At Last ...

Finally finished the book, so ...

Read of the month: The Little Old Lady who Broke All the Rules. (I do and cannot recommend this book.)

Yay to getting some learning on Illustrator!

B for Beastly

God, my Bs are hideous. Yuck.

And one practice A from last night:

But I'll take heart from Jess's words; I'll practise. Hopefully I'll get better.

Handwriting Practice

Goodness, it's almost the end of the month and I've still not finished The Little Old Lady who Broke All the Rules. It's just way too easy to stop reading the damn book — I just don't find it that engaging.

Anyway. No cutting, just doing an 'A'. I feel like I need a larger piece of paper (I guess I could write smaller too). I confused myself doing those swashes (which is why it's so scrunched up and lopsided.

Classes start next Monday. I'm a little excited, more nervous and anxious.

"Happily Ever After"

I think it might've been Emily who'd suggested offhandedly "happily ever after". And why not?

A very rough draft of what I had in mind (then went over it shakily with a pen). I still need to work on my swashes which I'm terrible at. Basically, handwriting is not my thing, but yet I find it sorta fun — quite ironically because of: swashes.

I'll prolly keep the heart shape. The H I was pleased with initially but now feel it looks out of proportion and unbalanced. There could be more I could do with the ps too. I mean, double p — a ligature maybe? And my descenders are always so shitty too. Sigh.

Papercut #2

On sick leave yesterday (food poisoning) and requested for urgent leave today because I simply don't feel like I'd be able to cope with eight and a half hours at work. Still zero appetite; subsisting on water and sweetened soy milk.

So, with today off, I pretended I made things for a living ... and realized I couldn't do it — I took too long to make something that looks too terrible.

First draft on graph paper in pencil then traced over with a pen.

Thought process: "Why not make a cutting?" So pencil on A4 drawing block, then traced over with a marker. Brain asked, "Why not add flourishes to surround the word?"

"YIKES. Word drowned in flourishes ..." =(

Do over in pencil:

Changed my mind about a small flourish ...

Traced with pen then marker. (Why? Heaven only knows ...) Commence cutting:

Done:

Conclusion: looks wonky and therefore ugly. (Plus spacing between letters is CRAP!!) But what's done is done. Dare I mount this as a gift for Hazel on Friday?

Round & Round ... Papercut #1

Should I embark on this — 30 Papercuts?

Today's lunch topic was travel. Everywhere my parents, my aunt and her husband, and my cousin and her husband, has gone. Everybody's traveling but me. Then again, it's my fault. I'm too scared to travel alone.

The feature article in the lifestyle papers today was on local crafts-people. There was a young girl who fucking owns her own letterpress! How fucking awesomely cool is that?! I wish so hard I could be one of them — making beautiful things for a living.

Anyway. As I was cutting this pattern this morning, I suddenly thought to hand-write something for Hazel (the first stanza from 'The Clod and the Pebble'), something script-y with ball terminals (like the pattern I was cutting), A4-sized. (Not by this Friday, of course.) Hm. We'll see how that goes ...

Day #30

And so, not with a bang but a pathetic fizz.

I did this with the express purpose of cutting. This morning, I sat down and wondered what I was gonna do for today's pattern(s) and suddenly thought I'd like very much to cut. And so this thing, which hopefully I'll get to cut tomorrow.

While walking Doggie I gave a poor woman who approached us for direction the WRONG directions. NOT THE FIRST TIME EITHER. Fuck, I suck at this. I've absolutely NO FUCKING SENSE OF DIRECTION whatsoever. I should resolve to NEVER give directions ever again. =(

Day #29

Second last day.

Even though I got the day off today (medical leave, which let me finally get my back x-rays done!), I didn't do much by way of doodling cuz I was completely outta juice. And bored.

Okay. I gotta admit to not making time to focus on doodling because I just started on Penny Dreadful which is just fucking awesome. Finished four episodes today; can't wait for the next! (Personally, I think Dorian Gray should've been played by the guy playing Frankenstein. My first choice would've been Jude Law — I might just be influenced by the casting for Wilde.)

Day #28

I did one in the office this morning — surreptitiously, of course — because I was nodding off with my marking. Indecisive people make terrible markers and graders ... =(

The pen I was using went wonky towards the end and I had to switch to a pen of a different blue.

I also thought I should try a more scattered sort of pattern so I did one when I got home. Don't like how it looks though. It feels ... sorta abrupt and incomplete.

Day #27

It's occurred to me that my lethargy these couple of weeks could be due to my going back to overdosing on sugary foods (it started because the sister brought home with her all the cookies and crepes and spreads from France), and I'm also drinking more and more instant milky coffee.

Anyway. I feel like I've been neglecting my kitties too; haven't been the Crazy Cat Lady™ regularly.

Managed to actually finish an A5 sheet tonight after Stretch & Core.

Day #26

So, this was what I started yesterday:

Today, I remembered Hazel's cutting. ARGH. Haven't. Done. Shit. Wonder if I could come up with something quick and dirty for next Friday ... ARGH.

(But this sort of stress I actually don't mind.)

I didn't forget to do a pattern; I just didn't have time to finish the one I started before leaving for dinner with an old friend and her baby.

Wish I had her drive and strong sense of direction. Meanwhile, I'm still waffling about looking for a new job and getting angry at/about work.

Maybe I just don't handle stress well.

But it seems like whenever my manager's not in the office, I rage less frequently.

Day #25

Just five more days left in 30 Days of Patterns. Not sure whether I'll continue with patterns doodling or not. Time, discipline ... not my strong suit.

I like the borders. I think if it's neater and more uniform, the movement and dance of the border pattern would be more obvious.