Life and Death

Yesterday was my birthday. It was an OK day - nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary - though I got some nice messages on the phone by friends and family singing Happy Birthday. Thank you Uncle Art and Aunt Judy and thank you Mike and Mandy for that.

We went to the Bonefish Grill for dinner and as always, it was a really pleasant night with some really good Sangria.

It is strange sitting here now... to know how old I am and where my life has gone. I am determined to do things this year to start the next phase of my life and to make it something more. I have so much more in me than this! I can't lose my determination and dreams.

It is also difficult to sit here and think about those I have lost this year. A few days ago, another of my Aunts passed away. That will be three Aunts and an Uncle I have lost in one year, not counting the cousins of which I believe there were 2 or 3. All of them were from my Father's side of the family. He now only has one brother alive and that one is not in good health. This is the difficulty of being the youngest in a large family. And I know one day I may have to deal with this as well, being the youngest in my family. It is strange to know, that when I go overseas again, I will not see the faces I have always seen... the smiles I knew, feel the hugs or kisses that I once did. I try not to think about it too much because it would get overwhelming I think. Its just strange and sad.

With the new year, I know there will be other losses, but I know there will be new things... New challenges, opportunities and chances. I guess while I always resented having my birthday at the end of the year (it usually gets lost amid Chanukah, Christmas, New Years), this year I don't feel that way. It sort of wraps up 2008 for me in a good way and sets me up for 2009 and what is to come. Its been a rough couple of years and I'm ready for good things.

So... Happy New Year everyone. May 2009 be one of health, love, prosperity and creativity for all of us.

Leopard ate my Tiger!

Yeah, as usual, it has been forever since I posted. Sorry. Life eats me and then spits me out. I don't mean to let these things wither. I am going to try and be better about it as I once again get my life together.

As Pooka asked for my Leopard disc for Mac, I figured I better actual install it on my iMac before I mailed it out. As a precaution for this whole event, I got an external hard drive to load my files on to (horror stories of crashed systems also encouraged me as I didn't want to be one of those people with good intention... that were a day late). Before installing, I did a last check of files and things and put those onto my external drive... My friend Dave randomly came over in a fit of serendipity right before I started. I disconnected the external drive from the iMac.

I put in the disc and started installing.... all was good. We were going to archive and update. Things went fine till the system was going to the desktop. The beachball of doom wouldn't go away... 15 minutes... We disconnected all periferals thinking that was causing problems and restarted. Still no go.. beachball of doom remained. We tried to re-install and just upgrade... No use. After a few attempts at circumventing said beachball.... we were left with one last option. Overwriting everything. Meaning, losing EVERYTHING on the iMac and restarting from scratch... At this point, I didn't have a choice.

So... we did it. I died a little inside but was thankful I had saved important files (like artwork!!!!) on my external drive. I did lose all my bookmarks and a few random 'loose' files no in folders.... but it worked. Then it was hours of trying to reload in all my software and reconnecting periferals again. Some applications wouldn't load and we had to make repeated attempts. I don't know if it was the computer or the discs. Still don't know.. But everything seemed to have finally loaded and updated, upgraded and finished.

I'm EXTREMELY unhappy about how Leopard humped my iMac like that... For what I got (Time Machine and 'Stacks') I could have done without it. I just assumed (mistake) that it was the right thing to do... You know... get an upgrade and load it to make things better... I could have stuck it out with Tiger. It worked fine. But what's done is done. What I lost from the old system is gone and it was nothing too important I think. I don't know - I didn't keep track.

There is an upside to all of this. That is the fact that I have essentially a clean slate on my computer. I had tons of things on it that didn't need to be there. Icons all over my desktop and clutter clutter clutter. That's gone and I think its a good thing because I need to unclutter and better organise my life. I tend to be a horder (nothing to with WoW mind you) and keep things because maybe I might use it later or maybe its important. I have to let things go.

So in that theme, my computer is now... clean and organized. Now for the rest of me and my life.

Balticon and upcoming cons

Balticon was... at the very least...  disappointing for me.  It didn't seem like there was that many attendees and they certainly weren't spending any money.  I know, that sounds cold, but I make a living selling art, so if it doesn't sell that sort of works against me.  The starving artist thing is a romantic idea and all, but really, isn't all that glamorous a lifestyle.  Trust me.

Anyway, this was a large disappointment because I'd gotten the paintings I'd done framed and they looked good and seemed to get some good response, but no one bought any of them.  Not one.  Granted, the art show over all was pretty sad with very few purchases, but that isn't much of a consolation.  I will say that I did learn that I should have had a quick sale price so as to give people on the one day attending pass a chance to buy something if they wanted it.  But oh well...  

The table sales were also pretty sad.  I BARELY covered the hotel cost and didn't walk away with much at all when all was said and done.  The highlight of the trip was seeing Pooka and Five-Foot-Mayhem there and being able to hang out at Outback for dinner.  It made me realize how much I miss my friends and hanging out with them.  

I will not be attending Balticon next year but mostly due to there being a rather special occasion that I would not miss for the world!  Which would be Pooka and Five-Foot-Mayhem's wedding!  But with the show as it was, I would not be going anyway.  With the market as it is and buyers being... well... being what they are... it is not an expense I can afford.  I did talk to some high up staff and gave them some ideas and things they could and should do to hype up not only the art show and artist alley (and do a better job with them) but to get the convention up and exciting.  The biggest issue seems to be with people having the 'this is how we've always done it' attitude and not adjusting to changing times, attendees and trends.  

I spent a day at Wizard World Con in Philly.  Wow.. that is just one huge honking dealer's room.  The tables in their artist alley were like, $600 or something.  No way I was going to shell out that kind of money on an iffy situation.  Walking through the artist alley, I was glad I only paid for the day cost...  Didn't look like there was much money being made there.  Most of the money was in the comic books and collectibles.  Though, that kind of artist alley is more for connections and showing off your stuff I guess.  I did see the Iron Sheik.  He was doing an interview with a radio station.  That man is just... batshit crazy.  There were a few other wrestlers and one or two tv personalities, but mostly it was about the comic books - the artists and the writers.  It did make me think about doing my comic book and getting back to my roots.  

*sigh*  So many ideas and things and not enough time or hands to do them all.

I saw the Indiana Jones movie... It was ok.  That's all I'm going to say about it.  

Right now, I'm preparing for two shows coming up.  Anime MidAtlantic and the following weekend, AnimeNext.  Having back to back shows is difficult but we'll see how it goes.  I'm hoping I can make some sales and do well there, as well as get some new fans as these are two shows I don't usually attend.  This is only my second time for both.  The response last year was positive so here's hoping that continues.

Narnia and Paintings

Yesterday, I saw the new Narnia movie. It was very beautifully shot and very enjoyable to watch. It is actually much darker than the first movie and focuses much more on war and political intrigue. The four children have grown up a bit and each has been affected by their first trip to Narnia... Peter, the eldest, after a year, seems angry and bitter that he is now a child again, when once he was an adult and the High King of Narnia. Susan has pulled away from other people and would rather be alone. The actor who plays Prince Caspian is... well... VERY attractive and lovely to look at and he can act! Which is of course a plus. The visual effects were wonderful, the costuming and all were very real feeling (done by WETA). They showed a lot of the ruins of the previous Narnia and I wished they had perhaps... done a little flashback of some sort to remind us what it was.... like the castle the Kings and Queens had once lived in... As I haven't seen the first in a long time. But other than that, it was a good movie... 2 hours though it wasn't too bad to sit through. And of course, you have Eddie Izzard as Reepicheep, so how can you go wrong?

Its A Polar Bear!

Hey, there's another painting!  Decided to do an animal painting this time and for some reason thought a polar bear would be interesting because of the white and trying to get the subtle differences in the fur.  It wasn't easy and I realized that animals aren't easy to do with oil paints!  Still, he didn't come out too bad did he?  I like his eyes.  So yeah... still trying to keep up with the painting and get a better handle on it before starting a commission for a good friend of mine. 

Did a double header at the movies yesterday and saw "Speed Racer" and "Iron Man".  Both were fun movies to watch but weren't of the same caliber.  "Speed Racer" is a lot of fun.  Don't expect deep plots, or characters or great meaning in any of it.  Its just a fun ride with pretty colors.  Just hope you don't have an epileptic fit from the flashing lights and colors.  It did actually have a little message about corporate sponsors involved in sports and car racing in particular, but it really did keep to the basic idea of watching Speed race his little heart out because, after all, that's the only thing he knows how to do.  I did see some reviewer say it wasn't good, but really, what did you expect if you have EVER seen the original cartoon?  I mean, the kid's name is Speed... its not a nickname.... Its his actual name.  And he has a little brother named Spritle.  So just relax, go see the movie and have fun.  Go for the experience of it all.

"Iron Man" was different.  It was fun and exciting and had great visuals but it was a good movie.  The caliber of acting was also on a different level and there was some deeper story which also tied into current events without being preachy or taking any real political sides.  Robert Downey Jr. was an excellent choice to play Tony Stark, the playboy with more money than he knows what do to with.  Both Stark and Downey are talented and gifted in their fields, but both have the past life of wine women and song so to speak.  It really just came together well, with likable and interesting characters and of course, the cool costume for Iron Man.  If you have to choose between "Speed Racer" and "Iron Man", I'd definitely choose the latter.  It had a great story, great characters and was a great fun movie all around.

*Runs in.... trips*

Hey, well.... long time.  Sorry.  After the trip visiting my brother I got into a lot of different things.  One of which was playing World of Warcraft again (finally got my Night Elf Rogue to 70!).  If you've never played you don't really know how much like crack that game is.  But I did reconnect with some friends which was great.  

The visit with my brother was lovely.  It was wonderful to see the kids who are so much older and bigger now!  My ten year old niece is only a little bit shorter than me!  She just shot right up!  They all have personalities now and are really blossoming into little people.  

While I was away, I made some good decisions concerning my life and the general direction of my art and career.  One decision was to not attend Dragon*Con this year.  This was difficult, but the trip and convention is costly...  With the economy how it is, there is less of a guarantee of a successful show than previous years.  I had to weigh my current state of finances with what might happen and chose to pass on the convention for this year.  We'll see how things are next year.  I am sad not to go, but felt it was the right choice to make.  

I am oddly inspired and uninspired to paint right now.  I have ideas but it is being difficult to sit down and do them.  Some seem to be oil paints, but I'm not sure how to execute them.  I think that might be blocking me from moving forward.  

Other than that, I have to move on some decisions I made and make them happen.  I will of course, let you know how that all goes.  No, I'm not trying to be mysterious, that is just a fun byproduct :D

The Emerald City

So, I'm leaving in about a half hour for the airport to head over to Kansas City to visit my brother and his family for a week.  I'll still be posting but can't promise much to say that will relate to art things.  I'll have a sketch book with me and some drawing supplies, but I don't think I'll have much time to do anything more than draw a little. 

I'm looking forward to getting away from J-town - which has put in some new parking rules, making it just about impossible for me to park the car anywhere.  I would get a residence parking permit, BUT as I don't live on the residence streets (I live in an apartment on the main street), they won't issue me one.  So I had to place a formal complaint and I'll have to attend some town meeting to get my voice heard.  It is absolutely ridiculous.  I won't get started on my visit to the borough office to discuss this issue.

Ah well, away from stupid J-town and stressful work to visit family.  Shouldn't be stressful... right?  :D

Oh look! Pictures!

My friend Dave came over last night to baby sit the dog for a while and when I came home, I found he was kind enough to bring over his wire for his digital camera.  What this means is, that I was FINALLY able to upload the images of the paintings from my camera onto the computer and post them here.  DAVE IS A HERO!

So, here are my paintings from the Painting a Day exercise

Painting a Day - Day 1

Like all the work I did, this was based on a photograph we have hanging on the wall.  This was my first oil painting since college and I didn't think it came out too badly.  The picture is dark because the flash just kept reflecting on it and the light wasn't working with me.  (I have my logo and the text in the pictures because I've had to deal with some art theft in the past - I'm not a famous artist but I feel like I have to do what I can to protect myself and my art.  I mean, these aren't masterpieces and they are at low resolution and all that... but people are weird on the internet...  So, I apologize if it looks annoying to have that stuff on there, but forgive me...)

Painting a Day - Day 2

Keep in mind that I hadn't found subject matter to paint before starting a painting.   I was trying to keep my feelings on doing the painting fresh and so would think a while before sitting and doing it.  While looking through a book on animals, there was an image of two... emus I think, walking with a red sky and the sun behind them, all in silhouette.  Wanting to do something fantasy, I used the image and made it a dragon.  I won't say this is brilliant or anything... it isn't my favorite.  But again, this was also after a full day of work and trying to work with a medium that I was not yet comfortable with.

Painting a Day - Day 3

So, I hadn't done a person yet, but I didn't know what to do for it and was feeling pressured.  I looked at another artists work and tried to figure out how they had done the figure and used the paint.  This is another ok piece.  I think I had worked till 6 p.m. and hadn't been able to sit down till 8 p.m. to do it or something.  Looking back on it, I was probably rushing myself.

Painting a Day - Day 4

I had gone to Barnes & Nobles and gotten a book on castles which was very inspiring.  This painting was really the first one that I REALLY liked and was very happy with.  

Painting a Day - Day 5

I have a book on Geishas and there are a lot of beautiful photographs in there.  I wanted to do a sort of landscape/person image instead of just landscapes.  This was a little difficult and again, the oil paints don't always work with you, but I was happy with this as well.  I liked a lot of the textures and the feel of it was good.  

Painting a Day - Day 6

Again, this was from the Geisha book.  My mother asks me about my fascination with the Japanese culture and I think it has a lot to do with the graphic nature of their world, the bold patterns and colors.  I was very happy with this one as well, because I think her face came out well and she looks Japanese - not like a white woman pretending to be Japanese.  I was also happy with the how the robe came out.

Ok... Here is where I should have the 7th painting.  Because I really didn't like it, I didn't have it where the other paintings were, so last night when I was taking pictures, I didn't take that one.. and so didn't upload it to the computer.  I didn't realize I didn't have it on there till this morning when I started fiddling with the pictures to put in the post.  I'm sure there was some sort of subconscious thing going on there....

I plan on going out and buying a new wire today if I can.  And I will post it after that.

Upcoming Trip

I'll be leaving on the 16th to go visit my brother and his family in the midwest.  It will only be for a week and then its back to the daily grind!  I'll have my laptop with me, so chances are, I'll be keeping up with the blog - though, I'm pretty sure at this point only Pooka is reading it!

Oh, I plan on buying a new wire for the camera.  I contacted the manufacturer and tried to get information on the wire, but apparently they don't sell them.  They don't even talk about them.  The email I sent asking about it, got no response back.  *insert angry face*

I'm still working on that one painting and I hope to finish it before leaving.  Just to have it done.  I'm not sure what new work I'll have for Balticon, but I also want to have the new website up before that too.  We'll see.  I think this might be a case of my eyes being too big for my stomach if you know what I mean.  I have work and projects and freelance things...  So...  Wish me luck on everything.  

If I get the wire today, I will be able to post the art!  *crosses fingers*

Paintings that won't finish

So... not as productive a weekend as I'd like it to have been. I forgot a lot of things I needed to do, while getting other things done. One thing I wanted to do was finish a painting that I started a few month ago in acrylic. I am working on that with the oil paints.

Its going longer than I want it to, but its the added combination of the oil paintings and losing focus or changing the the way I wanted it to look.

Other than that, saw a lot of movies lately.

Horton Hears a Who: Enjoyed it very much! Was a lot of fun, and kept a lot of the spirit of the original story. Yes, they changed a lot of stuff in it and added more story, but the storybook wouldn't have lasted an hour and a half. The animation was fun to watch and the characters were enjoyable. A sure sign it was good for kids? They didn't get bored and they were laughing and involved the whole time. A good sign it was for older grown-up kids? They were laughing and involved too!

Leatherheads: I don't know why they decided to do this. It was an ok movie. It wasn't a bad movie, but it certainly wasn't a great one. They were going for this... 1930's or 40's feel of film but had too many things that removed it from that era of film. The "His Girl Friday" attempt at banter didn't work because Rene' Zellewiger (I don't know how to spell that woman's name) was miscast... and I'm tired of her squinty pouty looks anyway. Clooney was charming but this certainly wasn't anything we haven't seen from him before. It wasn't a COMEDY with great moments of humor... it was just a film with some funny bits. The pacing was slow too many times which certainly wasn't going to happen in "His Girl Friday" (that movie has whip crack timing!). I felt if they needed to pan it out, they could have done more shots of the games. They talk about plays like a "Crusty Bob" or "A Pig in a Poke" but they never show them so you the viewer can know what they are and why they are so great. Also... waaaay too much cursing. It MIGHT be a nice family film if they hadn't cursed... Something you'd have never seen in a film from the era they were showing. I'm not talking about saying hell or damn or anything, but harsher cursing - which just seemed... un-needed.

We rented some dvd's too.

Michael Clayton: A very good film and proof of George Clooney's acting skill. After so many films with dark moods and violent people, this was a little bit of fresh air - not that it doesn't have dark moods and violent people - but it offers hope. Very interesting performances, including Tilda Swinton (who got the Oscar for her role in this film).

30 Days of Night: If you read the graphic novel, then you might as well see the movie. It has been awhile since I read it and I actually can't find the darn thing (probably hanging out with the missing digital camera wire I'm looking for still). But it was a good graphic novel and a good movie as well. I'm not a horror movie fan over all. I don't like the blood and gore, slasher scare-fest that most movies of this type can be. But 30 Days of Night ended up having a lot of suspenseful psychological moments. While we watch the characters trapped in an attic, hiding, it almost turns into Nazi Germany with people hiding from the enemy. Questions of what to do and whether to stay or go come into play... Is it better to run and hope some survive? Do you stay and wait it out? Yes... there is some gore scenes... We are talking about vampires. But it was pretty good.

Eastern Promises: VERY good movie. The performances are (and I use this word very rarely) mesmerizing. The whole film is. They never really establish where it takes place, though it is mentioned they are in London. But there aren't any establishing shots or set ups so you really know and that helps keep it very ungrounded. You never feel safe or that anyone is safe. The famous scene with Viggo Mortensen fighting naked is... well... Wow... Not because you see his body. You have no time for that. But you can feel how exposed he is and how hard it must be to try and fight from such a position. You feel unsettled after the movie is over, but you definitely get the sense that everyone is where they are by their own choices. Very good movie though...

So... uh.. yeah... I HAVE to finish that painting... And I need to work on some new ones too. I started slacking after the initial burst from the paintings a day. I need to keep on myself to keep doing things.

What's Next?

Well, this past weekend was a reorganizing one. I cleaned off the drawing table and did a bit of cleaning up (Pooka: No luck finding the camera cord - I'm afraid it actually went with my father in the thought it was part of his phone or something... >_< I'm hoping not but the more I think about it, the more possible it is). I had to do some taxes and go through bills. Paperwork!

Yeah, the ugly underbelly of this fancy freelancing life-style.

I have been doing some drawing in my sketchbook - just some characters and such. The paper in the sketchbook is colored so that is actually letting me use some colored pencils for color touches which I like to do.

I am thinking I will have to order a new camera cord though. Very frustrating. But you do what you have to!

I also have to do some work for Balticon. I have the small paintings from the Painting a Day project, but I need to do some more fantasy based things.

Painting a Day - Day 7

We are buying a mixer for the kitchen.  I don't care if its electric or one of those crank thingy ones... we are buying one tomorrow.

What does this have to do with painting?  I'll tell you.

After a long day, I came back home and napped.  My dog seemed to find herself barking every 10 minutes or so and the napping didn't go as well as I'd like.  When I got up I was a bit groggy and cranky.  Dinner rolled out and I had already said I was going to make this Apple Souffle thing, so I had to go do that.  Everything was fine till the egg whites had to be beaten.  I somehow got it in my head that I could do this by hand and manage fine.  As all the other things had been done, including heating the apple bits, I couldn't let it sit unfinished.  So... for about an hour, I hand beat the egg whites till they got as fluffy and thick as I could manage.  My arms hurt.... my wrists hurt - I switched back and forth with the whisk.  Then it was the finishing of the dessert and heating it and all that jazz.  On the upside, my souffle didn't drop and the dessert tasted pretty good! (I'll share the recipe if you want in the next blog).  

The downside:  I was more tired, my arms hurt and it wasn't till about 10:30 that I could sit down at the easel.  I tried to paint and yeah, I got something on the canvas that sort of resembles an appaloosa pony in a field of grass.. but I'm not happy with it.  But I know that you can work and work and work on something and if it starts off wrong and keeps going wrong then you are just going to make more wrong.  Now, its not horrible.  And most likely, the average person might not see much problem with it - but I see it as wrong and so... it irks me.  It is sort of a bummer to end on with such a great bunch of little paintings... so I may end up adding a Day 8 to the process.  Just so I can end on a high note before moving on.  

*sigh*

Painting a Day - Day 6

I did it again!

It almost didn't happen today.  I was really worn out and almost slept through any time I might have been able to paint.  As it was, I didn't really feel it was done till enough to walk away till 12:00 (midnight).  It isn't a fully detailed but it is done enough to feel it is finished.  Its a picture of a geisha and it is the first full person I've done in this little exercise.  While I am happy with how her face came out and all, I really like the texture of the robe which looks like satin.  

My confidence is growing and that's a good thing too.  I have one more painting tomorrow to do and after that, I think it will be a painting a week.  But we'll see.  I still have one more and in the end, I have to say, that while I wanted to do 100 days - 100 paintings, this was a good jump start back into this medium that I have ignored for so long.  

I still don't know how this will all work out and what it will lead to, but I feel good and as stated before, excited about doing new things.  The fact that I've managed to do paintings in a night, makes me feel like larger oil paintings won't be so intimidating and un-doable because a fear of time and it taking forever.  

I'm already thinking of getting more comfortable with the acrylics which I've done here and there.  I just need to remember to use extenders so it doesn't all dry up - but there is something to say for paint that takes soooo long to dry.  Ahhh to find a happy medium (uh... pun possibly intended).

Painting a Day - Day 5

Another one bites the dust!

I did another painting tonight - and I'm very happy with it since it really looks like a real painting and not some lame attempt at a painting.  I almost didn't do it, but forced myself to get up and go paint.  Yes, I watched "America's Next Top Model", "Ghost Hunters" and "Top Chef" while I did it, but I did do it.  

Pooka asked what I've painted so I'll give a brief description of the 5 I've done so far.  The first one was based off a photograph  of an Italian countryside view.  The second one was based off a photograph but I changed the animal pictures to a dragon.  The third was based from a painting and is a black winged angel.  The fourth is a castle and the one I did is a Japanese garden with a woman in a red robe.  If all goes well, I'll be able to post them all up here this weekend.  

All of them are oil paintings and almost all of them are from photographs.  So far, they are no larger than 5 x 7 and the next one will be 5 x 7 as well.  I chose that size because I thought it would be big enough to do something on without being so big as to cause a problem for me to get it done.  Something too big and it might take me longer.  Also the smaller size makes it less intimidating for me to approach the canvas.  I really feel like a painter now, looking at these works I've done, not just an illustrator.  Once the week is done, I may move to try and do a painting a week - maybe not oil colors, but a full painting of whatever size I feel like.  This will also allow the oils to dry more when I use them and layer the color better.  Having only a few hours to do something, forces me to be less... detailed than I usually am.  Its plus side is that I remove my more critical anal eye and work more with an impressionistic feel.  This is giving the paintings some energy instead of looking stiff.  Its also forcing me to loosen up which is nice.  Yes, there is some frustration when the paint lifts or blends too much, but its good for me to be working with it.  

When I move tot he painting a week, I am going to try and combine the painterly with the illustrative and see where I can go with it.  I'm excited and that's a good feeling.

Painting a Day - Day 4

I did another one!  I'm very happy I've been keeping this up.  I managed another painting even with a full day of work again and I feel so good about it too!  I think I like this one the best so far and sadly...  NO WIRE!  It really is upsetting that I can post the pictures on here yet.  I'm really hoping to find the wire soon so I can at least show them.  

I still have work to do on my skills.  And I think I need new brushes.  I'm getting used to using the oils and realizing how much I have to let them sit before I can put paint on top of previously painted areas.  The paintings are small which helps to keep me focused. 

We'll see how it all goes tomorrow.  I don't want to lose the whole momentum.  This also makes me think of doing this again in the future, but I want to get through this 7 days of the painting a day thing.  

Painting a Day - Day 3

Got a third one done.  This one I like a little bit better than the one yesterday.  The difficulty today was doing a painting after a full day of work.  It was much harder to get the drive to get over to the easel to do a painting as I was really tired.  I took a nap in fact and had to get my butt out of bed to start using the brushes.  

I finished the painting but it isn't as detailed as the first.  It has a nice affect though.  I'm just proud of myself for doing the painting even though I was tired and not really up for it.  

Hopefully will continue on tomorrow.

Still no cord.  I think I will just wait till friday and do a mad insane clean up and see if I can uncover it.  

Pooka: Thanks for the suggestion, I'm not sure I'll buy a card reader though for the camera.  I might see if Dave Y has a cord or reader and see if that works.  

Other than that, I do have to also rework my website.  The plan is to remake it though most of the format will be the same.  The biggest issue is that I want to do a rollover with the artwork so that the icons will show the artwork instead of clicking on it to bring it up.  So any advice on making that happen or how I can make that happen would be cool!  

Painting A Day - Day 2

ARGH!  

Still no luck finding the cable to the digital camera.  I KNOW I had one because I did use it.  I think along with the whole 'getting back to art' I need to get back to cleaning and organizing!

I did another painting today.  I don't like it as much as the first one.  I think it felt very forced because I have Balticon coming and I felt like I HAD to do something fantasy related.  I need to remember that when I force it, I end up getting very frustrated and angry and then all things move slowly or badly.  I started two other paintings that will get painted over because of this.  Luckily these are all being done on small canvases (to help ensure they will get finished in a day) so the investment of my energy wasn't as great, but still it was frustrating.  

Another thing is.. I see I have comments but... I don't know how to respond to them.  Don't laugh!  If I click on the comment I can read it, but there is only a comment box next to it and it doesn't list it as 'reply to this comment' so I'm not sure if that will reply to the comment or post a whole new comment.  I'm such a retard some times!  

So to Pooka, thank you for replying, I think you are the only one reading this!  But I appreciate it. 

We'll see how tomorrow goes on the painting front.  

Painting a Day - Day 1

Ok.... I DID do a painting today and I took a digital photo of it.  Unfortunately I cannot find the wire that connects the camera to the computer so I can get the image to the internet.  Frustration is too weak a word right now to describe how I feel about that.  I will try and scan it in tomorrow - its an oil painting and I don't want to smear it or get it on the scanner glass.  I'll figure it out.  Tomorrow I have to do another painting so hopefully between now and then, I'll find that wire.

I feel really good about the painting - not because its good and is pretty much the way I wanted it to be, but because I haven't touched oil paints since college and it was great painting with them again.  And I have to admit, there is something about the smell of oils.  Now, I'm using the Artisan Water Soluble oil paints.  The reason is that in my apartment, I don't feel comfortable having to use the toxic materials I would need to use with regular oil paints and its not big enough of a place to deal with the fumes.  I'm impressed though with how these oil paints work because they feel like normal oil paints and the water does work well.  The other plus is that washing my hands afterward is A LOT easier with this stuff.

I don't know how... archival it will be.  We'll see I guess. 

In the end though, I feel good.  The more comfortable I get with oils, the better I'll be able to move on to larger paintings and maybe do some projects I've wanted to do, but didn't think I could do.

Wis-ettes

So, I am tending to feel better about myself and my life.  I attribute this to a few things though I'm not going to go into some long winded story about it.  The effect of my mental state though, makes me feel like some new age preacher when I see people who are down or depressed or just thinking about a difficult choice.  I don't want to sound that way, but like anyone who has a break through or something that they feel has helped them, they want to share it with the world and make them see the light too.

Now, my life isn't perfect, but its getting better and I believe it will be good.  I know I have issues still and no, I'm not miss mary sunshine all the damn day.  But I feel hopeful and I think that's something. 

The past few days a few people have come to me speaking about being down or unhappy and I hear myself start dropping those 'pearls of wisdom'.  Today I realized, I'm only giving advice based on my small piece of life and calling it 'wisdom' seemed wrong.  I can't pass on my 'wisdom'... but I can pass on my 'wis-ettes' or little bits of wisdom.  ((I should note, the word 'wis-ette was born in a restaurant in NJ over roast beef sandwiches))  I only hope that my wis-ettes don't annoy the hell out of people.  I know that in my.... darker moments... people who tried to give me words of wisdom annoyed me because in my head it was just "It's not THAT simple you idiot!" or "Easy for YOU to say".  And that's right - its not that simple and it is easy for me to say... but yeah, I don't want to be some person that tells people, "Think happy thoughts and a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." All I can give are my wis-ettes and hope it helps in some small way.

In more art related news, tomorrow I am going to start an experiment. It will be the first day of my Painting A Day trial.  I'll only be doing it for a week.  It would have been a month, but then I realized that I would be away next month visiting my brother and wouldn't be able to do it for the whole month!  And I would like to do this before I go to Balticon in May.  The plan for the week is for me to do, a painting a day.  I will be focusing on oil painting.  I don't think the paintings will all be full bang zoom paintings as I haven't really touched oils since college, but it is a good way for me to get into it again.

I will post the pictures each day and put them on here - I will also hopefully figure out how to do that.  *scratches head* I'm still not fully sure how this will work, but let's cross our fingers shall we?

A Beginning

I'll try to be brief and interesting but I promise neither.

I'm setting up this blog to start trying to be more in touch with people who are interested in finding out what is going on with me and what I'm doing day to day here in my corner of the world.  I'll try to keep this non-flaming, since, well, that just irritates the heck out of me.  

Some things I'll be trying to do in the future....

*WIP's - that's right, I'll be posting works-in-progress!  Most likely this will be oil paintings, watercolors or acrylics and not the fan art that I do for anime conventions.  The fan art goes quickly and I don't know how interesting those might be.  

*Convention reports - I might even give up-to-date reports at the cons themselves if the hotel has some internet access.  Why?  Because I like to encourage people's interest in conventions.  Besides, the more interest the more people will go and then... well... maybe... buy some art from me?  ..... ahem... moving along...

*Posting the sale of art - I have some plans for artwork in the coming week and will be posting art for sale here.  That is original work that may not be available at conventions or you might get it before it gets put up for auction.

*Where I'm at - I'll post about conventions I'm planning on attending so you know where I'll be planning on going.  I'll include links to the con sites so you can quickly find it and sign up if you'd like to go too.  

*Reviews of stuff - Movies, shows, books or comics... whatever.  I like to promote things that I think are good and encourage others to see it.

*Links - Links to other artists and sites that are interesting and fun.

There's more to come I suppose but those are some basics.  So welcome to the blog, pull up a chair, have a lovely cup of tea and some cookies and put your feet up!