Long Time No See and Why the Lack of Art.

Feels like a while, hasn’t it? I do apologize for that, and I’ll try and make it up to you in the weeks to come. Now, not blogging is one thing. But you may have noticed from the lack of art-filled posts that I have not been drawing as regularly as I should be. And I’m sorry for that. But here’s why:

…

Wait for it…

Art Block.

Gah, it gives me shivers just thinking about it.

The one thing that artists dread most… And I’ve caught it. I try every day to draw something and when I look at the challenge list and try to think of something to draw, do you know what I imagine? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It’s quite frustrating, I assure you. But this problem will be remedied in the near future. I promise. And even if I don’t come up with ideas for the book, I’ll scan some old stuff and post it here (Though I’m not to sure you’ll want to see that stuff. It’s all rather… crappy.)

Anywho, I simply wanted to fill ya’ll in and put your worries to rest. (But really, do any of you worry about something like this? Me thinks not.)

Have a lovely day! (And may the odds be eva in your fava~)

-Smelly

(Oh! And if you ever want to find me on another site, here are some places to look:

My Tumblr

My Twitter

and my Formspring (though, who really uses that anymore?)

Song of ze Day: Waiting on Something Good by Joe Purdy

Into The Woods

So tonight I went and saw my school’s production of the musical “Into The Woods”, which was quite spectacular, let me tell you. I had been forewarned that it would be a long musical (almost 3 hours), but it was pretty darn amazing. For those who don’t know what “Into The Woods” is about, it’s generally every fairy tale ever made all rolled up into one with a nice little bow. (If you have Netflix, you should check it out. It’s on there somewhere.) A few of these fairy tales included Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Little Red Riding Hood. Anyway, all of the students acting in the play were phenomenal. Though, that’s not really surprising. The kids in our theater program are amazing as it is. The only problem I really found was that the microphones were a bit faulty, but the school’s microphones have always been pretty crappy. And, goodness, the set was spectacular. You could tell how much time went into it. I couldn’t explain it and do it justice. It was just fantastic. All in all, I feel the play was a success, and I’ll probably be going again next weekend!

Spiders Suck

I hate spiders. I didn’t always hate them, though. Sure, they still freaked me out, but if they left me alone I would do the same with them. But now, they’ve gone too far. Almost every night for the past 2 weeks, I have found a spider in my bed. A big spider. And I know it’s not the same one, because I’ve killed all of them. And then, this morning while I was sitting in bed, there was one crawling on my arm. Crawling on my arm. I cleaned my room until it was spotless, I even moved my bed into the middle of the floor. So from now on, any spider I find in my room has a death wish.

Phobias are weird.

pho·bi·a

Noun: An extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.

Has anyone else realized just how odd phobias are? They’re irrational and ridiculous, but they still effect us in the biggest ways. For example, my close friend has coulrophobia (fear of clowns), arsonphobia (fear of fire), and the fear of elevators (currently not named?) She cannot stand the thought of clowns, for years she couldn’t even be in the same room as a fireplace if there was a fire going, and elevators terrify her to no end. Now, I can somewhat understand the fear of fire and elevators (I get anxious in elevators, myself.) but in reality, what are the chances of dying or getting injured in either scenario? I highly doubt she would die in an elevator accident.

But, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not belittling phobias. I have a phobia of bees (apiphobia.) It’s relatively mild in the sense that I don’t get horribly anxious thinking about them, or seeing them on television or something, but I cannot be anywhere near them. In my life, I have been stung by quite a few, and I’m positive that that is the leading reason for it. But other than the thought of pain, I shouldn’t be so unbelievably terrified by bees, should I? That’s where I find that phobias are weird. They mess with our brains, they make us lose our sense of control, and they can very easily ruin someone’s life if the fear is severe enough.

Anyway, phobias suck.

A list of some common phobias for you guys:

1. Arachnophobia: The fear of spiders.
2. Acrophobia: The fear of heights.
3. Claustrophobia: The fear of being in closed spaces.
4. Astraphobia: The fear of thunder storms.
5. Pteromerhanophobia: The fear of flying.
6. Nyctophobia: The fear of the dark.
7. Trypanophobia: The fear of injections.
8. Agoraphobia: Intense fear and avoidance of situations that may bring on feeling of anxiety or panic.
9. Glossophobi: The fear of public speaking.
10. Kinemortophobia: Fear of zombies or ‘the undead.’

Believe it or not, a friend of mine has Kinemortophobia. (And I know it’s not terribly common, but I thought I’d put it up there.)

 

-Smelly

Song of ze Day: Always Something by Cage The Elephant

P.S. Happy Friday the 13th!

Introducing My Pets

Seeing as I don’t have a drawing for today, I want to draw attention to my lovely pets. Definitely not because my cat was being a camera hog earlier and blocking every single picture I took.

The Kittens

From back to front:

Comet, Figaro(Figgy), and Teddy.

Comet is the grumpy old gal, and Figgy and Teddy are my boys. They’re turning five this year, I believe, but they’ll always be my little kittens. (Especially since they are the most immature cats I’ve ever met. And yes, I understand that I just called two cats immature.) The boys are brothers and we’ve had them since they were three months old. Comet – sheesh, I don’t even know how old she was when we acquired her – is 16, I think. My sister found her as a stray and took her home. We’ve had her ever since.

Here are my boys again, all picture perfect and posing. Figgy is a little attention who- I mean. Ahem. Dramatic. He has the most obnoxiously loud meow you will ever hear (I’m almost positive he has Siamese in him because of it) and he’s such a talker. And on the other hand, Teddy only meow when he wants food, and even then he’s quiet as can be. He also squeaks when you pick him up (it’s the funniest thing.)

Comet was an outdoor cat for the longest time, so she lacks manners. (And she bites. Randomly.) Aside from that, she is the sweetest thing. And she just adores attention. She won’t actively seek it out, but if you start petting her she will not let you stop.

And now for the puppy dogs.

My Lily baby. She’ll be turning four this year, so while she’s pretty much grown up, she’s still acts and looks like a baby. I love her to bits! My parents got her as a complete surprise on Valentine’s day a couple years back. (I was so shocked I actually started to cry, haha.) Unfortunately, she has epilepsy and she has seizures every so often. The first couple times it happened it was terrifying. Thankfully, we have her on some medication so that she doesn’t get them anymore. : ) (Or, at least not as often. She hasn’t had one since going on the meds, so…)

This is Lizzy. She passed away in March of 2011, but I still can’t bring myself to exclude her from this post. She was a German Shepherd mix and the most stubborn dog I’ve ever met. She lived a good 11 years, and I’ll always remember what a 100 pound chicken she was. The baby. ❤

 

So these are my wonderful (and odd) pets.

-Smelly

Song of ze Day: Winter Winds by Mumford and Sons

Angel of Death

22. Death

The “Angel of Death”. I dunno, I kind of like it. However, now that I think about it, I probably should have added some sort of creepy touch. Maybe I’ll go back and add something, just for fun. But, yeah, I chose this depiction of death, because I got to thinking about myths and superstitions and how, in many cases, evil or bad things can be deceiving. Death can be deceiving, no?

 

-Smelly

Song of ze Day: Angels by Withing Temptation

Solitude

20. Solitude

Unfortunately, the picture is a tad blurry, but I’ll switch it out later.

So, I was originally going to do something very different from this (a bit… happier than this), but I like what I ended up with. There are a bunch of anatomical mistakes, but I’m still kinda working on that. Anyway, short post, not much to say, unfortunately.

 

-Smelly

Song of ze Day: Can’t Get It Right Today by Joe Purdy

Of Movies and Things

So, a break from the art. I think we need that, yes? (And that’s totally not an excuse because I’m lazy and forgot to do my drawing for today. Not at all. Ahem. Yeah.)

Anyway, I want to talk about movies. Yes, movies. There are many great movies about to come out, and I’m sure it’s safe to assume that all of you are interested in at least one of those movies. (Hey, I could be wrong. Maybe you hate the very thought of seeing a movie. No judgement.) While I’m not going to list every single movie coming out in 2012, I am going to talk about ones that I’m interested in. Maybe you’ll share the interest?

1) The Avengers

I don’t think anyone understands how long I have been waiting for this. I will admit that when I saw the trailer during the Super Bowl, I kind of squealed like a little girl. (Ok, I am a girl, but that’s beside the point.) And I haven’t been eagerly awaiting this movie just because Robert Downey Jr. is in it. (Though that does have a lot to do with it.) Come on, who doesn’t want to watch a superhero movie with Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, and Christ Evans?

2) Brave

Ah, Disney Pixar at it’s finest. The animation and plot for this movie looks phenomenal. I’m quite surprised that Pixar is doing something so fantasy based. In the past, they have done fantastical movies, but nothing with a real “fairy tale” quality. I definitely think that it’s something many will enjoy.

3) A Monstre à Paris

(This is the English version. I have finally found it!)

(The French Version)

So, this movie came out sometime last year, I believe, but I have yet to find the English version. Even if I can’t find the English version, I would love to see the French one. I found the movie through some artwork of the characters, and I simply fell in love. The fact that it takes place in France, and that the music is gorgeous makes me want to see it even more. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the English version’s release!

4) Rise of the Guardians

All I have to say: Russian Santa. (And Australian Easter Bunny.)

5) Men in Black 3

I’m not really sure what to say here. I know that there are probably many mixed feelings about this movie, but one thing I’m certain of is that I’ll be first in line to see it.

Once upon a midnight dreary

19. Dark

“Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door –
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door –
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,’ I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore –
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!’
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’” -The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe

This is by far my favorite drawing in this book. That may change later on, but I just had so much fun putting in detail for this, and I’m so happy with the final product that it’s hard for it not to be my favorite. I think Edgar Allan Poe is brilliant, and I love “The Raven”. It only fits the theme of “darkness”, does it not?

(And, I am aware that I left the ‘Q’ as an ‘O’. Like an idiot. Oh well, it happens. I’ll go back and change it eventually.)

 

-Smelly

Song of ze Day: Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance

(P.S. Ravens are cool.)

A Sorrowful 8:15

15. Sorrow

In History class, we’re learning about the atomic bomb, and we recently watched a video about the bombing of Hiroshima. Our teacher showed us a picture of a pocket watch that’s time was frozen on the time when the bomb hit – 8:15. That was the inspiration for this.

I probably could have added more clocks, and it may have looked better with color, but I like and am going to leave it the way that it is.

 

-Smelly

Song of ze Day: Angel by Sarah McLachlin