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Showing posts from August, 2007

New hobby

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A few months ago I watched a bit of this anime series (and I can't recall the name of it) where the main character ran around taking pictures of clouds. Maybe he had a cloud fetish, who knows. But anyway, for some strange reason I started thinking about this the other day while sitting on my deck. Suddenly, I found myself staring up at the clouds cruising along the sky and, of course, pictures started to form. "Wow," I said to myself. Yes, I talk to myself occasionally. Don't we all? Go on, admit it! Okay, I'm getting back on topic now. After I let loose with that "wow," I started thinking that snapping pictures of the cloud images I saw might provide me with inspiration for drawing in the future...um, when I learn how to draw better, that is. Now, taking pictures of the things I see in the passing clouds is my new hobby! So...what does this cloud look like to you?

Creativity Forum

Now I've gone and done it. :) I started a brand new forum for creative people over at Active Boards. I wanted a place where basically beginning artists etc. could get together without having to worry about their stuff not being good enough to show off. I'm leaving the link below in case anyone is interested in checking it out. You have to create an account to join but it's free, and you don't have to create anything to look the place over. :) Right now there's an annoying advertisement at the top of the forum, but I can pay to get rid of such ads later, and will do so IF I get a lot of people joining up. I'm always looking for ideas and suggestions so if anyone wants to help me out with things there, let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this new forum. Creative Urges Forum PS: I have to shout out a thank you to Keri Smith for inspiring me to get this new forum up and running.

Shades of my past

I walked to the local restaurant and back home this morning, memories of my childhood flitting across my mind as I saw kids heading off for their first day of school. They weren't very pleasant memories either. I dreaded going to school because I was very overweight and teased with names like "2 ton." My mother took me to a doctor after I was fitted for a size 22 dress for my brother's wedding. That was in the 7th grade! I followed the diet plan the doc gave me and lost much of the weight by the time I entered high school and kept it off until I had my first child. From then on I've endured a constant battle with the same 40 pounds for several years. I lose it, I gain it, I lose it again. Right now I have to get back to working on losing it yet again. The teasing I experienced as a child turned me into an introvert and left me with very low self-esteem. I'm still quite shy and hate looking in the mirror because no matter how much weight I lose I continue to se

The Birds

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I don't get to see a variety of birds since I live in the heart of the big city, so imagine my surprise when I glanced out at the bird feeder in my yard this morning and saw this. Are those parakeets??

Creativity

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I picked up 3 books with the 25 dollar gift certificate I had from Amazon. They all have to do with creativity.       I'm anxious to start on, "Wreck This Journal," by Keri Smith. With entries like, 'Eat some colorful candy then lick this page,' I have high hopes that it will help me set my perfectionist nature aside and simply have fun. I have too many neat journals lying around. It's time to cut loose and let my creative side shine! For some interesting ideas, take a look at Keri Smith's Blog

Sunday Update

I love my daughter's new house! It's warm and cozy, and bigger than their old place. With 2 kids and 2 dogs, they really need the extra room. There's also a swimming pool and a gazebo in a large backyard, and the neighborhood is quiet and beautiful. Being in a suburb, the houses aren't built so close to each other like they are here in the city. That's what I hate most about my own home. It's sucks having my neighbor's bedroom window directly across from the window over my kitchen sink. I usually keep my curtains closed while washing dishes because I don't want to feel like a peeping tom. lol We picked up 2 new games for the Wii...."Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz," and "Mortal Kombat Armageddon." The monkey ball one has 50 party games. We tested only a few of them out so far and fell in love with the dart game. My hubby started giving me dirty looks when my dart kept hitting the bulls eye for 50 points each time. *cracks up* Now if on

Short break

My hubby is on vacation until Monday so I probably won't be around until then. Tomorrow we're going to spend the day with my daughter and her family in the new house they recently bought. Can't wait. :)

I misplaced my gusto

I'm giving myself a little pat on the back because I finally managed to open that new 3d graphic program I downloaded (Daz Studio), fought down my intimidation, and actually worked with it, following a tutorial I found. Of course I only scratched the surface since there's an awful lot to learn with this program, but we all have to start somewhere. And supposedly, getting started is always the hardest part. Right now I'm having a hard time getting too deeply involved in any one thing as was my habit in the past. My attention span seems to be lacking. Or maybe I simply don't have the intense desire to delve into something new and let it consume me for months again. I keep hoping my lack of enthusiasm is due to summer because I'd rather be outside sucking in fresh air and enjoying the warmth of the sun instead of puttering around in front of my computer. The more I think about it, the more I'm starting to believe the culprit is, "lack of pressure." As muc

Feet are important too!

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My (mis)adventures in learning how to draw continues. I plan to sit my butt down and practice today for at least 2-3 hours. I'm still following the "How to draw wizards, etc." book I picked up a few weeks ago. Here's another book I got at Borders for the bargain price of $4.99. It's a hardcover with 160 pages. I've worked with it a little so far and it's great. I'll probably post some of the anatomy drawings I did at some point. But today, I'm showing off my drawings of feet! Yep, feet. lol Who knew those puppies would be so difficult to draw?

Thursday thoughts

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Plans for today... Vacuum and dust Wash a load of clothes Pay a few bills Work on my booklist web page Print out a tutorial for Daz Studio Continue sports training on Wii Read for at least an hour Speaking of reading, I finished "Unshapely Things," by Mark del Franco. Later I'll start on, "Warrior Angel" by Margaret and Lizz Weis. It's a paranormal romance, quite different from Margaret Weis's usual stuff. I got a 15 minute ride in on the bicycle this morning. I know it's not much, but hey, it's better than nothing at all. :D Since the heat wave is still going on here in Chi town, I'll be cooped up in the nice air conditioned house for the rest of the day. Yep, I'm spoiled.