CSNYfan

I lost my beautiful greyhound, Ernie, to bone cancer in January. He was such a wonderful dog - he meant so much to me and my husband and we miss him every day. A part of me feels like it is missing now. That is him above this text- isn't he a gorgeous dog? : )

I live with my husband and my greyhound (and maybe part pointer) Joey in a condo in New England. Joey's been with us for a while now and we officially adopted him in May. He is a sweet, shy boy that loves taking walks and it's been wonderful having Joey in our lives. We live on a big hill with a great view, especially during autumn when the leaves are brilliant. It's beautiful and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, although the Portland, OR area comes in at a pretty close second!

My family would probably tell you that I am a pretty honest, funny, sarcastic person, with a pretty liberal mindset. I'd say that they are about right!

At this point, I would describe myself as an agnostic atheist.

I am a believer in the idea that whatever you have, it will have to be enough. However, this doesn't make me yearn for more art supplies any less.

I am into mixed media art. I am a fan of ATCs that are mixed media collage with hand drawn/hand painted elements and that's what I usually send. I used to do more hand-drawn/hand-painted and not so much mixed media, but I've found out that I really want to be able to use whatever I'd like and not do so much hand-drawn/hand-painted anymore.

I completed an "Art Every Day" project in which I worked on completing a 3 inch by 5 inch piece of art every day for 100 days last year. It was a pretty cool experience.

I don't sew, knit, or crochet. I've done some other crafty stuff, like jewelry making, paper making, etc., but I am really into mixed media art right now. I am starting to work on larger pieces. Right now I'm working on a 10 x 10 inch canvas and about three other pieces, including an exercise book in which I am juxtaposing various pictures with other pictures in a giant travel book of Italy. It's a pretty neat work-in-progress.

I am getting a studio arts certificate from my local art museum! It will take me three years to finish, but I am very excited to learn and become a better artist. I started in September of 2011, so I'll be doing less swaps and more art-making for classes. I'll still be doing some swapping with my friends here on SB, though!

I am interested in seeing what YOU like, and learning about the kind of art you make, so if you are sending an ATC, don't feel like you need to follow something on my profile, although that would be fine, too.

COLOR COMBINATIONS... My all time favorite color is GREEN!
* My favorites in the green range are grassy, ferny greens, but I pretty much love all green. Other favorite colors/color combos are: aqua and red, black and white, turquoise and orange, purple and yellow-orange, hot pink and red, and retro looking color combos, even the ones from the seventies that some people think are just gross, like brown and orange or avocado green and harvest gold. Bring it on!

I like pretty much all colors -- they all have a place with me. I do like some gaudy stuff that I've termed "tacky-chic." Anything with too much bling, garish colors, etc. -- I have to say, I love it!

Love greyhounds, but not stuff with greyhounds racing -- that is not my thing.

Other stuff I like:

• Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine
• Handmade stuff that's clever
• Links to creative/artsy/fine art blogs and websites
• Coffee
• Very easy, low effort vegetarian recipes
• Looking at other people's art
• Peace symbols, like doves, peace signs..
• Sea glass
• Modern art
• Color field painting
• Lyrical Abstract art
• Abstracts in general
• Things that are clever or different
• Irony
• The ocean
• Beautiful sunsets
• Open minds
• Crows
• Links to neat art tutorials
• Dangly Earrings
• Retro looking aprons
• Gloucester, MA - I love it there!
• Notecards
• Beads and cool buttons
• Boston, the T, and city living
• Dresden foil (also called German scrap)
• Interesting fibers/ribbons to add to collage
• Pictures of greyhounds - I love looking at these beautiful dogs

• Disney or Walmart
• Kawaii and diddl
• Companies that test on animals.
• Things with animal products in them/on them. I am a vegetarian and currently exploring veganism.
• Racism, Sexism, Inequality, none of this is cool, and it's not cool when it's disguised as jokes, either. These things are just wrong.
• Chain letters, financial blessing letters - I find these both annoying and insulting.
• artificial watermelon flavored or maple flavored anything, white chocolate
• American Idol and the like
• Morbid themes
• Twillight
• Clowns or dolls (paper dolls are cool, just not actually dolls - for some reason I think they are just a little creepy.)
• Stickers - it's not that I don't like them, just that I don't really use them.
• Double/multiple profilers. I will not swap with or allow in any swap I coordinate people who think that they are above the basic rules of SB and try to break the rules by having multiple profiles. I wish these people would be permanently tossed from the site. Until such a time, you can count on being blocked and not allowed in my swaps.
• I would prefer to not receive anything related to luck, superstitions, etc.
• I am no longer eating chocolate. I gave it up a few months ago. I thought it'd be harder than it is.
• I would prefer to not have religious items/tracts/etc. sent. I am atheist and don't have use for these items.

Some of my favorite artists include:

• Susan Pickering Rothamel (she wrote a fantastic collage book)
• Ronnie Landfield (Probably my favorite artist ever - his colorfield paintings are breath-taking.)
• Jackson Pollock
• Dean Nimmer (He wrote a fantastic book on Intuitive art.)
• Lynne Taetzsch
• Romare Bearden
• Michael Keck (dog collages - I'd love to own one!)
• Henri Matisse
• Pam Carriker (love her faces and shading techniques.)
• Alisa Burke (great blog!)
• Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (another great blog!)
• Faith Ringgold (There's a great documentary she's in and she seems like an amazing person and artist. She paints on fabric and makes quilts - amazing stuff.)
• Beatriz Milhais (Her techniques for creating art are really neat and I love her layers.)
• Louise Bourgeois (This artist had a solo exhibit at my local art museum and it was one probably the best exhibits I have ever seen at any museum.)
• Laurie Mika

Music

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (of course!) Classic Rock especially, but I am into all sorts of music: classical, Broadway, pop, you name it... Anything by CSNY, CSN, or any solo work from any of them, The Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Carole King, Bob Marley, Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens, Eric Clapton (solo, Cream, Derek and the Dominoes), George Harrison, Eva Cassidy, Belle and Sebastian. Disco, dance music, Bluegrass, Gospel hymns, anything by Stephen Sondheim, classical - Brahms piano works especially, Gershwin, some Chopin.

TV I long for the good old days. I want Dallas and Golden Girls and Star Trek The Next Generation back on TV. TV is kind of not so good - I'd rather be on my computer. I stream a lot from Netflix. I do like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Mad Men...That's sort of it besides Chopped on the Food Network. Now that Dallas has started, I am a happy TV viewer again. : )

Movies Under the Tuscan Sun. Pride and Prejudice. I absolutely love watching The Godfather -- what a great movie -- a true classic. Cat On A Hot Tin Roof - fantastic movie. I don't go out much to the movies. Yes, I am in my thirties, but I did love the Transformer movies, although the second one was disappointing. I tend to watch a lot of the really fantastic classic movies on the weekends.

Literature I loved The Shellseekers by Rosamunde Pilcher -- I've read it over and over. Microserfs by Douglas Copland, another one I've read over and over. Jane Eyre. Jennifer Crusie novels. Some poetry, such as Robert Pinsky and E.E. Cummings. Julie and Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, one tiny apartment kitchen -- fun read! Diane Mott Davidson - fun , easy reads and pretty much the only mysteries I've enjoyed. I don't really believe in intuition, but I read a great book about making art intuitively and it is a great exercise book and really was helpful. I love instructional books on art and books on art history and the like, too.

I generally rate when I open a package. People deserve ratings for their swaps and I know it's fun to get the rating ASAP to ensure that your partner got your lovely package.

I wish the hearts system was less subjective. I use it because it's part of Swapbot and I like to follow rules and guidelines, but I wish the heart system would be abandoned. I would rather leave you a glowing comment than a symbol that people use in ways that it wasn't intended to be used. However, I am generous with hearts and I will be for as long as the system is in place.

I feel we all need to look at the rating system more analytically and less emotionally. We can let the comments be our emotional portion and let the ratings simply be our numbers that indicate the basics of swapping. : ) Having said that, I am pretty lenient and understanding, and if you are going to be late and communicate this, I'm usually cool with that. Still, I'm no door mat.