Great Falls; Virginia Side

August 19, Saturday (last week) J.D. and I thought it'd be fun to take a break from being cooped up in our house all the time. I had never gone to Great Falls, and it was close by, so we packed up our camera and a few snacks and we were on our way! yay! I wanted to try and document the day, so I took photos of everything, even silly things like the highway signs we exited onto. Of course I missed the most important one, so I didn't post that part!!! der. We had a lot of! We ended up veering off the path and made our own path through all the rocks! We haven't hiked in awhile and the mid-day sun was out, so by the end of our hike I felt like poop. But I'd do it again, just with more water next time! So tempted to jump into the water and let the current take us away! If you've never been, it's a nice place to go! Lots of picnic and bbq areas.

Crayola Magic Clay Sculptures

Just wanted to share some spur of the moment, I had a second to spare at work to put together a few office friends. My boss brought in a huge HUGE box of these magic clay packages, and I felt like a kid at a candy store... so awesome!!! They're just kinda hangin out in my cube hole. gotta make friends some how... :P

Illustration Friday: Match

aargh... I know I'm not going to have time to do anything detailed, so I'm offering a mere sketch of what I wanted to submit... sowwy...

Even though they had a few differences, they were quite a match for each other. aawww... yay for love!

My other ideas were to have a guy farting on a match which caught his friend on fire... oops.. the other was of a matching dc tourist couple (since I see them all the time... with matching t-shirts... so cute & funny!)

Illustration Friday: Play

It's been awhile since I've played with watercolors. This didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted it too, but I can't expect much when I've only begun experimenting. The subject matter was probably influenced by Mark Ryden mixed with a little bit of Japanese animation. I've been on an animation kick lately, which is sparking all kinds of ideas, and motivations. You can view the original sketch on my sketchbook blog.

Our Backyard!

It's amazing when something I plant actually blooms, and continues to live. I think I love the idea of planting things, and anticipating them growing, being beautiful and providing plenty. The thought of actually caring for them seems to slip my mind when I have other projects or things going on in my life, and so some of the plants I've grown have a short life span!

J.D. and I take pride in the home that we are so lucky to have. A lot of thought goes into the landscape, and I won't even go into the interior yet! We moved in a little over a year ago, so any accomplishment we make is a happy moment!

So here are a few happy moments!

Purdy Dahlias









We watched a hornet (that thing is huge) wrestle a dead cicada. I wonder if it was trying to fly away with it. It eventually gave up and flew off. (and later tried to carry my husband off to its nest!)














And our Pool!














More of a funny/wierd moment than a happy one. In early spring our dryer decided to call it quits, so we were going to put it out with the trash. But before that could happen, J.D. wanted to see the inner workings of a dryer, and tore it apart. When he got to the dryer drum, he thought it'd be cool to use that as a fire pit, and kept it. So the fins came off and hundreds of different sized balls fell out and rolled like marbles every which way across the garage floor. It was the most bizarre thing.














All these years of tumbling clothes, when we could have been in the business of manufacturing lint balls...

Illustration Friday: Capture

Hooray! I'm always excited when I get an illo in before thursday! You may want to click on the image to make it bigger too see all the details... 'specially to see what the baker's up too!
This weeks inspiration came from the ever growing popularity of cute cuddly plushie animal-ie food products I'm seeing everywhere. I don't own one yet, but I can't wait to get my hands on one! mmmm... Yum-Yum Bun!!! btw. My husband thinks I'm nuts, because I can't stop saying that. It's catchie :)

Illustration Friday is a Friend Finder

I used to go to high school with a very talented artist, in fact sat next to her on the bus to and from school for awhile, hung out at lunch sometimes... and as time passed we grew apart. We maybe saw each other once or twice at GMU, passing to get to different classes. I always remembered how in demand she was with classmates to have their caricature done by her.
Well, after all these years, who'd a thunk-it, that IF would bring two long lost friends back together!!! I'm really happy that we're back in touch! Joy!

See some of Michelle Lana's stuff on her blog!

*Silly Monkee Sketch Blog*

Yay! I've been meaning to get this started forever, and I finally had the time to scan, and upload all the pages from my MoleSkine sketchbook. This book now goes everywhere I go. I'm getting braver and am actually opening it up in public to make a few sketches! I'm still a little shy about drawing in public. *grin* I hope you get a chance to look at it, and that you can draw some inspiration or motivation from it!



Check it out! SillyMonkee Sketchblog

Illustration Friday: Clean

Washed out? Cleaned Out?
I felt a little morbid at the time. I also was feeling a little overwhelmed with thoughts in my head, and probably thought about what would happen if I powerwashed my head... probably exactly what happened to this poor guy! berr--aaaaaaiiinnnzzzz...


I first sketched it out in my sketchbook, then copied it onto velum paper, which is great to color, and my scans are cleaner.

Illustration Friday: Opposite

Opposites attract, and that's true with J.D. and I. We share a lot in common, but in general we're definetly opposite of each other. He's an extrovert, who is very outgoing, enjoys being around and talking to people. I on the other hand, am totally content with being alone to work on an art project. I enjoy company from time to time, if I overdose, I go into a veggie like state.. drool... the whole bit.. it's not pretty.
I love J.D.!!! He brings sooo much into our lives.



Didn't think I was going to make it this week with an illustration, but I had last minute inspiration last night, and was able to color it in tonight! YAY! I need to work on making my illo's a little bigger so I can use bigger markers and bring more detail... Not to mention some of the compositioning of objects to each other.. yikes... the more I look the more I want to do this one over. Can I blame the shaky camera?? I'm open to suggestions! oh.. I also drew this on velum, which is really really nice to work on.

What a Saturday!

J.D. and I had a lot of things going on today! Had to drop my car off at the dealer for maintenance. Come home and clean the crap out of our place so our dinner company don't think we live in a heap of dust bunnies... (by the way, I found a third cat we didn't know we had while sweeping the house. yikes.) The car got done in the mid afternoon, so J.D. and I started finishing up around the house, and headed back to the dealership. All went well, and was following J.D. back. We came up on this intersection and noticed a car pulling towards the middle to make a left hand turn. J.D. was a good ways in front of my car, and since we had the green light, we kept going at the same speed, which was around 35-45mph. The car had slowed down, as if to wait, but then proceeded to drive and practically stopped (I'm thinking in fear,) right in our lane, which was the far right lane of two lanes. J.D. laid on the horn, swerved to the left to try and avoid them, but than I heard a crunch sound, at which point, I screamed, and laid on my breaks. I couldn't believe what just happened. I looked at J.D. to see if he was alright; he was already getting out of his car, looked quickly at his front driver side bumper where the turn signal light had popped out, and quickly walked over to the other car and asked if they were alright. They were an older couple. A man who was in the passenger seat, seemed to be shaken up. His door was pretty well damaged, and had a hard time opening it. J.D. helped him get out. After which he walked over to the passenger side of his car to inspect the damage. Not even a minute after the incident, a cop had stopped, and than another... and than 5 others. Apparently they were on their way to the station for a shift change, (stations two seconds down the road.) when they came upon us. The whole exchange of information lasted about 30-45 minutes. The whole time, the lady at fault never once asked my husband if he was ok, or apologized. Which seemed kind of wierd. This is what his car looks like...

Illustration Friday: Sacrifice

I don't normally do patriotic drawings, but this was one of the first things that came to mind when I thought of sacrifice. All the men and women sacrificing their lives for our freedom.

This is super messy, and definitely has more potential of being so much better as far as detail and accuracy goes. But ya'll get the idea! *wink

Here's the original sketch.
Thanks for looking!

Illustration Friday: Sticky and Skyline

I missed last weeks deadline, but had a great sketch, so though I'd incorporate it into this weeks theme.
Last week in Starbucks, I had a sticky situation where a napkin had fallen on this floor, and I had unknowingly stepped on it. Well luckily I noticed this before stepping out into public. I stepped on a piece to try and discreetly unstick it from my shoe with the other one, but it was now stuck to the right shoe. So I repeated the procedure by stepping on the napkin with my other shoe... and it happened again. I felt like I was going to have to do a song and dance, because I could only imagined what I looked like trying to get this thing off my shoe. Finally, I grabbed a clean napkin from the dispensor, and peeled the sticky napkin from both shoes, and threw it away. Looked around quickly and escaped as quickly as I could back to the office. *whimper

Sea Monkies: Week Three & Four

It's amazing how much they grow. And they're still growing. A few have feathery fangs that they use to grab hold of other seamonkies. Either to fight or to give big hugs! They're fascinating to watch, when I've stared at the computer monitor long enough. They've created little dust bunnies everywhere after fluffing through all their mess for food.

Here's a monkey from week three;



And week four;

Illustration Friday: Rain

What a perfect topic of the week. The past weekend through the beginning of the week, we have had nothing but rain and thunderstorms... crazy thunderstorms... So I have two different posts for the amount of rainy days I had this week!

(1) After seeing larger than life rain drops from the 17th floor of my building. I wanted to go on a break so bad at the time, I said that we could make it safe and dry just be dodging them, since they were so big. That was a no-go... (sorry for the graph lines.)


(2) Waiting out the rain, and what better place to seek shelter than under a mushroom!

Illustration Friday: Dance

Stick figuring to the extreme! Wasn't planning on choosing this one, but because I was so desperate to make it on time this week for illustration friday, she came to life! I'm hoping, at a later date to make this more of a watercolor, since the colored pencil I used were watercolor one's! I'll make sure to post it if I do! Yay! I made it before friday!

I did a second figure, which was initially my first choice because of the strong poise, and not-all-there head. I hope I can create a neat story from this one soon! Here's a sketch of a sketch!

Sea Monkies: Week Two

They're growing super fast. You can see their multiple fins, and little tiny black eyeballs on some. So cute... I'm not sure how this little city is going to hold 75+ Sea Monkies, especially if they start reproducing in a few weeks... craziness...

You can kind of see them in the tank, although my camera couldn't focus in on them yet. ggrrr.

Illustration Friday: Jungle

"You're a jungle theme!"- Night at the Roxbury - This was the only phrase that went through my head each time I thought about this week's theme... I didn't have time but to sketch out a lame rendition of the world 'Jungle.'

Illustration Friday: Portrait

Another rough sketch of no one in particular.

Illustration Friday: Devils n' Angels

A little late, but wanted to post this up anyway.
Shows how some want to be percieved as perfect angels, but deep inside the rot, the devil lies.

Anguish Languish

Painfully uncomprehensible to read the first, even the second time. You're reading random words that make no sense being next to each other, not only making your eyes swell, but you can feel your brain become mush... and that's when it clicks!
For mind boggling, head splitting fun, sit back, relax, and read a few stories by Howard L. Chace. You can read my comment on how I finally made sense of it all!

Sea-Monkey In the City!

Today, at 2:22pm, I birthed roughly 75 little sea-monkey hatchlings!!! I just poured in the contents of the packet, and voila!!! Instant sea-monkeys! Actually, not that exciting yet... bunch of white stuff and black things that look like pepper flakes are kind of floating around the water, making it look a little cloudy. Which is normal, according to the instruction booklet. I suppose it teaches patience, and good things come to those who wait! Come on *tap*tap*tap... grow sea-monkies... GROW!
I think they'll like their world! It has tall shiney buildings, an intersection, a park, a fire hydrant, and cars! I thought it would be appropriate to have in my cube, since I do work in a semi-city.



3:32pm: I saw one little white speck floating around! He looked like he was having muscle spasms!! So cute! I see a bunch of them hatching (they double up and start to float!) Here's a photo of the one sea monkey speck... can you see him?!!!

mah Turtle done poo

A friend took a pic from his camera phone.. it's a little blurry, but I had to post it anyway.
I noticed the note when I first walked in my cube, and was confused for awhile, since I didn't know what boo-boo the turtle couldn't have done... well later on in the day, a colleague walks in, and in the middle of our conversation, I notice what the boo-boo was, and just could not control myself from laughing. It's still up on my file cabinet!

Illustration Friday: Cake

Wedding Cake Monkeys

Our wedding cake topper was a little unique, although the idea isn't new. J.D. and I nicknamed each other 'Monkey' which sounds wierd when we call each other from across the grocery store! I decided to use that in part of the wedding details, and created this monkey sculpture of 'us' for the top of our wedding cake. We'll be married four years in July! Yay, we made it!

I had to add a little decor around them, to make it feel more festive. I liked how it turned out!

Cheers!

Not So Good

Bad news came last night around 9:30pm that J.D.'s Grandmother wasn't doing very well, and the Dr.'s didn't know if she was going to make it through the night. J.D. and I decided that it would be a good idea to drive down to see her. We did good on the drive down, only an hour and 45 minutes. We arrived there around 11:45pm.
J.D. and I walked into the room where she was staying. We were silent at first, taking in the sights, and sounds. There were cards and photos along the window sill, that were very heartwarming. The monitors were bleeping, something was creating steam behind her, and she lay there frail looking, and bandaged, yet was peacefully snoring away. Uncle Joe came up after saying goodnight to Roxanne, to give us an update on Grandma's condition, and a brief history.

It sounds like the coronary arteries in her legs had hardened over the years from 25 years of smoking. Although she had quit some time ago, the side-effects still lingered. Now, her poor 88 year-old heart isn't strong enough to pump blood down and through her legs. This is due to blockages, which is also causing these extremely painful sores on her legs, and making her feet purple. Her blood pressure is high, and is being constantly monitored. It sounds like the hospital is doing everything they can to make her as comfortable as possible, all the while doing their routine checks, and tests.

She was asleep for most of our visit, so we couldn't talk with her. Leave it to me to try and give her a soft kiss goodbye on the forehead, only to have my hair fall directly on her eyelid, causing her to wake up in confusion for a few minutes. She was unable to see or hear us, since she didn't have her glasses or her hearing aids. Which I can imagine was more stressful on her than it was for us. We all fear that she's not going to make it through this. I hope she's at peace with herself, and that she doesn't have a doubt that we all love her dearly.

We got back in town this morning around 2:30am and tried to get enough sleep in before getting up at 5:30am. J.D. and I are going to try and drive back down this afternoon, if all's well, so we can see her again, hopefully this time we can see her awake.

It's about 7:30am now, and still haven't heard anything, so no news is good news!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

J.D. and I hosted Mother's Day Brunch at our home this year, and although we passed out after the last guest left, we really had a good time, (at least from my perspective.) Sometimes our family gatherings can be a wee bit hectic.

The menu consisted of Eggs Benedict *yummy, just right asparagus, the most requested potato salad, succulent shrimp, and the sweetest reddest strawberries. The most colorfully paletted menu I've had yet!

Our niece and nephew seemed to have a great time running around outside, and la piece de resistance... watching Scooby-Doo in the 'theatre!' We turned the popcorn machine on, and watched thier faces and their eyes glazed over watching the popcorn pop out of the kettle! So much fun!

I was especially excited to have my brother and his fiance over, since this was the first time they've been to our new home... it's only been a year! It's funny, but him and my Dad are perfectionist when it comes to, well anything... but they immediantely started critiquing, and pointing out flaws, and asked at one point if he's ever considerred being a professional home inspector, because he'd be great at it... just not at my house!! I don't take it to heart, because I know that's their thing, and I know the flaws that are there, we just haven't gotten around to taking care of it yet.. so just pretend it looks good.. smile... nod... anything positive... show me some love, for goodness sakes... ok.. I'm done venting... I didn't let it ruin my day, even though this vent session kind of goes on like that!

Overall it was a fun, meaningful day, that I hope everyone enjoyed to some extent.

Ronda's Graduation

Saturday, May 13th. A friend that I went to grade school with at TASOK, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Kinshasa, Zaire, graduated from the University of Maryland University College, UMUC, with a Masters in Public Relations. Between that time and now, we had kept in touch here and there, but we're living and working so close now, it makes it easier to keep in touch. I'm so proud of her and her accomplishments! I also saw her younger sister, Lynette, who was in the same grade as my brother, she has grown to be a beautiful woman. It's funny though, that the interaction between Lynette and Ronda hasn't changed a bit over time. I was so pleased and excited to see her Mom and Dad again, who didn't recognize me at all, I think they were expecting a smaller version of me! ! It was so much fun meeting her friends, and seeing her family.

Random Poem Generator

Mendel Quoth:
The pink peaches were rotten with delight
it sounds like a crowd but nothing seems magic
how deathly afraid was I of the nightlight
my circuits are overloaded, but I'll try to do better next time


I fed it the first line and it generated the next three, randomly. I wonder how it knew I was deathly afraid of nightlights... peculiar? no?!
Check it out!

Illustration Friday: Under the Sea

Illustration Friday: Under the Sea

Tommy tries to escape the surrounding desert on the weekends. Because of the heat and his love for the sea, he likes to pretend he's the king of the sea ... i've temporarily forgot his name.. der.

What Season Am I?

You Are Fall!

Thoughtful Expressive Creative Poetic Smart

What Season Are You?

Little diversion to my day! It's interesting to see how some code will predict your personality traits!

Illustration Friday - Robot

Wasn't completely satisfied with the composition of this one, so I played around a little more with the background. Still something missing, but it's not as busy as the previous one.


Bot thought he'd get through the night babysitting his next door neighbor's little girl, Liza. Little did he know that after numerous screaming tantrums, and persistant tackles to the lower region, he would admit defeat, and let Liza have her way. Poor little Bunny-Bot. *sigh
--------------------------
For some reason I had the hardest time with the composition of this one. I'm wondering if the window is causing a contrast problem. I was going to play around with the shape of the background, maybe make it round to bring this together. argh.

Illustration Friday: Spotted

This was done a few years ago, but thought it was appropriate for this weeks topic! I'm not really sure how to categorize him, since he almost has a folky type art about him, but than it's also an abstract, hhhmmm.

Here's the full view of the entire piece. Still needs some work and perfecting, but he's cool, I think I'll keep 'im.

Happy Easter!

I had to try this out. An IlloFriday participant,Erin Pryor Gill had a cool tutorial for how to make these eggs. Mine didn't turn out as spectacular as hers, but it was a lot of fun to do as it's been since I was a wee little tott that I've decorated eggs. I made a whole bunch of them, but didn't have a chance to take photos; these were the only two left!

Illustration Friday: Speed

I love horses; they were actually one of the first things I obsessively drew as a kid, besides fantasizing about being a fashion designer, as most girls probably do in their tweens! It's been awhile since I've drawn a horse, and it's probably obvious! I had fun though!

A funny horse story. This past summer, someone on craigslist was giving away, for free, a huge 6-800 lb xiang (sp?) dynasty clay soldier horse.. FOR FREE!!! So I called the lady, called my friends, desperatly trying to find body's and a truck big enough for this thing... Sadly, I had to give up. I figured it would be easier to get a real live horse into our backyard than to try and lift this thing. That would have been awesome though.. *sigh*

Afro Hope

Sidetrack from a major brainstorm about creating a positive ad campaign.... didn't realize how difficult it was, especially with the subject matter I have to create it for... argh... I've got a few good ideas... what a challenge.

Afro man started out as a pair of eyes and a brow. I wondered what it would look like if I created his face out of shapes, and this is what happened! The Hope poster, was created after Afro man, as the continuation of my brainstorming!

The Rude Easter Bunny

So J.D. and I went to Kmart yesterday to get some garden equipment. We walked in and noticed that they had an easter bunny to entertain the kids. We giggled and continued to walk into the store. We heard an employee say something jokingly to the Easter Bunny... at which we heard a very loud "SHUUT UUUPP!!!!" We were laughing so hard to find that it was the easter bunny that had said that...

Illustration Friday: Spring

I don't have anything to really say, 'cept, yay it's starting to warm up! Kind of. Mother Nature keeps teasing us, and it's driving me crazy... make up your mind... (i'm not angry I swear!!) Here's my little guy for Spring. I wish I could put more time into him, since I'm not entirely satisfied with the colors. I feel like something's missing... Perhaps you could help me out by offering a different perspective!?

Thanks for looking!