Or at least the posting of the sketches is on hold for the time being. My printer/scanner died today and along with it, my ability to scan my sketches into the computer. I haven't had the chance to see if I can resurrect it yet, but I'm hoping that I can get it to work again because I really can't afford another one right now. I might try to photograph some of my sketches, but my digital camera isn't all that great either.
So for tonight, I'll leave you with this haiku ode to my printer...
You had worked so well
Then you went and took a crap
And now I am screwed
:p
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sketch #10
I've fallen behind a bit. I've been having a lot of stress lately (who hasn't) and when I get stressed my natural response is to sleep, so I haven't really felt like staying up late and sketching at night. I missed a night...and then another...and before I knew it, nearly a week had gone by and I found myself thinking "maybe I should just quit". So I asked myself why and I got a bunch of answers back like "really it doesn't matter it's just another stupid thing you're doing", "you don't have enough time", "this is silly", "your sketches really aren't that good", "everybody probably thinks you suck", and so on. None of the answers were good reasons to quit. I had to remind myself that I'm not doing this for anybody else and it doesn't really matter if people think that I suck...maybe they do and maybe they don't. The point of this exercise (for me anyway)is that nobody ever improved in anything without practice and creativity breeds more creativity. So yeah, I'm a little behind at this point, but I'm not quitting.
I also think got a little bored with just graphite. I think in color. I dream in color. My life is all about color and sometimes it's hard for me to translate my ideas into just graphite and paper. So, I went through my art box this weekend and I found all of my paints and pastels and crayons. Seeing them again gave me that warm fuzzy feeling. I missed them.
Here's sketch #10.
I also think got a little bored with just graphite. I think in color. I dream in color. My life is all about color and sometimes it's hard for me to translate my ideas into just graphite and paper. So, I went through my art box this weekend and I found all of my paints and pastels and crayons. Seeing them again gave me that warm fuzzy feeling. I missed them.
Here's sketch #10.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Sketch #9
"To Ronald Bilius Weasley, I leave my Deluminator, a device of my own making, in the hope that when things seem most dark, it will show him the light."- Rufus Scrimgeour, The Deathly Hallows, Part 1
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Sketch #7
I've made it a week. Woot! Here is today's sketch. The inspiration for it flashed before my eyes today just as I was getting out of the shower. I see it more as a painting than a sketch. There should be more texture and the values don't quite do the color dynamic that's in my head justice. But for a sketch, it'll have to do.
Sketch #'s 5 & 6
Friday was sort of an exhausting day. So was Saturday. So I fell behind in posting, but I didn't fall behind in sketching.
Here's Friday's sketch...
It was an image that flashed in front of my eyes just before I went to bed on Thursday night.
Here's Saturday's sketch...
It's just a sketch.
Here's Friday's sketch...
It was an image that flashed in front of my eyes just before I went to bed on Thursday night.
Here's Saturday's sketch...
It's just a sketch.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Sketch #4
This morning while I was in that gray area between awake and sleep, I had sort of a vision. It was of this vine-like plant in what I'm assuming was a forest. It had the most beautiful brightly colored flowers that were shaped sort of like lotus blossoms. The blooms gave off a beautiful faint glow, as if a little tongue of flame was dwelling at the center of each one. The vine itself was somewhat delicate, yet not fragile looking and it had smallish leaves spread throughout. It brought light into the darkness.
When I became fully awake, I knew that this was going to be the subject of my 4th sketch. This one is not as detailed as I would have liked, but it has been a long day and my body is wanting sleep.
When I became fully awake, I knew that this was going to be the subject of my 4th sketch. This one is not as detailed as I would have liked, but it has been a long day and my body is wanting sleep.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Sketch #3
I think what I miss most during the winter seasons is the sunshine. It's not like I live far enough north that I have to endure complete days of darkness. I am, however, far enough north to notice a difference in how I feel from the diminished hours of daylight.
I have to apologize for the crappy scanning. It's been a long day and I'm just to tired to fix it tonight.
I should add that this sketch was partially inspired by this song...
(From the Alasdair Frasier and Natalie Haas album "In The Moment"...the album version is much better and without the extraneous bagpipes in the background. :S)
I have to apologize for the crappy scanning. It's been a long day and I'm just to tired to fix it tonight.
I should add that this sketch was partially inspired by this song...
(From the Alasdair Frasier and Natalie Haas album "In The Moment"...the album version is much better and without the extraneous bagpipes in the background. :S)
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Sketch #2
It's supposed to get to -11F here tonight. Everybody gird yer loins.
This one is sort of a rough draft of a painting that I've had in my head for awhile. It's inspired by two musical compositions, "The Multiples of One" and "Blue Windows" by Joseph Curiale. Both are from his CD Awakening.
This one is sort of a rough draft of a painting that I've had in my head for awhile. It's inspired by two musical compositions, "The Multiples of One" and "Blue Windows" by Joseph Curiale. Both are from his CD Awakening.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Sketch #1
Last week I heard a quote from Vincent Van Gogh...
"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint', then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced".
Since then it's become my favorite quote.
(Next to the quote from Alan Alda - "When people are laughing, they're generally not killing one another".)
The more I thought about the quote, the more I thought about all of the stuff I've told myself that I couldn't do over the years. I began to wonder what words I could replace "paint" with.
I've never considered myself much of a sketcher. In fact, growing up, I didn't really consider myself much of an artist. Sure, I loved to make things and be creative, but the school "art" lessons that I had as a kid suggested that I wasn't really much of an artist and I definitely couldn't draw. So I grew up believing that...until I got to college. Among the many things that I took away from my college education was that I could draw and I could even paint...quite well as a matter of fact. I also discovered that I have an aptitude for color, detail and basic design concepts. Despite all of this, the little voice in my head persisted...rather, I allowed it to persist. For whatever reason, I haven't a clue.
Last week when I found out about this challenge, I thought to myself "there's no way that I could do that, I'm not good at sketching". And then, as if someone was trying to tell me something, I came across that quote.
So here I am, silencing that little voice in my head once and for all.
"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint', then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced".
Since then it's become my favorite quote.
(Next to the quote from Alan Alda - "When people are laughing, they're generally not killing one another".)
The more I thought about the quote, the more I thought about all of the stuff I've told myself that I couldn't do over the years. I began to wonder what words I could replace "paint" with.
I've never considered myself much of a sketcher. In fact, growing up, I didn't really consider myself much of an artist. Sure, I loved to make things and be creative, but the school "art" lessons that I had as a kid suggested that I wasn't really much of an artist and I definitely couldn't draw. So I grew up believing that...until I got to college. Among the many things that I took away from my college education was that I could draw and I could even paint...quite well as a matter of fact. I also discovered that I have an aptitude for color, detail and basic design concepts. Despite all of this, the little voice in my head persisted...rather, I allowed it to persist. For whatever reason, I haven't a clue.
Last week when I found out about this challenge, I thought to myself "there's no way that I could do that, I'm not good at sketching". And then, as if someone was trying to tell me something, I came across that quote.
So here I am, silencing that little voice in my head once and for all.
I wonder if I could list "Laundry" in the "Special Skills" section of my resume...
Whenever someone asks me whether or not they should entertain their desire to become a massage therapist, I ask them 2 questions:
Do you like doing laundry?
and
Do you like making your bed?
Most people answer "no" in some form or another to both questions, many expressing utter contempt for doing laundry. And many are surprised to find out that I usually 3 to 5 loads per day and sometimes more just for the business (that's with two therapists working full time and not including any of my personal laundry).
Due to the healthy dumping of snow over the weekend, our road was mostly impassible by this morning. Thanks to the pickup, I made it into town for work, but anyone trying to get to/from our place without 4WD was going to be screwed. This meant calling all of my clients to make sure they had the means to get here and rescheduling the ones who didn't...which turned out to be all of them.
After I had finished rescheduling my clients for the day I decided to spend some time catching up with some stuff that I had gotten a little behind on, including the laundry. So, I walked around the corner into my massage room and discovered that the Matterhorn had been moved onto my table.
We normally don't let the laundry get that backed up but with the holidays and family obligations and illness, it just did. Fortunately, if the past six years of being a massage therapist has taught me anything, it's how to fold laundry. So thanks to my awesome ninja-like laundry skills I was able to make short work of it.
And that's what I did with my day...well, one thing I did with my day.
(And for those interested, here's what it looked outside today after it had stopped snowing.)
Over the weekend I did a lot of housekeeping on my computer. I went to defrag it and apparently only 2% of the hard drive was available. Defrag needs 15% to function properly, so I went through and deleted a ton of stuff and got rid of a couple of programs that I no longer use and moved a bunch of stuff onto flash drives. In the end I managed to free up roughly 5% of space. The Pavilion is pushing 5 years now, so I guess it's time to upgrade.
Last night I found myself going through my iTunes library and listening to a bunch of songs that I hadn't heard in awhile. Most of them are more low-key and others are edgier than what I've been listening to lately, but I found them oddly inspiring, which is perfect because I'm in desperate need of inspiration these days. I ended up compiling an awesome play list of this great music and I've been enjoying it all day. Maybe I'll even share it later.
In regards to needing inspiration, today starts the 100 days of sketching. I'll make another post later when I get the sketch finished. I definitely think the first sketch deserves its own post.
Until then, here's one from the play list...
Do you like doing laundry?
and
Do you like making your bed?
Most people answer "no" in some form or another to both questions, many expressing utter contempt for doing laundry. And many are surprised to find out that I usually 3 to 5 loads per day and sometimes more just for the business (that's with two therapists working full time and not including any of my personal laundry).
Due to the healthy dumping of snow over the weekend, our road was mostly impassible by this morning. Thanks to the pickup, I made it into town for work, but anyone trying to get to/from our place without 4WD was going to be screwed. This meant calling all of my clients to make sure they had the means to get here and rescheduling the ones who didn't...which turned out to be all of them.
After I had finished rescheduling my clients for the day I decided to spend some time catching up with some stuff that I had gotten a little behind on, including the laundry. So, I walked around the corner into my massage room and discovered that the Matterhorn had been moved onto my table.
We normally don't let the laundry get that backed up but with the holidays and family obligations and illness, it just did. Fortunately, if the past six years of being a massage therapist has taught me anything, it's how to fold laundry. So thanks to my awesome ninja-like laundry skills I was able to make short work of it.
And that's what I did with my day...well, one thing I did with my day.
(And for those interested, here's what it looked outside today after it had stopped snowing.)
Over the weekend I did a lot of housekeeping on my computer. I went to defrag it and apparently only 2% of the hard drive was available. Defrag needs 15% to function properly, so I went through and deleted a ton of stuff and got rid of a couple of programs that I no longer use and moved a bunch of stuff onto flash drives. In the end I managed to free up roughly 5% of space. The Pavilion is pushing 5 years now, so I guess it's time to upgrade.
Last night I found myself going through my iTunes library and listening to a bunch of songs that I hadn't heard in awhile. Most of them are more low-key and others are edgier than what I've been listening to lately, but I found them oddly inspiring, which is perfect because I'm in desperate need of inspiration these days. I ended up compiling an awesome play list of this great music and I've been enjoying it all day. Maybe I'll even share it later.
In regards to needing inspiration, today starts the 100 days of sketching. I'll make another post later when I get the sketch finished. I definitely think the first sketch deserves its own post.
Until then, here's one from the play list...
Friday, January 7, 2011
In Which I Crawl Out From Under My Rock...
The rest of 2010 finished in a blur. I turned 29, there was the 60th anniversary of the drive-in, I became a Laughter Yoga leader and met a lot of great folks in the process, my iTunes library expanded, I discovered Daft Punk and Phoenix and Justice and a bunch of other really awesome music/bands/groups/musicians/whathaveyou, ate a fair amount of sushi, tried Vietnamese food for the first time, had some amazing authentic chai, danced in the aisles of a Trader Joes, laughed as much if not more than I cried, watched a lot of movies, discovered Just Dance 2, re-discovered the joys of reading, knitted...a lot...real good, and started breaking in my first pair of Vibrams.
There were trips to Los Angeles and Albuquerque. There were important milestones reached and funerals and births. There was a really long tram ride, a really sad goodbye, a good amount of really funny cards, Avenue Q, Eclipse (which really wasn't all that great, but I still saw 4 times...mostly because we showed it at the drive-in), and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (which really was that great, in my humble opinion). There was a Jackson Browne concert with my dad, something that is/will always be one of my favorite memories of spending time with him. Drinks were drank (though not as many of them as you might think), goals were accomplished...some of them anyway, and we lost a very dear furry member of the family.
Now onto 2011...
It seems like business as usual. Really, 2010 seemed like business as usual, but now that I look back on it, maybe it wasn't so much that way. Or perhaps the highlights just become lost in the noise of the daily grind.
Goals for the year:
*Organization. I'm forever working on organization. I blame it on the ADD and Dyslexia, but placing blame doesn't fix anything. Good news, I am making progress.
*Exercise.
*Bolster the Finances.
*Finish as many existing knitting projects as possible. Several of these just need to be frogged or finished (sewn together, ends woven in, etc.). This year I shall make finishing projects my bitch.
*Avoiding insanity. Sometimes this one seems easier said than done.
Projects for the year (thus far):
*LSG11ty - In which 11 knitting/crochet/spinning projects are finished by December 31st, 2011. I've finished one and a half so far. (Pics later as they're both gifts.)
*Pay it Forward - Sending 5 hand-made items to 5 people who agree to also send 5 hand-made items to 5 other people. I know it sounds like a chain letter...but I prefer to think of it as an organized random act of kindness.
*100 Sketches in 100 Days - Pretty self-explanatory, I think. I don't think they have to be all sketches, just something created each day. I was a little nervous about this at first, but now I'm kinda excited. I'll be posting my creations on the blog each day. (If this doesn't get me in the blogging habit, then I don't know what will.)
*Project Origami - In which I endeavor to master the art of paper folding. My goal is to be able to successfully create kusudamas. Flowers and other items are on my list too. I'm doing this completely on my own.
Trips this year are TBD. However, ABQ and the west coast are yet again on my list.
Right, so I'm on my way...
Here's some Phoenix. Enjoy.
There were trips to Los Angeles and Albuquerque. There were important milestones reached and funerals and births. There was a really long tram ride, a really sad goodbye, a good amount of really funny cards, Avenue Q, Eclipse (which really wasn't all that great, but I still saw 4 times...mostly because we showed it at the drive-in), and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (which really was that great, in my humble opinion). There was a Jackson Browne concert with my dad, something that is/will always be one of my favorite memories of spending time with him. Drinks were drank (though not as many of them as you might think), goals were accomplished...some of them anyway, and we lost a very dear furry member of the family.
Now onto 2011...
It seems like business as usual. Really, 2010 seemed like business as usual, but now that I look back on it, maybe it wasn't so much that way. Or perhaps the highlights just become lost in the noise of the daily grind.
Goals for the year:
*Organization. I'm forever working on organization. I blame it on the ADD and Dyslexia, but placing blame doesn't fix anything. Good news, I am making progress.
*Exercise.
*Bolster the Finances.
*Finish as many existing knitting projects as possible. Several of these just need to be frogged or finished (sewn together, ends woven in, etc.). This year I shall make finishing projects my bitch.
*Avoiding insanity. Sometimes this one seems easier said than done.
Projects for the year (thus far):
*LSG11ty - In which 11 knitting/crochet/spinning projects are finished by December 31st, 2011. I've finished one and a half so far. (Pics later as they're both gifts.)
*Pay it Forward - Sending 5 hand-made items to 5 people who agree to also send 5 hand-made items to 5 other people. I know it sounds like a chain letter...but I prefer to think of it as an organized random act of kindness.
*100 Sketches in 100 Days - Pretty self-explanatory, I think. I don't think they have to be all sketches, just something created each day. I was a little nervous about this at first, but now I'm kinda excited. I'll be posting my creations on the blog each day. (If this doesn't get me in the blogging habit, then I don't know what will.)
*Project Origami - In which I endeavor to master the art of paper folding. My goal is to be able to successfully create kusudamas. Flowers and other items are on my list too. I'm doing this completely on my own.
Trips this year are TBD. However, ABQ and the west coast are yet again on my list.
Right, so I'm on my way...
Here's some Phoenix. Enjoy.
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