In fits and starts.

And here's why I missed New Year's Eve:

I was in the hospital! Hooray!

Christmas weekend, I was working at the barn by myself. My boss was on vacation, which I guess she's allowed to do once in awhile, so I was in charge of a bunch of horses, a bunch of cats and chickens, a llama and a cow. I can barely take care of myself for an extended length of time, so all that responsibility for two whole days really took a lot out of me. Sunday night, at home, my tonsil started to hurt. This isn't out of the ordinary, I have a lot of tonsil problems and sometimes before I get a cold or something they tighten up and get mad and then settle down. I took some Nyquil and tylenol and called it a night. It still felt bad on Monday morning, so I went about my business but made plans to go to the doctor the next day. Tuesday came and it was even worse, so I had my mom take me to the ER. I had two peritonsillar abscesses and it sucked! I had a very bad time partly because of my roommate's very annoying, very loud, and VERY Midwestern daytime (and once, at 11 pm) visitors, and the fact that I was on a clear-liquids-only diet because I could barely swallow my own spit. But my mom visited me every day, and my friends Katie, Julie, Jarred, and Dawn took time out from their lives to visit me too. My boss at the barn and her daughter rode my horse, my mom took care of Frankie for me, and I really appreciate everyone's kind words, thoughts, and actions during that time.

I basically spent a week in the hospital, trying to get better. I was stuck in a no-man's-medical-land, where I wasn't quite "better" enough to go home, but not bad enough to commit to a surgery. So I stayed in and got pumped full of fluids and antibiotics and steroids and now I have a big fat huge hospital bill and have to make an appointment to take out these tonsils - which I can't afford. Hooray.

Also, I got dumped while I was in the hospital, and that was awesome, and by awesome I mean, 'what the fuck is wrong with people?'

But here's some good news, guys.

I rule.

Here are some examples:

In my brand-new Drawing 1 class, our first assignment is to draw a lightbulb. Prof told us if we thought we were "good" at drawing to choose one of the translucent bulbs instead of the opaque ones. I did. I asked him if I could do something to jazz up the drawing, like include my hand. He looked at me a little funny and said "Uhh, sure. It'll be hard though..." and I shrugged and said "have a little faith in me!" Well, I showed him my compositional sketch:



and he said: "Wow. I didn't think you'd be able to do that. Hands are difficult to draw. You can draw, though. And you can draw hands. We're going to have fun this semester!" I did tell him that I'm fairly good at drawing what I see, but I have problems with unlocking my pretty vivid imagination and making my hands draw from that, rather from my eyes. So he said he'll work with me on to develop that. Color me happy.

For my painting class, I'm not displeased with my first project. I'm NOT a painter, I'm not good at it, I don't understand paints, they don't understand me. Apart from this being a required course for my major, I'd like to develop my painting skills *a little.*

It's not the greatest still life, but it's not the worst, I think. Also, it's my first still life painting, ever. So there's that!



Here's another reason I rule:
I've been doing awesome on my resolutions. I have tried to be creative every day, in some way shape or form. It hasn't always been awesome, but every little bit counts. I shopped locally/handmade - I went to a few Detroit small-businesses to get stuff to send to my lovely Sharon in New York, and I supported local (and national) artists like Perfect Laughter at 323 East. I've been more appreciative of things and people in my life. I've tried new things (an okra/split pea fritter at Slows, different kinds of nigiri sushi I've never thought to try before like scallops, yellowtail, red snapper, eel), and made something new at home (maple glazed salmon with ossau iraty risotto and garlic asparagus - see pic below!). I've been saying "I'm sorry" less and less. I donated batteries and hand sanitizer to the Art Department's supply drive for the Humane Society in the first week.

And I haven't fallen for anyone yet. Though I do have a few crushes. That's nothing new.

It's gonna be a good year.

delicious foods

new art (and some old[ish])

(Don't forget to click on the thumbnails for bigger versions!)

Here are my doodles and sketches from the past week:






L to R (in order of date drawn):

•TOP ROW
he is careless - 8/23 part of a new 'series' called 'handsome men made ugly by hideous truths [and my pen]'
rainy day - 8/24
full of himself - 8/25 also part of 'handsome men'
sunglasses - 8/26 just trying out a profile
miss mary - 8/27

•MIDDLE ROW
pug dog - 8/28
handlettered a - 8/29
handlettered r - 8/29

•bottom row
michael jackson lady - 8/29 some lady in an article in Vogue looked JUST like MJ, only... older. And alive, I guess.
turtle - 8/29 for my mom!
cock and hen and chicks - 8/29
in his shoes/in his footsteps - 8/30


So I drew some dudes and there they are, mixed in the mix. I'm not 100% happy with them, but oh well. That's what I get for drawing only in ink where I can make more mistakes and they're less fixable.

To prove that when I actually dust off a pencil and sit down and concentrate on things I can draw a face pretty well, here is one I drew last year or so from a Fringe [hair salon] ad.



And sometimes I can draw dudes. Ish. Although this was done entirely in pen and no pencil, so really I have no excuse.


There is a week's worth of doodles, plus some sketchies culled from my sketchbook! Enjoy!

dewdles. by me. i dewdled theese.

Okay so, hi. In lieu of actually making a productive, worthwhile, meaningful post*, I decided I will share with you some of my nightly doodles. At night, while being bored by network television and wishing I had cable and/or internet to occupy my time, I thumb through my extensive stash of magazines and draw from photographs and add words, or I draw things I see around my house and add words. Or sometimes I don't add words. One of them is a painting on a cardboard circle I found in a box at work (I have a few more of these to art up, wheeee!).

Here they are, in order of appearance in my life:

become a productive member of society


but every year is longer


he said he loves my hair


big gulp

even something needs nothing sometimes


boxer what

boxer big nose

i am going away

thank you to Thao Nguyen for those words.


hello, dog

running doggy

parsley and celery

side 1

side 2

As you will see, I hate drawing faces, so I just don't. I fill them with words, or, in the case of "side 1," I pencil in the face (something I don't do often - it's pen or nothing for me with these doods), decide it looks okay, pen it in, and then go "UGH. RUINED." So then it all gets blacked in. Such would be the case with my alien girl, whose profile looked like shit, so she got squiggles and fill-ins, and then I branded her an alien and made her feel like an outcast just because I'm the worst at faces. See?

she is obviously super sad. I did that.

Frustrated with my inability to draw noses, I once went through a magazine and drew every single nose I saw in it. It happened to be a smaller, not very thick magazine, and it happened to be one without a lot of models, but there were still thirty-some-odd noses to be drawn (I didn't bother with the ones so tiny a dot would suffice). This method seems to have helped my proboscis drawings, so I'll probably adopt it again for all other facial components. Stupid lips, especially. Grumble, grumble.

So, these are my doodles, and these are why I sometimes don't answer texts or return calls between 9-11pm, or 1-4am if I've gone out. SORRY.

BYE.

*something I have yet to accomplish. Someday. Probably not.