Brittle Wings

Well, here’s a post all about me (and not about art, even though I’ve been doing some pretty cool paintings recently – isn’t it always gutting when the cheapest paints and paper give you the best results and you only find out after you spent mega-bucks on the “best quality” materials?). It’s Hallowe’en! How about that? Well, I’m going to make some toffee apples tonight with a friend and then we’re going to walk out to the Auld Kirk in Alloway, setting for the infamous poem “Tam ‘o Shanter”. It’s even stayed dry! Someone is smiling down on me today!

I take snuff, and also smoke the shisha occasionally (some of the tobacco-free molasses are actually quite nice, I’m fond of the rose one), but today I finally bought a pipe (and yes Mammy, I know you read this so I’m taking the cowards way out and telling you over the veil of the internet although I assure you that I have still never smoked a cigarette in my life, and I’ve never smoked anything you can’t buy in a tobacconists so you can phone me and go “meh meh meh” if you want but hey, there’s a lot worse things I could be doing, and I’m a good girl, I am!). So far, I’ve managed to avoid “tongue bite”, although I inhaled the smoke for a moment earlier and it was just… Urgh. Horrid! I think it’s because I was trying to inhale it the same way I do with a shisha, which is always a much cooler smoke (again, it’s lovely with rose water or water mixed with orange juice in it) and I can inhale for longer than I can with a pipe. The pipe is a bit of a harsher smoke too, but for all I actually smoke the shisha or take snuff (which isn’t really that often, as setting up the shisha for a smoke takes a while and a bowl of tobacco can last me a long time) it’s probably going to be more of a hobby or pastime to me than something I’m going to do every single day. Being a lady, I don’t particularly want to parade about the streets of my town with a pipe hanging from my lips anyway. It’s too orangy for crows. It’s just for me and my dog. There’s something about the scent of pipe tobacco which is just so… Nice!

I’m going to the Berlin Tattoo Convention in December! Really excited about it. I want to pick up some art books while I’m there. I go to Berlin every December (for some reason, I don’t know why – it’s just become an annual “thing” that I do) but I always seem to miss the tattoo convention by a day or two. This year I made sure that I would be there to attend at least one day. I’m also wanting to shop around for an artist for my right sleeve. I like all of my tattoos to be done by different artists and I’d love to plan some trips to the continent to get a full piece done. I’m also working on a full back piece for myself (which obviously I can’t tattoo on myself, as I’ve yet to do that – I’m perfectly happy tattooing other people but lawdy, there’s no way on this sweet earth I’m ever going to take my machines to myself, “right of passage” or not) so I’m swaying over “should I get my sleeve done first or get my back started?”. Too many choices!

It’s so dark so early now. My poor bunnies don’t like it…