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Good luck for the household renovations! New curtains and pillows can really give a room a new feel. I am in the middle of this process too.

Ooh yeah, you learn a lot about old house-building practices when you renovate. Ours is a 1919 bungalow, and has sucked me into houseblogging. (Warning: http://www.houseblogs.net/ has lots of resources, but you start looking at other people's work, and you get caught up in the moment, and next thing you know you're raiding demolition sites for quartersawn oak and stuff.)

Thanks Leeann, and thanks for the great link Karen!

Ha, little did I know what I had created when I innocently asked you whether you planned to paint the front window!! Looking forward to seeing all the progress in person.

Lovely wreath, Claire.

I just had the contractor here for some prices for some reno's too. How much you want to bet things are not back to normal by Christmas? The problem is so many of these brilliant blogs have given me the "let's do this" feeling.

Talk soon,
Lisa
xo

I like your wreath Claire! And don't worry about the asbestos... after living in an equally old house, and knowing others who do, there are all kinds of dangers like lead and asbestos hidden, but as long as it does not get airborne you are fine. Sounds like you already know this. And I agree with Karen, houseblogging is addicting! You can really get caught up in it... lots of fun!

That sounds like a really cute story. I know I always loved any story about animals as a kid. I wish more of my friends had kids so I would have an excuse to buy all these books.

Lovely composition to this as well, those little piggies are just too sweet. Thanks for sharing your work.

How cute!

wow, what an amazing watercolor!!!

Great composition and color and texture. great illustration for babies. They are just so cute and playful!!

Beautiful :)
Best Wishes,
Issi

Thank you all again.
Aren't pigs just so cute?! I go to the fairs to get reference of them.
Deb

I love this! Pigs are really such cute creatures!

Hi Robin! I left a short comment on your FB status. I should add that in general, articles that lay out the facts as the author knows them without trying to convince me to a certain way of thinking have more of an impact on me than an essay that is a persuasive argument. I’ve grown increasingly resistant to persuasive arguments as so often, it seems that the authors pull out the statistics and anecdotes that support their arguments and ignore contradictory research.

I have friends who are raw foodies who cite all sorts of sources to convince me that everyone on the planet should eat a raw food diet. Some people point out that humans have long digestive tracts which prove that we’re supposed to eat a plant-based diet, while others point out that our teeth indicate that we’re supposed to eat an omnivorous diet. Meanwhile, there are people in parts of the world who are starved for protein (and starving, period) who don’t have an array of diets to choose from, and get what they can get.

Whether it’s about food, the environment, or anything else that triggers high emotions, these days I just want to see the research, not the bias. I know that’s unrealistic, but I do think it’s time to try different approaches than the guilt-based ones.

–Farida

Yeah, Farida, I agree that people don’t want to be barked at. It really gets my back up when someone tells me how to think, as opposed to laying out some facts for me to consider. I like to think I’m the only boss of me.

Thanks for your input! I like to hear how other people come down on this issue.

Changing minds and thinking is for the weak!

I used to think that, too, Patrick, until you taught us all to kibby. And how many lives were changed that day?

Which reminds me: Is it left foot forward, right ear to the shoulder? Or do I have it backwards?

I don’t know - it’s an interesting article, but it’s so full of statements with which I really disagree, presented as if they were absolute and irrefutable, that it does nothing to sway me towards the view that veganism is the only ethical choice. The section on not being vegetarian in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle on the other hand, did make me think and also change my mind a bit.

You know, I think life was really easier in this regard if not others, about 20 or 30 years ago. One simple argument such as the one about it taking too much of the world’s resources to allow for a meat-including diet seemed so straight-forward. I give up eating meat and thereby am doing exactly what’s needed to help the poor in the Third World have enough food! (And I did, for quite some time.) But it really is nothing like that simple, and I don’t think there’s one answer that’s anything like as cut-and-dried ethical as Masson makes it out to be. Well, except for veal. I’ll never eat veal that’s produced the way veal is. And free-range eggs from local farms that really are free range. Okay, I may believe there are some straight-forward answers, but have to keep trying to sort them all out over and over again. It’s a lot of work, trying to live ‘right’, isn’t it?

Kibbying does not require thought or changing of minds, it was simply - here is awesomeness - which was apparent and needed no explanation.

I eat meat simply for the fact that some chickens want to be eaten and without steroid enhanced beef, we wouldn’t have 7ft tall basketball players and who would want to live in a world without 7ft tall basketball players and deny chickens their right to be eaten?

I grew up in farm country, so I’ve been around animals who provide food my whole life and have never had any illusions about where my food comes from. I think there’s a lot to be said for Masson’s point of view, but I think it’s also not that easy. I know a lot of vegetarians and vegans, for instance, who eat a lot of heavily-processed food to supplement their diets, particularly foods supplemented with soy, which is one of the more commonly genetically modified foods on the market, which is problematic on both a personal and wider level. That’s not everyone, obviously, but food is a really complicated issue, and one point Masson makes that I really agree with is that we are separated from our food sources to a degree that is dangerous. Most of the people writing about food these days agree on that point. Industrial farming is scary on an almost sci-fi level, like you can’t even believe some of the things these people do could be real, and that’s true for plant as well as animal farming.

Patrick, I’m just going to leave your food thoughts without comment. But yes as to kibbying.

Lady S: “It’s a lot of work, trying to live ‘right,’ isn’t it?”. Oh, word. To try to eat right for our health, while also not exploiting child labor or putting animals through torture–generally trying to be a good person and do the right thing, and still feed ourselves and generally enjoy our food. Not easy, which is why a lot of people just throw up their hands and say,”Give me another hot dog.”

Adrienne, you’re so right about the junk food vegetarians and vegans–a lot of fake food out there to make up for the animal products people give up. I like Michael Pollan’s simple solution on that one (from In Defense of Food): Eat food. Not too much. Mostly vegetables. His whole section on “eat food” talks about what really is food vs. a “food product.” Very eye-opening.

Anyway, we’re all trying to do our best, eh? Thanks for chiming in here. I like to know what y’all think on this.

Reading this makes me really wish I could go back to being vegan (I can’t, for health reasons). Since I can’t, it makes me feel a little bit guilty for all the times I’ve bought conventional groceries rather than organic and fair-trade because organic and fair-trade cost more. And it makes me a little proud about the (tiny) things I do to decrease my impact on the environment, like using reusable shopping bags and saving my recyclable trash to take to my aunt’s house (because she has curbside recycling, I don’t, and I have no idea how far it is to the nearest recycling center). And since I can’t seem to do much about my impact on the animals (recycled chicken, anyone?) I’m glad that one of the tenents of the faith in which I was raised is that all animals have souls and go to heaven. Still REALLY wish I could do the vegan thing, though.

I’m also curious what Patrick has to say on the subject of recycled chickens. I’m sure it will be entertaining and highly educational.

Oh man this is so cute and wonderfully illustrated. Love, love, love the looseness in the illustration. Great fun with the sponges. Lovely work!!!!

Sponges give such a nice effect, don't they?

I love all the costumes, they look adorable. I guess if I had to choose, I'd pick that cute cow. :-)

So cute! The chicken's my favorite too! Really like the sponge technique.

My favorite is the sheep costume. I love working with textures. Sponges are tricky, there are so many different ways to use them. I end up ripping mine into little bits to get the shapes I want for small areas.

Another fun texture technique is plastic wrap. LOL

Your work is always so much fun.

Thank you so much everyone! I may have to try sponges again. They really are a lot of fun.

Lyon, how do you use the plastic wrap? I am intrigued. You know I always like to experiment!

my fave is absolutely that little dracula!!!!

Thanks Ratu! I have a soft spot for the little vampire too :)