I had a request for a custom order on etsy. My new Hummingbird Love ring, but instead of a hummingbird they wanted a cat. I am shocked that I didn't think of this idea before, being the crazy cat lady that I am. 6 cats and counting!
Here is a preliminary drawing of the cat part of the ring done in illustrator.
Here is a photo of some of my cute kitties and the neighborhood stray cat who I call Georgie. Georgie was trying to get into my office via the window, and my cats were protecting their territory! Georgie use to have a family, but they moved (we think) and he is now the neighborhood stray. I feed him, gave him a warm bed on our back porch, and in return he marks our front door. We hope to find him a permanent home where he will be loved!
Here is another version of the cat after feedback from my customer! I love when I get custom orders and the client helps make the designs better. I love getting input on design elements that I would never have thought of!
Have you ever designed something, only to discover that almost the exact design already exists. You had seen it somewhere before, put it in the back of your mind, and forgotten about it. Then you draw it out on paper, start working it into metal, only to discover that it has already been done. DOH!
Long story short I have to get a colonoscopy even though the doc said that he doesn't think there is anything wrong. FUN FUN JOY JOY! I know this is a normal procedure and most people have to do it at least once if not yearly, but I am 33 and it seems a bit premature. Now being put under and having a probe stuck into my colon does not bother me as much as the ritual leading up to this! I have to collect samples of my poop. Yummy! How do I do this? It is too gross for me to even think about! It does involve a sterile bowl that I have to place in my toilet and little containers (pet owners who have had to collect stool samples are familiar with this) that I need to fill up. Each container needs 3 separate samples. And that is not the worst part! The worst part is that the week leading up to the procedure I am only allowed to eat certain foods. I am the world pickiest eater (I am a racist eater, I only eat white food) and limiting my food intake is going to be very difficult and make me super dooper cranky! Then I have to fast for 24 hours. I am however allowed to drink and eat jello as long as whatever I drink of the jello I eat are not red, purple or orange. Lime and Lemon flavored jello = yuck! Not to mention that I also have to take a laxative to (as the nurse put it) clean out my system.
Is it me or is this torture? I have had kidney stones, surgeries, and other procedures done and none have had this type of torturous preparations!
So I needless to say walked out of the doc's office crying, my husband trying not to laugh. It just seems so unnecessary especially when the doc does not think there is anything wrong!!
Because I was so extremely upset hubby took me to the mall after my doc's appointment. I was so upset I couldn't find anything at H&M to buy (someone should take my temperature)!
I did however make a Build A Bear, but it was an owl not a bear. I named him Hoot Hoot. I love Owls! I love them so much!
Stopped off at a dive shop to pick up information on dive classes.
We went to the Disney Store and I got some reusable Alice in Wonderland bags and 2 Vinalnations (if you don't know what these are google them! So much fun! Especially if you are a Disney freak like Peter and myself).
We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (memories of Pasadena and how much I miss having that place on the corner).
We then went to the Museum of Miniatures in Tucson which was too cool! They had an entire section on haunted miniature houses and it made me want to finish the one I started 3 years ago. Maybe I will do that this summer...just add it onto the list of projects I have.
Afterwords we went to Micheal's so I could get supplies for my online painting class which I am enjoying greatly! And we stopped by Barnes and Noble where I purchased a book on Gypsy Rose Lee.
I worked on these two new pieces yesterday and this morning. I am feeling kind of sick (yuck) so I didn't work on my butterfly pieces that I have fluttering around in my head.
These were inspired by a recent trip to DisneyWorld. We went for their Not So Scary Halloween party. It was fun. I love it there. I want to retire and work at WDW as a cast member. Just for the fun of it.
In other news I don't feel good. I think I am getting a cold. Tomorrow is my 33rd Birthday and my husband and I are going to be spending it at the doctor's office. After my doctor's visit we will be going to the Tucson Museum of Miniatures which I am really looking forward too!!!
http://www.theminitimemachine.org/
I love miniatures and have been trying to find time to go to the museum for a very long time! So hopefully that counteracts the yuckiness of having to go to the doctors!!
I have been feeling kind of BLAH lately. I can't get myself into my studio to do anything! I try, but then I can't make it.
I am not overloaded with the normal job or anything like that. I have ideas in my brain. I just can't force myself into my studio to do anything.
Maybe my body is trying to tell me that it is time to relax and not work too hard? Maybe I need to get out of the house and take a walk or sit in the sun (71 degrees here...someone please send us some snow).
I don't know what is going on. Though it would be really appreciated if someone could send me some 'get into your studio' thoughts and nudges!!!
My husband had off of work on Monday so we dropped the puppy off at my parent's house and went to Tucson for the day. We went to the Reid Zoo so that I could sketch some animals (scans will be posted later) and then we went to the Botanical Gardens to see their Butterfly exhibit.
It was nice to get out of the house and to do something together that didn't involve doctors (I won't bore you or gross you out with my health issues). I love butterflies have since I was a teenager. Around October they flock to S. Arizona and when I find dead ones on the ground I keep them. Don't know why, just do.
I think that the butterfly exhibit inspired me to finally do something with those butterfly wings! Mwah ha ha.
I do however have a few commission pieces I must complete, but once they are done I will dive head first into my studio with dead butterflies in hand.
I am so distraught about what occurred in Tucson on Saturday afternoon. I just can't understand why someone would do such a thing. It is so sad and unnecessary.
While taking my bath this evening I started singing Imagine by John Lennon (his death makes me questions why someone would do such a thing).
It is the perfect anthem.
Tomorrow I am going into my studio with IMAGINE on my mind and playing on my iPod.
Change is good. Changing your clothes, makeup, furniture, surroundings, wall color, and hair! I say this because I cut off all my hair. It was a decision I made after a friend posted on her Facebook about how she wanted to cut all her hair off. Memories of my college days came back to me at full speed and I remembered how fun and funky my hair was. I dyed it, spiked it, put little bows in it, and all the while remaining feminine. I think if a girl can pull off a short pixie cut (and it is really all in the attitude) then they can pull off anything! They can also be more feminine then with long hair!
My hair dresser cut it a bit too short, but it is just hair and it will grow! So no worries.
So here are photos of my new hair! My mother compared my new cut to our new fur baby, Tootsie. I made her apologize to me for that! Tootsie is way cuter then me!
I run ghost tours, this is my day (night) job. I moved to Bisbee with the intention of starting a ghost tour in town. Let me back up for a moment so that my 17 readers have an understanding on why I moved here.
I moved from the suburbs of Philadelphia to Los Angeles to go to OTIS College of Art and Design. I graduated with a BFA in Toy Design minor in Fashion. After graduating I got job after job after job of doing graphic design in a cubicle. Looking at a computer all day, and never going outside or in some cases seeing the outside, for a lot of these rooms which the cubes were in did not have windows. When I did get to go outside, it was to sit in my car in LA traffic for up to and sometimes more then an hour!
My last job had lay offs and I was one of the extremely lucky to be let go. A month later my husband was laid off from his job. We packed up our apartment, fur children and we moved to Bisbee. I got a job as a receptionist to make ends meet. On the side I started the Old Bisbee Ghost Tour.
The tour became so popular I was able to quit my receptionist job and work full time on the tours. Making them the best that they can be, and I am sure there is LOTS of room for improvement.
Though as the tours started to grow in popularity, I became the target of harassment in town. Verbally heckled from locals, on blogs, on forums and beyond. I have had rocks thrown at me and my guests, we have been mooned, had Ghost Whore spray painted on the route of the tour, the list goes on and on and on.
Yet the most upsetting let down came to my attention this afternoon.
We have a local radio station called KPRP. I was very happy to be on one of their shows back in October to discuss the the tours my book and the local folklore regarding the ghosts which haunt Bisbee. This show in particular showcased the Bisbee Community, something I believe I am a part of as difficult as that is at times.
This afternoon my husband was on the same show promoting the play he is in, Inherit the Wind. The radio personality realized that my husband was MY husband and began to tell him that she got in trouble for having me on her show. That the radio station thought that I was 'too corporate'. She then told him that she thought it was stupid that they yelled at her and my husband agreed.
(I must wonder if I was a sponsor of KBRP and gave them money earned by my ghost tour business, if such things would have been said)
Now let me get this straight. This town supposedly filled with Free Spirits and Aging Hippies is calling me, a business owner who came here with nothing and made something out of it, an entrepreneur who tells folklore to guests of our town, a girl who during her free time spends every waking moment trying to be creative and find art in the mundane, that girl you are calling corporate?
Why?
I left the corporate world. I use to be in that world, making the packaging that your possessions came in. I left that world because I wanted to be outside, be with people, and be creative. I got out of my box and you should consider doing the same.
The people who say these things about me, the ones who support the mooners, graffiti artists, the hecklers, those who write the local paper to complain about me, those who have never been on my tour, sat down to talk to me, or have no idea what I am like outside of my ghost host costume, you Bisbee-ites are not hippies, not free spirits, not the upstanding pillars of the community. You are the mundane, the bullies, you are what everyone else refers to as the Low Life Locals!
Most of all you are the jealous! You are jealous of me, of my talents, of my ability to make it on my own. I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I do not get assistance from the government, deserved or not. I am not living off of someone else s fortune. I did it myself using my brains and talent, and for some reason that drives you crazy! I feel so sorry for you. I really do. I can't even imagine how sad it must be to be in your shoes.
Everything negative you say about me, print about me, write on the walls about me, write on your forums about me, talk amongst yourselves about me DOES NOT hurt me, it just proves to the rest of town that you are as ugly as you appear.
You are turning this beautiful town filled with lovely art, people, scenery and places into your jealous, ugly, mean world. And this will not be tolerated or accepted.
Everything you do makes me stronger, braver, and gives me more energy to make my life more productive and beautiful.
I hope this is the last time I write about this subject on here because my blog was suppose to be about my art and not the ugliness in the world. Though I hope that it shines some light into my life, and why I am the way I am.
