LaughingCrow

I'm a writer and artist living in a big city but my heart belongs to the country. I live in a Canadian capital but own a small schoolhouse a few hours from the city.

I have formal training in design and have dabbled in specialty courses in areas of interest including photography, blacksmithing and polaroid-transfer. Mostly, I'm self-taught and love nothing better than learning a new skill. No area (yet) too difficult but one day I might meet my Waterloo.

Currently, I'm working in a dream industry, part of the Sets and Props department of a large stop-motion animation company.

I love every genre of music I've listened to, including country and hip-hop. Some extra special favourites include Peter Gabriel, CCR, Portishead, DJ Shadow, Jim Byrnes, Scott Joplin, Django Reinhardt, Ozomatli, Billie Holiday, Elvis, the Beatles, NIN, Shaggy and Patsy Cline.

The past few years have been a landscape of aural discovery featuring a LOT of world music, Putamayo being my favorite samplers to start with.

In other words, I love to listen and explore pretty much anything musically.

I tend to avoid anything with a 'bestseller list' tag but I totally dig everything SARK, The Secret Life of Bees, The Decameron by Bocaccio, the Harry Potter Series, Griffith and Sabine trilogy, 1950's Harlequin romances, All Families Are Psychotic, Bomb The Suburbs, John Taylor Gatto, Disinformation.com, Jitterbug Perfume.

I am an information junkie and LOVE to learn new things.

I read a lot of non-fiction, most about art and design, herbalism , gardening and self-discovery.

All Time Hands Down Winner.... Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Wallace and Gromit, Finding Nemo, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, Sabrina, Moonstruck, Batman Begins, Toy Story 1 & 2, LA Story, Robin Hood (Errol Flynn version), Captain Blood, Pirates of the Caribbean, The World's Fastest Indian, Strictly Ballroom, O Brother Where Art Thou, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Sting.

I love all animation, classic films, fantasy and adventure. Nothing horror or gory for me.

Blacksmithing and art metalwork, Painting, Glass Mosaic, Sculpture, Polaroid Transfers, Collage, Digital design, Traditional and digital photography, Fibre arts, Beads and jewellery, Dichroic glass, Bent willow, Printmaking,

and anything else I don't know yet!

Milk chocolate, vintage photographs and ephemera, glitter, rich and vibrant colours (especially berry red, turquoise, royal purple), interesting musical mixes, whimsy, handmade beautiful things, cherry motif, cupcakes, bats, natural fibres (particularly wools and silks), handmade papers, candles, sai baba incense, religious or symbolic iconography (no plastic glow-in-the-dark Holy Marys though), Victorian Gothic and Art Nouveau style, monsters and creatures of all kinds!

Vintage pieces hold a lot of appeal for me, especially from the 1920's through the 1950's. Most of my house is furnished with furniture from these time periods and before. I am a shameless dumpster-diver - I hate waste and nothing depresses me more than good stuff heading to a landfill. A lot of what I find I clean and refinish and sell (or trade) on.

Retro, unique and one-of-a-kind items are always great and am especially attracted to colours and textures. I love surprises and making things is as much fun as getting them!

Marzipan, jellybeans or most other non-chocolate candies, anything mass produced from resin, items with strong sweet or fruity fragrance, socks with toes, cutesy animal motifs, vacuous girly items, Dr. Phil, mass produced Disney items (older pieces still good)