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All those photographs and you didn't see even ONE of them??? How could that be? Possibly because they never made it from my SD card to my computer. Or MAYbe it's because the vast majority never made it in front of the lens. . . As has happened in the past, the best laid plans were derailed. HOWEVER, this time there was a really good reason.  Just a couple of days after that "Coming Soon" sign went in the yard, we had a signed contract on our home with a shortened closing date. The last two weeks have been a flurry of packing boxes, paper, and tape. Day jobs have ended, goodbyes have been said. We are about to be technically homeless -- at least until we can find something on the other end.
I've collected so many wonderful memories and forever friendships along the way and I am excited for the future. I won't say this is an ending, but a continuation of a grand adventure. I'm glad you're a part of it!!
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I'm really enjoying this challenge! It has "forced" me to pick up my camera again, I hadn't realized how much I had missed it. I look at it every day. Some days it's a glance, a quick check-in to make sure it's still in its spot on my dresser. Other days it's a wistful longing, wishing I could pack a lunch, a spare battery, maybe a few blank SD cards, and just see where my camera leads me. At the end of this year, I'm sure I will have improved my knowledge and hopefully my ability -- a win-win! My plan is to post each Saturday, so here are days three through six.
The gauntlet has been thrown, the challenge accepted! My lovely daughter has asked me (called me out?) to join her in a photography challenge. She has done all the planning and legwork, all I really have to do is follow the prompts, which she found and organized, take a picture each day for 365 days (beginning yesterday), and post the pictures here. That doesn't sound too difficult, but truth be told, I have attempted this on my own a couple of times in the past. I believe this time will be different and I will complete the task at hand. I have never had prompts to follow before and that should really help. Also, I have my favorite creative partner to check in daily and keep me going. You can check out her progress here: https://runcrastinator.blogspot.com/2018/01/365-days-of-photos.html We'd love to have you join the fun!  Day 1: Resolution  Day 2: Warm
What's that old maxim about the best laid plans of mice and men? Or my personal favorite often quoted by my adorable mother (no, seriously, she was adorable), the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I gathered all my materials, had a plan in place, even rendered a rough sketch . . . and then real life (aka a huge assignment from the day job) reared its ugly head. I spent all my waking hours away from work preparing that assignment, which left zero time for Slovember. My plan is to complete the piece, just didn't make it in time. I will share it with you when it is completed. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of my adorable mother (I know, right??). :)  Prompts: Found and Mask WHEW!! Another challenge in the books! In some ways, I found this challenge easier than the last one. Not only because it lasted one mere month as opposed to 100 days, but because it was simply less involved. I think that each challenge had the desired result: I was able to improve my skills. I still need a bunch of practice in both areas, but I do feel less reticent to dive right in and give it a go. Next month is "Slowvember," and as I said before, it's difficult for me to pass up a challenge, so I will be joining in. Since the whole point of it is to slooooooow down and work on one piece for the whole month, I probably won't be posting artwork every day, but I will be letting you in on my progress all through the month. I already know what I'm doing, have a rough idea of the layout, but I'm undecided on the medium as yet. You'll know as soon as I figure it out! Thanks for following along on my first Inktober adventure. I'd love it if you'd join in next year -- or better yet, Slovember starts tomorrow!! :)   Yesterday's Prompt: United Yeah, yeah, I know I'm still a day behind. That just means I'll have to end tomorrow with a flourish! I may revisit this one when I have more time to devote to it, though it's nearly impossible to do these two justice. Their fur was like velvet and their personalities may be out of my grasp, but I couldn't think of a better subject for the prompt. I promised to fill you in on my weekend, so here goes. I attended the SCBWI fall conference and it was pretty amazing. There was an intensive on Friday with Giuseppe Castellano (look him up, you won't be disappointed), which really opened my eyes to new and different ways to approach and improve my artwork. Following that, I had a portfolio critique, again with Mr. Castellano. Absolutely the best! He considered each piece, gave me concrete guidance on how to improve, liked a couple of my pieces, and generally gave me a roadmap on how to reach my artistic goals. Saturday was filled with panel discussions, guest speakers, editors, agents, one of the best keynote speakers ever, and a critique of my picture book. Again, an awesome experience! I've only ever wanted someone to tell me, hey, your writing sucks, stick to your day job OR this has promise, needs work, and this is what you need to do. Well, to say this was the most constructive and helpful critique I've ever had would be an understatement! There were good bits and bits that need some work, but all in all, it didn't suck! So the next step will be to study each critique and implement the suggested improvements. That will involve totally revamping my portfolio, improving some pieces, discarding others and going through my story line by line, pruning and shaping it into the best possible story it can be. Now that I have the roadmap, it should be a pretty enjoyable journey!  Two prompts: Climb and Fall Aaaaaand I'm still behind. In my defense, it was a really busy weekend. So busy that I dashed off a couple of quick drawings to try to catch up. It was awesome and I'll write all about it tomorrow -- I promise. :)
Today's Prompt: Squeak Is there any better squeak than the iconic voices of Mickey and Minnie? In case you're on the fence about that, the answer is NO! Don't even attempt to convince me otherwise. You will not be successful. ;)  Is that even a thing?? It is now!! The Day Job presented me with a large project, which created a tight deadline -- personal, fun projects had to take a backseat. But I'm back and all caught up. I will be sliding into home in just six days. For now, here are Day 22: Trail;,Day 23: Juicy, Day 24: Blind, and Day 25: Ship. November has recently become "Slowvember," which is meant to promote taking one piece, dedicating time, and perfecting that piece throughout the month of November. I'm still mulling over the decision of whether or not to participate, though an idea is already percolating, soooo... :) I suppose you'll have to wait and see what I decide in six days.
Two days, two prompts: Deep and Furious You're getting a twofer today. I didn't post yesterday because, frankly, I just wasn't up to it. For the second time in four weeks, one day shy of four weeks exactly, we lost one of our beloved dogs. The first was on September 23rd. Dallas was no spring chicken and had been showing her age a lot more lately, but that day it was too much to ignore or wish away. She was unable to stand for any length of time and we just couldn't ask her to endure her pain just to ease ours. She was a great and loyal companion and we had to do what was best for her. She deserved the comfort she had always given freely. We were beginning to heal and her sister, Dixie, had settled into being an only dog for the first time in her life. She had stopped looking for Dallas around the house and in the yard. We really thought that, even though they were the same age, Dixie was going to be around for at least a year or two. We thought that if Dixie made it through the heartbreak of losing her constant companion, she would be okay. Then came the unexpected insult of something else we couldn't fix. We arrived home to find that Dixie was having some sort of neurological episode, most probably a stroke. We held onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, it was vertigo since she's had chronic ear issues. Unfortunately, the vet confirmed the worst. No cure. Nothing he could do. So here we are in a house that is much too quiet, no scattered dog food, no puddle around the water dish, no bell being rung to go outside. It's amazing how those little balls of fluff came into our lives so long ago, took up so little space, yet took over our hearts. Those hearts will heal, but for now, they ache. Time will pass, but we'll miss our girls forever. I know they are having a grand time barking at all the other animals in heaven and Dallas will forever rub it in that she was first.   Deep love, deep friendship, deep loyalty, deep loss.  Nothing much scarier than a furious baby. There's just no reasoning with them!
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