We got back from the con 2 nights ago, but I took a day to just relax and decompress... And today I'm pretty much back to work. I'll begin painting after I finish writing a quick journal about the convention =)

It was an excellent con. I'm happy with table sales, and art show sales. I didn't sell everything in the art show, but I set my min. bid prices at what I would be happy to sell them at if only one bid is made... I came home with seven of the 21 pieces in the show, so to me it was a definite success =).

Much more importantly, I got to see lots of people who I hardly ever get to see... and although I didn't spend nearly as much social time as I would have liked to with them, I did get some very precious time having dinners and drinks and chats with good friends, and I also got to meet and speak to several people for the first time.

The Sofawolf party Saturday night was a particular highlight for me, Tani and Nightfox were wonderful hosts as always and I tried my first ever mojito - and it was delicious! The Jagermeister was also a special treat =D. And it was really great to be able to chat with AuraDeva and Shinigamigirl, who I had met before but never had a chance to sit down and chat with... on all kinds of topics, but also including art =). And I also got to meet Frisket for the first time, and watched her sketch, which was very neat.

It was a pleasure to see Carole Curtis again - and to laugh and joke with Waarhorse about his 'not cute' badge menagerie, and to chat with Edward Hyena (though I wish we'd had a chance to go out to dinner), and to see Vernon Otter thursday night for sandwiches, and to chat with GreenReaper in the zoo, and so many other people and memories that I wish I just had more time to hang out with everybody and chat and relax.. I didn't get to spend *enough* time with anybody, but cons keep me so busy with artwork that it just can't be helped...

The flights to and from Pittsburgh were pretty much okay - nothing bad happened, but the flights were very full so there was no room to move around and I did get unusually claustrophobic on one of the flights on the way back... And the hotel was good - we stayed in the Westin, and I looove their showerheads. Showering there is like showering in a hot rainforest downpour. The bed was nice, too, and we had a good view. Being on the 20th floor was also not bad, because that high up, its easy to catch an elevator most of the time.

I did like the new Hall B - The extra table space (8 feet instead of 6) was probably more than I needed, but it was great, I had plenty of room for everything, and then some. The wide aisles and room behind the tables was great, too. The art show was huge as well - and I saw a whole bunch of really awesome art... Noriko and I got a chance to look through the show on Friday night - My favorite pieces were a print that Loba North/Northwolf had of a running white non-anthro horse with some birds flying beside it, and a piece by Tani of a female clouded leopard in the mature section... But there were a LOT of pieces that were just really incredible and beautiful and it was a pleasure to get to see peoples originals up close.

There is more, I'm sure, that I am leaving out - unfortunately... but thank you again to everyone who came by to say hello, or spend time with me and Noriko, and help make my experience at the con as good as it was =)

Well, we are leaving for AC in 2 days, but its more like one and a night - because we leave so early in the morning.... Tomorrow I will probably be packing most of the day ^.^....

And its interesting because this weekend in portland we are hitting very high temperatures (at least the hottest so far this year - 90s) And so we will miss most of that which is good ^.^.

This is our first AC in 2 years - and we're in a new larger dealers room - which ought to be interesting... I've got all my art matted, my prints arranged, my artshow paperwork filled out, pretty much everything is done but the packing and doublechecking how many business cards I have left. I'm really looking forward to seeing friends - and I wonder if the chinese restaurant that plays the country music is still there - I liked that place ^.^.

As far as pre-con anxiety dreams, they haven't been that bad this time around - in fact, though I know I had at least one, I can't even remember it now. I'm a little anxious, but I'm really looking forward to it all this year =). Ooo... I wonder if I'll get to see any fireworks this year =D!

I have an odd question... and I wonder what you all think =)

Who was more disliked during their presidency? George W. Bush, or Richard Nixon?

I wasn't alive during the Nixon administration so I couldn't do a firsthand comparison myself - but it seems that both fellows were generally disliked by all political parties ^.^,

Please keep your answers non-inflammatory - I don't hate either president, or even dislike them as people.. I'm just curious as to whether or not history and national sentiment has repeated itself. (and my friends' opinions =D)

It had been a long time since posting a commission auction, so I have just done so! Said auction is on Furbuy, and its for G-R related artwork, so the sample image may be NSFW depending on your stance on nipples ^.^.

http://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1010030.html

A couple hours after I posted my last LJ - which was like a week ago, I started coming down with something - sore throat, dizziness, fatigue, then I lost my voice for a couple of days - and then I got this horrible nasal congestion. I kept thinking I was getting better, and then it still just wouldn't go away. It is getting better - but I am getting frustrated with the colonies of kleenexes building up. I have a wastebasket by my desk for them =P.

I've been able to work - but really not as hard as usual - and so I'm getting worried about getting things finished - and Anthrocon coming up soon.. I'm trying something different this year for Anthrocon - doing a bunch of pencil sketches to sell at my table - as well as the normal prints and commissions... Ideally I'd like to have about 50 sketches - but I dont know how many I'll get done - plus I need more art show art, and I have a few commissions - and one big commission that I really need to get done because its been like six months so far.

Sorry I haven't been posting lately - I'm alive - I swear!...

The last week we had a friend over to stay from out of state and it was a really good time =) And I hardly ever even approached the internet ^.^, So I'm a little behind in communications altogether. But I did get all the packages that needed to go out sent yesterday, so thats good - And I'll be getting back to painting and sketching for commissioners today. So, just had a little break and it was nice.

Unfortunately Noriko caught a weird bug a few days ago, and has lost her voice... She's feeling really under the weather and I'm trying to encourage her to rest enough, and take care of herself so she gets better fast...

As far as LJ goes, overall, I dont know how often I'll be posting. I don't think that my day to day activities have enough variance to be interesting to read about ... about all we do is work, listen to audiobooks and watch movies/anime. Oh, and exercise. I guess if something notable happens I might post about it, but I've discovered twitter - which is so much faster ^.^ and I dont often have the time to arrange my thoughts in LJ format anymore...

And if I were to post about like... my opinions on general subjects, then I'd risk offending people ... if only because I can't possibly share the same opinions with everybody, although I think that I am not very abrasive or forceful about my opinions, so maybe there would be no offense - but I tend to feel its not worth the risk.

Oh - actually, I do have something to talk about - come to think of it - last night the 3 of us played around with a Ouija board. It was a really neat experience - and I think I'd like to do it again. I sure as heck wasn't moving the planchette - and it was moving pretty fast - and also at a few points it didnt just move straight to one side or another, it twisted... about 90 degrees the first time, and 180 degrees the 2nd time, and our arms got all twisted up - it was really weird. I know there are multiple theories on what is 'going on' when you use a Ouija board... That you are actually contacting the spirit world, that you are channeling your subconscious automatically without being conscious of it, or that your partner is messing with you and moving the piece around to try to be spooky. I've pretty much ruled out the last one, considering who I was doing it with... which leaves the other 2 options. I dunno, its interesting to consider that there might be a spirit world, and I guess its just whether you believe in it or not that counts. The jury is still out on that one with me, but I must say that experience was more convincing than I imagined.

My dreams don't make much sense at the best of times, but there are some dreams that I have that really make me wonder.

I've had recurring dreams about being in an airport, waiting to get on a flight to China.. And theres always a problem. I dont have my passport, or I haven't packed anything, or I'm supposed to go with someone and theyre not there, or I cant find the gate...

Last night, I actually finally got on the plane. They were serving noodles and chicken, and I was sitting next to a Chinese woman, so I'm pretty sure we were off the ground and headed for the proper destination.

I wonder if I'm ever going to get to China in my dreams, and what in the world it all means? @.@...

Happy April Fools...

I'm not gonna play any pranks on anybody. I've only done an April Fools prank once, and it was way more effort than it was worth. ^.^,, My family was in Palm Desert, staying at the house of a family friend, (my dads friend from law school, and my parents used to go golfing with them a lot). They had 2 daughters about the same ages as my sister and I, and we played a lot together...

Anyways, the four of us kids decided to 'short sheet' their parents bed. which was, as we understood it, to make the bed in such a way so that the sheets fold under themselves and tuck in so that when you get into bed, your legs only go into the sheets a couple of feet before they reach the end... We thought it was a brilliant idea...

Their bed was a king size, and it was like, really well-made - it looked like a professional maid had made their bed, so after we figured out how to short sheet it, we had to figure out how to make it look perfect like it did when we came in... everybody's parents were out playing golf or having dinner or something so nobody was gonna walk in on us doing this, and it did take a while.

Then, we went to bed giggling, thinking of their reactions, but when we woke up in the morning, everything was as normal... and we had to ask them about their bed to get any kind of response ^.^, Apparently what took us nearly an hour to do, took them less than ten seconds to fix and they didn't give it a second thought. I guess the joke was on us. haha.

I'm up at the crack of dawn... thinking about perspective.

Perspective in drawing is one of those things I've just constantly fought and struggled with forever... and I think the thing thats most frustrating to me, regarding it, is that for the longest time I didn't know I was doing anything wrong.... and then when I did, I didn't know how to fix it.

I think the most damaging things that have been said to me, in regards to drawing perspective have been:
"Perspective is just based on common sense, so you should just intuitively understand it" and "An artist of your skill should be able to do correct perspective without a ruler".

Gaaah... Now that I have had some help and honest critique from others, I see just how utterly *wrong* both those statements were for me to hear. They led me to believe that eyeballing perspective, and letting my brain tell me what 'looks right' was the right approach... and so I completely neglected proper technique, and almost totally forgot what little theory I had learned in highschool art classes regarding drawing in one and 2 point perspective.

Anyways, I'm just frustrated because it feels like I wasted a lot of time stumbling around in the dark... but at the same time, it is a breakthrough for me... and hopefully I'll be able to get it *right* ... God knows I've tried... But I guess its okay to try and fail at something, if you are going to learn something from it and try again.

Theres 2 books on amazon I'm looking at buying... for helping me understand the theory, and for tutorial purposes... http://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-Point-Perspective-Comics-Ground/dp/1581809549/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product and http://www.amazon.com/Perspective-Comic-Book-Artists-Professional/dp/0823005674/ref=cm_lmf_tit_11_rdssss1

I'm looking at ones for comic artists instead of ones for like... architects and stuff - because I need it to be easy to understand, and I need just the basics for starters.
One of the books was suggested to me a while ago, and it looks like its explained in comic format, which reminds me of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, which I have and enjoy, even though comics is not really my field... And the other book seems to be more comprehensive, including 4 and 5 point curvilinear perspective, which I can't even begin to twist my brain around without some kind of instruction.

Argh.... art is a neverending battle with myself.

I had a dream that clown dolls were trying to burn down my bedroom...

I think I am going to be awake for the rest of my life @.@