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Obviously

oh my god what is wrong with me?? It hasn’t even been a full month since I built that new website on Adobe Portfolio and I’ve already scrapped it! There was nothing wrong with it, I just had all my stuff spread over too many separate sites. So I just spent the last 3 days reconfiguring my WordPress Elfini blog site to do it all – portfolio, blog and online store. I even relocated the whole installation from a sub-domain to the root directory. Holy hell why do I do these things to myself?! And then this morning when I thought all was well except a few more design tweaks, I found that I couldn’t upload images to WordPress! Oh that is not okay! So, I hit the google. And I tried all the things. Nothing worked. And I tried some more things. And then I totally broke the site. ::very external screaming:: So, knowing my poor blood pressure was going to hit unhealthier levels than normal (I’ll tell you about my blood pressure woes later), I reminded myself that I have backups. Lots and lots of backups (this ain’t my first website rodeo). So, I hopped back into the…

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Madness I Say!

Well, it has been 1 year and 2 days since my last confession. I am finally creating art again and that has led me back to the blog. The path from there to here was not peaceful or intended – it was more off a twisted ankle leads to rolling down a steep and rock-strewn hill and then crash landing in WordPress with multiple contusions and a bad attitude. I started watching some Skillshare classes again last month, and that has reignited my creative mojo – thank the Maker! It feels so good to be creating again after almost a full year of making no art at all. Covid and all that goes with it has definitely done a number on me. So I’ve been making illustrations on my computer in Affinity Designer and Photo because fuck you Adobe and your damn subscriptions! and that has been fun. But then I hit some Affinity snags while making this piece- Affinity Designer has no Offset Path. Why??! And then yesterday I wanted to create a half tone and all hell broke loose! You can’t seem to make a gradient half tone without unwanted artifacts on the edges! The solutions offered in…

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Procrastination Nation

Hell’s bells. I am avoiding something. I think it might be something big. And probably ugly. Yesterday I spent the day playing video games after a long break. Today I am giving my website a complete make-over. I typically clean when I am in avoidance mode, so this is atypical and disturbing behavior. I’m dealing with code for fuck sake! And yes, I am positive there will be more swearing. I think I am supposed to be writing. I started something a couple months ago and then let it fall to the side. It’s going to be another brain-fuck so I’m guessing that is the hesitation to pick it back up. I do not want a repeat of the mental state I found myself in last year at this time. It took me well into the summer to recover. And yes, I’m being a bit vague because I never did talk about any of that on this site. In a nut shell: a research paper on adoption for an english class coupled with the stress of getting Kyle graduated and into college broke my brain. But I think I really need to get this family stuff out of my head and onto paper (can’t…

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A blast from the past on several levels

I opened up WordPress this morning to make a small change to my sidebar and then I was going to be on my merry way. But look! A comment on my last post! I’ll make a quick reply. Done. Happy. Now let’s get outta here and – wait. What is that?! There! At the bottom of my post. Under those silly (but intentional – as in I remember adding that plug-in to my site) “Post to” buttons. Where the hell did those “You might also like…” links come from?? Sure, I’ve seen them on other sites. Might have added them myself to design jobs. But I have never seen them on my site before?? Have they always been there? Was the plug-in added and then somehow in the last week activated without my knowledge?? Elves? Sleep-coding? You never know… there has been a lot of Nyquil consumed this past week. But while I was trying to wrap my head around how this happened (my head hurts and I haven’t had my second cup of coffee so I could very well be hallucinating the whole thing!) – I clicked one of the links. Floor and Water… Doh! A post from January…

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Duh Duh Done!

My semester is over this week. 2 days of critiques and them I am done until fall. Free to focus on painting, volleyball tournaments, and swim lessons! Speaking of painting, I haven’t gotten to do much these past couple weeks as I’ve been  finishing up the  triptychs for class. But I am still in Mindy’s year-long True Free Spirit class, starting a week-long Gelli Print class today with Carla Sonheim, and wish wish wish I could take this class with Mindy and Alena Hennessey. But before I go clicking any more ‘Add to Cart’ buttons, let’s go back to that second sentence up there. Volleyball tournaments. Yes, plural tournaments. In fact there are 3!! June 13-17 has Kyle and I in Anaheim for the SCVA Jr. Boys Classic. Then 2 weeks later we go to Reno for USAV Junior National Championships (also known as the Junior Olympics!) And that is the end of the NCVC club season. But Kyle went and got himself a position on the NCVA High Performance team and is going to Ft Lauderdale at the end of July for the USA Volleyball High Performance Championship. USA Volleyball!  And just so you know what that is all…

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True ‘I’ve been too busy to rebel’ Spirit

So, let’s re-cap. My baby boy is 16. My spring semester has started and it is already kickin’ my ass. More on that later. I currently have art work in 2 group exhibits with a benefit show coming up at the end of the month. 2013 has been pretty exciting eventful exhausting so far. I am taking a quick break between to-do lists to show you my results for the True Free Spirit class’s January project. This post showed you the beginnings of my first piece and a digital painting. Here is the finished 9×12″ piece: Damn. There is a lot going on in th0se mere 108 square inches! I also downloaded a new iPad app, Procreate, and made this: And as much as I said I love the ArtRage app, this one is far more user friendly and has some fun textures. And between the 2, I can RULE THE WORLD!! ahem   //smoothes skirt, sits back down And then I jumped on a chance to donate another “heart” themed piece for the Hearts for the Art Benefit on Feb 26th. Why? Because I have obviously suffered a severe blow to the head. Having already ear-marked the only pieces…

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