Doodle 272 - Cyber Puppy

What my cuteness driven mind thinks Cyber might have looked like as a puppy.

Doodle 271- Relaxed

Just a quick one for today

Doodle 270 - Movement

Wow... I am exhausted, but so very happy.

This morning we took off to St Augustine, I received a tip about a Shiba Inu who needed a home and family via SIRF (the Shiba Inu Rescue of Florida).

It has been a dream of mine to own a dog for some time, and a Shiba Inu at that. I didn't want to go through a breeder just yet, because I know there are wonderful pups just waiting for a chance to find a family. 

When I found SIRF I was excited, Kathy, the wonderful lady that puts all her effort on it, truly loves the breed and the individual dogs, so when she pointed "Bob" to me as a possible match we just decided to go on ahead and check him out.

I won't lie, I went ahead and bought a leash and collar Friday, hoping he was the one pup we had been waiting for. Well, he was!

Shibas are not an easy breed, they are stubborn, cunning and demand a very strong alpha in order to follow instruction... in some ways their personality types reminded me of Andrei lol, so we know what we were getting into, but then "Bob" came along.

He has the face of a dog drawn to be on an anime, the sweetest beady eyes and a combo of laid back/energetic disposition that I find perfect for us. Also, he has some training (he sits beautifully, answers when called, walks well on a leash and isn't mouthy at all, also he hasn't barked one single time and he has had plenty of reasons to so far).

All in all, today at least, he has been a dream of a Shiba Inu, we will see how he gets on as he figures us out and vice versa.

The cats? Well they are as miffed as they could be, but they are already slowly starting to deal with the new addition and there hasn't been much drama, overall because "Bob" pays them little to no attention.

So, there it is, we have a new member in the family and he is as cute as could be... also Andrei changed the dog's name from "Bob" to Cyber... don't ask me why, all I know is that Cyber likes it and actually responds, he didn't seem to enjoy "Bob".

Here are a some photos:

And then today's doodles:

Doodle 269 - Bob

Well tomorrow we are off to visit Bob the Shiba Inu.

I have wanted a dog for the longest time and Bob needs a family.

If all works out this is what our new family member will look like:

 

We are excited, Bob comes highly recommended and has been living at a vet's office for a bit under a month after a good Samaritan found him and brought him in.

He really looks like an anime character, so very cute. Plus I adore Shibas so it promises to be a match made in heaven.

Wish us luck! 

Doodle 268 - The Wolverine Poster Crisis

Today, as I did my routine geeky blog browsing I bumped into this story on the Mary Sue blog about how "Movie-loving thieves are stealing a particular The Wolverine poster in droves."

In particular, this one poster:

I didn't draw this! NOT MINE!

I can see why fans would swipe them, it is pretty awesome. The story caught my attention because of two reasons:

1- I am a mild comic book nerd (most of my knowledge comes from Andrei's freakish memory of every comic book he has ever read ... and he has read plenty and movies, hey I am an Otaku, it was either comics or manga, I am not made out of money and I have a thing for dark brooding bishonen).

2- I am a graphic design nerd, so I pay more attention to movie posters than the average bear.

As a seasoned graphic designer who has seen her work on both TV and film screens I can tell you, having people stealing your posters to the point of it becoming a problem is both elating and flattering (ok so it can be annoying too, but the elation totally trumps the annoyance).

I was so impressed by this story I had to come up with my own homage... I had been watching videos of sloths on youtube again and one thing led to another...

There, I fixed it

Doodle 267 - Bed Head

Someone hasn't had time to comb their hair yet...

Doodle 266 - Spring Debutante

I keep trying to finish packing but the boxes keep regenerating! LOL

I'll keep on going though, one day... hopefully before we finally move to a permanent home, I'll be done!

Doodle 265- Scholar

Can you guys believe I'm just 100 doodles away from my goal?!?

Time flies when you are having fun indeed!

Doodle 264 - Suspicious

Just a random doodle

Doodle 263 - Artic Princess

Just a cute little quick doodle for today.

Doodle 262 - Dapper Otter

Just because the giraffe I drew the other day needed a buddy:

Doodle 261 - Misc cuteness

I love cats and Shiba Inus. I really hope we can adopt a puppy soon.

That's pretty much the whole reason for these two lol.

Doodle 260 - He's Dapper, Deal With It

I unpacked most of my sitting room YAY! It is really starting to look like home now, now I need to unearth my dining room table so we can have dinner without having to put my waitress skills to test while trying to keep my food safe from cats lol.

Anyway, here's today doodle, I just had the need to draw him for some reason:

Doodle 259 - Scaredy Cat

Our cats have started hanging out in our enclosed yard a bit. I keep a close eye on them whenever they are out.

There is some construction going on across the street and if they hear something loud they get spooked and ask to be let back in... just to turn around and demand to be let back out seconds later, just like the cats they are.

They are hilarious. 

Doodle 258 - My heart is with Boston

Today many families suffered losses and horrific moments during an event that normally brings people together in celebration.

I don't have words that could lessen their pain, but I wanted them to know, that I am thinking of them, that my heart goes out to them and that I wish there was something more I could do.

If you live in the Boston area, keep safe, hang in there, we are all here with you. If you can donate blood, please do so, a pint can make all the difference between life and death in the next several days for many of the injured.

I know the Boston people will come together and overcome this with flying colors. I have had the fortune of visiting there and it is a lovely city, I have great memories there.

And finally I want to thank everybody that rushed to the aid of the victims, we saw you, and our hearts were filled with hope thanks to your selfless actions. Humans are wonderful, and as a whole I believe in people, because no matter what, when individuals decide to forsake others, cause disasters, harm and chaos, others will always have the courage to do what's right, to keep us all inspired to be better versions of ourselves.

For this and many other reasons, today my heart is with you Boston.

Doodle 257 - The Lobster

Remember how I said I didn't wear any sunscreen yesterday?

This pretty much sums it all up... I put vinegar or my lobsterized bits and feel better already, but I went on a sunscreen shopping spree today and got so much of it people probably thought I had lost my mind... but I don't care, I do not want to be a lobster again!

Doodle 256 - Chalking it up to need of practice

Well, we survived, and we had so much fun! But let me tell you, I was expecting it to be hot, icky and tiring as heck, but like a total maniac... I forgot my sunscreen... and well... we all know that forgetting your sunscreen in Florida is madness, but that's for another post (the one to follow this one).

Anyhow, I had just 2-3 days to prepare for this, I had done large scale art in a very, VERY long time... as in... since college, so my arms weren't ready for it, but I persevered, so I sent Andrei to buy chalk and chalk pastels (it is what you need to really succeed at sidewalk chalk art.

Well, I actually wanted to go art supply shopping myself, but Andrei volunteered, he would be my partner in crime through this and I assumed he knew what chalk pastels were since... well, since I have nearly every single media known to man around the house and he had JUST seen my chalk pastels from a couple of weeks ago when I chalked my hair blue just for kicks.

I was wrong.

He texted me to let me know Walmart didn't have chalk pastels at all, something I found incredibly odd since I knew they carried them and very cheap too.

I told him not to worry and to just get the chalk, I had sent him running my errands knowing full well I should have gone so it was my fault.

Saturday morning arrived, we packed the chalk Andrei had found, water, ice, gatorade and I couldn't find our sunscreen... I then proceeded to forget to pick some up like a dum-dum.

The set up for the festival was great, and Winter Garden is a super cute all-American type of town, their downtown is so pretty and everybody at the festival was incredibly nice. A group of lovely ladies got us situated and our square of 6x6 pavement had been already properly taped down with our names and everything.

They were very organized, so much so, that they even had shade (tents/umbrellas) for us to share and help keep us from overheating... and water, they even had free water. Like I said, these peeps were awesome.

So I forgot my sunscreen... and by the time we parked... I remembered my cushiony foam tiles had been left right inside my front door on my way out... CURSES!!! My knees are still hurting from the kneeling...

Anyway, we kept on going, the weather was nice, super cloudy and ominous:

We got down to chalking... I freehanded the illustration as fast as I could and gave Andrei a general area to work with... the sky. I forget not everybody is an artist from the beginning, so when I asked him to color the first flowers and he asked me for directions as I huffed and puffed trying to make the chalk stick to the pavement I realized I should have made a map just for him so he could go layer by layer... a good thought for next year.

 After a bit of huffing and puffing our piece of art was looking like so:

 

Andrei looked around and saw that a lot of Artist were using pastels. I explained that they were way more smooth and vibrant than your average sidewalk chalk, hence why I had asked him to get a ton at walmart. He then pointed out that walmart did indeed have those pastels, but he was confused by me adding "chalk" to the name... and then we quietly argued about pastels and how I had to say chalk to make sure he didn't get oils and how everybody knew what chalk pastels were (the artists around me agreed).

Of course this convo didn't win us anything, but he decided to go to Joanns and get some pastels now that he knew what they were. This was still pretty early on in the morning. We arrived at 8, but could have been there an hour and a half earlier... and next year we probably will to beat the sun.

But I digress...while he was gone I fixed a couple of things on the chalk rendition that were bugging me, like her eye:

When Andrei came back laden with gifts of chalk pastels I started to really go crazy with the color. By this point the festival was officially open and in full swing, people kept stopping by and complimenting our handy work, which made us feel happy because it is really demanding, overall when you haven't done this in forever or at all!

The hours kept passing, we only knew what time it was from the announcements made over the loudspeaker for raffles and events, before we knew it, it was nearly 4 pm. My arms and legs were killing me, I had been kept hydrated by the awesome festival volunteers, shaded by a large patio umbrella they had provided, but I was at the end of my rope, I needed real rest, food a cubic ton of water and home.

I asked Andrei to help me pack up our stuff and start applying the finishing touches... because my brain was cooked and I was starting to get mighty red... and believe you me I don't burn easy.

Also... I might now remind you, or introduce you to the fact, that Andrei has OCD tendencies... he was way worse when we first were married, but I have managed to help him figure them out... give the man a task to color one area of pavement though, and a task that takes me 5 minutes can take him well over one hour (he likes to get things JUST right, plus he doesn't have training, which makes it harder).

 

I decided not to fight him and let him OCD it a bit with the blue, I went and sat under a tree and drank so much water I felt I could explode... so I was happy.

Finally he was done... or as done as he was going to get without me killing him, so we packed our junk and admired our finished piece:

 

The Winter Garden Art Association let me know they will have professional photos of each of the works online for us to get later, so I am hoping their camera is better than my cellphone. Also since we left early I have no idea if I even placed, I'll try to figure it out and let you guys know lol.

I learned a lot Saturday, had a blast, hung out with my best friend, met a bunch of artists and got to know my community better. It was a beautiful day in an idyllic setting, so even when I was sore beyond comprehension, covered in chalk and toasted to a crisp, I was so very happy, and I can't wait to do it all again next year.

Thanks so much for all your encouragement you guys. A year ago I wouldn't have gone out to a festival like this, much less drawn/colored something this big and in public without having a major panic attack due to anxiety.

This project has been helping me heal, the fact that I moved away and found a new place to call home, somewhere where dear friends are giving me encouragement and so much support, it all is starting to bring that girl I once was back to the forefront, and it feels wonderful.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Doodle 255 - Soon...

OK I finished some quick coloring for tomorrow. I am off to bed early so I can rest and be ready. I'll make sure to take tons of pics and let you guys know how we did. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Doodle 254 - Eeep!

OK last Sunday I spotted an ad on the paper for an event in my side of town, I am eager to get to know my new community, so when I learned they were hosting a sidewalk chalk art competition open to anybody, well I was sooo excited I contacted the person in charge right away.

She let me know then that they had ran out of spots, but that the demand was so high this year, that she was trying to figure out a way to fit more entries in. I happily put in an application, thanked her and let her know I would be delighted to participate if any new spots opened.

Today she e-mailed me and let me know she had a spot for me if I wanted it, and well I jumped in at the chance.

I really hadn't done much work with my initial sketch, so today I quickly went and clumsily cleaned up the sketch, this means I scanned it, enlarged it, printed it, took it over to my light table, made changes, inked it fast, re-scanned it, laid it on a grid, printed it yet again, and then started to lay down some colors.

On the mean time I sent Andrei for chalk after his work was done for the day and we got some foam tiles to sit/kneel on while we work outside. It should be hot and it is only the two of us working on this, our friends are either participating at other events or out of town, but we will persevere.

If you live in the area and stop by Spring Fever in The Garden this Saturday you will probably see us there battling the heat and the pavement, so do say hi and don't worry if we seem to be bickering over something like: laying down the grid, choices of colors or the ever so popular: "That's NOT the red I had picked", we do it all the time and so far no injuries have been reported hehehe.

And now a quick sample of what I did today:

Doodle 253 - Apprentice

 Aaaah my legs feel like they are made out of led... this training, I am starting to feel it, hopefully it will pay off.

Doodle 252 - Progress!

Ah, yes, I managed to get some more cards started today.

Also I am training along with several friends to walk the Tower of Terror 10 Miler in the fall. I have done several Disney races with Andrei and this should be quite a challenge, but with the help of my lovely ladies I am sure we can make it happen.

For now I have been walking a LOT more than I used to, even got to be fitted for new proper walking shoes that have already helped me a bunch.

It is fun to hang around with friends on walks and it is letting me get to know my 'hood better.

Today we did a 2 mile walk and it felt great! I can't wait to be all in shape again, I am excited.

Oh, and YES! They were Sleeping Beauty and Snow White yesterday, yay! You guys got it :)

Doodle 251 - Fairy Tale Trading Cards

I am finally getting to work on my artist trading cards again. I am super late with this batch, but I am trying to get some nice coloring done before I send them out.

Can you tell which princesses are these two?

Doodle 250 - Planning

Sooo I just learned there is a street chalk art competition next week in Winter Garden. I promptly sent an e-mail to the person in charge to see if there were spots still available. She replied they had reached capacity, but that the demand was so big this year, that she was trying to get more space, so to just send her my application and that she would be in touch.

Hopefully I will get to draw, just in case, and since I just heard of this, I started a plan.

It is a rough sketch, but I am trying to figure out the design and not make it too difficult since it will probably be just Andrei and I working on it.

Doodle 249 - Teaspoon Guardian

Just a small guardian that dwells in gardens and looks over plant sprouts over the spring.

Doodle 248 - Dragon Chores

Because someone has to feed them.

Doodle 247 - Serene Highness

I got a bunch of furniture assembled today, right now I'm working my way around to get my studio cleared up so I can unpack all my sketchbooks and find my artist trading cards... I could swear I had packed them well... but the house is such a mess I can't remember where.

I took a little break and colored my hair using non-oil pastels just for fun, I took a quick photo to show the results, it is a very fun and easy way to play with hair coloring, plus it washes right out. 

Doodle 246 - Lady

So I had a massive migraine yesterday and couldn't post this. I am happy to report I feel much better, guess I could only go so long without normal sleep, ha!

Doodle 245 - Unrelated Stuff

Andrei and I are Adventure Time fans ... the show's weirdness resonates with us... maybe because we are also weird.

Anyway, we decided it would be great if PB was Simon's fiancee, just a weird mutated bubble gum/human version that evolved over time.

So I drew Simon as I imagine he would look like if he had managed to control his magic powers and ended up with Princess Bubblegum. 

 

Then I just drew some random stuff... yup.

Doodle 244 - Dapper

 

I worked so hard on today's doodle you guys... it took me nearly 7 whole hours to complete, but I'm so very proud.

Ok so not really, here is the real doodle. (This one just took me 15 mins BTW LOL)