I read when I'm ill

Seven books. Not that they were of any great length, but I made it through The Chronicles of Prydain, The Left Hand of Darkness, and some random free book from Amazon that was so atrocious I deleted it immediately after reading.

In the three days I also made it through three (random) episodes of Sherlock, bought some things I need for moving, and still did some work on my art. I also added some color to this free zine I got in N.O. that just begged to be colored a bit!

It sucks wanting to sleep most of the time and not sleeping because it sucks worse to sleep that long. Ever since my two weeks of death while stuck in Philadelphia and the depressive episodes where I could barely move that followed I haven't liked sleeping for too long. I still like sleeping, but I can't do it like I used to. Even when I want to.

I'd post photos of the sketches I'm working on for my paintings, but they're hard to see on the canvas and not quite worth it at this point. I'll wait till I start doing my lay ins to start my WIP postings that are quite fun.

I've just had a thought!

I've been thinking about the dress I'm going to wear to a wedding coming up, but I completely forgot about any sort of hat! A hat would be just the thing as I love them and never have an excuse to wear them. But this would be perfect! I have some casual hats, but I need a big floppy hat like the kind several of the people wore at John's wedding.

I can blog by email now!

It's odd painting family

... You end up recognizing your features while you're working. At least I do.

I didn't realize another member of my family had the same ears and nose. Then I realized my mom has the same features as well. It's pretty neat. I still have to do the background because it has to match grandma's painting. At least a bit. Also it's wet and the shine makes it harder to see all the details in the hair and clothes and such. 

Ah well. On to another coat of gesso on a much larger painting. (Why do I keep doing this to myself!?)

After the Flood

It's been quite lovely here after all the rain and floods that have been happening. Traffic is absolutely atrocious as the main road into town is crumbling into the lake and we're under a boil advisory, but I feel I have it pretty good.

There are a lot of lovely flowers and bugs to take pictures of, and I'm really looking forward to using some of my images for paintings. Perhaps by the fall plein air painting might be doable.

I'm fading fast. Lack of sleep last night. I hope I can say more than "I bought gesso" tomorrow. Oh. I bought gesso. Damn, that has gone up in price. I'm going to go back to shellacking the masonite... as long as that hasn't gone up in price. No wonder non-traditional art materials are huge.

Beware the Ides of March. Toodles.

Well, I got tired of 140 characters

Welcome to my blog!

I've been using Twitter as a random journal of my life, but here lately I've been thinking I need a few more than 140 characters to talk about all that is going on in my life. I have done some art blogging before that has gone fairly well, but for a while I've been wanting something a bit more broad. There's more than art I want to talk about! What about KonMari? What about EMDR? What about books and cooking and travel and education and science and writing and fashion and nerdiness and geekiness and everything else that I just love?

That is where this blog comes in. If you want just art without my ramblings on the educational systems of the world or the wonders of a good therapist while crying about Sherlock, I'm sure I'll have something to link you to soon. For now I'm going to be focusing on just writing what I feel like.

I'm pretty much going against every single "This is how you make money on a blog" book out there, but I'm not trying to make money. I'm just trying to create and share and ramble. I'll still tweet, but I might write more about what I'm thinking as well.

Goody.

Right now this blog is a lot like this picture. Full of ideas and potential and fairly representative of my life, but fairly scattered. But that's okay. As soon as I know what this sack of words is going to be like, I'll let you know. Maybe. Or I might not ever know anything other than I'm working on my own public diary and you'll have to work it out from there. 

Me too. 

I'm going to be working it out and also remembering how to write. I haven't written in ... years? Forever? Since the before times? I think I've been able to hold onto grammar fairly well but I must confess I never quite developed my own style (I will definitely write up the reasons for that; it's fascinating!) and I'm hoping this blog will help in the development of... I dunno. Something.

So... what do you need to know about me to enjoy this blog?

I suppose I'm a newly minted person. I've only just recently (August 13, 2015) developed a sense of self through therapy, and I shall be writing about that often because it's a good story. I probably won't write straight at it at first, but sneak up on it while I'm journaling everything else. 

I am an artist and I probably missed my calling as some sort of teacher/debugger/village idiot. I love doing art. I hate doing commissions. One day I will complete my physics degree. I never should have taken the job at a start-up in Philadelphia. I could be an astrophysicist by now living in a tiny house with a Tesla! ...well, at least an astrophysicist.

I speak a lot of different languages badly and I've lived all over North America. I am quite the cat person. I have very refined tastes, but I love tacky and kitschy just as much. I take serious things seriously and I take not so serious thing seriously. But I don't really take anything seriously. Or do I? This blog is supposed to help me with deciding what I care about. 

KonMari has been the most magical thing ever. I am pretty sure it's why my therapy worked so well so quickly. I'm single, but I used to be nuts so that's not surprising. I want children now but I used to not be so sure and past me was totes right to not want them. I told everyone I was thirty before I was thirty. Thirty has actually been a pretty terrible awful year, but tackling it as a real person has been very self affirming and quite satisfying. BRING IT ON! You have NINE more months to break me, 30!

All of this and more with a healthy dose of art will be in my blog. Also other things. 

And my sense of humor. I hope my deadpan delivery comes across. If not, I will do more periscopes and show more art. Or learn to write my humor better. 

Whatever works!

Welcome! Hope you enjoy the weirdness!