Christmas 2013 wishlists

I don't know where else to put this, where anyone in my family can access it, so here's my family's Christmas gift-exchange wish list. 

Rexie's wishlist:
-  blue, green, or blue-green bath towel, without excess decorations.
-  Lowe's giftcard.  (for buying plants)
-  Target giftcard.

Totoy's wishlist:
-  Lowe's giftcard.
-  Home Depot giftcard.


Nini's highly implausible wishlist:
-  dragon or dragon hatchling figurine from Michaels (Any blue, purple, black, or silver dragon, besides "Midnight Moon" or "Cloud Dragon"). 
-  round chopsticks with cute animals or pretty foliage patterns, and no ridges.
-  "Le Plume Pigmented" black marker from Marvy Uchida brand.
-  Copic ink refill "C2". 
-  Copic markers. Any "Copic Sketch" or "Copic Ciao" not already in my inventory (see below).
-  Copic Multi Liner black pen(s).
-  cute manekineko (lucky cat).
-  artbook of Alphonse Mucha.
-  Jeweler's mini anvil or dapping block.
-  Jeweler's pliers.  Long-nose, round-nose, etc.
-  blockprinting carving tool blades.
-  tiger cub plushie by Aurora ("Terrence" or "Taz"). 

[visual aids below]

 

feeling much better now

I was actually able to draw today!  ^U^

I really have to thank the new Nendoroid that came in the mail today. 

I had so much fun, switching different parts, with my pre-collected Nendoroids, I guess I felt inspired. 

 

 After all, my point in buying even Nendoroids of characters I don't particularly know (like Jubei on the left), is so that I can make replica castings, to create custom Nendoroids.

Someday, maybe I'll be able to make Nendoroids of my original characters.  So I thought, I'll have to finalize her design.  That's what lead up to my drawing tonight. 

Usually drawing is such a struggle for me, but this came out so easily!  It's not the best, but I'm just really glad that drawing actually felt good.  ^_^  I guess having an idea and really wanting to do it, might be what they call "being inspired".  If it just takes some new figurines and/or playing with them, then maybe I'll do that more often. 

But tomorrow, I'm going to try to replicate these figurine parts in polymer clay.  (Instead of the expensive resin and silicone molds everyone keeps advocating.)  I feel like experimenting.  I hope it turns out well. 

I would like to give Jubei her own set of short pants, not just Rin's, so she can be displayed with dignity, instead of with just her undies.  ^.^;

OTL You don't have to read my angst.

It's been a while.  I feel like so much has changed. 

I've totally neglected my daily uploads to DeviantArt, I barely do the Figure Friday Challenges at the Figure Photography club anymore, and I haven't drawn anything in forever.  The only creative thing I can seem to still pick up on occaision is writing.  But it takes me forever to finalize those.  Not ideal for daily art uploads.  My thoughts just drag on ideas for making custom Nendoroids, even though I'm too afraid of new processes/mediums, to get started, let alone the cost of resins and silicon mold materials.  Though, I've been muddling over starting with attempts at polymer clay custom Nendos. 

I guess this extended hiatus started with my last convention.  That was a perfectly justifiable excuse.  But I haven't been able to get back.  ;_;  Anyone would say that I have all the time in the world, yet somehow, I don't know where it all goes. 

Today and yesterday, I had ideas for photography, but I couldn't even get myself to bring out the figurines and do that kind of art. 

Maybe I'm in one of those "giving up on life" lulls.  I've had those frequently, all my life.  Hard to make art like that.  ....Without going further into the darkness, anyway.  Although, art I've made in that state does tend to be something I look back at fondly. 

Yesterday, I suddenly had a rush of ideas for an illustrated type of episodic short story, or maybe I should call it a figure photography comic with accompanying story text.  But I feel ashamed to post it, if I should ever get a bit of it done, besides the story text.  It's just too similar to someone else's work that I've been reading lately.  I guess her episodic illustrations with short "diary" entry captions got into my head, and I was thinking in that way, without even realzing.  But now I know, and I don't know if I can bring myself to show the community who would be interested in the topic, because I'll just look like a copycat.  ;_;  Some voice in my head is telling me not to be ashamed for being an "copycat", because so many good works are_inspired_ by others.  For example, the presentation style in Extra Credits was inspired by Zero Punctuation, but now they seem like a style in and of themselves.  But it would take forever to make the custom Nendoroids for the photoshoots, and my drawing (especially of chibi characters) is so awful, that I probably wouldn't want to post it anywhere it may really get seen.  OTL

I don't even know if I should continue "pretending" to be an artist anymore.  My attempts to make a living at it have not worked well with me, yet returning to a life that's not based on creativity doesn't feel worth living anymore.  (I convinced myself long enough the first time, that I could get fulfillment with just consumerism, like a Normal person.) 

That's where my life is right now.  ;___;  Feels bad, but creating art to post online everyday, has become the least of my priorities lately.  ;______; 

daily walk cats

Arnwood kitties are often staring up at the dark wall of ivy.

Whenever I walk on Arnwood Street, there are a lot of cats.  And though I really want to pet the kitties, I'm just as shy as those cats.  In the meantime, I've been building up to some contact, by using the "slow blink", as prescribed by Jackson Galaxy, whenever I walk by the cats.  I thought they all belonged to the people on that street, but the other day, I thought I saw one of the residents chase out one of the cats.  ;_;  Makes me want to pet them even more. 

This past Friday, I happened to meet a REALLY friendly cat on Arnwood and finally got to pet a cat.  ^___^

Virus that makes me love cats? I'm okay with that.

If you haven't heard of the virus that cats can carry, that causes other creatures to enjoy the company of cats, watch this:
http://vimeo.com/69181785
or this:

 

A quick look back through my most recent sketchbook(s):

 

I embrace my toxoplasmosis!  ^___^