Bigger Image

Sorry for the blur. The sun went down and I didn't have a tripod. Ah well. It is a bit bigger. I tried!

The Painting That has been giving me fits

So it's time for me to post the painting I've been working on for three years. Since, you know, I get about 20 people a day to the blog, and I haven't added an image for... uh... a long friggen while.

Ok, so here is the image I am working on:

It's 3ft x 3ft and I've been messing with it piece meal for three years and I've kinda developed a block on it. Today I finished the vase, blocked in the dress and hair, and as you can see only the background and curtain are even beginning to look good. 

The original of this image was painted by an artist named Depujoles. Here is the original:

Now, I also have a photograph of this woman that I am working with:

And the original wasn't really liked so I've been trying to fix some things, and yet still have the same sort of idea going through the thing. UGH! I've got to work on her head, the lace of her dress, the roses, the book, and the chair. Pretty much everything except the vase, the red veil, and the background. I think I will do the roses and chair next. Then the dress, and then the hands and books, and then the lace, and finally I'll fix the head to really work. I have the values blocked in, but the colors are off.

I'm so much better when I work from life :P

Well anyway. Just thought someone might be interested.

Hmmm

Still no painting. What could be wrong with me?

Can't blame work. Well, I can, but I don't think I should. I really don't have it that bad. 

I just got some new software and stuff, and I am going to try and post a video of myself painting. I think that will be fun! I enlisted the help of Justin. Now I just have to decide what to paint. Oranges? Eggplant? Vase? Just work on the Adam's pic that has been eating away at my very soul?

Probably the soul eater. Gimme three to five days and I'll have something up. Well, granting they don't put me at returns. *grumps*

Ja!!

Happily Ever After Points

Happily Ever After Points

Growing up on Disney and lots of fairy tales, I have been thinking as of late that people with happy, interesting lives never "win the story" in fact, those people who are happy and have what they want usually turn out to be a villain or some sort of mentor like person just trying to help the protagonist along.

The sad, wretched, orphans whom nobody likes or cares about are the only ones who can really go out to seek their fortune and actually have a hope and a half of getting it: whether that be a marrying a prince or princess, winning the science fair, or getting all the treasure...

In Fairy Tales, the prerequisites for having an adventure usually are pretty bad. Parents and siblings have to be killed, orphanages have to be endured, you must be really bad at whatever you're going to get once the story is all over... so on and so forth. For example, in a piece of pretty modern literature, Harry Potter has to endure the Dursleys for ten long years. He was really raking in the Happily Ever After Points. Even in school, the points didn't stop coming to him. Did Ron get to be the hero? No! Because he had a perfectly good family who loved him. And it wasn't perfect and he didn't have a lot of money, so, ok, he got to be a side kick. He only acquired that many happily ever points.

I don't have a complete system for what terrible thing that needs to be endured is worth more than some other terrible thing. And most people I explain this to, almost immediately relate it to karma, but karma it is not. In karma, if you are good, good things happen. With Happily Ever After Points, the more miserable you are plus how happy you can pretend to be, the better your life will get in the long run.

Right now, I'm cleaning toilets, none of my friends are talking to me save two, and I'm feeling pretty wretched, but I still manage to wear a happy face. I think I've gotten a few points in the last couple of days, but not enough to ever really win the story. But a few more very bad terrible days and we should be down for trading in the Happily Ever After Points for The End!

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Yeah,  I wouldn't take me too seriously :) It's all in fun.