BLAHOG

I've been feeling blog lame. I think coming down from vacation combined with a gloomy rainy week has killed my lust for posting. I forced myself to draw this drawing tonight because I don't want to get out of the habit of blogging. I have a few ideas for paintings floating around in my head so hopefully I'll get some time to commit those to paper soon. Stay tuned.

Quick Sketch

I'm grumpy today.

A Day Off!

Yesterday was my birthday so I decided to give myself the day off from blogging. I had a great day thanks to Ben, friends, coworkers, and adult beverages. My good day yesterday made for a rough day today. Tonight was my last Adobe Illustrator class. I'm still working on my big project but this is what I accomplished tonight.

Frustrating!

I came home from my Illustrator class all jazzed that I would have something to show after a few more hours of work but I've had the most frustrating time trying to figure out how to do the simplest thing so I'm giving up for the night. My instructor did show us this cool site.

Stoatial Distortion

It was a tough choice to pick the best fake animal band name but I have to say that Matt's made me laugh out loud so I went with that one. I decided to use my budding Adobe Illustrator skillz to make an album cover. You should check out his blog.

Self-Portrait #360

I think I captured frustrated concentration in this one while in my Adobe Illustrator class. This is the
rough draft of my logo project. I'm trying to turn the font that Bad
Veins uses into a logo. I want to slowly get away from the original
font but keep the same feeling. Right now I think the flowers look
like cotton. I like cotton.

Self-Portrait #350

I set a timer for 10 minutes for this drawing. I need to loosen up and time limits are a good way to do that.

Self-Portrait #341

Quick wacom tablet drawing.

Self-Portrait #336

It just wasn't happening tonight.

Self-Portrait #319

My nose feels this big today from blowing it so much. The highlight of my day was not getting drinks for a friends birthday but getting to buy tissues with lotion in them. They are magical.

NEXT!

2009 Goals!!!!!!Last year I set several goals for the new year and it was nice to have those to go back to and get refocused from time to time so I think I'd like to do that again. I have a few regular readers and I depend on you to keep me focused. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the day to day and forget to actually get things accomplished. Here goes...

1. Take an Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop class.
2. Sign up for another session of life drawing.
3. Create 100 4x6 paintings and have a show. I failed at this last year
4. Continue to blog regularly even when the self-portrait challenge is done. I'd like to come up with another assignment for myself.
5. Start a savings account!!! Yes, I do not have a savings account and this is the year. I'm growing up.
6. Go to yoga at least once a week.
7. Continue to make stuff to sell on Etsy even though I've NEVER sold anything. (Hint, Hint...please someone buy something!).
8. Figure out the best way to make and actually make an animation that has been floating around in my head for a few months.
9. Landscape my backyard. Yet another failure from the year before.
10. Finish painting the house...a project that was started two years ago.

Self-Portrait #312

I'm not sure why it feels good to transition into a new year, why people put so much stock into a new beginning. I generally think that is a little silly but this year I'm definitely ready to put 2008 behind me. I can't say that this was a great year for me. There was a lot between my blog lines that went unsaid. It could have been worse but it could have been much better. I do feel fortunate to have the life that I have and I'm sure that in my life there will be a few more bad years to come but I am very glad to be putting this one behind me. I'm excited about setting new goals and looking back on the ones that I did accomplish. So here's my year in review. I set out with many goals, some were accomplished and some will be carried over to 2009.
1. Learn to use my sewing machine. I can't say that I spent a lot of time on the sewing machine but I can sew a straight line now so I'd say I did pretty well here.
2. Buy more gifts for people on Etsy. YES! I did this. I do have to say that I bought more gifts for myself on Etsy too.
3. Post things on Etsy to sell by next holiday season. YES! I did this too. Too bad no one bought anything but hey...baby steps.
4. Blog at least once a week. YES! I struggled a little with this one and then the self-portrait challenge came along and turned into a monster.
5. Complete 100 4x6 paintings. NO!!! But 2009 is the year.
6. Have a show with above paintings and have a show and sell the rest on Etsy. NO!!! But again, 2009 is the year.
7. Claim a craft/art corner in my house. YES!!! I have a great room that is used for both now.
8. Start making Christmas presents in August. NO!!! This is just a dumb idea.
9. Treat my backyard with the loving care with which I treat my front yard. NO!!! But 2009 is the year!!!
10. Save money to buy a macbook. YES!!! I think this was the best purchase ever. I love my computer.

So I think I did pretty well. I'm working on my 2009 goals and will report out on those shortly. This is my first attempt at color on the Wacom tablet. It's a little scary looking but a good first try. Now I'm off to get ready for ring in the new year!!!

Self-Portrait #308

Tomorrow I hope to try color. Then I'm going to start figuring out how to create an animation.

Self-Portrait #307

Wacom tablet!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Self-Portrait #305

THIS IS SOOOOOOO COOOOOOOL!!!!! Ok. Ben got me a Wacom Tablet for Christmas. It is amazing! This is my first quick attempt at drawing with it. It's going to take some getting used to because it feels really weird drawing on a blank computer mouse pad and seeing the effect on the computer screen. It is a lot more natural feeling then I thought it would be.

Self-Portrait #155

I'm thinking I need more Photoshop practice and patience.

Self-Portrait #154

More Photoshop experiments. My butt is numb.

Photoshop

I spent a good part of the day trying to brush up on my Photoshop skills.

Self-Portrait #148

My idea factory is broken.