I hate my macbook

James bought me this thing just a few days ago.
I hate it with a passion.

In my attempt to find a basic graphics program that would so the limited editing I need to do with my images, I have managed to lock the thing up several times a day and crash the programs daily. These programs being ones recommended by apple itself.

What I could do with a simple right click with my old computer is now a multihanded project in key combination.

I want to take it back. I have tried to keep quiet about my issues, because James is so sensitive about these things. I finally lost it and let him know what is going on with this stupid machine. I think I hurt his feelings. But I hate it. I Would prefer my dying pc than this horrible contraption.

I have tried, I really really have. But it has brought me to tears a few times and I just don’t LIKE being on the computer anymore, and it used to be my main contact with the outside world. Now this evil white monster is making my life miserable. I would throw it, but the damn thing costs too much money. I wonder if I can get my money back on it.

Back to Pen and Ink

Okay, I have decided that I need to go back to the basics for a bit. I think I might be getting distracted by color a bit. So the last couple of days I have been working on this little fairy cat.

Fairy Cat and Mandala 8×10″ Ink on Bristol Board

This can be found at CafePress and Zazzle and imagekind

Rewiring my brain and Con stuff

My poor computer finally bit the dust. So today I went shopping for a MacBook. It is okay, but it works differently enough that I am having to think more about what I am doing. I can’t just go through the motions. I also am not sure about how to find the scan button on this thing. I do hope that I don’t have to get more software before I can scan again.

And it is smaller than my Alienware laptop. So trying to relearn to type on it is a pain. I prefer a larger keyboard.

Probably in about a year this cute little white computer will feel like an old friend. But right now it just feels weird. And I can’t right click either. I think it is missing my right click that is driving me the most crazy.

And this morning I got up with an urge to go back and do some pen and ink drawings and went and bought some pens and bristol board. But while at the con, I lost half of my mechanical pencil, so I can’t finish the sketch that I was working on. And I am jonesing to ink it. It is one of my mandalas with a fairy cat. Very detailed.

And at the con we had a lot of fun. I got James one of the collaborative works with Brad Foster and Teddy Harvia. And I bought myself a small original of Brad’s. It is an aritst mouse. Chris bought himself a dragon by Theresa Mathers. And the panels were interesting.
My favorite was Bev Hale’s and K Hutson Prices’s readings. I was lucky enough to have gotten to read the story Hutson read, but I must say that the reading was much cooler. When she was done reading everyone was so quiet. She had taken us to another world that made you afraid to make a noise in. I don’t know how she does it with so few words. When I read the story, I felt my heart rate rise. When it was read it was all the more intense. I do hope she does some more stories in this world. Because with her short story she established such an amazing mythology and a complete world.
Bev’s stories were pretty cool too. The Bettys was creepy. I think our next visit to see James’s grandmother at the nursing home is going to have to be on a nice bright day.
I am going to have to start going to more of these readings. They were cool.

Things I learned about Science Fiction Conventions

I am very sore this morning, because I was silly enough to volunteer to help out with setting up the art show at a local science fiction convention. But I did so because, I have never exhibited at one before and there seemed to be a lot underlining assumptions that were not spelled out for a newbie like me, that I needed to learn. And boy was i right.

The first things I learned were about the courtesy of shipping the art.
1.Make it easy for the folks unpacking and hanging your art.

This mean:
a) make the art easy to unpack. No weird packing boxes that are difficult to open, no having the art get stuck to the adhesive of the box, no packing methods that require destroying the box in order to get to the art. No packing material that is “messy”, this means nice sheets of bubblewrap instead of packing peanuts or shredded paper.

b) make hanging the art as easy as possible. Have the proper hangers on everything. Provide a hanging diagram, don’t send more art than can be neatly hung on the panel space you paid for.

c)Bribery will get you far. The sending of candy and small examples of your work in the form of bookmarks and similar to those that are hanging your work gets you prime hanging locations.

d)Annoying the people that are going to be hanging your work gets you relegated to some off the main traffic pattern spot. This means have all your paperwork filled out properly, don’t send rude notes with the art, please have everything labeled properly and that sort of thing.

Google-Cafepress - Stumped

Maybe it is because I am suffering from the flu, but I am having some trouble wrapping my brain around this.
In the last 2 days my hits on Cafepress have tripled. Checking things out, it seems all those hits are coming from search engines - mostly google. I am trying to wrap my brain around WHY. cause if I can figure it out, maybe I can keep doing it.
I am not seeing any new key words that would cause this. Actually no single key word seems to have been used more than 6 times in the last month.

None of the new traffic seems to have come from any of the direct links that I have posted.

So confused.
I think I will take this flu damaged brain back to bed.
BTW turns out Katie’s weird fevers were the flu. she was vaccinated, but we have a nifty new flu going around. I got it. James and Chris are on preventatives. The doctor forgot to call mine in, but I caught the darn thing before I could call and get a prescription for me. This is only the second time in my life that I have had the flu. I don’t like it. But at least Katie is acting like she is perfectly healthy now…..

Banner Design

My 3rd video on youtube. Now that I have the banner painted, I need to get motivated to update all my sites with it. Although do you think it is good enough? Or should I give it another try?

L’Autel Du Chat

16×20″ Acrylic on Canvas

I finally got a good photo of this painting

You can find this image at cafepress.

Katie’s Valentine to You

Since James thought you all would like to see Katie’s Valentine here it is. And if you click on the link it will take you to an image large enough that you can print it up and color it yourself. And of course I would love to see how you all color it.
Katie’s Valentine to You

Happy Valentines Day

Honestly this has always been a weird holiday for me. Even as a kid I protested it in my own weird way. I would dress all in purple each V-day. I am sure my fellow classmates didn’t get the purple hearts reference, now that I look back on it, but it amused me at the time.

I think my favorite valentines outfit was in 7th grade. I wore this bulky purple sweater with tight jeans with big purple roses painted all over them (remember those pants from the 80’s?), and I had these sunglasses that were heart shaped with purple and white stripes on the big plastic frames. But that wasn’t the worst part about those sunglasses. Instead of formed ear pieces, they had chain with more big plastic striped hearts on the end that went over the ears and looked like you were wearing these giant earrings.

So here I sit on Valentine’s Day years later with a wonderful husband and 2 great kids that I love very much. I feel the corporate pressure to do something for them to celebrate the holiday. But in reality I want to do my own little protest, once again one that no one would probably get. I want to run away to a used book store and get some vampire or werewolf story and sit by myself in a coffee shop and read it.

Despite my personal feelings about the holiday, I have encouraged my 6 year old (soon to be 7 year old) to enjoy the holiday. When she requested that I do a drawing for the kids in her class to color for her valentine’s gift I of course gladly obliged her. She stood over me and dictated the design - a dog with short floppy ears carrying a heart with spiral spots. The background was a combination of dots and hearts. We made 23 photocopies of the thing rolled them scroll like and tied them with funky pink yarn. And to top it off, she carried them to school in a cute wicker basket. I also put finger curls in her hair last night, used a bit of the funky yarn to tie her hair back today. I even let her wear a dress and funky tights.

This whole hallmark holiday thing really has me feeling a bit torn…..

Feline Fruit and Flowers

16×20″ Acrylic on Canvas
A cream and brown kitty with an amphora of flowers, a bowl of pears and a dove.

Available at Cafepress and imagekind

I am not sure why the colors on this one came out more subdued than my usual work.