I need to get something really important off of my chest.

I do NOT like Beyonce's new music and realize that maybe I never liked her old music either. Granted, I only hear what's played on the radio, and I try to listen to her songs all the way through, but I can't! Her voice, her lyrics- I can't stand it!

Even her old music that I kind of got, there is always a part that makes me cringe.

It bothers me because I'd really like to like her. She dances like awesomeness, and her music has potential, obviously. I'm just waiting for her to quit annoying me to death.

... ok... I feel better.

In other news, my guilty pleasure is listening to Rihanna, and if I could ever look as awesome with orangey-red hair, I'd do it.

Also, Halloween party discussion around the urban, starter-log campfire last night was about Brittany Spear's come back. She did it, y'all. She came back from the dead.

Whenever I hear Hurricane by Bob Dylan, I see Matthew McConaughey walking in slow motion through a billiard hall. I can't help it, and I'm not complaining.

The Poltroon Hard at Work (Athena and Cyclops)
by Beth Meadows
acrylic on canvas
2011, about 3'x2'

currently on display and for sale at Old City Java


pol·troon (pälˈtro͞on): Noun: A coward.

This painting features a girl and a boy listening to records. The male is in fact the poltroon, rendering the title sarcastic. The girl is turned away conveying distance, but she sits close, showing a hesitant affection. She is alone even though she is with him.

On the walls are two paintings, one of an owl, a symbol of Athena, and one of Cyclops with two cats.

The boy is Cyclops. He lives alone but has two cats, possibly the only creatures who can tolerate him day to day. He masks his insecurity and loneliness with pompous masculinity. He sees less with his one eye, making him unperceptive, ignorant.

The girl is insecure but it takes effect differently than the boy's. She longs for him even while knowing he isn't right for her. She is the owl, or Athena, unrealized. Over time, the girl will take on attributes of Athena as a result of experiences like this.

On the surface, all seems well.


Please contact beth@bethmeadows.com if you are interested in purchasing this painting or a limited edition print of it.

So I've been meaning to write about a little business venture I've been pursuing, and it is that of painting mason jars on pieces of salvaged wood.



I realize to the trained eye, these paintings are kitschy. (Don't think I don't know this. I know!)



But this is kind of the point.


This is the first one I ever did!

I have mentioned this before. I'm the Architectural Salvage Coordinator for Knox Heritage which means I head up a program where people like yourself can donate old building materials instead of throwing them away. We don't salvage out of houses that are going to be torn down because we are anti-tearing down historic houses/buildings, but we do take items here and there that people have laying around after home-improvement/updating projects, and even some things from larger commercial renovations.



It all began at work. I was drawing in a staff meeting at Knox Heritage last year (They knew this, by the way) I was trying to think of a symbol that I could paint on pieces of old wood that had the theme of preservation, something people could relate to, something that could help spread the word about our program, and a light bulb went on: a Mason Jar! It was the kind of idea that you know someone else has thought of, but I decided not to care. Lots of thought to come to the idea, and once the idea came, lots of doing, and less thought (This method is an art in itself).



It's been pretty interesting to make so many of one thing. I paint them in between painting larger, more thoughtful works on canvas. It is nice to have a side project that I enjoy, that is repetitive, sort of mindless.



The first one I sold was at the Riverdale County Fair out in East Knox County.






















Now I sell them via Etsy and at the Market Square Farmers' Market every first and third Saturday of the month. I have mailed them to Colorado, Maryland, Chicago, NYC... I'm a dork; It is so much fun to mail these paintings!



I have plans to make at least 100; I am on number 40, I think. After that, I have a feeling I won't want to paint another mason jar ever again. I don't know yet, but I have to think of another good idea to pick up before number 100. I kind of like this idea of doing editions of 100- more marketable, smaller, folksier art that I can do alongside the other work I am making. I'm trusting I'll get a new idea while making Mason Jar No. 99.

I recently watched When Harry Met Sally, for the hundredth time. Since then I keep thinking about the Wagon Wheel Coffee Table Scene. The way Harry says "Ira!" in turn makes me think of the way George Banks says "Me!" in the Superfluous Buns scene in Father of the Bride.

Below are each of the clips for you to enjoy. I've also included, at the bottom, one of my favorite movie scenes ever as an added bonus.

I am slow when it comes to experiencing all things pop culture. The most probable explanation for this is that I am cheap. I don't like spending money going to movies nor on Netflix. I don't spend money on music but wait for people to make me mixes. (Pandora was made for people like me). I don't have cable and don't watch TV at home. I do watch Hulu, and am learning the wonders of The Modern Family (and Glee), so there's that. I could pirate things, I suppose, but I don't have the time or mental capacity to figure out how to break the law. All this is to say, I have always been and may always be a little pop-culturally stunted.

I've embraced this quality of mine, but I say it to explain why it took me four years to watch the pilot episode of Mad Men.

I was hanging out with my neighbor last Thursday, driving back to our apartment building after walking around downtown with his dog. He (my neighbor, not his dog) likes Mad Men and has told me I should watch it. So he says to me, "Beth, when we get home, we should drink Aniversario and watch Mad Men." (He is on an Aniversario Rum kick.)

I don't know why, but the way his words resonated in my ears, it was one of the best ideas I had heard in a while. It was beautiful out, so we sat out on our porch with a laptop, sipping rum out of Styrofoam cups.

I realize it would be lame to go into detail about the show because I know it's not novel to be obsessed with Mad Men, but I'll say this. I'm obsessed.

At first, though, it made me sad. The main character is a slutty married man when you get down to it, but I know there's more to it than that.

My thoughts on the show aren't riveting or new to anyone who's been watching it from the beginning, but... I'm drawn to how well they convey the complexity and depth of being human, showing how what one deals with on their own affects everyone around them. I also find it intriguing how they show the stress and struggle of Don Draper, a man who can get anything he wants, without him saying much. He is smart, alluring, and intoxicating. He's also unhappy.

And, it is visually stunning. Mmm, the colors.

I am three episodes in because there are only three episodes on the first DVD. A sad fact is that my neighbor is moving soon which means the rest of the DVDs will be moving with him. He told me I could and should watch all three seasons in two weeks, which I don't doubt I could, but I've decided against this. It would be better to spend our last days as neighbors sipping rum out of Styrofoam cups on our porch with his cute dog nearby than locking myself in my apartment and burning my eyes out trying to watch every episode. And I personally know my fair share of mad men. I can watch them to get my fix in the meantime.