Mondaily with weekend recap, with Guppy photos and good news.

[ellenmillion]

So this weekend, I got a GIANT picture of dorkulous me on the front of the business section as the newspaper spotlight. It may not be a rocket to fame, but it's still nice exposure. :)

http://www.newsminer.com/business/local-artist-brings-coloring-to-adults/article_d8d4ffec-1258-11e5-a4d5-9f34efd8618f.html

I also sucked in my breath and cold-called the comic shop, then dropped by to show the owner my coloring books - which he promptly bought 15 of wholesale. If they do well, he'll get more!

I'm nearly finished with another coloring book page - just a few cleanups and line weight changes, and I'll be down to 2 left to do - and one of those is basically ready to ink! The other one is getting architectural clean-up now.

The weather has been outstanding. I discovered two baby strawberry plants that I'd forgotten I had planted out in the yard - they (unlike the ones in my garden) were flourishing, with a whole bunch of berry-buds. I transplanted them back to my garden, since the voles are gone for the summer and the spot they were in was right in monster-traffic. I bought some lettuce starts last week, and they are coming along nicely, too. I've beaten back the violets again, and found a few more delphinium starts. I think I ladybugged early enough this year - they all look really lovely. Some forget-me-nots that I didn't think had survived are coming back on the slope by the parking pad - I ripped up some horsetail and fireweed so it could get some more light, and need to take some gloves and choppers out there to get rid of the roses that want to take over the area and choke out my lilacs. All four baby trees are coming in strong.

And our first farm share is tomorrow! I'm so excited!

We've been going for walks, too:


Guppy Long-legs has no problem keeping up with me. And I finally bribed her successfully into holding still long enough to cut her bangs again. I'm long overdue for a highlight, myself. It's been seven months since I last did it, and I look... drab.

I've been toying with the idea of a bold color. I adore those photos of the rainbow ombre hair - has anyone done that? My hair is dark blonde to start with - fine and thin. Should I stick with periodic brightening? Or do something crazy? Pink? Blue? I know nothing about the process.

I'm also toying with the idea of getting rid of our piano.

I love the idea of having a piano. I play it... once a month or so, and only a brief time even then. *shameface* While I want Guppy to grow up with music, I don't know that her instrument of choice will be piano. And our piano is old. Really old. The last two times we've had it tuned, strings have broken, which is expensive. The tuner offered us a new piano for sale, and we could probably get one at a decent price... or continue to pay to maintain this one... or we could get a couch.

The idea of a couch is really appealing. Right now, we have two chairs - mine and Jake's, and no other living room seating. That has worked great for us, but, especially as Guppy gets bigger, it would be nice to have a little more. And the room is just not that big; that piano eats a lot of real estate, and there isn't room for both.

I have some emotional attachment to the piano, since it was the one I grew up with, but I'm not sure that's enough to outweigh the practicalities of the situation.

Alright, back to the art. I would be SO happy if I could finish these all this week and then have the rest of the month for printing and packing up orders.

Comments

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Cool interview! And I love that pic. Artist meets Batman meets the Technicolor Dreamcoat! :)

[sibylle]

When I moved to my tiny flat in Flensburg my parents gave me a keyboard ... I don't practice enough, alas, but I really like that I can lean it against the wall or stow it behind the wardrobe when not in use, and as the keys are weighted it really feels very close to a piano... and one can play it with headphones on in the middle of the night, with noone the wiser! :-)

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

Have you asked Guppy if she likes piano music and might want to play it? Of course, kids do say one thing and then change their minds quite a lot. But she's old enough to possibly have an opinion.

[kelkyag]

Many cheers for local outlets for your coloring books! And for strawberries!

If you want to play with hair colors, there's a wide range of temporary colorants available, from chalk-like things you can "paint" stripes into your hair with, to hairsprays, to clip-ins, to short-term hair dyes that will wash out in a few weeks. If you think you might like louder colors, I encourage you to try! (Step one: print out self-portrait, attack with colored pencils?)

Asking Ms. Guppy about the piano sounds like a good suggestion. Presently, low-profile seating might work for her -- might she enjoy a beanbag chair?

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I'd probably get rid of the piano and get a keyboard, if I wanted to continue playing in a desultory manner, or indeed even teach a child to play the piano. FWIW. :)

[pixiewildflower.livejournal.com]

So cute...it's too hot here to go for outside walks, but hey we got malls and such.

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

I am so excited about the comic book store. Way to go you.

[eseme]

Brightly colored hair is very fun, and with your natural color bleach would not be needed. Manic Panic has been in the business 30 years, and while their colors are less permanent than some (4-6 weeks) they have a huge range. They do no animal testing and the dye conditions your hair. I got an awesome shade of dark purple over a mouse brown natural color.