Lets Talk about Sippy Lids

This is about neither acrylic nor vinyl, but it I feel the need to talk about it, after all, my first blog taught us that, like acrylic and vinyl, plastic is also a polymer.

For all my life, take-out fountain drinks have had the plastic lid with the little bumps to identify the type of drink, and the x in the middle to poke the straw through. Take-out hot beverages have had some means of using the lid to drink. In fact, happy anniversary! That thing was patented in 1953 - 70 years ago. Back in the day you had to rip a scored chunk out the flimsy lid and stick it on a styrofoam cup in a high risk game of chance, drinking your coffee without squeezing the cup to much and the lid popping off. These hot beverage sippy lids have evolved to be a sturdy firmly attached unit, with fancy cutouts that can lock in place in the molded plastic. And we used them all the time and never really think about it, the concept has been around for so long. Well, plastic straws have been banned in Chilliwack, and many other places as well - as they should be. But let's face it, paper straws are shitty. Now Starbucks solved this problem by making sippy lids for their cold beverages. I've seen only one other place who also changed to this. The point? Why the fuck haven't we used sippy lids for cold beverages long before this? It makes way more sense - no more forgetting straws at the drive thru, very convenient to drink from - much like our reusable water bottles. I never thought about it, even as I've tried to drink from the stupid x part of the lid, because the straw wasn't in the bag. Only frozen beverages need a straw, other than that, drinkable lids should be on every disposable cup, warm or cold. Thank you, I have now said my piece. Let's stop talking about plastic and move on to vinyl.

Or not - sometimes when I am painting, I can't get up and flip/change the record because my hands are covered in paint. Or, as my craft room is in the dining room, Kyle often wants to watch TV in the adjacent living room - usually things I hate, and these are the soundtrack of my crafting. Occasionally I remember that I have headphones and I put them on and completely engulf my head in the music. We all know I love the acoustic glory that is vinyl, but I do appreciate listening to music through headphones as well. I have the ear cup kind, to really isolate myself from the whine of Formula One engines, hockey, CFL, NFL, the dialogue of the stress people put themselves through to make money illegally, or Patrick Swayze saving the town in Roadhouse AGAIN!!! (He has about a dozen movies that he will watch if they are on TV even if he has seen them a hundred times - The Godfather 1 & 2, Casino, Scarface, Roadhouse, Fast Times at Ridgemont High ...) and most of them are really not my thing. I don't entertain myself by watching people be rich but miserable by being criminals. I don't invite fictional/competitive/documentary stress into my life as a way to spend my free time. (I am a sucker for true crime sometimes) But basically, I want fluff. And I will watch my fluffy films/shows repeatedly as well, but I do it when no one is around. TV is not my vice. Honestly, I barely know how to operate it. I have never voluntarily put on cable TV in as long as I can remember. Netflix or Disney+, yes, occasionally.

Anyway, back to HEADPHONES. We subscribe to YouTube Music, and I really enjoy the playlists it creates for me. Today I am listening to U2's debut album Boy. I don't have this on vinyl, and I have been looking for it unsuccessfully. I thought I would listen to it to see if I really need to look for it harder. The answer is "hell yeah I do!" I know every song on this album and, don't hate me, but it is my favourite U2 record. I remember in high school there were some hardcore U2 fans - I swear they were like a little cult. One guy actually had U2 made in his retainer! Anyway, even then they looked at me like I had worms for eyes when I said Boy was my favourite album. They didn't even know it - it would have been a little over ten years old at that point - their loss.

I am so enjoying this! I haven't listened to it in years. Wow!

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Okay you guys, ART!

I have had a great week! I sold two commissions this week and I am very proud of both. The first was requested as a tribute to a beloved dog who passed away. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the completed painting, but this will do. It is called A Sparkling Friend Drifts By. Sparkling was one of the adjectives my friend used to describe her loyal friend Patches. In the picture below the painting is still wet. I was not clever enough to take a picture of the finished piece, I was so excited to wrap it up and get it to them. The finished piece was coated in epoxy - two coats - about 1/8 inch, so the pearls in the spine have such depth and the glitter and metallic colours look beautiful. It is the second feather I have done, a the first was was fuller and also beautiful, but the topcoat yellowed. If you didn't know, it looks great, but I know, and therefore I don't like it as much.

At Christmas time I made 3 wreaths, and I was so happy with them All three were sold and shipped to Winnipeg (which was hella expensive). I had someone contact me and ask me if I could make her a spring wreath. And she say her Christmas Wreath is 27". That is big! Well I had many ideas immediatly and I agreed to do it. I started working on it at the end of January. I found a 26" grapevine wreath form. I had a lot of ideas about how to use rose gold, light green and white sparkling stems from the stuff I bought at Christmas time, and I wanted pussy willows. I painted pine cone ornaments and 2 cm balls, using light colours, with a few dark accents. Because I was using pink and green, I had to make sure they didn't look Christmassy, and they ended up disappointingly much too white dominant and lacking any detail. The balls were okay, I figured I could salvage those. But honestly it was not coming together. Then an idea hit me to stop thinking about a way to replicate the winter wreaths with spring colours. Also, I am a painter, not a wreath maker per se, and it is important to me that the project reflects that. I thought about the little flower woodcuts I have, and I immediately found them went and picked up a few more. I painted them that night. They came out very cool, and once I had them, I was able to put together a picture in my mind. I am so so pleased with the result. It looks like Spring to me. (the picture doesn't highlight the details - the glitter ferns and cones, the moss, the colour)