post-election blues, a great Canadian artist, and dogs at work

Looks like all the stress I was feeling yesterday about the election was well founded...NOT a fan of Stephen Harper. 'Nuff said.

Results from the CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/electionnight/

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I thought today I'd talk about a fellow Canadian artist, Kristeen Verge. Her work is just so striking - I'm a huge fan of bold, bright colour, and her work has it in spades!! I'm also a big fan of tulips, poppies, and cats, and she's done a lot of works featuring all three! She has a great sort of folk style for her non-floral works, which are a lot of fun, but I think my favorites are her florals. Check out this piece ("Poppy Dance") as an example - look at her use of colour and bold lines - the lines are almost hypnotizing. You really can FEEL the colour, it's almost like the image vibrates with life. This piece reminds me so much of summertime; the dichotomy of temperatures between the hot sun and the cool shade.

It states on her website: “As a professional artist, my intention is to impart the viewer with the joy I experience when creating my artwork.” At least as far as I'm concerned, she's definitely succeeded!

Check out her website and an extensive gallery of her works: http://www.kristeenverge.com/

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Interesting news: new online survey shows that most people would take a pay cut and work longer hours if they could take their dog to work. I'd believe it! At one of my old jobs, we talked a lot about getting an "office puppy" (didn't happen, but it was a popular idea) - there's something about having a dog at work that makes the place seem more relaxed, and if your workforce is not all stressed out, they're bound to get more done in a day. :) Of course, it wouldn't work for everyone, a high energy dog might cause some chaos, but generally speaking, I'm all for it. It would make the owner of the dog more comfortable knowing that their dog was okay, and if they had to stay late, they needn't worry about any accidents on the carpet waiting for them at home!

Of course, keep in mind that the survey was done in part by a dog-friendly forum - that might skew the numbers a bit! :) Good bit of advice, always check and see who's sponsored the survey when you look at the results!

Read the full story here: http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/24/news/funny/dog_work/index.htm?cnn=yes