Blog Carnival: Sept 25th

The theme of this week's Blog Carnival is to Show Our Face, to let others know the artist behind the work. Since you can see who I am just by clicking on my 365 tag, I decided to have the lovely and talented Jacqueline Parks interview me! Enjoy!

Artist's Interview with Diana "Bunnykissd" Bukowski of Faerie Garden Fancies
Interviewed by Jacqueline Parks

1. When did you first get interested in art?
I don't remember ever being without crayons and paper and pencils and scissors and glue and tape...

2. What are some of the earliest art experiences that you remember?
Making paper doll chains with my grandmother, creating drawings to go with songs I heard on the radio, drawing with Ed Emberley's books, using the Barbie Fashion Plates to make textured drawings...

3. Who influenced you as a child/teen to become an artist?
My grandparents, my grandmother was always showing me how to do something neat with paper, and my grandfather was the first to ever really critique my drawings...

4. How does being an artist influence the other parts of your life?
There was a time, a long time ago, when I had my first apartment, when I would buy flowers from the grocery store, and steal toilet paper from work. I still don't handle my money as well as one would expect a "grown-up" to, and I tend to be absent-minded and distracted by things most people just don't notice: a particularly vibrant leaf on the ground, a bird in a tree, an interesting cloud... I'm also finding that I'd rather not work at a *real* job anymore...

5. What is your current favorite medium to work in and why?
I don't really have a favorite at the moment. I've always loved colored pencils, but can't ever get them to work like other people can; so I've been practicing with them. Also, I like the looks people get with markers, yet again, they never worth that way for me; so more practice there. I'm also practicing with watercolors too, which is similar to my favorite thing to do which is water my acrylics down a bunch, but it acts different on paper than it does on the poly clay; so more practice! And yes, polymer clay is always fun to play with...

6. Who is currently influencing your artistic direction?
A whole bunch of really talented folks on dA: thegirlinthebigbox, mandarinmoon, valentinacrespo, odins-girl, darklingwoods, lilmidnight, colorfulblossom, iceandsnow, marina-b, ALWAYS esme123, just about ALL my friends, and of course people like Suzi Blu and the Godess Leonie and Vanessa Valencia at A Fanciful Twist.. omg I really could go on forever!

7. Show us one of your current favorite pieces and tell us why you like it in particular?

I really like this piece because I went back to my beginnings and got inspiration from Ed Emberley, which was fun, and it's cute (almost kawaii), yet the moon is so pretty...

8. What is one medium that you have never worked in that you would like to try?
gouache

9. What advice can you give to aspiring artists?
Never say never. Don't say you can't. Don't listen to people who tell you you can't. Have you seen Picasso or Pollack's work? Don't expect perfection; it's art, not a photo. And of course, practice, practice, practice.

10. What direction do you see your art moving in in the next five years?
More collage just for myself, more sketching and drawing on the fly, and most importantly, I'd like to see it be my primary source of income...

Mosaic Monday Bunday

It's time for another round of Mosaic Monday Bunday!

Last week's theme, as guessed by many, was PEACE in honor of today being the International Day of Peace. Our winner as chosen by drawing a scrap of paper from a box is.... Little Love Flame! Congrats! I have your address and will send off your prize as soon as it's ready!

So how about this week? Do you know the secondary theme?

Guess today's theme and win a Mosaic Monday Bunday prize!
(Remember Mosaic Monday Bunday always features rabbits!)

Click any pic to see its Etsy listing!
Leave a comment with your guess, and I will be pooling the names of those who guess correctly from both my LiveJournal and BlogSpot and drawing one winner per week. Good luck!

For other Mosaic Monday posts, click here!

We're off to see the wizard...

Did you know? You can see The Wizard of Oz free from Netflix on October 3rd!

Click for more info: http://www.netflix.com/wizardofoz/

Runnin' Runnin'

This past week has been very busy for me and the family, and even though I have no where to go today, I still don't have the day to myself, because I have a huge order of candy wrapper bracelets to get in the mail ASAP. I hope I get a chance to write out all the wonderful things we did this past week, and share some of the stress and weirdness too.

To write about:

• Zoo
• Cleaning out the attic
• Shopping
• Beaver Lakes
• Pagan Pride Day

10 finished bracelets, out of 10, before I can take a break and *really* write!

And the base keep runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin' ...

ETA: I so couldn't have done this without Jacqueline's help... she unwrapped, which was perhaps the most important part (I certainly do NOT need the temptation!), and then folded the wrappers of over 300 Starbursts for me. My fingers hurt so bad, just from putting them all together, and I've taken pain-relievers... :\

Treasury Fun

Oooo... I made it into a pretty dragonfly treasury! ^-^

Go check it out:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=82970

Lots of lovely dragonfly themed items!

Mosaic Monday Bunday

It's time for another round of Mosaic Monday Bunday!

Guess today's theme and win a Mosaic Monday Bunday prize!
(Remember Mosaic Monday Bunday always features rabbits!)

Click any pic to see its Etsy listing!
Leave a comment with your guess, and I will be pooling the names of those who guess correctly from both my LiveJournal and BlogSpot and drawing one winner per week. Good luck!

For other Mosaic Monday posts, click here!

Birdies!

Yesterday, we bought a shepards' hook for the garden in back, and hung the refilled bird feeder on it. Naturally the chickadees found it first, and this morning they were joined by a few strange birds and some chipping sparrows. After much research, we have determined that those strange new sparrows are just the chipping sparrows getting their winter plumage. :::le sigh::: I guess we'll have to travel abroad to see more...

Life and Death, or perhaps Living vs. Dying

Last Thursday, I could have died. I think the universe has been trying to tell me something and I've not been listening well. For a long time now, perhaps since last summer or earlier, I've been unhappy with the choices I've made for myself. It's like I've been trying to live up to some unknown standard that I think other people (i.e., my mom, my dad, ex-boyfriends, my husband, my grandmother, my aunt, you guys, society...) have set for me. Finish high school, go to college, find a career, get married, buy a car, have 2.5 children, buy a home...blahblahblah... I've rebelled now and then, but I always come back to it. Must not go against the grain. Follow the herd. Be good. Behave.

Last fall, my dad's health deteriorated rapidly. My dad has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type II Diabetes, Stage 3 kidney failure, diabetic neuropathy, and a vision problem I am not quite sure of, only that he is legally blind now. My step-father had similar health issues: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type I Diabetes, kidney failure (not sure of the stage but he had just had a shunt put in for dialysis preparation), and vision bad enough that he never could get his license. (Although he did recently get laser surgery and no longer needed his glasses.)

Since last fall, my father has done very little to get himself better. He is slow to complete paperwork, misses important appointments and doctor's visits, eats whatever he wants, isn't taking his meds, and spends much of his time lying in bed, feeling sorry for himself. He requests that I come help, and when I do, he usually doesn't feel like it, and nothing gets done, wasting my time and gas and wear & tear on the car driving there for nothing!

My step-father took all his meds, went to all his appointments, went to work, spent time with his family and friends... But less than a month ago, he collapsed on the way home from work. He hit his head and never woke up. He's gone. He gets no more time to do what he wants. My mother needs to rebuild her life without him. And there were things he hid from his closest friends, sides of himself that, I get the impression, he never fully explored. He followed the safe path.

When this first happened, I said to my dad, "He had all the same problems you have, and he's dead." I was trying to be nice, while still making him see the fact that He. Is. Still. Alive! He doesn't have to work even! He's got a house, a camp, several cars, and now gets some kind of Social Security! (Retirement was only a few years away anyway...) AND HE IS WASTING IT! Wasting it wallowing in self-pity and indecision. (ETA: Last Thursday he was admitted to the hospital again because he was in renal failure.)

But before all this began, I had begun to realize that I am not happy teaching. The dream of being a teacher was never really *mine* but rather someone else's dream for me. But it's a dream I held onto, even as I shifted from Methodist and nonpracticing to Pagan, from Bi-Closeted to Bi-Sexual, from Monogamous to Polyamorous... LOL... even from brown- to purple-haired! Then I really started doing it... The teaching, and there is so much bad to wade through to get to the good...

And through all this, a little voice kept saying, "You're doing it wrong... You're on the wrong path..." And still I would distract and numb myself with email, and blogs, and reading, and CSI, and allowing there to not be time for listening to that voice.

Until this past Thursday...

We were heading grocery shopping, but first I wanted to get a haircut. So we headed to the only cheap place I know of here in Oswego, but once in the parking lot, we decided to go across the street, and down the hill to the grocery store for something to drink first. As you exit the parking lot to Rt 104, there is a small incline and a traffic light, which had just turned yellow; so I attempted to stop at it. My foot went to the floor, my heart went into my throat, and the car, which thankfully had already been slowing down, rolled part way into the intersection.

If the light had been red for me, there would have been a steady stream of cars going by; if the light had been green, I would have continued across the intersection and down a steeper hill where I may have hit a moving car trying to turn left, or a parked car attempting to park; if they hadn't gone then, but had waited til I was in Syracuse, there were a million other steep hills we go down every time... There is no feeling in the world that compares to losing control of a 2+ ton vehicle and realizing not only you could die, but so could someone else.

Yes, we were ok. There were only a few nasty glares from people because I was too far in the intersection, but the fiasco didn't end there. For some reason the car stalled while sitting there, of course, just as the light turns green. I start it back up, and for some reason, my power steering is gone! I accelerate, ever so carefully onto the road, and slip right into the next parking lot, which is back up the little incline, thankyouverymuch, and I stop. No need to go into a parking space! I've got NO BRAKES, and NO STEERING!!!

I put the car in park, turn it off, and cry to Jacqueline, "What do we do?" She manages to calm me, it's going to be ok, we call AAA, they tow us, we were planning on getting repairs anyway. All so sensible and logical. So we went into the store whose parking lot we were in. They were way busy and not enough staff, so we went next door to the Arby's and were reluctantly allowed to use the phone. I called AAA, gave them all my pertinent information, and told them we'd need to be riding with the driver to the garage. Then we waited.

It wasn't a horrible wait, but I was stressing. What if this eats up every last penny of the student loan we just got... What if it can't be fixed and I need a whole new car... What if this takes days... GAH! Then I would stop and look at all the starlings on the wires, then the millions of cars going by would annoy me... Then I would argue with Jacqueline who was really being very calm and sensible and trying to make it alright, and here I was being all tense and angry.

About an hour later, the tow truck pulls in, and there's 2 other people - one of them a child - in the truck with him! And he never gets out but makes this young guy hook up the van, and says we can ride in the back of our van while it's being towed... o.O Since our other options were to call a cab, and wait some more, for less than a mile trip, or walk it ourselves in the hot sun, we rode. He banged my front end hoisting it up, and dragged my rear end pulling out of the parking lot, and I never felt so unsafe in a car in my life.

But we didn't die. And the people at Monro were WONDERFUL. They did have to keep it overnight, but not only did they repair the brake line (which had been rusted out) and the power steering pump (which should NOT have gone since it was just replaced in February - but don't talk to me about warranties or any of that because I am NOT going back to the guy who did it - EVER), but also repaired our CV joint (which we had planned to get done this week anyway) and told me how to fix my radio!

And all this cost LESS than we had expected to spend on the CV joint alone! And over and over again the universe (God, Goddess, Cthulhu, Flying Spaghetti Monster, whoever...) keeps doing things like this! My husband leaves me and I have no money, I find almost $200 in cash in an empty parking lot in the 'hood; we're about to lose our internet & phone, and suddenly there's money in our account to pay the bill; and our brakes fail, but not til after there's money in the bank to cover the cost... Second time for that last one, folks!

So... Um... where am I going with all this? I've been writing off and on for a week, trying to sort out what I am feeling and thinking. I. Could. Have. Died. Frank did. Just like that. One moment just walking home from work, the next moment... his ... *person* is gone. I mean his body remained alive for nearly a week after, but he was gone... And my dad... he doesn't see how suddenly it can all change... I mean he should, but he doesn't... he's still grasping his dreams from the past...

I don't want to do that. I don't want to regret things I have no control over, I don't want to waste the time I have... I want to make art, I want to touch lives, I want to feel magical and powerful and unlimited again like I used to... I want to spend every moment of my life doing what *I* want to do because it makes me happy, because *I* choose to do it, with my whole being... Not because I think I should, or I think someone else thinks I should... I don't want to give in to coasting through the rest of my life...

I've been doing that. Coasting. Steve Pavlina wrote an article about how we numb ourselves to our own discomfort. Distract ourselves with email and TV and other things... maybe that's all I am doing now, spending a week writing this, contemplating it all...

And now it's September 11th. Yes I remember where and what I was doing. And how I cried, so much. And how stupid Terry made me feel because "it's not like you know any of them." Just as bad as he made me feel a year later when I cried because we could see the Rockies on the horizon: "Flaky" and when I saw all the memorials and newspaper articles across the country and cried again. And still I cry and can't understand why...

But still it holds the same message.

Life can become death in an instant. Are you living yours the way you want? The way that makes you happy? Brings you joy?

I wanted to end this post the way Patti Digh did when she explains why 37 days, with a definitive list, but I can't. I know I want more joy, more magic, more love, more laughter... but I don't know how that's going to look right now... But I can't keep writing until I figure it out. Not right now... I need to go do some living...

And if you've read this far, gold stars & glitter stickers for you! Sorry about the disjointed, rambling-ness, thoughts-that-go-nowhere...

Join the Blog Party!

Do something holiday related everyday the month of October and blog about it. You do not have to blog everyday, just chronicle what you've been doing on each day when time permits.

I'll be making an advent-type count-down calendar this month with all kinds of ideas on it! It'll be so much fun!

Mosaic Monday Bunday

I know, I know! Mosaic Monday Bunday disappears for a month then comes back, only to take another holiday off! Yep, I decided to take the day off for Labor Day, but that doesn't mean we have to wait another week for a winner, does it?! Of course not! We had SEVEN people guess correctly that the secondary theme was BACK TO SCHOOL! So I headed over to random.org and had them choose a winner...

The 7th commenter was Anita of Sweet Pea & Co. who left me a comment over on Etsy! Congratulations!

And it occurred to me that I haven't ever shown any of the prizes! So here is a mosaic of some of the prizes that have gone out...

Click the picture to see these on deviantArt...

Etsy Blogger of the Month: Designs by Vanessa

Say hello to September's Blogger of the Month!



She has some really cute cards for sale...


And some lovely jewelry! I want to add this piece to my collection:


Don't forget to check her out and see what she has that might be calling to you...

• Designs by Vanessa's Blog
• Designs by Vanessa's Etsy Shop

New Exhibition

The Fantasy Artists of Etsy (FAE Team) have a new exhibition: Moonbeams, Stars, and Comets!

Etsy Buy Handmade FAEetsy

Why yes, there are 3 of my pieces in it, but there are lots of other very pretty things! Check it out!

Ben & Jerry are Awesome

As if I needed another reason to love them...

http://www.benjerry.com/hubbyhubby/

(Now can we lower the price a smidge?)

BlogCarnival: Tasty Tuesday Edition!

Well I am a little too late to add this to the carnival, but I was so excited to see the topic come up! I have no idea why I didn't post this sooner!

Your favorite food. What is it and why? If it's something you make please share the recipe.
Now if you read my blog, I do a Tasty Tuesday post pretty frequently with some of my favorite recipes. I love food, all different kinds, and choosing just one favorite is impossible. But lately it's been salads, wraps, and pizza featuring Buffalo BBQ chicken with blue cheese ranch dressing. Here's how we do it:

Buffalo BBQ Chicken Fritters

• Cook some frozen chicken strips (We buy Kirkwood frozen Crispy Chicken Strips, which are kinda like this.) as directed on the package.
• Meanwhile put some of your favorite BBQ sauce (mine is Kansas City style lately) into a plastic storage container (make sure it seals good!), add some Frank's Red Hot sauce (as much or as little as you like) and a bunch of fresh ground black pepper. No need to mix!
• When your chicken is done, pop it in the container and add a little more of the sauces to the top. Then shakeshakeshake... shakeshakeshake... shake your booty! Oh sorry... carried away! ^-^
• VOILÀ! Chicken is done! From here you can pop it into a wrap, or cut it into smaller chunks for pizza or salad topping!

Blue Cheese-Ranch Dressing

• Pick your favorite ranch dressing: Mine varies from week to week: sometimes is all about the bacon ranch, sometimes it's got to be Hidden Valley, other times I want a cheesy ranch...
• Pick your favorite crumbly blue cheese: some have a very strong bitter taste, others are quite mild. We found a brand we liked (buttermilk blue cheese), but the stores aren't carrying it now; Kraft is a milder version of that which suits us fine.
• Mix them together to taste! Now you can top your salad, wrap, or use as a pizza sauce!

You can see more posted over at Stormy Designs!