Okay, so this one happened on Friday, but it was funny.



Haha, yes, as usual Jeff is to be blamed for everything. Hey, $2000 is only 200 bars of the finest shea butter soap you can find.

Anyway! I finally got together with queen_lily_rose and poelaramont after a long time of not being able to hang out (hospitals really don't count as hang out places...). ( Blah blah blah )



( Yes, we were all very cute )

I'm also compelled to post this video, although I recommend that you sit down and let go of any hot drinks before viewing it. Oh, RDJ. Oh, Tobey Maguire. Never stop making fun of yourselves, it is the hallmark of great men and women.



*off to work*

Because I desperately needed rest, today, I sat in my studio and did virtually nothing. Well, maybe not nothing. I cleaned, I organized, budgeted... and then stole a fun picture meme from queen_lily_rose (Happy Anniversary sweetie :D And to you as well, Tris :D). Here goes:

( The rules )



( Blah blah re:the answers )

Actually...I didn't do nothing. I started working on my keychain prototypes. Opinions plz?



And now I'm going to draw myself a bath and soak in it. I feel a bit traitorous because I'm not using a bath from El Octane, but I already use everything from El Octane. Give some love to Hugo Natuals. :D



Hmm, vanilla/orange. *melts*

Et bien oui, je sais que la majorité de ma flist ne parle pas français, mais une peinture inspirée par un poème de Charles Baudelaire, ça se fête :D

Presenting The Dancing Serpent, a watercolor painting. Cold pressed Arches paper, 9x12. Inspired by my favorite Charles Baudelaire poem, as well as my favorite flowers, bougainvillea.



Et ton corps se penche et s'allonge
And your body leans and stretches
Comme un fin vaisseau
Like a delicate ship
Qui roule bord sur bord et plonge
Rolling from side to side and dipping
Ses vergues dans l'eau.
Its yards in the water.

Full poem and various translations here.

And before you ask, no, this is not me, this will never be me, unlike one or two other pieces I've done in the past. :D

( Detailed shots )

Prints available very soon on purpletophat.com!

Oh man, this week has been insaaane. I'm manning the store 4 days a week until team member #4 returns from her much deserved vacation, and Wednesday found me working a double shift by myself from opening at 10 am to closing at 9pm, but we got awesome new stuff in and I'm not complaining.

I picked up poelaramont at work on Thursday evening and we went to see queen_lily_rose at the hospital--no worries, it was a scare, but now she's better and most importantly, she's back home and resting. Sweetie, I'm so glad I got to see you in spite of everything. *hugs*

Now:

draw moar of commission<--working on this at last

finish watercolor painting YAY.

order new business cards (must do this)

start making embellished prints for the Fun Fair

check all props for show on Nov 8th

try and start new painting

sleep, as always

In other news, Supernatural continues to be awesome in its fourth season. isako deserves props for introducing me to the show. :)

*crawls in*

Okay. So I currently work 8 days a week and am drawing and painting until my arms start feeling numb. But it's all good! Should have at least one new color piece out soon, but in the meantime, purpletophat.com has been updated with 4 sketch prints (there are nipples go see XD) and I've linked more peeps.
to-do list

draw moar of commission, come on Celine, you can do eeet

finish watercolor painting

order new business cards (exciting, that)

start making embellished prints for the Fun Fair

sleep

Okay. Night, you guys.

sleep

ETA @ 8:15 am: EEEE thank you to keltickalypso for suggesting my site to Chateau Bizarre. Check it ya all! And don't forget to take a look at keltickalypso's new playground, Celtic Jackalope! Lots of cool jewelry there...

Low 90s? Check. Flash torrential rains? Check. Fat palmtrees? Check. Inept drivers? Give it some time, I've only driven to the bank today.

Why, it looks like I'm back in Florida. While it is wonderful and good to be home with the family, I wish there was a way to warp the space time continuum so I could easily shuttle back and forth between California and New Hampshire as well. I guess one can't have everything.

My to-do list so far is a million miles long:

• Talk to soldurios whom I've missed lots.
  
• Unpack and do laundry.


• Inventory at El Octane tomorrow.


• Unpack all artwork and restock.


• Make and ship special print order for Bizzy B (remember that store in Hollywood that wanted to have prints of mine decorating their fitting rooms?).


• Finish coloring "Cocoon".


• Find a way to hang out with queen_lily_rose and poelaramont next week.


• Get up to date on all things internet--respond to emails, messages, friend people on mine LJ and myspace.


• Continue cleaning up studio to make it ship shape for business and such.


• Take sister to see The Dark Knight and use it as an excuse to see it again.


• Start doing yoga again.


• Finish sorting through trip pictures and make a few more photo posts.


• Review and order new commission requests.


• Go visit Inner Wisdom, the Goddess Store and Lipstick Lingerie.


• Go to the beach.


• And throughout all of this, draw new shit. I haz ideas. They might be awesome.

Perhaps I should get started?

...T_T

So I totally failed at the whole sightseeing in New England/going to work on new stuff while inspired by the beauty of the trees by promptly falling into a coma as soon as I made it to doortoriver's house. I guess I was more tired than I thought--at any rate, it looks like I really needed this week, in more ways than one.

I'm at the airport now, leeching free wifi and googling my name, and thinking just how much I'm going to miss Duane and Ruthanne. Guys, thank you so much for having me over. ♥



Taken on a day I was actually awake! isako, these people are totally going to drag you there when you come over. There's warm brie puff pastry with raspberry sauce!

( What, like I wasn't going to take more pictures of that restaurant? )

And it looks like I'm about to board so it's time to log off. Bye bye New Hampshire, see you soon South Beach XD

Bye bye LA....





...hello New Hampshire!

So isako (waah, noo, I should have taken you with meeeheeeee) dropped me off at LAX on Monday morning and, after two stops and a few minor delays, I finally made it to Manchester, New Hampshire. doortoriver and her husband mtnduey picked me up and promptly shuttled me back to their beautiful house.

( Movie! Sleep! Happiness! )

So Wednesday was yet another errand filled day, at the end of which I went around Hollywood blvd and, lo, surprise, took pictures. And got some bizness done.



Okay, so I lied. I also went on the Sunset strip for a bit. Hmm. Movie. Cannot wait.



( Bits and pieces under the cut )

Aaaand.... I has a new customer! This store:



( Bizzy beeeeee. )

Yesterday saw me heading up to the Valley, where I visited my favorite pirate captain.



Yeah, we totally practiced our myspace shots in the backyard while waiting for her beau to come pick us up for lunch. :D

( Let me guess, more pictures! )

Moving forward now. Today and tomorrow are going to be massive insanity.

--This morning: gotta finish packing and reviewing all materials and props for the Art Walk tomorrow and load the car.
--This afternoon: go buy extra lamp at Home Depot and clips at Office depot. Drive up to the Valley yet again to spend the weekend at Kit's house so I can look at her pretty, pretty glass work.
--Tonight: drive not too far back down to Hollywood to ojouchan's place, get dressed, glue sparklies on isako and walk down the street to the Labyrinth of Jareth masquerade.
--Sometime between today and tomorrow: make sure the extra prints Mom fedexed me made it to isako's place.
--Tomorrow at noon: drive to Long Beach.
--Tomorrow 2 pm: set up.
--Tomorrow 4 pm: showtime.
--Sunday: SLEEP.

And with this, my friends, I leave you to start the day. I hope I can see some of you on Saturday. :D *hugs all*

1. Aww. I was rejected by the Dragon*Con art show jury yesterday. I'm bummed, but not heartbroken over it, as I kind of expected this outcome. Competition was probably stiff, and my work could use some maturing. That's okay, I'll try again next year or even later.

2. Lest I forget this gig is actually working, I am currently featured in a hella cool store.

3. My commission slots are also currently FULL O_O. Seriously, I'm booked until the start of 2009. That's all kinds of awesome.

4. Speaking of commissions, my African Queen is finally here! I am so happy with her, and so is, I believe, her commissioner:



( Detail and original sketch under cut )

*runs around being insane*

YOU GUYS THIS IS AWESOME, only I think I don't have enough time in a day.

Okay, so work tomorrow morning, print and card making in the evening (thank the gods I'm done with bookmarks for now), gotta drive down to two stores carrying my work on Friday, art showing party thrown by commissioner on Saturday (oh so fancy), Father's Day and my mom's birthday on Sunday...must rent car for LA in july, figure out the last details of stay, buy mask for masquerade costume, make smaller wings for Shadow Lady, book self for Long Beach street fair and maybe I could try working on a new original piece......... *explodes*

But it's a good kind of explody. I should perhaps consider sleeping now. Right. Night!

OH HAI GUYS, you really need to go watch Ironman now if you haven't already done so. I went to see it yesterday with queen_lily_rose and poelaramont and we all agreed that it's kind of awesome, in every possible way. While I wouldn't go as far as to say that Tony Stark is to Robert Downey Jr what Captain Jack Sparrow is to Johnny Depp, I couldn't help but think it a little. I can at least say that it's a great thing to see, a role fitting an actor or actress to a T.

And because no movie outing is complete without a showdown in the toy section at K-mart, ( ..................you read me right )

To backtrack--last time I posted here, my poor baby bird had been rushed to animal ER with a once again bleeding toe. At 1 am, of course, because that's how these things invariably happen. The ER vet put Moka's whole foot in this huge goofy looking ball bandage that gave pirate parrot a new meaning,



and directed us to an avian specialist to see ASAP. So we went to see our new vet first thing in the morning on Saturday and boy, am I ever so glad we did. She's quite good and knows what she's doing: in ten minutes, she had Moka under general anesthesia, had undone the ball bandage, examined the toe and put two stitches on it.

( Unbearably cute pics under cut and some bird owner angst )

And because of all this craziness, little artwork was done over the weekend. Blah. Will remedy to this now. I'm just bummed to be off schedule this month, but what can I do?

Speaking of art...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO urdsama

Okay, first off, CONGRATULATIONS TO doortoriver for getting her much deserved first request for a partial. It's not like I didn't tell you people she's on a certain path to success or anything.

Aaand CONGRATULATIONS TO isako for being back in the land of automotive functionality!

My life, once again, seems to have been overrun by an army of angry imps conspiring to keep me from updating and being generally social online. Trouble started two weeks ago( Blah blah blah... )

I'm happy to report that commission and artwork are progressing as usual. I've got several pieces in the works, and here's a work-in-progress shot of my current commission:



I'm still figuring out all the base colors, but we're getting somewhere. Sketch of the piece can be found here.

I've come to realize that I must now carry copies of my prints everywhere I go, because people will randomly ask to buy my stuff. Notice that I'm not complaining at all. It's just that you know you need to be ready when restaurant owners notice you drawing at their tables, come up to see what you're doing and then ask you if you've got anything for sale so they can buy it. :P

Thus, if I had any word of advice to dispense to aspiring and/or beginning artists at this point of my journey, it would be this: be ready for anything, even you don't think you're good enough just yet. More often than not, you're the only one who sees flaws everywhere in your work.

And because I've been tagged, here's a meme.

*List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself
*Tag seven people to do the same
*Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it."

( My answers )

doortoriver already tagged half the people I know so...I'll go with queen_lily_rose, krystalemerges, giovanna_adams, ojouchan, poelaramont, lvictoriaart & nowgoesquickly.

I sleepwalked through last week.

Only I know I didn't because I quite clearly remember seeing myself drawing a lot, shipping out an print or two (gods, I have website ORDERS. One day this will feel routine. One daaaay.), responding to new commish requests, driving to the part-time jobbe, cleaning the store, selling things, chatting with customers and going out to dinner with my sister, Rose, Tristan and Christopher.

I cooked too, which is a sure sign that I'm doing really well. I know I've probably spammed this journal with 3 gazillion chocolate soufflé pictures, but it's like charting one's progress over the years. They're almost restaurant grade soufflés now, and that tickles me pink because soufflés are like that one silly thing I've been wanting to get right since I started learning how to cook. Remember, kids, a pinch of cream of tartar is your happy friend:



Ooooh, and I found THE dress. The one I'm going to be wearing at AX. Because this year, I'll be going as...myself. XD I figured it's just about time. And really, any excuse to walk around like this in broad daylight is a good one. And isako, I will hunt down another dress for you. You will look like a goddess in it and all will be good.



Love, I tell you, LOVE of the sweet Versace knock off variety, found in a Brazilian clothing store. All I need now is this top hat. Better believe I'm already saving up for it like whoa.

Things I got in the mail this week:
--A lovely silvery card from tcregan. Thank you!
--Tatieva's smoking hot painting catalog. I love Tatieva's art. And if you're not averse to things like boobs and pinups, chances are you will too. :3

And on we go.

So I'm almost caught up on everything. My health has returned although I'm still being careful. I'm going to update myspace soon and I'm definitely going to tinker with pth.com now that I have *gasp* a lineup of commissions. But first, let's catch up with LJ, read other people's LJs and get used to acting like an all around functional person again. :]

( Meme stoled from Isa )

So I've been completely out of touch lately. I wish I could blame work, but the truth is, the past couple of weeks have been filled with weird health scares. Namely, I thought I was going blind in one eye. My left eye turned really red for a couple of days (all that with weird, cloudy vision...) and I took myself to the doctor. It seems like tiredness, mild infection and possible contacts overuse were at the source of it. I've rarely had contact issues before, mostly because I immediately switched to glasses when I felt it was needed. Unfortunately, my glasses are no longer suited for driving (although they're perfect for staying at home) so money was shelled out to get another pair for driving. Eye is still a bit red and not all that healed yet, but it's slowly getting better. Serves me right for ignoring cues from my body. -_-

Anyway, on a more positive note, I haz merchandise!!!



The tote bag line is still in its experimental stage, however purpletophat.com was recently updated with bookmarks. Aaaand the commission page. Go see!

And now, time for a meme:

Pick 10 people and give them the "you make my day" award. If you're picked, you are charged with picking 10 of your own. (okay, so you don't *have* to...)

( Awards under cut )

I think I may be running out of subject lines that are a variation upon the "I live!" theme. At any rate, I *do* live, and even though the past few weeks have been exhausting and far too busy with things having nothing to do with art for my liking, I'm now getting back on track and looking forward to making one or two new pieces in time for Halloween.

My neck is slowly starting to get better (you never realize how important your spine is until some yahoo hits your car on a highway, I tell you) and it's made work easier. Speaking of bad drivers, yesterday provided me with yet another shining example of why many Florida drivers should be put down for blatant lack of intelligent thought and public endangerment.( RAAAAAH )

I miss all my CA friends like whoa. I think we're doomed to live in different states for an indefinite period of time, but at least visits are helping. My recent LA trip (and yes, I know I still haven't said much about the April one XD) was wonderful and way too short, and I should be posting pictures soon. Here's a small preview, at least:



Long Beach art walk! Tent, lights and many other things provided by the incomparable krystalemerges.



Got my stuff in a new lovely store in Los Angeles (Silver Lake area)! It's called "Cauldron" and it should be of interest to all Witchcraft practitioners and Pagan minded people on my flist (and whoever else lurks around here *pooookes ze lurkers*). If you're ever in California, go see it, if only for the beautiful, neat decor. The purple, of course, is wholly coincidental.

Cauldron
2818 Rowena Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(323) 644-0268



AX with mah sweet, sweet friends isako (I will be posting pictures of her gorgeous Utena costume, yes I will) and doortoriver who took me to see OOtP not once but twice. :3 petkamui and cc_lemon (Happy Belated Birthday, btw, I did remember it ^^;), you were not here long enough! *poooouts*

What else, what else--my parents just celebrated their 30th anniversary last night. Their love is just a little bit awesome. The sis and I gave them romantic DVDs for the occasion. I included the first season set of "Beauty & the Beast" because I just loved that series and I know Mom had a soft spot for it back then.

Aaaand now I'm running to meet Rose whom I haven't seen in months, but I'll leave you with these new-ish companion doodles. Anybody wants to see these in full size technicolor on their walls someday?

( Doodles featuring near nakedness and manflesh! Hey, have to be fair. Have drawn lots of womanflesh so far. )