers. it's amazing and wonderful and you will be inspired. i promise. more info on the film here. or if you are too lazy to even leave this page then just watch the kind of crappier version below. jeez, winter hit you bad, huh?

stunning pasteup by miso..

I was just trolling around on flickr and saw this magnificent paste up by miso. I can't even imagine the delicacy it took to roll this onto the wall. She is by far one of my favorite street artists around today. Total talent. I have the below drawing on my desk top, and I love it and if I had one wish it would be that it was a drawing on my wall.

bob london..

Kenn Goodall just turned me onto Bob London. Wow, I'm delighted he did. Bob's illustrations are so awesome. Right? I know all you illustrators out there are loving these, how could you not? What's more awesome is Bob has uploaded a ton of his moleskin drawings on his website. As I said in the post I wrote about Kenn, checking out an artist's sketchbook is such an honor and so very inspiring. Bob has currently finished a bunch of illustrated commercials you can see here. To see more of Bob's work check out his website. He's got t's for sale on there as well...man, I wish he would issue that Bunny sweatshirt again. Am I right?

Pet Dogs Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Ottawa Dog Blog!

Pet Dogs :Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Ottawa Dog Blog!

From everyone at the Ottawa Dog Blog, we’d love to wish you a merry christmas, happy holidays and a happy new year!

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From everyone at the Ottawa Dog Blog, we’d love to wish you a merry christmas, happy holidays and a happy new year!

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Audrey Erickson..

Jay Howell sent me a link to Audrey Erickson's work, saying something to the effect that I may dig her work. Ok, well 1). The paintings include cats. So check. And 2). Some of them have laser beams. Umm, Hello, have you met me? So yes, you could say that I thoroughly enjoy Audrey's work. I'm thinking you will too. I asked Audrey to tell me about her work, before I go on...I have to say her answer just made me want to be her friend and own her work.

"The medium of most of my recent work is gouache on paper, and I guess you could say that the subject matter that I paint comes from the fact that I'm just a good old fashioned cat lady...well, maybe that's taking it a bit far, but avid cat enthusiast to say the least. I find felines to be wildly fascinating and they have a kind of otherworldliness and mystery to them. So although I'm sort of a realist style painter, I like to add elements of fantasy and humor to the little world that i've created for them. I like my paintings to make me laugh when I'm done, and can only hope that my peers get a kick out of it too. I'm starting to incorporate a variety of magical animals into my new work as well, along with plenty of cats of course, and I'm excited to see how it all works together."