Monday, September 08, 2014

Mish Mash


This summer:


JB & I did three rounds of Artist Trading Cards with eight other women. Each of us had a theme--I did this one for "Animals" (obvious liberty taken on my part, since birds are not animals.) I so rarely use my colored pencils or water colors and I am always happy when I do. 

My Micron pens--I use all the time. If you don't own a Micron, spend $ 3 and buy one. They don't smudge. And their lines are everything you'd want lines (and circles and shapes) to be. :^)


Our peach tree delivered.  I was  impressed.


This is our friend, Barb. She was always fascinating, but has somehow morphed into this fascinating stunning woman. A joy to behold, wouldn't you say?


I drew this for the ATC's--the theme for this one was People. I would say these are the kick-ass Sisterfriends. I can't draw from imagination. I tend to try to copy something, even though I might then make it my own. These three were on a black and white calendar.


My writing friend and I hope forever friend Lora sent me this chart when I publicized my struggle to keep my characters and events and their ages organized. This is the 'organizational chart' for a Harry Potter novel. Aha! I wrote out a chart for myself, vertically from 1947 through 2012. Next to that I put in a title of a scene or a chapter--some event in the book. Horizontally, I put the names of each character (7 of them, including the singer-songwriter John Denver) and added their ages over the years, and what was happening with them.

Something is now clearer in my head. I am starting to thread people and time and place together. I have written 35,000 words and I have to say I am laughing my ass off in parts. I read a chapter to my ferried Liz and she laughed her ass off. Good sign and fun times, writing this book (disclaimer: so far).


I created this graph a while back after I read about the five balls. Four of the balls are made of glass, sufficiently fragile that if you should drop one it can break. But the fifth ball--work: work is a rubber ball. It can bounce. I offer this as a quick lesson in What Matters Most…..

I have some blog visits to catch up on. I will. I am still cursing Facebook for changing too much about my blog. And just about everyone else's too. Still, I cannot even tell you how many actual true blue friends I have made and I will always love from blogging. From all over the world. Fantastic.

love
kj

14 comments:

  1. I see you have been busy Lady! Thanks so much for stopping by. Seems not to many of us get a chance to visit or blog that much anymore. Glad to see you posting beautiful things! Hugs to you!

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    1. hugs to you too, vee. i don't think I've been as busy as you, but I'm happy and healthy and that's plenty!

      love
      kj

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  2. Birds are not animals ?!?!?!?

    I love your illustrations, very early Van Gogh : )

    I didn't know you could successfully grow peach trees in the north. Are they difficult? ie. need spraying, pruning, more than one tree, special care?

    I am so happy to read that the writing is going well. My art work doesn't go beyond stick figures. I am pretty sure my writing would be worse. But I am always so impressed by folks who can do it.

    Finally, I am stealing your 5 ball lesson to share with some people who obviously need it.

    September blessings to you.

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    1. ha 8! i had to look up birds. sometimes they are considered animals and sometimes not. I always think of them as their own category. :^)

      definitely you can have a peach tree. we bought ours at a local garden center and it has been prolific. no real care needed so far. no diseases so far and we're into our 3rd year. it is very fun to have a peach tree!

      the lesson of the five balls. it comes from a cheesy novel and i never forgot it. work is a rubber ball…..

      love
      kj

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  3. Loving your crafts. All great artists did their work by looking at something, rather than simply imagination, really. Your friend Barb is stuffing... I want her hair! Mine is in about 2 inches now since the chemo ended.
    Hey, if you have time, check out my blog to read the first chapter of the novel I wrote. I would love a little feedback from you, kj. :) Lovexxx.

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    1. thanks, barbara. haha about spellcheck. probably we'd all rather be stunning than stuffing :^)

      i am happy to read your chapter. if you don't hear from me within a week or two, please give me a literary elbow

      i hope you are doing okay. i just added you to my blog list. for some reason i thought you were there already but not so.

      love
      kj

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  4. I meant to write, stunning! not stuffing!!

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  5. Love your cards - they seem to be screaming celebration! I have a nerdy love of pens (as well as office supplies in general) and seem to recall Micron.. is it an art pen? Yes - Barb is stunning - what an amazing head of hair!

    Oh that chart - brings back memories of writing my YA novel - it's eye opening to see others struggle with keeping track of all these various aspects as much as I do. I heard actually that some writers put this all on an Excel spreadsheet (not planning to do that myself, but just sayin')

    That graph of 5 balls is a powerful metaphor for life and reminder to protect those fragile spheres.

    35,000 is a lot of words - fantastic progress you have made KJ - congrats.

    (Fantastic peach haul - lucky you :)) Btw - because I don't have Facebook I didn't get how it has changed your blog? Sounds like a pain in the a*&)

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    1. amanda, i write with my micron as well as sketch. try a no. 5 or a no 3. i think you will love them.

      there is an app called scribner that helps writers keep track; i imagine like excel. i'm avoiding the learning curve. i have a simple timeline graph now, and i have the ages of my characters matched up with years and events so i'm making progress. thanks for your encouragement, amanda. it means a lot to me xoxo ps the thing about fb is it's too easy to post a photo daily or even more than daily that i would otherwise wait to compile on my blog. :^(

      love
      kj

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  6. Now see - you may do the turtle thing with gardening but not writing/art!

    How are the peaches?

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  7. hi cs. sometimes i turtle write and turtle draw as well. but like you, sometimes i pull marathon days and nights and i love that too.

    the peaches came out darn good! we probably had fifty or so in all.

    love
    kj

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  8. Kj, Love you drawings...Glad to see you are having fun. xoxo

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    1. hi annie, yes, having fun. you too, right?!

      love
      kj

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