Whimsical Art

My favorite artist is Maira Kalman. She keeps a visual blog for the New York Times. Or at least, she did until the end of 2009. Now she's working on her new book (I think; we have yet to become pen pals). Here's the link to her blog: The Pursuit of Happiness

I love her style because of its simple whimsy, idealistic portrayals, and vivid color.

Her style reminds me of that one quote... "Sometimes there's more truth in how you feel than in what actually happened." I believe that quote is from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Try not to judge me too harshly.

I've found a couple of artists on etsy who emulate a similar style. I don't know if there's an official name for it... or if it's even some sort of modern movement. I'm not an art history major or a hipster.

But these inspire me:

Golly

and

Vivienne

I'm sure I'll come across more as I click my way through etsy, but for now it's time for dinner.

Just keep swimming... just keep swimming

Usually I don't like photos with dark or light edges around the shot. Something about it screams tacky- like Sears portraits with fake forest backgrounds. But I had to add this in order to get rid of the TV in the background. I mean, yeah, I did take an intensive photoshop course in college, but all that photoshopping takes time. I only photoshop pictures of myself to remove blemishes, or arm fat or whiten teeth, etc. The important uses.

Anyway, I've recently re-discovered my love of sunflowers. I think it has something with growing up in the '90s. Remember when sunflowers were everywhere? Like those big floppy hats Blossom would wear? I owned a pair of white overalls with sunflowers all over them. One of my favorite outfits, might I add.

But enough, Ferdinand, with smelling the flowers. We have more important ground to cover. Like, Kristin, how's your mystery diagnosis going? Well, since you asked, it's going pretty well I think. I stopped taking the painkillers today and I feel okay. I only took one nausea pill today. But I feel pretty nauseated right now (note: did you know that you are not supposed to say that you feel nauseous? only nauseated can pertain to how you feel. don't ask me to explain; I'm heavily medicated). If it is a kidney stone, then I'm still waiting its arrival. I named my first kidney stone Rocky. He'd be six years old today if I hadn't flushed him down the toilet. If this potential new stone ever passes then I shall call her Roxanna.

At least I have gotten a lot of sleep these past two days. I can will myself to sleep for long periods of time. It's pretty awesome. Oddly, I still feel tired and shaky. I'm going to attempt work tomorrow. I'm hoping I can run on my treadmill by Friday. "Hoping" being the key word.