Journal Junkies

Sneak Peek at Inside Solo magazine vol 18 – UPDATE, now live! / / / <<CLICK COVER FOR 28 page PDF DOWNLOAD (4.9 MB) Note: These are downsized and compressed jpg’s of the original full size PDF pages. The PDF pages have live links back to the artists on RB. UPDATE THIS ISSUE IS LIVE AND DOWNLOADABLE / Thank you for supporting these fine artists and contributing writers with your views, comments, and enthusiasm.

Someone, and this time I know who it is, bought a print of Softly, come today. This, for reasons that should be obvious, is flattering in more ways than one. Thank you, Travis.

Check out this challenge . So many great entries I almost got repetitive strain injury from clicking the Vote For This button! :-) The book should be a winner.

Colour And Light and Cityscapes & City Skylines and Monochrome for all featuring Empty: Neon Haven for featuring Corroded Crisp: All About New York State for featuring Empire Of The Dark: Anticonsumerism for featuring Paradise Lost: Out Of The Past for featuring Walk Alone: Iberia for featuring Existent Past: Live & Let Live for featuring Absolving Retribution: Journal Junkies for featuring my journal entry on the publishing of my photos And finally, a massive thank you to Christine Betts, host of Cityscapes & City Skylines, for doing me the huge honour of featuring all 4 of my lane way pieces! Deep Voices: / Displaced Enchantment: / Clandestine: / Discounted Memory / I am so thankful to all hosts for these opportunities, thank you all so much! Cheers Andrew

I am overwhelmed by everything at the moment…thank God for these anxiety tablets I’m on lololololololololol… This week (and it’s not even over)... / Not only have I been blessed with the colt of my dreams>>>> / I have made Three Sales>>> / Two of these cards (Newman) / bought by Louise Green and a mystery buyer bought the second one. / One a Tee / / bought by Kat36 / Thanks ladies and mystery buyer!! AND NINE, yes NINE featured works ( five of which were in the Holden V Ford group) AND Featured member in Holden V Ford / (check them out when you can!!! / featured in Appaloosa & Spotted Horses/Ponies/Mules / featured in Your Living spaces. / / featured in Journal Junkies / AND AND THEN THIS>>>>> / for this image>>>>> / Well thanks everyone…I am well and truly stoked.. / Love Di & all the gang at Harriana Forest (especially Newman) xoxo

I once almost wrote for a local newspaper. I was asked to bring in two samples to see if they could use it. My friend who I gave it to who worked there had a break up in her marriage and moved to the states. I guess she took my work with her. But, it doesn’t matter. Today you will be able to read it. I was planning to call my section “Straight From My Home”. The other day I read a report about how many patients are being diagnosed with high blood pressure when really they don’t have it. The reason that was given was that it is completely normal for your blood pressure to rise if you are under stress, if you are walking, have taken too much sun, if you are laughing, just had a rough time, if you just took a small shot of alcohol or if you are just simply eating or talking. Thinking about it, this is all true. Look at this this way. In a doctor’s office or a medical clinic you have to wait long hours before you are looked at. This fact in itself, if the report is correct, is enough to raise your blood pressure. Maybe you are one of those people that are scared stiff of seeing a doctor. Some people get hungry if they have been waiting too long, especially if they are diabetics and others get furious if they think they called someone to be seen by the doctor that came after them and that it is not fair because they have been there since six in the morning. Now me, on the other hand, my blood pressure has risen for other reasons. I already know that my doctor comes late, I mean after 2:p.m. So I just call and they jot down my name. If they pass people in front of me because even though I have jotted down my name at about 9:00 a.m., I don’t mind. After all they have been there all morning waiting patiently for the doctor to come while I am home cleaning, cooking, maybe doing a little shopping, usually I take a nap and my husband and I eat our dinner. Then, at about 4:00:p.m. or 5, (I usually call to see how many people are left at the office) I go to the doctor’s office. So far, no reason for my blood pressure to rise, and everything is normal until I get to the doctor’s waiting area. There I see patients who have been waiting, like I already told you, since very early in the morning. Since they are starving and don’t want to leave to eat something less they lose their turn, they start a conversation about “what would I eat at this very moment”. A lot of them are diabetics and renal patients, and though they start their “menu” with what they are supposed to eat, they finish with what they really eat at home; rice with pork back fat or ham, beans with pork’s feet, pork, cheddar cheese, etc, etc, etc., and then you know what is going to be their real menu when they get home. I also start getting my two bits in and all of the sudden instead of a doctor’s office it looks like a chicken coop. There you start laughing at the things people come out with and the stories of some and then once in a while an insane person or two comes in and the whole chicken coop goes crazy. All of this is happening in the waiting office of my doctor. / But, beware, once you go through the door to have your vitals taken, that’s when the secretaries and the doctor’s wife grab you. His wife is very friendly but if you get to be her friend, you are in deep trouble. She and the secretary (who happens to be my father’s second cousin) will start making dirty jokes that will not only make you laugh, but will also at the same time make you blush. After a while you ask yourself, who are crazier, the ones outside or the ones that are inside? Once I had to see the doctor as an emergency because my blood sugar was over 300mg and my blood pressure was pretty high. Now, I’m the type of person that when I start getting nervous, I start to laugh and believe me, I was really nervous. The doctor hadn’t arrived yet, so they put me in the gurney and to get my mind out of the state I was in, the doctor’s wife, since she was so worried she and my cousin started to make jokes and I started to make jokes. I mean, you don’t have to wind Ivelysse (the doctor’s wife) much to start with, so when I was asked to take off my blouse to have my electro done she tells me “My God, Iris. What big boobs you have!!!!!. What size are they? DDD?” I mean I’m going to have an electro to see if there is anything wrong with my heart and she comes out with this. Of course I had another funny answer which I forgot what it was right now. And we were all three belly laughing when the doctor comes in the room and practically roars “What is going on in here?”, and we all three of us looked at him and then started with our belly laugh again. We couldn’t hardly talk and explain to him what I was doing in the gurney with an electro halfway on me and laughing ourselves to death. Well from laughter to laughter and throughout all the running with the emergency, my blood pressure sky rocketed, the doctor screamed at his wife and secretary ” And both of you out of this room right this minute” and I just kept on laughing and screamed at them “Hey they threw you out” and that really did it for them and me but then very, very seriously, with a pout on my mouth I was taken straight to the hospital. I hate hospitals! So, after all of this and the report that I read, I decided on another appointment to do my own research. I was again in the middle of that chicken coop in the waiting room and I found that every patient that came out of the office came out very happy and with a smile on their face and very triumphantly they said, “My blood pressure is high in sky”. When it was my turn, I also came out with a smile and with my blood pressure high. Yes, I have the good fortune of having a loving, caring doctor that next to his wife and his secretaries they faithfully watch over my health and of the rest of their patients. If the price I have to pay to be able to sit in a doctor’s waiting room where I could have a conversation, laugh all that I want without anyone telling me to shut up and feel loved is to have my blood pressure elevated, well then let it rise. I will die a happy woman. This only happens in Puerto Rico where we are loud, nosey, happy and especially where we love to eat even if it will kill you.

Top Ten Winners In Live and Let Live “Autumn” Challenge / / Autumn In the Inspired Art “Missing You” Challenge / / I am the Memor of a Moment of Happiness Features Two Features for this painting in the same day..In Black Christmas and First Things / / A Weekend in The Country In Yellow Two / / Still Life with Old Dandelion Stencil and Terracotta Pots In Avante Garde Art / / The Nothing That Is In Inspired Art / / Lost In Immpressionism Cafe / / Wild is The Wind In Ethnic Art / / Almost Home In Too Bright / / The Third Sorrow In Image Writing / / Afterward In Art Up Close / / The Potting Shed Thank you so much to the group moderators and all who voted to make these wins possible / Click HERE for previous wins...

Woke up this morning & thought F—-k its Sunday already. Before we know it’ll be Monday all over again & the wash cycle starts once more!! Perpetual Motion!! / If I could stop the world from turning just long enough to get off & sit the next few revolutions out believe me I would. / My head hurts, no its not a hang over, or at least not a drink related one. / The daily grind just goes on & on, the walls are closing in, the room is getting smaller & smaller. / Aaaaaaargh, sleep deprivation is one of those irratating problems that keeps you on edge. / Yes I get grumpy but then the little sh-t just doesn’t know when to quit!! At least Dopey got the message when I let his tyres down. He’s never been back since!! / Life is no fairy tale, there’s no big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. / Well tell me something I don’t know!! / I applied for a job with the Samaritans but didn’t get it. Apparently I’ve not got the qualities they’re looking for. / Hell I must be thier best customer, surely that must count for something!! At least I know the crack, I could probably save them a shed load of money on there phone bill. / I could probably get them a sponsorship deal with Nike; The Samaritans; Just do it!!! / Not sure that would work, maybe needs a wee bit work!!

a fellow bubbler just suggested that i’d sold around 200 tshirts, and I thought, no way, that couldn’t be right surely… so curiousity got the better of me… and after a quick tally found I’d sold 283 tshirts over the time I’ve been here (since Feb ‘08).. getting close to two years now. all i want to say is that if I can do it, anyone can, so can you all I’ve ever done is follow advice RB gave, and I’m sure there are people out there, other members who have sold much more than me….but RB isn’t all about selling, it’s about community, and caring….and as much as I’m proud of my sales I feel that sometimes, it seems so unfair when others aren’t making as many sales and start to feel down about it, i know the feeling too, because that’s how i feel even now… it can get you down fairly quickly. I just want to encourage you to stay focussed and true to your dream. There are many ups and downs, but if you keep your rudder steered for the course, in the long run, you’ll get where you’re going… in the early days here, RB gave suggestions and all i have ever done, was to follow these suggestions: + create a portfolio of diversity / + tag your work appropriately / + blog / + encourage and support other artists / + get behind people who are working hard as volunteers here at the bubble and mainly, just trying to have or give customers easy access to your porfolio if it’s large, via your main profile page, and you can get many hints and tips here from me, and many other wonderfully kind and helpful bubblers who have given of their time and effort to share tutorials with us.. the only reason i can share and help, is because others shared and helped me when i first started here…and all we can do, each one is to continue to spread that love around….i think the community aspect being the most important, to encourage one another in our creative pursuits. There’s also this How to Sell Art and TShirts you can join this group and benefit so much from all the helpful advice, there’s more help than you can poke a stick at…and it works :) You know, sometimes to my own detriment I have focussed hard on selling and at times forgotten why I am here, I am human after all, and I guess that’s part of the human condition, i have fallen into traps such as feeling petty jealousies and getting upset with others, but I just want to encourage and be encouraged particularly here on red bubble, for the world is full of trouble, and difficulties, i am so grateful to come to this place, view art and meet people and feel inspired… the bubble is still my favourite place

am sorry but i have been readin all yer comments that ye have posted about auld maddy, an ye hud the tears streamin doon ma face …it is to upsetin yet tae reply tae aw yer comments ..an am no doin this tae take the easy way out…thank you once again ye huv aw been there when ma dugs have gone, 3 in a year and a half, its been awfy hard an i hope i dinny huv tae go through it for a while although auld ben is 13 1/2 now..yer commments and poems huv aw came frae the heart an im so glad i found rb..this is a photy of her durin the summer…she was beautiful with a brilliant nature.thank you all again frae all o ma heart i will be back soon /

The sun sets earlier now, because of the ‘changing of the clocks’, otherwise known in western civilization as ‘daylight savings’. It’s a strange and bizarre government-borne ritual that has baffled most of the American public for decades. Brought in to being to allow the farming community more time for crop harvesting during the light of day, it makes no sense. Farmers do their work while they have light, no matter what the clock reads. And with the advent of modern tractors, complete with headlights and additional light bars to provide ample visual aid, this goofy practice has become even more pointless. I was driving home from work one day last week, deep in to the dusk of evening. Some fading light was still left at the edge of the horizon, peeking up behind the hills and trees, creating dramatic silhouettes to ponder. The remaining skyscape was a painting of clouds that had been transformed in to sculptures of a rather abstract form, all beautiful, nonetheless. I turned a corner at a crossroads and noticed that the curtains in someones home had not yet been pulled shut for the night by the residents within, permitting me fleeting glimpses of the interior of their living space. Next to the home a small, single story apartment building. It too, had a few bare windows with light coming from inside. My mind began to churn, regarding the lives within these windows…the dramas being played out between the occupants, from inside the walls of their private dwellings. For some, I imagined the happiest of homes, where a cheerful smile greets each family member as they arrive home at the end of a busy day. Warm embraces and genuinely heartfelt happiness to see the ones they love. The smell of a delicious evening meal being prepared and soft, welcoming music to listen to as they shared the days’ events at the table. Their lives are endlessly wonderful and well worth living. In others, I imagined anger and pain. A meal still not prepared, a mate that should have been home an hour ago, still not arrived. Trust being destroyed and hearts being broken. Deception created and tears falling in the quiet darkness of a silent, lightless room. The facades of relationships and the truth that lies in the daily interaction all came to mind. Struggling couples, attempting their version of ‘forever after’, and the complications that come with giving your heart over to be entrusted to another. The gradual realization that forever is an intangible amount of time, that brings with it an immeasurable level of commitment and dedication to a loss of many personal freedoms. The ‘punched in the gut’ feeling you get when you come to terms with the fact that the person you are living with now is not at all like the person you initially fell in love with. In yet another home, someone has just been seriously contemplating murder for the first time in their lives. Moments later, taking with them a freshly made sandwich, they get in their car and drive to the hardware store to fill a list of items they will need to effectively kill and be rid of another human being. The clerk at the hardware store pays no attention to the individual items as they are scanned through the register, and remains unaware of the small but significant part he has played in the intended death of another. It has been said that each of us has shared the roadway with a murderer at least once in our lives, and that at any given moment, a murderer could be traveling alongside you on the highway with a victim in the trunk of their vehicle. I drove my car past these homes and secretly wondered which of them was experiencing which scenario this evening… who was enjoying a fine end to a long day, and who was bracing themselves for a long, heartbreaking night, or who had reached a crucial and life-changing brink from which there was no return. We go on every day thinking that our lives are the only ones we really need to consider. But there are times when you are standing next to someone in line at the movie theatre, and they are hiding a deeply hidden side of their world as they go about these mundane activities. On the other side of the cubicle wall where you work, think of the epic fear, sadness, anger or elation that one might be living during the hours you never see them. Will they cross your mind when you are on your way home, fading light still left at the edge of the horizon, peeking up behind the hills and trees, creating dramatic silhouettes to ponder…. /

I need writing practice, I need money. That’s what I need. You need exposure, you need money. That’s what you need. Well, how about combining needs? I am going to come up with a basic list of interview questions, and anyone who wants an article written about them, will answer them via bubblemail. Hopefully you will include links to images of your work which can be shown in an online article. Then, when I get to you (if I get to you) I may be asking other questions, to more personalize the experience, which in part depends on how personalized you made it already. I’m not guaranteeing it will be fast, or that I’ll get to everyone, but, I am offering the chance to be interviewed and have an article written. It may be that I can also submit to the article to proper, local newspapers, if you tell me where you live and/or which newspapers are likely to serve the area (big and small), but, all I’m guaranteeing is the chance to be interviewed and have an article written. In fact, it’s quite silly of me to bring it up, before I have the questions ready, so, if you are interested, keep an eye open for the journal piece entitled something like “Interview Questions” and forgive my enthusiasm PS: Suggestions for interview questions are welcome, before or after you submit your answers to the ones I come up with, via bubblemail

Wow what a busy month, ‘Metadone’ is featured in the WTF group; now that’s an honour & it put a huge smile on my face, many thanks peeps. Catriona Hamilton bought two of my T-shirt designs today, many thanks Catriona, you put an even bigger smile on my already beaming face!! / That makes seven T-shirts sold this month & twelve greetings cards!! / Making this one of my most productive months ever. / I need to type faster so the ink doesn’t run as it apparently does, allegedly!! / So many things to do & so little time to do it too!! / At the moment I’m in a kind of exile, but I hope to get a bit of commenting done soon. / Huge thank you to everyone for all your support & all the generous comments & fav’s. / As always I am in your debt!! / best wishes / Robin