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Below are the 13 most recent journal entries recorded in
Nasubionna's InsaneJournal:
| Wednesday, May 15th, 2013 | |
| 8:07 am | Tunis sheep!  Brought home my new ruminants: three purebred Tunis sheep ewes. Tunis sheep are a rare American heritage breed, and I think they are so beautiful, with their cream-colored fleece and copper hair. Martha is the fluffy one on the left, she was born this January and hasn't been sheared yet. Esther is the ewe on the right, she was sheared a few months ago, which is why she's sleeker. And little Hattie is Esther's lamb, born in April. I am so excited about this new adventure! They travelled nicely in the back of my car with minimal complaints, and unloaded pretty easily and started grazing almost immediately. The goats weren't quite sure what to think at first, but after a few investigatory sniffs, everybody started grazing and more or less ignoring one another. I am glad that B.J. didn't give half a crap about the sheep, because I was a little worried that she might get aggressive with them. I am happy to report that has not been the case so far. Their registration papers are in the mail, and I plan to borrow a ram and reed Esther and Martha in the fall... I don't think Hattie will be big enough, but we'll see. I love watching them just graze in the rain. They are perfect for western WA - when the rain comes, the goats run for the barn and eat hay under cover. The sheep hardly even looked up from grazing when the deluge came. Wool coats can come in handy.  |
| Thursday, November 14th, 2013 | |
| 10:48 am | Goodness gracious. I'm not really sure why I don't really write in my livejournal anymore. It's kind of sad, really, when I look back at the older archives and how I chronicled my life journey over a time that was very meaningful to me, as well as being very painful and difficult, as well as joyful. I know I would benefit from journalling again. I sort of have a "manual" pen and paper journal going, but I'm sooo much faster at typing that I think I would probably do better with the LJ. I wonder what changed over the years where my desire to write here suddenly turned off? I mean, obviously much of the fandoms I used to be involved with on LJ have simmered down or my interest has waned, but I used to mostly journal about my life anyway. Huh. Maybe it's just getting older and struggling more to have enough energy to get through a day, let alone write about it. So, let's see.... I am doing relatively well. I am hopefully going to change my hours at work within the next couple of weeks, to where I will be working during the day (for the first time in many years), and also fewer hours. I HATE working at the hospital with a firey passion, and realize that it is only holding me back. I have 4 ewes and a ram, and 2 does and a buck (soon to have a second buck, because my current buck isn't putting out, LOL... only once before have I seen a buck with such a low libido). I want to move forward with my livestock, and I want to milk the sheep and goats this spring and sell or butcher the boy lambs and kids. I want to start a poultry project, and try to make some money selling eggs and eventually meat. Working during the day will let me get to the pasture to milk them/check on them/feed them at decent hours, instead of at midnight, like is currently the situation. I want to do art more, and try to sell more of that, too. And my most creative time is after dinner, but currently working in the cubicle/office at that time stifles my creativity - on this scehdule, I only manage to draw on my weekends (which are already super busy) or else hope that I catch a manic surge of energy to draw late into the night after work, but then I always suffer for it the next day. So, I am very excited about making the change to working Monday through Friday, from around 9 to 3 or so. This will also enable me to have a social life with humans again, and maybe even try to date. We'll see, LOL... there are so many other things I want to do, first. I am currently taking a stained glass class, because the medium interests me. I've only gone to one so far, but I drew up a pattern of a portrait of Gabby, and am excited to try and make it. My health is still somewhat in the shitter. The doctors have been generally unhelpful, wanting only to put me on heavy immunosuppressants. I would rather exhaust my more benign options first, which includes reducing stress and doing what I believe I was put on earth to do (farm and art). I have been diagnosed with Celiac, so I am currently tackling my inflammation problems from the diet angle, and getting tested for food allergies and once my schedule changes, want to invest more time in eating well and experiementing with exclusion diets to try and find answers. The naturopath has been the most helpful clinician so far. I am feeling a bit better overall, though, since starting the gluten-free diet - my joint pain has reduced significantly, which is wonderful. Still feeling a lot more fatigue than I would like, but part of this is because I dont' sleep well. This is something I hope moving to a daytime schedule will correct. I am in the fortunate position to have family support, so it's time to really take that leap of faith and try and create the life that I want. I've taken crazy leaps of faith in the past to pursue a dream, so I just need to work up the guts to do it again. In the meantime, here is the latest artwork I've done. It's a fan art of secret Psychonaut agents (and my OTP from that game) Milla Vodello and Sasha Nein, from the most excellent game Psychonauts. I drew one Psychonauts fan art a million years ago, and always meant to do more, but that was during my "moving all over the state of California and beyond, working on goat dairies and living out of my Toyota" days, so not much art was completed. I'm replaying the game and rediscovering my love for it, so here we go. I am super, SUPER pleased with this and have been posting it all over the place, from Tumblr to Facebook to Deviantart, haha! :)  |
| Monday, November 18th, 2013 | |
| 10:35 am | Art and life So, I've been on a roll drawing lately, as well as reposting a lot of my old HP art on my Tumblr and website. I'm very eager to get back to drawing at least SOMEWHAT as often as I used to, now that I'm settled for a bit and should be reducing/changing my work hours. Currently on a "Psychonauts" kick, which is like, the best video game ever. I played it ages ago for the first time, but only did one fan art because I was at Heifer and hardly had any time to draw. But now I've replayed it and am all inspired again! I mostly post art on my Tumblr these days, just because it is soooo easy. I also keep my DeviantArt page up to date. I wish there was a handy way to add art updates to the LJ. There probably is ,but I haven't figured it out yet. :B So in the meantime, here is the latest fan art I've done:  Parody of Bottecelli's "Birth of Venus". I don't know why this idea popped into my head, but it was super fun to do. :B I drew quite a few new HP Tarot cards awhile back, and hope to get working on those again soon, too. And now I should really go to bed. |
| Wednesday, December 25th, 2013 | |
| 7:41 am | Holiday Goat  I didnt actually manage to make physical cards this year, but I did manage to draw this. This holiday goat was named Gypsy, a sweet gal who was rescued by the caring souls of New Moon Farm Goat Rescue & Sanctuary, from severe neglect. She had four months of loving kindness and quality care (including this snazzy jacket to keep her warm as she regained weight) before sadly passing away at the beginning of this December. The accumulated damage from her long years of neglect were too much, but she knew kindness and comfort at the end. I loved watching Gypsys updates and progress, and I was so disappointed she didnt make it. Rest in Peace, sweet lady, and happy holidays to all living creatures. |
| Saturday, February 18th, 2012 | |
| 9:29 am | Please give me constructive feedback!!! UPDATE!: This drawing has been scrapped in favor of a newer version, which you can see by CLICKING HERE! OK, so it's fairly infrequently that I post works in progress and beg for suggestions, but I'm doing it now. I desperately want this to be the most awesome Pigs in Space fan art ever, because I am seriously thinking of taking a wild chance and attempting to submit some of my Muppet art to Disney, just because why the heck not? So even if you're not a Muppet fan, even if you have no idea what "Pigs in Space" even is (and if that's the case, I suggest you watch this!, starting 25 seconds in), PLEASE, if you love me at all, please take a moment to offer constructive criticism/feedback/thoughts/suggestions/e   Some closer up/better sketches of the characters:  I might have Link's legs too muscular and Miss Piggy too skinny... not sure yet. I want to make sure I don't, because I love that she's a full-figured female star. The idea is to look like some old retro sci-fi movie poster or comic book cover. I don't know if the characters should be larger, popping out of the frame more, or if the lettering is OK how it is or if it should be smaller and/or more contained. Is the lettering dwarfing the characters? Does it work how it is? Notice any glaring anatomy failures? (like Piggy's boobs... hmmm, not sure about them) Any other glaring (or subtle) failures? I'll probably end up removing the pig head/lightning bolt logo that's currently sketched in the upper right corner, because it seems unnecessary and too cluttered. I kind of want some sort of intergalactic foe for them to be shooting their laser pistols at, but I don't know what, or where in the composition, or how much of the foe to show, or if that will distract too much from our intrepid porcine protagonists. Maybe it's not necessary. The drawing was inspired by this write up by a blogger named Jim Hill describing a totally amazing planned Muppet Disneyworld ride that, alas, never came into being due to Jim Henson's untimely death. The scene describes rat space pirates (pi-rats, get it? LOL!) as the enemy, but that feels too complicated for this picture to me.... or maybe I'm just being a wuss. From the article: "So picture -- on one side of the soundstage -- a full-sized version of the U.S.S. Swinetrek. Link Hogthrob, Dr. Julius Strangepork and Piggy -- all dressed in spacesuits & wearing clear plastic helmets -- stand on the exterior of their spaceship, laser pistols blazing away. On the other side of the soundstage ... Well, picture a space-going Spanish Galleon. Covered with rats who are dressed as -- well -- space pirates. Striped bandanas tied around their heads, cutlasses in their teeth. Also with laser pistols a-blazing. Our theater car goes right through the thick of the battle. With laser blasts flying all over the place, rats swinging on ropes -- just out of reach over our heads -- as the rodents try to board the Swinetrek. It's a wild, wild scene." Reading about what could have been - the merging of Muppets and Disney rides - two of my very favorite things on this green earth - literally makes my chest hurt. I mean, I love "MuppetVision 3D", but this would have been SO GREAT. SO GREAT. Sigh. ANYWAY. PLEASE HELP ME WITH THIS DRAWING. Tell me what sucks and what doesn't! |
| Sunday, February 19th, 2012 | |
| 2:15 pm | Pigs in Space retro poster, take two! After considering the great feedback I received on the previous sketch, and after perusing more of the retro-sci-fi posters that folks were kind enough to link me to, I have radically changed the layout of the previous PIGS IN SPACE retro poster drawing. I think this is WAY more awesome and has MUCH closer to the look and feel I was hoping to achieve, though I have not necessarily committed to everything in this newer version.   Things I notice right off the bat that need work: The boat, obviously - this is a really rough sketch. I dont know how to draw Muppet rats yet and did not consult a reference for this, so the rat looks crappy. But you get the idea. Link is supposed to be pointing his laser pistol towards the viewer, might be hard to tell by this sketch. I dont think I like the way Strangeporks pistol is in perfect profile, I think it should probably also be pointing slightly more towards the viewer, but not straight forward like Links. I want Piggy to have her right hand on Links chest, but Im not sure thats physically possible with the angle her body is at. That hand currently looks really wrong to me, as do both her and Strangeporks elbows. But at least her boobs look better in this version. I forgot to add Links other hand on Piggy, either at her waist or shoulder. Will add that later. As before, any comments/critique would be really, really appreciated! Its 6 AM, good lord, I need to go to bed! |
| Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 | |
| 8:46 am | Anatomy/perspective Working on refining one piece of the poster at a time, starting with the hog heros. Have done some revision on the design of the ray guns, so they look much more retro-kitschy, and changed the angle of Strangepork's ray gun, which I think works much better, though I'm not positive that the "shooting end" of it is large enough. I'm having a hard time, however, with Strangepork's left hand, and I have currently taken it out because it was looking crappy. I kind of don't like not being able to see that hand, though, so I think I'm going to have to just keep trying. Maybe he can have his hand on Link's upper arm, like he's peeking out from behind Link... that way all three of them are hanging onto each other in some form or another, which might be kind of nice. Have altered a bit of Miss Piggy's arm/shoulder, and made her more plump, and put her hand on Link's forearm, though it might be hard to tell that??? I'm also starting to think she might need a bit more torso under her boobs, since it's not really right that her crotch is higher than the much-taller Link's crotch... she'd either have to have super long legs (or his would have to be super short) or be standing on a box (which, I guess could be possible for a photo shoot, but then she'd be WAY too short compared to Link once she stepped off the hypothetical box). Thoughts? Does it even matter?  Again, if you see ANYTHING that seems like it's off or wrong, especially anatomically and perspectively speaking, PLEASE, I would really appreciate the feedback!! Overall I'm really excited with how they look so far, and with how the project is coming along. |
| Friday, March 2nd, 2012 | |
| 12:08 pm | Pigs in Space Poster WIP, color study 1 - ConCrit, please?? First coloring study on the pigs for my epic "Pigs in Space" retro-sci-fi movie poster attempt.  Normally, I use black outlines in my art, but it seems that all of the old movie posters don't have those, they seem to be in more of a painterly-realistic style.... bright colors and contrast, but no uniform black outlining (darn!) So, this project is pushing me out of my comfort zone once again, and I'm trying hard to color this in a non-sucky way without the black outlines I rely so heavily on. Also: I am aware that there are some anatomical mistakes (Piggy's left eye looks weird, for example, and I am not sure about the positioning of Link's hand on her shoulder) but would welcome being informed of anything odd that you notice anyway, just in case they are mistakes that I am not aware of. And, now that it's colored in, I am less and less happy with Piggy's face, and a little less happy with Link's. God, I might end up studying the puppets really hard and redrawing this. UGH. Looking at example posters again, I *think* might need even higher contrast here... or perhaps I just need to be more thoughtful about where the light source is coming from and make heavier shadows and highlights accordingly. Hmmm.... Constructive feedback is SOOOOO WELCOME!!!! Please?? Also: Should I make Dr. Strangepork's uniform blue like Link (as it is portrayed in the show) or should I do like I did with my last Pigs in Space fan art, and make his uniform green to add a bit of variety? This is all Copic marker on Bristol board, with a little bit of pencil, by the way. |
| Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 | |
| 10:15 pm | Poster progress Finally got a chance to work a bit more on the Pigs in Space poster. I think this is basically the end layout, unless anyone notices anything that could be improved (constructive feedback/criticism welcome!!!) I just noticed I forgot to put rats in the crows-nest of the ship. Whoops!   And now for a butt-load of refining and then coloring! Yipes! |
| Sunday, May 27th, 2012 | |
| 7:10 am | Pigs in Space Retro Poster - Finished! Holy moley, I finished it! Sooo, it didn't turn out exactly how I'd planned (when does it ever?) but I'm still pretty pleased with it.    I had originally planned NOT to use black outlines, but when I started pencilling in all the little pi-rats, well, they were just too small to work without the outlining. I suppose if this piece was much, much larger, or maybe in a different medium, I could figure it out. But in the end, I decided "screw it", because otherwise I was just fiddling and experimenting and afraid to actually commit anything to paper. I finally decided that it was better to do the best I could, even if it wasn't *exactly perfect*, rather than just never finish it at all. And since I'm about to move again, I wanted to finish this before the move or else I was afraid I wouldn't touch it again for a long, long time. This was inspired by a Disneyland ride that never happened (alas and woe), featuring a described scene similar to this. This piece is an attempt to mimic the look of retro sci-fi movie posters. I'm reasonably pleased with how close I got, considering it's my first attempt, and despite the black outlines (which give it more of a comic book feel, I think). Rizzo turned out too dark, but I'm pretty happy with the lighting on the pigs' faces. The scanning is questionable - this piece looks better in person. Plus, I had to scan it in 4 pieces and put it back together in Photoshop. This is 100% hand done (including the lettering, which was either totally hand-drawn or else traced by hand from a computer print-out) in Copic marker on 14 x 17 inch smooth bristol board. And now, I must sleep. Gotta call in to see if I have any work tomorrow at 7 AM. Bleargh. |
| Tuesday, July 10th, 2012 | |
| 5:14 am | Drawings already? Holy maracas! Normally it takes me forever and a half to start feeling like drawing again after moving, especially after such a massive cross-state-with-livestock move that I just did. But somehow, today I drew two sketches:   I feel like semi-realistic portraits are NOT a strength of mine, so it would make me VERY HAPPY if you can identify these two gentlemen. Sketches for a planned diptych, which will hopefully become reality. ALSO: Constructive crit is welcome! So tell me: Do you know who these guys are supposed to be? |
| Sunday, August 26th, 2012 | |
| 7:27 am | Jerry Nelson, 1934-2012 I wrote this entry on my Tumblr a few days ago, and decided to repost it here when I got the chance, because Jerry is/was so incredibly cool. I think I had some sort of psychic moment today, I am not even kidding. Even though it is August, I was listening to the soundtrack to Muppet Christmas Carol in the car on the way to work this afternoon, and I specifically was thinking about how awesome Jerry Nelson is, and how he seemed to be heavily featured on almost every song. He was the Ghost of Christmas Present, Jacob Marley, and of course Tiny Tim. I mean, if you listen to the Ghost of Christmas Presents song right next to Tiny Tim singing, you would never in a million years think it was the same dude. His vocal range is incredible. In addition, I was particularly enjoying picking out his voice as various background/minor characters ( Its even worse for mouses ). So I generally spent a good 2 hours today thinking about him and his massive amount of voice-acting, singing and puppeteering talent and how much I love him. I thought about the fan letter and drawing I sent him about 3 months ago, and wondered if hed ever write back. And then I get home tonight after an extremely long day, and think I should go to bed but instead turn on the computer just for a second before going to sleep and low and behold, find out via various Muppet Tumblrs that Jerry passed away today. So, naturally, just a second has turned into an hour of lighting a candle in his honor, scanning a photo out of one of my Muppet books to add to the internet, and making this post, all while listening to him and Louise Gold singing a beautiful song at Jim Hensons funeral. His passing is not a huge surprise, as he was 78 years old and had been having serious health troubles for some time now. But it is still incredibly sad. As Tough Pigs puts it, hes had a hand (or voice) in Muppet/Sesame Street productions in the last 6 decades, his latest voice performance being just this year. Thats incredible. I LOVED that he reprised his classic role of Muppet Announcer for the movie in 2011. Hes just always been there, and always been happy to be involved in Muppety stuff, despite his health setbacks. Its so sad that that wont be the case any longer. Jerry was probably my favorite Muppeteer after Jim Henson himself. I am in awe of his vast vocal abilities, and theres something else about him that I just love. He does so much heavy lifting for very little public recognition. He was generous to fans, kind and responsive and funny, open with his thoughts and memories. I think part of my love for him is that he reminds me of my Dad in many ways, both physically and just something about the way he carries himself in interviews. I love his characters. I love listening to him sing. His talent and the vast amount of good works that he has put into the world cannot be overstated. He was pivotal in my development as a human being, and I will always remember him fondly and with much love. I wish I could have met him and heard that voice in person. I hope that he got my letter in time to read my appreciation, but if he didnt its OK because surely he must know how much the world loved him. Rest in Peace, Jerry Nelson. Thanks for everything. |
| Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 | |
| 8:41 am | Art! So, either my meds are kicking in or spring is springing and the extra sunshine is invigorating me or all of the above, because holy moly, I actually have done a little bit of drawing! First up, a quick little sketchy fan art of the creepy twins from the latest Double Fine video game, The Cave, which I highly enjoyed. Maybe I'll get around to drawing the other 6 characters... we'll see. See it on my DeviantArt page. Secondly, two versions of a sketch of Miss Piggy & Kermit the frog dancing. I referenced a picture of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, but swapped gender roles so that Piggy's leading (it just made sense, lol!) I can't make up my mind between having Kermit holding a top hat or not, so any votes one way or the other are welcome.  Original, without hat....  Added on hat... not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, it kind of nicely balances out the image. But on the other, I obviously haven't figured out the best way to position said hat, and it's kind of fun to have Kermit just clinging onto Piggy, lol... hmmm... I think something is goofy with Kermit's top eye, but I haven't quite figured out how to fix it yet. And obviously Piggy's dress furls at the bottom need a LOT of work. Fabric folds are my nemesis! And with that, I am going to bed now. Yay, drawing! |