You Might Think I Don't Remember, But I Do

You were counting on me not remembering, I know.

But you're out of luck.

You see, I happen to be old enough to have been alive BEFORE plastic bags.

In the olden times, all there were were paper grocery bags. And it was good.

And then someone got their freak on and started telling all of us who were grocery shopping that we clearly hated kittens and baby seals and that's why we used paper bags. And that it had to change. For the kittens. And the baby seals.

Then, they introduced plastic bags to the stores. For the earth, they said. It's for the earth.

They kept the paper bags, though. This was so that they could ask you "paper or plastic?" and then judge you with a beady you-hate-seals stare when you chose paper. They didn't care if your jar of sauerkraut busted right through the bottom of the cheap, thin plastic bag and landed on your toe, permanently disabling you. They just glared at you and your paper bag and heaped planetary destruction onto your shoulders.

Trust me, I hated plastic bags before hating plastic bags was cool.

So let me attempt to describe my surprise, when suddenly, it is decreed from on high that plastic bags are bad for the environment. My city is considering banning them altogether. Clearly, they have determined that the world is about to abruptly end. And once again, it's my fault.

If I'd woken up with my HEAD sewn to the carpet, I couldn't be more surprised. (source: Christmas Vacation)

Not.

I actually always knew plastic was bad. 

However, we are now at war with Eastasia instead of Eurasia and people think we don't remember.

But we do.

So ban whatever you want. Freak out all you want. But paper bags always ruled. We were right. Even when you were judging us.

Line up for apologies here beady glarers. I am waiting here with a smirk, and a lovely recycled brown paper bag.

I thought I'd bring you a little something different today in honor of the new paper friendly world order.

This is an encaustic painting I did in one of my classes, and I think it's my favorite.

It reminds me of Santa Fe, and I love that warm, desert color. It's amazing how much variation you can get with just a little iron. Maybe if my clothes looked like this when I ironed, which I don't, then I actually would. But they don't, so I won't.

Maybe I'll have time to make some more encaustic art over the holidays. This painting maybe took 15 minutes from start to finish. I should tell you it took days or weeks or months, but that would be a fib. And Santa is watching!


Here are some resources if you want to try it yourself.

This is my favorite encaustic technique book. I used this to form my classes. 

Here are some of the waxes. I prefer the opaque colors, but that is just because I'm a newbie. You don't need many colors because you mix them.

Any craft iron (must be smooth - no holes) will work.

You need glossy cardstock, which you can of course buy from me :).

So, I must ask you, "paper or plastic?"

Loveyameanitbye.