{misheard lyrics}

Instead of misheard, maybe it's what we need to hear at the moment. The words to inspire or get things moving.

The base for this painting sat untouched for a week (which isn't a record; another base has been sitting untouched for a month, waiting for the right moment) until I misheard some lyrics. I jumped up from my desk, grabbed the ink, and wrote out what I heard, an idea already forming in my head.

What I love is how the girls look. While I've been using other drawings as a guide for awhile (that's how I learn, btw, by copying and internalizing and using guides), I decided to let it go and do my own thing. I have always worried about my people looking "right." What a load of crap! Look at the Simpsons, or Family Guy, or any other animated show. Do those people look "right?" Of course not! They are what the original animator decided looked right to THEM!

So I did my own thing. And wow...years of reading manga have really influenced me, huh! The middle girl even looks like a girl I work with. It was just such a cool process.

And okay, okay, I'm writing again. Things have been so up in the air with this medication change that I'm so behind! I'm aiming for 30,000 words at this point....and think I can do it! Going to explore what I discovered while doing this painting today before more journaling, then off to the junkyard for some parts....I can be girly when I want, but I also can do work on my own car!

Thank you for the push to keep at it. I really appreciate it, and probably would have quit if not for all you. Love you tons!

{an eclectic post - journal #10 video, new bag, around the studio}

Since we're pretty much finished with journal #10, here's the page-by-page video I made a few weeks ago. You may recognize the music; this is the short, original piece I played around with that was eventually folded into a longer song for the Papaya! video. Sandrine was shocked to find out that, yes, this is music of my own creation! YouTube took away a few of my videos because of music, so I decided I'd just make my own.

When I got home from work yesterday, my mom said, "Kira, there's a package for you!"

I immedietly ran and grabbed the box, then saw who it was from -- Papaya! Inside was a brand new tote and let me tell you, these bags are AMAZING! Not only are they beautiful and show the world inspiring messages, but are versitle! Inside are a bunch of pockets, and the whole thing's made from oilcloth so you can throw some towels in and go to the beach without worries (in fact, my mom wants to take it with her on her cruise next month).

I LOVE the What's in your bag group on Flickr; for some reason, I can't get enough of what people carry around with them! If you click on the photo, you'll be taken to it's page on Flickr, where you can read the notes of what everything is.

Well, it's a dreary, rainy day. Plan to finish a painting, play in my journal, and then watch Star Trek, all the extras (3 hours!!), then it again with commentary. *giggles* Why, yes, I AM a nerd!

So here are some photos from around the studio -- they're posted to the Journal Girl Facebook page. I'm having fun with it, putting some cool content up there that doesn't really fit on the blog. This is my favorite shot:

Have a lovely day!

{off and on ramblings}

Nothing long and philisophical today. Yesterday was a doozy, and I haven't written in days. Which means I'm severly behind on NaNo and half of me really just wants to give up at this point -- have you ever run into resistance and fear so hard, you're knocked back on your ass? That's me. Even though I've made a few breakthroughs and really found some new stuff inside myself, I still am afraid. And the internal censor has come out in full force, telling me it's all no good and ramblings and why stress about it, anyway?

Sometimes, I really hate that guy!

The other doozy has been switching medications, which has me going through withdrawl AND side effects from the new stuff. Not. Fun. I don't reccomend it. I seriously thought I had swine flu this morning, I was feeling so sick. And I embaressed the shit out of myself at work last night.

As you can tell, I'm swearing a lot. Please forgive me.

Right now's the first time I've been pumped to paint in a week. My journal was full of backgrounds and collages, but I've pretty much doodled and written on all them. Do you ever get that itch that you need to get back in the studio? Everything's bundled up inside and you're going to explode if you don't paint or play with paper? It's overwhelming and hangs over you until you finally make time for yourself. I feel like that's my guardian angel telling me I'm meant to do something.

A lot of journaling happening at work (yay! that is a shot from a table at my Starbucks...now you see where I spent 28 hours a week or so). Has anyone seen these new atyouSpica pens? They are absolutely AMAZING! I found a new scrapbooking shop while driving down to help some friends move and they had them...well, I just HAD to grab one to try and MAN I wish they weren't so expensive or else I'd have every color of the rainbow. Oooo sparkly!

This page did NOT turn out the way I thought, but has a LOT on it. I think it says all that I'm feeling. I started crying last night when I told my friend, "I'm so worried about these side effects because this is the first time I've felt "normal" in years and it scares me I might have to give that up again."

It is hard. It feels foreign. I'm scared. My life has been this constant struggle with limits and pain, and now I feel a fog lifting and what now? I'm like a newcomer on an alien world. And I'm afraid that the drugs will make me FEEL better, and I'll go past my limits, and then things will get worse and GAH! Too much thinking!!

I'm going to stop rambling and finish a painting. I just got hit with an idea of where it's going. If only I could finish the larger one next to it...

BY THE WAY: I have five four journal slots open for the holidays. CUSTOM JOURNAL anything goes. I know all the binding styles but Japanese and can do pretty much any size, paper type, and cover. You can pick a color scheme, let me pick, or get a fabric cover. Prices vary by type. But I'd love to make some yummy presents for you all!

{when inspiration strikes * imitation & soul}

Oops! I went from wanting to play around a bit in photoshop to basically redesigning the entire blog! Oh, well...things usually happen when they're supposed to.

Yesterday, I got the most amazing email. You see, awhile back, I made a video for the Papayariffic Challenge, wrapping up a gift for Sandrine, one of my readers (You readers? Is there grammar for blogs?). I did some fun, quick cuts in editing and even composed my own music with GarageBand.

Then, Kelly emailed me to congratulate me on the video, which I hadn't posted -- just gave the link to the Papaya people. So imagine my surprise when they email me to tell me how much they loved it! You can check it out here on their blog.

I skipped around the store, lost my headseat, and threw out my hip -- but I didn't care. I glowed the rest of the day. To get a compliment is a great thing. And I never thought my little videos were that good....I've seen better. But now I'm thinking my view is skewed by years of schooling in the field.

Okay! If I keep at it, I'll write forever, and I do want to do that, but downstairs, in my NaNoWriMo folder. Here's a bit of a taste of what I've written -- I need to run and get on task before the day's gone!

Click to read more ...

{changing seasons * a stolen moment of free time}

Just popping in to say hi! Writing has taken up all my free time, and life's becoming increasingly busy! I'll try to post some of what I've written tonight along with a nice surprise. I can't believe the thing's grown to over 10,000 words already!

The above page is one of the last from Journal #10. I've been exploring different ways to lay out the journaling, taking cues from typography and design books and ordering elements as I would photos on a layout. It's actually a lot of fun and looks awesome when completed. I have another for you, but it needs to be flipped and I'm just about to run out the door for a massage!

Love you all! I'll be back soon, promise!