Tag! You're It!

My darling friend, Heather, tagged me, so I guess I sort of have to do it (otherwise she'll pout at me, which I just have never been able to say no to), so here you go.  A cute little photo meme thingy.  

The rules: 

     1.) Go to the fourth folder of where you store your pics on your computer.

     2.) Pick the fourth photo in the folder.

     3.) Explain the picture.

     4.) Tag four people to do the same.

Irony makes this a coyote.  I used to live about a 2 minute drive from the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, Mass. and would visit at least once or twice a summer.  This particular day was stupidly hot. (If memory serves, it was about 98+ degrees...I have no idea why we went that day.  I think there may have been other people involved, as my ex was the sort to melt at temperatures above freezing and would generally spend days like that holed up in front of the AC until well after dark.)  Mr. Coyoteface here was looking quite so intent because one of the zoo staff had just come out with what was apparently the Best Thing Ever.

The Bucket O' Mousicles.  No really, it was a plastic bucket with a bunch of frozen mice.  She tossed them over the enclosure wall and the coyotes were absolutely beside themselves with glee.  It may have been one of the more adorable things I've ever seen.  Then again, I may have a small weakness for coyotes, and anything that amuses them that much, makes me happy.

Now for the tagging part.  I'm going to flagrantly cheat and TAG EVERYONE WHO READS THIS!  BWAHAHAHA....  But I want you to post the link in the comments, 'cause I'm terribly nosy and want to see what you post.  So there.  ;p  LET THE PEECTURE AND STORY TIMES COMMENCE!!!  

*waits expectantly*

Of Fruit and Firebirds

Reason #15 why CSA's are awesome:

The best part?  That is NOT a chemically produced GMO straw(fish)berry.  That is a real, honest-to-goodness strawberry the size of my palm.  That sucker and two of it's equally ginormous kin will be, along with a nice glass of white wine will be my dessert tonight.  I am very much looking forwards to this.  :)

I haven't been up to much the last few days, at least nothing of particular note or interest.  Reading up on my Reiki and trying to figure out if I can get over my crippling shyness in order to start teaching students, working my way through the Game of Thrones series (it did get a little better, though it's still pretty squalid).  Today my housemate is getting the house ready to run a game in tomorrow, which means I'm sort of tucked up into a corner, having packed pretty much everything up for the next two days.  

Figures, the minute I got everything packed up, I got the urge to paint things.  So, out came the sketchbook and a set of watercolor paint.  Still need to finish the tail, but this is what I've been working on today.

Metallic paint makes me happy.  :)

A Tale of Two Foxen, Part 2

Ah-hah!  I finished it!  I'm slightly put out that the sky didn't scan quite true (it's a little more purplish), but otherwise Voila! A Tale of Two Foxen!

A Tale of Two Foxen, Part 1

I entirely blame Twitter for this one.

Yesterday, I decided to be productive and organize things a bit around here.  I've got a couple of completed Foxentrees that have been sitting in the sketchbooks they were drawn in, which unfortunately makes them rather difficult to scan well.  (That's why they get those weird shadows in the corners and across the top...it's the damned spiral ring of the sketchbook keeping it from lying completely flat.  Usually I can edit them out, but not always.)  So I made a portfolio of sorts from a large sheet of heavy duty art paper I had around.  In doing so, I discovered that I had a partially completed Tree in the watercolour book that I wanted to work on.  The problem was that I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was supposed to be going on it, which I made some mention of on Twitter.  I believe the words I used were "It's driving me batty."

And Flying Foxes came to mind.   Of course!  That's what it needed!  A bat!  (I'm probably not right in the head.  I'm comfortable with this.)  It's still in progress,  though I figured I'd include a little sneak peek for the curious.

A Tale of Two Foxen

Today's plan is to continue to paint this (I started it last night, but it's only about half done) and get the others rescanned, without the shadows this time, and uploaded to Artfire.  Of course, that involves figuring out the pricing for them, which I hate trying to figure out.

Pricing is a difficult thing.  On the one hand, I want the pieces to sell, and especially in an economy that is just this side of a Depression, if it isn't already, that means I don't want to overprice them.  On the other, though, well, I'm one of the folks with moths in the bank trying to make enough money to afford groceries and keep the storage company from hawking my stuff, so I don't want to underprice them, either.  I've already knocked the prices on my necklaces down so low that they're barely above cost, and can't lower them anymore, or I'll lose the money I paid for the supplies... not including the time I put into making them.  It's a tough corner to be in.  We'll see, I guess. 

On a more upbeat note, the sun is shining beautifully today and I just had one of those strawberries that sort of epitomizes the archetype of "Strawberry".  I think I'm very glad I made the decision to invest in the CSA this year!

Torn Apart By Direwolves Might Mollify Me A Little: A Backhanded Compliment

A large number of my friends love the George RR Martin series "A Game of Thrones", both the books and the new HBO series based on it.  Given their enthusiasm (and the fact that I recently acquired the series in ebook format for free), I decided to give it a shot.

I'll give Martin one thing, as an artist, he's damned good at making you feel something while reading these books.  In my case, it's a burning desire to light him on fire.  I'm not sure this was the intended result.

I'm about 25% in on the first book and I'm honestly not sure if it would be better for my nerves and temperament if I should just stop now.  The raging misogyny is beyond belief:  thusfar every single female character, of which there are several, is either a borderline psyopathic bitch (complete with the attempted murder of small children) or is being subjected to active abuse.  Apparently Martin had a bad experience with an ex-girlfriend or something, and a therapist would have a field day with him.  The male characters are equally vile.  The few half decent characters are few and far between.  It's so bad that I have to frequently close my little Kindle for PC program and go stare at Cuteoverload.com in order to decompress and not punch my poor innocent laptop monitor.

Why don't I throw in the towel and give it up as "just not my thing"?  Because the sadistic bastard's writing style is fantastic.  It's compelling in a way I've rarely found in books these days.  I mean, I HATE this book, and yet I can't stop reading it.  It's like watching a train-wreck:  you know it's going to end badly and you should maybe start dialing 911, but you just can not force your eyes away, no matter how hard you tell yourself you don't want to see this.  The world he has built is well-developed, the story itself is amazingly well told, with a richness and depth that just has to be explored.  Every detail is exquisitely executed, and there is very little meaningless filler.  In short, if it wasn't for the fact that I loathe the characters with every fiber of my being, this would be just about one of the best stories I've read.  Which is probably why I can't seem to stop myself from reading it.  Perhaps I might need a little therapy, myself.  ;)

It helps that I've been promised horrible death scenes for some of the much-loathed characters and hoping I haven't been lied to.  I do not want the Raving Bitch Queen to die peacefully in her sleep, I want her torn limb from limb by direwolves, and it is this macabre hope that keeps me going.

Right...About that Artfire Account

A while back, after I got sick of Etsy's asshatteries, I picked up this Artfire account to play with.  Haven't really done much with it (to be honest, I may have forgotten about it for a while there) besides do a little "decorating" and what-not.

Well, today I decided to at least get my jewelry up on it.  Very soon I'll get the Foxenwood put up on it, too, but for now, the shiny things are up and eagerly looking for homes of their very own.  I encourage folks who may have previously eyed a piece, or knows someone who has, to go check it out.  This is a truly fantastic time to buy the shinies; it's almost summer, the sun is shining, there are all manner of parties to go to that you just KNOW you would love to get compliments about the stunning new necklace at...  Go on!  You know you wanna...  :)

This way to the pretties!!!

I'm also planning to do the one-card draw thing tomorrow.  Not sure yet whether I'll do the Ogham or the Tarot yet.  Anyone have any preferences?

Peectures

It's still raining and grey here, so I thought I'd share a couple of photos I took at last weekend's Endgame event. The first was a random Lady's Slipper I found safely tucked behind a cabin, glorying in a nice warm ray of sunshine. The other two are our view off the mountain, overlooking the Monadnock range which really doesn't suck. It helps that it was FINALLY a really nice day and so the view wasn't obscured by clouds and rain. Without further ado, have some sunshine.

Raining in the Foxenwood

Even the foxen is looking a little bedraggled today. Also slightly non-plussed by said rain...

"A towel would be nice."

Friday with Book Review

It's Friday, the sun is shining, the temperature has mercifully returned to something slightly more appropriate to June in New England (ie., 78 with mid-level humidity), and I'm sitting at my worktable desperately trying to keep myself from mindlessly surfing the Internet and refreshing pages in the hopes that something has changed in the 30 seconds since the last time that I refreshed it.

In other words, I'm avoiding working because I have no idea what to work on, and the sight of a blank sheet of paper is a little intimidating at the moment.

So instead, I will tell ya'll about a book I should probably re-acquire from the person I lent it to a while back, as I CLEARLY need to reread it. It's called "Creative Time and Space: Making Room for Making Art" by a delightful woman named Rice Freeman-Zachary. (There are, in fact, umlauts over the "e" in Rice, but my keyboard can't do it.)



This book is awesome. Not only because it is very clearly written for artists by artists in ways that make sense to the Artist Brain (ie., visually it is delicious and not blah blah blah white paper black letters droning blah blah blah, but is just gorgeous to look at), but it also reinforces one HUGE lesson that so many baby artists get caught by.

The imaginary life of Vast Swaths of Unlimited Time and Space are not going to happen. You need to take a serious look at your life and make time and space for your art. What makes it so fantastic is that she (and the working artists she collaborated with) give you dozens of suggestions for how to go about doing just that.

~Does YOU really have to make the bed in the morning, or can someone else do it? Does it REALLY need to be made, or can you better apply that 5 minutes toward making art?

~Don't have/can't afford a gorgeous, well-stocked and decorated studio space? Do you have a spare room/unused dining room/extra closet/corner of a room that can be repurposed? A little workspace is better than no workspace. (Having actually shared a studio space before, I can honestly say that most of us don't need as much space as you'd think. You'll just fill it up with things you don't actually need where it will collect dust and moths. Seriously. Especially those of us with smaller crafts.)

The list goes on. I really do love this book, and I highly recommend folks read it. Hell, I recommend it even if you AREN'T an artist, as it's got great advice for just carving out time for yourself and what makes you happy.

Right. On that note, I'm going to see about cleaning off my table and making it a little more like a workspace again, and less like, well, the kitchen table it technically is... Enjoy!

Warm Cat is Warm

It has apparently reached That stage of warm, where my cat proceeds to start dyingzzz all over the place.  He gets up.  Walks 2 feet.  Diez.  Lays there dedz for a bit.  Rinse and repeat.

This is my view most of the day...

No really.  Dedz.  Complete with the occasional foot kick, as if there should be a bucket for it.

Yes, I'm amused by my cat.  Yes.  I needed to share.  ;)

ACS: Relay For Life

For many years, I did my little civic duty and donated a few dollars a year to a friend when she did the Susan G. Komen Walks for breast cancer.  I always felt a twinge of guilt for not doing more.  A couple of years ago, while I was living with my friend Susan, I found that she does the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.  I felt sort of terrible that I couldn't really afford to make my usual donation, as I was unemployed and a full-time massage therapy student.  Then she offered me an alternate solution.

I could walk with her.  So I did.  A number of folks asked me why I was walking as, as far as they knew, I'd never had cancer, nor had anyone I knew of.  Except they were wrong.  So I wrote a little piece to explain, that I has sadly gotten longer since I originally wrote it.  It goes like this:


Why do I walk, you ask? Better you should ask for whom do I walk.

I walk for Nora, my ex-husband's grandmother, who lost so much of herself to breast and skin cancer.
I walk for Nancy, the sweetest customer I ever had, who wept in my arms the day she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
I walk for Skippy, one of the bravest, strongest women I know, who's fight with breast cancer I read about daily for a year or more.
I walk for Skippy's co-worker, newly diagnosed.
I walk for Ed, who sat in his rocker and passed quietly into the stars one night, free at last of the tumour on his thyroid.
I walk for Al, Nora's husband, who not only stood by, helpless, while his wife battled cancer time after time, also fought his own fights with it.
I walk for the woman who's name I sadly no longer remember, who wept on my shoulder the day after cancer claimed her husband of 65 years.
I walk for Dell, my ex's other grandfather, who walked himself to the hospital, the day bone cancer claimed his life.
I walk for Grampy, who, like the soldier he was, fought back and lived another 20 years before old age finally overtook him.
I walk for Brian, who called me one night to ask if he should get the lump under his arm looked at.  The one that turned out to be Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  He, happily, is still here to tease me and laugh at me when I do something silly.
I walk for Mary, who also had lymph nodes removed.
I walk for my teachers and classmates who chose to work with cancer patients, because cancer is terrifying, and massage is not only relaxing, but also helps to reduce the nausea and pain of chemotherapy.


I walk for their families.  I walk for the hospice workers. I walk for their doctors.  I walk for their friends. I walk for everyone who has ever felt that soul-numbing chill at the words "It's cancer."

I walk to raise money to support the research that will hopefully someday mean that no one will ever have to sit by, helpless, while this disease eats at them or those they love. I walk to raise money to support the programs that provide hospice care and education. I walk because I hate standing by, useless and frustrated, while someone I care about is taken apart by this disease. With a one-in-three ratio, none of us have been untouched by this horror. With those figures, many of us will fight our own battles with it.   I walk because it is the only way I can fight against this.


I know there are thousands of charities and Walks and organizations all asking for your money, but if you have a few dollars to spare to this cause, I would appreciate it.  If you can, my donation page is here, along with my Team, Hope on Fire.  We all thank you.  

Adding something new!

So, I figured, since I periodically mention things like books and stuff that I really like, I'd add in something new around here.  See that little bar there with the books and things titled "The Raven's Athenaeum"?  Yeah, that would be my little Amazon store thingy..  That way I can put stuff that I've read and loved and want to share with other people up there, and hey, if anyone finds it interesting, they can buy it directly through there, and if they do, I get a small commission for it.

So, there's that.  :)  Have fun, kids.  Rampage my eclectic little bookcase, and if you click on the title of the bar itself, it'll take you to the main page with even more stuff.

This past weekend was Endgame for me, which is awesome and I love the game, but dear gods and little fishes is it ever exhausting!  Hence the incredibly short, probably misspelled and vaguely incoherent entry today, as I have the attention span of a fruit fly.  This may, in fact, be more or less the extent of my brain power for the day. Hooray for sleep deprivation and physical exhaustion!

TORNADOES? IN MASSACHUSETTS? WTF?

Ok, one of the things that I love about living up here in New England is that, while our winters beyond suck, for the most part we're pretty laid back about natural disaster type weather.  I mean, we don't really get big earthquakes (we get them, and often, but because our tectonic plate is more or less fused these days, they're not what you'd call "big"), hurricanes rarely wander this far North (don't blame them, really, the North Atlantic once the Gulf Stream head out to sea is frelling freezing), and tornadoes are few and far between.  Not to mention that, when we do get them, they're pretty small and don't really do much beyond wreck someone's barn, or take out a house or two before they dissipate.  We're just too mountainous for them to really pick up any kind of momentum.

Yeah, not today.  At least two big tornadoes hit the state today, which is about as many as we'll usually get in a year, and the first time we've had any since 2008.  There were possibly more, but they have yet to be confirmed.  Thankfully they were well south of me, but I feel really bad for the folks whose towns did get hit.  Somehow, given how completely unprepared we are for these things, only four people were killed.

For here, I swear the Bridge God protects us from storms.  Watching the line of red and pink on the radar creep closer this afternoon, getting worse the closer it came was a bit nerve-wracking.  Then, suddenly, the section that was going to come over us dropped out of thunderstorm and back to the green of rain.  It was like the parting of the Red Sea.  This happens a lot, actually, for reasons I can't figure out.  The terrain is nothing special, there are no significant hills nearby, it's well landlocked...It's odd.  I think it's the Bridge God protecting it's domain.

Just in case, I sacrificed a spider in thanks this evening.  I'm not taking any chances.

Do you know how hard it is to draw lightning in black ink? Oi!

Today I bring the latest of the Foxentrees to the Post Office to head to it's new home. It took me a couple of days to figure out what I wanted to do, but in the end I got there. I swear they are trying to drive me insane, though. Seriously? Lightning? Do you know how hard it is to draw lightning in black ink without it looking stupid? Oi!

Needless to say, I figured it out in the end, and the end result is this:

Didn't come out too badly.  Now to finish packing it up and sending it off.  (Also, I need to remember to scan things before I matte them.  The shadowing on the page drives me nuts, and ends up involving me and the eraser function in Gimp to get rid of.)

One of the separate but related things I need to do is to make myself sit down and figure out just how much I would like to be making in a month to cover things.  It would probably be one of those Smart and Helpful Things.  It also involves math, which is SCARY.  Or something.

Actually it involves a lot of things like "Figuring out the budget" and "Learning how to not think/budget on a week-by-week basis", the latter of which is actually the more difficult part.  The budget itself is pretty easy.  I've just spent my entire life working with a regular weekly paycheck, which is a different animal altogether from how this sort of thing works.  In a way, it's almost like trying to learn a new language.  It is, however, one I NEED to learn if I'm going to have any level of success at this.  Whee!  (If anyone happens to have any tips or suggestions to figuring out how to rearrange my thinking on this, I'm all ears.  :)  )