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2/17/09
2/18/09
2/18/09
2/19/09
2/20/09
2/20/09
2/21/09
2/21/09
2/21/09
2/21/09
2/22/09 7:56 pm Well, I utterly failed this week in attempting to abstract my drawing. I put up all the faces to take a look. They mostly look the same. Bah. I'm getting nowhere. Why?! I really don't know.
2/22/09
2/14/09 5:22 pm It's Valentine's Day. How appropriate, given our activities this morning. (heart heart heart heart heart) Then I did a long aerobic workout while Steve ran to the store. My 30-Day plan isn't working out too well. I think I need to do more aerobic high-intensity fat burning workouts. Maybe continue the weight training in the evenings. I also think I need a few more carbs. I was trying to cut them out. Yeah - not happening. Especially not this weekend. Yeah. When I go back on carbs, I tend to go overboard. And it is Valentine's weekend. Blah, blah, blah, rationalizations. I know carbs are like a drug sometimes.
2/14/09 [I kinda like this one.]
2/15/09 [Steve likes this one better.]
2/16/09 7:24 pm It's President's Day, so I had the day off. Yay. I spent the whole weekend home. Yesterday I finished Season 3 of Prison Break. Survived all the high blood pressure-causing cliffhangers. Yay. Steve doesn't like the drgs I've been doing. He says I'm still too concerned over details. He says to brainstorm. I said I didn't understand. Am I working on them too long? Yes. So more line, not form? Yes.
2/16/09 More this: Not this: Okay, I actually like this one better.
2/16/09 Hard to give examples on such tiny paper. Maybe I'll scan some of the drgs on sketchbook paper. When I work and rework and rework, it loses something. Bah.
Here they are:
[This one was too big for the scanner, but I didn't feel like messing with the camera - you get the idea.]
2/7/09
2/8/09 1.
2/8/09 2.
2/8/09 3.
2/8/09 4.
2/8/09 5.
2/8/09 6.
2/8/09 7.
2/8/09 8:02 pm I've been feeling blah today. When I get like this, Steve asks me if I'm feeling mayonnaise. A little while ago, he just set the bottle of Pamprin on the stool by the couch, next to my water, so I saw it when I sat down.
2/8/09 Last Wednesday, it was gray and snowy in the morning. On 201, just before Cherry Lane, we saw a Heron. Steve spotted him flying over. Then he landed in the creek in the trees. So I tried to sketch it. Today I had to look at some photos online. I didn't know where to put his legs. Next day I tried to make it more scribbly. The face sketch from 2/4/09 was just something I was thinking about. And then: feeling "meh." I read Carolyn Hax's online chat on Fridays, and that's a word she uses: meh. As in: I'm feeling meh about that. Like: Eh. I totally get that. I used to drive Jami crazy because she'd ask me something, and I really wouldn't care. I'd shrug and make this, "Eh" noise. She hated that! So often I just feel meh.
2/9/09
2/9/09
2/10/09 9:21 am Steve woke up in the middle of the night, after I got up to go down the hall. He was restless and couldn't get back to sleep. I was cuddling with him, and rubbing his back. More of these images.
2/11/09 12:55 pm Garden Quilt: Redwing Blackbirds near pond - focal point. Also - Heron? Heron Landing? Landscape Orientation.
2/12/09 7:44 am On Green train. Okay, this is gruesome, gross, and disgusting. This is the second time this week I have seen the headless bloody body of a mouse at the top of an escalator. EWWWWWW!!!! Seriously, Metro - do we need some exterminating?!?!
2/12/09
2/13/09 8:05 pm Tired.
2/1/09 7:29 pm Wow, my workout this morning KICKED MY ASS. My knees are sore from running in place and jumping jacks. There are a few things I just can't do. I am not coordinated enough to do a squat thrust. From plank position, I can't jump my legs forward. I'm just doing what I can. I was so tired I took a 2 hour nap this afternoon. And I'm going to try getting up at 4:15 am. I need an hour to work out. And time to cool down, etc. All of February! My weight went back up to 200. (Of course it did.)
So, Drawing Update. I'm not really liking the pencil drg on big paper or the charcoal pencil drg on big paper. I like parts of the charcoal drg, but I can't really erase or smudge with the eraser. I'm also still having trouble abstracting it. Trying not to be fussy and correct. Anyway. Last night I got out my sketchbook, which I haven't touched in weeks, and did a drg with the charcoal pencil, and I really like the surface - it's softer than the Stonehenge. Although the SB paper is too cheap to use, I need something with that soft texture - just bigger. But I can practice on it. I'll stick to pencil on the j. pieces. 8:02 pm I kept erasing and reworking today's pencil drg. Much better. Scribbly! vs. corrected and crappy.
2/1/09
2/2/09 8:26 pm We had a little diversion when we got home, so dinner was late - 8:00 pm. And after yesterday's workout, my muscles were sore at 11 pm when Steve came to bed. This morning: OUCH! I worked out this morning, after getting up at 4:30 am! I woke up about 4:00, so I should have just gotten up. I was late. And my hair dryer wouldn't work. I had to leave my hair down, put up a messy ponytail in the car - difficult to do with a coat on - then redo the ponytail at work and fix my hair with mousse. And by "fix," I mean glue down. Wow - my whole shoulder and chest area is SORE. Advil barely helps.
2/2/09
2/3/09 12:51 pm Steve called - he was out and the car wouldn't start. FUCK! He called Saturn and they said it sounded like a bad battery. He got a jump and he's driving home to see how much is open on the credit card. 12:59 pm Steve just called - $165.00 plus tax to chg battery. We have $169.00 open on the card. He's going to also use the $25.00 cash we had for the Star Wars roleplaying book for Craig - he called Mike and asked if we could pay him later. This is just the sort of convoluted credit card financial crap I had hoped to never do again by this point in my life! Crap! We are so on the edge financially. I can just never get away from this, can I? 2:03 pm Steve is home with a brand new battery. We still had the original car battery and it just konked out. Forgot this: Steve called on his way out and said he left the bin from the trunk on the pavement at the strip mall. He set it down to get to the battery, which is in the trunk. He was going to go get it. I told him not to!
2/3/09
2/4/09 10:28 am Heron in snow. Feeling meh.
2/5/09
2/6/09 8:08 pm I am in bed already. Okay, 4:00 am is too early. Steve said I look exhausted. And I didn't get to the shower any earlier. 4:30 am is early enough, and I have to GET UP. Re: Heron - scribbly.
I worked on this pencil drawing in January. I just can't keep myself from the hard lines, the boring correctness of it. Blah!
Then I did the same thing in charcoal pencil. Still can't get away from the hard lines - blah! I just can't let myself really loosen up.
I'd love to draw like Susan Rothenberg, her dark charcoal drawings from the 80s. Like this: http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/works/record.html?record=1867
Or this: http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/works/record.html?record=348
Not like what you see in these two drawings. Ugh!
P.S. I'm drawing on the big paper I ordered from Daniel Smith Art Materials. I still can't get an answer from them as to whether they sent me the wrong paper or whether the manufacturer changed the way they make Stonehenge. I've left a message for the woman allegedly helping me (NOT!). Sometimes D. Smith Customer Service really sucks.
Lamb Burgers, Latkes and Baby Bok Choy. I have no idea when. Sometime over the holidays, I think. Mike and Rebecca gave us a jar of homemade peach preserves (beneath the burgers). Pesto and Blue Cheese on top. That's me sitting on the couch, waiting for Steve to take the picture so I can eat.
Don't they look good?! I got out the camera and these two photos were on it. Forgotten.
I've been SO behind on blogging. And I've decided not to separate the text by j. pieces - will post just as paragraphs.
1/20/09 7:04 pm We have a new President! YEAH! We've been watching it all day. From the warmth and comfort of home. Steve woke me up early as he was running out to get coffee. He said, "DC is already a sardine can." The crowds were amazing. Even some of the correspondents had trouble getting in, having to walk and get past security. People watched the sun rise over the Capitol. I recall waking up at 5:00 am and thinking, "I'm glad I'm all warm and in bed." Then I went back to sleep. It was interesting watching Obama walk out to be announced, before the swearing in. He looked like he was probably giddy, but trying not to show it, but occasionally he'd almost smile. Like: Man, I really did this! Yeah! Aretha Franklin sang, "My Country Tis of Thee." There was a musical performance including Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman, composed for the occasion by John Williams. Now all the star power came back. John Roberts screwed up the swearing in by going too fast for Obama. Was he just being a dick? Obama's speech was amazing. He referred to the crap of the last eight years, with Bush and Cheney right there, but rather obliquely. And he spoke about change involving all of us working together. Great, great speech. I did some blogging/posting today. And we made a terrific beef stew in the crock pot, with ultra-rich rolls. I forgot I was cutting the recipe in half, and added all the 3 Tbsp. butter and two eggs. Were they good. Steve put red wine in the stew - yum.
1/20/09 But we've been watching Inaugural coverage off and on all day. And I may have overslept. It makes me groggy, even though I love it. (Sleeping a lot, I mean.)
1/21/09 8:27 pm Back to work today - Bah. Obama had to retake the Oath of Office. What, are you kidding me?! We got our first picture of him at the desk, on the phone. Like: Wow. Can I get a framed copy of that?
1/21/09 I'm tired.
1/22/09 8:33 pm I'm tired and I'm scribbling.
1/23/09 8:53 pm Still tired. Bah.
1/24/09
1/25/09
1/25/09 Out of 25 charcoal pencils, I accidentally grabbed the ONE Litho crayon. [It doesn't erase or smudge on paper - it's like a grease pencil. I threw it away so that won't happen again. I've had that since Printmaking, 1st semester of grad school!]
1/25/09 Charcoal pencil. Some lines don't erase.
1/25/09 Stick charcoal always too dark.
1/26/09 7:32 pm I haven't been doing a lot of everyday writing because, well, NOTHING has been going on. Go to work, go home. Cook on the weekends. Still working on my drawing. Nothing is going on.
1/26/09
1/27/09 8:21 pm It snowed today. Most of the day. But I rode the bus home. And it's turning to freezing rain now. It's Tuesday, but we didn't go to Mike's. Much to Corey's dismay. Sorry! Don't want to drive off the road!
1/27/09
1/28/09
1/28/09 7:53 pm We had ice, and the Feds called Liberal Leave, so I stayed home. Quiet Day home. Tore down some paper. Put some paint on my big canvas. Didn't do much.
1/29/09
1/30/09 8:22 pm Um, where did January go?
1/31/09 10:01 am We're driving to Harris Teeter and we saw a bird in a tree - Steve thinks it was an owl! 7:16 pm So, I got paid yesterday, and we're already broke. We spent $80.00 at Harris Teeter today. Tomorrow I'm starting my 30-Day Jillian Michaels "Making the Cut" program. Low Carb. Intense workout. I'm hoping the food plan will last longer than what's on the schedule. Usually when we plan meals, the food tends to last longer than we plan it. It better - we're low on funds. I'm tired of this. Really tired of it.
