So says Tom Stoppard.  I think it’s only partially true.  I think that at times people have skill and choose to lay it at rest in order to have a more emotional reflection of themselves in their art.  Skill, to me, is like a stencil, a guideline at times.  There are alot of times when I’m glad I decided not to go to art school because my style wasn’t molded by those teaching me.  However, there are skills I wish I had learned from someone and that I am now looking for ways of learning it on my own. 

Anyway…. here’s an illustration I’m working on currently for myself.  Yep, that’s right.  FOR ME.  I’ll have prints made, but the original is staying put in my living room.  I really love drawing things just for no reason at all.  It’s very inspiring because I know I can make it whatever I want without worrying what someone else will think of it.  I feel those are the pieces that are the greatest… the ones without inhibition, the ones where desire crashes with imagination and creates something so uniquely defined by a person’s own perception.  This piece is the beginning of that for me.  Make of it what you wish…

So I’ve had zero time lately to do anything except work.  Work at work, work at home… just work work work.  I haven’t had any chance to get on Google Reader and read all the gazillion blogs that I’m addicted to.  I decided to pop in just now to check out one or two… well… the total number of blog entries I have unread on my reader…  342!!  I need to take a day off work just to read all the blogs I’m subscribed to.  I’m seriously so overwhelmed by it right now that I just had to close it.  It’s killing me because I want to read every single one of them at this very second!  Maybe tonight…  Anyway, expect some comments from me this week because I’m definiteliy going to catch up on my blog-reading. 

In the meantime… check out My Charlie Girl.  I’m in love with Bec’s drawings.  Not only is she a great artist, she’s such a nice person, too.  It’s too bad she lives in Australia.  Why can’t cool people like her live in Pittsburgh?

Right now, I’m absolutely obsessed with the illustrations of Yellena James.  I’m about to purchase at least one, but I can’t decide for the life of me which one I want!  They are all so beautiful.  The color composition entrances me.

I love the organic feel that her illustrations have and how each line on the page seems to be alive.  I am entirely to anxious to have one of these hanging on my wall.

said Abraham Lincoln

Friday night we added two new members to our family.

This is Meeksa. Meeksa means “little snot” in Greek. (I’ve spelled it as phonetically as I could because Greek isn’t exactly that easy to translate into english writing.) Meeksa definitely lives up to his name. He is for sure a little snot.

This is Skilo. (Pronounced Skee-Low.) Skilo means “Dog” in Greek. Skilo chews on my shoes, is scared of the vacuum and stares out the window of the car just like a dog. He is also a little rascal. We also think that Skilo was the runt of his litter. His legs are about an inch shorter than Meeksa’s, his tail is so short that it doesn’t touch the floor when he walks and his ears seem too tiny for his huge fluffy head.

The first day the spent at home with us they scaled our shower curtain, unrolled the entire roll of toilet paper in the bathroom and claimed every fabric surface in the house as their own personal jungle gym. Fortunately for us, they love their litter box. These two little angels are the best birthday gift! They are hours of endless entertainment and I’m so excited to watch them grow up into crazy little hunting cats.

- says Frank Lloyd Wright

Sunny Downtown Pittsburgh, PA - Photo by Me

Let’s talk for a minute about my wonderful Macbook, Blanche.  I sit down comfortably in my chair 2 nights ago with some hot chamomille mint tea, Blanche happily resting on my lap, a perfect evening as far as I was concerned.  Until I attempted to wake Blanche up.  I open her, press enter.  Nothing.  I push the power button.  Nothing.  I plug her, push the power button and to my surprise she wakes up and greets me cheerfully with her little chime.  I wait anxiously to see if I get some kind of crazy virus warning (I’ve never had issues with my Mac, so I don’t even know what it would look like if I did.)  Everything is perfect… everything except the microscopic black X covering the battery icon where the little lightning bolt should be.  Panic. 

Blanche?  Blanche what’s wrong with you?  I decided to let her rest, plugged in over night.  The next morning… nothing had changed.  The black X still plagued me like a splinter deep under the skin. 

I use the PC to get on Mac Support.  It seems this is a common issue because it’s under the FAQ on the support page.  I follow all 4 suggestions for healing my Blanche and nothing works.  Last resort… call Apple.

My wonderful husband takes the task upon himself.  Forty-five minutes later and lots of panic stricken faces made by him, causing minor anxiety attacks in my ignorant self, that problem is solved.

Turns out my battery was the member of a batch of faulty batteries.  Apple simply stated they would send me a new one.  Fortunately, Tom had researched before we called, reading a few message boards and that’s how he found out about the bad batteries.  I’m not entirely sure that they would have offered up that knowledge had Tom not asked about it.  However, I love Apple.  We were both very pleased with the way they handled our issue and I’d have no qualms about dealing with them when anything else goes wrong. 

The Doctor (Doctor Who)

Something I haven’t mentioned very much here is my pure obsession with science fiction.  It’s quite unhealthy, I think.  My DVR is full of Doctor Whos, Stargates, Sarah Janes…  Some might even call me a nerd.  I’m alright with that, though.  If science fiction shows don’t exercise my imagination, what the heck will? 

Anyway, I’m sitting here this evening, drinking red wine, catching up on all my DVR’d shows and working on my hummingbird wip that is long overdue.  I was afraid to move on with this illustration because I didn’t want to mess it up.  I do that, alot.  I start something, love the preliminary sketch so much, then I never touch it again because I don’t want to mess it up.  It’s terribly sad and I’m trying to overcome that horrible habit.  The result has been many destroyed drawings that I once adored.    However, for every great success, there must be sacrifice, right?

I’m very pleased with my hummingbird, though.  It’s turning out better than I planned.  Maybe my best work is done when I have a delicious bottle of pinot noir to help?  Or maybe it’s the sci-fi.  Who knows.  Whatever it is, I hope I can figure it out and channel it more often. 

This illustration is still unfinished…

-Mark Twain

Last night, my family decided to take my sister-in-law, Lindi, and me out for our birthdays.  They are still a few weeks away, but with them being in town, it seemed the perfect opportunity to party.

The evening began with The Melting Pot.  This was a first for me.  I’ve long been a devoted fan of fondue, but never made it a priority to go experience The Melting Pot.  It was incredible!  With 4 courses, 3 of them being different kinds of fondue, the evening left me stuffed, happy, and anxious to go home and try to mix my own cheddar cheese, beer, worcestershire sauce and garlic.

After we finished our amazing dinner we walked down to the river and watched the dancing water show for a while until the sun set and I was able to snap this amazing photo of this beautiful city that I live in.  Everytime I drive through the tunnels and they open up to downtown, it takes my breath away and I’m reminded of why I will never ever move from here again.

Not that that has ever happened to me, but today definitely feels like one of those days.  It’s one of those days where the sounds you hear every day of your life suddenly annoy the crap out of you.  It’s one of those days where you put on your brand new dress and even though you loved it on in the store, somehow, now you hate it.  It’s one of those days where every driver on the road is doing exactly the wrong thing, driving 5 miles under the speed limit or not changing lanes when you need them to.  It’s one of those days where even though you are wearing waterproof mascara, everytime you look in the mirror it’s smudged under your eyes making you look like you got mugged walking from your desk to the bathroom.

But it’s also one of those days where the smallest things make you smile to yourself because everything else is just SO wrong.  Like the rain that so morbidly fits your mood… it actually makes you smile when you smell it evaporating off the hot sidewalks.  Or seeing the bunnies that terrorize your garden… they actually make you smile.  Or eating a handful of Reese’s Pieces from your co-workers candy jar… 

A Rainy Day In Pittsburgh - Photo by me

It’s just a backwards day today. 

To keep up with the whole arts and crafts theme I’m supposed to be following on this blog of mine, here’s a picture of my second-ever softie that I designed for my sister-in-law Jen for this past Christmas.  I absent-mindedly forgot to take pictures of it before giving it to her.  She snapped these shots for me of Fitz in her wonderful new habitat. 

Making this elephant was definitely a task I was not prepared for.  I really had no idea what I was getting myself into and it will be a very long time before I attempt to make one like her again.  So for now, she is unique, a one-of-a-kind disaster that I am ever so proud of.

Now I must go onto my backwards day.  All I can do is take a deep breath and say, “Oh well.”

Quote by: Ralph Waldo Emerson

It really is true, I think.  Sara and I discovered, especially, during our pottery classes that it requires a great deal of patience to sculpt and throw pottery.  We assumed it would be theraputic to mold the clay and take the time to add the detail before firing… It wasn’t.  It was frustrating.  Given only a short amount of time to use 25 pounds of clay was stressful.

My desperation to get back on the wheel over the past decade, I finally realized, was an incredibly out-dated desire.  Although I enjoyed the classes immensely, I think I’ll leave pottery to the potters.  My time will be devoted to my drawings and wherever else my strengths are.  I will admire pottery from afar and commend those that accomplish what I know I couldn’t.

With that said, here are the pictures of my completed works from the Sweetwater Center for the Arts pottery class.

I was very fortunate that all of my pieces made it through all stages of firing without exploding or cracking.  I worked with a lot of under-glazes to get the earthy, rocky texture on them.  I’m very pleased with how each piece turned out.  Especially the last piece with the leaves.  That one probably required the most time, sculpting each leaf separately and then having to attach each one without deforming it.

I loved the class, but I’m glad it’s over. 

Since I am blog title-y challenged, I have decided to open each post with a quote. The quote above is from my absolute favorite artist and perhaps my biggest inspiration, M.C. Escher. If any of you haven’t noticed, my drawings do resemble his to a certain degree. I have spent a lot of time studying his designs, the mathematics behind them and the simple detail given by textures of a single color. He truly is an amazing artist in my opinion. It seemed as if each of his prints were a challenge that he set for himself. I’m trying to point myself in that direction.

This is a gnarly old tree that I’m working on right now. The entire tree is stippling. I love the grainy feel that stippling gives pen drawings.

While I’m writing this post, Tom is breaking in our brand new Wii Fit. It might just be the most entertaining thing I’ve seen lately.

However, now it’s time to go and cheer on my Penguins and hope they don’t let the Red Wings take yet another Stanley Cup. Go Pens!