Category: Doodles

Art, Crankypantsing, Doodles

Furnace Update

Shelly

Stonehenge Journal: Doodle
Doodle
gel pen on 90lb Stonehenge paper
7 1/2 x 5 5/8 inches

I got a call from the maintenance guy this ayem, and they are going to be here bright and early tomorrow to install the new furnace.

I don’t know which I’m more sick of, not having heat, or sleeping in the “warm” living room. Last night, Mr. Upstairs spent the entire night–starting at about 11:00!–cleaning. First, it was the dishwasher, which is not, alas, a quiet model. Then, he commenced vacuuming–again, kinda loud! At about 12:30 he started rearranging furniture. At 2am, he recommenced with the vacuuming. In between the aforementioned events, there was much stomping around and dropping of heavy objects. I think he was intentionally trying to make me cry.

What in the hell is wrong with him?! I just don’t understand how a grown, adult human could think that sort of obnoxious behavior is acceptable. Was he absent on the day they studied sound waves in physics class?

And then there’s Miss Pandora, bless her heart. Somewhere in all the upstairs noise-making, I managed to drift off to sleep, only to be abruptly awakened by the sound of the vertical blinds clanging together. It was Pandora, running back and forth, along the patio window. “Clank clank clank” is not, as it turns out, very good music to sleep by.

Art, Crankypantsing, Doodles

Sunday Crankypantsing

Shelly

Stonehenge Journal: Doodle
Doodle
gel pen and gel marker on 90lb Stonehenge paper
7 1/2 x 5 5/8 inches

Last night’s wintry mix didn’t end up amounting to anything, because the temperature rose enough for the ice and snow to turn to rain. A good thing, too, because when I got up this morning, the furnace was dead. Again. I had to hunt for my lease, to find the emergency maintenance number. I called, and someone masquerading as a repair person showed up. I say “masquerading as,” because all he was able to do was turn up the thermostat, wait for it to misbehave, and tell me, “Yep, it’s broken.” Pure genius!

I’m going to have to wait until tomorrow, when a real repair person can come fix it. In the meantime, he brought me a dinky little oil heater. Better than nothing, because it should keep one room reasonably warm, but not so very helpful for keeping the large, open-plan living-dining-kitchen area warm. But at least it’s not super cold out, right?

While I was waiting for the Unrepair guy to show up, I watched a show on Alexander the Great (I love the history channel!) and doodled. I have a feeling that the rest of the day is going to be spent on the couch, with a good book, the dog, a cup of hot chocolate, and a big, fat comforter.

Art, Crankypantsing, Doodles

Sunday Crankypantsing

Shelly

Stonehenge Journal: Doodle
gel pen and gel marker on 90lb Stonehenge paper
7 1/2 x 5 5/8 inches

Last night’s wintry mix didn’t end up amounting to anything, because the temperature rose enough for the ice and snow to turn to rain. A good thing, too, because when I got up this morning, the furnace was dead. Again. I had to hunt for my lease, to find the emergency maintenance number. I called, and someone masquerading as a repair person showed up. I say “masquerading as,” because all he was able to do was turn up the thermostat, wait for it to misbehave, and tell me, “Yep, it’s broken.” Pure genius!

I’m going to have to wait until tomorrow, when a real repair person can come fix it. In the meantime, he brought me a dinky little oil heater. Better than nothing, because it should keep one room reasonably warm, but not so very helpful for keeping the large, open-plan living-dining-kitchen area warm. But at least it’s not super cold out, right?

While I was waiting for the Unrepair guy to show up, I watched a show on Alexander the Great (I love the history channel!) and doodled. I have a feeling that the rest of the day is going to be spent on the couch, with a good book, a cup of hot chocolate, and a big, fat comforter.

Art, Doodles

Instant Review: New Pens

Shelly

Stonehenge Journal: Doodle
Doodle
gel pen and gel marker on 90lb Stonehenge paper
7 1/2 x 5 5/8 inches

I used a combination of RoseArt metallic gel pens, RoseArt ColorSharp metallic markers, and Sakura Jelly Roll pens. I really love RoseArt’s metallics. They’re nice and smooth and opaque, and they’re acid free. I’m disappointed in the Jelly Roll pens, though. The ink is glittery with a light colored suspension, like cheap nail polish. The pigment isn’t very dense, and with the glitteriness, that means they don’t scan well at all. I ended up having to blur the image to knock down some of the glitter, so that even a small amount of color would show. I upped the contrast and saturation as much as I could, but anything more than this would blow out the parts of the image that are already bright and clear. It’s a pity, because even with its problems, the original image is nice.

The best part, though? The teal beehive hats! I think those may make a return appearance at a later date.

Art, Doodles, Music

Thought is like a little boat upon the sea

Shelly

Stonehenge Journal: Doodle
Doodle
gel pen on 90lb Stonehenge paper
7 1/2 x 5 5/8 inches

I usually doodle in front of the television. This evening, as I was getting out my pens, that stupid Cheerios commercial with the Donovan song came on. I adore the song in the commercial, but I’m kind of disgusted that it’s being used to pimp a breakfast food. O ick.

Anyway, if you aren’t familiar with the song, give it a listen. It’s very nearly perfect in every way, I think, and you can probably see why it appeals to me. Little boats and circles and all… There really is a method to my madness.

Little pebble upon the sand
Now you’re lying here in my hand
How many years
Have you been here?

Little human upon the sand
From where I’m lying
Here in your hand
You to me are but a passing breeze

The sun will always, shine where you stand
Depending in which land
You may find yourself
Now you have my blessing, go your way

Happiness runs in a circular motion
Thought is like a little boat upon the sea
Everybody is a part of everything anyway
You can have everything if you let yourself be

Art, Crankypantsing, Doodles, Meta

A New Doodle

Shelly

Stonehenge Journal: Doodle
Doodle
gel pen on 90lb Stonehenge paper
5 5/8 x 5 5/8 inches

I tried uploading this file to Flickr, and boy was that ever an adventure! Apparently, though I had to dig to find the information, they had a brain hemorrhage yesterday. Everyone’s photos are all kinds of jumbled up. What fun! I didn’t have any trouble uploading the file, but when I tried to add it to a set, I saw that there were other people’s images intermingled with mine. When I clicked on them, I was either taken to the correct photo or to yet another incorrect photo.

I thought someone had hacked into my account, but I thought I’d check the main page for information, just in case there was something wrong on their end. Bupkis. I checked the Flickr blog. Bupkis. I had to go to their “help via e-mail” page, which directed me to a discussion about the problem. According to Flickr’s official statement, the problem should have been resolved Saturday. Yeah, right. Their advice was to clear your browser cache, and all would magically be restored to its natural order. Uh-huh. Go on, pull the other one. Anyway, the first thing I did was clear my browser cache, ya’ assberets. And then I tried IE, Opera, and Netscape. And then, Flickr implodiated completely.

Oh, and now I see that they’ve finally decided to post about the problem on the Flickr blog. Heckuva job, guys.

Art, Crankypantsing, Doodles

Staff Meeting Doodle

Shelly

Staff Meeting Doodle
gel pen in steno notebook

I think that’s about as close to arting as I’m going to get today. I stayed an hour late at work, to make up for leaving early yesterday. When I got home, I did laundry. One of the dryers decided to stop half-way through its cycle, so my jeans and heavy shirts–you know, the stuff you wear when it’s ass cold out!–were wet. Too wet to hang dry before tomorrow, so I had to fork over another $1.25 to finish drying them. Hrmf! So I’m a little cranky about that. And I’ve had a dull, nagging headache all day (which has nothing whatsoever to do with Syndromes of the Head and Neck–Holy Coinky-dinks, Batman!). Between that and The Cranky, I’m not in the mood to do much of anything. Maybe I’ll feel differently after I (finally!) eat something, but I would not recommend holding your breath. That’d be silly.