the post christmas blues

Today I reached 25 followers.

...

And then I remembered school starts in less than a week.

So I picked up some of my homework.

And had a little pity party.


Better get started.

 

-=-=-=-



.Haily.

not one of them

[This is a paper I wrote for English.
She let me keep the format like this.
(Young rocks.)
Anywho, enjoy!]

-=-=-=-=-=-

There comes a time in every tomboy’s life

At least once a day

When she is forced to surrender all independence,

All knowledge,

All of her muscles.

Because her kryptonite is something she loves even more:

Gentlemen.

You see,

My childhood consisted of a

Much different life than most girls.

My childhood was the epitome of adventurous.

While most girls were inside

With their perfect ringlets,

And precisely painted nails.

Playing House,

And deciding what dress Barbie should wear.

I lived under the sun.

With dirt wedged between my bare toes,

And grass stains on every article of clothing I owned.

Never a care for what my sun bleached hair looked like.

Scrapes and bruises were my trophies

Scattered across my knees and elbows

That left accounts of my daily adventures.

We traveled hopping fences.

And in some cases,

Strategically pulling out the bottom nails on the fence board.

So while it looked normal,

You could lift up the board

and slip right through for speedy escapes.

Wrestling on the tramp,

Messy mud fights,

Finding the best climbing trees,

And conquering spontaneous adventures.

I was one of the boys.

To state it simply,

I grew up 3/4 boy, 1/4 girl.

Enough to get rough and tough and have fun,

But also just enough

To melt my parents heart whenever necessary.

Some girls simply drive me crazy;

The way they act helpless and stupid

Doesn’t help our gender’s reputation

In the slightest.

Their little flimsy arms

That haven’t lifted anything more than their shopping bags.

Their manipulative and desperate

“damsel in distress” act

To merely get attention.

…It all drives me wild.

Whenever I get the chance,

I feel the need to prove

That I’m not one of them.

When a door comes my way,

I want to open it.

When the guys set up chairs,

I want to help too.

When there are big boxes to carry,

I want to lift more than my share.

And sure,

When there’s food to eat

I don’t mind going first…

But other than that,

I have a hard time letting the guys

Do the hard work for us.

Not too long ago I was at a choir function

When I heard the familiar pitiful plea

From a helpless girl,
“Could we have some guys help move the risers?”

Without a skip of a beat,

I jumped up

And I joined the guys who were a little short on help.

Some girls gave me weird looks,

But I got out of there as soon as possible

Before someone could criticize me.

At the back of the classroom

I found one of the bigger risers.

(One that usually takes two guys to carry.)

I took a deep breath

As my fingers gripped around the metal bars.

At first,

Adjusting to the weight.

Then trying to find the best position to carry it in

Until I felt like I finally had it just right.

 I then proceeded to walk down the hallway.

Feeling pretty good about myself,

I must say.

The risers were heavy,

But not unbearable.

It was a good challenge.

But not five steps
After I picked it up,

I was stopped by a guy

Who wanted to help carry it for me.

“Nah,

I’m fine.

Thanks though,”

I politely declined.

“No,

Really,

Let me get that for you,”

He politely insisted.

And the internal battle began.

Don’t pity me.

Wow! You’re really offering to do that??

I’m strong. Let me prove it.

That’s so nice of you to help!

I can do it on my own.

You’re such a gentleman…

And you see,

There comes a time in every tomboy’s life

At least once a day

When she is forced to surrender all independence,

All knowledge,

All of her muscles.

Because her kryptonite is something she loves even more:

Gentlemen.

как босс ...

Pretty cool, huh?
I love it.

I basically revamped everything.

I even figured out had to add a new tab!

Hooray!!
More cool things to come.
.Haily.
P.S.

Уважаемые русский поклонник, который у меня есть 7 просмотров с.

Я люблю тебя.

Updatin Away

 Heyyyy I'm alive!!!
Despite probable belief, I actually did survive the "End of the World."
Sorry for my absence.
I need to be a better blogger.

White.

The world is so white.

So blindingly bright.

 

11 inches.
A lot

a lot

a lot

a lot

a lot

a lot

a lot

a lot

a lot.

Maybe that was a wee bit hyperbolic.

But man, it's gorgeous out there!

(excuse my bad phone quality picture.. thanks)

So, let's update ya a little bit.

This Break is supposed to be filled with completing a LOT

of AP Art assignments.

(notice the words "supposed to")  

And because of that,

my creative juices

would much rather create sketches 

and things for fun, 

and not get serious about anything.

greeeeaaaatt.....

Which is why I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this gem.

I'm going to make this a little bit of an art blog.

It's so much apart of my life
it should be apart of my blog, too.
Here's some of the work I've gotten done so far.

"Lost In The City"

Watercolor & Charcoal
My first time mixing those two.
(Which are polar opposites.)
It shouldn't have worked, but it did.
I like the texture.
I wish the idea would have come across better, though.
It's my brother's reflection through the subway window in NYC.
 Ah well, it can't always work out.
I learned a lot!


 I'm almost done with my Kirkby commission of Vanessa.

 I just need to finish it.
(Isn;t she DARLING??)

 My tribute to Les Mis.

combining the old logo





 

with the new

It's not perfect.
It took a little under an hour to do.
But with all things considered,
I think I like how it turned out.

 (And that sure is rare to say.)






 And most importantly...
(DRUMROLL...)
I think I may have figured out my concentration!!
5 months late,
but hey, better now than never!
I'll just stick with it.

It started with researching bird's symbolism.
After doing "Songbird" morphing Hannah's face with a finch


Miss Grant asked if I knew what finches were symbolic of.
I didn't have a clue.
It didn't even occur to me that each bird had a different meaning.
A lot of birds have a negative connotation.
Luckily,
Finches are symbolic of Christ.
Which adds a whole new meaning to this piece.
One that unfortunately,
I didn't even realize in the process.



So I started researching different bird's symbolism.

Which lead to researching different animal's symbolism.

It was fascinating.
I've always been an animal lover.
As I child I was always enthralled with animals.
I would even create my own.
That's what my earliest sketches consisted of.

So I figured,
why not go back to my first love,
combined with my second:
people.

The animal's symbolism that I connected with the most
was the Raccoon.

It's associated with
curiosity,
dexterity,
creativity,
& disguise.

Racoons are darling. 

It was weird sketching animals 

for the first time since.. well, 

Elementary School.

I fell in love with this picture Stephanie Kirk took.
(She is BRILLIANT at photography.)

So I Photoshopped this:

Rough draft:

Which lead to this 9x12 under painting in oil.

Which is when I realized I was working MUCH too small.

So I pulled out the huge,

and I repeat,
HUUGE
canvas I bought at DI earlier this year.

And a couple hours later I had this:

I'm no where near done yet, but I'm getting there.

[If you have any advice, I'd LOVE to hear it!!!!]

(Don't mind the hideous background. That was painted on the canvas when I bought it.)

Oh, and when I say HUGE, I mean it.

Here is the canvas in comparison to my large computer screen...

...yeah.

For once I'm not exaggerating.

This piece is manifesting itself as a huge challenge

on multiple levels.

But life is boring without challenges.

I have invested a lot of time in the symbolism of this piece.

It makes me excited.

If done right, 

this piece could be really powerful.

Because raccoons are associated with disguise

This piece is a variation on the discussion 

of the facades we hide behind.

Which is an interesting comparison
because raccoons can cause substantial damage to us.

What I haven't mentioned yet is the Nightingale 

that is going to be incorporated into this piece.

Nightingales are symbolic of "a cry for help from a poor soul." 

This courageous nightingale unlocks the secret behind our barriers.

...I'm excited. :)

 Oh yeah, and in between that project waiting for it to dry
I tried my first shot at Digital Painting!

I took a sketch I did a long while back,

and added color to it with Photoshop.

Totally different, and really hard.

Especially with only a mouse,

and no reference photo.

But I learned a lot.

Especially about skin tones.

(I hate how the eye turned out, but I love the nose.
Which is the exact opposite from my usual paintings.)

Christmas was amazing.
It was so good to spend time with my family.
And I got Frisket!!

(It's magic! It keeps the areas you want white
and you can rub it off when you're done.
to have the original paper white shine through)

I even felt compelled to do a landscape with it.



Don't judge.
I didn't finish it because I got bored with it.

Landscapes are boring.


Anywho,
If you're still reading, you're a trooper.
I rambled too much on this one, sorry.

Please accept this
GORGEOUS
picture of the temple
as a little "gift."

Oh,

and if you have any advice 

on how to make it look 

more like a raccoon 

and less like a girl wearing a mask and cat ears
PLEASE
comment below.

Thanks a million!!

Happy New Year.
You rock!
.Haily.