More Art

So this is one of the commission pieces I've been working on. I haven't heard back yet if the colors were ok. They seem flat to me (because they are) but I wanted to leave it open for them to provide some feedback. It's a fine line between showing what you can do and overdoing it and giving the client more room to say, "Could we lose the fancy-schmancy?"

The 100 Artists Project received, in just a couple days, almost 500 views and almost 200 sign ups. I had to change a few pages on the site because it was apparently confusing to people how the project worked, but I think I've got it cleaned up. There were surprisingly many people from South America signing up for the project and we also got a lot of new countries to add to the list; Italy, Germany, Korea, Brunei, Chile, Brazil, Ireland, South Africa and Spain to name a few. A lot of Brits and Aussies signing up too. I'm really pushing for this project to be successful and I hope people are taking it seriously.

LMA is going to school in a little over a month. Registration is in about two weeks and we have some forms to fill out and Mrs. A has to take her (and G-man) to the doctor for their yearly check up. Pflugerville ISD needs to know LMA doesn't have rabies or mad-cow disease. We already know G-man's cuteness is contagious but there's no drugs for that. You just have to deal with it.

We weren't able to get LMA into a camp this year so we're hoping there's going to be some extracurricular activities. Although, the more I think about it, the more that sounds like a lot. She's still only six and I think going from 8am to 3pm without a nap and without the playtime she got in kindergarten is going to be hard on her. Well, ESPECIALLY her. She's been more and more bossy and moody and independent lately and she and I have been clashing a lot. I've tried to be calm and understanding and not jump all over her when she talks, but lately it hasn't mattered. As soon as she doesn't get what she wants - or interprets something as not getting what she wants - she's off to her room screaming and stomping and half the time Mrs. A looks at me funny and I just stand there saying, "I don't know what happened."

It's been that way for a while. The whole house actually has taken on a bit of a short fuse, and it's not just me. Everyone is reacting too quickly and too stubbornly to each other and it's causing a lot of stress. No one is getting the benefit of the doubt and there are a lot of accusations and a lot of misunderstandings. These sound like ground up problems between Mrs. A and me but it's not just us. G-man has stopped doing what he's told unless you really lay into him, LMA is about as sassy a Jackie Brown, my tolerance and patience is dwindling slowly and I'm sure Mrs. A just wants out of the house and away from us on a constant basis.

And don't read too much into that. What I'm talking about is typical of a family. Siblings get annoyed with each other, parents argue and fight. Kids and adults usually don't get along. I think the time has now come when LMA is now officially finding out that her parents are idiots and she knows everything. She's already 12, but she's in a 6 year old's body. I think first grade is going to be rough on her, but I don't want to be pessimistic about it. I hope she does well. I hope we all start standing together as a family more than we have been. We've been at each other's throats a lot. I think it's all the rain.

Anycrap, more art soon.