Furry Friends Finished

Haha! I have conquered the back stitching! I even learned how to do a proper french knot! Now I better not see anymore of this for the rest of the year :D

You know, I had wanted to do several things today, but I got derailed, by thread. Wal-mart had these large kits on clearance for a third of their original price. So I grab the two left thinking hell yes that is a lot of fabric and thread I can salvage and just toss the stupid pattern. This is what the package looks like before you open it:

Okay, no big deal, the thread looks jumbled but maybe they are separated by a thread card in there somewhere.

Nope.

It really was a giant rolled up, tangled wad of thread. It took me three freaking hours to separate the colors and then looking at them and the list for the chart I had no idea who was what color because some of them were to close together. Honestly, I hope no one picked one of these kits up who was a beginner and totally lost interest in the craft because of this crap. That would make me really sad because it wouldn't have been hard for the makers of the kit to organize the thread before cramming it in the package.

So after dinner maybe I can at least start on a new project, just have to decide which wants my attention more; drawing or another cross stitch :)

Now For The Back Stitching

This is one of those pieces that I will admit the back stitching is necessary. That doesn't mean I have to like it. Some of it won't be so bad, it's just when I get the faces that it gets harder. I will try very hard this time not to get sloppy or impatient, make it good practice for later since this one is going on my wall.

Cross Stitch Progress

I'm trying a different method, instead of sticking to a spot and working out from it, I am now sticking to one color as much as I can do in the part I have framed. It just may be going a little faster that way. Only problem with that is if there is a lot of the color (like there was with the black and white) I start to go a little crazy and antsy to work on another color. I honestly don't know why.

Look at the cute ducky blob! Besides it being on sale I think I got this cause of that darn cute duckling!

You have posted everyday this week, what is going on?!
No work, all week. I really hate how slow summers are, August needs to hurry up and get here so I can WORK. Because next week, no work all week AGAIN. So I might try to post Mon.-Fri. again.

Eye See You

So, this is suppose to be a flamingo eye. I wanted to try something real and I really don't care for it. If I was going to do a bird I guess it wasn't the best choice for a close up :D

Another dragon eye, this will make the last eye. I was getting bored on this one and really not trying to put much effort into it. Think I'm going to "zoom out" and do full heads now as I still experiment with the markers. I really should try this out with water color pencils too...

Living Treasures Animal Park

Went and seen the animals for my birthday. I think I spent more time playing with the goats then taking actual pictures :D

This cutie was just cuteness overload for me, so little and fuzzy!

This little piglet managed to get out of the enclosure because it was so small and fit right through the openings. Momma pig was not happy about it and made sure to keep it with the others after that!

That was the first time I had ever seen a baby zebra.

The first picture I took, I was scared to try to stick the lens through the fence because it was watching me so closely and I thought it might try to peck the camera. The second time I stuck it through with no problems but the first one I am definitely using for a future drawing!

Sometimes, Things Don't Work Out

Well, I definitely didn't make the deadline because this is as far as I have gotten. The colors are brighter then that, just didn't care I had poor lighting when I took the picture. I started out steadily working on this everyday, and then I got my second job and that picked up drastically. So the last two weeks before, I had almost no time to work on it. This week is just has work heavy and I believe the rest of the year is going to be this busy. I know I am going to want to finish this, but right now it feels like more of a demand then something enjoyable and so I am just letting it sit till things are less crazy.

My Lobelia 'Crystal Palace' had finally came up, which at first I thought they were weeds till I let them flower.

They are a really vibrant purple that almost makes them look 3D and the camera just wouldn't pick that up. The hubby likes them and wants to landscape them into the front yard next year.

I took a trip to the park a few weeks ago and saw this butterfly and these orange flowers.

I don't know what kind of flowers those are but they were very pretty and it seemed the bees liked them just as much.

We went to the Animal Park for my birthday this past weekend, I'll post that later. I'm super excited about one of the pictures because it is going to make an amazing reference photo in the future!
Time for bed, have to finish my full work week and all that :/

Bird Finished At Last

"Fiery Sky"
5.5 in x 5.5 in
Colored Pencil and Water Color on Bristol vellum

Sweet everything on this planet, I finally finished it!!! The feathers are terrible, I even cut part of it off because I had messed them up so bad. Also, I finally found out that using masking tape to remove pencil does work on this paper, it was a HUGE life saver. Well sort of I guess. I didn't want to abandon this, just took me awhile to finally quit dreading the inevitable and just do it. If I ever get the urge to do a bird again, it will be awhile, and I will definitely do a feather study first.

All The Things I Haven't Finished

Ever since I started this job as a stocker, I haven't made much time for any art as I am always tired when I get home. It doesn't help that the holiday season is coming up and it means a larger work load there too. What time I do make isn't much, and this is what I have so far..

This is as far as I have gotten on the eagle. The poor thing has been sitting at this stage for over a month now :(

I started on one mini painting, this is a crappy picture of it. You can't really see that the paint is shiny but it is and that is because it's nail polish. I came up with the idea when I realized I have all these polishes I don't like, won't use and didn't want to just throw out. Re-purposing sounded good.

This however is finished, was finished about a month ago. My first pony that is a crossover from Monster Rancher. I absolutely love the games, and didn't see anyone else doing crossovers with them. I want to do more, but there are a lot of things I want to do and not enough time to do them all at once. Maybe in a month I'll have a little more :/

New Angle

So, I have been eye balling the My Little Pony cartoon style for awhile now. I love the show (yes I watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) and I think the animation style is just adorable. I figure it, that I needed some inspiration to keep drawing and why not start something new. Also, there are all kinds of Pony crossovers, and those fascinate me the most. I'm trying my hand at my own crossovers.

As for this bird of mine...

Holy Batman, yes I finally started it! This darn thing makes me so nervous, this here is almost fours hours and that is all the farther I got. I was thinking of another bird after this but I don't know now. :D

On The Trail Again

I went back a second time to the trail, determined to walk more of it this time. One way and back I did two miles this time. Of course the mushrooms were still in full force...

The egrets were doing their water thing..

The rabbits will always be about..

I had no idea what to make of this plant other then "pretty!" when I saw it. Now I know it is a Callicarpa bush..

No deer sightings this time, but they did leave a mark..

I love dead trees, and the random bird I didn't notice till three shots in :)

I love how I was seeing things I had never noticed when I lived there. Like this flower that I still can't find a name to put to it..