May 26, 2010

Random things

5/25/10
4:03pm
I’m SO overwhelmed right now. I only have 3 days left to pack!! Hot chocolate, come rescue me.
Yowza! There was some really loud thunder just now, and it’s pouring buckets outside. What a weird spring! It goes from sunny and hot to cold and thunderstormy in the space of a day. Lucky and Belle are hovering around me, they hate thunder. Kiba cat is hiding under the bed.
5/26/10
Whew. Overwhelm averted, packing DONE! Now I can get back to some semblance of normalcy, eh? It sure looks sparse in here. My cat is very disturbed by all of this, and is still hiding under the bed. Poor monster, kitties do hate change and things like moving. Sadly I won’t be able to get him moved until a little later; he’ll be staying with my Pa (whom he loves, thankfully). I’m kind of moving in stages.
I haven’t any art to share today, as I’ve been so busy with the packing but perhaps I can get an ACEO or two done in the next couple of days? Oh I hope so! Time to go unwind.

May 24, 2010

I say, it's Monday!

2:15pm
Paying bills – Yeehaw! It always makes me feel like a “grownup” when I pay bills, heheh. Probably about the only time I feel like that… Have to go to the post office today and ship off some art. I’m thankful for the sale, things have been slow! At this moment, every dog in the neighborhood has simultaneously decided to howl. Do they have some kind of howling sixth sense? Or maybe they just heard something that humans can’t hear and want to howl about it together. Either way, they’re probably having fun.
4:50pm
I’m back home and starting to feel the overwhelm again! Does anyone else feel a paralysis creeping on when there is too much to do? When I stopped by the store today I picked up a little bitty notebook that I plan on carrying everywhere with me… I often remember things I have to do or need when I’m doing something else and then promptly forget them seconds later. So I thought maybe this would make my life a little easier. Just as long as I *remember* to bring the notebook along, heh. I’ve often thought maybe a little digital voice recorder would be useful that way.
Anyhow, yesterday was a birthday party for my Pa and youngest brother. Pretty low key, we just all hung out together with my mom and ate delicious things. I made cake. My Pa barbecued. It was fun! Here is the finished Lucky dog portrait:

He is sitting next to the Belle portrait now. Never did share the Belle portrait on my blog, but it was from Christmas:

This upcoming weekend I’ll be starting the moving process as my wedding approaches. Agggh! Too much to do! Guess I’d better go do some of it before my dearest fiancĂ© is home from work and we can play some long-distance Scrabble. I am glad for internet Scrabble. And for webcams to be able to see snuggly fiancĂ©’s face.

May 20, 2010

So I decided to make a Sale page

I decided to put a Sale section in my Etsy shop where I can put stuff/ maybe rotate things for significantly less of a price from time to time. Woohoo! Sooooo.... here it is:
Super neat, it's Carmen's Etsy Sale Page!
Sadly, due to the rental of a very lame movie, I have missed my beloved Fringe. I'll have to catch up with it on Hulu tomorrow I suppose.

So it is Thursday

Howdy! It’s been a slow, quiet day here in the forest even though I have a gazillion things to do and my brain is swiss cheese and shuts down when it thinks about the gazillion things to do. At least one thing I am getting done today is a sketch for my Pa’s birthday… well it’s going to be a painting, but I thought I’d show a little WIP sketch. Of the family dog, Lucky. He’s the only family dog I haven’t painted for him yet, so hopefully he’ll enjoy it. Sorry for the blurry quality, I took this with the little internal webcam on my laptop!

Other than that, a good friend of mine is getting married not long after I am, and we are putting together a kind of coloring book for the kids to color in at her reception. I thought it was a very cute idea! Here’s a peek at the sort of thing I’m doing with that:

I call these little kitties Ralph and Sylvia, hee hee… I do want to do more with them.
I must admit, it’s been really difficult getting back into doing my artwork on a regular basis. I feel like I’m all over the map stylewise and having a difficult time settling into something. I don’t know if it’s all the crazyness with getting married/moving house/family drama or what. I’ve never been too great with chaos! Not without a lot of concentration, and I guess mine has been pulled in too many directions this year. Trying not to stress too much about it. I’m moving soon to a much bigger city (goodbye little forest – sniff!!) so that could be good for local art business. I may need to take another job too, in addition to my typing/editing for Army chaplains who are going to school gig I seem to have fallen into, heheh. I do generally enjoy the typing.
My mom informed me that she found a bunch of Serendipity books in the used book section of the library and she snagged them for me. I love my mom! I loved those so much when I was a kid. I especially loved that Glitterby Baby was dedicated to all the children in my own hometown! I thought that was super cool. Plus, it has a Pegasus in it. And those are super cool.
I know I do this from time to time and then forget, but I’ve thought about what the purpose of this blog is supposed to be… and I personally become fascinated with artists who just share the minutiae of their daily lives. And, the people who collect my art are a very creative, enjoyable bunch that I identify with a lot – so if I enjoy artist bloggers who share about their daily lives, perhaps people who like my artwork would enjoy the same. I guess I’ve always been a little afraid that I would bore people with that. Maybe some might find it boring, but heck, I think I’m going to just go for it. Minutiae of daily life, here I come!! Plus it will be something to post, heheh.

May 11, 2010

She emerges with art!

Finally, finally I have some art to share. My last name is going to be changing soon :D so I am still figuring out all the logistics of that and unsure what to do with this blog! Since its url has my maiden name on it. Thoughts, anyone? Since my last name is changing, I thought I'd also change some other usernames that needed changing too, such as my Ebay username... it's now "yarmalade." Just so you know.
Anyhow, I'm all about the cute these days:

Owl Snuggles ACEO On auction HERE!


Flying Lessons ACEO On auction HERE!


Watermelon Picnic ACEO In my Etsy shop HERE

I hope my muse will settle on something and stay there for once. These cute type things have been brewing for a couple of months and I've started doing a bunch of vector work with it too. More on that later as I get better. :) For now, life is crazy busy as I get ready to move house and have a lot of change ahead of me.
I've looked back on the past year of artwork, and it looks like my inner artist just took a long vacation! I have not painted much this year... have hit a lot of pretty major blocks, knowing I need to evolve in some direction that flows instead of always fighting against the current. It got to the point where I absolutely hated drawing, even. Luckily these cute kinds of characters have made it enjoyable to draw again. Especially as my new married life approaches, I've felt some life coming back into the inner artist. I hope that continues to grow!