Punny Monday

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

(footnote:I'm running out of good puns so I've decided to switch to PARAPROSDOKIANS.

PARAPROSDOKIANS (Winston Churchill loved them) are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently humorous.)

Sketchbook

I am bound and determined to fill up this sketchbook. Good, bad or indifferent.

I'm going to finish if it kills me (time will tell about that....lol.)

It has no theme, or style or any unifying premise other than I'M GOING TO FILL EVERY DAMN PAGE! (although I’m not holding myself to two page spreads or filling the facing pages…..I have to cut myself some slack here….)

So, to that end, I’m using it for exercises from some of the online classes I’ve taken.

In this example it was offered that the blank page might be too intimidating as a whole, to combat that, try breaking it into ‘doable’ boxes and fill each box with an unrelated sketch.

I’m not sure if it was helpful or if it put MORE pressure on me. Now I had to come up with EIGHT ideas instead of just one! 

Ah, living the artist’s life!

Thoughts on a Thursday

The World is Spinning Out of Control

I’m not talking about politics, or Trump, or his cronies, or his cabinet…..oh wait, that’s the same thing….

Nor am I talking about the uptick in violence and intolerance on the streets or the gun problem or healthcare or global warming….

No. I’m talking about television!

Not the content…although that could be an endless rant unto itself…..no I’m talking about program times.

I live an orderly life. A place for everything and everything in its place. The same goes for TV shows. A start time and an end time.  Starting and ending either on the hour or half hour. Nice and tidy.

Now suddenly they start and end at odd moments….three minutes past the hour…..four minutes after the half hour…..what is going on here?????

I totally get the movie networks doing this. A movie has a running time and without commercials to fill in the gaps they start and end when they start and end.

BUT Network television HAS commercials. And TV shows contracted to run on Network television have strict running times to allow for said commercials and to fit into the schedule in nice, neat time slots.

Whose idea was it to change this? And to what purpose?

In order to see the ending of one show it means I miss the beginning of another on a different station (or I switch channels to see the beginning on the next program thereby sacrificing the ending of the previous one.)

Do they think I’m going to alter my viewing habits and stay on their channel just because they’ve made me miss the beginning or ending or a show I chose to watch on another channel?

Are they math impaired and can’t figure out how to time the commercials to stay within the limited time slot?

Or are they just arbitrarily trying to piss me off?

Whatever the reason, this madness must stop! 

Wordless Wednesday

Practice, Practice, Practice…..

So after taking my first class at Sketchbook Skool (it KILLS me to type that, lol) I joined their Facebook group.

I love seeing all the different styles people have. I saw one piece done by a fellow ‘Klassmate’ Kazuyoshi Morita and thought I’d try his style to fill up the empty space on my page of practice lettering.

This is the first spontaneous page that I’ve done in this sketchbook that I really like.

I’m even satisfied with the lettering…..

I guess practice does.....at least improve one's attempts.....lol.

Punny Monday

Knowledge knows a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

(footnote:I'm running out of good puns so I've decided to switch to PARAPROSDOKIANS.

PARAPROSDOKIANS (Winston Churchill loved them) are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently humorous.)

Academic Question (or, Whadya’ Do Today?)

How long (and how many people) does it take to transfer data from one device to another?

ALL FRIGGIN’ DAY, that’s how long!

Periodically I back up my computer to an external hard drive. It does it automatically for most things but not for my art. So once in a while I do a manual back up.

BUT….I have never backed up Tabley. And lately he’s been having ‘hiccups’ so I thought it prudent to back up my folders.

While I was at it I thought I might as well back up the house renovation pictures from my phone because, for once in my life, I’ve actually remembered to take ‘before’ pics.

I thought I’d knock it out in about an hour……after all; it’s just a matter of copy & paste for the most part, right?

Silly me.

First you have to get your computer to recognize your device. Seems easy enough, plug in the USB cord and there ya' go! Easy peasy……except…….my PC didn’t recognize my phone….or Tabley.

And then, of course, you must take time to ‘discuss’ with Husband all the possibilities of WHY the PC doesn’t recognize either of them.

Fast forward to six o’clock in the evening…..still in PJ’s…..and finish backing up all data!

Don’t ask me how I did it….I have no idea how…I’ve been into folders and files I never knew existed and next time I need to do this I’m as screwed as I was this time.

But it’s DONE!

Except it’s left me with the sinking feeling that technology is moving faster than I am…..and I don't like that.

(using old art because I'm too tired to illustrate....)

Thoughts on a Thursday

At what point in one's life do we realize we now know more dead people than live ones?

Wordless Wednesday

Sketchbook Skool

Well, I finally broke down and signed up for a ‘klass’ at Sketchbook Skool.  (It took me awhile to get past the creative way they spell it….I know, my problem, but it’s one of my pet peeves…..)

Plus, it was on sale and that always helps make up my mind. Who can resist a bargain, right!?

Anyway, I signed up for Creative Lettering with Andre Joseph.

I struggle with lettering on my journal pages and where I might like to incorporate writing into some of my other art I just leave it out entirely. This seemed like a perfect way to improve my handwriting and get some advice and ideas.

And I learned stuff!

I got a renewed appreciation for what lettering can add to a page and learned some tips and tricks.

So far I’m just copying Andrea but…… when I wake up in the morning with new ideas running around in my head I call it a success! 

Andrea calls these 'visual puns'. I'm a sucker for a pun.  

I LOVE the idea of a 'seeable' pun! 

Punny Monday

We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.

(footnote:I'm running out of good puns so I've decided to switch to PARAPROSDOKIANS.

PARAPROSDOKIANS (Winston Churchill loved them) are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently humorous.)

Flight School

Our MEGA CABLE COMPANY, in its infinite wisdom, has informed us that unless we upgrade to their new ‘Xpetuity’ system we will be slowly losing our hi-def channels.

We still have to PAY for said premium channels; they will just no longer provide them on our old equipment.

How a company is allowed to charge for something they don’t provide is beyond me….but I digress......

Anyway….after weeks of messages intermittently popping up on our TV screen, to remind us of the impending doom, we finally gave in and ordered the new equipment.

The UPS man delivered it yesterday.

He usually just drops our deliveries off at the door but this time he rang the bell and waited to hand Husband the box. And with the tiniest hint of a grin on his face said, “Don’t worry! It’s really not that difficult to do! It only took me a weekend and a few choice words to get it going! Good luck!”

Husband used to work for MEGA CABLE COMPANY so I had no doubt he was capable of swapping out the box.

That part was smooth sailing.

We now have new ‘Xpetuity’ boxes with corresponding features and extras….and new remotes….with voice recognition.

It LOOKS innocuous enough. Pretty simple and straightforward….but that’s where they get you!

Fewer buttons mean more menus and more menus means more ‘drilling down’ to get to what you want.

It’s hit or miss (because there is no instruction manual) and I DARE you to remember what buttons you pushed to get to this particular menu so you can find it again next time you want to do the same thing.

I need flight school just to figure out how to reset my favorite channels! 

 First world problems are a bitch.

Thoughts on a Thursday

There’s something creepy yet somehow cozy about a rainy day so dark you have to turn all the lights on at noon.

Wordless Wednesday

Who Knew?????

I had no idea there was a brick and mortar Dick Blick in Tampa! Not that I'm going to be driving several hours round trip just to peruse their aisles. But......when I'm in the 'neighborhood' (and willing to risk life and limb in Tampa traffic) I will most assuredly be paying them a visit! 

They have the nicest people working there! 

I realize this has no relevance to most of you out there....but I had to share! LOL

Punny Monday

Where there's a will, I want to be in it.

(footnote:I'm running out of good puns so I've decided to switch to PARAPROSDOKIANS.

PARAPROSDOKIANS (Winston Churchill loved them) are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently humorous.)

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Sometimes you come across something so perfect you just have to share.

For example: The Dunning-Kruger Effect: In the field of psychology the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein persons of low ability suffer from illusory superiority mistakenly assessing their cognitive ability as greater than it is. 

In other words…..being too stupid to appreciate just how stupid you are.

Now THIS little tidbit of knowledge could come in handy in my everyday life! 

I can mumble DUNNING-KRUGER under my breath whenever I come upon a walking, breathing example of said theory.

They won’t know they’ve just been insulted because…..you know, DUNNING-KRUGER…….and it will go far in relieving my frustration.  

I can see it being useful in sooooo many situations. 

Thoughts on a Thursday

I used to buy all my books. I still purchase any art or reference books but for years now I’ve been borrowing the novels I read from the library.

I prefer to hold a real book in my hand.

The problem is you never know who borrowed it before you.

I like to think the people who go to the library and take out the books are fine, upstanding, educated and CLEAN individuals. Alas, that is not always the case.

From time to time I find some very interesting things tucked into the pages of a book when I bring it home.

It’s not unusual to find the receipt from the previous borrower. That’s par for the course.

But in this last book I’ve come across some……shall we say, interesting items.

As I turned the page the other day a tiny slip of paper fell into my lap. I picked it up to realize it was a fortune from a Chinese fortune cookie. It read “To be a success in business you must be persistent, original and first.”  It might just be me but it seems fortune cookies have lost their charm. I tucked it back into the page for the next reader to enjoy.

A few pages further along I came across a tightly curled coarse black hair…….I have deluded myself into thinking it came from the head of a neatly coiffed African American lady rather than what I know it to be.

I read that page very quickly.

In this particular tome there have been pages smeared with grease, spotted with what I hope was tomato sauce, and what looks to me like charcoal smudges…..but the most perplexing ‘item’ I can’t quite make out. It’s either a morsel of petrified food shoved deep into the crevice of the spine or a small creature that must have startled the reader into slamming the book shut in a fit of surprise thereby permanently preserving for posterity its poor little skeletal remains.

I think I might switch to digital content for a while. These surprises are just too much for me.

Wordless Wednesday

Simon Says

Simon

Simon says keep your fur babies safe and secure as you celebrate this 4^th!

Happy Independence Day!!

Punny Monday

The last thing I want to do is hurt you but it's still on my list.

(footnote:I'm running out of good puns so I've decided to switch to PARAPROSDOKIANS.

PARAPROSDOKIANS (Winston Churchill loved them) are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently humorous.)