Sleuthy in the garbage room atelier

CALLING ALL UNITS: Be on the lookout for 

Shadowy Woman in a Shadowy Cat Bar

I woke up in a dark underground bar surrounded by drunken cats, a passed out bartender, and a dog head on the wall. I can't be sure, but I seem to remember some bad poetry too. Am I dreaming?

This definitely called for a head-to-toe black-ops shoot in the garbage room atelier.

Under cover in tuxedo pants that someone before me paid lots of money for, a $5 top, and a thrifted wool beret. What's on my feet? you ask. BWAhahaha!!!!!!

You know my green shagariffic boots? It doesn't matter, suffice to say I have acquired an identical pair in black for waaay more cheap, thrifted, $30. My undercover exposed black-socked toes were chilly but it was a small sacrifice for feeling slinky sleuthy. Except for the shaggy texture, these boots are a tad boring, so I have Plans for them. [Edit: I'm linking these boots up with Sheila's Shoe Shine 18 at her blog Ephemera]

Also, it's nearing the end of the year so I sketched this this morning on my inspiration walk. I'm - 

                  T  A  K  I  N  G      S  T  O  C  K               

H  A  P  P  Y     N  E  W     Y  E  A  R     

YOU GORGEOUS CREATURES, plus you're smart too, and funny, and creative, and have generous hearts.

Just moving like a fool in the garbage hall. Same 'ole, same 'ole.

I'm linking up to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Shtyle, even though I'm under cover. I'll deputize you all and give you a badge too.

Visible, Shiny, and animated

I like this. I wore this. I feel good in this. Rain. Dripping awkward umbrella. Wet pant legs. Wet grit crunching under shoes. Cafe. Steaming coffee. Loudness!! Escape into my journal. Home. Fiddling around with photo-taking. Fiddling around with quick edits. Grainy, dissatisfaction. Stray bits. Posting anyway. Pickle face.

Wearing:

• thrifted shiny-buckle bronze-brown shoes
• striped socks
• thrifted Dolce and Gabbana side-zip slacks, old, had to restitch all the seams
• thrifted T-shirts and DIY T-shirt
• pink scarf, hand-me-over, worn under coat
• thrifted shawl, worn over the coat
• thrifted vintage R coat, made in Tokyo
• thrifted beret
• magic loupe O made for me

These slacks (best word for them really) make me feel tall with that vertical stripe. I'm linking these pics up to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style, and the shoes of course are being linked up to Bella's fantastic Shoe Shine at The Citizen Rosebud. Scored at Value Village, the shoes may not be glamorous - they may in fact be men's shoes - but they give me a weird sixties vibe that is irresistible. Plus, I can wear them in the rain.

And... I am including a short video of a little kids' story that my partner O and I collaborated on. O often sketches on napkins when we go out and then later I sometimes digitize them, colour them, firm them up slightly, and add backgrounds and filler scenes. You could say that the inspiration comes from O and the final product comes from me. Either way it's a collaboration that works.

I hope this little vignette relaxes you. The quality is not the best. The original digital artwork was trashed a few years ago and this video is made from scans of the surviving printouts, about 2"x2", which I stumbled across about a week ago. Thanks to the Creative Commons contributors at freesound.org and the music library that comes with VideoPad for the music and sound effects. 

Thanks for your encouragement on my journal sketches in my last post.

Every day starts a new year

I don't like to forget that each and every day is the beginning of a new year, a new 365-day cycle. The whole January 1 thing is just a day, hot for some, cold for others, a day picked out for us by a few men in the somewhat distant past, to reset to Day 1. While the every-day-is-new-year's idea could conveniently lend itself to nightly partying, for me it's a powerful reminder that each day has the potential to kick off something amazingly awesome and excellent.

Having said all that, since January 1 or so I have been focused on organizing my journal sketches and am at last thinking maybe I can do something with this jumbled collection of words and pictures. So today I am posting a mini-movie of a few of my sketches with acoustic accompaniment. The added sound animates the pictures to more closely reflect what was going on in my head when I made these drawings of what I wore and the adventures I imagined with my furry buddies.

Scene 1 Alley Cats: I'm wearing my thrifted pastel nicotine faux fur coat (also here), my green shag Fluevog boots (also here), my red knit hat (see Hat Attack 5), sample sale Bardot low-rise jeans (also in Wendy Brandes' Huff Post article, in the scroll part at the bottom).

Scene 2 Outdoor Ballroom: I'm wearing a brown mid-thigh knit tunic with bell sleeves, denim jeggings, thrifted slip-on shiny brown buckle shoes, thrifted red beret.

Scene 3 Cat Holiday: I'm wearing almost the same as what I wore in Scene 1 - thrifted pastel nicotine faux fur coat and red knit hat. 

Scene 4 Tea Party: I'm wearing my thrifted silky dress (also here) with a thrifted brown turtleneck underneath, turquoise tights, thrifted D&G shoes.

Scene 5 Shady Ladies: I'm wearing my thrifted muslin black maxi dress (also here), thrifted wooden platform/leather upper Michael Kors sandals.

*Thanks to freesound.org and all the incredible people who have posted sound effects under a Creative Commons License for their contributions to this soundtrack.

____________________________________________________

Doing "sweet" art was strictly taboo in art school, so it has been a very long process, decades in fact, to once again accept that sweet and even hokey are not only okay, but have incredible restorative power. That's why I do these sketches in my journal. And how thrilled I would be if you get positive energy from them too.

I'll be back to posting what I wear in real photos soon. Hope you're kicking each day off like a new year's day, but without all the fuss. 

I'm being tech-handled here! And I don't like it.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
I'm being forced to post this post because I'm being tech-handled, booted off Google Friend Connect in a matter of days. To follow me on Bloglovin! (I have to type that exclamation mark - it's part of their name!!!), click the stupid cartoon I did below:

Okay, I know now that cartoon clicking didn't work, so try clicking that next phrase, Follow my blog with Bloglovin Or you can click your heels together three times and say, Google Friend Connect, you SUCK.

And that's a cartoon of me hitting the washing machine and it's mocking me by loving it. Or rather, BLOGLOVIN'!!!! it.

And a cute kitten. Can't go wrong with that. But maybe it should be up at the toilet paper cartoon. (In reference to popular North American TV ads which feature fluffy white kittens to sell their toilet paper. Oh yes, that's EXACTLY what I think of when I reach for toilet paper. I think those ad people need to call in Miz Bagg to for some serious consultation - parakeets would be much better.)

Did that work? Gaaa!
I have good Freakish Yellow Skirt news coming in a real non-forced post soon.

I wore my nude-coloured vintage medieval-style corset (a new find BWA-HA-HA) as outerwear today. A woman walking by as I swanned down the sidewalk stopped, gave me a squinty sour-apple eye and said "Really?" I laughed in her face and moved on down the road. That was rude of me - I should have stopped and offered to pray with her to soothe her ruffled spirits.

Stay tuned for a future post in which I rant about how much I LOOOOVE Bloglovin'!!!!
Okay, time for more caffeine now, just one more mug I swear....

Okay, I previewed and I had over 200 followers and now you're poofed. Whatev.... Where's my coffee? Okay, the followers are back... Gaaa! Ba-bye.
And WHY does blogger keep making my photos go sideways? I fix them, they fall over, I fix them, they fall over, I twist them, they fall over. I preview, they're fine, then a couple days later, they fall over... I'm off balance here. Okay, coffee.

Sometimes simple is best on a trip to fake Paris

No shagariffic boots or bright colours here, but I feel just as visible in this black and white outfit as I do in my most brilliant plumage. This is exactly what I needed to wear on my stroll to my favourite cafe in fake Paris, or maybe fake Italy - does it really matter where? It's all in my head anyway. I'm putting this in Patty's wonderful Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style (even though it's already Tuesday). I've also put this up at Everybody, Everywear, which coincidentally has a monochromatic theme right now.

I'm looking rather dazed here, like a cat that has suddenly gone rang-y for no apparent reason. In fact, I'm feeling rather rang-y myself. 

TOO MUCH NOISE IN THE CITY!!! 

CAN YOU HEAR ME ABOVE THE DIN?? 

YES? 

THEN LET ME TURN UP MY FREAKING CAR STEREO OR 

RIP THE MUFFLER OFF MY HARLEY!!! 

Sorry, just venting here...effing, yeah! (heavy metal side effect)

The black things hanging down the front the outfit are the ties of the skirt. I carry a straw bag with this demure outfit and wear my other camera slung across my torso for style scouting. They're not in this photo because I needed to unburden myself as soon as I got home, which is when I snapped this. 

The Outfit

• wide-brimmed black hat, retail
• wraparound circle skirt, retail many years ago 
• flats, Geox, retail many years ago
• light cotton boat neck, three-quarter-sleeve top, thrifted, Value Village

This is the cartoon I drew of me in this outfit on my way to fake Paris (or Italy) with two of my favourite feline friends.

I'm including another outfit cartoon below. O and I had seen a marmalade cat hunting a dragonfly one night which I mentioned the next day when I saw Lisa at Dreamz n Wishz wearing fabulous firefly earrings, plus she had gone out for dinner at Firefly restaurant. She suggested that the cat might make a good cartoon. 

I was wearing Steven Madden slim trousers with ankle zips, and a shirt-dress, which Joni at Walking Colors had reminded me of, pointed black shoes, and my beret.

It has been hot here. By that I mean mid-20s tops. Compared to some places I should not be complaining, but I have been wilting terribly. No amount of watering is able to revive me. I have TREMENDOUS respect for all those bloggers weathering greater heat who manage to look so cool and fabulous, even in light jackets! I sleep sometimes with an icepack wrapped in a towel at my feet or under my neck, which helps. I hope it's not hot this week because I want to wear tights, but the odds are against me...

Other Housekeeping...

I drew this cartoon based on an incident that Curtise at The Secondhand Years had with Ms. Grabby Hands at a thrift sale. In the real story, Ms. Grabby TOOK Curtise's treasure. I could write a not-so-sweet heavy metal song about that too!

I sketched the cartoon below a while ago; it made me think of Robin at her blog a little sewing.

Okay, that's all. Whew. 

I hope you have a tremendous week! I've only been managing to post once a week lately, but I still make the rounds even if I'm not commenting as much as usual. You guys are all ROCK STARS!!!