Category Archives: Writing

Nov18

Artist’s Elevator? What?

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Okay, the comments on my last post concerning me taking a free booth at an open fair have me a little freaked out. I think that I have some ‘splainin to do about my art!

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I have NO art training. Unless you want to count art class in elementary school; I don’t.

I’ve drawn all my life, but I did more in my first 15 years than I did in the next 25.

August of this year, my husband gave me an iPad. It had an app called Brushes on it. I had never done a digital drawing before. Unless you want to count goofing around with MS Paint when work was slow; I don’t.

The portrait I did of Socks, on this blog, was the first one I ever did. That was Oct 8th. I did it for her, so I could give her something artsy that I made, because she gives me so much.

The entire history of me playing with Brushes is on this blog. I was doing the portraits for fun, and loving it. I drew my friends, and then a picture for a blogger I didn’t know in my offline life. Others saw and asked for their kitties to be drawn. It was so easy and fun! I’ve done more art in the last month than in the last ten years, or longer.

Then someone asked me to draw her cats for her and said ‘how much.” I was floored. This had never occurred to me, not once. She was the spark that lit the fire – the one with the big fireworks that spelled out ‘you can do this.’

I’m not an expert; I’m so new at this that it is funny. Scary, too! I’m a little, more than a little, intimidated when professional artists give advice. I barely know what you are talking about.

Now, can I use any of that to sell myself, or do I need to make something up? 😀

Nov18

Blind poets and other bits

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Someone had great fun yesterday reading every last post I’ve done! I’m quite flattered about it. I’ve so few followers, and I’m so new, that my site stats tell me these things. I’m less than a month and a half along but I put up so very, very much it is rare that anyone tries to read it all, especially in one day! (I just had a look, 170 posts, yikes, I’m a bit verbose.) Whoever you are, thank you – I’d love it if you commented, but I’m glad you took the time nonetheless. I’ve not had such a high-count day since I did the portraits of Jimmie Chew.

Oh, yes: I’ve been rejected by BioWare Ireland as a customer service representative. Probably because I couldn’t kiss arse enough in their on-line interview. I just couldn’t blow that much smoke up an online questionnaire’s arse. I’m afraid to say I’m happy that I didn’t get it, it sounded like a living hell.

Hubby took a photo of the statue they are putting up in the square. I wasn’t too far off in my description yesterday.

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This is Anthony Raftery, “the blind poet” who was from this area. I suppose I should apologise for complaining about a cattle scale being taken out in order to commemorate much older local history.

My ‘big news’ is that I sent in my application to be an exhibitor at the Open Fair in Castlebar on December 4. I applied as a digital portrait artist, illustrator, and logo designer. I’m a bit scared, to be honest. I have no idea what to charge. I don’t know if I can or should sell my work as digital only, no hard copy: or only hard copy. I’d have to borrow a printer or have it printed elsewhere.

Well, the main thing is that I’ve taken the first step. Even if nothing comes of it, the act of doing something like this is a huge breakthrough for me. Scary, but also scary in a good way!

Nov11

I embarrassed myself with two words

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I love words, and the origins of words and phrases are an endless source of entertainment. I save the most interesting ones in long term memory, even – a place that barely keeps names or which light switch turns on what light.

I got in trouble over on FB yesterday by congratulating someone on their new job in a large retail establishment. I said that it had to be better than slinging hash, because the last job this person had was in a restaurant.

What else could I possibly have meant? Oops. Yes, hash does have other meanings, doesn’t it? I never thought! Would anyone even call drug dealing ‘slinging’? The phrase ‘slinging hash’ means only one thing to me; a colourful way of saying working, especially cooking, in a cheap restaurant, like a diner. I can’t remember if the restaurant was a cheap one, but I figured it’s a former job, so it couldn’t have been that much fun to work at and a little insult to it would be okay. I actually thought of all that before I used the phrase – and never once thought of anyone not knowing what it meant.

The offended party is early twenties, and maybe never heard ‘slinging hash’ before. It does seem like a 1940’s sort of phrase. Can you even get hash in a restaurant anymore? I don’t eat it, I wouldn’t know. Or perhaps the phrase has grown a whole new meaning in the six years I’ve been over here.

Maybe it’s because I was speaking to an American and I expect all Americans to know the strictly Yank turns of phrase. This is one of the ones I wouldn’t use here, because here ‘hash’ really only has one meaning, and it isn’t corned beef. I’m more likely to use American slang when I can, because I’m quite aware of when I can’t. I think in three versions of English: American, English, and Irish. Like knowing that I can never say ‘ride’ in Ireland, but it is fine in the UK and the US.

In any case, I’m sorry if I freaked anyone out, I was innocently trying to say congrats on a better job.

Nov6

Grrr

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A short one. I’m cranky. I’d written a long post about cooking, etc, last night, but realised a lot of it was off topic, even for me, so I was going to cut the middle out and save for another post. Well, the WordPress application doesn’t have my draft. Gone, poof, sayonara. Again, I chose WordPress because I could blog from the iPad, and I’ve been let down. I’m going to have to use Pages, I guess, or at least copy paste everything into Pages in the future before posting and especially when I don’t want to post right away. There aren’t any forums mentioning this issue. Just me…

Nov4

A month old…

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I believe this thang is a month old today. I’m too lazy to scroll through the 74 posts I’ve put up since I started! I never thought blogging could be so addictive, or so much fun. I certainly didn’t think I would be so prolific – and I’m nowhere near to being out of things to babble about!

Today has seen my most hits ever, thanks to Jimmie Chew and the loyal band of followers he has. Thank you, everyone, for visiting! I’d be happy to try to draw things for others, just ask. I’m not brilliant, but who doesn’t love their kitty, pup, or even their own lovely face hand-drawn? Well, finger-drawn 🙂

Now, I have to go and write another Socks update!

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(that’s a cake. that is also what I draw like without a photo!)

Nov4

Jimmie Chew, Fin and Darnell have been Brushed!

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A lovely young cat visited my blog and liked my finger paintings enough to request a portrait. How could I ever say no?
This is Jimmie Chew, he has a photo-diary blog of his own where you can follow his busy day, from nap to car trip to glamour modelling.

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Jimmie is the star and narrator of his blog, but he has two feline ‘brothers.’ I didn’t want them to feel missed out, so here is Fin, a lovely grey gentleman:

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And this is Darnell. He is all black and seriously challenged my abilities. I need to figure out how to paint in reverse.

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As always, I am happy to have handsome, willing models to draw. I learn more with every picture. Thank you, boys!

Nov2

Inspirational writers

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I’m finally following up on an idea I apparently foisted upon a fellow blogger. I asked him in a comment about writers that inspired him, and his response was prompt and impressive. Being as I am someone with very little formal education – I just read a lot – I won’t be sharing some of his choices that are traditionally considered literature. I will read just about anything that is fiction, with the non-negotiable stipulation that romance novels are totally out of the question. (I found a Barbara Cartland novel in the trash when I was about eight. I was shocked that anyone could treat a book that way, and rescued it. I did read it, and that was enough for me to put it back into a bin.)

I’m also an American, so some of my choices might be considered too popular to be taken seriously. I am sorry if anyone does feel that way, however. Especially for my number one influence:

1. Stephen King. I love this man, I love nearly everything he has written, and I’m a collector of his work. A little history, bear with me; my parents were avid readers and did not censor what my sister and I read. Thank you, thank you. Mom volunteered at our library, and one of her jobs was picking new books for the shelves. She would consult with us girls, and we would know what would be coming in and when, and we would put our names on the reserved list. I clearly remember when King’s new books Firestarter and Cujo were bought as I was so excited to read them. They were released in 1980 and 1981 respectively – I was nine when Firestarter came out.
So, I have a love of Mr King’s work that is over 30 years old. He does inspire me, especially his book On Writing. I could go on and on, but I’ll shut up now. He will get a whole post one day, I do have a few criticisms as well as accolades.

2. C.S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia, obviously. I wrote a lot of rubbish when I was a kid because of him. His religious undertone failed with me utterly, I just wanted talking animals to be real.

3. Dean Koontz. I’ve gone off him a bit now, he’s way too Christian for my tastes and it is getting annoying. But he’s on the list for sheer perserverance, meticulous editing of every sentence, and the staggering volume of his work. Lightning, Midnight and Watchers were the first three books of his I read, and I still think they are the best of his enormous bibliography.

4. Madeline l’Engle. She wrote for what would now be considered ‘tween-age’ girls, but she wrote about science, time travel, and history. Another one whose religious undertone failed to affect me – now I can’t even imagine how or why she could link god to a book that explains, quite well, the first through sixth dimensions. Sigh. On the list as she taught me you don’t have to write about romance and rainbows when you are a woman writing for girls.

5. Dr Seuss. I don’t know if I would love words as much without him having so damn much fun with them.

6. Charles Bukowski. Wow, what a drunken, hateful, misogynistic loser. Wow, what a mind that allowed him to spill everything on paper. An inspiration because I learned that nothing is too horrible to write about. I’ll even read his poetry. Not for everyone, but if you like my next entry, you’ll like Bukowski.

7. Chuck Palahniuk. He’s disgusting and creative with it. A quick and bizarre mind, he taught me that nothing is too strange or sickening to write about – very liberating.

8. John Irving. I read The World According to Garp when I was about 13, and despite being shocked by the infamous car accident scene, I didn’t really appreciate the novel. Much later in life I read A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Cider House Rules, and fell in love. I’ve not read all of his works yet, but will. I love how he is so adept at immersing me in the world he has created. A kind of ‘I’m not worthy’ feeling hits me when I finish one of his books.

9. Kurt Vonnegut. If Irving makes me feel not worthy, Vonnegut makes me feel as if I shouldn’t even bother. Not exactly inspirational, is it? He just blows my socks off: style, language, humour, story, technique. I am a latecomer to Vonnegut, and I am sorry we lost him recently because once I read everything, there will be no more. I parcel his works out to myself like rare expensive chocolates, savouring each one.

I’m sure there are tons more, but I’ve run out of playtime and need to get ready for my job interview!

Oct4

Playing around with my new toy

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I’ve downloaded the WordPress app for iPad. I was finding some things not so easy to do, and others are impossible using only the iPad. Poop. One of the main reasons I went with WordPress is that they are very iPad friendly. As I think I have this thing permanently grafted onto my thigh now, I fully intend to blog just from said thigh. So, not all is sparkly just yet. I’m sure I’ll sort it out in time.

So here’s a picture, my first, as a test-tickle. What? Yeah, I did say that. This is a fiddlehead, pic taken by me out in the bog last spring. It happens to be Socks’ favourite picture of mine, too, which is the only reason I robbed it off my FB a few weeks ago. Because I had great intentions of drawing it again in Brushes. But it sucked, and I never finished. Gawd, I’m lazy.

Feic it, I didn’t want to sicken anyone by immediately posting cat pictures. So here’s a damn plant.

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Oct3

Hello world!

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Hi! I think I’ll leave this as ‘Hello World’ as it seems appropriate.

Well, where to begin? I spent ages picking a theme that seemed eejit-friendly. I had ‘A Christmas Story’ in my head the whole time, “Now boys and girls, I’m going to give you an assignment. I want you to write … a theme.” Here’s hoping I get an A++++++++++++!

Next was picking a name for my blog. I’ve always liked ‘here there be dragons,’ from what ancient cartographers wrote on the edge of maps. “Fuck if we know what’s out there, it’s the edge of the world and no one has come back to tell us” must have been too long. Dragons. Much easier to fit on a map. And they could draw a spiffy picture of a sea beast, too! That had to be way more fun than wiggly lines and words.

Right, where was I? Ah, yes, the unknown as a theme for my blog. Not cool unknown things, like unicorns or the chupacabra or why cats prefer to barf on carpet instead of an easy-to-clean floor. More the unknown inside of my head. I think it wants out.

Actually, I’m 100% sure I’ll be blogging about catbarf again. I bet you just can’t wait.

Ditto the chupacabra. Just what the fuck IS that thing!?!? Have you seen the videos? Freaky shit, man.

Ugh. I was really, really into unicorns as a kid. Bet they come up again, too.

But ‘here there be dragons’ was taken. Not surprising. I got out my 1977 Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (yes, I’m old) and leafed through words starting with ‘dr,’ hoping to find something close to ‘dragon.’

I could only come up with ‘dragonflies’ and ‘drinking’ as words that would remotely suit. But! ‘Spiders’ popped into my head. I love spiders. Yes, really. Most people don’t. So, spiders as a substitute for the mysteries of the mind? Why not? ‘Dragonflies’ is a bit too girly and rainbow-y for me. And I’ve not always been an alcoholic. But I’ve liked spiders since I was a wee girleen.

I took a text poll of my friends, and no one voted for ‘spiders.’ Shows you how much I care about what others think! Sorry, folks. Not really.

By the time I had all that sorted out, dinner was ready. We eat late, by the way. Hubby (hereafter known as iDJ [I think. I might change it later]) is off work this week so we really, really had dinner late. I had 15 minutes left to put up my first post before midnight… but I was too thick to figure it out in time. But hey! it’s still dated the 3rd cuz I’m magic.