Happy Birthday, Willie Wee!

Yep...that's what we used to call her when she was little...I'm sure she'd just love to know I'm telling the world wide web this.

Today is her 17th birthday...wow, were does the time go? Above is a little anti-drug comic she did for school last year. I thought I'd share a bit of her art today. I'll try to find more to post when I get home.

We love you, Erica!! Happy 17th!!

Tuesday...and back to work.

It really was a good weekend. I think the four days gave me some much needed breathing room, and we accomploshed a few things. I really can't complain. =)

Friday, Darrin and I relaxed in the morning. I drew a bit while he played a game. We waited for Erica to get home (it was a half-day for her) and then went to see 'The Davinci Code'. Interesting movie. According to Noël, the book is much better. I'm sure she's probably right, but it was an entertaining movie, none the less. I'm a little surprised the Catholic church hasn't tried to have it banned.

Saturday we did the grocery shopping, and I played with art most of the day. Painted some watercolor washes on bristol board to scan in and use it Photoshop later. Cleaned out some cupboards, something I've been meaning to do for quite a while, and packed some stuff off to storage. Not much else to say...over all it was a relaxing day.

Sunday, Lee was hell bent on going to Mt. St. Helen's. It was cold and rainy and all in all pretty miserable, but he wanted to go...so we went. After a 2+ hour drive we arrived at Johnston Observatory on the north side of the mountain. Couldn't see a bloody thing. The area was covered in a thick dense cloud. We watched a little 15 minute movie about the May 1980 erruption at the observatory, it was pretty interesting. The little theatre is situated so you are facing the mountain, there is a dark red curtain over an expansive window and they lower a screen to play the film. When the film is done, they raise the screen and then the curtain and you have a spectacular veiw of the mountain. Well...when the curtain raised we had a wonderful view of the white cloud we we sitting in. Sad, really. Kristie said it was a pretty amazing view. Perhaps another time.

We came home and Kristie and Lee stayed to watch 'Shop Girl'. Another interesting movie, though I can't say I liked it much. It had an overall rather melancholy feel to it, and the subject/theme gave me the creeps a bit. Steve Martin reminds me of Kelly a bit, I'm sure that has something to do with it.

Yesterday we did the remaining laundry, and I got the scanner running. I spent most of the day playing with the new program I found, Art Rage 2 (shown above), and working on the Illustration Friday 'Cake" and the Inspire Me Thursday 'Word Art' themes. I finished the 'Cake' and posted it....what a lame subject. =/ I have the elements and the ideas for 'Word Art', just have to put them together now. I did pull one piece together yesterday but wasn't terribly happy with the results so I will start it over.

In the afternoon, I cut Darrin's and Neal's hair, and colored my own. We watched 'Tristan & Isolde', a movie about the constant battle between the Irish and Britains after the fall of Rome, and two lovers torn by their different hertitages. It was an ok movie, the lead actress was pretty good, I think they cast the male lead poorly, however. But, I'll take a period piece over a modern day movie anyday.

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. Got some things done, painted some, and saw some movies.

Today dawns bright and cheery. After a solid week of clouds and rain, I'm more than ready for the sunshine. And it makes getting up and heading off to work a little easier. =)

Friday, May 26th...

A day off, away from the phones, and paper and all the craziness of the office. A four day weekend, too!

Darrin has the day off, too. Maybe we'll do something, maybe we won't. Maybe we'll just lounge around the house and enjoy each others company, draw and paint and play video games and eat junk food. I had secretly wanted to go to the zoo, but the weather is just too crumby. I'll let him sleep as late as he likes and then we'll discuss the possibilities over a cup of coffee.

As for me, I don't really care what we do, as long as I can relax a while. I would like to draw or paint or something. I have Illustration Friday's "Cake", and Inspire Me Thursdays' "Word Art" to play with. And I'm working on something that could turn out cool...or really bad...we shall see.

Not to change the subject, but I found a wonderful blog yesterday.
Corey Amaro is an American woman, living in France with her French husband, who collects antiques. This may not seem extraordinary, but if you have a moment, browse her blog. She has wonderful insight and her blogs are oddly soothing.

That said...I'm off to do whatever the hell I feel like for four days! Have a great Memorial weekend everyone!

Note: The picture above has no particular significance, I just happen to love it.

Twenty-eight years today! Congratulations!

A little Celtic poem for you on this special day:

May you always find the best within all people;

May you continue to learn throughout your life;

May your word be trusted by all you meet.

May you search for the similar within the separate;

May you show compassion;

May your sacrifices benefit others;

May you be diplomatic when it is most difficult.

May you always remember you were loved before you were born;

May the transitions of your life ripple on the pond of time into the future;

May your journey be one of joy, for yourself and those around you.

You are loved very much! Have a wonderful day, David!

My Last LiveJournal Post

I've been meaning to do this for a while now. This is where I will be posting my psuedo-daily journal...Live Journal was too frustrating.

Crankypants

"I'm not sure what the deal was but I work up in a completely pissy mood. I slept until 7:45am, which is late for me, puttered around a bit, got some coffee, and almost immediately felt frustrated. Darrin noticed this right away and kept his distance , stating he was going to keep his distance. That didn't help much.

I had plannned to get some paint out, and paint on actual paper. So I sat down to sketch an idea for Illustration Friday. My two first ideas I just couldn't seem to draw to my satisfaction, so I went on to something else (the fish). I couldn't seem to stay focused, so I got up and made some breakfast. After that, was the dishes of course. Then back to the drawing board.

I think the thing that became evident to me almost immediately was that, though I wanted to draw/paint/create something, I was sabotaging myself at every possible opportunity. If someone distracted me in anyway...it was their fault, if I thought of something I wanted to look up on the internet, I dropped the drawing immediately and went to the comp, when Barnes and Noble was mentioned, I got up and got dressed as was ready to go in a flash...anything to get away from that drawing table.

Why do I do this? Darrin thinks it's because I am afraid of failing, and I won't give myself the chance to work back to where I once was. Maybe he's right, maybe I'm just afraid of how bad I have gotten over the years, while I didn't paint. Last night when I finally did try to sit down and paint the picture of the fish, I was restless, and timid with the paint. I couldn't get it to do what I wanted it to and it wasn't long before I scrapped the picture and went back to trying to color it on the computer. That went ok, but in the end looked plastic...to computerized for me. I scrapped that one, too. I will get through this project, but I really need to stop expecting a masterpiece the first time. And...I need a new pair of glasses.

At 12:30am I woke up and spent a good hour and a half tossing and turning and chatising myself, for not painting, for not staying focused, for having lost my touch, and finally wound up telling myself I would never be a successful artist...so get used to the job I have, because it's probably all I'll ever have. I tried to think about other things, but always came back to the same self-berating crap. I'm not always terribly kind to myself. I did finally fall back to sleep.
Amazingly I feel better this morning, but yesterday left a mark. I need to move on, move forward, stop trying to bash myself every chance I get. I'm not sure how to do that except to put my head down and charge forth. I won't stop painting & drawing, I just won't.

And on that note, I'm going to be moving my personal journal to a Blogger spot. As much as I have enjoyed posting here, the text formatting drives me crazy. I can't even seem to change the HTML coding to manipulate it...it just doesn't take, no matter what I do. I don't need the aggravation.

From now on you'll find this journal at My Journal ... Tuesday literary stuff and everything.

Thanks, Livejournal, it's been fun!"