Memories of rhinos?

Today we have a big retirement party at the library. It hurts losing someone else, but I'm very happy for her. We were supposed to make a memory card for her. Above is the front of mine. I have memories on the back, but wanted to include something for her to remember me by as well... Self-indulgent? I don't know...

I am hoping that this precipitation is going to stay as rain for awhile. The longer it rains, the better. I have not looked at the forecast for today yet. I suppose I should... Yes, I am talking about the weather. I seem to not have much else to talk about today. I'm feeling a bit reserved. Soon, I'll be in transit, I suppose. Ha, a bit of library humor... I must find some humor in libraries, however bad the humor may be.

Oh, it's Monday again...

Monday has an annoying habit of coming around every week. I wish it would be a bit more considerate or that it would take a vacation once in awhile. I feel a bit like this pup today: droopy and not not at all eager to face the world with my tongue hanging out and my tail wagging. At least I didn't have to go see my daily doggy. That gives me a bit more time to just sit before going to work.

So, I have decided that I'm going to play around with my dormant twitter account. I created it before I took my Library 2.0 class over a year ago, but never used it. I thought "hey, why not?" So far it's pretty lonely in there. I am only following NPR, so far. I was always kind of cynical about twitter, but I can see that it could really be an easy and fun way to keep up with people and things.

It is today...

It is today, I see. It was actually well into today when I went to bed, so yesterday is just a distant memory. I can't remember if I did the above drawing yesterday or today as the two days kind of blended together. I don't remember what time it was when I worked on it. I'm tempted to say that it is today's drawing and I think I am correct in assuming that. I did do a drawing yesterday, but I don't think I'll be posting that. It was a portrait that went awry. Anyway, I have been wanting to get back into thinking about my book idea, so I decided to do a sketch of the little rhino in pink galoshes. I haven't drawn her in awhile. As you can see, there is a subtle bit of color, so I will say I am taking baby steps towards doing something in color. Part of me not working in color is sheer laziness. It's so much easier to just pick up a pencil and get started. When I work in color, I need to gather tools and if paint is involved, there is a mess to clean up. Woe is the lazy me...

Today I am going out with two friends. The idea was to go to a museum, but one friend says that she really doesn't want to walk around, so maybe I could talk them both into a movie and then food. I'm game for any of it. I really need to go out and do something.

Oh, it's some rhinos...

So, I've been feeling quite dry creatively lately and it hasn't been doing me any good at all. I'm depressed about work stuff, so I need the creative side of me to keep me from getting too melancholy. So, I decided to re-read Brenda Ueland's If You Want to Write for inspiration. It's not just a book about writing (I know jb has read this book, so she knows about it), but the arts and the creative spirit, in general. I find it quite inspiring and it has been good to read it again. In fact, I'm getting much more out of it than when I read it in my 20's. In an early chapter of the book, she discusses Van Gogh and how he felt, one evening, compelled to draw a picture of the twilight sky and send it to his brother Theo because he wanted to share with him the beauty that he saw in it. She goes on to describe this as a "feeling of love and enthusiasm for something, and in a direct, simple, passionate and true way, you try to show this beauty in things to others, by drawing it." I found this quite lovely and definitely could relate to the idea. Yes, a big part of the reason why I draw is just selfish (because I love it), but I also want to share my interpretation of what I find beautiful with others. Yes, here is my dramatic blog moment of the day. I hope it doesn't make you feel too nauseous;) Above is my afternoon drawing. Nothing too exciting, but at least I did sit down and draw. These guys and the recent elephants are the only bits of work I've done in ages. I'm hoping to do something in color tonight, but maybe that is a bit ambitious for me at the moment. We'll see...

Anyway, back down on earth, I was at Target today and I bought a small bag of Archer Farm's dill pickle flavored cashews. I couldn't help myself--I just had to try them. They really are quite tasty.

Shirley and Jenny

Yes, more elephants, I know, but I read this kids' non-fiction book last night and really had to draw a picture of Shirley and Jenny. The book is about Shirley being transferred from the zoo that she had lived in after her circus days to the 100 acre elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. It sounds like a fantastic place where elephants are allowed to form bonds with one another and have all kinds of space to roam free. When Shirley arrives, all of the elephants are very curious and want to check her out, but Jenny does more than that. Shirley has to be isolated behind bars at first, but Jenny runs up to her and sticks her trunk in between the bars and the two greet each other like two long lost friends. It turns out that they actually did know one another! Jenny was a baby elephant in the circus where Shirley performed and it turns out that she had been a mother figure to her. Well, needless to say, the two are now nearly inseparable. In most of the photos in the book, they are touching each other in some fashion. As you can see above, they are holding trunks (awwww!). Anyway, the book made me feel happy that despite whatever Shirley's life had been like before, she now gets to be with her friend Jenny, I'm assuming, until the end of her days. I'm not a sentimental person for the most part, but I'm a sucker for these animal stories...


Well, it seems like a very beautiful day. I should probably get dressed and go out and enjoy it a bit. I am enjoying sitting here in my pajamas with a fresh air blowing through my window. Mmm, smells like spring... Hope everyone is enjoying their day.

I did this drawing on 11x14 paper rather than my usual 9x12, so it wouldn't fit on my scanner and part of my elephants' legs had to be cut off. Poor little elephants with the stubby legs...

Just a quick "hello"

Just a quick "hello" before I head off to my friend's house to watch the series finale of my favorite show (BSG) on her large HD t.v.. I had planned on doing a drawing today, but again was inert. Maybe later. I plan on visiting blogs when I get home if I'm not too sad about the ending of my show. Anyway, hope everyone is having a good day!

Quickie Ellies...

I just bought a new drawing pen this weekend (couldn't find my old ones), so I thought I would break it in and do a sketch. Love those Michael's coupons! These pens are about 20 dollars and Michael's coupons tend to be for 40% off, so they come in handy for those of us that tend to lose our pens. I filled the pen too full and ended up getting India ink all over my hands. So, now I have black lines outlining my fingernails. Lovely!

I'm dreading going to work, but I thought I would start it with some elephants, so that made me happy. Anyway, it's always good to start the day with something you love, especially when you have to and do something that you hate for the rest of the day. Better get off my butt now. My butt really seems to like my couch. They're very good friends actually.

A hello and a new sketch...

Good evening blog buddies. I'm sorry I've been absent so long. I have been busy running around quite a bit and working quite a bit and when I haven't been doing those things, I have been kind of inert. So, no drawing, no blogging, no anything... I think the situation at work is running over into my life and affecting how I feel when I am away from work. I've always vowed not to let that happen, so I definitely think it's time to start thinking about what I can do about it. Anyway, enough of this depressing stuff...

Hope everyone enjoyed this very nice almost spring day. When I was out earlier, I was actually driving with an open window. Fresh air...mmmm! Unfortunately I have to work tomorrow, but I did enjoy my today. The sketch I am posting was from last week's weekend drawing event. I wasn't overly happy with it, so I didn't even post it there. I don't particularly like drawing babies, so the baby is pretty underdeveloped. Anyway, just wanted to have something to post, whether I like it or not. I started a drawing tonight, but then started feeling like not drawing, so I stopped and came and blogged instead.

Not all pigs want to fly and especially don't want to be praised for flying...

Yes, some pigs may be annoyed and offended when other pigs that are their equals, but think they are their superiors, come by and say: "wow, look at how well these trained pigs fly! If you guys keep this up we will be all caught up on our flying." Some pigs may thrive on that type of praise and flap their wings and flutter and keep flying their little hearts out, seeking to be petted more. Others may scoff and think: "Hey, I am a pig with a Master's degree and I am capable of so much more than flying off clouds, assholes. Don't praise me for doing something that the lowest of low flying pigs can do. I don't want to hear it. Do your job and leave those of that have to scrounge and fly around in our one big, shared, muddy pig pen, alone!"

Quick sketch and drive-by posting...

Well, I'm here at 11:50, so it's actually still today. Tomorrow hasn't started yet. Although, it may be tomorrow by the time this is posted. You will just have to pretend that it is still today as I wanted to post today and I'm doing it now while it is still today, so there...

My head feels about 2 pounds lighter now as I had my hair trimmed today (yes, I know if this gets posted after 12:00, it is actually yesterday, but what of it?) I also went to Trader Joe's, so I can add back some of the poundage that I lost with the hair. Although I did not buy any of those orange chocolates that I like so much. I bought mostly food stuff as opposed to snack stuff. I did finally buy some almond butter that I have been wanting to try. It is good, but it looks just like this apricot exfoliating face scrub that I had way back when.

I went to get my license tabs today and arrived at the Robbinsdale City Hall at 4:40 PM only to find that they had already closed at 4:30. Who in the hell closes at 4:30? I think their reasoning must be this: we better get this place closed before people that are coming from work start to arrive. We wouldn't want to cater to the working folk. I will have to wait until Friday as getting tabs at the Robbinsdale City Hall is a million times less painless than doing so in Brooklyn Center. You usually only have to wait 2 seconds at Robbinsdale as opposed to 450 minutes in Brooklyn Center.

Anyway, just did a quick sketch, so I would have something to post. And by quick I mean quick. Well, it seems to be tomorrow now, but in my heart, it is still today, so I am posting this today.

Edited to add that blogger's time seems to be about 15 minutes slow as it is was actually midnight when I sent my post, so blogger seems to be on my side in wanting to get this post out today.

Same subject, slightly different medium

Yes, here is yet another rhino sketch. This is still done in graphite, but the graphite that I used is water soluble, so that's slightly different. That's all...

In other news, I got to go home from work two hours early tonight. Our plumbing wasn't working and the management decided that the library needed to close. Well, about 5 minutes after we got all the people out of the library, things started working again. I was very disappointed. But, management said we would not re-open and that we could decide what we wanted to do: if we wanted to stay, we could stay. If we wanted to go, we could go. Needless to say, I wanted to go, so I went. And here I am...

One more thing: I'm sleepy.