looking for my muse

Happy new year!

2012-01-24T16:50:00.000-05:00

What a way to start off the new year... with nothing to post!

It's been a busy few weeks of the start of the year. I'm sick to boot. But I have had a couple freelance projects (logos) to work on, which I will post soon.

So, I have not even opened my letterpress. I had great big things planned for that baby. I am so disappointed in myself! Really, though, I have no room for crafting or projects that are not done on the computer. :( I need some space. My office is awesome now - which is our old guest bedroom (I have a window again!), but there is still a full size mattress and boxspring leaning against the wall and pretty much taking up a lot of the room. It needs to go (into the garage). But in order for that to happen, we need to clean out the garage. But in order for that to happen, we need to build a shed for our backyard to store some of the crap in the garage. But in order for that to happen, we need to purchase and buy the materials for the shed (probably a $900 investment - I hope no more than that). But in order for that to happen... I really could go on and on... you see how this works?

Anyway, I plan to break it out soon. I need to make thank you cards for Liam and my birthdays from LAST MONTH. They will happen by the end of the month. Mark my words!!!

I also just printed my most favorite photo of all time that I took - a gorgeous shot of the Pacific Coast Highway when we drove it back in 2008:

I printed it 20"x30" (I had a code for $20 credit for Shutterfly and only paid $9 for the print and shipping!) and want to frame it somehow. I was thinking of mounting it on a canvas (modpodge?) and painting the edges gold... but unfortunately they do not make a pre-stretched canvas that size. Now I have to think of another alternative. I don't want a matt. Not sure...maybe a thin frame if anything. Just not cheap-o looking.

Logos

2011-12-09T01:27:00.001-05:00

This is a logo I did for a client who is in the custom cake business. I did this one a while ago, but only got a chance to upload it to my blog now.

Speaking of logos, I signed up on this site called LogoTournament.com. It's basically a site where you can win money if you design a logo the client likes. But you are up against other designers, so the client has many to choose from. Right now, I am just a Probational Designer, and I have to enter 20 contests, and from that point they get to decide whether or not you are deemed 'good enough' to keep on entering the logo contests. That's a long way to go, but I figure if I have a chance to win some money, then why not. It is also a chance to get my creative juices flowing. It's pretty neat to see what other designers have come up with for the same client. I just entered my first one tonight! My goal is to enter at LEAST one logo contest per week.

Lightroom: Before and After Shots

2011-10-26T10:21:00.002-04:00

My Initial Review
I decided to try a photo editing software from Adobe called Photoshop Lightroom. I have heard many good things about it, so I wanted to see what it was all about. I downloaded the 30 day trial (which is a FULL version) a couple days ago. It seems easy enough to use "out of the box", but there were a few things that I got confused on regarding saving and publishing that were not as obvious to me.

After playing with it, I found it pretty fun. I *might* consider buying the full version (which is $300! eeek!). I can essentially do this stuff in Photoshop, but Lightroom has taken all the photo editing aspects and placed them in one program with a pretty bow on it! It makes editing so much easier than if I had just used Photoshop.

The only thing you can't do are detailed photo edits, such as taking out something from the background or taking a frown and turning it into a smile. The fun stuff I like to do. heehee But then again, I have not really explored deeper into the program other than the color edits. There's also the batch editing, that I have not played with yet, either. But I have a whole month to play and learn!

Also, I tried the Facebook uploader through Lightroom. I noticed that when it uploads the images to Facebook, some colors look muddy and gross and some contrasts are not as high as I set them. Oh well, that's FB for ya.

++++

BEFORE and AFTER

The pic on the left is the original UNEDITED photo, straight from my camera.
The one on the right is the Lightroom edit.

I posted these and some more of my edited photos to a public Facebook album here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150886443725043.752712.823390042&type=1&l=a7aa4dbfef

This one was the first and my favorite so far. I love the B&W version A LOT! (P.S. the yellow text box was obviously not in my original... it was just on the screen when I did the screenshot! oops)

The white balance was off in my original, so the photo turned out too warm. Instead of trying to correct the color temperature, I decided to try to turn it into a B&W.

I didn't do too much to this one. I added some fill light and vibrancy to the overall color. I like all the textures in this photo...
and of course the cute little guy too!

With this one, I decreased a little of the clarity to give it a bit of a "dreamy" feel.

I tried the high-contrast look on this one...

++++

My next post will be about another program that I have been playing with called Portrait Professional. I purchased it and it's really fun to see what it does to a face!! Insta-airbrush!!!

Running on reserves

2011-10-21T10:06:00.000-04:00

Between my cousin's wedding, going on vacation, dealing with a "terrible" toddler and stressing about our upcoming move, I've been totally drained of all creative energy. I try not to stay up late to work on projects anymore - I don't want to risk weakening my immune system due to a certain health issue I have. Maybe one late night a week. But even so, most of the time I am so tired anyway, I just want to sleep.

The last creative thing I did was make a handmade wedding card for my cousin and her new hubby... I was inspired by South Park... one of my top 10 favorite shows. :)

In other news, I am REALLY EXCITED about my birthday gift I am getting from Joel. Yeah, I told him want I wanted, so what?! haha Well, there are a bunch of things I want but the one I dropped obvious hints on is the coolest thing on the list, in my opinion... it's also one of the most expensive... haha. Anyway, it will be something that I hope will be a new hobby for me and I plan to use it to make Christmas gifts this year! YES! Another year of handmade gifts! Woohoo!!! Last year's paintings were such an undertaking... I obviously don't want to spoil what it will be, but I will be sure to post pics of them in January 2012!

Rainbow

2011-09-23T23:59:00.002-04:00

It was a drizzly, rainy day today. I had to run some errands after work as soon as Joel got home. On the way, I noticed the rain subsiding, but the clouds were still dark. Then the sunset started peeking through the clouds, which reflected into my rear view mirrors. The sun created a really nice glow on every thing in front of me - trees, road, cars, buildings. Now I know why they say that sunrise and sunset are the "magical times" for photography. I kept my eye out for any rainbows because I knew this was the perfect time for one. After driving some more, I saw the most beautiful, brightest rainbow I have ever seen. EVER. And as I drove even more, it got brighter and bigger and even more brighter!! Truly an eyegasm, if you will. There were at least 12 cars that I saw pulled over on the side of the road taking phone pics of this awesome natural color display. I, on the other hand, did not think to play it safe and pulled out my phone and started snapping pics as I was driving... haha.

Of course these photos do it no justice at all. It was so large that I couldn't get it in my cameras view finder. I saw the entire arch... breathtaking! This is one of the times I wish I had my new camera on me! The following are my phone pics... camera phone settings were on low resolution :(

Triple rainbow?

it was so bright!

The pot of gold = Wallyworld?

conte

2011-09-08T16:25:00.003-04:00

I'm taking it back old school...

This is an old Life Drawing 1 figure drawing I did out of black and white conte on brown wrapping paper. I got a 95 on it with the professor's remarks: "Nice work, a little too dependent on line though." What can I say, maybe that is my style.

I recently saw the move Art School Confidential - very funny and satirical, and brought me back to my own art school days. I want to get back into drawing... I can't even remember the last thing drew. I want a new sktechbook/drawing pad and some charcoal or something.

If I post more old drawings, maybe I can motivate myself to draw more now...

Projects list, as of 8/30

2011-08-30T16:15:00.000-04:00

Project images coming soon

~~- Family tree project (freelance project = $)~~ COMPLETED and got paid
- Nursery paintings x 2 or 3 (friend project) Still TO-DO... They had the baby... paint is still in the bags...
- Couples portrait painting x 2 (friend projects - similar style to Christmas paintings) Also still TO-DO
~~- Wedding logo (cousin project)~~ Figured out a simpler solution
- Business card design (friend project) TO-DO
- Website update (personal project... desperate need of an update) NEED TO-DO!!!
~~- Investment/Travel Guide layout (freelance)~~ COMPLETED and got paid
- Website update for past client Still TO-DO, but I updated the important stuff and just need to update photos
~~- Logo Design for a new client (freelance)~~ COMPLETED, pending payment
- Macaron Order (250) for a Christening Party In-progress, having challenges, but I'm going to try to make as many as I can before Sept 4

Cursive vs. typing: Which should schools teach? (Article from CNN.com)

2011-08-24T13:57:00.000-04:00

http://www.cnn.com/2011/IREPORT/08/24/cursive.writing.irpt/index.html?hpt=hp_bn8

Seriously. Everyone NEEDS to learn how to write. Sometimes I hate technology.

Adobe Muse

2011-08-16T01:33:00.000-04:00

http://muse.adobe.com/

Create websites as easily as you create layouts for print. You can design and publish original HTML pages to the latest web standards without writing code. Now in beta, Muse makes it a snap to produce unique, professional websites. (to be released in 2012)

______

If my dream program was ever to be made, it would be this. Coding makes my eyes and brain hurt. I need pretty pictures. How did I not know Adobe was coming up with this program? And it's so appropriately named...

I just downloaded the beta version... now I need to check out tutorials. :D

Happy EARLY 30th birthday to ME!!!

2011-08-03T10:12:00.000-04:00

Happy happy joy joy... I did it!

I bought my camera - the Nikon D7000!!!!!

But my baby is not in my arms yet. :( They were out of stock all over the place, so I have to wait (hopefully) no longer than a week for it to come in.

I got a package deal with the 55-300mm lens, an 8GB memory card (which will fill in one of TWO memory card slots of the camera!), and an extra battery. All I am missing is the camera!!

Plus the camera comes with a kit lens that I do not own: the 18-105mm.

I'll have 6 lenses - the 18-55mm (kit lens with my D50), 50mm, 35mm, 55-200mm, 55-300mm and the 18-105mm. Yeehaw!!! I would like to add a fisheye lens to my collection... maybe as my 31st birthday present to myself next year. :)

hit a wall, then woke up

2011-07-30T04:50:00.000-04:00

It's 4:45am. I am still up. I think I'm going to attempt sleep in an hour.

A few hours ago I placed my head on my desk and closed my eyes while waiting for a file to load. I could have easily fallen asleep if it was not for the danger of spilling my water cup on my keyboard. (I was too lazy to move it)

I'm working on some spreads for a freelance project - an investment booklet/guide (see above).

Just wanted to take a blog break.

G'nite!

I'm on the internet!

2011-07-27T06:06:00.001-04:00

My arm is a work sample!

The lovely, talented Ms. Kimbery Reed graced my arm with her beautiful art.

I want her to do my other arm... someday. :)

source: Anonymous Tattoo Studio, Savannah, GA

photo by Kim Reed (this photo also appears on her website)

to-do list, updated

2011-07-25T09:29:00.000-04:00

- Family tree project (freelance project = $) update: completed first draft, waiting on report of typos, but otherwise call it DONE
- Nursery paintings x 2 or 3 (friend project) Still TO-DO... I think they are having the baby this week, so I need to send soon!
- Couples portrait painting x 2 (friend projects - similar style to Christmas paintings) Also still TO-DO
- Wedding logo (cousin project) TO-DO, this logo is going on a wedding photo booth strip - waiting for dimensions
- Business card design (friend project) TO-DO
- Website update (personal project... desperate need of an update) NEED TO-DO!!!
- Investment/Travel Guide layout (freelance) new project!
- Website update for past client new (but not exciting because it is a favor)!

All that, in addition to the day job! What, me sleep?

Other non-design stuff (to keep me sane):

- I have been teaching myself guitar for the past few weeks. I have an acoustic to play on, but my hands are so small and the strings are so hard to press. Joel is bringing up his electric (easier to play) when he goes down to GA next month. I know A, C, D, E and G and have been playing some songs which only use those chords (ex. Green Day's "When I Come Around"). I am getting the hang of pressing the strings (I've got callused fingertips), but I still need to work on my transitions. It's pretty fun!

My first Macarons

- I've become mildly obsessed with making macarons. They require only 4 ingredients and are relatively easy to make... it's all about timing, though (of how long you let the egg whites sit, how long you beat the egg white, how long you bake, what time of day to make them, etc). I think I might have come upon the ideal times with my last run. My first batch was not a complete disaster, but could have been better. Looking forward to experiments with fillings soon!

a coffee morning

2011-07-20T12:36:00.000-04:00

Last night, I stayed up until 4am working on the family tree layout project on my to-do list.

Take a look at that... I am working off a rough PDF (upper right background), pretty much just making it look a little better – refining it in InDesign. The client will eventually want to print this into a huge poster.

It may look boring, but I'm actually having fun with this. First of all, I think it's SO interesting that the client has his family history of NINETEEN GENERATIONS. I don't even know the names of my great-grandparents! The first person in his tree was born in 1485! Wow...

Secondly, as much as I bitch about being in front of a computer all day, sometimes simplified layout work is refreshing. I probably could have gotten all of this done in one sitting, but I made myself go to sleep. Plus, I love working at night when there aren't any distractions of the day to bother me. It's so easy to play some music and just get into the zone (my divine frenzy!).

I'm looking forward to completing this tonight (if I don't fall asleep). I made myself a strong cup of coffee this morning to stay awake. I am not a regular coffee drinker, I just drink it when I need to stay up at night or following a late night.

Projects (a reminder) and Pinterest

2011-07-14T11:57:00.001-04:00

Stuff on my plate that I still need to work on:

- Family tree project (freelance project = $)
- Nursery paintings x 2 or 3 (friend project)
- Couples portrait painting x 2 (friend projects - similar style to Christmas paintings)
- Wedding logo (cousin project)
- Business card design (friend project)
- Website update (personal project... desperate need of an update)

++++++

Just started using Pinterest. What an awesome idea. I have needed this for a long time. It's pretty much a visual bookmarking site where you can sort your bookmarks into categories (such as "Inspiration" or "Recipes"). I do this with my favorites/bookmarks on my web browser, but they are hidden most of the time and I tend to forget about them. (If you click on my link, my categories have been set up, but not too many "Pins" yet! I need time to go crazy!!!)

9 to 10 hours of the day

2011-07-12T14:08:00.003-04:00

mute

power

Not as effective as coffee

Mid-afternoon snack

2011-07-11T11:09:00.002-04:00

Wedding Invitation Package

2011-07-08T16:05:00.000-04:00

I recently completed a wedding invitation package. These are photos the bride took of the completed, printed pacakge - printed through one of my favorite online vendors: vistaprint.com.

She wanted something a little less traditional and more whimsical since it will be a beach wedding. I also did her save the date magnets.

Manual Photography Cheat Sheet

2011-06-30T09:29:00.002-04:00

source:

Living in the Stills

(an 18-year old, self-taught photographer from the Philippines!)

so little time...

2011-06-10T11:19:00.000-04:00

There is just way too much stuff I want to try, do and explore (artistically, speaking):

painting
photography
cake decorating
letterpress
drawing

...just to name a few. Graphic design is fun, but I want to work with my hands a little more. I get tired of slouching in my chair, wrecking my eyes, staring at a computer screen all day.

new painting, deer & death

2011-06-06T03:07:00.000-04:00

New painting

"Mary Ann"

12" x 12" acrylics on canvas

I wish I could have refined it more, but I only had 2 nights to work on it.

* * *

Deer

I have never seen so many deer in one place, in person

@ Ft. Washington Park, MD

* * *

Death

Remember my friend, the baby bird, that I photographed the other week?

I think he/she met an untimely death. RIP

"welcome back to the nature photo blog" (but not really)

2011-06-02T00:04:00.000-04:00

Good enough for stock photography?

Trees on the river trail

a Butterfly... I wish I was taller - this was above my head

Someone tell me what the heck these things are!?

+++

Location: pic 1 - front yard, all other pics - Ft. Washington Park, MD

Small Things in Life

2011-05-27T15:34:00.003-04:00

This abandoned baby bird was found on the ground the other day. I picked him/her up before I took the dogs out. Liam got a kick out of him/her. I gave him/her water through a dropper and some wet bread crumbs. Later that night I put him/her back outside in the tree near the spot I found it, so as not to disrupt the course of nature. Sorry you have deadbeat parents, little bird.

I found this little guy attached to my leg yesterday. Little bastard. I should have fed him to baby bird.

Prime, baby!

2011-05-27T09:52:00.001-04:00

Just bought a swanky "new" (well, refurbished) 35mm, f1/8 lens. ($160, price for a new one is $200-250)

All I am missing now is a swanky new camera body!!! Someone get me a D7000!

link: http://shop.nikonusa.com/store/nikonusa/en_US/pd/productID.213466700?resid=Td9spAoHAtUAAAnlVj8AAAAV&rests=1306487971879

+++++

In my world of design, I've been working on some wedding invites. I'll post them up once the whole package is completed. Also on the list of non-8-to-5 projects is a monster family tree! (which I probably won't be able to showcase here since it's the same client as last time who requested that I not share his family info... understandable! But who reads my blog anyway!?)

a divine shirt, me want

2011-05-25T14:14:00.001-04:00

from threadless.com

From a fellow Gentileschi-fan, a t-shirt design that I truly adore and WANT!

29 Ways to Stay Creative

2011-05-17T15:27:00.000-04:00

source: http://paulzii.tumblr.com/post/3360025995

Impromptu Telephoto Session :: the yard

2011-05-10T14:04:00.000-04:00

disclaimer: if photos of dog poop offend you, please don't scroll down :)

this flower prompted me to grab the camera

do you see that super fat fly??? lay off the poop, man!

flying anthill city

self portrait, ca. 2002

2011-04-29T13:34:00.000-04:00

I normally don't like any photos of myself, but I like this one.

I like the fact that the camera was actually level.

Taken with an SLR with black and white film. Sorry for the low-quality, I have the original negative...somewhere.

2011-04-26T13:48:00.003-04:00

food by me :: toasted coconut cupcakes

Have you ever toasted coconut? OMG, it makes the house smell so good.

And adding toasted coconut to anything makes it taste SO much better.

mac

2011-04-26T12:10:00.002-04:00

60-sec sketch of Mac. It sucks, but I need to show some "artwork" in this blog... more to come daily. Maybe you'll see some improvement!

Photo Documentary

2011-04-26T11:23:00.003-04:00

I'm intrigued at this style of photography.

I have a FB friend whom I was friends with during my SCAD days. She was a fashion major, I think, or maybe she switched. I'm not sure because we lost touch after freshman/sophomore year, and then after graduation, she moved back to Japan. Gotta love Facebook for the ability to reconnect!

Anyway, she had a baby the same year I did, but earlier that year. I tend to be drawn more towards people with kids Liam's age. She posts photo albums on her FB of her trips/adventures with her kid and family. I LOVE looking through her albums. They aren't the typical family-vacation photo album. They're not necessarily the most attractive shots - well, actually they are ALL beautifully composed shots. I guess what I mean is that they're not the type of "attractive" shots you'd see from a self-proclaimed professional photographer with visual elements like bokeh or depth of field or whatever... The photos are simple, unedited with natural lighting, but most importantly - tell a story.

I love flipping through her albums, admiring each photo. Her photos make me want to visit Japan so badly! She's got photos of her kid, mixed with photos of the landscape, mixed with touristy-type photos, mixed with photos of food she's about to eat. It's so awesome. Not too many photos of just her kid, which I know can get overwhelming and uninviting for others who just don't care to look at other people's kids. (I am guilty of taking too many pics of Liam, which is why I keep a separate Shutterfly site of all his pics to share with only those who care to see them all - mainly close friends and family)

I want to try this style. I take too many pics of Liam. You don't want to know how many. It's insane. I am a photo-hoarder! I just need to take more pics of the surroundings/environment. Like, Liam's got this funny look on his face, but what made him make that face? Or he's eating something that's all over his face... what exactly was he eating? Then maybe be very choosy as to what photos to show and stick the ones that I like a LOT in an album.

I also want to get a new camera... the Nikon D7000. Anyone want to give me $1200? :)

random thoughts

2011-03-29T14:09:00.000-04:00

Thinking of starting an etsy store for... something. Either to whore out my graphic design - custom invitation designs or templates or business card designs, logos, etc... any type of simple design work - OR - to sell custom paintings
I need to get back into a daily sketch or photo or something... at least a weekly sketch - how bout we start at that?
Maybe I should start using this blog as an "idea/inspiration board" and post images or weblinks to things that will help me grow or give me inspiration to get creative
I really need/want a new DSLR body. I want the Nikon D7000, but I also want a new lens, too because Liam has taken over my kit lens on my ancient D50. But first, I need $1200.
word.

More paintings

2011-03-07T11:37:00.003-05:00

I still have 2 16"x20" blank canvases and an 8"x8" square canvas from last year. The 2 larger ones are spoken for, at least in my mind. The people I plan to give them to don't know it yet, I don't think. They were meant to be Christmas presents, but I never got around to doing them with all the other chaos at the time. I think I need to use the paint I bought before it goes bad, as well. I still have an 8"x8"... who can I give that one to?

I finally bought my Concept 2 rowing machine (with an awesome Groupon: $100 for $500 off!). It's still in the box! :P We picked it up 2 days ago and have been busy with party organizing/cleaning (my mom's 60th birthday was this weekend) to throw it together and test it out. Tonight we will break it open and see how bad of shape I am in. Woohoo!

I also made my cousin some cupcakes for her 14th birthday. She's musically inclined, so she wanted music notes and staves as decorations - with a blue and purple color scheme. I printed out some sheet music for reference and piped melted chocolate onto wax paper. That was fun. I made my usual cream cheese icing (which I think I have perfected, so it's not TOO buttery tasting) and colored 1/3 of the batter blue, and another 1/3 purple. There were white, blue and purple cupcakes. They looked pretty awesome. I regret not taking photos of them before I packed them up in the sweet new cupcake carrier my Aunt got me. The report was that they were a huge hit with her friends and teachers. Everyone loved the icing! Yay me!

Also on the plate, I've got wedding invites to work on and a few other personal projects, among the normal 8-to-5 and toddler-chasing. I still feel like if I were to just paint and/or decorate cupcakes all the time, it wouldn't be such a bad thing. I yearn for ways to make my life more simple...

Coming to terms

2011-02-08T05:33:00.000-05:00

Caroline (8"x8")

Jessica (11"x14")

Kazia (8"x8")

These are the other 3 paintings I did for gifts last year. I wasn't allowed to post the family tree, but maybe I will replace it with my family and post it. (hmmm... Christmas presents for 2011?)

In regards to running, or well, not being able to run... I was thinking about screwing what the doc said and train for the 1/2 marathon anyway, but here and there, my knee would bother me and reassure me that running is not the smartest thing to do. ...at this point in my life anyway. I figure I will still make running a 1/2 or even whole marathon a life goal. I still have the rest of my life ahead of me. I'm not even 30 yet (for another 10 months)! I have a kid, a full time job and therefore virtually no time to do any training right now anyway. Maybe in the future, once Liam is able to wipe his own butt, I will get back into running. And who knows, at that point there may be some miracle cure to crappy knees. When I'm older, I'd be in a better place to afford the knee surgery anyway. Not a great way of looking at that, but whatever. I'm not giving up ALL hope, and I refuse to give up running. I just have to put it on hold for the time being. I am fine with that.

In other news, I'm only FIVE lbs away from my pre-preggo weight! I weighed myself on my cousin's bathroom scale for the first time since I was back in Savannah (Dec '10) - at the scale in our house. I think I have lost at least 7 lbs since then. I had some progress with the weight loss due to diet changes, but I was fluctuating. December was tough with the holiday treats! (I can't deny myself Holiday treats!!! They only come once a year!!) I got back on track with eating less after new years and I'm back down if not more so to what I was before the December eating madness! Weight loss with NO exercise!! Ha! It is possible! I can still be a lazy bum and lose weight!

But I need to start back on some type of exercise routine. I feel more tired at night most nights. Maybe my body's making up for the lack of sleep I got in December and parts of January. Who knows. Or maybe I'm being a normal person by trying to get 7-8 hours of sleep at night...

December = no sleep + sad news for my running shoes

2010-12-27T21:40:00.001-05:00

Between Liam's 1st birthday and Christmas plus my normal day job and a couple freelance projects sprinkled in between, I have been getting zero to little sleep.

James and Jen

Jerry and Pennie

Paul and Shonna

Tracy and Eric

Val and Andy

This Christmas, I decided to go the handmade route for a few people to save some $ and to try out a new painting style - similar to my pet paintings I did a couple years back, but more simplified and mainly black and white. I did 10 total, but I did not get photos of 2 of them before I wrapped them and the other 3 I have not yet given to the recipients. I plan to do a couple more, I just didn't have time to do them and I also have to figure out a way to send a 20" x 16" canvas across the country! I will post the others on a later blog entry.

The freelance projects I did were for a friend's coworker's family album. He asked me to design a cover for the album and a family tree for the back cover. I really like how the family tree turned out. It's nothing visually spectacular, but if you appreciate clean/neat layouts you would like it too! I may post it in a later blog, I just haven't gotten permission to post it yet.

I also made some snowflake cupcakes for Christmas (with my high school favorite cookie - Peanut butter kiss cookies), which turned out really nice as well. I piped some snowflakes made of melted white chocolate and placed some on the cupcakes. (P.S. I LOVE my Ikea dessert platter! Thanks Sharon!)

In other, unrelated news... On the fitness side of things, I finally weighed myself when we went down to Savannah the 2nd week of December. Turns out I lose 3 lbs. since we moved back up to MD! Woohoo! 3 lbs. in 2 months may not seem like a big deal, but after being at a plateau for the longest time, it is progress. Though, there has been very little fitness associated with that loss (due to no gym access). It was mainly diet changes.

Also, last week, I decided to get my knee checked out since it had been bothering me ever since the last time I ran last month. I didn't want to run any more until I got it checked out so I could start my 1/2 marathon training. Well, the good news is that my knees are perfect. The bad news is that the pain I am feeling is due to my f'ed up cartilage rubbing against itself. The doc said that my body is trying to tell me something: that I should not be running. He said that If I want to get surgery, that I should keep running. It crushed me when he told me that, and I felt like crying. Running had been something that I liked doing; I could always run even if we didn't have a gym. It was fun entering races and trying to beat my previous time. It gave me goals to strive for. It was something that Joel and I could do together (even though we never actually ran together - side-by-side, we at least ran at the same time and location, haha). *sigh* I don't know. I wanted the doc to tell me that my knee would get better with time, then I could start my training. Looks like I have to see if I can get someone to run in my place next year. I don't know. I really want to do the 1/2 marathon and then just quit my running career there. If not, it will be a weak end to my running life. I kind of want to go out with a bang.

Fall/Thanksgiving Cupcakes

2010-11-26T23:53:00.001-05:00

I survived Midnight Madness at the Mall on Black Friday!

...should be a t-shirt. My Black Friday (BF) cherry was popped with the help of Shonna and her sister Tracy! Shonna was a BF virgin too. I'm glad it was another thing we got to experience for the first time, TOGETHER!

Pics of my cupcakes...

Turns out the frosting was too buttery. I did use one WHOLE stick of butter. In the future I might use more cream cheese and less butter. I prefer the cheese flavor over the butter, but that's just me! They were still pretty damn good though, if I say so myself. :)

Crafty

2010-11-24T10:32:00.000-05:00

I've got a few things up my sleeve for Christmas gifts... I'm planning on giving personalized *******s for presents this year. Not making too many of them because I have no time to do one for every one I know, so if you get one, you are special. Or more like, you are probably close family or friends that are pretty much family. I hope to post them all on here once they are all complete. I think photos of all of them together will look pretty cool. I just hope they turn out how I have them envisioned in my head.

Also, this Thanksgiving I'm making pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting with chocolate leaves. Much like the style of the cake I posted last year for my in-law's birthdays (see this post). Just in cupcake form and with REAL fallen leaves, instead of basil leaves. :) I hope the leaves I picked up are not poisonous... I made sure I washed them thoroughly, at least! Picture to be posted later.

And to add to my repertoire of craftiness/creativity... I'm planning my first birthday party! Liam's 1st birthday! It's on a budget (sorta), so I had to go cheap/lazy on a few things that, knowing me, I shouldn't have: like invitations (they were sent out via eVite...and you can't customize the templates!) and cake (no time!). I hope it all goes as planned. There's still a lot to do before then.

Pics of stuff coming soon. This is such a crappy art blog... no pictures!

P.S. On the weight loss front, I have no scale to weigh myself on, but I've been eating a LOT less in the past few weeks. Trying to maintain the "food for fuel" mentality, although I am pretty sure that tomorrow (Thanksgiving), I will break my streak! haha

Back up north

2010-10-11T09:09:00.003-04:00

We moved back up to the DC area a couple weeks ago. The whole month prior to the move, I didn't go to the gym or run or anything. AND I had just joined a gym and was going somewhat regularly again! Now, I have to start at square one again. I don't want to join another gym until we can cancel our membership with the one in GA.

Last Saturday, Joel and I went to the Park (Ft. Washington Park) and ran the same trail route that we did the last time we were up here (July). It is a nice shady trail, but depending on the way you go, it is REALLY steep. There are stairs at the end of the 2nd mile and they are killer! There was no way I was running up the steps. Especially after not doing ANY sort of exercise (unless packing and moving counts) for a month. I'm really feeling it today as both my quads and knees are sore. :( BUT... I am looking forward to running more regularly so I won't feel so crappy!

In other news... I can fit back into my pre-preggo jeans again!!!! With my "new abs" (aka loose preggo belly skin, haha) the waist is a little tight, but they still fit fine! Woohoo! ALSO... the running pants I bought a few months ago are loose on me now too! I ran with them the other day and I kept having to pull them up every so often so that I wouldn't moon anyone! The bad news is that I really liked those pants and it was only the 2nd time I ever used them. Now I have to spend money (that is pretty tight these days) to buy new clothes that fit properly. Ugh...

I have no idea where my weight is now. Last I checked I was still hovering around 145. I'm sure I lost muscle, but probably gained fat. The last week in GA we ate horribly!!! *barf*

Quick update (supposed to be working!)

2010-09-07T10:25:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to update on the weight loss "project"... the needle FINALLY made it under the 150 mark!!! Woohoo! It's like a few notches past it too! Woohoo! Next milestone is 145...

I JUST joined the gym again, and even started going somewhat regularly... but now life takes another turn and we find out that we are MOVING (in a month!)!! A very exciting time, indeed, but with the packing, cleaning, etc... there really is NO TIME to work out.

Being busy also means: hardly any time to eat. But I'm actually doing what I should have been doing all along and just eating for fuel. It's not bad. (unless you stick a cupcake in front of me)

But I also want to attribute some of the credit to switching up the BC pills. I'm back to what I was on pre-preggo and my body seems to like it better. Although, my skin is not agreeing --- I'm breaking out more! But that might also be due to the stress of the move. Who knows. I'd rather deal with breakouts than a weight plateau! And who knows... I just might be off of ALL birth control and be au natual (no drugs in me!!! 'cept for multi-vitamins) pretty soon!! ;)

Stuff

2010-08-17T12:24:00.005-04:00

IMAGE DUMP!! So I'm actually posting a bunch of things for once! WOW!

The first image is a logo I did for my good friend Tracy who is starting her own business in the handmade baby items industry. Check out her blog: http://thecheekybootique.blogspot.com/ I drew the flower out on paper and was just going to scan it in and vectorize it, but my drawing skills are not up to par these days (working on it!), so I ended up just tracing my messy flower drawing in Illustrator to clean it up.

The next two are business card designs I created for 2 clients for their jewelry selling businesses. I've done these before for a few other people in this line of business and they love the "cartoon" version of themselves. Got to love word-of-mouth networking!

The last one is obviously old (as shown by the date), but it was one of the many small projects I did last year that I never posted. It is a wedding logo that was also used as a gobo light.

More to post soon...

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I am still sore from the Sunday gym escapade. I got way too excited about all the machines they had. I think I feel even worse than I did yesterday. I shouldn't have jumped into it too fast! Oh well.

======

Oh, and regarding the project that I plan to do for myself... I COULD try to do it all with photography, but I think that may be an easy way out. It is easier, but it will be expensive since I want it to be large scale and printing photos that large can get expensive. If I did it the traditional way (the way I initially planned) by drawing everything, it would take more time (a LOT more time), but materials would be cheaper. I dunno. I want to do the traditional way, but I'm kinda scared to start drawing again, but I want it to also show the technique and style that I have. We'll see. I still haven't nailed down a concept yet, but I have ideas. I don't want to talk about it here until I narrow down my options.

Hurts to cough

2010-08-16T12:50:00.004-04:00

We joined a 24-hour gym (woohoo!) and they ave multiple locations around the region. We've already been to 3 of them. The one that is the closest to us is the crappiest and smallest. All the weight machines are butted up next to each other and the few cardio machines they have are in a little corner next to the windows... which don't even face outwards (so the public can watch your jiggly ass try to run on the treadmill).

Anyway, we tried one out that is a little bit further of a drive, and it had way more machines (and the step machines I like that the other one didn't have). We're probably going to go to that one more than the rinkydink one closer to us. Yesterday we tried the one they have at the mall... it was awesome. Lots of space, lots of machines, has my favorite assisted dip/pullup machine AND the treadmills have fans. And surprisingly it wasn't even very busy. Pretty cool. We had such a good time there yesterday that today I can't lift my arms without them hurting... and whenever I try to cough, my abs hurt. Good times.

++++++

On the art front... I've been trying to work in some time to do the small projects I've taken on. A couple logos - one for my friend's handmade baby goods boutique and another for a communications business. Also trying to come up with a concept for a more personal artwork. I've never done a piece for myself that was never a school project or something that someone asked me to do. So I'm asking myself to do something for ME! I don't know what it will be yet, but I do know that I need to brush up on my fine art skills... drawing... and I want to break out some charcoal. I need to get my hands dirty.

Back in the Gym

2010-08-13T10:29:00.002-04:00

There's a lot of work to be done before next year's 1/2 marathon. I've started using the cardio machines at the gym but was reluctant to get on the treadmill. I decided to try it out last night. I started out with a 1% incline and 6.2 mph... which is what I USED to start off with a couple years ago when I was in much better shape and a little lighter than I am now! Um... I just BARELY made it a mile. I had to stop the damn machine to breathe and drink something. I wanted to go at least a 5K, so I started it back up again, kept the incline, but decreased it to like 5.8 mph. I began feeling the burn not even half way through the second mile, so I decreased again to 5.6 mph. After this mile I had to stop and recollect my self before doing the last 1.1 mile. I took away all incline and started off at 5.6 and gradually went up to 6.1 to finish off strong! Woohoo! I did it! I think I may have OVER done it... my stomach felt crampy all morning. Got a lot of work ahead of me.

Today I'm doing bicep curls every hour... well, unless I get busy with work like I usually do. I started push ups the other day and didn't make it to 5:oo because of work.

Still weighing in the same. Can't get that damn needle to go any lower. Whatever.

Thoughts on Creativity

2010-08-06T11:06:00.002-04:00

Although I haven't posted anything that I've done creatively on this blog lately (as it was intended for), I've still been doing some freelance projects here and there, while working full-time "for the man".

Unfortunately, I had to "drop out" of my online courses because I didn't get them all completed by the time they were supposed to be done. So much for that. I did, however, manage to save all the lessons that I wasn't able to complete into PDFs so I still have access to them if I ever feel the desire to do some independent learning. Haha... not sure if that's "legal" but what the hell. I paid for them! But then again, who knows when I'll have the time. Having a baby wasn't what I expected (it was actually 100x harder thn what I thought it would be... who knew, right? haha), and I wasn't able to devote time to anything else other than my job that pays the bills and baby. I was selfish to myself for opting for relaxing (aka sleeping or just being lazy and watching TV or something), as opposed to learning in the little free time I have.

Between working as a graphic designer in a corporate situation where a lot of the time you feel like the work you produce isn't something you really put your heart into and deviating from participating in activities that would have helped me grow creatively... I've really lost my "mojo". I started this blog to HELP me get my creative juices flowing again. The last post where I actually posted something that I did was last October... and it was a cake!! haha Hey, I count that as something creative!

I now also have a lack of confidence with my work these days. Well, more so than I used to. I was asked to do a family photo shoot of a friend of mine (who is trading her personal trainer service for my service). After agreeing to it, I thought about it and became nervous and anxious. The only pics I've taken recently are of Liam! No recent practice other than point and shoot! I'm probably making a big deal of it in my head, but I'm afraid of letting them down and myself down if the photos I take aren't good enough.

I've been watching "Work of Art" on Bravo (I love that show! It reminds me of my college days!) and there's a guy on there, Abdi, who made it to the finals with this really awesome charcoal drawing he did of himself. It was a very striking self-portrait where he was peacefully laying down. He described it as a rebirth of himself as an artist (his previous works were all cartoony paintings). The challenges before this one, he was on the bottom and didn't feel like he had any connection to his work being produced.

I can very much relate to that... and I want to find my inspiration to move on and try different things and grow as an artist. I've disconnected myself from my creative roots. I can blame major life changes, work stress, whatever... but really, I shouldn't place blame on any of that. I should accept everything that life throws at me and express it somehow. I don't know what's holding me back.

Half Marathon

2010-08-05T07:59:00.004-04:00

I just registered for my first half marathon (13.1 miles)!

The Rock and Roll marathon series is coming to Savannah next year on November 5, 2011. I figure that should be more than enough time to prepare myself and possibly get a decent time. On the registration, it asked you to put in your estimated finish time... hah! I don't know! I put in 2 hours and 30 minutes, based on previous race times. My goal is to NOT exceed that time! Hopefully I'll fall somewhere in between 2 and 2.5 hours. I've done a 10K in a little over an hour (included a bridge in it), but I'm thinking my pace will fluctuate... and I'll probably hit a wall at some point, but then ideally get a second wind near the end of it! Maybe I will surprise myself!

Now to find the time to train!

Baby steps, er, more like crawling to my goal

2010-07-30T16:09:00.003-04:00

No progress so far. Still in the 150 range. Although I can't say that I have had the desire to go out and do anything because it's just so damn hot and humid. I'm probably going to join a gym again (for now) and plan to go after we put Liam to bed around 8-8:30... which is a great time for us since we eat dinner early now (we'll be digested before then) and we would rather go when no one else is in there hogging all the machines we want to use.

I started doing this "routine" inspired by a FB group I "like" which is Fleet Feet Savannah, a running shoe store that hosts a lot of the races in Savannah. They said that every hour, on the hour, their employees do 10 pushups. Their posts the other day were every hour starting at 8, telling their FB fans to join in and do the 10 pushups with them. I figured 10 every hour won't hurt and won't take long either. So I ended up doing them until 5pm... 100 pushups in one day! woohoo! I did the "fake" (aka girly) style push ups, but they still made me sore the next day!

I tried switching it up yesterday with 10 squats, instead of pushups, but my workday got hectic and I forgot to check the time after 11am. However, I have managed to keep up with them today! One more set of 10 @ 5pm and I'm done! haha

Next time I will try 100 sit ups. And maybe after that... finally get my butt to the gym!

Success - 2nd place

2010-06-06T08:45:00.003-04:00

The Hardeeville Hog Jog 5K was yesterday. I managed to place in the Zena division! I'm so proud of myself! haha But in my last post I said I could "EASILY beat 34 minutes." OK, I just BARELY did... with a finish time of 33:40. The first place Zena did it in 32:20! And she was maybe 180lbs. (Joel thinks she was over 200, but I didn't think so) That is an amazing feat. Even in my non-Zena status it took a while for me to get to that time.

It was a nice shady trail run for the most part, then there were some parts on the road and in the blazing hot sun. It was pretty damn hot and humid. My breathing was holding me back. I was on the heels of another girl in the 3rd mile, we passed each other a few times, then I realized I veered off the course at one point (oops!) and she went ahead of me. After a while on the last straightaway, she had to walk! haha I never allow myself to walk in these races, I like to keep a steady pace and I feel more accomplished.

Anyway, I guess now, I will be back on my "elimination diet." I had been eating some white rice out of convenience, but didn't mind because I was trying to maintain weight. Now, I have to get back on track and focus on losing. No more 5Ks until the fall. This one was too damn hot. It started at 9am, which is pretty late to start running down here... it starts getting hot and gross by 8am or earlier!

Results of the race are here:
http://bearfootsports.com/hogjog.htm

Poor Joel's time was effed up. They misdirected the faster runners (an extra .4 miles off course), so by the time they were all on the correct course, there were other runners ahead of them at that point (which they all probably passed anyway). They adjusted the times for some of them, but Joel's time wasn't one of them.

Weight loss on HOLD... until after June 5!

2010-05-25T12:11:00.007-04:00

Last weekend, Joel and I ran in the Georgia Tech (Joel's college team of choice) Run for Robotics 5K. GT has a campus down here for mainly engineering students. The race they put together benefited the team that was building some type of underwater remote controlled robot. Anyway... we signed up for it because it was pretty cheap ($25/person) and nearby. Little did we know that it was mostly a cross country race, as opposed to a road race. It was pretty challenging, but a nice change from the pounding pavement. I did the best I could. It was hot and the terrain was sandy, grassy and uneven. There was even a dead snake on the path. I ended up finishing in just under 33 minutes. I was hoping to beat my prior time - a little over 31 minutes from the Gulfstream 5K, but due to the unpredictable course, I was unable to do that! Even Joel finished a minute and a half over his Gulfstream 5K time. Oh well....

To elaborate on the subject of this post, I am hoping not to lose much weight until after June 5. "WHY?" you may ask.... well, I was looking up another race to run in the upcoming weeks and there is one on the 5th of June called the Hog Jog 5K at a park a few miles up the interstate from us. As I was reading the information on the race, I noticed that there would be awards given out for age groups, M/F, and Clydesdale and Zena divisions.... The Clydesdale and Zena divisions are pretty much heavy runners... Clydesdale is males over 200lb and Zena (more commonly known as "Athena" division) is females over 150lb ... which I can actually compete in!!! LOL! Finally something I can place in and possibly win! hahaha I know right now I am a little over 150lbs, which I have been for the past 5 months! But that is just going by my bathroom scale... which usually (in my case) reads a little lower than normal.

So that is why I am not trying to lose any weight until after this race. Silly reason? Yes. But I want to win something, dammit! Looking at the results from last year, the top Zena did the race in 31:25, the 3rd place Zena did it in 34:11. I can EASILY beat 34 minutes. The thing with this one, though, is that it is going to be another unfamiliar race and it WILL be on trails. Also, last year, someone told me it rained, so the paths were even more challenging. I'm hoping that it won't rain and that I can get some good runs in before then, so I can beat my previous race time, and possibly win something!!!

Still "dieting", still no weight loss

2010-05-19T15:42:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I am still not eating bread (does not include pizza) or white rice. Oh, and I changed it to not eating WHITE bread. Because I did have some hamburgers with whole wheat buns the other week. The next thing I need to give up is fried food. I did this once before, so it shouldn't be so hard. The white bread and white rice wasn't too hard either.

Still no weight loss, as I am still hovering above 150. Ugh. I'm thinking now that I may actually NEED surgery to get rid of the extra skin. :( WTF. But then again I'm not doing any ab stuff or any other exercising other than running a few times a week. haha But you'd THINK that by going cold turkey on things that I used to eat in excess PLUS running would produce some type of results...

We have another 5K coming up this weekend. And speaking of races, the Biggest Loser just aired their "marathon" episode of the final 4 contestants running the marathon in CA. The winner was the "fat-kid-turned-runner" who 2 weeks prior, said he could do a 5K in 21 minutes. Unbelievable! Well, he finished the 26.2 miles in 4 hours and 4 minutes. Not bad for someone who was morbidly obese 5 months ago. That's just amazing. I'm jealous and inspired, but really... what else are you going to do at the biggest loser ranch than work out and eat right? That's your job! If that was my job, I'd be running marathons, too! I say that as I eat my pizza and ice cream while watching the Biggest Loser....

New referrals!

2010-05-05T10:08:00.002-04:00

Just in this past week, I got two freelance job referrals. Woohoo! One is for an invitation logo and the other is for a logo/business card. I need to find time to do these!

Oh, and the no-bread or rice thing is going OK. I did have a slice of pizza last night for dinner, but I can't count that as bread! The reason I cut out bread was because I'd actually SNACK on bread. The bread in the pizza last night was part of a meal.

Going running again tonight, hopefully. It's going to be friggin HUMID, so I might just do 3 miles. We also need to go to the grocery store tonight too. We are planning on running another 5K on the 22nd.

a change of pace...

2010-05-03T12:22:00.005-04:00

Since I'm not really doing much of anything creative these days (sad isn't it?), I think I'll start looking for my muse in other places... specifically, as diet and exercise.

I'm going to be very honest here and post my weight. I don't care. It's the baby that's done this to me! LOL

Pre-baby, I was probably in close to the best shape of my life. I was setting PRs in the 5Ks we ran and doing P-90X and going to the gym... I weighed between 130-135lbs at that point. Yes, that is technically overweight if you go by BMI. I am only 5'1"...so I should weigh like 110 lbs or something crazy like that. 130-135 was fine with me. I felt good and I ate whatever I wanted.

When I got pregnant, the first trimester was like nothing even happened. That's when I actually ran my 5K PR! I wasn't gaining any weight and staying fairly active for a preggo woman. I also had virtually no cravings for food at that point... it was more like a food aversion and I became really picky with stuff I ate.

Then 2nd trimester came and that's when I started packing on the poundage. If I started at 135lbs, I gained at least 45lbs during the pregnancy. Maybe more because my last official weigh-in was at the OB/GYN a week before giving birth. I was 180lbs.

Post delivery, I breastfed for the first month and the weight seemed to melt off. I also didn't really have time to eat much since I was so overwhelmed by the new baby! I was down to 150lbs by the end of the first month! Now I've been at a plateau since then and I am not budging. I've started running again - we've done two 5Ks in the past month. Still nothing. So I have to change my diet.

I've decided that this week I'm not going to eat any bread or white rice.

This is what I've had so far today:
1 bowl of Frosted Flakes with milk (2%) for breakfast
1 cup of coffee with sweetened creamer
1 apple
1 banana
water, as needed
a can of soup (chicken and wild rice) for lunch

I need to buy more fruit! And actual vegetables! After a week of no bread, I am going to cut out something else. Like maybe chocolate and coffee (I'll just go back to green tea).

And at some point I need to go back to the gym. Just no time or money for that right now!

an Update! ...Sort of

2009-10-24T17:54:00.003-04:00

I know I said I'd update my website, but I haven't gotten around to it. Maybe I will over maternity leave. :)

Well, I did take photos of a cake I made for a birthday party:

I can't wait to eat it... it's a pumpkin spice layer cake, with homemade cream cheese icing. I tried the whole chocolate leaf painting thing and it turned out pretty well. I used basil leaves and surprisingly, basil and chocolate are a pretty good combination! haha I left the darkest chocolate leaves on the basil overnight in the fridge, but I probably shouldn't have. You probably can't tell in the photo, on the darker chocolate leaves, the basil left shiny "water" stains on the leaves. The other leaves don't have that weird sheen because I peeled the basil leaves off before I went to bed. I don't prefer the "water sheen", but maybe others like it... just my findings.

This counts as art right?

Updates coming soon

2009-07-01T15:22:00.002-04:00

My website needs to be updated soon. It's been a while. Maybe I'll keep the layout (since I probably need a refresher on xhtml coding!), but change the colors and fonts, etc (style sheets). Nothing major, just something different. Red and black are some of my favorite colors, but it's pretty dark. Hmmm...

I also need to update it with somewhat recent photography, business card designs, wedding monogram designs and the other small things I've worked on since the last update.

I'm also finally getting back into classes. My headaches have been bothering me, so when I try to nap in the evenings to make the pain go away, I just end up falling asleep for the night... and that's been going on for about...uh... 4 months! LOL I need to get everything together, especially now that I really shouldn't be going out. Gotta get it all done by December!

Happy early 4th!

new paintings, different style, similar subject matter

2009-06-16T11:06:00.002-04:00

My friend Laura's birthday is today, so I decided to paint her dogs and give them to her as a present.

She has a long-haired dachshund named Petra and a basset hound named Ginger... if you have my FB, I have pics of them on there. She commented on my t-shirt logo that I did last month (see post from May 12) that she wanted cartoon versions of her dogs, so I painted them! I was originally going to do one of per dogs in the same style as I did with my pets, but this style was easier and less time consuming (and more fun!).

I had to buy the cheap acrylics, which meant that I had to paint 2 coats of each color, which sucked. But I had to go cheap because one friggin tube of the stuff is $5! And they don't come in small tubes. Boo.

rhianna

2009-06-08T08:37:00.003-04:00

I picked up my ol' sketchbook and finally finished the drawing of Rhianna that I said I as working on (from this time last year). Well, it's not technically finished, but in my terms, it is. I need more practice and patience. It's hard to work on something that doesn't NEED to be done while in the back of your mind you have plenty more important things you should be doing. Ah, such is the life of a procrastinator.

moo!

2009-06-01T14:00:00.003-04:00

Just got a new "toy" in the mail today. And it was FREE! Last week, Moo.com gave away coupon codes for free mini card cases (just had to pay shipping)! I got a hot pink one. And it is pretty hot! ...and shipping was lightning fast! I ordered it on Friday and just got it today (monday)!

I also have some photos to post. Maybe I should just post them on my flickr account. Just some flower photos from my yard...

flick account

2009-05-22T08:11:00.002-04:00

Finally updated my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60887877@N00/ after 4 years since signing up. Depending on what I will do in the future (more photography?), I might upgrade to a pro account for $25/year. It's a good site to upload digital proofs that people can download the original sizes from.

Right now, there's not much on there, just a few of my favorites from a set of photos I took last weekend of my friends and their baby, and their friends and baby. (I took their Christmas card photos last year) I might post up more, i.e. wedding photos, dog photos... just need to find time to search my hard drives for these pics.

moo cards!

2009-05-15T14:29:00.003-04:00

I love 'em!

These are just 5/100th of the cards I chose at random to keep in my wallet. Pretty damn awesome! (I owe you some, Peng!)

moo.com

Blur

2009-05-12T15:04:00.004-04:00

The last few weeks have been a blur... (please reference my other blog for details).

I really haven't been doing much for myself lately. I do have a business card to work on for someone and a baby photo shoot Saturday. Extra monies coming in is always a good idea, but I have been SLACK on my web courses!! BAD JAC! I am more than sure that I will have to file for an extension to finish everything after December. Geeze. Gotta get my priorities in line. I feel bad for turning down freelance projects that I can do, but know that I really don't have time for. I did finally get paid for the 2 websites I did, which went straight to savings... I'll probably have to report those earnings to Uncle Sam, so I might as well not touch it for now. (But hopefully we will have a nice tax break next year... LOL)

Oh! I did do one thing that I can post! I'm running a relay race this Saturday: the Care for Cora Run at Savannah Christian School. I'll be running with my friend Stephanie and her two twin girls! It should be fun! To make it even more fun, we decided to give our relay team a name and make matching t-shirts! Check out our team logo I made:

No thumbs -- I know! But I was too tired to make it any more detailed...haha

finally!

2009-05-06T01:20:00.002-04:00

I finally ordered myself some Moo.com mini cards! I have wanted them ever since I saw an ad for them on someone's flickr account. I got Pennie a gift certificate for Xmas and she recently sent me some of her minicards...and they looked awesome!!

I used a bunch of photos and a few patterned vector files I created or just had on hand....

Cant wait to get 'em!! Will I even want to give any out? :)

Lucian

2009-04-17T10:49:00.002-04:00

Finally finished Lucian the other day. I put all three next to each other and this one looks different with the multiple tints and shades of blue. I only used like 3-4 in the other 2, this one was a bit more complex so I had to add more. Oh well. And now I finally get to hang them up! Yay! My first actual pieces of "fine art", if that's what you want to call 'em... heh heh

March in a nutshell

2009-04-07T02:09:00.006-04:00

Been busy during the month of March apparently.

Made some cupcakes and discovered Georgetown Cupcake (GTC)! MMMMmmm... the photos above are of my creation for a friend's baby shower. I took much inspiration from GTC. :D Although not as yummy...but still pretty tasty, if I do say so myself! I also used fondant for the first time, but didn't have time to make pretty shapes so I rolled little balls instead. Did the job and was still "pretty"!

I also ran my fastest 5K time ever on the 21st (Gulfstream 5K run - 28:20), and also my fastest 10K on my own (01:02:30) last month!

In terms of work, I finally finished the nail salon website I was working on: Crystal Nails Salon. So hopefully I will be getting paid for that and the other site I did for the same client soon. I need monies! They threw in a free mani and pedi, which I redeemed last Saturday. It was my first manicure... Very relaxing...

And speaking of relaxing, I treated myself to TWO massages last month. One was at a day spa up the street (surprisingly very nice for the little town we live in) and the other was a student massage at a Massage Therapy School. Both were pretty awesome! I want more!!! March was my "pampering month"... I also got a Pedicure with Shonna when we went to Charleston!! We should all plan a spa retreat vacation one weekend... I am hooked!

In the process of the final painting of the "Pet Triptych" which is of Lucian (my cat). It's the most detailed so far and the tiny brush I have been using is about DONE. I will post it up soon.

Other than that, I have been behind on my schoolwork which I should be working on now. heh heh...

happy national pancake day!

2009-02-24T10:05:00.003-05:00

OK, so that subject has nothing to do with this post. I just couldn't think of a good subject line. But today really is National Pancake day and I think IHOP is giving away free small stacks until 10pm. woohoo!

I haven't been doing much artsy stuff lately. I still have my final Lucian painting to do, but it seems like it will be the most complex out of the three, so I've been procrastinating on that. I think I also need new brushes. I need a smaller one. I also want to at least draw the lines for a painting for my friend. She has 2 doggies and she saw the ones I did of Mac and Snorty and wanted me to draw one out for her to paint. I can set it up like a paint-by-numbers. So I need to get cracking on that.

I have been working in Flash and finished up my first Flash site which I am proud of because learning it was a b!tch. It's for my friend's restaurant: www.masatoofjapan.com I also did the restaurant photography (I ordered the plain mahi and steamed rice, which is not on the menu, but I loved it so I featured it on the site, heehee).

Next is business cards for a friend that I have not been able to work on lately because I have been sleeping at night instead of staying awake to do that and school. Argh! It's so hard! Especially with me being sick. I have been falling back on classes and now there's no way I'll get the 2 classes finished by March 11. Great. I've also been doing this P90X workout that tires me out, so even before I was sick, I was still sleeping through the night instead of working. Friggin not enough hours in the day! Tonight I need to NOT take a nap, because the past few nights I was like, "ok, I'm just going to take a SHORT nap" but ends up being an 8-hour nap and then it's time for me to start the 8-5 work. I'm lucky I work at home, otherwise, NOTHING would ever get done.

Why am I doing this to myself? I won't see a normal sleeping pattern until next year (after I'm done with these classes). I have been getting offers for freelance projects, but I had to turn many of them down because I just really don't have the time. argh!

Well on the plus side, tonight we are going out to eat. Yay!

Superbowl!

2009-01-31T21:27:00.005-05:00

I haven't gotten to work on the third Lucian painting yet. He might be the hardest. He's got stripes in his face and his fur is short so it shows more texture than the dogs. So it could take a while to paint. I might have to work on that next week.

This weekend is of course the Superbowl! I haven't made any cakes in a while, so I thought I'd do something for the party. I didn't feel like making a logo cake like I did last year....then the year before I did a clashing helmet cake (good thing the Colts and the Browns didn't have complex logos!). So, I decided to go with cupcakes.

I looked up the official team colors on wikipedia and did a batch of half Cardinal's colors and half Steeler's. I think they came out pretty good. I like icing them, but mixing the colors takes a while and it gets pretty messy.

I'm not really into either of these teams this year, so I'll probably root for the underdog...which is the Cardinals?? Eh...maybe I'll stick with Pittsburgh...

painting, part 2

2009-01-27T05:20:00.003-05:00

I finished this painting of Snorty on Saturday. Probably took me a good 5 hours while listening to the Food Network in the background. I got a good headache after doing it. I guess acrylics have some type of toxic odor, although you can't really smell it while using them.

This photo looks better than the real thing. I added more of the color in between the light blue and white, as seen on the right cheek. I used it sparingly in the one I did of Mac, but in this one I mixed in too much of the light blue, when I should have used more white. So in reality, that lighter light blue kind of merges into the light blue...unless you are looking at it in a certain light.

Ah well. With these mistakes/lessons, I should be able to perfect the last painting of Lucian!

painting, part 1

2009-01-21T09:57:00.002-05:00

Here is my first attempt at paint.

It's acrylics. It turned out pretty good except I didn't mean to go all the way black. The black was meant to be a dark blue. I have no sense of color mixing, and added too much black to the already darkish blue. Also, the dark blue I used is too close to the shade of black. I wanted more of an medium blue. It looked better with the first coat, but you could see my strokes, so I went over it again with another coat and made it waaaay too dark. Oh well. I know what to do for the next one.

I also learned that cheap paints are cheap. The blue I used for the "medium blue-turn-dark blue" and the white were cheapies. And I had to do two coats for both of those colors. The others, not so bad.

Next up is Snorty.

Happy belated new year!

2009-01-19T15:58:00.003-05:00

So December was a blur and so was the beginning of January. Lots of stuff happened, mostly good, I think, except that I haven't really done much artistically. I actually have done lots of work, just mainly stuff for my online classes, a nail salon website, and a t-shirt design for a half marathon (which was a contest...which I didn't win...b@stards!) But all of it is not worth posting here.

[[ Oh, I did do a couple family holiday photo shoots, which can be seen on my website. I do think those turned out lovely :) ]]

I am, however working on my first ever painting! I've been thinking about it for over a year, but just now got the balls to start it. It's going to be a triptych of my pets. And they will be graphic, as opposed to realistic, so it's not too hard to do... or so I thought. Well, it's not hard at all, it's just taking lots of time. I'm doing it in a sort of paint by numbers style, so I'm just painting on shapes of color, no blending involved.

I'm working with acrylics because they dry fast. Easy to work with, but still they have to dry and I'm impatient, so it's taking a while. I really want the work day to be over with so I can work on it! (...as I type this during my working hours...heehee) I did a bit on my lunch break, which was nice. It's very therapeutic...

I will definitely post photos of it when I'm done. I'm proud of myself for starting this!

I also have a few other freelance projects: Masato (in Pooler) website and another wedding invitation. Gotta love the word of mouth! So I will be super-busy in the next few weeks... I also have to finish up 3 more classes by the beginning of March! eep!

cat + dog = luv

2008-11-19T16:08:00.002-05:00

I'd never thought I'd see this happen with my kitty and doggie. I think Mac lay down first and Lucian plopped right next to him and used his head as a pillow. How cute! And they even allowed me to take the photo proof! As soon as I ran to get my cell phone to take a pic, they scrambled. Boo.

I personally like using the dogs as my toe-warmers.

change of pace... but still on the search

2008-09-16T01:30:00.002-04:00

I really want to post more frequently, but I don't want to use not having anything to show as an excuse for not posting. So... I've decided to make this a general/drawing blog, that is, until I finally find my muse... where ever, in what form, how ever it should happen.

Maybe the next time I drink, I will post a drawing again! heehee

For now, I've had a lot of things on my mind, for various reasons.

drinking and drawing

2008-09-06T10:48:00.008-04:00

Back from the dead!

I am sorry to have neglected you for this long, dear blog. I have dedicated my free time towards the enhancement of my brain juices with online lectures and projects and late night coding. It's for the best. It's just one more step towards the goal of finally finding my muse.

Anyway, Joel and I stayed home last night since we were supposed to be expecting heavy rains and high winds from Hanna, but she turned out to be a puss. Friggin weather forecasters! We bought some beers and a pizza and watched August Rush (a sappy, feel-good movie) and the end of the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and this hilarious show called Z Rock!! LOL The IFC HD channel is my new favorite!! Especially since Comcast decided to take away our Free HBO HD and Stars HD onDemand!!!! Bastards! And we didn't even get to watch No Country for Old Men before they yoinked it away from us. I hate Comcast.

So, in the middle of shows, I was compelled to draw something for some odd reason. I went online and found this cute pic of a pomeranian puppy. I picked up a piece of paper and a pen and there it is. So sad that I have to be in a tipsy state of mind to come up with something to post. Just like the old masters, right? Except they were probably on absinthe and opium.

Cheers!

distractions

2008-07-17T15:14:00.005-04:00

Owen Martin Moriarty
June 15, 2008

So, can I use a new nephew as an excuse for not completing my Rihanna drawing? LOL I am so bad. This journal has turned into a list of excuses. I'm screwed!

And another bragging photo... this is a gladiola in my yard. Isn't it kewl!?! I've never seen yellow and purple flowers! (I'm an amateur gardener, ok!?) I think it's so pretty and so wierd how soil and fertilizer and whatever affects plants because last year they were bright RED. I did transplant them to a shadier location this year. I wonder if that had anything to do with it?

overdue!

2008-07-14T00:35:00.004-04:00

I really have no excuse for my neglect of this blog. I have been keeping busy with many projects and homework, and so the only time I really have to draw is before bed. And apparently drawing makes me sleepy. I am still trying to complete a drawing of Rihanna in my sketchbook that I started a few nights ago, but in the middle of it, I fell asleep!! haha I'll post it when it's done. Once I clean up the stray sleep-doodle marks.

As always, I am going to post a photo of something ELSE that can sort of count for something artsy-craftsy...here's a photo of some cupcakes I made for my sis-in-law's baby shower. I totally yoinked this idea (the baby face ones) from someone else off the web, so I can't really take credit for it, but I did it. They tasted yummy (red velvet), but I really need to find a frosting recipe. The convenient store bought icing is what I normally use, so in the hot, humid South, this icing tends to melt!!!

For more of my cakes, please visit my cake page on DeviantArt.

"Bring Your Dog to Work Day" is this Friday June 20

2008-06-19T09:00:00.005-04:00

Since I work at home now, "Bring Your Dog to Work Day" is everyday for me!! :)

Lots of stuff going on lately, so I haven't had time to draw anything. And I want to paint my house this weekend, before I change my mind on colors again.

joel

2008-06-05T09:18:00.003-04:00

For some reason I have a ton of sketches of Joel...most of where he is playing Xbox 360... I guess it's because I can count on him being in one position for an extended period of time!

I need to try something other than pencil to draw with. I like using the fine point microns...or a nice fine point ball pen. I dig the fine points! Just have to dig mine up! (they're probably dried out...)

no weekend drawing... had another project

2008-06-02T12:16:00.011-04:00

In lieu of drawing, most of my efforts this weekend were put towards much needed yardwork! I wish I had some "before" pics to these "after" pics.

A full shot of the front...I love the red cedar mulch!

Hibiscus on the side of the house (don't mind the dead grass)

Flower bed

I love this red leaf thing!

Details! Ugh.

2008-05-30T11:06:00.006-04:00

I made an attempt to draw some chandeliers from a catalog because I thought they looked cool. But they were too cool for me, obviously! I started with the one on the bottom and it was so hard! I first tried to look at the negative spaces vs. positive to help figure out what was where...but it just got too frustrating with all the little jewels hanging down. (I'm impatient.) Then I tried another one which was a little easier, but still had these stupid little jewel things hanging everywhere which I didn't want to draw. I didn't even want to scan this, but I want to show progression and growth in this blog.

For me being what I consider a highly detail-oriented person, I don't (YET) have the ability to express that with drawing. I'm easily frustrated with this stuff. But It's like going to the gym (which I must say is something I still also struggle with); when you start your routine after not going for a long time, your body will hurt and be sore for the first couple weeks. But once you're back into it, it gets easy, and easier to move up to heavier weights and more advanced exercises. A piece of cake after that, right?

Anyway, I added an older ballpoint pen sketch I did a while ago to fluff this post up :)

more fluff

2008-05-28T10:13:00.004-04:00

I attempted to draw last night, but it was a sad attempt. At least I did SOMEthing, so for that I am proud of myself. I was also pretty darn tired, which might have been why I was not feelin' the muse... Also, I think I spent too much time trying to find something to draw where I should have just picked something up and drew it. Simple as that. I don't know what I was looking for.

At first I wanted to draw a "room-scape" from one of these Interior Design magazines I brought home from work, but nothing spoke to me. Then I picked up an old issue of Giant Robot and tried to find something wacky in there, but, nothing. Then i got into reading one of the articles about Rubix cubes and got waaay of track... Then I realized reading makes me sleepy, so turned the page and just drew these two guys heads. And then when that got old, I sketched a sleeping Mac.

Here it is along with some photos around Savannah I took earlier this year...

No excuse now

2008-05-27T15:42:00.002-04:00

I'm working from home, I have this neat-o scanner that's so easy to use sitting right next to me, a window to distract me and my tunes for every mood. I need to get back on track. One of my new year's resolutions this year was to draw more. I was hoping for every day, then it went to at least once a week, then disappeared completely.

I've been reading and viewing other people's art blogs and they have somewhat inspired me to start this one... I did have one through wordpress.com, but it's been so long, that I forgot my password!! haha...and more people seem to be using blogger anyway, so i figured I'd be a conformist and join up!

Anyway, to get things started, here are the first three drawings in my sketchbook from January. I'll do something tonight, I promise!