Natsunekko

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:34:53 GMT

Has it really been two months since I last posted? Not much going on here, finally!

School started, and both boys are doing very well. They almost completely mainstreamed Kyle, he has only one special ed class. I was very much against this, but he seems to be doing well. He does the usual amount of complaining before school, but does not seem unhappy. Tad is continuing in band, playing the baratone. He wanted to get a computer programming class, but didn't register for it in time. Maybe next year. He has been learning scripting with the "Game Maker 7.0" software.

I finally did some art, but haven't scanned it in yet. School is going very well. The first three classes were very easy, and I sped through them--I have a final exam in health class on Tuesday, and then I'll have 6 credits finished. Yay! At this school, you take the classes one at a time, rather than taking all six at once. At this rate, I'll have finished this semester by November. The school runs the same way that Kyle's homeschool did. I have guided lessons that I teach myself, mostly reading and then answering questions about the reading. There is a teacher for each class, to whom I submit essays and can ask questions. I have quizzes online, graded by the computer. There are classes available, via a blackboard program and telephone conference call, but I only attended one and found it to be a waste of time. Er, it was taught well and all that, but it went over exactly the same thing as the guided lesson. I miss the discussion available in a real classroom--particularly right now, in my sociology class, where I don't agree with everything the textbook is saying--but if I had to wait for a classroom to go back to school, I'd be waiting at least five more years--that's the soonest we can move to a Real City with a Real College.

Back from Utah

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:42:31 GMT

Well.... the Utah trip didn't turn out quite as expected. Four days of driving for three days of visiting, of which two were monopolized by the convention setup/takedown. On our one day to visit with family, we took the kids to a place called "Toadies" where they rode race cars and played lazer tag, and then they went shooting with Eric's brother while I helped my mom shear alpacas. Much to my frustration, I didn't get to see Laurel, or my brother & his wife & kids, or my sister Tina's place. We're going to try this all again in July, but this time we'll leave the husband at home (he can't get time off) and stay for two weeks.

I did get to stop by Theresa Mather's studio on the way home, and that was really neat. It was great to meet her, and I hope that next time I won't be in such a hurry to get back on the road.

The convention was... well... not disapointing, but not great either. The market is bad. I brought five original paintings, priced to sell, and still only sold one. I was pretty shocked, I expected to at least unload the 9x12s that I asked only $35 for, if not the 16x20 for $199! Oh well. The show looked nice, and it was good to see what my "competetors" were doing.

Big wall 'o art: (the originals are the ones in frames. Matted things are prints)

My personal life continues to be slightly crazy. :) Poor sis is back in the hospital. I'm watching her kids for the summer, plus the 7-year old son of a family in our church. The kid has some special needs, and there's only one day care on base and it's not great for kids with any sort of social disorder.

My boys, even Mr. Aspergers, have joined a base bowling league and a swimming club. I'm trying very hard not to be a mother hen (or mother bear?), and let Oldest Son go out by himself to the activities. I'm terribly nervous today, because he went with the Youth Center teens to a water park. Intelectually, I know he'll be totally ok. The adult leaders will watch out for him, and he's really grown up a lot lately anyway. Still, I can't help but worry. In the past, I've always gone along on trips like this.

I'm taking most of the summer off work at the restaurant (though I'm still on call for when my co-workers need time off). As I think I've mentioned before (I hope?) I'm going back to school. In three years, I hope to have my masters in special ed. With luck, I can be teaching in a year, and can quit the restaurant. Class starts for me on July 1. It's mostly home-based work, so I am expecting that I'll be able to do it while watching all these kids. :)

It'll be a crazy summer, but fun in it's own way.

The Flu.

Wed, 13 May 2009 15:15:44 GMT

We have The Flu. Anna and Kyle had a temperature of 101 yesterday, and were sleepy and cross. Today Tad is added to the list, and I'm not feeling so hot either. Susan and her kids got it on Sunday. Luckily, our workaholic husbands seem to have been spared. (Probably because they're never home!)

BUT IT'S JUST A FLU! Sheesh people. All this media panic over swine flu, and it doesn't even make you puke. I've had COLDS worse than this flu. The kids are sleeping and fighting more, but their appetites are good and they feel well enough to play.

Susan took her kids to the hospital (fevers hit 105), where it was verified that, yes, they have The Flu. No, there is nothing to do about it. Take Tylonol and go watch some TV. I'm going to be skipping the expensive hospital bill, and going strait for Tylonol and TV.

Conduit in May

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:07:14 GMT

I'm heading up to Utah in May for Conduit (and to visit my family there). I'm hoping to have this painting, "1001 Celtic Nights," done by then. It's big--16 x 20--and is acrylic on Masonite. Her face is really bugging me. I've re-painted it three times now. I think I'm going to stop messing with it and move on, and then revisit her stupid face once the rest of the painting is done.

Anyone else going to Conduit? I hope to see Theresa Mather there--finally meet in person!! I will try very hard not to get all dorky-fan-girl on you.

I've enrolled in Western Governers' University, to get a BA (a Masters, eventually) in special education. I'm hoping it'll only take me two years, since I did most of the general education classes eons ago when I was getting an art degree. I passed the entrance exam, so the last thing I need to do to make this happen is secure a grant to pay for it. Ugh. Paperwork hell!

Lastly, in the General Update, I have been reading the Temeraire books by Naomi Novik. Wonderful, wonderful books! Imagine the Patrick O'Brian Master & Commander books, but with dragons added. The books are set in the middle of Napoleon -vs- Nelson, and center on a ship's captain who becomes campanion to a dragon.

Mood Upswing

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:51:13 GMT

Finally. I seem to be coming out of the DOWN and into the UP mood. After having spent the better part of a month moping in bed (or wishing I was in bed), I now find that I cannot sleep, and my head is buzzing with ideas. I woke up at 2am and started cleaning, fantasizing about how I could better arrange the living room furnature. I will sit down and PAINT for the first time in three weeks, as soon as I'm done making lunch.

Times like this make it so very clear that my moods are a medical problem. Things are not going very well, bad news after bad news, it seems, but I am feeling really quite cheerful today. I had planned to quit the nasty cooking job in May and start doing the teacher's aide thing again, but the state decided to recind all emergency teaching certificates. Now you cannot teach in AZ unless you have an actual teaching degree. So, I'm going to have to spend the next two years working at the stupid bowling alley and going to school to turn an art degree into a teaching degree. We also invested nearly a thousand dollars in sending Eric to job interviews out of state, none of which panned out. Oh well. At least my sister lives here in AZ, so I'm not entirely cut off from the real world. And the kids are happy here.

It's a little over 90 degrees, and only eleven in the morning. The base swimming pool openned this weekend, and there was much rejoicing.

Post-Cleaning Depression

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:21:16 GMT

We live on-base, in what is military housing for another month, at which time, the military has turned over the base housing to a private firm. We're not pleased as punch about this, but right at this very moment, my biggest 'beef' with the housing privatization is the big inspection tomorrow. I am a terrible housewife. Terrible. So I've had to spend the last two days doing deep cleaning (we got notice on Friday about the inspection Monday). Up till today, it's been the exhausting-but-satisfying sort of cleaning. Yeah, I hate to clean, but it sure does give you a nice feeling when you're done and look back on a shiney clean kitchen, bathroom, etc.

Today, however, has mostly been about purging possessions. We hit the part of cleaning where the things that don't have a place in the house have to be thrown out. The most painful purge was my anime/manga stuff. I put two bookcases worth of manga into storage (to sell on ebay, when I have time), and threw out several large trashbags full of translations and small-press magazines and APAs. Sigh. That all used to be a huge part of my life. It isn't any more. My youngest kid was astounded to find out that I could read Japanese.

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:32:25 GMT

I've wanted an Asian ball joint doll since... um... some time in the 90's? They cost too much for me to spend on a foolish hobby, particularly now.

So here are my first two! They're 43cm tall, made of resin, fully jointed. The joints aren't very good, probably because my girls are both the less expensive Chinese variety. They're terribly cute, their little faces have so much personality! And they're just the right size to sew for. Large enough that I can get some good detail in the costumes, small enough that I can make whole dresses out of my scraps boxes.

Very Out of Touch

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:01:20 GMT

I log into LJ nearly every day to read my friends' pages, but I have little to say, so I don't post much. Or, at least, I'm stuck in that "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all" mode. Not that things are all bad here, but I'm generally feeling run down and exausted and worried about the future.

So let's see... some "say something good" news...

I have two lovely "Asian Ball Joint Doll" fairies living with me now. I will eventually post pictures, but can't find the cable to connect the computer to my camera right now. I have spent entirely too much time sewing clothes for them.

I've finished several paintings, and have switched almost entirely away from paper to wood boards, and away from watercolors to acrylics. One major down side to working on wood, however, is that I can't really scan it the way I could with paper. There are low-resolution pictures of several new paintings over at wenchworks.deviantart.com

Our oldest son has decided that he wants to attend high school in a building next year. I'm scared to death about it, I feel rather like I'm feeding him to the wolves, what a terrible attitude! My husband keeps reminding me that "Kyle is NOT you. Kyle's experience in school will NOT be like your's." A very selfish voice in my head is really looking forward to getting a "real job" (I've applied to be a spec ed aide again)and not homeschooling any more.

I didn't participate in the Ren Faire this year. I couldn't really afford the vendor booth fee, and then my poor sister had to go back to the hospital for a while, and so I had all five kids again, and there was no way I could run a faire booth with a bunch of little kids! So I skipped the faire this year and had lots and lots of fun with the kids. Kyle was in Video Game Heaven because my brother in law has a Wii (Kyle, Tad & I just stayed at their house this time, instead of trying to drive kids to school and all that from my house).

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:53:27 GMT

Well... the computer repair did not go as smoothly as planned. It turns out that Microsoft (Evil, evil Microsoft) requires you to buy a new operating system when you get a new motherboard. GAH. I didn't even WANT Vista. So, bad enough to have to pay for an "upgrade" to our OS, I then had to re-install all our drivers and programs. And, wouldn't you know it, I couldn't find the CDs for half of them--including Photoshop. It wasn't till Tuesday till got to a point where I could scan and print.

But there's exciting news! Ok, it's exciting for me, anyway. :)

My artwork was chosen for a page in a calendar for 2009!!!! Yay!! I feel all "pro" now. Go check it out at http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/fantasyart/emggroup.php?id=31

One of the paintings I finished while the computer was down is this one:

It's acrylic on masonite, which, I have to say, is the most wonderful surface to paint on. I bought the board pre-gesso'd and sanded from a bunch of art students on ebay (I need to find them again, they did a great job). I didn't expect painting on board to be so different from painting on illustration paper, but... wow. It was amazing the way that it took the paint.

I'm not dead

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:19:21 GMT

I had a great time at Nan Desu Kon. One of my sisters came and revealed that she's doing art again (yay! Both my sisters are artisticly gifted, but both have ignored their talents!). I didn't cross paths with Jenn & Chris, which was the only disappointing thing about the weekend.

Another disappointment came when I got home to a dead computer, and the internet was down. Stupid Time Warner has only one hub to serve the base, and when it gets flaky (like every time the wind blows or it gets hot...), the internet goes down. Not only does it go down for us, but since MWR uses Time Warner too, the library and wi-fi all go down too. The internet is back up again as of yesterday, having been out for a little over two weeks (it would come on sporatically, but rarely stayed up for more than ten minutes). Better yet, my new motherboard has arrived, so I should have a working computer again later today. Well. If it turns out that the motherboard was the only problem!

One good thing about the internet and computer being down is that I've had no electronics to entice me away from painting. I finished two paintings and am nearly done with a third. Today my neighboor has agreed to come over and pose for the next painting. I really hope it turns out well, so she'll model for me again; she has a beautiful, exotic sort of look. Her husband is really into Frazetta and Boris and that sort of classic fantasy art, so I suspect he's going to be disappointed--my pose for her is a re-working of "The Consort," which involves lots of gracefully draped fabric and no watermellon boobies.

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:51:54 GMT

I don't want to do the math on how much I've spent getting ready for Dragon*Con this year. Ink alone was $140. The mats and bags were another $150. And then there's the $200 panel rental. I haven't gotten to the postage yet, or the frames for the four paintings.

And let's not even think about the time this has taken. I really, really hate the business side of the art business!

(This is Ebon, my sister's Eberron Kalishtar psyonic--or, at least, my version of him. The painting isn't quite done, but is almost finished)

On the personal side, we are blessed to have our neice Anna with us again this week. She's four now, and talks up a storm. It's very cute to watch her and Kyle doing puzzles. Tad starts "building school" tomorrow--it's hard to believe how old the kids are getting! I really don't feel old enough to have teenagers!!

Need Help with a Sky

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:30:03 GMT

Periodically, I try to do a "dark" painting. I love "Goth" artwork (and music!! and clothes!! and hair!!), but have never been able to pull off "dark romantic" myself. So... my little bat fairy is... well... pretty cheery and not at all edgy-cool. Oh well. I can live with that.

What I can't live with is the sky. I was inspired by Tina Thomas's cool cloud-scapes to try and pull off a fancy stormy moonlighty sky. I failed utterly, and I can't figure out how to fix it. I've poured over my art books, and none of them cover "how to paint clouds." Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can fix this sky? Or does anyone know where I can get a good sky tutorial?

--------------------

The personal life is settling. I worked nearly 40 hours the last three weeks, but this week, I am only working 24 hours. Homeschool starts up again next week, and this year, things are going to be really hard. First of all, the state has decided that homeschool kids who are using the program we are using (K12, a state-funded homeschool program) have to log 6 hours a day of study, five days a week, no days off or flexability. The second problem is that Oldest Son's testing scores took a nose-dive. Since we started homeschool, his scores rose dramatically, and he was "on grade level"--he was doing as well as other kids his age. The end-of-year 2007 test scores, however, were all seriously below average. He got 0 correct on several math tests. So the extra hours of schooling are going to be good for him, but... ugh... this is going to be HARD.

Youngest Son is off to "building school," and is really looking forward to being with all his friends again. I'm doing the mom thing and am really worried that he'll be hurt and will struggle and all that. My memories of middle school are all dreadful. But Youngest Son is not me. I have to keep telling myself that!

Is There Life Without Caffeine?

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:32:11 GMT

What was causing my hands to swell and ache? CAFFEINE was screwing up my already wonky thyroid. Ugh. So I have dropped my 64 oz a day Diet Pepsi habit. One of the few perks to working at the bowling alley/pizza parlor was the free sodas. Double ugh. They say that the headaches will go away in another week or so...

On the plus side, with my hands back to normal, I started three small paintings for Nan Desu Kon.

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:53:22 GMT

Ja ne... I can't belive it's been so long since I posted. I guess I was waiting to have some kind of good news to tell. I really dislike sending out emails and posting to journals just to say that life is still hard, the house is still a mess, I still haven't resumed homeschool or painting, going back to work still sucks rocks, and it's 115 degrees outside. It's even too hot to swim.

I guess the one piece of good news is pretty big, if rather personal: I talked to my dad for an hour or so. My parents got divorced last year, and my father dropped off the face of the Earth. He made some gigantic lifestyle changes (which is a large part of what caused the divorce), and I guess he thought that his children didn't want anything to do with him, or that if my mother knew where he was and what he was doing, it would be traumatic for her. I emailed him regularly, and he'd email back pretty regularly, but his address, location, and phone number have been Top Secret. And then Sunday morning, his companion Pat called me up and said that she thought this secrecy was unhealthy, and then she handed my dad the phone. :D I bought tickets to fly out and visit him and meet her in September.

A frustrating week

Mon, 05 May 2008 15:52:48 GMT

This has been a frustrating week. I have major computer problems--a nasty virus has infected. I got it off, finally, on Wednesday, but now I can't visit several of the websites that I desparately need to visit--Deviantart, google, yahoo, photobucket--because both IE and Foxfire hang halfway to loading them.

And, to top it off, I have three ruined paintings. In the last five years I have given up on less than five paintings (once started--they often abort in the sketch stage). Mostly, it's my stubbornness, since I want to throw away almost every painting I start, at some point during the painting process, but most of them end up once I push past that ugly stage. But now I have three paintings that I have ruined, and I cannot decide whether to push on or re-do them or what.

The ink turned out not to be water proof on the dancer, and smeared all over the place. And THEN it became waterproof, because I haven't been able to wash out the smears! I will try to fix it by switching to opaque acrylics. The pirate was in my bag, which turned out to be soaking wet. The illustration board is all warped and the top layer is peeling off, so the only way to fix it now is to start over. I'm not really sure that the painting is worth starting over, though. It is just a silly sketch, and my sketchbook is full of silly sketches.

The kitty painting was going relatively well, in acrylics on a watercolor block, but the paper unpeeled itself from the rest of the block. I will probably go ahead and finish it, but now it will get all wrinkled because the block is what keeps the paper flat when you put water on it.

To end on a positive note, this painting is going well!

Insufficient Vespene Gas

Sat, 03 May 2008 01:49:22 GMT

One of Kyle's more endearing Aspergers traits is that he has 'catchphrases' that he uses many, many times a day. He says this phrase when he's bored, or when he's sad and wants to cheer himself up, or when he can't think of the 'right' thing to say, or just at random times for no apparent reason. His last catchphrase was "I like pie." (which was rather ironic since he does not acutally like pie), but the new one is "Insufficient Vespene gas."

ArtBeat Yuma

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:41:38 GMT

When my mother was out visiting us this winter, she talked me into applying to the jury for a local fine arts and jazz show held at the Yuma Art Center. I really didn't expect them to accept a fantasy artist, but they did. I hurried to frame all the artwork that I had--fortunately (heh!), sales on e-bay have been down, so I had quite a few original paintings (the show did not allow prints). The show was pretty much what I had expected--my artwork was nothing like anybody else's--there were very few people attempting any sort of realism or paintings of people. Most of the other artists were friendly, and nobody was rude or snobby (though, much to my dismay, one of the local art gurus, who teaches art at the college, said my artwork was "not to his taste."--but he probably didn't know I was listening in). The music was outstanding. I do not like jazz, in general, but I do love music. Sorta like me, out of place at a jazz show, the Opera de Mexicali was there and sang BEAUTIFULLY. I very nearly cried, it was so lovely. (Confession: If I could trade jobs/talents with anybody in the world, I would be an opera singer.)

I brought the Tam Lin Triptych to work on (only two fairies left to paint!), but was not "in the mood" to work on it. Instead, I started a new painting. I got to work on it for about seven hours solid, and then got another six hours of work on it during Saturday's Eberron game. It went quickly, and was not particularly challenging, so I am generally pleased with the result.

It's Nimue, coming out of her cave, carrying the poison that she will give to her lover, Merlin.

Dryad WIP

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:06:56 GMT

I have finished most of the painting in the center and end panels of the Tam Lin tryptich, but I can't show them because the scan looks so cruddy. I feel rather 'accomplished' having now filled every teeny tiny spot on those panels with paint. What's left is to do the same on the first panel, and then go back over all three and add details, patterns, and little fixes here and there. That last step only takes a day or two (assuming I get a full day to work on it).

I've been spending a lot of time over at my sister's house, so I have also been working on two smaller paintings (Tam Lin is too big to take anywhere!). "Dryad" is meant to be a replacement for "Chantel" in my art line-up. Chantel is one of the best sellers, but it's gone around to all the conventions and shows at least twice, so it's time for it to retire. I have been trying to figure out what is different between Chantel (which sells) and the other fairies (which don't sell as much). I think the difference is that she's looking right at the viewer, and that she's scantily clad, and the painting has a full background. My other fairies are either in long gowns and have no backgrounds.

I definately welcome anyone's opinions on this! "What sells" vs "what doesn't sell" totally mystifies me. My favorite paintings are usually duds, while the ones I do as "quickies" or paintings done as gifts for family often sell well. And then there's the ones like the "Hunting Pheonix" that I spent a lot of time/planning on, but absolutely hate with a passion, that sell well.

Anyway, here's the underpainting for the scantily clad, fully backgrounded dryad.

Off the topic of art... Eric has hit the five-year mark at his job, which was celebrated with a big huge security clearance renewal application. UGH. I had to fill the forms out because Eric is still working 60 hour weeks, on swing shift. It's really hard for an anti-social person like me to come up with a list of three close friends (that are not related to us or used as a reference elsewhere in the application) that Eric had seven years ago that I still have contact with. And we had to track down all our relatives (birthdates, addresses, and phone numbers), which, while not painful, was stressful since I have not kept up contact with everyone like I should. This sort of thing really reminds me how neglectful I am as a friend and family member. :( It's particularly sad to realize that we've lived here in this tiny community of about 35 families and still don't know a single person well enough to use them as a personal reference. We've made only a couple friends in the last five years, and at this point, they've all moved away, and neither of us has gotten up the courage to go out and "replace" them.

Thank goodness that is over! Turned it in yesterday on time. Whew!

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:08:44 GMT

My sister is out of the hospital, and her older children are in an after-school program while she recovers. I'm still blessed with the youngest kid, which is a lot of fun--I don't have girls of my own. It's fun to "borrow" my niece!

I did a lot of painting this weekend. I think I am coming out of a depression, I seem to have more energy and less frustration than I had a week ago. I'm also finally recovering from a cold, no doubt that helps my mood. Anyway, I made the switch to acrylics for Tam Lin. Part of me feels guilty about that, since part of the original idea was to take on egg tempra paints, but I could not get enough contrast using watercolor, and guache was too flat. I'd like to use the glazing medium, to get an oil-paint look, but I haven't done it yet so it's probably too late.

Tam Lin Triptych WIP

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:26:37 GMT

Tam Lin Triptych, as of this morning. Seeing it so tiny makes many of the blotches and un-smooth parts go away. Each of the three segments is 16 x 20, the whole thing is almost four feet long.

Probably I'm being way too emotional.

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:38:35 GMT

My personal life continues to be chaotic. My sister was in the hospital again for most of last week, so I had all five kids again. Mom came to help out, and Q is out of the hospital, but it looks like she will not be fully recovered for a long time--I will continue to watch the older kids after school each day and the youngest will stay with me till her Dad gets off work. I'm not sure what we'll do when school lets out. I don't know if I have it in me in take care of all five kids every day (but then, I KNOW I don't have it in me to let my sister's health fail again from over-exertion, or to let her kids be raised by day care workers for 12 hrs every day).

I finally got my boys caught up in school (I homeschool, but with a curriculum and stuff from a "real" school, so we have to keep up with the schedule they provide), and I fear we're going to fall behind again because I've not spent the enough time on school.

I made some more progress on the Tam Lin painting (first panel is almost done!), but have reached a frustrating point where the whole thing looks really awful and blotchy and none of the shading is blending the way I want them to.

Every now and then I decide to quit trying to be an artist. Life would be easier if I were satisfied with being a stay at home mom. If I could give up painting, surely my house would be clean, I'd get out and excersize, and I'd not be so anti-social. So I put away the paints and clean up the art clutter in the living room and swear that THIS WEEK I will just be Supermom (Superteacher and Superauntie).

But then I get a picture in my head, and it won't go away until it's put down on paper, and then it STILL won't go away until I get it down on paper RIGHT... and so I try again and again and finally force myself to finish the painting and it still DOESN'T look like it did in my head, and I hate it, and I hate myself for being so totally inadequate!

(What the hell is wrong with me??)

When a drawing is going "right"... I feel so very happy. All is right in my world (who cares if the kids are rough-housing, lunch isn't cooking itself, the dishes in the sink are starting to smell, and the dogs have tracked dirt all over the house again).

I wish I could keep that feeling.

(And I wish I had a maid. But I don't, and I really hate how filthy the house is right now. I hate that I need to clean tonight instead of work on a drawing that I started earlier that is going rather well.)

2008 Two Rivers Faire

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 23:11:52 GMT

The Yuma Renaissance Faire went well. I made as much money as I would have made if I'd sent art to a convention this weekend. I am exausted by the whole thing, and (unreasonably) disappointed. Our display was terrible. I didn't see it until Saturday night, when we asked our neighboor to give us some suggestions to improve sales. She gave us a very kind critique. The primary problem was that nobody could tell what we were selling. From the sidewalk, all people could see were wooden boxes with the tops of papers peeking out. In retrospect, I can't believe that I didn't think of putting art up on the walls, but... there you go. I'm NOT good at sales!!

Sunday, we rearranged everything and hung art on the tent walls and I printed big signs saying what was in each box. We also shifted our table of boxes from the back of the tent to the front. Just those changes made a huge difference. On Sunday, the sky was threatening rain and it was cold, and it was Superbowl Sunday, so the faire was almost empty. We still made as much money Sunday as we made on Friday and Saturday, when the faire had been full!

It's time to focus on "normal" life again. I've been horribly stressed out, unable to finish tasks and unable to enjoy relaxing activities. Today, I'm trying out the "make a list" thing. No game playing till my list is completed, and then, no work till tomorrow.

I can check off "update LJ" from my list!

Stress!! (Yuma Renaissance Faire)

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:32:27 GMT

Today is set-up day for the Two Rivers Renaissance Faire, our two year old local fair. I should not be as stressed as I am, since all the important stuff is done. All that I must do now is put prints in bags and, if I feel like it, add to my dress. I'd like to frame a bunch of originals and bring them, but I don't have to. I have nothing to be stressed about.

I will be painting the Tam Lin triptych, and so made a big wooden painting frame for it--which, I must admit, is the first wooden project I've ever done that actually turned out! Of course, it's very simple--a big piece of oak plywood with wooden trim (raised by a square dowel).

Christmas was unbelievably fabulous. The best we've had in years!! It was SO SO SO nice to have an actual Christmas budget. The last five years, I've had a hundred dollars (sometimes less!) for the entire holiday--presents to and from everybody, decorations, and Christmas dinner. This year, I got to totally indulge the kids. They got DS games, and Kyle got a big Pokemon tower to put all his Pokemon figures on, and Tad got a super big Lego set. And Eric TOTALLY spoiled me: he gave me an 8 megapixel digital camera!!! I wish my presents to him were as cool--this year, it was mostly big books and an RC helicopter. My sister and her family also totally spoiled me: I got a Nintendo DS.

My mother was here for about ten days, and it was wonderful to have her here! She and Dad's divorce became final over the holiday, so it was particularly good to be together. (It's amicable, but still upsetting to mom sometimes). Mom took an amazing, huge burden off my shoulders: she is 'doing' my conventions this year. She's done all the paperwork, matting, and mailing. All I have to do is paint, order supplies, and make the prints. IT IS WONDERFUL to have all that yucky art business stuff off my plate!!!

I have the best family in the universe!

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:10:45 GMT

I'm back on my feet again. I get tired really fast, and my skin is stil covered in red splotches (they're considerably more faded, now, though), but I'm back to running errands and doing school and all that stuff.

And it's my anniversary! We've been married 18 years. Shocking to think it's been that long! I saw my husband for about ten minutes, between me getting back from school (we're doing it in the library these days) and him leaving for work. Heh. Good thing I am not the sort of wife who needs gifts and champagne. We are both dreadfully unromantic. Love, to me, is not a meeting of the souls or pitter-patter of the heart. Love is about being loyal. It's about us having survived a lot of misery together. And it's about putting up with each other's flaws and eccentricities. We usually "celebrate" by putting up our Christmas tree.

Scarlet Fever

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:36:15 GMT

I feel like a character in a Victorian drama: I have scarlet fever. I had strep for the last ten days, and yesterday I developed a horrible rash. By morning, at leat 50% of my skin was covered in red, raised spots, each of which felt like a red ant sting. UGH. I went to the doctor and got an adrenalin shot, and a handful of anti-itch meds and creams. I could not sleep at all last night, so my sister very kindly came over this morning to take care of the kids and bring me some new anti-itch creams. I've got fever & chills and my throat is very swollen, but it's the itching that's driving me to madness. I'm wearing gloves to keep from scratching, 'cause I'm vain and don't want these things to scar. The doctor said I can expect this to last as long as ten days. UGH. I look hideous, like a burn victim. At least it's not a serious illness any more, and since I was already on antibiotics for the strep, I'm not contagious.

As an interesting side effect of this, I did my Christmas shopping entirely online this year. I got most of the kid's toys, clothes, and video games, and a few books for Eric on Amazon.com, and a couple lego sets on Lego.com and E-bay. It was rather nice! Amazon had free shipping, and they had everything that was on my list. I really enjoy browsing stores for toys, but I don't think I'll be recovered in time. Eric got a raise, paid retroactive to June, so for the first time in about six years we can really afford a nice Christmas.

I hope to be feeling well enough to work on Tam Lin tonight (my hands are shaking too badly right now to paint). I finished two of the other in-process paintings. I'm not incredibly happy with the results, but they're not awful. I should have painted the pirate first, and then done the background, because the background and main figure are fighting with each other. I suppose I also could have done the pirate in a different color, but I don't like having more than two main colors in a painting, because they don't look as unified. I suppose I could have gone with a gray-blue, but that seemed, at the time, too dull.