iLike

Kina Grannis' beautiful cover of "The Call" by Regina Spektor. This is just one of those magical songs where the combination of the lyrics and the music is so amazing. *loves*

And for those of you who haven't heard, Teesha has posted a series of tutorials on youtube. The first 4 part series is on collage and the second is on lettering. I've really been enjoying watching them. Obviously, I already know how to collage, but it's always interesting to me to see someone else walk you through their process.

What's especially great about Teesha's tutorials is that she shows everything-what works and what doesn't and how she fixes the parts of her work that she doesn't like, as she goes along. I appreciated the honesty of that. It just goes to show that not even someone as accomplished as Teesha likes everything they do and she doesn't always get it right the first time. Art is about being willing to take chances and make mistakes. Mistakes are a part of the process-as an artist, you just have to be willing to see them in that light.

I came across a book called Scraps that I almost bought the other night. The cover caught my eye and I stood at the check out counter for 10 minutes waiting to buy it before I became so annoyed that I set it down and a copy of the current Art Journalling magazine and left the store. I had a brutal headache and there was a single clerk working the checkout (while there were several other staff wandering the store aimlessly) and she seemed to be intent on taking an eternity with the customer ahead of me for no apparent reason. Normally I am pretty patient but I wasn't feeling good and I just couldn't stand it anymore. I am sad now that I didn't buy the book-it was full of eye candy and interesting instruction and ideas. I'll have to go back when I have more time and patience and try and find it again. Maybe I will go to another location and scout it out-perhaps the customer service will be better elsewhere.

I am gearing up for what is going to be a marathon week. Monday I am working the election and the remainder of the week is tied up with running back and forth to the hospital for MRIs, follow up for my broken wrist, treatment from my pain specialist, a consultation with an anesthetist and then minor surgery next week. Certainly not my idea of fun and you'll forgive me if my blog is quiet for a bit while I deal with all this stuff.

I went to Olympic training for Event Services on Thursday evening. It was alot of fun and now I have a better idea what I will be doing. It's going to be an interesting job! There's still more training to come that will be specific to the venue I will be working at and we will be getting our uniforms and accreditation soon.

After training on Thursday night, they gave each of us, as our parting gift, a box from the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation. The foundation donated CPR kits to everyone, so we got an "Annie" in a box, along with a training manual and DVD to learn CPR at home. It made me laugh-go to the Olympics, get an Annie in a box! It never hurts to refresh your CPR skills, I suppose. You never know when they're going to come in handy. Luckily I've never had to use mine, but I am glad I have them all the same!

I've finally started my Olympic journal. I am doing it a little at a time as I attend events and have things to add. They mentioned at training that we would get pocket maps of our venues during games time and my first thought was "Oh good-EPHEMERA!" *laughs* You know you're an artist when...

What do YOU like right now? Share with me your little gems of artsy goodness!