Asakiyume mita

Yesterday, December 23, I did an angel with tidings of great joy. I had big, big ambitions for this picture! Unfortunately sometimes the execution doesn't quite live up to the plan. I can say about this angel's face... it has that naive look. Yes. Naive. Here are two views--one of the angel himself, and one photographed upside down and flipped (so the head and not the bottom of the robe are larger), in relation to the shepherd picture:





And here is the driveway this morning, just before sunrise!



...And now for something completely different



But what does a package of candy eyeballs look like? VENTURE BENEATH THE CUT IF YOU DARE

( a whole lotta eyeballs )

I'm using them for these guys ^_^

Did you guys hear/see the story about this year's Christmas-themed Hershey's kisses missing their tips? I heard it some while ago, one of those relaxingly weird, inconsequential human-interest stories that these days I feel fortunate to catch. I promptly forgot about it until we got to my dad's house at Christmas time, and he had a bag of Hershey's Christmas-foil-wrapped kisses.

"Oh hey, I heard they all have their tips broken off--I wonder if it's true," I said. So of course FOR RESEARCH, we had to open up (and then eat--once you unwrap them they'll spoil if you don't eat them!) a number of kisses, and sure enough, they all did have their tips broken off.

So it was true! Based on evidence from one bag of kisses in upstate New York.

... Well yesterday I was in a supermarket here in western Massachusetts and they had Christmas kisses on clearance. Would their tips be broken too? Of course the spirit of inquiry required that I buy a bag. And lo and behold, so far... yes!



For reference, here is what they are supposed to look like:



See the nice point?

This NYT article reports that only the solid-chocolate kisses were affected and that Hershey's is investigating.

I got the idea when talking to sovay of doing a Minoan angel. When I went looking for reference images, I found some of browngirl's beautiful pictures--your art is so lovely, browngirl!

The most salient feature of Minoan women's costumes (the open fronts) doesn't show on the angel because her arm is up, and she's in profile:



To showcase (sort of?) that portion of female anatomy, I turned one angel into a mermaid--the wing is her tail fin:



Here's what the painting supplies look like, btw:

Angel
My mother had very elaborate Christmas cookies that she made with us kids: we made the recipe for sand tarts (a flat, roll-out cookie suitable for cookie cutters) from The Joy of Cooking, then iced the with almond-flavored white icing, then painted on them with very fine paint brushes and food coloring. (Some examples.) I have my own cookie cutters, but earlier this year my dad wanted to clear out the old ones we had as kids. I got the angel.



The great thing about cookies made with this cookie cutter is that because the connecting bits (neck, joint of the wings) and arms are so thin, often they get moved this way or that when you're moving the cookie dough from the counter to the cooking sheet. So the head will tip back (gazing heavenward) or forward (deep in prayer) or the wings will flex outward or move toward the body. If the dough gets too warm, then the angel can get elongated in the transfer to the cooking sheet, or shortened. It makes for a various collection. I'll try to post some.

Center versus Periphery
It's fun to think about which categories comprise the Bad Guys in tales. For example, in dystopian fiction, usually the State is Bad and the Insurgents are Good, though sometimes (as in The Hunger Games) all groups end up being Bad (which brings up a more fundamental Good versus Bad dynamic in Western fiction: that the Individual is Good and the State/Society is Bad--unless we're talking the horror genre or certain sorts of cop or detective fiction, in which case the State/Society is Good and the Individual may represent Eldritch or Some Other Sort of Bad. (Yes, I'm enjoying capitalizing things today.)

So I was thinking about the Center and the Periphery, specifically about the national government versus local governments, and I was thinking about cop shows. I was thinking about how they quite tidily feature both sides in both roles. In ones favoring the Center, the heroes are from the FBI or other national agency, and they're brought in to deal with a difficult case that the corrupt, ignorant, and inept locals don't have the wherewithal to deal with. In ones favoring the Periphery, the local force must manage to solve the case despite the interference of the arrogant, high-handed feds, who often have an endgame that's at odds with the local need for justice or solution of the case.

Helpful Pamphlet
Saw this on a rock. Someone left it out as a helpful message, maybe? But then days later I saw it had fallen off the rock and was rain soaked. Not all messages reach an audience that can receive them.



Okay, to work I go. I have a big job I need to finish by the end of the day tomorrow.

Tim Eriksen relaunched his website and is giving away a Christmas carol. (He gave away one of my all-time favorite carols just a little bit ago--"Oh Sight of Anguish"/Occom's Carol-- but that is no longer available--but this one is, and this one is pretty too).

The carol is Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming"

I am not managing life or human interaction much right now, but I can still note and observe with interest the successful interactions of others.

( for instance )

And now to eat. More anon.