Day 39/365: Candy.

It's rare that I bother to update this any sooner than like, 11pm, so you should all feel lucky in that respect. XD
Today has been... weird. I woke up at 7am for some ungodly reason. As you may know, I needed to get fingerprinted so I could send in an application for the AmeriCorps program, and my two previous failed attempts were getting on my nerves. Plus, dad needed me to pick something up at the grocery store.

So, I walked uptown beginning at 7:30 am. Surprisingly, it wasn't actually all that cold out, but it was just trippy and weird. I was still groggy and not quite there... Which was fun. When I got to the police station we were able to fingerprint me right away and I was out of there pretty quick.

With that out of the way, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up what dad wanted, then walked home. Still not fully awake. I sat around like a zombie, watching tv and getting on the computer until about 10 or so, when dad drove me out to the UPS drop box. Then he headed to Walgreens to pick up a prescription and... I bought bubble gum and two cadbury creme eggs. One is ORANGE. Om nom nom. I'll be paying mom back for that eventually, because she gave me the five bucks in case it cost $25 to be fingerprinted. One dollar of it I had to spent on getting dad's dry non dairy creamer for his coffee, and it's not like I spent it all.

I don't know. I've just been groggy and tired all day, and really cranky for some reason. I know I got up really early (for me), but I got to bed at a decent hour lastnight and slept really well so it's kind of baffling. It might be nearing that time of the month or something, because that's really the only time I feel weird like this.

Whatever. Enough of my babbling, and on with today's BRAND NEW PICTURE.

Taken, edited, and uploaded today. I'm really crabby so you should feel special.

It's really rare that I post a picture on the same day I took it, but... I felt bad for having to use previously taken pictures too much where this blog is concerned, so... I churned out something new for you.

I'd have made a drawing, but... I just haven't really felt like myself today. Maybe it's allergies, maybe a cold... I really don't know, but I want it to go away. I've felt like I was half asleep all day. I still have that groggy feeling in my eyes like when I first get up in the morning. So maybe it's just allergy eyes or something. Whatever.

Unfortunately, I have dishes to do, and fucking clothes to fold, and being as crabby and tired as I am, I'd like to bitch about that a bunch, but if I just shut up and get the shit done, it'll be over with and I won't have to deal with it. See you tomorrow.

Day 38/365: Candlelight.

I'm really sorry, guys. Today was a busy day for me and I just didn't have the brainpower for a new picture. And... the only decent candle picture of mine I could find was this:

It was taken in 2007 I believe, and I was more than likely drunk at the time.

In order to attempt to make it up to you, I'm going to post two random pictures. I promise tomorrow's piece will be new, I just... today was kind of a crummy day and I just felt tired and groggy all day. 

At about 1pm I walked uptown. I needed to be fingerprinted so I can send in my AmeriCorps application.

I walked to the police station in the morning to get that done. It was going to cost 20 bucks. They told me it'd be a ten minute wait. During that time, I watched the policeman that was going to do the prints standing there doing abso-fucking-lutely nothing for probably ten minutes or more. Then, we finally go back to do the fingerprints, and we're just about to start when the 911 phone rings, so he had to leave.

I know that an emergency is more important than my prints, but... It pissed me off that I sat there and physically watched the policeman do jack SHIT for 10+ minutes. We could have had my prints done and I could have been out of there, but no.

So I walked to the store, bought two cans of soda, and then went home. Did some chores and such, even made cocoa shortbread squares. Then, about 4, I walked back to the station to see if they had time for me.

Not only was the policeman "busy", the stupid receptionist chick told me it was 25 bucks. Uh. Hold on. Both the policeman AND the receptionist chicks that were working in the morning told me it was 20, now I have this stupid bimbo telling me 25? What the fuck.

That made me angry for a number of reasons. Firstly, I was already mad at myself for waiting so long to ask my parents for the money, because I really hate asking them for money. Then I was stressing about not getting the app in the mail in time... Ugh.

I trudged back home just in time for mom to ask me to go to Mason with her. So I did. We went to Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart. 

My feet are killing me. My back also hurts something awful. Which is great, because tomorrow, I not only have to walk to the station to get prints, I have to walk the couple miles to the only UPS drop box in the whole goddam town, and then I have to walk all the way home. 

I'm still worrying a great deal about this shit. It's days like this that I think I must have some sort of anxiety disorder. I worry about fucking everything.

But enough of my bitching and on with the pictures.

This is an old shot. Taken while driving, back when I still had my license. I hesitate to use any pictures I took while driving, because they make me start to freak out and cry. I really hate myself for being stupid enough to get my license taken away, and when I think about just how fucking long it'll be before I can afford to get my license again... It just gets to me. But it's a nice picture anyway.

And now, an old picture of me, from before I had bangs, and before I dyed my hair back to brown. It's things like this that make me really miss dyeing my hair. And not having bangs.

I mean, I love the bangs I have now, but... there's something I miss about my hair in this picture. I probably won't be dyeing my hair for a while (can't afford it, plus I'm sure it wasn't doing wonders for my hair), but... I do want to tease my hair up and slather on the 80s makeup to take another shot of this nature. I just hope it comes out this well. I was shooting blindly for this one. Just kinda sat in my bedroom doorway, holding my Rio LP and just kinda snapped the picture. XD I have a blue light blocking curtain in my doorway now, so maybe that will help... Whatever. 

So, there you have it. I'm really sorry about not having something new for you today, but I WILL put up something brand spanking new tomorrow. I promise you that.

Anyway, I'm off to quickly throw together my food journal entry for today, so I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Day 37/365: Button.

Today, I am once again using pictures I've already taken. I didn't have any good ideas for "button", other than what I'd already made, so let's get right to it.

These are pins I've made out of bottle caps that I've collected. All but five of these pins are for sale for 1.50 a piece or five for 5 dollars. U.S. only.

I'm trying desperately to raise enough money to go see Duran Duran towards the end of April. I don't think I'll be able to pull it off, but I'm going to try. Also, any of the drawings you've seen posted here are up for sale if I still have them. Price can be negotiated. I just really really want to see Duran Duran in concert, and who knows how long they'll go on before they retire. This could be my only chance to see them. Every little bit helps. If you're an artist or musician, I could even advertise for you if you bought something from me. I can even take drawing commissions. 

Sigh. I'm trying to be positive about this, but it's hard. Let's get on with the second picture for today, which is actually somewhat artsy.

One of my favorite phone wallpapers: a screenshot of Craig Ferguson in a Willie Nelson wig. Cracks me up every time. XD

You can also see a bit of my Duran Duran pin, which has since been moved to my new purse. I got the Hard Rock pin at a Goodwill, and you can't really tell, but I think the pin Vanessa gave me that reads "All dressed up and no one to do" is also in this picture. Fun stuff. XD

Tomorrow's theme is "candlelight", and... I'm not sure. You're probably more likely to get a drawing, because I'm none too good at photographing candles, especially lit ones.

I still have a food blog entry to throw together, so I'll talk to you all tomorrow.

Day 36/365: Building.

Today, once again, I am technically cheating. I don't care.
Firstly, I don't draw buildings. At. All. I am not in the business of drawing buildings, nor will I probably ever start. So I was going to have to use a picture anyway.
I didn't go anywhere because I had the house to myself all day until about 6pm. I do not often get that opportunity, so I took advantage by watching tv and having uninterrupted time in the kitchen to make stuff. XD

Now, since I don't feel like rambling, let's get on with today's two pictures. Yes, I said two. On days that I use pre-taken pictures, I think I'll include several to make up for them not being technically "new" even though you guys have probably not seen them before. XD

This is a picture I took in Ames, IA, when I was there visiting my best friend. She (the one in the window) and her boyfriend used to live there. And by there, I do not mean this house. We went on a walk and this was one of the houses we passed. If I recall correctly I was slightly drunk when this was taken. Also, I realize that this needs a bit of retouching as far as sloppy color de-saturation is concerned, but I'm too lazy for that right now.

Fun times. Funnnnnn times. I miss those visits. There were three of them. One in October '07, one at the end of December, and once in the summer of '08. My friend and her boyfriend live around here once again, so for one, they don't live in Ames anymore, and I can't drive anyway. Still. Lots of fun. Lots of laughter, watching dvds, listening to records, getting drunk... it was great fun.

Anyway. Let's move on, shall we? Because I could ramble about those visits for ages.

This is an old, crappy house in my town that I am obsessed with for some reason.

I can't explain it. Every time I walk past this house, I have to stop and look at it for a minute. I don't know why I love this house so much, but for being such a shitty run down house, it has great energy. XD

Maybe I'm just weird.

But yeah. There you have it.

Tomorrow's theme is "button", and I'm sure I can churn something new out for that. Right now, I'm going to go finish some dishes before my mom does them and then bitches about how I didn't do them

Day 35/365: Broken.

Well well well. It's day 35 kids, and you'll probably be confused by today's picture. Which is brand new, btw.

"But Melody, how on earth is that 'broken'?" you're probably saying. Well, listen and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.

Today's picture counts as broken because the things that were broken were the rules. I trespassed on someone else's property to take the picture you see here.  There is an outing club in my town. This outing club is mostly just a bunch of apartments that rich people live in in the summer, but... they're all connected to this one huge deck. There was a big double screen door that was not locked, so I decided to venture onto the deck long enough to take a few pictures. 

This place, like many in town, is only occupied during the summer months, so I'll probably have the gusto to keep going back until some time in mid to late April. 

I brought my box camera along to be a picture prop, but totally forgot to get it out when I was here. XD

Well, I'm off to listen to Robin Williams comedy, and corny songs from the 70s, so I'll talk to you later.

Day 34/365: bridges.

Today, I'm cheating and using yet another picture that was technically previously taken. I just don't feel like drawing a bridge. Lol.

A little outlet not far from my house. I like hanging out here in the summer, but unfortunately it's a popular fishing spot, so it's not unoccupied as often as I'd like.

This morning I woke up at like, 9am or so. At 10 mom and I did a bit of shopping at Kohl's, which was disappointing to say the least. I think I've made so much progress with my weight until I can't even get a size Large skirt over my calves. 

I'm actually considering going on a mostly vegetarian diet, not because it'll save the animals (although I do like animals), but because I could really lose weight that way.

Hell. I'd go for a raw diet, but I know there's no way in hell that's possible here. Even being mostly veg is going to be difficult, but goddammit, I have to do something. I'm tired of hating how I look.

Yeah, size shouldn't matter, but do you think I'd say that so much if I were a decent size? No. Fuck no. I mean, yeah, I try not to judge other people by their weight because it's not right, but I hate myself at this size and I'm sick of it. I want to wear all the awesome clothes that I like, but can't wear because I'm so disgustingly obese. Clothes will be cheaper. I won't have to shop in the plus size department. I'm just so sick of being a fucking whale.

I'd like to go full whack and just start on a veg diet, but... I have to ease into this. Starting on Monday, I'm going to only eat meat in one meal a day. As it is I'm on my own for breakfasts and lunches, and sometimes I'm even on my own for dinner. Usually it's just my mom and I eating dinner, because dad works either 2-10 or 3-11. Sometimes we make dinner, sometimes we just scavenge.

I just... want to have a body I like. It's stupid. I saw a body type drawing tutorial on deviantart this morning, and their "fat" body type looked like mine. That's not the sole factor for this, but... I'm tired of looking at a huge disgusting pair of size 20 jeans and thinking "Hey, I'm doing pretty well". No, that's not pretty well. 

That's fucking repulsive. You could easily fit a normal sized person's entire body in each leg of ONE pair of my jeans. I'm sick of this crap and I'm going to do something about it.

Tomorrow's theme is "broken", and you will get a brand new piece of art for that, whether it's a drawing or a new picture.

Anyway, I'm off to make some guacamole, so I'll talk to you later.

Day 33/365: Breakfast.

In lieu of yesterday's brand spanking new piece of art, I elected to use a picture I've already taken for today's theme.

You're a fruit loop. NO YOU'RE A FRUIT LOOP

Sorry. XD 

I would have taken a new picture for this, but I ate a piece of soda bread for breakfast today. It's not exactly the most... breakfasty looking food.

Also, I'd like to include a bonus cereal shot.

Sadly, this glass has gone off to the Big Cupboard in the Sky. Which is why I am wary of buying really thin stemware now. It's pretty but breaks way too easily. I'm actually afraid to use half the stemware glasses I own because they're thin. 

Also, to make up for having to use previously taken pictures, I would like to include this very summer shot.

I cannot wait until watermelon season. XD

But yeah. Breakfast was kind of a weird theme. 

Tomorrow's theme is "bridges". I may try to venture out into the world to take a new picture, but I might have to settle for using another pre-taken one. I might even draw something. I'm not sure yet. We'll have to see what I have going on in my weekend.

Well, I'm off to listen to this song over and over. Toodles.

Day 32/365: Boy

Wow, it's only almost 5pm, and I'm already putting up today's entry!
With the exception of the first day of this blog, when I updated at like 9:30 am, this is the earliest I've ever updated.
Feels like it anyway. I find that I have better luck when I sketch out an idea in the morning, leaving me free to do work on it here and there throughout the day.
It helps to be inspired, though. Sometimes I want to make a picture but can't for the life of me figure out what I actually want to draw, and there's no forcing it when I'm in that sort of daze.

Anyway, let's get on with today's entry. You'll remember that yesterday, I drew my picture on the back of a panel from a cereal box, well today, I used the other panel. Yesterday's was on the back of the front panel, today's is on the back of the back. Lol.

I came up with the initial pen doodle on a piece of scratch paper while I was watching the Duran Duran concert that was streamed live on youtube lastnight. 

I should do that more often because I got a lot of good ideas. Of course... it may have helped that the concert was live, and even though I was sitting on my ass at home, it was kind of exciting. I got especially spastic when Simon addressed the people at home watching on their computers.

I mean, I know, there were millions of other people watching, but it was kind of awesome to think that he was addressing a group of people that I was included in. 

Yeah, there's really no denying that my Duranfever has returned to me after a very long hiatus.

In that same vein, you need to check out Duran Duran's album "Pop Trash". It's like an acid trip. There are slower songs for the more mellow trips, and there are faster, rockish songs for when you're feeling hyper. It's just really awesome. The only song I can't stand is Hallucinating Elvis. The bassline is cool and all, but I just don't dig it as a song.

Well, I'm off to do.. I don't know what. Maybe I should check the mail. XD

Anyhoo, I'll see you tomorrow.

Day 31/365: Box.

Sorry sorry sorry I'm sooo late getting this written.
It's four minutes to midnight. GAH
I blame Duran Duran. I finished today's drawing at like, 8:30, but deviantart was being an ass and wasn't uploading today's picture. I was going to link it from there. I ended up hurrying to put it on photobucket. Then I tuned into a live Duran Duran concert on  youtube, and god dammit, it was fucking amazing.
My Duran Duran obsession (or as Dram would call it, Duranfever) is back. It's been so long since I had a real obsession of any kind, so it feels really really good. XD

I don't think this will be quite as...err... extreme as my Duran Duran obsession was before, but dammit, I want it to stay, and last a long damn time.

Anyway, let's get on with today's piece. It counts for today's theme because it was drawn on the back of the front of a box of cheerios. The inside of the front panel. You know what I meant. XD

This took me hours. I have a strange relationship with fine line sharpies.

On one hand, I love the buggers, and without them a majority of my artwork wouldn't exist, but... god damn. When you decide to up and do shit as complicated as this (design wise it's simple, but fuck is it time consuming), fine line sharpies are a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because they can make a bunch of teeny tiny intricate lines. A curse, because when you have an area of ANY size, it takes you for-fucking-EVER to fill it in.

I should tell you that the burgandy, dark orange, and yellow sharpies are thick sharpies. I have a few more thicker sharpies, but I have no idea where they've gone off to. Also a note to google chrome's spellcheck. Fuck off. I spell burgandy with an a. I am allowed to do so because of artistic license. GOOD DAY.

Anyway, I'm off to wait for my knees to quit feeling like they want to fall off (I spent 25 minutes on the exercise bike today, and I'm feeling it now) so I'll talk to you all later.

PS: Tomorrow's theme is "boy".

Day 30/365: Bouncing.

Today, I went a completely random route and make a couple of those dolls you see a lot on the internet. I keep my own personal dollmaker made from props I've found in a bunch of online dollmakers. The first one I have for you today is made from that dollmaker. I pieced everything together, but none of the props were made by me.

Sorry about the shit quality. My computer can't upload very big files to photobucket without dropping my internet connection.

The second one I have for you is a little more custom. The dress is completely my creation. I freehand drew it with a mouse. So... I free mouse drew it. Lol.
I didn't make the base, but I did edit a bunch of the pixel noise out (I believe it was from a really shitty quality jpg file. Also, I didn't make the hair, although I did colorize it.

Again, sorry for the shit quality. I must have accidentally saved them as jpgs. I usually save this type of stuff as bmp. Oops.

Today is really random, because honestly? Bounce? Nothing about my artwork screams "bounce"... and I know the point of this blog may be to get out of my comfort zone, but bounce? No. That'd be like asking me to draw something ghetto. I'm a white girl in Iowa. That shit's not going to happen, dude.

Now, tomorrow's theme is "box", and I may actually be able to churn something out for that. I'll try, anyway. Maybe I'll get a tiny cardboard box and draw a face on it. Maybe I'll draw a picture on a piece of cardboard. I'm not really sure yet.

Now, I'm off to see if wordpress is up so I can write my food journal entry for today. They were in read only mode when I went there earlier, so hopefully they're back up.

Day 29/365: Boredom.

Today, I can finally tell you I have a new drawing for you.
Well... Not brand spanking new. I drew the pencil lines two days ago or whenever, but I did all the outlining and the coloring today. So most of it was done today. XD

Please, for the love of all that is holy, lighten your computer screen settings before you take a serious look at this. It looks fine on a flat LCD screen, but looks like shit on my computer. 

This was the piece that I was going to do for the "blue" theme. But oh well. Boredom is a pretty broad topic.

But... yeah. I would like to do this piece again with clean coloring on the computer, but I will probably never have enough money for a tablet, and drawing with a mouse is fucking hard, so... I'm not sure when or if it'll ever happen. We'll have to see.

So... I have a food journal entry to throw together, so I'll see you later. Stay tuned for tomorrow's theme, which I'm not going to tell you in order to make it a surprise. XD

Day 28/365: Bodies of water.

Today, to make up for using shots I've previously posted on my deviantart, you get three pictures.
Let's face it. I am not good at drawing water, at all, and I didn't want to take a new picture of the lake because... it's March. All the trees are brown and boring. It's muddy and there isn't really much color anywhere yet. Also, it was rainy and foggy all day today.

Instead, I present to you two reasons I am glad to live in Clear Lake.

This was taken on a cute boat called Lady of the Lake. It was because the restaurant I work at during the summer made a shitload of money when RAGBRAI (Basically, a huge bike ride thing) went through town, so they paid for a dinner and boat ride for employees.

This one, because I like the picture, and also because in my original posting of it, my ranting about litter amused me: "A picture of ducks. I know it's not a great picture, but can you see that piece of goddam litter? Wendys! Do you condone your idiot hick customers littering their shit all over the beach? I hope not!

And direct your attention to the people in the upper right hand corner of the picture. After they left, there was an empty plastic bottle of Sobe juice there.

You people PISS ME OFF. Is that the sort of shit you want to teach your kids?

Oh go ahead kids, throw your shit on the beach. There are only DUCKS that constantly roam this beach! Don't worry about it! It's not like it'll be floating around in the lake for 15 years!"

All humor aside, liter does really piss me off. This summer, actually, I'm planning to pick up lots of trash (like I do every year) only I'll be documenting it through pictures this time. I'm also going to write an editorial to the newspaper about it. And literally, the rant about fifteen years is not an exaggeration. I have found tons of weird shit washed up on shore. Among them, a chunk of carpet, an elastic underwear band, an actual pair of underwear, an attachment brush to a vacuum, a fishing license receipt from 2006 (this was in 2010), and get this: a tv set. Bigger than the one we have at home.

Also, granted it was squished in between some big rocks, but I found a can of pepsi so old that the contest being advertised on the can ended in 1991.

So yeah. Me and litter do not hang. Anyway. Here is the third picture, as promised.

This was taken in Wisconsin, at some state park who's name I can't pronounce. We took a little day trip up there to hike. I mean, it was light hiking. We're not the type with a bunch of shit strapped to our backs who spend all day out there. The mosquitoes were awful, even though we brought spray, and we were all sweaty by the time it was over, but it was fun. XD

Tomorrow's theme is "boredom", and considering how wide a topic that can be, I should have no problem producing a drawing for you. I may even finish up the one that I was going to use for yesterday, since I remedied the hand drawing situation... by erasing the hand and redrawing the arm so the hand didn't show. XD

Anyway, I'm off to do facebooky things, eat some banana cake, and write a food blog entry for today. Toodles.

Day 27/365: Blue.

I apologize. I had a great drawing planned for today, and I was actually almost done with the pencil outlines, but the stupid hand I was trying to draw was giving me a lot of trouble. A lot. I started getting really stressed about it, so I decided to set it aside for another day. There is surely another theme on my list that I could use that drawing for.

Never fear, though. Today's picture has never been posted before, so at least you're getting something new.

I got this shot through the car window, when we drove past the lake during the kite festival.

Every winter, my town has a Color the Wind kite festival, where people basically set up shop on the frozen lake and fly giant kites and whatnot. We've actually gotten out and taken pictures before, but this particular time, we decided to just drive past it. I was lucky enough to get this shot while the car was moving. Albeit, not very fast, because it was basically like a caravan of cars slowly parading past the lake, but still.

Anyway, I'm off to do other random internety things.

Day 26/365: Blood.

Today, I took artistic license with the word blood. Since I didn't feel like fucking around with the red food coloring, the corn syrup, and shit like that, I decided to draw on myself with a red crayola marker and call it good.
Forgive me for not droning on and on, but my wrists, hands, and fingers are killing me, and it hurts to type.

I'm finally learning to play around with the exposure compensation setting on my camera, which is what allowed this picture to happen.

Here is an alternate shot that I don't like quite as much but felt it prudent to include.

There are several other shots of this nature involving little hearts drawn on my fingers, but I'm too lazy to edit them right now. These two are unedited, having come straight off the camera exactly how I wanted.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to throw together my food journal blog and then I'm watching Spirited Away on the computer, since mom's got the tv.

Day 25/365: Blind.

Today, I took artistic license with the word "blind" and used a lyric from Blackbird by the Beatles. I had an epic drawing planned out, which you still might see, reworked to fit another theme on the list.

This week, I've been kind of distracted artwise, and I apologize for that. My brother is home from college only until Sunday afternoon, since this is his spring break. While it's true that there is only about a month after that until he's home for the entire summer, I still haven't wanted to be in my corner, knelt over a huge, intricate drawing.

Next week, when he goes back to college, I'll have more energy to devote to drawing or new photography.
I enjoy keeping this blog and all, but I think what I'm learning is that my drawings are not meant to be churned out every day. I mean, when I look at how frequently I drew before (which wasn't a whole lot. I might have produced two or three really good drawings in a month) and then I look at this project, which calls for a new piece every day? There's no way I could have them all be drawings.

I am going to continue to draw for this blog, but I don't want to feel like I'm letting you all down if I post a picture or a collage, or something.

Anyway, now that I'm through rambling, we can get on with today's picture.

It's a little collage of Paul McCartney. The background picture is one I took, in our house, of a window. Yes, we have both blinds and curtains on them.

I haven't done a collage of that nature for a while. Usually I don't screw with the opacity anymore, which makes them look clearer, but they're a lot harder to make. I thought I'd pay homage to the type of collages I used to make all the time.

I'm trying not to be all OCD about this. I keep thinking there is an edge of a picture I forgot to erase, but really, it's just the shadows of the blinds in the background picture. LOL

Anyway, I've got to throw together an entry for my food journal, so I'll catch you all later. I'm not telling you what tomorrow's theme is so you can be surprised. XD

Day 24/365: Black.

Considering I wasn't home all day, I reserve the right to use a picture I've posted on my deviantart.
Literally. I got up at 6:30 this morning, we left for my grandma's at about 7:30, and I just got home an hour ago. So I don't feel at all bad about using something that isn't technically new.

That was a picture I took in 2009, of graffiti on the side of a building in town. They left it up for months and months, but I believe they had it removed before July 4th of that year, since July 4th is kind of a big deal here in town.

I'm sorry. I completely forgot about this blog until like half an hour ago. I'm afraid I exhausted a whole lot of artistic energy making yesterday's piece, so I had literally no idea what I was going to do today. Seeing as the picture yesterday took me hours to finish, today wasn't going to be a super intricate work of art anyway.

Still. I think I'm going to take more pictures for this blog anyway, seeing as photography is my true love, I think.

I mean, I love to draw, paint, use pastel crayons... Hell. I even write the occasional Labyrinth fanfic on the side, even though I don't think my writing is very good. Still. I feel like photography is my passion, over everything else.

Tomorrow's theme is blind. I have an idea that I may end up using for that, but I don't know. I might change my mind between now and then. So we'll see.

Day 23/365: big events.

So, you know the little picture in honor of Japan that I mentioned yesterday? I decided the shitstorm that Japan has had hurled at them recently qualifies as a big event. It's a huge event. I can't even imagine that level of devastation. It's just... hard to believe. I feel for them.

Now, I don't want any of you shmucks bitching about "Oh, this many people didn't freak out about Katrina, or Haiti, or, the Gulf oil spill, or blahblahblah" or "You just care more about the disaster in Japan because you're an anime tard" or whatever bullshit you like. I don't care. It's a tragedy, and since I'm absolutely flat broke, I can't exactly ship them off a huge crate of money.

I'm sorry. You'll have to excuse my "bitch" mood swing. Mother nature and her lovely gift are still lingering around moodwise.

Now for the picture.

The background picture is not mine. NOT MINE. Go here: Go here. These people sound pretty awesome.

Also, I really hope it's not against their background stock rules to post this picture here. I'm sending them a link to this entry as soon as it's finished.

Now, I have to tell you... I am pretty much a noob at pixel art, pixel dolling, any of that stuff. So be nice. Also, this isn't going to look right unless you look at it on a regular computer screen, not an LCD flat screen. It will look washed out and bad on a flat screen.

Anyway, it's a little abstract tribute to one of my favorite Hayao Miyazaki movies, Howl's Moving Castle. I've been on somewhat of a Studio Ghibli kick lately, due in part to a newfound love for a composer named Joe Hisaishi, who composes music for a bunch of Miyazaki movies. But yeah.

I have a raging headache, and I'm starting to ramble, so I'm going to cut the entry off here. I still have my food journal wordpress blog to throw together. Tomorrow's theme is "black", so stay tuned for that.

Day 22/365: Birthday.

Today, we have a fun, lighthearted little colorization of a Beatles picture.

This is one of my favorite Beatles pictures.

Obviously, I don't own this picture, or any one of the Beatles (wish though I may, lol). I notice now that I left part of the handles of a couple of the umbrellas colored, but our other computer is having issues. Our laser mouse is acting up, and for some reason, the ctrl key doesn't work. Which made copy/pasting and undoing really irritating. And I can't remember the last time the mouse's scroll button worked properly. We've had that computer as it is since 2004. So... it's bound to have shit wrong with it.

I apologize for not having a drawing for you, but I've been concentrating most of my energy into brainstorming a picture to do in honor of Japan. It's just a stupid pixel drawing, but it's taking me ages. I'm not good at drawing with a mouse. And I don't have much patience with pixel drawing. It requires a level of exactness that I like pretending doesn't exist. So we'll see how it goes. If the pixel thingy doesn't turn out well, I may just draw it on paper and scan it.

Tomorrow's theme is "big events", and I have no fucking idea what I'm going to do for that, but I suppose I'll worry about that tomorrow.

I'm off to overdose on pepto bismol (I has indigestion from the fish and chips I had at Applebees). See you tomorrow.

Day 21/365: Bent

Today, I can actually say that I'm posting a picture that I've never posted anywhere before.

It's a shadow cast by a bent piece of wire on a fire hydrant.

I personally think it's pretty nifty. Course, it's nowhere near my favorite, but it's good.

I really apologize for letting this blog slide the past few days. I haven't felt like myself. Which comes with the territory this week. I hope to give it more time and not just throw something together because I don't feel well.

Tomorrow's theme is birthday, and I may have to do something Beatles related for that. I'm not sure exactly what, but I guarantee you it will be something new. I'm going to try not to recycle anything from my deviantart again, but I can't guarantee that I'll never recycle anything. Maybe I'll find something I've already done fits a day's theme perfectly. But I can promise you that I will be doing that a lot less often in the future.

Anyway, I haven't written my food blog yet, so I'm off to do that. Also, I'll be around facebook if you need to drop me a line. XD

See you tomorrow. I leave you now with a catchy oldies song. Pay no attention to the actual video. Just listen. Lol

Day 20/365: Beach

Today, I'm going to post a very old picture. It was taken in 2004, way back when I was just first started to get into photography. I actually didn't even have my own camera yet.

It was taken on our vacation to Catalina Island.

Seeing as that I sometimes have problems thinking I've made progress with anything, I think I prove myself wrong when I look at my old picture. And my old artwork. Day to day, it doesn't feel like I improve much, or at all, but when I go back and look at a picture that's this old, I can tell I've improved.

I really apologize for the downtime as far as super new content goes. The drawing I was working on today just didn't look right, then I went and fucked it up when I was trying to outline it.

Still. All the talk of improving artwise? The opposite can be said about me. I was still probably wearing size 16 clothing on that vacation.

Now I'm in size 20-22, depending on the brand. I fit into most size 20 jeans I have. Still. There are so many other areas I've improved in since then. I don't know. Depends on how you look at things.

Well I'm going to watch a movie with the family. Tomorrow, I'm not telling you what theme is for tomorrow, so it'll be a surprise, but I WILL post something new.

Day 19/365: Beautiful.

I apologize. I promised to give you something new, but I spent most of my day today feeling like shit due to cramps. I had no energy today. It took a really huge effort just for me to do a little laundry and do a few loads of dishes.
It's only 8:30 in the evening, so if the drawing I'm working on turns out, I might post that, and then all this will be mute because I'll have something original for you, but for now I'm posting this collage I made, in honor of earth day last year.

All made from scraps of free giveaway magazines from the public library.

I really enjoy doing this sort of collage. I first got started on it back in college, for a 2D design assignment.

You'll have to forgive me. This was done back in 2006, when I had a strange obsession with running every picture through the Soft Focus filter in Paint Shop Pro 8

In turn, that picture spawned me to do this one on my own, two years later.

Looking at it now, I think it represents an improvement in my work.

I did this a year later, in honor of Michael Jackson.

I planned out, drew, and finished this in one sitting. Given the amount of time these things take to do, that's quite the accomplishment. Forgive the bad scan and cropping job.

Tomorrow's theme is "beach" and once again, that might be something that lends itself better to a picture I've already taken, but I will try my hardest to make something new. Or at least, submit a picture I haven't submitted before. I might even make more word art, like I did for "all the small things".

Anyway, I'm off to do facebooky, MSN things.

Day 18/365: Barren.

You will have to forgive me once again, faithful readers, but I'm using a picture I took last winter as today's picture. My mind was too closely adhering to today's theme, and was therefor barren of any ideas. How so I draw a concept like barren when most of my drawings look like this:

 Or this?:

Not exactly a drawing style that lends itself well to a minimalistic concept like "barren".

No matter. It's my blog, I make my own rules, and my rules say that I can use pictures I've already taken, if they relate to that particular day's theme. Which today's picture does. This is today's picture.

As I said, I took it last winter. It was on a really foggy day, and the world just looked like it ended where the lake should be.

This is really the closest thing to "barren" I've done, really, except for maybe this picture:

Except I'd call this minimalistic. Moreso than the image I get when I think "barren". Whatever. Maybe I'm just weird.

Today just didn't go as I planned. I was thinking of trying to make a drawing, but I just felt lethargic and crappy all day. Mother Nature decided to stop by  with my gift a tad early, so that didn't help.

Plus I had a ton of laundry and dishes to do. And, I had to squeeze in some exercise. I'm trying to get myself back into bike riding shape, so I'm riding our exercise bike, gradually increasing my time by five minutes. I started like, three days ago. First day I did 10 I think. Next, I did 15. Yesterday, I walked to the library and thusly didn't ride the exercise bike. Today I rode it for 20 minutes. If I get a chance to next week, I'll keep it to 20 minutes the first day, and then start tacking on five minutes each day.

I say if I get a chance, because Spring Break is next week. My mom (who works as a teacher/librarian at a HS) and my brother (at college) have the same Spring Break. So we're basically going to spend it at home. My brother and I spoke of having a nerd fest game day where we play games like Star Wars monopoly and Star Wars trivial pursuit. Although, it's been ages since I've seen the movies, or read any of the Star Wars books. And I get a fair amount of this trivial SW knowledge from them. Timothy Zahn=WIN. Big nerdy authory WIN. And as far as SW Trivial Pursuit goes, my brother and I are the only ones in this house who can play that game and actually have any idea what we're talking about.

My parents have both seen all the movies, but they never got as fanatic about it as my brother and I did. Plus...  I'm pretty sure the first time my mom or dad owned a VCR was when they got married. So, they didn't really have a chance to watch these movies over and over again. 

Okay, ramble over. Tomorrow's theme is Beautiful, and thankfully it's a pretty vague theme, so I should probably be able to actually produce a drawing for you. Instead of taking the easier way out and taking a picture. Or using a previously taken picture. I'm off to throw together my food journal blog. Which I don't normally say, because that's the one I usually update first. 

Anyhoo, stay tuned for tomorrow's entry. Not that anybody reads this at all. XD Whatever.

Day 17/365: Bargains.

Hello, and welcome to today's blog entry.

Today was an okay day, I guess. It was snowing when I woke up, though. That I could have done without. I was going thinking of going to the library, but decided not to in the morning. I thought it was going to be snowy and crappy out all day, so I thought I wasn't going to go.

Mom hasn't been feeling well. She's got a cold, runny nose, sore throat, all that fun stuff. If you didn't know, she teaches freshman English at the HS part time, and works in the library the rest of the day. She came home after her classes, so she was home around noon. Dad was off at a doctor's appointment and picking up medications, so he was still not home.

I decided to go to the library at 1 or so, after seeing that it wasn't too cold out.
Although. I made the mistake of wearing my combat boots, that each have a small hole in the bottom. And it was all slushy out. I'm letting the boots dry, then I'm taping up the insides of those fuckers with duct tape. I can't afford new combat boots, so I'm going to keep wearing this pair until they literally disintegrate off my feet. XD

I walked to the library to pick up the dvd of Red, which I had put on hold for me. I also checked out Spirited Away, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I am 24 years old and regularly watch animated movies. I don't care what the fuck you think of that. :)

Anyway, I am kind of rambling, so let's get on with today's picture.

I took a picture of my who mug because of the song of theirs called "Bargain", if you were wondering.

As with most of the things I post here, unless you have an LCD flatstreen in which everything appears lighter than it does on a normal computer screen, this is going to look a teensy bit darker than I intended.

This isn't perhaps the best picture ever, but I do like it. I had originally intended to make a sort of price tag and tie it to the handle of the mug, but that didn't work. I had also intended to take the picture in broad daylight, but didn't get a chance to.

Tomorrow's theme is "barren", and I honestly don't have the slightest idea what I'm going to do with that. Most of my drawings are anything but barren; full of weird patterns and acid trippy colors and whatnot. Although I suppose I could do another picture like this one:

That could count as barren, I suppose.

I don't know. I don't often go for the minimalistic look in my art. It's usually not my scene, really, but I could churn something out for this blog. I suppose that's part of the reason I'm doing this project, actually. To perhaps be driven to make some art and take some pictures that I might never have thought to do on my own.

Well kids, I'm off to ingest some caffeine to ensure I can stay awake for my show at 9 (Off the Map). It's seriously a great show. Although you may not get everything if you haven't been watching from the beginning, it's still a really good show that I think you'll enjoy.

Anyway, stay tuned for tomorrow's entry. :)

Day 16/365: Baked goods.

I had a nifty plan for today that unfortunately didn't work.

I decided to make lemon bars to take pictures of for today's entry, but... I've never made lemon bars before. To make a long story short, the custardy topping never fully set. In fact, when I went to cut myself a bar, liquid came rushing out of the top and filled the newly vacated square.

The good news is, the goopy mixture tastes really good, but it's super rich. I probably only had the equivalent of two bars, but my stomach is now paying for it by being upset. Boooo.

Anyway, I resorted to using a picture that you've probably already seen, because it was the only picture I found of something I actually baked. I am not good about taking pictures of all the stuff I bake. Mainly because the pictures never come out. *needs a lesson in food photography*

ANYWAY. The picture.

This was a pain in the ass. It's a homemade chocolate cupcake, with homemade buttercream frosting, and a homemade fondant heart on top. In a teacup.

The reason I say that was a pain in the ass requires a backstory. Which I will tell you now.

See, I had an epic idea for cupcakes. My brother was coming home from college for the weekend, and I wanted to make epic cupcakes to send back to college with him.

They were going to be homemade chocolate cupcakes, with either raspberry jam or orange marmalade in the middle. This was before I knew that you just put the blob of jam on top of the cupcake batter, and it will sink in. The jam sank to the bottoms, and none of the cupcakes came out of the pan like they were supposed to.

I freaked out. So, I took off all the tops (because they were still good) and crumbled the goop that was the bottom of each cupcake, and mixed it with muffin batter. The only thing is, I didn't put less flour in the muffin batter to compensate. The mixture was so thick that our hand mixer couldn't handle it. I had to stir it by hand. It was like cement. It still baked up nice though.

The buttercream was easy. The fondant was another story. I was going to put fondant bows on top of each cupcake, but the fondant wouldn't stand up to being molded into anything. I thought it would turn out like a sort of dough I could mold into different shapes, but it was hard enough to get it to stay in those flat cutout heart shapes.

Buuut that backstory is already longer than I wanted, so let's move on. Tomorrow's theme is "bargains" and I plan on doing something The Who related. Because of their song called "Bargain". May be a picture (I have a who coffee mug, and a vinyl of the movie sountrack of Tommy). May be a drawing. May even be a Who collage wallpaper. I'm not sure yet. But I promise promise promise that it WILL be a new piece of art. Not damage control because my baking doesn't turn out the way I want. LOL.

Anyway, I'm off to do facebooky things and watch Eddie Izzard on youtube.

Day 15/365: Baby it's cold outside.

Forgive me if this entry is a little distracted. I've become hopelessly addicted to an Oregon Trail app on facebook. I just wish I had a copy of the game I used to play. It was on an old Macintosh. But it wasn't the super old, like huge floppy disk version. It was like an updated version I played in the 90s, from a cd rom I think. I can't remember.

Anyway, let's get on with today's art. I cheated, and used pictures I've taken, because I had a brainfart while trying to think of ideas for drawings. I usually avoid wintery, cold drawings, mainly because I really hate winter. The exception being the occasional Christmas drawing.

You probably can't tell, but there was ice in that picture. Signifying the cold. Lol

I know. That's a loose connection, but today was one of those days where my muse was off getting drunk on a tropical beach somewhere that had no cell phone service.

Still. It looks cool. The trippy heart picture was actually a shiny holographic binder I used to have. Actually, I've still got it somewhere. For that picture, I was waving the binder back and forth and snapped a picture to see what it would look like. The umbrella picture was taken last spring. Early spring. As in, still melting snow and ice on the ground in spots.
Standing in the huge puddle of water here to take this picture was what led to me figuring out that one of my favorite combat boots had a hole in the bottom.

My day was pretty boring, except for the part where I made almond bark dipped strawberries, so there isn't much to report in that respect.

I'm off to be a slave to my facebook apps, then eventually to bed.

Day 14/365: Baby.

I'll tell you right off the bat. I feel like complete shit, and did while doing most of the work on today's drawing. So I didn't really give a shit. If it were one of my normal, "take a few days or even a week to complete" drawings, it would have been much more intricate, and less sloppy and thrown together.

I'm beginning to think this blog was a bad idea. Most of the drawings I've done for it have sucked, so maybe I'm just not meant to draw this much. I'm in a self defacing mood swing, but honestly, people are going to see the complete shit I post on this, and think that I'm a shitty artist.

And maybe I am. I know people who can churn out amazing works of art in less than half an hour, and they call it a rough sketch. Meanwhile, I spend hours and hours on most everything I draw, and it looks nowhere near as good.

Today has just kind of sucked. I have that "not quite there, nothing quite feels real" feeling. I hate it. Case in point? I just looked at the clock, expecting it to say 11:45 or even midnight. In reality, it's only almost 9pm. WTF.

Anyway, today's piece of crap.

My interpretation of "baby". Weird multi colored mermaids with no faces, or hands.

Really, I'm not very happy with today's entry. I should have left it as a sketch, I think. Because I just rushed through the coloring and didn't really give a shit. I like this concept, though, and I might revisit it at a later date.

I apologize. I will try not to make this kind of crap the norm. It's just really hard to care about what you're doing when you don't feel like yourself, you have a murderous headache, and you can count five other places on your body that are in pain.

I've been thinking of... I don't know. Maybe shifting to where I take pictures for each day more often, and keep the drawings for days that I can come up with something really awesome. My head hurts too much for me to care about contemplating it right now, so I hope tomorrow I can think about it with a clear head.

Anyway, tomorrow's theme is "Baby it's cold outside", and while I would be more inspired with that if it were, say, mid December, I can probably churn out something decent. There is still snow on the ground. Maybe I could take a picture of the thermometer outside our kitchen window. Whatever. I'll think about it later.

Now, to go OD on tylenol.

PS: You may have started noticing ads on my blog. This is on purpose, through AdSense. I don't think any of the five or fewer people that have read this will click on any of the ads, but what the hell. On the off chance that somebody does click on them, I could get paid for it.

Day 13/365: Award.

Hello hello hello and happy Saturday to all of you.
I've had a pretty good day. Slept until 9am, messed about online until 10 something, then mom and I went to Mason City to do some grocery shopping. I had a sample in Hyvee, and then like three samples in target. I felt kind of bad about the generic oreo, and the tiny cup of apple juice, because mom was like, speeding towards the checkout, and I just kinda rushed up, small talked with the sample ladies, grabbed the sample and rushed off. I hope they didn't think I was rude. Lol. I'm just not going to pass up a generic oreo.

My afternoon was good until about four hours ago, when I acquired this like, energy killing super headache. It's gotten a little better now since I took some tylenol, but honestly, I'm glad I don't have anything uber productive to do right now, because I wouldn't be doing it.

In other bodily news, my right shoulder, while it doesn't hurt as much as yesterday, is still plaguing me something awful whenever I try to pour anything (i.e. water, condensed soup into the pan, etc).
Anyway, before you all get bored and go home, let's get on topic.

Today's theme is award. It's the last of the letter "A" suggestions on the list that I'm using, which is here, in case you were wondering.

It's a little darker on my computer than it was when I edited it. The computer I edit most of these on has a LCD flatscreen, and I occasionally tend to forget that everything looks lighter on that one than it does on a regular computer screen.

Today's idea was a bit random, as I honestly had no idea what to do for today's theme. I ended up doodling a blue ribbon with a rather globby, messy blue ink pen and finding an old, bent nail to tack it on with. If you were wondering, that is one of the half rotten, didn't-last-as-long-as-it-should-have pumpkins that I'm still mad about, to a small degree. Lol.

Tomorrow's theme is "baby", and if you make any Bieber references, I will tie your ass to a tree and force you to listen to old, boring hymns for hours. As long as it takes for you to learn your lesson.

I already have an idea as to what I'll be drawing for that, so I'll be able to start in the morning. And avoid the "OMG why did I put this off" dread I experienced on Wednesday.

Anyway, I'm off to do facebooky things and to figure out what I'm eating for dinner.

Day 12/365: Autumn.

Today, I'm cheating again and using a picture I took in September of last year. Today, is not a compelling day for my art, or my sentence writing. Case in point? I had to write that last sentence at least 6 times before it sounded the way I wanted it to.

Ever since I woke up, I've been in this weird foggy haze or something. I haven't, at any point today, felt like I was really awake. I've had a "not quite headache, but still irritating dull ache" for a majority of the day, and my right shoulder hurts, for some reason. But only when I try to raise it a certain way. Such as, when trying to pour water from our water filtering pitcher, or to put plates away in our cupboard. It's probably just a pinched nerve but it's still bothering me.

Anyway. I suppose I should post today's picture before I bore you all to death

Clear Lake. Which is actually more of a green color, once you look at it up close. Not in any way clear.

I know that that picture still looks rather summery, because it was taken during the first half of September. 

Up until November, I could still walk to the lake in a tee shirt, jeans, and flipflops.  

Cheating?

I don't care. To me, once September hits, it's fall, and I start to get that "fall is nice, but winter is going to SUCK" dread.

Anyway, tomorrow's theme is "Award", and I literally have no idea what I'm going to produce for that. Maybe I'll draw a blue ribbon on a small piece of paper and tack it onto the half rotten pumpkins from halloween that are still outside.

Speaking of pumpkins, I'm still really angry. If you don't want to listen to me lament about a pumpkin, you're welcome to stop reading.

See, in October 2009, I bought a pumpkin from Econo foods to bring home and make a jack o lantern out of. But, I decided to paint it instead. It lasted for ages. November, December, January, February, and March passed. The pumpkin, which was still in the house, had not even started to rot yet. Then April and May passed. Pumpkin still looked new. However, mom was starting to get wary about it, so I took it outside.

So, some time in August, a pumpkin plant sprouted from the finally broken down remains of the pumpkin.

Since it sprouted late, we only got two pumpkins off it. The pumpkins I used for Halloween 2010. I painted those as well.

However, we left them on our front porch. Which is indoor, but not heated. Obviously, they froze, because mom went out there one day to two slouchy, half squishy pumpkins. That is where the "I'm still really pissed" part comes in, because I had hoped that those two pumpkins would last as long as the one that they sprouted from. There's still a possibility that the pumpkins that are now outside, half buried in snow, could sprout, but I was just really mad about that.

It might just be the hippie in me, but I feel a weird connection to plants that I've planted, and I felt like the pumpkin randomly sprouting was a weird kind of gift. So in a way I'm disappointed and kind of feel like I let the only two pumpkins that came off that plant rot. I don't know.
Anyway, I'm going to go do some dishes and brainstorm what I'm going to post tomorrow.