somethin' stupid.

June was a rather great month and I'm sorry to see it go.

July didn't start off too bad; I bought this red cape from the Brisbane Suitcase Rummage, and I love it.  I wore it on the way home and it was delicious. 

I also won a copy of Jane Webster's French Ties, which was absolutely thrilling, since I'd been eyeing the book up in Collins' but was unwilling to pay the $59 they wanted for it.  It is a beautiful book, though I was a little hum-ho about the way that Ms. Webster writes about her French home.  It is a beautiful château, and Lord knows I would be an arrogant wanker if I ever owned one (Lord knows I would be an arrogant wanker if I ever lived in France full stop), but reading about it is different from living it, and it makes me hum, especially since was meant to be a recipe book, but there you have it.  I still love it, and I'm so pleased I won it.

I went ice-skating, too, the same weekend of the rummage. That was fun, even though most of the time (all of the time) I kept carefully to the wall. And then fell on my big butt, but there you have it, I wouldn't have changed it.  I wish we had the weather to enjoy ice-skating here every winter.

Since the last suitcase market I did, I've been really wanting to do another public gig; there was a "I Made It" Market at a local school (thing), but they were long out of spaces before I'd even heard of it, and what a pity! The smallness is a comfort, I think, but at any rate, I bit the bullet and applied for a space in the suitcase rummage down in Brisbane.

They've been doing these things regularly, and even though it was like, $25 a spot, I wanted to do it.  Though when I went last Sunday to scope it, I felt a bit nervous - most of the crowd (both sellers and shoppers) are trendy, into fashion and cheap vintage clothes.  I do not want to be that odd one out who sits there, bored out of her mind, but at the same time I really want to give it a try.  Since the crowd is generally younger (or would that be older?) than my target audience, I'm thinking I might take alone some of my older girls for sale; do something pretty, whimsical, and just see how that goes.  I have a friend that wants me to paint vampires which I never did because I'm not sure how you can reconcile vampires with nursery art, but I might for this suitcase sale.  Or at least one picture where someone's kissing, I love pictures where people kiss, maybe someone else will love it too.

I'm thinking, take maybe two copies of each print; one large, one small. I'm not sure, I don't want to overestimate, but at the same time, who knows what could happen? I know what my most popular pictures are... we'll see.

The other thing is, I sort of didn't want to do this one only because it's the day after someone very special to me's birthday, and it seems like a drag to have him come along and spend an afternoon in the city, sitting by a suitcase where the poor bloke can't smoke, or swear, or... do anything, hahaha!  But he is sweet, and says he's happy too, so while I'm still a little unhappy about making him do that on his birthday weekend, maybe we can do something to make up for it?  He's a 4x4ing kind of guy, so hopefully we can do that on the Saturday, and on Sunday I'll just pack him a nice lunch of iced tea, sandwiches and chocolate biscuits. :P  Maybe get him a colouring book too, hahahahahahaha. (Get me one as well, by the looks of it. I don't want to sit there with a nasty bored look on my face like I've seen on some vendors!)

It's in August, but I've been working on some new art already. I also need to get some packaging supplies and my bloody I.D., which I have retardedly LOST.  I have about 12 prints already; I'm working on another two now, and want a least two more kid-themed ones.  I have a sketch for a more grown-up one, and hopefully I can crank out that kissing one I want before the end of the month.

There is another project I'm working on, which is making me worry... if I finish it it'll be one hell of an accomplishment for myself, but if not... well.

Lately I've been really slack. I've stopped working out, first because I was away from my machine, then because I got sick, and now it's just... there's no excuse. I've been eating well-ish, but without that sweat on the machine it's useless.  I can't remember my motivation for getting on it in the first place any more. Being fat is not enough, it's gotten too comfortable again.

The flat-screen is broken, too, which is so frustrating. 52" inches, gone. The screen inside is like a spiderweb. It is such a first-world problem, but we'd be scratching to buy a 42" inch, and since dad's retired the TV has been his best friend. I'm wondering if we can get it fixed; I hope we can get it fixed. It was such a beautiful TV.

Blah, July. Prove to me that you're not just gonna kick my ass.

take me to the riot.

I've been painting (again) and not sleeping (again), which means I have dark bags under my eyes (again - but they're so frequent now I don't even notice).

I've had a good weekend. Yesterday, for example, I bought a couple of books - they were on ~special~, and one was the first in a series I promised myself I'd read this year, and the other the book that a movie I want to see was based on (seeing that movie may or may not be because of the lead actor. He is my Ideal Blond Man - the one all other Blond Men are measured against). Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief and I Am Number Four. I finished Percy yesterday - the book is sort of thick, but it's a light read, being written for children.

I couldn't resist it, though. My friend loves the series, and I love Greek Mythology, and, suprisingly, I find it a bit sad. There's a lot of death and infidelity, the kind of topics that are glossed over in book but leave a kind of... wait, what? impression afterwards. At least, for me - I'm the kind of reader that over thinks things, though. Riordan versed up nicely on his legends, though I don't believe it's truly Greek until someone unwittingly marries their mother. Still, I love Percy. He's delightfully jerk-y.

I haven't started I Am Number Four yet, though I did peek in it/flip to the end (that is a habit I have had all my life, and I refuse to apologize for it. How else will I know that I'm going to like the story if I don't know the ending?). I like how it's written - short, precise sentences. "I am walking. I see Jane. We say hello, and I think, her sweater is very red." it's like that, only better and more interesting.

So, apart from the new reading material, yesterday was also amazing because I made my first sales. :) My aunts, the sneaky things - they sent me lovely, encouraging little messages too, I just thought, I'm so grateful it was them first. They're loving, amazing people and overly generous, and I love them.

Where am I going with these drawings? I don't know. Starting the store is enough, really, after years of brushing off "you should do something with your art". It was one of my resolutions; you know, those things everyone makes and then never keeps. I don't think I've ever kept mine.

I just want to do more this year. Which is why I'm signing up for netball tomorrow afternoon. At least, I hope I will be - if I can find the court, hahaha. Shedding one or two or five of these spare tyres I have around my waist would be nice - especially since I have two very pretty, very lovely dresses that I would really like to fit into one day. You know, before the world ends in 2012, due to the zombie apocalypse.

What else, what else? I don't think I'm good with shopping online - I'm such an implusive buyer. And on etsy, there's so many pretty things that I see and think, Oh Lordy, give me the strength not to click checkout. It's things like rosaries, brooches of rabbits with wings, lockets with moonstones in the middle, trinket boxes, paper roses. I just need to stay. away. Besides, at the end of the day, the things I do need - my Australian Citizenship, Netball fees, Copic Markers, a bookcase (oh please, I need that 135x135 ikea bookcase, it would fit PERFECTLY in my room) - I need to save up for.

Plus, I keep a wishlist of all the items I'm certain I really, really want (and it's mainly books, books, books). I'd much rather subtract from it, instead of add.

Materialistic shamelessness over, and back to the art. I printed out the pictures bought yesterday, and cut and tidied them all today.

They're printed on matte paper, so that shinniness you see are the bags I bought for them. :) I'm sending them out tomorrow to their new home, so I thought I'd take the picture for pros-ter-it-y. I can't spell that word, but you know. The one that means "growth" and "good fortune" and so on.

The pictures really do come out in milky colours, like the name. I think I may have to mention that in the listings.

I'm working on another painting, one that I'll probably list in the store. This one is dear to my heart because while all my tiny people have stories and names, I have been living with this girl under my skin for a good half year. One day, when I grow up, I'm going to do something real with her - make a comic, write a book, I don't know. Her world is a collaborative effort with my best friends, so, we'll see.

This is her, though, unfinished. She's been aged down for the picture and the White Meadow theme - here she's still a baby, though when the adventure really starts, she's eighteen.

A print from the store was featured in another treasury - this one was scrumptous.

The Secret Garden - Vintage Victorian Themed Gifts, created by mdcreated. I love collections like these; it's so hard to visualize how a piece might look, and things like this just sort of give me a feel for how that stack of books or that locket might end up looking here at home, if I ever bought them.

I should probably sleep. I've been carefully hunching over my sketchbook, though - I know this drive will stay with me until I get somewhere decent. It always does.