Pastel Under Pressure #4: The Christmas Bauble Edition

Hi There!

Have you missed me this past week?

Can a bauble be decoration, but a decoration not be a bauble?

Don't worry, I haven't abandoned you!

As you may have gathered by the title of this post, today's offering is a quick Pastel Under Pressure exercise, featuring  some Christmas tree baubles.  (Do people still call them baubles?  Or are they now known as decorations?  Does saying "baubles" make me sound really old?  Hmmmm, that's something to ponder the next time I suffer insomnia.)

Now, I know some of you are aware of what a Pastel Under Pressure exercise is, based on my earlier attempts at using this strategy for unleashing my creative spirit.  For those of you who are wondering what on earth I'm talking about, Pastel Under Pressure is my brilliant, so great it should be patented, concept where I set my oven timer for precisely 15 minutes.  I then grab my pastels and madly set about drawing, smudging, shading and scribbling to see what I can create before the timer starts to beep.  When the oven beeps, I have to stop.  I generally just choose things that are small and appeal to me.  Here's a photo of today's inspiration.  I hope you can recognise the baubles below as those that feature in the above picture (if not, I tried!):

Today's Pastel Under Pressure Inspiration - Can you now see why I haven't taken up photography?

Awwww, aren't they pretty? The purple bauble is one that I made in art class last week.  My children love it! :-)

The big thing about Pastel Under Pressure  is that people sometimes wonder whether I really do stop when the 15 minutes are up. And then, just as now, I tell them that I really do feel compelled to stop creating  Why?  Because my oven has the world's most annoying beep.  Honestly.   I'm not kidding. Once it starts, it goes on.  And on.  And on.

Do you perhaps have your own little brand of electrical annoyance in your home as well?  Perhaps you are nodding your head in an understanding and sympathetic way?

Well in case you aren't, the following is a little re-enactment of the discourse that takes place between the oven and me at the conclusion of the 15 minutes when it starts to beep and it's time for me to stop:
 
Oven:   Beep (Translates as saying"Psst!  Kate!");

Oven:  Beep - Beep  ("Kate - Yes! I'm talking to you.  Time to stop!");

Oven:   Beeeeeeeeeeeeppppp ("Stop drawing!  I'm not going to stop until you get up off your backside and stop me.  Unless my time has come?")  


Oven:  BEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPP! ("I'm not one of your children, you can't just ignore me.  Ooooo, what's that?  I can feel I'm starting to burn....  Wanna try me Kate? Wanna see what I can do if you ignore me?!")  


Oven:  BEEEEEEEEEEE...

Kate: p.


Oven: "Drat.   You may have won this time Kate.  You may have stopped me.  However, I know one day, being the oven I am, I shall prevail.  I shall one day beep forever until my cables combust. And then I shall burn all the excess food into the surrounding enamel making it nearly impossible to remove, bar the use of a nuclear weapon.  Ha-ha-ha! My day will come."

Yes, in case you are shaking your head, I confess that I am a glutton for punishment. However, I do find this exercise to be quite fun and generally rewarding.  It's also very practical for pre-heating the oven.

Thanks for stopping by.  I'm off to cook dinner (on the stove),

Kate
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