Living the Creative Life

Just to be clear, I've only been watching this show for about three seasons, but it's already driving me nuts with it's strange rules that seem to reward randomness instead of actually playing the game. For one thing... why does it seem like every other week is a non-elimination leg? This doesn't seem like a very competitive way to set up a game. Can you imagine any other game giving someone a freebie every other turn? Why do they think that'd be entertaining to watch? I would think as a player, too, that it would make that leg feel like a pointless waste of time because you're not any closer to being the final team than you were a leg ago. What if instead of non-elimination legs, let teams earn a pass that would allow them to not be eliminated if they came in last. There'd only be one pass in the game at any one time, so teams wouldn't be eligible to earn another one until whichever pass was out there had been used. Teams could also choose to spen...

I found a YouTube channel today filled with some great drawing tutorials! This girl uses Copic markers to fill in the color and shadows on some of her drawings, which I've never heard of before but now I really, really want!! Have you used these markers before? Would you recommend them? They look to me a bit like watercolors in marker form. Would that be an accurate description? Here are a couple of my favorite videos from this channel, although she has a bunch more if you have time to browse. :)

Here's a peek at what I've been up to these days... This is a pencil drawing based on a photograph of an composition of cash register tape that we arranged. It's supposed to look like a Christmas-style ribbon, all loopy, and if we shade it right, should demonstrate trompe l'oeil, which is French for "deceive the eye", meaning that the flat drawing should appear like a 3-dimensional thing actually extruding off the page. We've also got lots of reading, note-taking, and comprehension questions this year! It's easy to get behind on this since the actual turn-in projects always seem to take precedence. If I can find the money, I might get a bunch of next term's books to read during my Christmas break to get a little ahead of the game! That would sure save myself a headache as I get more busy with projects next term. (Easier said than done, of course, since I tend to like to relax on my vacations!)

Sorry for being such a bad blogger this Fall! How was everyone's October? Did you remember to set your clocks back this weekend? Have you voted (or do you plan to)? In other news, I re-joined Facebook this weekend. I deleted my personal account two years ago because I was tired of the drama of repeatedly discovering that they had "accidentally" reset everyone's privacy settings to "public" since "you all wanted it that way, right?". I hate that Facebook plays fast and loose with our privacy and never seems to have any accountability for that. But... I kept having people ask me, "You're on Facebook, right?" and I got tired of explaining all that. What's the point of a political stance when you're the only one making it? So despite my reservations about the direction of Mark Zuckerberg's moral compass, I've decided to put that thought aside for the sake of keeping in touch with everyone I've ever met. Oh and...

I keep waiting until I have time to do a proper post... and then I keep not having time to think of something brilliant to say. So my apologies to anyone who has wondered where I've been lately. School has been keeping me BUSY!! It's the 5th week of classes already, can you believe it? I'm going to try really hard to just post little posts every day or two instead of waiting until inspiration hits me. Here's what I've been working on for the last couple weeks (there's acetate over the drawing so unfortunately I have a little ceiling light reflected across the drawing in the photo). Anyway, this is all done in pencil (mostly 4B and 6B soft pencils). It started as a rough sketch, then was scanned in and re-drawn in Illustrator, then printed out and shaded in about 5 times until we knew exactly how we wanted the final piece to look... THEN we transferred it onto illustration board and shaded it very carefully until it looked "realistic" (or as rea...

I haven't had much time to stay caught up on the new Fall shows, but I've tried to watch at least the pilots of the ones that intrigued me. Here's what I thought... Via 666 Park Avenue   2 THUMBS UP Definitely worth watching. Reminds me of a Stephen King novel. A couple takes a job at a hotel where things aren't always what they appear to be. Arrow 1 THUMB UP Pretty interesting so far. Robin Hood meets Batman. Hopefully it won't devolve into just another villan-of-the-week show. Update --> 1 THUMB DOWN Upon further thought, I don't have time for this show. I'm several weeks behind and don't have any motivation to continue it at this time. Which... says something about the stickiness of this show... just saying. Beauty and the Beast UNDECIDED Pretty decent so far. I watched this pilot awhile ago and it isn't sticking in my head, so that's not a good sign. I remember enjoying it though, so we'll see if it continues ...

Hello from Busy Student Land! It's finally the weekend!! ;D I am so happy to have three new sales reps for Desert Rose Knits. Maybe you're next ? If you are an extroverted, marketing type and want to earn some extra cash promoting hand-knit items from the comfort of your armchair... you just might be the perfect candidate for the job! Also, in case you were curious... here's what Oregon is looking like these days. Isn't it wonderful? (No seriously... rain is my favorite weather, for some reason. Don't laugh, I've lived in Oregon 33 years, I can't help it!)