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So in the middle of my exhaustion, I figured I might as well paint, so... I did. Not just " Willow"; I hauled out a couple more to work on between her layers drying.  I made a crazy painting parlor out of the living room, with pillows, candles, music and incense. It wasn't intentional, I'm just so used to cleaning up that room for company that... well, I was on auto-pilot. But it was really pleasant, even if it did feel a trifle decadent, like painting in some kind of artist's seraglio. I've also started keeping all my color tests/thumbnails in one clear folder, which you can see on the floor there.  This painting is almost done! I'm so close I can feel it! Another session? Two? It would be so good to be done...! But as I said, I started a couple more to keep myself working:  In this case, it's " Just Because (I Love You)" and " Hadara and the Sun King," which I've always wanted to finish and at this point seems like serious low-hanging fruit, compared to the complexity of the things I do now! New folks, feel free to click on the painting titles... that'll show you closer views of the pictures than these photos. :) Tomorrow I have something special planned... plus I want to muse on reading and RPGs. But for now I flop. Stardancer Home.Tags: art, brushes, photos, progress
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Cowboy Bebop OST 3 - Blue
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This one's for ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) janni. :)  Let me say this first: I'm not a fan of Lindt. Someone is going to say, "I've tried 99% cacao Lindt chocolate and it was awful!" and I will say, "You're right. It is." I don't even like normal Lindt... I think the mouthfeel is awful and there's too much fat in it and the flavors are muddy and plastic. The 99% in particular is chalky, which is an instant game-over for no-sugar chocolate. But, having said that: if you really want to know what the flavor of chocolate is, you have to try it without sugar. And unless you're in a truly high-end restaurant, your baking chocolate isn't going to cut it. You need 99% or 100% cacao eating chocolate, which is very hard to find. The Michel Cluizel I've photographed (badly) above is pretty good. But my absolute favorite is the Domori Puro, at 100% cacao mass.  If you can find this stuff or order it, then I recommend it as your best chance to have an excellent elemental chocolate experience. A couple of things to keep in mind: 1. What you're about to eat is not dessert, but food. If you eat it thinking it's going to be a sweet treat, you will hate it. Instead, think of it as an ingredient or a food you'd eat on its own, or with a glass of wine and with cheese. Something savory, not sweet. 2. You cannot do this with old chocolate. Unlike with sweet chocolates, you can't shrug off an old or overheated or bloomed sugarless chocolate. The texture is too much part of the experience, and the subtlety is completely ruined by age or poor storage. It has to be fresh. A proper 99%-100% chocolate is smooth. Like satin in your mouth. 3. Be alert for the nuances. The Domori Puro tends to have a floral high-note; the Michel Cluizel above is more earthy, almost dusky. Others will have acid notes, coffee tones, or an almost incense-like aroma. These are the primary flavors and smells of chocolate... this is the thing you're aiming to experience. 4. Eat this stuff with a clear palette. Water first. Then hold it in your mouth and let it dissolve. Smell it while it's in your mouth. With a fresh bar of high quality eating chocolate at 99-100% cacao mass, you get a really phenomenal experience. Not just the taste of real chocolate, but the sudden ephiphany of something you thought you knew already being something completely different than expected. Personally, I love it. :) Also, for those keeping track:  I did go get my celebratory chocolate drink. I'm well past the 25 books sold mark and head toward the 50! Thank you, everyone! Stardancer Home.Tags: food, photos
Current Mood: tired but chocolanated
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What a surprise: it's all dark colors and reds!It's kind of weird to me to see I've finished seven paintings and written 10 short stories in two months, because I feel like I have no time. And then I realize: I've read one (no wait, two) books this entire year, where normally I would have read 20. Also, I no longer game, and I'm sketching three or four times slower than usual. So at least I know where the time got cut. This is an acceptable trade-off. Bright side? The proof copy for the Aphorisms is in the mail, so hopefully you'll be able to buy your copy in the first week of March! Dark side? Literally? The first painting for the Admonishments is half-done, is kicking my tail, and will probably go on to kick the tail of my scanner and camera. It's mostly black. There are nine colors in that black. And different parts of the black are different colors of black. How much you want to bet those nuances die a horrible death on the way to your hands? But oh, the original is velvety. And very dramatic. I should be done, barring catastrophe, in time to post this one and its related story on Monday. Stardancer Home.Tags: art, news, photos, writing
Current Mood: exhausted
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Frustrating night, but I got some progress done before I had to stop. The frustrating part being that I spent two hours on things that I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who will notice. Darkening the background so that it will pop the leaves of the tree better, salting the background with more layers, darkening the tree roots, lightening her skin, darkening her hair... *sigh* Anyway, while the salt was laying in, I worked on the cover for the Aphorisms, so I photographed them both before I called it. I didn't scan either of them because... well, like I said. I'm not sure who'll notice this kind of nitpicking.  In the past two days I've finished one commission and made progress on these two paintings and I still feel like I'm not getting anywhere. I probably won't feel okay until enough of these things are finished that I can start working on new things, and get that printer funded. I appreciate borrowing hyanan's, but I want the matter done with, you know? *rubbing eyes*I'm not finishing many sketches at this point, but I'm almost grateful for that. The last thing I want is to draw something new I want to finish when I already have six or seven things in the queue...! Bleh. Edit: By the light of the daystar this morning, I see it's not quite so bad as I thought. I might actually finish this in another two or three sessions.  Stardancer Home.Tags: art, brushes, photos, process
Current Mood: bleh
Current Music: Wham - All She Wants
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By request...  Wigglet has a... well, it looks like a small flying saucer. Like something out of the Jetsons. This is her in it, giving me her OMG face.  One evening I walked in to check on her napping and found her like this with her elbow jutting out in the air, like some sort of contortionist in training. (I did rearrange her. But how she got her arm there is a mystery to me...)  Must... hug... EVERY STUFFED ANIMAL. (She was asleep like that.) I begin to understand a little while people like my mother-in-law love babies. Their happiness is so uncomplicated. There's nothing sophisticated or ironic about a baby. When they laugh, they really mean it. When you walk into a room and their face lights up, it's really you that's made them so happy. And they're constantly doing such weird things, not just these funny sleeping behaviors I managed to photograph, but all sorts of things throughout the day that happen too quickly to be recorded, even in memories. She is an astonishment. She reminds me a lot to stop being so bloody complex. Anyway, that's Wigglet. I draw her as a lion cub because she was due to be born on the last day of Leo, and at the time I thought, "Hmm, one more day and she'll be a Virgo. But only a Virgo would try to rules-lawyer their way into being a Virgo." So guess who waited exactly one day over her due date to be born...? God help me, I live in a house with two of them...! Stardancer Home.Tags: mom in spots, photos
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: The Beatles - All You Need is (Sheep) Love
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