Hiiiiii again.

Work + wedding planning + eating on budget = soul eaten. big surprise.

Wedding planning summary:

Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens for the ceremony + reception. We're heading up next week to talk to someone in person, and probably nail down the details (like the date - late August/early September, a Sunday afternoon). May try to poke our heads in at some of the catering possibilities too.

Shower is going to be a casual party probably at a state park or something. Have decorating plans. Also have decorating plans and some ideas to play with for the wedding. Invitations have been narrowed down, will most likely get them from Invited Ink on Etsy - though I still have a few other contenders. Started looking at photographers this week.. and good god it's a lil overwhelming. I have a good handful of ones I like, buuutttt whether I can afford them is an issue. (Still, I know it's something I should make work - hearing too many regrets from people who didn't splurge on photos!)

Dress, clueless. (Was scouting around here for design ideas, and kept trying to focus on dresses.. and still pretty clueless.) Cake, haven't even started looking at. But I know what I'm doing for guestbooks!!! lmao. I'm so ridiculous.

Honeymoon is Tom's planning area. Good lord the hotels all look stunning. We're looking at ryokans - a more traditional Japanese style. (Quick example - this site was Tom's jumping-off point for awhile, and Ugenta was a front-runner at one point. He's been doing so much research it's insane.) Which reminds me, I should plow through another Japanese lesson today. I can say "the cat is sleeping" and "the woman drinks tea" and "the moon is white". uhm. still have a ways to go!

But! I sat down in Photoshop today for the first time in aaages, and churned out the notecard design that's been bouncing around in my head for about a month now. Will probably be my thank you cards for the shower/wedding. (I can do the printing at work for cheap, hooray!) That basic design, light aqua and black&white damask, will be the running theme of the decorations. (Probably with less of the distressed look... but I couldn't help it! it's been so long since I had an excuse to do it!) Water bottle labels (I have label paper, can print at work, wrap it in packing tape and it's waterproofed!), menu signs, whatever all else.



We'll see how the color situation goes. More of a bright turquoise for the shower, a lighter aqua shade for the wedding. But mixing similar shades throughout, to keep myself sane. ;)

Labels: art, photoshop, wedding

 
I clung to bed far longer than I should have this morning. So much to do before our trip, and once I woke, I couldn't get back to sleep, between people talking outside and fretting over a few things at work (which I should only slightly be fretting about, if at all). I realized last night, I have responsibility burn-out again, and it's making it really rough to think about going in to work (which I'm doing for eight days straight before vacation), and get things done. Finally dragging myself up and away from the nice cozy little cove of the boy's arms, I stumbled into the bathroom and picked up Dorian Gray, to read another page or two to cling to for the day.

On a previous reading of the book, I'd marked a small heart next to a description of the breaking dawn. I read that portion slowly, thinking the beauty of the words might help me find some motivation for the day. But as I kept reading... I could scarcely believe how perfectly the words on the page pinned down the lurking gloom in my soul the last few mornings. (I could read this book forever.)


      There are few of us who have not sometimes wakened before dawn, either after one of those dreamless nights that make us almost enamoured of death, or one of those nights of horror and misshapen joy, when through the chambers of the brain sweep phantoms more terrible than reality itself, and instinct with that vivid life that lurks in all grotesques, and that lends to Gothic art its enduring vitality, this art being, one might fancy, especially the art of those whose minds have been troubled with the malady of reverie. Gradually white fingers creep through the curtains, and they appear to tremble. In black fantastic shapes, dumb shadows crawl into the corners of the room, and crouch there. Outside, there is the stirring of birds among the leaves, or the sound of men going forth to their work, or the sigh and sob of the wind coming down from the hills, and wandering round the silent house, as though it feared to wake the sleepers, and yet must needs call forth sleep from her purple cave. Veil after veil of thin dusky gauze is lifted, and by degrees the forms and colours of things are restored to them, and we watch the dawn remaking the world in its antique pattern. The wan mirrors get back their mimic life. The flameless tapers stand where we had left them, and beside them lies the half-cut book that we had been studying, or the wired flower that we had worn at the ball, or the letter that we had been afraid to read, or that we had read too often. Nothing seems to us changed. Out of the unreal shadows of the night comes back the real life that we had known. We have to resume it where we had left off, and there steals over us a terrible sense of the necessity for the continuance of energy in the same wearisome round of stereotyped habits, or a wild longing, it may be, that our eyelids might open some morning upon a world that had been refashioned anew in the darkness for our pleasure, a world in which things would have fresh shapes and colours, and be changed, or have other secrets, a world in which the past would have little or no place, or survive, at any rate, in no conscious form of obligation or regret, the remembrance even of joy having its bitterness, and the memories of pleasure their pain.

- from The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde. (text snagged from Project Gutenberg)

Labels: art, books, life in general, navelgaze

 


Vintage photo from The Graphics Fairy (where I recently had a good ol' fashioned image-binge), some photos from my own mixed in there, and a good dose of photoshop textures. Mainly, I just couldn't leave that photo alone. It needed to find a way to my desktop. (Phistos have been invading the back of my brain again lately. Re-reading Dorian is not exactly pushing them away.)



In trying to find a certain layer, I turned off the one with the main image in it - and was happily surprised by this! I like it. I suspect it will make an awesome base for other things, as well as being nice just on its own.

Labels: art, photoshop, wallpaper

 
"If you do creative work, there's a sense that inspiration is this fairy dust that gets dropped on you, when in fact you can just manufacture inspiration through sheer brute force. You can simply produce enough material that the thing will arrive that seems inspired."

- Ira Glass

Labels: art, navelgaze, writing

 
- Grandparents stopped by for awhile this afternoon, and it was a really nice little visit. They'd been visiting family in Cassadaga, and took Tom and I out for lunch. Grandpa seemed to be doing really well, which made me happy.

- Tom and I.. well, actually, mostly Tom, super-cleaned the apartment today. I picked up a few things, then started washing dishes. While I was doing that, and then cleaning the sink and table, Tom picked up the living room, swept, vacuumed the one carpet in the apartment, and even attempted mopping the kitchen floor (which he got annoyed with after about five minutes and quit). It looks so pretty. The re-arranging we did awhile ago really made a big difference down here, and we've been really trying to keep boxes and things from piling up in the living area. (Thus, the spare room.. well, hey, no-one needs to go in there anyway, right?) So within an hour everything looked awesome, and it makes me really happy.

- Heading over to coworker Samantha's place for a small (I think) party later tonight. I'm hoping to talk Tom into coming, but I don't think it's going to happen. Sam is one of my favorite people on the planet, so though I'm not usually a going-out-places person, she never has to twist my arm very far. I'm going to try out Heidi's artichoke dip to bring with me. I have yet to make a dip recipe that really works, but this seems fairly fool-proof. While I was getting ready to make a quick run to the store (QUALITY IS GOING TO CLOSE SOON! NOOOOOO!!!) to pick up the ingredients, Tom came downstairs. He was both bored (as noted in a previous post this afternoon) and hungry. But not hungry enough to make himself something. I took pity on him and flipped through some recipes, and realized I had most of the stuff on-hand for:

- Polish Style Lasagna. Which tastes exactly like pierogies - but without the serious hassle of having to make buttloads of little pierogies. And who doesn't have random extra lasagna noodles laying around? (At least I assume other people have this problem? that you always think you'll need a full box to make lasagna, and you only use half or two-thirds, and then you have some left, and then the next time you go to make lasagna, you still think you'll need a full box...) It is definitely important to add cheese to this - I grated some sharp cheddar onto each layer. I also threw a few green onions, garlic and paprika in with the potatoes, then threw smoked paprika and parsley on top when it came out of the oven. Tom pouted to find there was no sour cream to dump on top - which would have been a plus, but I think it's perfectly good without. (So does he, given the fact that the silly thing's about a third gone now.) Definitely a keeper recipe, pierogi-flavor is seriously addicting.

- And, as mentioned, my Quality Markets (the grocery store that is a three-minute walk from my apartment) is going to close, for real this time, and I am really, REALLY sad. Tops recently bought them out, and for awhile it looked like they were going to keep it open - just stocking the Tops store brand rather than the Quality store brand, that sort of thing. Buuuut, when I went in today, there were signs all over for an upcoming EVERYTHING ON SALE STORE CLOSING, and I overheard a cashier say they were going to be open maybe another month. I am heartbroken. Largely for the convenience-factor - it was so wonderful having something right there when I just needed one more onion for a recipe, or ran out of coriander unexpectedly, or whatever. Also, their bread was cheaper than Tops. Tops is still not far away - I think it takes barely ten minutes on my bike to get there. But it's far enough that I would not be able to get a jug of milk home without issues. sigh.

- Whittling is harder than I remember it being. I wanted to get a little twig to use as a fastener for my little mohair sweater-let (which I will post a pic of one of these days). I've been using an antique stick-pin (from the family hand-me-down stash of random jewelry bits from the shop my great-grandfather once owned), buuut, I get a bit nervous about having this three-inch long sharp thing on me. And I finally poked myself with it today. So, picture in pattern book showed a little twig holding the sweater together, which I thought looked cute. I thought, well, I can get a little twig, and then maybe carve a little spiral into it, that will be easy, right?

Yeah no. It probably doesn't help that my twig is from a shrub, not really a tree, so it was a bit weak. Also, it was small. And my random little jackknife has been floating around in my stuff for probably fifteen years without being sharpened ever. Got the bark off, smoothed out the knots, and tried tracing a little line.. and it just looked awful lmao. So, I am leaving it as a little bare twig. Pretty much anything will hold lacy mohair together, so I'll test it out tonight.

Labels: art, being social, cooking, crochet, family, friends, life in general

 
Because I do not trust facebook to not decimate the quality and sharpness etc. of my awesome, awesome birthday drawing for Mel:



Love you kiddo. ;) Happy birthday. Your REAL birthday present is currently stretched out on my blocking mats - are you visiting soon, or should I mail?

Labels: art, family, photoshop, silliness

 


Bwahahaha I have noooooo idea how much of this teeny-tiny detailing is going to print, and I'm just praying the text will be readable. Probably not. Oh well. I LIKE IT. A freaking lot.

(Obviously the reduced-size jpg that you internet viewers get to see is not as sharp, and certainly not really legible. But you get the general idea of it. I'm so in love.)

Labels: art, crochet, photos, photoshop

 
Yes I signed up for Twitter.

Mainly because I wanted to try and snap up a Phat Fiber sampler box (which I did! successfully! barely! holy CRAP they sell out in under a minute!), and I thought there might be notes on their twitter feed. (There weren't. But they were on-time with the sale, as per their email list.)

Also because Mary Beth Temple, of Getting Loopy podcast fame, is always talking about the conversations the crochet people are having on twitter, and I felt nosy.

We shall see. I'll play for awhile. I suspect it will be my doom come NaNoNovember again.


...meanwhile, I am playing in Photoshop. I've been toying with the idea of making some kind of record of my crochet projects. 1) I want to show off what I've made, which I might do via flickr. 2) It's hard enough to give things away, I need to have pictures of everything. 3) I've made enough stuff now that I'm going to stop being able to keep all the info in my head (where the pattern is from, what yarn I used - which is probably most important so I know what I can machine-wash and what I can't!).

But taking photos and uploading them is seriously, seriously boring. And I realized 95% of my digital creative output this year has been in CorelDraw, at work. Which I've grown to love, I admit, but... I feel like I've been neglecting Photoshop. Which is my onetrueluv!1!.

So I am playing, and it is looking seriously awesome. Plan is to print it out on the nice sharp color copier at work one of these days, and get a scrapbook/binder another one of these days. Playing with paper and glue is very fun, but, so is doing it without the mess.

Labels: art, being social, crochet, photoshop, technology

 
Tom and I went up to the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens yesterday. It was absolutely gorgeous, we had the perfect day for it, and it was a much bigger place than we'd expected. And flowers always make me happy.







I took like 80 pictures in the, what, hour, maybe two, we were there. They all came out freaking gorgeous. So we're giving flickr a shot again, and I'm posting everything there. Go look! So much pretty!

Flickr set of everything





It was a lovely day, it really was.

And I have THE best shot of Tom:



Title: "Surrounded by the enemy"

mwaaaahahahaha. His expression is absolutely amazing.


Afterwards, we went to Borders (where I GOT BUNNICULA!!! A lovely hardcover compilation of three of the books...which are shorter than I remember them being, but holy crap I still giggled the whole way through them). Burgers at Fuddrucker's for lunch/dinner, then over to Teavana to get some new tea, yay. Lovely, lovely day.

Labels: art, life in general, photos, plants, travel

 
Polishing off the picture-post:


Birthday present from Tom. I freaking adore this necklace. Silver-colored metal wing, copper disc, and actual little watch mechanism in the middle. It matches half my wardrobe, and it was all I could manage to not *quite* wear it every single day for two weeks after my birthday. There's also a matching pin, that has a little jade stone instead of the watch parts.


How pretty is this pattern?? Scarf I made Beth for Christmas, though it was late January by the time I finished it. Alpaca-silk-wool blend, I think. Probably not sturdy enough to handle me wearing it every day, but that's because I'm a spazz.


Yes it is basically that long. My coworker Lucas requested a ridiculously bright rainbow scarf. Draped around my neck, the thing went just past my knees. It is superbright. He loved it, and I freaking loved making it. (Tom had enough issues with that much color being in one spot, I don't think he could deal with me having a(nother) rainbow article of clothing.)


Soooo guess who's incapable of taking straight photos? oh me. But it's our bookcase!!! Hooray! Unfortunately, it wound up being even MORE crammed full than that. While re-doing the smaller bookshelf, I found... two? three? more boxes of books laying around. So the *entire* second-to-bottom shelf is now books stacked vertically instead of running horizontally... and I still had to add a few things to the bin upstairs. I honestly could fill another one of these... and that's still not even touching Tom's ginormous unliftable box of Star Wars books. But we have that whole little section all re-arranged now, and the couch is where Tom wants it, and everything over there is all nice and neat.

Note that there are no pictures of my computer desk area. ^^;; It's still a little scary. But! When tax refunds arrive, I am NOT going yarn shopping. I am going organizing-shopping. I am going to get an actual little drawer-thing of some sort for all my various ribbon paint fabric beads brushes scrapbooking thread pastels etc etc etc., so it will be organized AND accessible. It's not terribly unorganized right now, but, I have to move boxes to get to other boxes and then move everything around again when I'm done, and it's just not fun. Also I keep finding more spools of ribbon, and the box they're supposed to be in is at the bottom of a pile, etc.

The yarn... I'm still unsure about. What I WANT, is something like this:

Okay maybe not eating up *quite* so much wall, but I've seen setups like that in table-sizes, where the top of the bin becomes counterspace, say, for doing art on. But I love the diagonal bins. This is not, I'm sure, practical in my current living space. For now, I have... well, three baskets of yarn that Tom is aware of. I think he's figured out that the boxes beside the desk are largely yarn and yarn supplies as well. Pretty sure he's still in the dark about the whole basket of cotton yarn in the bedroom, which is for the best.

I really don't think a drawer setup is going to work for the yarn. I really like the baskets, but Tom doesn't like seeing all that yarn, while I love looking at all the pretty colors. I'll have to keep thinking on that one.


THAT ASIDE...

I have to stop there with the pictures anyway, because the only ones I have left are belated Christmas gifts that I have not given to their recipients yet, so they're still kindofsortof secrets. The snow down here is currently UP TO MY KNEES, so I may have to wind up doing another post office run, rather than wait until I physically see people. boo.

Labels: apartment, art, crochet, life in general, photos

 
Once again, Tom asked me to draw him something, to use as a base for a 3D model. He wanted a four-legged something, that he could try to animate.

I've spent the last hour sketching in Photoshop, and it was crappy to start, but then I wound up with this little fox thing. It was cute. I made it stick out its tongue and gave it foofy ears. It made me smile. I found some reference shots of foxes to get the legs right, and some reference shots of Arabian horses for the tail I had in mind.

Tom wandered downstairs just now, and took a look.

"...it's the same problem as when you drew me a person. Everyone knows what a person is *supposed* to look like." Thus, the animator's dilemma - if you're doing something people are already familiar with, they won't like it unless it's identical. It's really, really hard to give people a model of, for example, a person with an extra-long torso or something. It looks "wrong". This gets even worse when you go to try and animate the thing.

"This is a dog."
"I knooowwww, it's really hard to invent an animal! But that's why I started making it a little different..."
"You added fur." Which is notoriously hard to not only model in 3d, but also animate. And isn't an actual body structure anyway.
"... ..yeahhh..."
"You're useless to me."
"...isn't this what happened the last three times we tried this?"

As exciting as the idea of Tom'n'Melissa art collaboration is, I cannot do basic blueprint sketches of things to save my life. It's insanely hard for me. Doable if I have some actual object in front of me, but, honestly, doing a head-on shot of anything with a face and limbs and things is crazy hard. Plus it looks unnatural and unemotional and thus just doesn't interest me to draw. bleh.

Also, I do not do "manly" drawings. ever.

But my little fox is still cute! so there.

Labels: art, drawing, life in general

 
Photoshop day!

I happened across White Flower Farm's website during NaNoNovember, looking for reference pictures for something or another, and remembered how much I'd always loved their catalog. Mom had lots of plant catalogs always around the house, but White Flower Farm always had the best selection of oriental lilies. :) Flipping through their online catalog, I was happily surprised by the quality of their photos, and mentioned to Mom that if she had any old catalogs laying around, I'd love to snag them for reference.



Lo and behold, a few weeks later, a copy of the catalog lands in my mailbox. Thank you, Mom! The spring catalog just arrived, and I spent a good long time pawing through it. They do some gorgeous arrangements of flowers, which are sototally going to influence my own drawings/writing. The catalog is full of unusual and incredibly striking plants, everything is just *really* *freaking* *pretty*. But what really grabbed me were some of the foliage plants and things... and the second I saw the hellebore flowers, I was dying to draw one.



I almost did late last night... I went downtown with a coworker, and while it wasn't a particularly exciting evening, we talked a lot. I haven't had a chance to really talk with her much, but she's one of my favorite people, so I was happy to have the chance to. Unfortunately, she's going through a rough patch - almost done with college, no idea what she wants to do with her life, things at home going downhill, boys being..well, boys, which is to say, emotionally distant and ridiculous. But I'm good at listening, and while I doubt I was able to contribute much help, I know sometimes just having a sympathetic ear and some company helps.

It made me realize though... I've been so insanely lucky in my life. Like, really. Hearing Tom's stories of his high school, hearing stories from my friend and a friend of hers about failed and troubled relationships, all these countless stories around me... and my life sounds suddenly boring next to all of theirs. But while it means I don't have a particularly captivating repertoire of life stories to share... it means I haven't had to deal with all the troubles they have. My home life had its dramas, everyone's does, but really, mine was pretty darn calm. My last couple years of high school were an emotional roller coaster, but whose weren't? I still have no idea what I'm doing with my life, but, y'know, I have a job I don't totally hate - it even sometimes gives me the chance to do what I love. I have a place of my own - even if I can't keep it clean, and doing dishes and laundry drives me bananas some days. And I have the most supportive boy ever, who keeps me grounded and largely sane, and knows I'm crazy but somehow doesn't entirely mind.

So I came in somewhere around midnight last night, all of this filtering through my mind. I was pretty tipsy still, and my mind was too awake to let me sleep for awhile, so I turned on the computer when I came in, planning to try my hand at a hellebore flower. I went upstairs to the bathroom while the computer was booting, and before I came back down, I peeked in to check on Tom.

And he was curled up on my side of the bed, half under the sheets, just, *curled*, his hands tucked up by his chin, sleeping so sweetly and beautifully...

I turned the computer back off, and came upstairs to bed. Didn't sleep for crap last night, but, you know, I didn't entirely mind.

Today, I took him out to breakfast, picked up some veggies to make a nice slow-cooker curry today, and spent the day in Photoshop. Tom's out with DJ, I told him they're welcome to come by around 7 when the curry will be ready, there'll be plenty to go around. I might do some laundry, or might wait until tomorrow. I have Labyrinth on Blu-Ray. (I also have Rattle & Hum on Blu-Ray, and I've had an awful lot of U2 dreams out of nowhere lately.) I have Guitar Hero. I have crochet projects and new Sigur Rós cds. In an hour or two, I'll have some of the promising-looking curry. I'm a pretty darn content little thing. (I also can't stop looking at my drawing. so pretty!!!)

Labels: art, being social, cooking, drawing, friends, life in general, navelgaze, storytime, wallpaper

 
New wallpaper! No particular reason. I was bored with my current one, and wanted to have something new I'd made myself - it's been awhile. So I flipped through my photo stash, and found a starfish shot I took at the aquarium on Long Island earlier this year. It had a nice composition.. and really a nice color.



See? pretty. But, not enough detail stayed put, the light in the place was so weird to try to work with, there was only so much I could do. Couldn't get the camera to focus properly to save my life.



The end result is not what I had in mind initially... but I didn't have much of a plan initially anyway. I wanted to add texture, something old-paper-ish.. but then a bit of tweaking revealed some tiny scratches on the aquarium glass, and I decided I liked those. They were too faint to really do much with, so I added more in toward the end. Photo is mine. Brushes (scratchies, swirly bits, etc) and textures (a pattern fill that's slightly in there, and a watercolor wash that's layered in) are from various sources. Handwriting is mine. ;)

The (purposely) faint writing is lyrics from The Church's "A New Season". (The album it's on is Starfish. Very creative, I know. ;p )

Shaded crystal water, bathed in by God's daughter
Sighing, whispers near, a new season passes here

Sensory gifts to all who come
Soak up the stars and setting sun

Labels: art, photos, wallpaper

 
HOLY SHIT I GOT TOM A 1ST EDITION STAR WARS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was on etsy a few nights ago, poking around for Christmas ideas. I found some interesting things, including a book. One of the pre-movie releases of the novelization.

Tom had seen one of these once in a bookstore upstate somewhere years ago, and realized only later how INSANELY rare a find it had been. I'm not sure if the one I have in my lap right now is the same one or not, but...

It is from December 1976. First edition. George Lucas' name is given as the author (though it was actually ghostwritten.) Same cover as on the Star Wars wiki's entry. It's Ballantine Books, instead of Del Ray, and it's fairly beat up around the edges, but... Okay some googling tells me that the Del Ray book was out in November, so this isn't THE first, but, holy shit is it close.

And dude, I only paid $25.

I'm kind of spazzing. HOW IN HELL CAN I WAIT UNTIL CHRISTMAS!?!?


Having discussed some shipping cost questions with the seller, this morning I snagged a set of FOUR of the original Star Wars Burger King glasses. (One is a duplicate to one I've already gotten him, but, three more? all in one go? awesome.) My other awesome find was this.


I was looking for some interesting art, something more than just random Jedi fanart... and this totally nails it. Tom loves abstract simple geometric lines. And I think the design on this is pretty damn brilliant - such a few simple shapes, but it captures that opening shot SO well.


p.s. I LOVE ETSY. I reallyreally do. Not only are there amazing amounts of original artwork, some of it incredibly well-made, but the site works beautifully, their organizational system makes it actually plausible to shop for things, and the people on there... they really bring up my level of faith in humanity. For the book? I missed seeing a notice from the seller that I should have waited to pay until she sorted out sales tax, since we were both in NY. I usually pop over to paypal to send payment as soon as I click "buy"... but the girl was SO nice about it, and said it was no problem, she just sent a little like $2 bill to my paypal, I clicked okay, and we were good to go. I bought: 11/27. Book in my mailbox: 11/30. Carefully packaged and wrapped, pretty tissue paper, and a hand-written note from the seller. <333

Labels: art, books, life in general, product whoring, spazz, star wars geeking

 
Oh, Sigur Rós, I forgot how easily you make me cry...

Flipping through a few songs on shuffle on the iPod, I landed on a live version of "Viðrar vel til loftárása" (which, hey! I still spelled right on the first try! but I don't know the codes for special characters on linux...), a concert I downloaded ages ago but had never listened to.

It starts out so light and sweet, there's a long silence before the piano gently comes in... a verse or two is played, a sweet purity in the song, and then the band goes silent. For a long, long time. The crowd stays silent, then applauds, then is silent...

And the band suddenly flies into the second portion of the song, the part where everything opens up and expands, the strings rush in like waves on the shore, and everything just soars up into the stars...

And then it closes with just a few strings, gently playing, as a lullaby.


...I sat there for a few minutes afterward, tears in my eyes, asking myself how people had found themselves able to applaud, to yell approval, when all I could do was sit here stunned and breathless, crying at the sheer ecstatic beauty of the song.


I haven't watched the video in a few years, and it's stunning, so heartbreaking and haunting... and I need to go watch it again now.

(And then I'll churn out today's 1,667 words. promise.)

Labels: art, music, sigur ros

 
Cross-posting from the NaNo blog, because I don't blame anyone for not slogging through that blog, and I think the content is relevant to everybody. :)


I love Chris Baty.

For the uninitiated, Chris Baty is the crazy who started this whole whirlwind adventure that calls itself NaNoWriMo. And every week, of every November, he sends out pep talk emails, which always lead to both giggles and warm fuzzies of camaraderie and encouragement.

Closing this week's:

"I didn't say this in the Week One pep talk because we'd only just met and there's really only so much cornball sentiment from a random guy on the internet that anyone should have to tolerate in one month. But here's the truth: You have a book in you that only you can write. Your story matters. Your voice matters. The world will be richer for you seeing this crazy creative escapade through to 50,000 words.

This may be hard to believe given the craptastic state that many of our manuscripts are in. But there are great, unexpected things ahead for you in Weeks Three and Four. And there is someone out there who has been waiting their whole life to read the book you're writing now."


That... is exactly why I drag myself through the slog of 50,000 words every November. Because I think (I hope) he's right. And not just about me, but about everybody - everyone views the world from a different place, with different eyes, seeing different hues of every color in the world.

So, yay for Chris Baty. <3

Labels: art, nanowrimo, navelgaze, writing

 
Halloween at the store was fun and exciting and full of loooong hours. We had one exciting arrest of someone stealing a costume. We sold out of: vampire teeth (surprise surprise), cat ears, handcuffs, nerd glasses, V for Vendetta masks, afros in normal hair colors (i.e. not pink green blue etc), bumblebee and butterfly wings, and were down to three mustaches last I knew. Not sure why the run on mustaches. I had a customer specifically ask for "the girl in the sailor dress" (that was Thursday's outfit), because "she knows EVERYTHING". I win!

Thursday: last year's sailor dress, worn over jeans.
Friday: Rainbow Brite costume from a few years back, worn over jeans, with ridiculous eyeshadow and my hair in a side ponytail. People knew who I was dressed up as and it made them smile. yay.
Saturday: 80s rock star, somewhere between Jem and Cyndi Lauper. I forgot to get a picture before work, but Ann took one of me and Sam, which will find its way to the 'nets sometime. Black tanktop with a mesh-y glittered shirt overtop, a waistpiece with two belts, short black capris, aaaand the most amazing skirt ever: a little tutu-style thing, neon pink tulle under a layer of poofy black lace. I added: pink fishnets, two layers of socks (scrunched down, of course), a flowery tattoo sleeve on one arm, a mess of bangle bracelets, THE most amazing lacey glovelets I designed myself and crocheted, giant heart-shaped ring, chain'n'crosses'n'coins necklace, star necklace, aaaaand I teased my hair and sprayed it in place. And crazy eyeshadow again. It. was. AWESOME.

(It also took me at least fifteen minutes to comb my hair this morning.)

I made a general invite to my place for snacks and drinks and Wii games after work... but nobody came. Which was a little sad, but I had a really nice night anyway. Tom and I watched movies and ate snacks (my dip was kind of a fail, but the Twinkie sushi IS AMAZING) and had some drinks and then sleeeeept. Sleep felt amazing.

Today was nice and quiet. Mom came down for a visit, and brought me a re-released "Boy" LP - ORIGINAL COVER ART omfg. I staaaared at everything for a good long while. The cover picture is beautiful. The booklet... I'm so glad I didn't grow up with records. Because I would have been SERIOUSLY angry over how small booklets have become since. There's so much visual real estate in an LP booklet it is positively mind-boggling. And this one had Bono-drawings in it! And the original lyrics, aaaand some of the contact sheet shots from '79 that Megs and I spent probably weeks in total studying every detail of. I think a few of these were new to me though, AND! they used Kodak Tri-X film! That's what I used, all through photography! eeee! I don't (currrently) have a record player around but I so don't even care, it's such a beautiful thing.

There are also food goodies, and a WalMart trip got me a few more.

...which brings us to the import of today. NOVEMBER FIRST! NANOWRIMO begins! Approximately 7oz of trail mix and one Snapple raspberry white tea later, I have met my word count for today. It was only a little painful. And my main character still lacks a name, but at least I have some ideas.

Tom, in trying to get me to stop nagging him to NaNo with me, has declared he is going to write a program this month. It is a little consoling to see him throwing words at walls too... or what passes for words in coding. I know enough about the theory to have a vague idea of what he's spazzing about, but, uh, not enough to remotely help.


I am so sleepy. Was up too late last night, and now that the insanity of Halloween is over work is going to feel very, very boring, which makes me feel the tired more. I have some dishes I should wash, and definitely need to make some food sometime today, but... we shall see. There is a Wii with Super Paper Mario on it.

Labels: art, nanowrimo, U2 spazz, work, writing

 
I need a brandname.

I've been toying with the idea of selling my art for ages. I'm near enough now that I was looking at what it costs to get little fabric tags with your name on it (reasonably cheap, unless you want your own design, boo). But, I need a name for my stuff.

I want something that can be consistent across everything I do, since it's always changing, so a generic kind of name for an etsy shop, a website, to put on tags on my crochet work, whatever. I sign my real name on my drawings, I go by Ananda Daydream on most websites, my last name will be changing somewhere in the next few years (HINT HINT Mr. Thomas)... I need something else. And I like a general name better anyway.

I asked Tom for ideas a few nights ago, and he rambled on for about half an hour. Unfortunately, his conclusion was...HA! I TOLD HIM I'D NEVER REMEMBER IT!!! crap. what was it? Yigotz. That was it. Which, for many reasons, would be an awesome brand name for something on the internet. But would not work for me.

Along the way though, he threw out a handful of interesting names, and then described the concept he was working around. From his perspective, the common thread that runs through all of my art, is... well basically a spiritual nature, something "celestial" was his word. Something otherworldly. And I totally agree with that - I love the idea of twilight, of that misty area halfway between dreaming and waking, I love the idea of ghosts, and that the past is layered on all the things we've touched, and the people who lived before us touched. The whole concept of Beneath the Dust, my capstone project, really did pretty well at reflecting the way I see things. Even in my crochet, there's a bit of fancifulness, and then too, I really love the idea that when you're making something by hand, your thoughts and your emotions are worked into it. Every time I pull the crochet hook through the yarn and make a knot, there's a little wisp of my thoughts caught in the fibers... so the whole concept of prayer shawls, and of binding up your good wishes for someone in the blanket you've made them, I really love. (So all of you getting crochet goodies from me - I really do put all of that into what I've made you. :)

Unfortunately, Tom is a scientist, and I am an artist, so I can't use words like "brain" in my brand. But I love that concept of duality, that there's another layer to the world around us, and I'd love to play off of that.

And, of course, there are my flower lists - remember, the ones I've been drawing off of for all my Phisto things for like, oh god, four, five years now? I started skimming through my list of flower meanings, trying to find a flower that I love (preferably one I feel an attachment to, or have some association with), that has a meaning that suits. The various meanings of Dianthus unfortunately don't suit, though I love the sound of the name as well as the flower... my current favorite is Osmunda, which is fern, and means "dreams", or "I dream of thee".

Labels: art, navelgaze

 
Life is, as ever, superbusy. Being summertime, there's all kinds of things I want to go out and do, and Tom has been incredibly indulgent to my out-and-about whims lately. I dragged him out to the Charcoal Corral, where we had a quite nice afternoon (after he stopped being angry about my bad direction-giving...oops). Last week, I dragged him to the county fair, where I had wine ice cream (AMAZING) and bought some handmade glass necklace pendants. And there were mohair goats! They're the scruffliest looking things I have ever seen (Tom called them hobo-goats), but... well let's just say I was haaard-pressed to not go see what was going on at the hand-spinning booth. My yarn addiction is bad enough as it is, I do NOT need to let myself get into hand-dying and spinning and everything else.

The store is only now starting to slow down a bit, it's been the busiest summer there. Yesterday was the first day in probably two months I didn't have any printwork waiting for me when I got there. (So I cranked out like eight new banner template layouts - one of these days I need to post them here, because some are seriously awesome.)

Crocheting like a madwoman still: blanket for a (slightly belated) wedding gift, blanket for Tom's birthday, my half-finished skirt, and whatever random little bracelets necklaces hairthings caught my eye that day.

Cooking lots: Heidi's Marathon Cookies (anise and lemon and sesame seeds what?) are my current spazz. Also Mom visited me and brought a toooooon of spice-store goodies. I now have three different kinds of couscous! Awesome. I kind of hashed two recipes together to get a fantastic summer lunchfood, couscous with olive oil, lemon juice, lots of cucumber, and some mix of parsley and dill and things, that sort of thing. Keeps beautifully in the fridge for like a week. (I have learned that tomatoes, sadly, do not keep for crap once they've been cut up. boo.)

And! I have, randomly, been drawing! It's been ages. But there's now a big official super-thorough Lynda.com tutorial for Blender - which is the open-source (and FREE) 3D modeling program. Thus, Tom has been completely absorbed for close to a week, trying to learn this beast of a program. However, he wanted to try modeling something other than the examples included - which means he needed a drawing to work from.

...so I've learned loads already about the modeling process, and what exactly is needed in a t-pose sketch. It is FREAKING HARD, mainly because it involves a lot of things like lining things up straight, using grids, and making definite lines - y'know, all the kinds of things I'm usually awful at.

But while making myself a new shopping list notepad last week (I threw together some simple designs in Photoshop, picked up some pretty paper at work, printed, cut, glued, voila! adorable little notepad!), I drew the cutest little fairy in like ten, fifteen minutes.

Just a sketch, but despite how rough I kept it, she had a bit of personality. So, going off of that, I made up a character for Tom. That character is no longer a fairy, she's somewhere between an ancient Greek chick and a gypsy, but she's cute.

Tom, on seeing the character, was not as horrified as I'd feared. (She wasn't really what I'd had in mind to make him, but, she's what happened.) In giving me some pointers on what changes to make in future, telling me what would work best for him...I realized that what he was talking about was that he, like me, needed the girl's actual body, to layer the clothes onto, to make things work nicely. "Wait... I have that! Hang on, it's in one of these layers..."

The first couple of layers I did, my little chick was naked, so I could get proportions right and things. Being the layer psychopath that I am, they were still in there. A bit of clean-up work, and Tom had his sketches! (So I'll go back and refine the clothes when he's nearer to needing them.)

Teasers:
   
(I was focusing on the elements I figured Tom would need the most, and sketched in a few contour lines that I think might help. Also: it took me FOREVER to get that girl's profile right! ugh that was awful. I had to go search the interwebs for pictures, and then tweak the hell out of what I was looking at to fit the character I was trying to draw... but I'm REALLY psyched about the results.)

...it's a very strange, and somewhat amazing, thing, seeing what someone else does with what you've started. He's gotten as far as a semi-refined model of the body (not the head, I had to re-draw that in more detail today), and it is seriously freaking cool, recognizing the particular curves I drew in this grey stack of polygons.


Rambling aside! After putting in some more work on my girl's face, I decided to go back to my original rough little fairy sketch. Somehow or another, she got super-colorful (probably due to the style of the t-shirts I'm dying to buy)...and I am SO happy with the way the coloring worked out. I'm totally in love. It's very freeing, letting things keep some rough edges. And I actually think it adds a lot, I like this much better than the exacting sort of detailing I've done in the past, there's more motion to it, it's a lot lighter. (Also, I can actually FINISH a drawing, instead of letting it sit around half-finished because I'm too intimidated by it.)

No I have no idea why she's blue-green. I just liked the color. ;)

Full-drawing, and also a desktop-size cropped version.

   

Labels: art, cooking, crochet, drawing, printshop, work

 
GRATUITOUS DESKTOP ALERT

Penguins!!!1!



Base is a photo I took on Long Island, cropped to horizontal. Mostly just messed with the lighting, sharpened it all, aaand messed with dark/light more. Then threw in a bit of extra texture just for fun.

Labels: art, silliness, wallpaper