Applejack Canvas

The paint on the hat, eyes and mouth were still wet when I took this picture, I'll get a better one after the touch ups are finished. She's a prize for a competition that was run over at Bronyfarm and she's being sent to the winner along with lots of other pony merch. :) Not a lot to say about this one.. sorry guys! Click the link and check out the website though~

My Little Pony Canvases

I'm working on making one for each of the characters, here's what I have so far (click to enlarge):

From left to right they are Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, for those who aren't aware. They are painted on double gesso primed and stretched, pure cotton canvases with acrylic paint. They are all roughly 23x30cm in size (9x12") with Rainbow Dash being on a deeper edge canvas than the other two. I gave Rainbow Dash away as a gift pretty much the second she was finished but when I've done all the touch ups and corrections on Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy they will be available to buy probably straight away. I may decide to wait until I have more finished paintings before opening a shop, we'll wait and see how it goes. I will be posting on here, Twitter (xhelly_) and possibly Facebook (Helly Kristin Anderson) when these are for sale anyway. I have not yet had time to work out prices, I'm going to judge it on how much paint is required and the cost will also cover the price of a blank canvas and a little bit for my time. Making a guesstimation, they won't cost much as I'm buying blank canvases for what works out at roughly £1.25 ($2ish) each and I doubt they would require more than a couple of pounds/dollars worth of paint either. The only thing that might bump up the price would be postage, but obviously that depends where you live and which postal method you'd prefer. I won't have a problem with posting to other countries as long as you are willing to cover the cost for the stamps etc. Also, if you would like to ask about commissions you can send me an email to x_helly@hotmail.com or contact me on Twitter/Facebook. Watch this space~!

Abrazos y besos, ♥

Good Deed

I had the perfect opportunity to steal what could have turned out to be a lot of money tonight. When I was walking home I noticed something on the road next to a car so I had a wee nosey (because it looked like a little toy car - it was dark) and it turned out to be a purse. It looked like someone had dropped it getting out of the car so I assumed the person whose car it was would be in the house that the car was parked outside. I went up to the door and explained how I had found it and I don't think I've ever been thanked so profusely for anything in my life. I'm one of very few teenagers in my area that would consider returning something like that upon finding it, so I'm sure she appreciated it even more knowing that there's someone just down the street from her that isn't your typical Hilton brat. I didn't even look inside the purse to see how much or what was there, I just wanted the lady to have it back. I know what it's like to have lost valuable things and never seen them again and what it's like to have things stolen from you; it's not a nice feeling. So when I saw it, I just had to return it. A couple of people I know have asked why I didn't take it as no one would have known it was me and I could have had lots of money to spend... I don't care. If someone found my purse so close to my home (or anywhere, for that matter) I really do like to hope that it would find its way back to me. I had my phone stolen from right under my nose a week or so back when I was at college, it's not a good feeling when you know that people around you will happily just take your things. So I hope that by giving her back her purse not only will she be happy, but maybe karma will be on my side for if something similar ever happens to me. :)

Rainbow Dash Canvas

Today I made this:

It's not completely finished yet but I'm buying a black marker pen when I finish work tomorrow to do the outline to finish her off! I'll post a picture of the finished painting as of when it's done. I'm also going to buy more canvases tomorrow and paint the other ponies on them, so watch this space for updates. :)

I've been asked by a couple of people how much one of these would cost to buy... I said already I'm unsure of a price list but I will be working one out soon and hopefully getting some products up online as well! I would guess a canvas this size (9x12") would possibly be worth between £15 - £20 ($24 - $32, if that converted correctly) but don't quote me on that because I haven't started to work anything out yet! The price is liable to be either higher or lower than that. Bare with me. :)

hugshugshugs xo

Messy Break Ups

I will never understand why some people seem to thrive on making break ups harder than they already are, be that people involved with the relationship or people outside it. It's so unnecessary. Why can't you just stay friends? It would be easier for you both, your friends and everyone else around you. I don't know if it's a general girl thing or if it's just girls where I live but the second their relationship ends they go on a mission to make everyone they know hate the person they've just broken up with. Why? Just because your relationship didn't work out doesn't mean you have to turn everyone against them and it certainly does not mean they're a bad person simply because they weren't suited to you. You see a completely different side of someone when you're in a relationship to when you're just friends and I'll admit sometimes that side isn't great but why can't you just say it didn't work for you and leave it, instead of giving everyone this story about how much of an awful person they are? I know lots of people that have been suffocated by a jealous partner or had their partner start arguments constantly, yet they're always the one that's made to look like the bad guy. You don't need to twist things. What's so hard about telling people the actual reason you broke up? I've known people who have said to their boyfriend that it simply wasn't working for them, left him with that reason then spread something completely different and horrible behind their back. Is it a bid for attention? There's no excuse not to at least try to be mature about it. You don't need to spread dodgy rumours about each other or bring up things from the past to make each other sound awful. I think what's worse than the ex-couple themselves doing this is when their friends get involved. Fair enough, you're going to want to be there for your friends, but that relationship was nothing to do with you so why do you feel the need to get involved after it's over? And to be honest, I don't see why it even matters that much to anyone else why they broke up anyway unless it was something to do with that person. It shouldn't affect anyone else, all you need to know is that it has finished. You don't need to know how or where or why, that shouldn't concern you. What happens in a relationship should be between two people, but I guess some people can't count.

Toilet Roll Penis

I just read a really strange story... I don't even know what I think of it. On one hand it's really clever and on the other it's snide and disgusting. I've never thought much of online or long-distance relationships, especially if you haven't met the person, but this has been enough to put me right off them albeit this obviously isn't a common occurrence.

       Nicole, from Perth, Scotland, met her man by complete accident. His name was Lee, from Uxbridge, England - about 400 miles away. Neither of them were particularly looking for a relationship but they seemed to get on really well. A friend of his had texted her by accident and it later transpired that Lee and Nicole's phone numbers were only one digit different. After Nicole explained to Lee's friend that it was a wrong number, Lee texted her laughing about the coincidence. They kept in contact and became really close, Nicole would tell him all of her problems and he would do what he could to help her. Nicole would tell him about how she had fallen pregnant, and he would tell her about how he was undergoing treatment for testicular cancer. One day, out of the blue, he phoned her and said he was visiting a friend not far from where she lived and asked if they could meet. Nicole was 18 at this point and she agreed to visit him in Falkirk, wondering if anything would happen as they were both single. They went out in town for the night and decided they would try their hand at a relationship but take things slowly. Lee visited her in Scotland as often as he could and he would stay with her in the house she shared with her gran and daughter. Both of them loved him. They waited six months to have sex for the first time and Nicole understood she wasn't to touch his bits or try to take his tshirt off - he was still sensitive from the cancer treatments and had burns that he had to keep bandaged on his chest. Or at least, that's what he said.

Lee became jealous when he wasn't with Nicole and would start arguments if she mentioned she was going out with friends or having people over. After a year Nicole decided the good didn't outweigh the bad, so she told him it wasn't working. She spent the next few months trying not to think about him until one day she got a letter from him. From prison. "I've been jailed for beating up a paedo" he wrote, then explained that he had attacked his neighbour upon finding out he was a sex offender.

       Nicole couldn't believe it - she didn't think he was violent at all. She binned his letters and didn't think about him until the end of 2008, by which point she was pregnant from another short relationship, when he sent her a text asking if he could visit. He told her he wanted things to work and that it would be different this time. Lee opened up to her - he told her about his exes and that he had nine children - and showed her that he'd had her name tattooed on his arm. Nicole decided he was a changed man and when he proposed to her she said yes.

       He would visit as often as he could, just as before, and they spent as much time as they could planning their wedding. They set the date for March 2010 and Nicole's daughter even started calling Lee her daddy. Nicole often found herself doubting the relationship but she always ignored it. She worried when he announced he was going to Spain to visit family, but put a jokey twist on it by asking to see his passport photo. He refused, and snapped at her for asking. Nicole questioned him regarding why she'd never been asked to meet his family or friends or even seen photos of his children. Whenever she asked him anything like this he would start a fight. By December 2009, Nicole had decided again that this couldn't work. She told him she couldn't be with a man she couldn't trust, so they agreed to spend Christmas together and then split up.

       Nicole had told herself she would avoid relationships for a while, despite Lee's desperate pleas. He would text her and phone her every day begging. A few months after they'd split up Nicole wanted to phone him to see how he was, and a girl answered the phone. She said she was Lee's girlfriend. This made Nicole more confident in her decision not to get back with him and despite feeling hurt and betrayed, it was time for her to move on. Just weeks after she had spoken to Lee's girlfriend she got another phonecall; from the police. They asked her to go to the station straight away as they needed to speak to her about Lee. They explained they had him in custody but there was something important they had to talk to her about.

       "You might know him as Lee Brooks, but we know him as Samantha Brooks," the police officer told her. Nicole was overwhelmed. "This is a hard question to ask, but did you ever leave your kids alone with him during your time together?" the police officer went on. They told her that Lee, or Samantha, was on the sex offenders register. He, or she, had been jailed for sexual offences against a 14 year old whilst pretending to be a man - this was when he had told Nicole he'd attacked his neighbour.

       Nicole couldn't help but wonder how they had had sex if he didn't have a penis. The answer? He used a toilet roll holder wrapped in bandages and condoms. That was why he wouldn't let her touch him and would never have sex with her unless the duvet covered him, although he'd told her it was because he was still sensitive from having cancer treatment. And the bandages on his chest? They weren't hiding burns, they were strapping his breasts down. Nicole and Lee had been together on and off for six years and she had never doubted him but the more she thought about it now the more it made sense. He was always clean-shaven but she'd never seen him with a razor.

       A court hearing revealed that Lee had been seen standing up like a man whilst at the toilet and that he'd told previous partners his bandages hid stab wounds. Nicole felt stupid. She'd had two children and sexual partners before, she should have been able to tell. But then again, who stops to think their boyfriend may not actually be a boy?

       Nicole wanted to see Lee imprisoned but in September 2011 the prosecutor told her they were dropping the case because Lee's latest girlfriend had dropped her evidence; they couldn't continue without it despite Nicole having photos and a marriage notice. None of Nicole's family or friends felt this was justice, and obviously she didn't either. 

       She's trying to forget about him now but she doesn't think she'll ever be able to trust a man again. And who can blame her? She said if she can be fooled that anyone can and has given some advice on what to look out for:

- Lee always kept his body hidden. He refused to have sex unless he was under a duvet and the lights always had to be off

- He said he had testicular cancer and burns but never had anything to back these up. He never mentioned check-ups or doctors appointments, but Nicole didn't think she had any reason to doubt him

- In the bath, he would always make sure he was covered in bubbles so if Nicole were to go into the room she wouldn't see any of his body

- He created Facebook profiles for his exes and children but Nicole was never allowed to make contact with any of them

- Lee refused to show Nicole his passport photo

- Nicole was never introduced to any of Lee's family or friends, even after six years and a marriage

- He had filed for marriage in a fake name, and as he hadn't allowed Nicole to see his photo ID she had no idea

- ...and then there's the toilet roll holder.

Like I said before, obviously this isn't going to be relevant to every person you meet on the internet. It really made me think though, it's not particularly difficult to pretend to be someone you aren't, even face-to-face.

Four Reasons Becoming Vegetarian Could Prolong Life On Earth

Yesterday (October 31st, 2011) the world's population hit 7 billion. If we continue to eat the things we do the way we do, the world will not be capable of catering for this many people. Whether you've thought about it or not, our diets take their toll on our planet. Think about this:

- Animals raised for food take up approximately 30% of the earth's land surface, the other 70% of which is largely over-populated. In numeral terms: the earth has about 57,250,950 miles² of land and roughly 17,175,285 miles² of this is taken up by grazing animals. The amount of land required to feed one meat-eater could feed between fifteen and twenty vegetarians; one acre can produce about 75kg of beef or 9000kg of potatoes. There would be 17,175,285 miles² more to plant crops on and build houses on if these animals did not have to be here - it's not like there aren't other options for food!

- 7kg of grain will feed one cow. After it has been through the cow's system and the cow has been converted into meat products, it will provide you with only one third of your daily calorie intake. If you were to take that same 7kg of grain it would provide ten people with their entire caloric intake for a whole day. The world's cattle eat enough grain to feed every human on earth, and most of that is wasted. A cow must eat 7kg of grain to produce 0.45kg of meat - this comes in at 94% food wastage. Keep in mind the waste rate is so high and add it to the fact that 60% of the world's grain is fed to farmed animals.. at the same time as 925,000,000 people do not have enough to eat. Hmm!

- Between half of and three quarters of drinking water in America alone is consumed by farmed animals whilst 884,000,000 people in the world do not have access to safe water. It takes 2400 gallons of water to produce 0.45kg of meat whereas it only takes 5 gallons to produce the same amount of wheat. In 2009, 5 trillion gallons of water were used to make sufficient amounts of vegetarian food where it took 235 trillion gallons to make the same amount of meat products. There would be gallons more water for third world countries and those who are dying for access to it if we reconsidered our food choices.

- Grazing animals is also responsible for soil erosion, clearing of forest land, water pollution and desertification. Say one day in the future we decide that we want to (or more likely need to) use each 7kg of grain for human consumption rather than feeding farm cattle, the longer we go on grazing them now the less land we will have that crops will be able to grow in in the future. Permanent damage and irreversibility are always great options(!).

It may just be me but I find these figures shocking. If you want to make a difference to your own lives and the lives of future generations, you know what to do~