I did it!

Or, to be more correct, I am doing it! I am painting on the commission that I thought was dead. I'm so happy, It's turning out well.

I feel so much better that I'm actually painting. And that I haven't forgotten everything!! I'll definitely put up the image once I am done with it. I do not know how much longer it will take. I have the roses and vase to do, and I have to finish up the person in the chair. And the chair itself. But most everything has paint on it. The right value, the right place, everything is right. I just have to make it looked finished, since my style is a bit more about cloisonnism than the people probably want. It was more about photo realism when I first started this thing.

I hope they are pleased with it. In any event, they will probably just be pleased to have it back. :)

Merry Christmas!

Yes, it's that time of year again, where presents are opened, families try not to kill each other, and we try and keep some magic in the holiday. Merry Christmas everyone!

I stumbled upon some Christmas stories at this site: http://www.morriganezine.com

I think we should all sit down with a little Straight No Chaser and enjoy the holidays that way. Definitely worth a little holiday time!

It's also a good time to gift your online followers by linking to their (very awesome) blogs and sites and such! And here they are in really no particular order besides the order I found them in my inbox :D Monica Crowe's inspirational blog, Vicki Holdwick's (complete with nerd score!), And Yamada Shota, all the way from Tokyo!

So what am I going to do now on this most wonderful of holidays? I'm going to wonder where everyone went, get in bed, finish one chapter of the book I'm writing, and go to sleep. I have work tomorrow!

And just so you know:

Nano Novel, Going back to school, and Painting

I actually started editing on my novel. I did not think I would, because I was getting a little tired of the whole writing thing, but it went so well that I'm stoked. I plan on spending every lunch working on what I've done, bit by bit. And saving up enough money for a small little notebook computer that will fit in my work locker and be little more than a jump drive I can type on :P. That way I won't have to write and then type. Cuz that gets old, real fast. Probably why none of the articles I've written save two are on here. Yes, I know, I've actually written stuff that I've not posted. I suck.

I'm also excited because my mom said that she'd help me with getting another degree. I'm so happy! I mean, I love it that I have an art degree and everything, but I have always loved math and physics and I've been reading and learning all about theoretical physics for awhile and I'd love to go back and really learn it. Because I know nothing as far as the math and terminology goes. I get some of the ideas fairly well, but I sound like an idiot if I actually try and ask questions of people who actually know their crap. And I might turn my English minor into a major since I've gotten all of my GERs in everything else and I'd really like to break up the math thing. At least a little! Or I might go in for a history minor since I'm lacking a fair amount of that. At least when it is not tied to art history. Hehehe.

So... I'm hoping that Tech takes me back for a second degree and will actually do some paying themselves. Well, I can hope.

And I have this huge painting that I need to get done, but I have this huge block on it. So I said I wouldn't paint until I got it done. So of course I just haven't painted. I need someone to really kick me in the ass about this painting. I just... I just need for it to be done. Ugh. Why did I agree to do it? To do any painting?? :( I don't think I will ever take commissions again after this.

I think I'll stay up to paint, though the light sucks. I really don't care though. I've just got to paint. Get it done. I will post it when I'm through. It will be a day of celebration.

Beautiful Travel Weather

Well, I made it back from Houma, though I thought that would never happen. Time seems to crawl when you are working nights. At least it does for me. I am so glad the entire fiasco is over. It seems like all I did was sleep, eat, work, repeat. I did not even have time to write or draw or anything, which was depressing. All I will say about the trip and the people is that I could barely get a word out edgewise and what I did say was completely either ignored, taken incorrectly, or ridiculed. One person kept trying to tell me what was not being understood. Don't worry kid, I got it. I knew he was not getting it, and why. You didn't have to tell me. Several times. I'm not that bloody stupid. Tell that to the other guy who was not getting it! That would have made more bloody sense. 

I don't know why "I get what you are saying, and I understand completely, now please see what I am saying" means "I don't get what you are saying, please explain your point louder and walk off" and "Please butt in and tell me what I am saying and what he is saying to me because I do not get it."

I used to think I spoke clearly.

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But traveling there and back was absolutely amazing. We left both times early morning, and we got to see the sun come up, and the way it look on winter farms and trees and fields was inspiring. On the way down I loved the greens, the blues, the browns, and the way the early morning sun was just bright orange yellow on everything, sometimes even almost red.

Everything in the distance tended toward blue, but there was so much warmth in the landscape as well.

And the clouds! Going down there were many, many small, puffy, flat clouds filling most of the sky. They were tiny around the horizon, growing the higher they got. The colors that were in them were amazing. They were so perfect, that I thought they were the perfect example of Glenn Kennedy clouds. My teacher used to paint clouds just like those in a lot of his works and I can't help but think of him when I see those clouds.

On the way back it had snowed. I know! Snow in Louisiana?! We were shocked too, but it had happened. I was also running on no sleep and I had not seen the sun in twelve days, so everything seemed alive! Color and light seemed to come from everywhere. Of course that could have been the inordinate amounts of caffeine, and the shock of seeing light.

The sun was bright, and there were no clouds. Smoke from refineries was just drifting along the horizon. We could usually see three or four perfectly formed smoke trails at a time. It was really quite odd looking to see this billowing of smoke, that would settle into these perfect paths across the landscape.

At first there was a lot of frost along the ground, that turned every thing in shadow bright, bright blue. And the water! Water was everywhere, and perfectly still and reflected everything. And it was both the bright blue of the sky, and anything reflected was reflected bright orange, red. I would have killed to have been able to stop and oil painted. Hell, I would have killed to have a camera.

And then the snow! Everywhere we saw had huge, huge piles of snow everywhere. Last time I saw this much snow was in 2004. And it was around 9 am in the morning. And there was still a ton! I was all excited. I played with some when everyone stopped for boudin.

And then I met the governor right when I got back. That was pretty cool. Got to shake hands, and I'm not sure what I said, as it was three o'clock in the afternoon and I was still running on no sleep. No matter how sleep deprived, I'll remember this day :D

Ah well, it is good to be back. I now know I can not work at Lowe's forever. I've got to find my place in the world. Now, where did I put my coffee?