Summerland Studio

Removing Matte or Gel Medium from Your Skin

Another title could be "Avoid Collaging When You Have to Cook Dinner".  On one hand, (both actually) it's good to know that the gel medium is going to hold that well.  On the other, I look like I'm suffering from the plague.  This stuff peels and flakes of slowly in a "Hey, how's your leprosy?" kind of way.  I'm glad I had started dinner beforehand, but I don't think I'll be finishing it up.  Julia Child never recommended gel medium as garnish.  Ew. 

So, to illustrate, I took a photo of my hand and you can barely see the diseased peely grossness.  Why is it that my hand looks horrible in real life and the photo makes it look not too bad?  I don't sleep well one night and I look like I'm 80 in a photo!  How does that work? 

Back to the main theme... how does one get this off their hands?  Over the years I've found washing dishes by hand is about the only way to slough this adhesive off.  Again, where is the fairness in that?  I think it should come off completely when you relax on the couch and your spouse cleans up from dinner.  Doesn't that sound better?  Come on people, let's make a change for the better!  *sigh*

I know, it's all a pipe dream.  At any rate, there's got to be a better way.  I shall do some research and report back.  I'm still holding out hope for the relaxing on the couch bit though.

Happy New Year!

We awoke this morning to a gorgeous, crisp winter day.  The sky is the amazing Colorado blue that we've been missing lately from all the overcast days.  The temperature is up to 40 degrees today - warmer than it's been for many days.  In Colorado, it is written into the contract that we can't have more than 5 days of cold weather or snow on the ground.  We've had these cold white conditions for about two weeks now!  Over it!  Though it's still white out there, the sunshine and crisp air are enough to satisfy.

I don't put a lot of stock in New Years Eve or Day.  Probably from a few years back in the day of working in nightclubs and having to deal with "amateur night".  Ugh!  But I'm feeling like 2009 was the set up and preparation for 2010.  My year horoscope even talks about accomplishing goals I set this year.  In the last few days, I've found a book and website called Creative Awakenings.  They are the brain children of Sheri Gaynor, a creativity coach with a lot of passion and energy.  I joined the site and explored, making a couple of comments.  I was welcomed immediately by Sheri.  So I am even more excited about 2010 than I was about 2009. 

The week of Christmas - first time I've had the whole week off - was very low key.  In fact, it was  a week of hibernation!  Seriously!  I figured up that I spent between 12 and 16 hours a day sleeping that week.  though it seemed crazy, I very much recommend it.  I think we all push ourselves too hard in the winter, which is a slow season and a time of rest.  This year, at the beginning of winter, I vowed to avoid using coffee to get through when I was tired and try to go to bed earlier when necessary.  I have really cut back on the migraines (of course, I'm also avoiding sugars like the plague) and generally I feel better.  I've already run my errands and napped soundly for the day.  The rest of the day will be spent playing in the studio.

To everyone a very happy 2010 full of dreams and successes.  Take care of yourselves and nurture your creativity.  Let's rock this year!