Same Piece, inked with brushes this time.  I think I like the blurring a little better

In an effort to learn photoshop: this is a quick (5 minute) sketch I did in painter with no reference model, then transferred to Photoshop for Inking.  I'll try the inking process with several brush settings to see what happens.

Also:  These images are compressed down to Web resolution from about 300 DPI.  I understand a lot of professionals use something closer to 1200 DPI, but I don't know that I have the RAM for that.

Among other things, Felicity was one of the more knowledgeable people about English Classics that she was aware of in her small Southwestern town.  She realized this on a fateful morning having coffee with her friend and fellow literati Sam at a local cafe; she quoted a line John Donne and was met with the blank knowing smile of a man who had no idea what was going on but certainly didn't want to look like an idiot because of it.  He nodded, and spoke agreement the moment he recovered from his drought of knowledge.  Despite his efforts, though, there was little left he could do to conceal the glaze of ignorance that has already seeped over his eyes.

Felicity took in the moment with the calm politeness always associated with her personality.  Her visible reactions were stoic enough that even Sam remained unaware that his hand had been tipped open like a supermarket paperback, revealing a formula that she could see right through.  On the inside, however, her mind began to race like one might expect from a lapsed Calvinist at the rapture.  Despite the fact that she had always been told a day like this would come, actually observing a divine separation of the wheat from the chaff made her instantly regret that she had not worked harder to memorize more T.S. Eliot  in her youth.  And now that she could suddenly count herself among the Elect, it became physically uncomfortable to be sitting with someone who did not understand that separation.  After all, if only to prevent Sam from making a further fool of himself, shouldn't she give him a chance to understand how foolish he sounded?

The lukewarm coffee in her mug seemed to quiver encouragement as Sam bumped the table with an emphatic gesture designed to further cover his ignorance.  Felicity spoke, and Sam never met her gaze again as an equal.  It was only five years into their marriage that she realized this was also the moment when he decided to pointedly forget to reline the garbage can every time he took out the trash.

'Tis true that I have produced little creative this past week.  I blame this on the 80 hour workweek I agreed to.

Bonus good news:  Said week ends Saturday at 5ish.  I smell a BIG HONKIN BOWL OF THANK GOD!

PS.  I am very much happy to be employed.  Just not thrilled about the long-term issues with having no downtime.  This is why I only do this sort of thing to myself on occasion.

Even if they're bad at it.

One thing I never enjoy
is the feeling of reluctant ownership
you get when you know
that someone is no longer there,

even when you know it's about to happen.
Or you know that it's already over
and that you will be left with nothing
but the lingering detritus:

knickknacks not worth the journey,
scraps of dirty, now-useless paper,
the instruction manuals
to objects you never owned,

all just laying there. Some of it
just lying on the floor where abandoned
as if to open puppy eyes and ask you
"Do I belong to you now?"

Stupid, pennyworth games hidden
in shelves or closets where
you won't even look for a month or so.
And always, a single sock

or a shirt from the 5k they did last year.
One time, even, a handwritten note
that states in lying capitals,
"COMING BACK FOR THIS!"

Sorting through the scrap
with steadily growing resentment,
you wonder if they thought of it
as a clean and safe getaway.

I have decided to start keeping a journal again.

After several years of going without, it has become clear to me that my most creatively productive times were also times when I was journaling.  Be it the habit of sitting down to write or simply the plethora of time I had available to myself, I am unclear.  What I do know is that this summer I would like to create a functional portfolio website, begin writing my wedding, and improve my artistic skills in general.  In order to do this, I'm going to need a slate to start from, and an area to display my ideas.  Livejournal, I'm suspecting, will help make that easier.  We'll see.

Unlike some of my previous blogs, I will probably post visuals more often than usual.  This is largely a ploy to get me off my ass and start using the Wacom tablet I paid a ton of money for at the beginning of this year.  I will probably keep many of my posts substantially more private than before, because of my increasing concerns about looking like a fool due to an online presence.  Long-term, we'll see how that goes.

For now, five posts a week, of something.  Public or private, doesn't matter.  That's the goal.  Feel free to watch if you want to, only keep score if you're bored.