21 Day Challenge: Day 12

I switched gears on this one. It's a sketch of one of Degas' ballerina drawings. I'm thinking maybe I should try my hand at drawing from master works for a while...I'm so rusty! Maybe not as a part of the 21 Day Challenge, just in general. Sorry there's no new characters today, but I'll probably get that started back up on those for the next one.

I've got an SCBWI meeting tonight, so I'll keep you posted with any new news. (o:

21 Day Challenge: Day 11

...sleeping with the fishes?

I was up really late last night having a movie-a-thon with my husband, and was SO tired by the time I remembered I hadn't done my daily drawing. I managed to crank this sleepy fishy out before bed, though. I made a commitment after all! I wonder if this challenge is going to change my daily pattern or not. I guess we'll find out in 10 more days...

21 Day Challenge: Day 10

It's a bird, it's a plane...it's Super Frog! Able to leap from a lily pad in a single bound.

That's all I've got this morning, folks. I'm up waaaay to early on a Saturday. My only plans for the day are to finish my giant cup of coffee, and clean the house. Which, seeing as how the weather has been nothing but thunder storms lately, is probably just fine. Hope you're all having a more interesting weekend.

21 Day Challenge: Day 9

Ants can carry 10-20 times their body weight. They're strong! This one has an olde timey moustache. (o:

In other news, the awards ceremony went alright last night. The mayor was there, a state senator, and a couple local celebs (one newspaper cartoonist and one newspaper columnist). There were a couple short speeches, the awards were handed out (complete with embarrassing pictures taken with the mayor and our art), and then a raffle at the end. I got my award for 3rd place in the adult professional category (it was a cash prize--yeay!) and was happy to see fellow SCBWI member, Jane, receive the Governor's Choice Award. Then my parents treated me to dinner...which I followed with a vigorous work-out. (Hey, I'm on va-k in 2 weeks and want to fit into my cocktail dresses!). All in all, not a bad night. (o:

Hope you're having a happy Friday!

Updates!

12:30 p.m.

My two submissions to the National Art Awards are now on their website online! To check them out, and to see the other entries(including my dad's), follow this link.

The (much better photographed) painting of my grandparents is #4 on the first page. The piece I won a prize for is #12 and it's on page 2. My dad's photos are numbers 15and 16 on the same page. I'll probably post more later tonight after the awards ceremony!

21 Day Challenge: Day 8

Ok, so I've always had a serious problem drawing monkeys without a reference photo or a live monkey in front of me. I don't know why, but my imagination just cannot concoct a decent monkey. But, Sarah requested a monkey sketch for today, and I am more than willing to oblige. This one is talking on a banana phone. That cracks me up. It doesn't take much sometimes, honestly.

In other news, my awards ceremony for the National Arts Program is today! I'll be collecting my 3rd place award in the professional "works on paper" category this afternoon. It's taking place at Manchester's City Hall at 4 p.m. if anyone is interested. My husband works late, so the only people showing up for me so far are my parents. The two people you can always count on to cheer for you are your folks. Haha! Aw.

21 Day Challenge: Day 7

Bend it like...Flipper?

This sketch was all thanks to my husband. I was sort of at a loss last night and asked him, "What should I draw?" He predictably named his favorite animal, the dolphin. (Then again, what should I expect from an Aquarius, really?) My next question was, "What should the dolphin be doing?" His answer was, "Um...playing soccer?" He's on a recreational soccer team, and had a pretty heavy game last night. He got banged up quite a bit, but he scored a goal, and his team won (for once). So, in honor of him, this is what you get for a Wednesday doodle. Who knows? I just might start taking requests! (o:

21 Day Challenge: Day 6

Looks like someone's umbrella broke! Poor puppy.

I snagged my first Etsy Treasury yesterday morning. I spent some time working on it and was proud of the collection of favorites I put together.

Around quarter of 6 last night, I got home from my aerobics class, logged onto my computer and found out my treasury made it to the front page of Etsy!!! I was so thrilled, but since I was home alone all I could do was shout about it in the forums and then call my mom. I was ecstatic! Then I felt like a dork. Hey, it's the small things that make me psyched. What can I say? AspenSpa was kind enough to take a screen shot of my 15 minutes of fame (you can click on the picture to enlarge):

Thank you, AspenSpa!

21 Day Challenge: Day 5

Trust me, this is what I'd much rather be doing today than heading off to work in these thunderstorms. I just want to lounge around my house drinking coffee and listening to NPR. (Minus the scarf, of course!) But a girl's got to make a living. Sigh.

In other news, legendary comedian George Carlin passed away this weekend at the age of 71.

He's one of my and my husband's favorite comedians, and we've attended several of his shows. In fact, the very first Christmas presents I bought for my husband the first year we were together were tickets to a George Carlin show. We've seen him several times since then. So, we're bummed today. RIP, George. Thanks for all the laughs.

21 Day Challenge: Day 4

Yesterday I was shuffling through my studio (which is a disaster area) and somehow managed to impale myself with my art supplies. I guess there was a nice sharp pencil somewhere on my floor that was just looking for the opportunity to drive itself through my sock and into the soft arch of my foot. I am now suffering from medium-deep puncture wound. I washed and scrubbed it out (ouch!) for 20 minutes, but that hole is really skinny and I'm positive there's some nice little graphite shading at the bottom of the wound. I think I just tattooed myself. At least the pencil tip didn't break off inside my foot, I guess.
)o:
This happened the same week that my husband suffered his own foot injury on his recreational soccer team. He and a teammate both jumped for the ball, and the teammate's cleat landed squarely on my husband's little toe...which now looks like a bright purple mini-sausage. It's nasty. So, this sketch is what you get today:

I liked using a bunny for a couple reasons. The first being the big feet, and the second because it reminded me of the Paris Metro Bunny:

Back when I was still in college, I spent a month in France taking two courses over RISD's wintersession. While sitting on the metro with my sketchbook in my lap, I noticed this infamous warning sign to keep your hands away from the doors as they're closing. The bunny was cute, yet at the same time - he's getting injured! It's kind of horrible. A combo of sweet and mean will apparently catch my attention. I entertained myself for the remainder of the stops by drawing him.

Anyway, the lesson of this weekend is that cleanliness is a virtue. There's a mess in my studio that needs to be tackled ASAP...otherwise it's going to come and get me! Now, where did I put those Band-aids?

21 Day Challenge: Day 3

I aaaalmost skipped this drawing exercise last night. Almost. My husband and I ordered a pizza and watched two movies in a row. This is after I'd worked all day then hit my aerobics class. Phew! That's a late night for me! I was really tired and just wanted to go to bed. Then, I felt bad. How can you form a habit if you're already ditching out on day 3??? So, I did this quick sloppy doodle of the newest addition to my studio:

It's a giant stuffed octopus I bought from Deelind on Etsy. I've had my eye on it since I joined the site. I finally caved in and bought it when she made a note that the fabric was discontinued, and she only had a limited amount left in stock. *Gasp!* She was nice enough to send him to me this week before she goes abroad for most of the summer. I think he looks right at home in my studio, wouldn't you say?

P.S. This is my 100th blog post! Woo-hoo!

21 Day Challenge: Day 2

I did this quick little sketch last night. I was trying to capture a little gesture from memory that my hedgehog makes when he's running about sniffing things. I used a teeny bit of color in this one. A while back, a friend of mine gave me a set of what looks like crayons or oil pastels. It comes with this paintbrush looking thing that has a hollow interior so you can fill it up with water. Once you "color" with the crayon/pastels, you can run the brush over your marks to wet it and it turns into a sort of watercolor. Pretty cool.

Before I forget, I wanted to update all of you on the Case of The Missing Class Work. My teacher from this past semester wrote me back regarding the failure to find any of my projects in the Continuing Ed office (which is where he promised they would be a week or two after the semester ended) when I went to Boston this weekend. Apparently he's off on a trip somewhere, and hasn't even dropped them off yet. It's a little frustrating that I didn't know that before I took a day off of work to pick everything up. But thanks to our trip to Blue Ginger, the day was not a complete wash. I'm just glad that my 15 weeks of work isn't lost in some sort of office abyss.

Happy Friday!

21 Day Challenge: Day 1

Supposedly it takes 21 days to instill a habit. I've decided to take on the 21 Day Challenge and draw for 15 minutes each and every day for 21 days. I don't have any grand plans or even a theme. My goal right now is just to make myself draw something (anything) every single day. Last night was technically Day One since I drew right before bed. I just didn't have time to upload anything until this morning.
Since I had an elaborate dinner at Blue Ginger this week, and then my coworker brought in donuts yesterday (my weakness)--I was inspired to draw a fat happy piggy enjoying a frosted donut.
If you'd like to join me in this challenge, drop me a line. I'll post links to your blog under a "21 Day Challenge" catagory. It won't exist until I hear back from folks, and you've got to post your sketches in order for me to link to you. Come join me! Really, I could use some company. (o; Here are the results of my first day:

Not much, but it's a start!

What next?

In typical Libra fashion, I'm having a hard time deciding what creative project to work on next. I'm good with a commission and a deadline, but if I don't have either, I tend to freeze up. It would be soooo easy for me to waste my summer, I'm afraid. But since you guys are so good at giving me a motivational kick in the pants, I figured I'd reach out for suggestions.

Should I create more items for my Etsy shop or potential art fairs? Should I create more bee ornaments? More stuffed animals? More little illustrations? Should I brainstorm new products? Or should I work on some "serious" paintings? My children's illustration portfolio? Arg.

Maybe I should take the advice of my SCBWI crit group, and just start with the "21 Day Challenge". (I think it was Anne Marie who put the challenge to me at our last meeting...? I know Gina's been working on this. She posted the results of her exercise on her blog, which you can check out here.) From what I can gather the challenge is to make the time to draw for 15 minutes every single day, for 21 days--no excuses. Maybe it'll jump start my creative process. I hope. /o:

Blue Ginger

I took my very last personal day off of work yesterday to make the drive to my college and pick up all my work from the whole semester. As some of you might remember, my teacher held everything and told us he'd drop it off at the school a week or two after class finished. We could "swing by" the Continuing Ed office to pick it up. (They're supposed to hang onto it for up to one year.) However, me "swinging by" entails a one hour, 15 minute ride...if I hit no traffic. I certainly was in no mood to drive down, turn around, and drive back up. I figured I'd make a day of it and hang around the City, so the hubby also took the day off as did hubby's friend, T.

Once we arrived, I made my way to the office. The folks at the front desk pointed to a very small pile in the corner and told me that's where all the left over spring semester projects were. It didn't take very much digging for me to realize that there was NOTHING from my class in there. Plus, everything was labeled "Drawing for Communication" and not "Typography". I inquired again at the front desk where the typography class work was. The guy looked at me blankly, and said, "Everything we have is in that pile." Grrrr. I left empty-handed and angry. My teacher better still have my semester's worth of work. I will be furious if the 300 artist business cards I collected have been lost in the black hole that is Mass Art. Not to mention all the layouts and logotypes I busted my butt creating all semester. Fifteen weeks of work. Gone. (Yes, I e-mailed my teacher this morning about it. Cross your fingers that he can provide me with some sort of explanation.)

T., hubs, and I decided to make our way to the Museum of Fine Art since we were already at that end of town. We got there only to find that it closed at 5:00 on Mondays. ARG! Boston = a total bust.

The next half of this blog is rather uncharacteristic of me, in that I'm going to blab for a loooong time about food...because I had the most amazing meal EVER last night. So, if you're not interested, I give you permission to cut out now.

The three of us had reservations for 7 at Blue Ginger in Wellesley, and decided to head over early.

T. works there, and was taking me and the hubby to the restaurant as a wedding/anniversary gift. We hit rush-hour traffic and wound up arriving around 6-6:30.

Blue Ginger is owned and run by celebrity chef, Ming Tsai. He used to host the Emmy Award-winning show East Meets West on the Food Network, he was on Iron Chef, and he now hosts Ming's Quest on the Fine Living Network as well as Simply Ming on PBS.

T. gave us a tour, and introduced us to everyone. We sat at the bar where the boys ordered beer and I ordered a Fuji Apple Martini. Mmmm. We figured we'd get some crab Rangoon to munch on while we waited. They brought us both the Rangoon AND an order of shrimp sticks--with a wink to T. And thus began our 4 hour, 6 course dinner. You heard me correctly.

When we were seated at our table for dinner, we ordered a bottle of wine and a couple appetisers--calamari and an order of foie gras-Shiitake shumai (on T.'s recommendation). We munched on our little bread/cracker basket while we waited. Then, they brought us our appetizers...and a little bonus...an order of muscles in a lovely sauce with grape tomatoes. Oh. My. God. SooOOoo good.

Minutes later, the waitress comes back with a little "amuse bouche" (a little taster) which was some sort of chicken dumpling. One each. I could see they were absolutely spoiling us because T. had brought us as his guests. Clearly, we had an "in". Lol.

We turn around at our table, and who is actually working at the restaurant that night but Ming himself! T. introduced us, and a few minutes later, Ming pops over to our table to chat a little and to give each of us a "butter taster". It was a little marinated piece of butterfish and two pieces of sushi. Everything was so light and flavorful...I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was. Plus, since T. is one of the cooks he was able to explain to us what was in each dish and what the different textures were.

Ming also came over to make sure everything was up to par. I was laughing later with my husband about it. Like, who are we? We're nobody! We ate at Bugaboo Creek last week! This place is far above and beyond our standards. Yet he treated us like we were important, and made sure we enjoyed our meal.

Then dinner came. And a second bottle of wine. I had a gorgeous curried pasta with Asian vegetables and coconut shrimp which I could barely make a dent in because by then, I'd been grazing for THREE HOURS. Dinner got boxed up and carried home with me. But it didn't stop us from ordering coffees and one dessert to split. I think we ordered a sesame macadamia caramel nut tart. They brought us FOUR desserts off the menu. And the tart had a delicate lemon cookie leaning against it with "Happy Anniversary" scripted in a frosting on the front and a little candle burning on the side. I was so contented, I thought I was going to die.

The kicker? With T.'s employee discount, pretty much all that we owed at the end were tips to the waitstaff. Just to give you an idea of how insane that is, our two bottles of wine alone (not counting a single scrap of food or our pre-dinner cocktails) would've come out to about $110... so you can only imagine what a full dinner of that caliber would've cost us sans T's hospitality.

My hubby and I couldn't stop talking about how amazing the food was or how fabulous the service was...even after we got home! I was convinced I was going to die of food happiness in my sleep because I'm pretty sure they don't feed you that well unless you're heading to the gallows. Lol. For any of you who ever find yourself in Wellesley MA with some money to burn, go to Blue Ginger! The decor, the staff, and the food are all fantastic. I cannot reccomend it highly enough.

A big enormous THANK YOU to T. for the amazing culinary experience, good company, and a lovely time all around. *Hugs*

Outcome of the contest I entered....

UPDATE:

I got a call on Friday while I was at work. It was a woman from the art contest I entered. I won third place in the professional category...for my woodblock print that I did 8 years ago. NOT the portrait I stayed up all night painting this week. I knew I shouldn't have painted on the glass - it really detracted from all the work I did on the portrait. I was trying to be innovative and creative. By the time I figured out that it wasn't working in my favor, it too late to buy a new frame. Oh well. You live, you learn. I still think it's worth experimenting.

In any event, this particular contest is really traditional. You won't see anything really avante guarde or innovative. Most of the awards go to still lifes or pretty landscapes. Yep. "Pretty landscapes" is the major recurring theme. Aaaand which of my pieces won a prize? You got it. The pretty landscape. LOL. However, there is a silver lining to this mini-fiasco...at least my dad's father's day present is finished. He can re-frame it however he likes. Hopefully without that stupid glass in front of it. Sigh.

The awards ceremony is next Thursday at 4:00 at City Hall. (o:

Note to self: start painting for next year's contest NOW. Lol.

Hello...? *crickets*

Yesterday I finally posted pics of my painting and...not a single comment from the peanut gallery. )o: I hope you guys aren't going by the "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." mantra. I would love some feedback. Even if it's just a critique on what I could've/should've done.

On a happier note, I was featured in yet another treasury!

And profiled (interview and all) in a lovely blog by fellow Etsian, Princess Tiffany's Creations. Read it here!

Painting Pics

Just a quick disclaimer: these photos stink. I was taking them at 2:30 in the morning after I'd been hovering over this thing all day. I'll get "real" snapshots when I get this painting back in August. But for now, here you go. The first image is just of the portrait portion of the painting. At this point, it was probably about 50% completed:



Those are Edith Piaf lyrics around the edge. It says, "Si un jour la vie t'arrache a moi/ si tu meurs, que tu sois loin de moi/ peu m'importe, si tu m'aimes car moi je mourrai aussi...Nous aurons pour nous l'eternite dans le bleu de toute l'immensite/ dans le ciel, plus de problemes/ Mon Amour, crois-tu qu'on s'aime? Dieu reunit ceux qui s'aiment!"
I don't know how to type the accents over the letters in Blogger, so you'll just have to imagine I put them there.

The next sloppy picture is of the finished product. Please pretend you can't see all those godforsaken smudges on the glass...or my poor husband forced to hold this thing while I take pictures with his camera that I kidnapped:



The portrait based on a photo taken of my grandparents at their 50th wedding anniversary. You can't really see the drawing on the glass in the above photo, but that portion is based on my grandparents' wedding portrait from 1940.



I know this pic is completely blurry, but you can see the line drawing a bit better without the flash.

So that's it, folks. That's what I've been slaving over all week. I hope you're not disappointed. I'm still not sure what I think of my own work. I like the portrait part of it, but the rest...uhhhhhhh. Either that painting on the glass is a tiny bit edgy and unique, or it's a hot mess. I really don't think there's an in between. This morning, I was definitely leaning towards "hot mess". Then again, I hate every single thing I do for a little while after I finish it. Maybe in two days I'll love it again like I did while I was working on it.

I wish I had the time to post pics on my blog before it was due, ask my readers' for critiques, and then submit it to the contest. But, as we all know, I am the reigning Queen of Procrastination Land and seriously lack in all kinds of time management skills...so that wasn't going to happen.

Instead, let's do the next best thing and be Monday morning quarterbacks - what should I have done? Leave the portrait as-is? Or do you like the glass painting thing? Either way, it's going to belong to my dad after this is over (those are his parents), and he can do with it what he likes.

Oh! I just remembered...I wanted to show you my poor neglected second entry into the contest. It's a semi-abstracted ukiyo-e woodblock print that I did years ago after a trip to France. It's a view from a path on Monte Sainte Victoire. That's the mountain that Cezanne painted over and over and over...



Now...what do I want to work on next? (o:

Done.

I did it! I finished my painting!

I started working at 8 a.m. yesterday morning and wasn't done (and in bed) until 2:30 a.m. this morning. I swear, I think I'm the slowest painter on the planet.

I might've mentioned this before, but the painting I was working on is a portrait of my grandparents on their 50th anniversary matted and framed. Along the edge of the mat are some of the lyrics to the Edith Piaf Song "Hymne a L'amour". (My fam is French Canadian). On the glass in white, I painted an outline of the portrait of them on their wedding day.

While I'm painting, I zone out in a major way. My brain is just on an entirely different plane. Yesterday was no different. I swear, I'd work a little bit, look up and the clock said two hours had passed! This happened all day.

I was really happy with the thing while I was working on it, but wasn't so thrilled with it when I finished. This always happens to me. When I'm in the middle of something, I'm rockin' and rollin' and feel like, "I'm awesome!" But by the time it's a finished product, I hate it. After all was said and done, I showed the finished painting to my husband. I was like, "Is the painting on the glass obscuring all the work I did on the portrait?" He shrugged and said, "Kind of." Great. Now I don't want to show it to anyone. Too late for that now.

This morning before work, I dropped off my two pieces with the contest people. I was also dropping off two photos for my dad. (He entered too.) The group of people who were tagging and collecting the work were cheery and laid-back. There was open ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the various pieces of artwork coming in. (Don't worry, these folks are not the judges.) From the little I saw, it seems that there may be stiffer competition this year than there was the last time I entered two years ago. Of course, they've opened the contest up quite a bit since then.

The woman helping me enter and tag all the work I brought in finally got around to tagging my painting. I had the artwork part facing me so that she could sticker the back. She asked, "Can I see?" I turned my painting around, and felt the heat creeping up to my face. I was totally embarrassed! What the heck??? One of the other ladies helping tag items said, "That's interesting. How did you come up with that?" I just shrugged and stammered out an explanation of what it was and that it was supposed to be a Father's Day gift for my dad last year but that I just finished it this month. (I didn't mention anything about being up til the wee hours of this morning!) After everything was stickered, they told me the date of the awards ceremony and wished me luck before I high-tailed it outta there!

I was so confident before, but now I'm having doubts I'll win anything this year. (Two years ago, I got second place in the Professional category.) I suppose even if I don't get anything, my work will be hanging up in City Hall for the whole summer. *Shrug*

I didn't get a chance this morning to upload pics so I'll try to do that when I get home tonight. If my studio isn't suffocatingly hot, of course. (I haven't been able to venture up there for 3 days now!!!)

There is an awards ceremony on Thursday, June 26 at 4 p.m. at City Hall in Manchester. The show will be up from that date until early August for those of you who want to stop in. I'll give more detailed info in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'll be waiting for some sort of phone call over the next two weeks. Last time, I got a message on my answering machine saying they were pleased to announce I won something (no mention of what, however) and inviting me to the awards ceremony. I'll be waiting! Lol.

Down to the wire!

Just wanted to update you guys really quick. I took a personal day off of work today so I could finish my painting and turn it in for judging tomorrow. It's 8 a.m. and I'm feeling fairly confident that I can get this thing done today. I'll be back with pics and an update when I'm done. Wish me luck!

Transparency

Either my readers are incredibly astute judges of character, or I'm completely transparent. The following was my favorite comment received on my blog this weekend (I've left out the name just in case this person wasn't interested in being mentioned!) This cracked me up:

reader: Honeydew-congrats to your friend-but get painting!!! The deadline is looming, and there is a piece of work waiting to tell it's story... :)
Cheering you on!

Oh man. You have me pegged, that's for sure! From now on, I'm going to leave it up to you guys to give me the much-needed kick in the pants. In regards to the aforementioned as-of-yet-unfinished painting (which has a Wednesday drop-off due date) this is how my weekend broke down:

Friday: when I got home, I immediately went to my studio. I decided to stop working on the portrait part of my piece for a little bit and work on one of the other 3 layers instead. I painted some lyrics to an Edith Piaf song around the edge of my mat. I decided to play the song while working. Bad. Idea. Ok, playing a heartbreaking Edith Piaf song while hovering over a painting of your deceased French grandparents is not a wise idea. I spent half of my evening sobbing before I decided it was time for bed.

Saturday: got up early to work in my studio. I finished painting the edge of the mat while (wisely) choosing to listen to NPR's morning programming. Car Talk and Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me! are much happier choices than Edith Piaf. I also got some work done on the portrait portion of the painting. Work actually lasted into the afternoon--even though by then I was absolutely sweltering. My studio is in the loft. Imagine working in an attic with two skylights in the middle of the summer, and you get the idea. I stopped painting when I received a dinner invitation from my mom. Dinner with my mother and family friends turned into a chit-chat with everyone in her living room until 10 at night.

When I got home, I found out that my best friend had finished his album and his website (which I blogged about below). This led to a flurry of e-mailing and messaging with him. While online I, of course, logged onto Etsy. I was shocked to find that my hearts and views had exploded. I had no idea why, so I asked around in the forums. People said that one of my plush characters had been on the front page for a long time on Saturday. OMG. It's been a mini-fantasy of mine to someday make it to the front page...and I missed it!!! I suppose I can't live my entire life on Etsy, though. (Just most of it. Haha!) I was psyched though. Looks like there were good vibes for both Ryan and I on Saturday.

But...so much for finishing the painting that evening.

Sunday: tried to hit the studio again in the morning. I sat miserably in a puddle of sweat totally unable to function, let alone paint. Once the hubby woke up, I forced him to take the air conditioners out of the closet and put them to use. One goes in our kitchen/living room area and the other goes in our bedroom. I moved my painting and supplies from The Inferno to downstairs at the kitchen table. The hubs left to go hang out with one of his buddies, I watched tv, painted for a teeny bit, got lonely, and then called my sister. We had dinner, a bottle of chilled pino grigio, and watched a movie over her place. (Hey, can you blame me? The girl has central air!) Buuuut...I'm still not done my painting.

This is why I'm thinking I'll need to take a day off tomorrow. It's no big deal. I have 2 personal days that I have to use up before the end of June, otherwise I lose them. And I've got a lot to do. I still have to finish the portrait portion of my painting. The mat is at least 95% done. Then, there will be a painting on the glass of the frame. Which I haven't even started yet. Ahem.

I can do it! Really! I swear, it'll be done by Wednesday. Just watch me. (o;

Tough Love

I just had to jump online and blog while I'm still feeling all mushy and proud.

Since I've blogged about my best friend before (once here and once here), I figured this post wouldn't be 100% out of the blue.

I found out tonight that his album is done - music, cover art and all. It will be available June 23 on his website. No, I didn't wind up doing the cover art. And thank goodness. First, I had way too much school going on to stop and create something worthy of his music. Second, Ryan and I think too much alike. Sometimes you need an artist whose brain can take a fresh look at you and come up with something cool. Like this:



It definitely has my stamp of approval. (I'm so glad I didn't do the art cuz I certainly wouldn't have come up with that!) I also found out that Ryan got his own website up and running...by himself! I've been meaning to get my own website up and running for the past oh...I dunno...5 or 6 years now. Eeep. Hopefully, he'll provide me with the necessary inspiration. Anyway, check his website out here. You can hear some of his tunes on there too. One of them is "my" song. And no, I won't tell which one. It's mine! :oP You really can't beat having a song written for you. Anyone else have a best friend that cool?

Ryan and I have been friends for a dozen or so years now, so we've been through a lot together. We're both in artistic fields, so we've faced a lot of similar struggles. His success feels like a success for me too (don't worry, honey, I'm not stealing your thunder!). I guess what I'm trying to say is right now, I'm feeling so proud of him for finally achieving so many of his goals. (Trust me folks, I've been listening to the trials and tribulations of this process for years!) Even though we live on opposite coasts now, I'll always be his biggest cheerleader.

Congrats, Ry. (o: (Eat it up while you can, I'll be back to my usual self tomorrow. LOL.)

Still painting...

I know I've disappeared for a bit. Apologies to those of you who actually read this thing. I'm under a bit of a crunch right now, as I have to finish that painting for the contest I entered. And you know me, I'm the Queen of Procrastination! Next Wednesday is the date I have to drop everything off for the judging. I would say I'm barely 50% finished. Eeep!
I've also decided to submit a Ukiyo-e woodblock print of Mont Sainte Victoire I created a while back. (At least that one is done. Ha!)

I won't be posting any pictures of my half-finished painting. I hate showing people my work when it's half-finished. Unless, of course, those people are other artists helping me with feedback or a critique. It's kind of like going into a dressing room. You really only need your sister or your best friend in there with you to tell you that yes, your butt looks big in those pants--don't buy them. For everyone else, though, it feels like I'm standing in front of strangers in my underwear. That's just unnessesary.

Most of the time I have a very specific concept in mind, and I find it impossible to explain it. I end up feeling like a babbling fool in front of the bare-bones of a painting. You certainly can't get the message from what's coming out of my mouth, and since the painting isn't finished - you aren't getting my message from that either. I don't want to wind up looking like one of those "crazy artists". Soooo...you'll have to wait until my painting is complete to see pictures. If I did my job successfully, you'll "get it" by looking at it and I'll save myself the embarassment of having to explain it to you. Really, this particular piece isn't that "deep", but it does have 3 distinctly different elements incorporated into it. What I can tell you is that my painting is based off of these two photos of my grandparents:


The top one is of them on their wedding day, and the bottom one was them on their 50th wedding anniversary. (The 1980s just barely finished up - hence the shoulder pads and big glasses.) Stay tuned...(o;