Red Pear
water-soluble crayon on 90lb Stonehenge paper
5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
Yes, it does glow in the dark. Why do you ask?
Month: November 2007
NoBloPoMo
November is National Blog Posting Month (NoBloPoMo), or, as I mentally call it: NoMoPoblano (I am not a huge fan of chilis, I guess). I like my version better. Anyway, this entails blogging every damned day, something I sometimes find a bit challenging. We’ll see how it goes. I’m not going to resort to posting filler, so all I can say is that I’ll do my best to have something to show, even if I don’t have much to tell.
It’s also National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I signed up for this, too, because clearly there is something wrong with me. What the hell was I thinking? I’m behind, of course, but I’m hoping to get caught up this weekend. If I can figure out how to weave them together, I’d like to incorporate sketches into the book (since I really need the practice), but I’m not sure that’s going to be possible.
I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew.
Adventures in Fake Blogging
Library Catalog Card = Old School!
I’m supposed to be learning about blogging, and a whole bunch of other Web 2.0 stuff, for work. No, really. It would be funny, except it’s not. I do get a certificate at the end of it all, but first, I have to set up a blog (oh, but seriously), a Flickr account, listen to a podcast, and do a few other things.
My initial reaction was that the library was a few years behind the curve. Not that that in itself would be surprising, but surely, you would think that my coworkers would know about blogs, social networking, and whatnot? Well, you (and I!) would be wrong. One coworker seemed kind of repulsed by the idea and a couple of others have asked me to help them. These are folks who really ought to have a grip on this stuff as it’s sort of job related, but apparently, not so much. I am ashamed to say that I was at first amused–yea, mightily!–at watching coworker #1 try to set up a Blogger account and format her first post, but then I got a kick out seeing her “get” it, and I felt like a giant meanypants for being impatient. Not everyone is having fun with this stuff, but the ones that are, are entertaining. And those who aren’t? Well, like eating spinach, it’s good for them, whether they like it or not.
So, I spent half an hour this morning setting up Fake Blog. I can think of better ways to waste my time. I asked if we could test out of it and got the stink eye. I thought it was a reasonable question! Apparently not.
Pear Again
Pear (detail)
graphite stick on 90lb Stonehenge paper
5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
I sometimes find that with certain media does not scan well, especially on Stonehenge paper. My scanner seems to penetrate the graphite (or oil pastel or crayon or colored pencil), washing out areas and leaving others dark and clumsy. I’ll have to see how photographing this one works, because the scan is pretty bad.
Also, I found that Miss Brown is smitten with pears. I had a difficult time convincing her to leave it alone long enough for me to draw it. And then, I was a meanypants and put it up out of her reach.
Pear
Red Pear (detail)
pencil and graphite stick on 90lb Stonehenge paper
5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
I started out cross-hatching, then I couldn’t keep my fingers out of it, so I blended the pencil a bit. Then, I thought I’d try using a baby wipe as a blender, and it worked surprisingly well. Apparently, whatever is in the liquid works as a solvent for graphite. Who knew?!
It won’t win any prizes, but I’ve been really sucky about drawing lately, so I figure that anything I do is better than doing nothing.
Bloodsuckers
Leech
Having never seen a leech in real life, I didn’t realize what this was when I took its picture. I went Googling for photos of the same kind of leech, hoping to identify it specifically, but didn’t find any. I can say, though, that looking at pictures of leeches while eating your mid-morning snack is not something I’d recommend. Ugh. Compared to some of the photos I looked at, this little guy is quite charming.
Happy damned Tuesday!
Belt of Venus and Clouds at Sunset
This was the view from my patio at 6:48pm.
I sometimes feel a little weird leaving the patio blinds open so late, because I know that if there is anyone in the back field, they can see in; but on the other hand, if I closed them as soon as it started to get dark, I would miss stuff like this. I looked up from reading, and saw a wonderful pink tinged, rippled sky. The pink had faded from the clouds in the time it took to grab my camera, but there was still enough light to get a passable photo of the clouds.
Karma in a Small World
Ornamental Grass
Remember my ID holder that I dropped in the bank parking lot? Well, one of my coworkers came up to me today and asked me if I’d gotten my driver’s license back, yet. Huh? He was the one who found it in the bank parking lot. He said that, just as he was handing it to the teller, he recognized the picture. It was too late to just keep it and give it to me, himself, or he would have. Of course, then, I wouldn’t have gotten a call from the bank, and if I’d’ve noticed it was missing, I would have spent the rest of the weekend in a snit. So it’s probably best that he did turn it in, instead of waiting and giving it back to me at work today.
How weird is that?!
Child’s Drawing
This is another of the drawings done by the Heinous Tenants’ kids. This one, at least, is smiling.
The Amazing Race started last night, and I have one thing to say: Go, go, gadget goths! Kynt and Vyxsin (oh, but seriously) were smart, funny, and didn’t snark at each other. They also kicked ass, finishing the first leg in second place. Well done!
A Prune by Any Other Name
Do the Sunsweet folks really think that tarting up prunes in little cellophane wrappers and calling them dried plums is going to fool people into thinking they aren’t prunes? And who in their right mind thinks that wrapping pieces of fruit in plastic is a good idea? It’s second in bozocity only to individually wrapped tea bags. What a waste!
In other news, it’s laundry day, and The Shadow only knows whether or not one or both or neither washing machine will actually work. And, if they work, will they continue to do so for the entire wash and rinse cycles?
It’s a another beautiful day, though, so I shouldn’t be wasting time complaining. The sun is out, the sky is impossibly blue and cloudless, it’s not too warm (but warm enough for a lone hornet to be dive-bombing my studio window), and DST is finally over for the year.
Yay.
(Photo: a composite of four photos I took yesterday while out in Owen County. This was the view from the fire pit, looking across to the state forest. The fire pit itself being the source of the nifty burned copper leaf in one of yesterday’s photos.)
red paper boat 