Old Stuff.

Here are a few older paintings I did in college. I was planning on becoming a children's book illustrator and these were part of my final BFA project. . . Who ever thought I'd be making video games for Disney?

Mummmmmm

And here's the third installment of my Halloween portraits.

Frankenstein

So, I painted up the Frankenstein drawing from my sketchbook too. Good therapy.

Mix your Comics?! I'm aghast.

I was hanging out at Target yesterday (because that's the place to hang out when you have a cold and you feel like your lungs have been filled to capacity) and wandered by the Halloween section of the store. I guess you could say I gravitated there. I do that. Halloween, Christmas, cheescake, and shoe sales all make me do that. As I was perusing the aisles of plastic pumpkins and face paint, I heard one of the most awesome yet pathetic things I think I've ever witnessed.

I heard a man's voice say "You can't be Spiderman and carry around Batman! One's DC and the other is Marvel!" When I turned the corner, I saw a little boy around the age of four holding a Batman trick-or-treat pail looking confused at his father. It was all I had to maintain my cool. I picked up a stray Christmas stocking and turned around.

Poor kid. He's going to grow up knowing all of the alias names for the X-Men and the genetic makeup of the members of the Fantastic Four but will never learn how to have a conversation with a girl.

The Count

So, I've painted up one of my Halloween drawings. . . Halloween is so cool.

Hotness.

I thought I'd support my point of view with actual photo reference.
This Tuesday, during one of our breaks in my figure drawing class we started talking about things we find attractive. We didn't even go to the whole "I like butts" thing. I have to maintain some level of respectability there, I'm a college teacher.

Yeah right, like I've ever concerned myself with that before.

But the women came to a decision. We've decided that men's eye wrinkles are the hottest thing. It's true. I came to that conclusion back when I was 23. I was talking to a 27 year old friend of mine who was playing his guitar. Apparently I was funny because he started laughing. When he laughed, I watched his eyes and it was like the clouds parted and the sunlight came through my living room ceiling and rested on his shoulders, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang one of those pretty chordy note thingies they do so well, and the air filled with the smell of fresh bread.

In my studies, I've learned that men start developing these eye wrinkles (also described as laugh lines) around the age of 26. So, all you men out there- keep smiling. It's hot.

Prince, meet Tim Burton

We had another art challenge and the assignment was "Royalty". Not too specific so I stretched it. I thought of Queens, Kings, Princesses, and a Prince. Once I had him in mind, it seemed obvious that he'd be my royal of choice. Besides, he was fun to do.

Ah, I get it now.

I've always been described as the "cute one", the "funny girl" and the "best friend" by men and women alike. Never have I been described as "mysterious", "elegant", "demure", "lovely", or anything to that nature by anyone (okay, except for one time by a friend of mine, but only because I had just said that no one uses the word "lovely" anymore so I don't think that counts.)

Anyway, my sister had her celebrity look-alike thingy done and it made me wonder who I looked like. . . In Hollywood. . . Otherwise, I'm told that I look just like everyone else in my fam. When I was a teen, everyone told me that I looked like Helen Hunt so I thought for sure she'd be on that list. . . But NO. No such luck.

Apparently, I look like a Disney kid and a male one at that. Ricky Ullman is my number one look-alike. (Um, for all of you who don't leave your televisions on the Disney Channel all day for your dogs, Ricky Ullman is Phil on Disney's "Phil of the Future") He's the dream man for thousands of 14 year old young ladies. . . Just what I wanted. But then again, I look like Lalaine from Disney's "Lizzy Maguire" too. I guess I'm just destined to work for the mouse.

But the fact that I look like four people who aren't even old enough to drive brings me back to that whole "cute" thing. I guess I shouldn't complain, I mean at least I don't look like Betty White and Patrick Stewart (oh wait, my roommate just did this and found out that she looks like him, true story). But c’Mon. . . Jodi Sweetin?!!! The obnoxious middle child from "Full House"?! She's the non-Olsen twin and non-Kirk Cameron's sister one. She never had any good lines and wore denim vests the whole 2nd season.

Then there's the rest. That photo of Eva Herzigova (that sounds like a flesh wound) looks like she should be selling pleather underpants and feather boas. I think I saw Sarah Michelle Gellar tear someone's brain out through their ears one some show and I don't think that earned her a "mysterious" or "exotic" title. Drew Barrymore is the "Fire Starter" and JK Rowling, well she has more money than a small country so she's pretty tempting to any man, I'm sure.

But, like I said, this exercise has really opened my eyes. I'm destined to be cute. Any woman in her 30s and looks like a young Jodi Sweetin or a 15 year old boy should just accept that fact and move on with her life. I will never be mysterious, dark, and coy like all of those fabulous ladies in Hitchcock films. No, I'll be the Minnie Mouse of my generation. I will stand up for all those other "cute" women out there. We will have a battle cry. LONG LIVE JODI SWEETIN!

New baby. . . Er. . . Not mine though

Technology these days. Wild stuff. So, my bro and his wife just had a baby Monday night. Apparently she was in labor for like a week (talk about marathon! whew!) and I was able to be up on all the details. For three days, I got this series of text messages on my phone:

Having contractions.
Probaby going to hospital in next hour.
She got a bracelet.
She's asleep and last we heard about 2cm
Dialation 3. Broke water.
She is at 4cm. Has epideral and patosin
6cm dialated
9cm. The fam is going to the hospital
Announcing the arrival of baby girl. Finally!

The next morning, I got two beautiful shots of a newborn baby. Even though it wasn't as cool as being able to hold her (she's 13 hours away from me), it was important to be up on the dialation numbers and know exactly when she got her patosin. I mean, who doesn't want to know when someone gets patosin?

I'll make sure and post it on my blog when I finally get my patosin.

Having to sit still

Well, because I had to sit for eight hours this weekend, I thought I'd doodle. . . And because Halloween seems to be quite the theme right now, I wanted to be part of the cool club and I did this stuff. Um, no. It didn't take me all eight hours to do these, sometimes I just sat still.