TheBrains and TheBoss

Trying once again to blog more often, here I am, on Birthday Month Eve. With two new nagging spirits, or maybe, just TheBrains in Horse Costume. That's right! New spirits! New things! Look a bird. No. A horse. No. Two horses! Because Hey! It's me, the ENFP queen always looking for the Next Thing. And no. I did NOT fill up my sketchbook this summer. But then, I bet you never thought I would, did you?   Here they are, those horsey spirits, before they started whining. Or whinneying. Or whinny-whining.   One thing I always have trouble with is believing in myself as a Real Artist. Or a real anything for that matter. 90% of my education came from books, libraries, experience – not from the university or the art school or the atelier. Even when I did study my first art, music, in the academic prison, I didn’t feel real. Too dyslexic to learn to read music I faked my way into an orchestra. Later on I dug myself into garden expert then slid myself into the job of library directo...

  Ever notice that as soon as you set yourself some kind of goal you immediately start thinking of other things you'd like to do? Well. Maybe if you are not an ENFP ( Look! a bird! 🐦) you don't have this problem. Alas I am . I have this goal of filling up my sketchbook and every time I sit down to do something I freeze. Even though I've confronted  the Curse of the Masterpiece, I haven't developed the armor that deflects it.  Last weekend I decided to just play with the pencil, practicing noses - and face proportions. I still tend to make the space between eye and nose tip too long, giving faces a Mannerist look (long, narrow faces and limbs) It happened again this time, but not to such an extent I couldn't do something with this sketch. I've been slightly obsessed with paper dolls lately and have found that I love using magazine paper to make the doll clothes. I love the shiny paper. I love using photographs to create a fabric look. I really love to cut out p...

  Thanks to Karen Abend and her wonderful Sketchbook Revival 2022 I spent 5+ wonderful weeks this past spring working through 31 free video workshops from a clutch of amazing artists. The program fell at an inconvenient time for me as my house was torn apart for a complete interior paint job and while I fought off 5 weeks of allergy induced bronchitis. Next year I'll know better and block out 2 weeks of sacred time when not even TheGrandchildren will be allowed to interrupt my art days. Well, maybe one day in March – a birthday.  If you want to be part of next year's Sketchbook Revival contact Karen via her website. In fact, it looks like you can watch a tiny video about Sketchbook Revival 2021 here - with a form for getting on her mailing list.  The workshops were so valuable, helping me break a couple of Art Curses. There was the curse of the Precious Notebook . I own dozens of these – both art journals and written word journals, all pristine. They're the ones th...

  Hey Baby! Do you know what today is? Yep Yep  Remember how many years it's been?   Of course - Just like you, I was there Should we re-tell it or just post a link to an old edition of the story? Both! Okay - here goes: It's a Hey Baby Anniversary Here is the post I wrote about October 16 some years ago that explains why this day is so important to me. Even though I'm retired, I still never cook on 10/16. Instead, today my main squeeze and I are going on another ramble.  And today you can read about long ago days if you missed this post the first time around, or the second, or the many other times I've posted this wonderful story. Da Capo Long long ago there was a cheeky teenager, just past her 19th birthday, who was studying music at a big city university. One Friday, as she walked into the orchestra room, the flute player spun around in his chair, looked her straight in the face and asked her if she wanted to drive to North Carolina with him the next day. “Sure” s...

 Who would believe that September is almost over? And what a September it's been! The first week the book was delivered. The next two weeks were spent wrangling with PayPal, my website and my bank while we got on-line purchasing to function. Then there was TheBirthday! Woo woo! and what a birthday present! The website went live that day.  So now, anyone who's interested in learning how to get HerBrains (or HisBrains) to start talking can use PayPal to order the book from here.  That's right - you can purchase from this link!! TheBrains          So, guys. How are you feeling? Exhausted. And proud. But mostly exhausted.  I don't blame you. I think we worked our fingers to the bone.    It sure felt like it. I haven't been able to keep a hold of anything else all this past week and I noticed you forgot half a dozen things we're supposed to have done. Well - when you're tired, I'm tired. In fact - I've even been wondering if we're showi...

 What a week it's been. TheBrains and I have been hustling through the days getting our book ready for publication. You would not believe how many times we've read it, looking for confusing language, typos, misalignments and those weird things that turn up in files that have gone back and forth between different computers. Yesterday we accepted the proof for the actual book and one day soon a box of them will show up at my post office. We are exhausted. Well - yes. We're tired but we still have so much more to do and if only someone would get up offit we'd be able to send out emails to everyone who has said she'd like a copy of the book. There she goes, picking on me again. Look - this is something entirely new and scary and exactly the kind of thing you can do wrong and the next thing you know the computer is hacked and the bank account is emtpied. This is about software and money.  And there aren't any experts who can walk us through the proceess of putting Pa...