From WorldCon 2018

I thought it might be fun to show some of my other notes that I’ve taken in Notability. I use an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil, so that makes it easy to draw. I would say the only issue I have with Notability is that I can’t figure out how to export it as an image. So I end up exporting it as a PDF and then converting the PDF into an image. I’m sure that’s because the Notability folks assume I’m going to use the keyboard to get actual text into it (or convert my tortured scribbles into text using the OCR). But it still makes it one step more when all I want to do is shove it into an image to put up on a blog page.

Today was a busier than usual day. First I nearly got my Elven Druid killed when she insisted on yelling at the top of her lungs in a cavern where a bunch of people had died. We didn’t die, and she is no longer cursed, so I call today’s adventure 100% positive.

Then I went home and let the dogs run around for a while. Padfoot has discovered that being fenced in is not his style, so he spends most of his days attempting to find ways around the many fences we have been erecting, repairing, adjusting, raising, and so on. Yesterday, we learned how he is getting out now, so this weekend the plan is to raise that section of fence another 3-4 feet. But until that escape route is thwarted, he gets to be locked in a kennel or in the house while I’m gone. Storm, the other dog, just watches him as he runs off, then she comes to me and whines as if to say, “Mom, Padfoot’s run away again…”

Help fund the Creative Dubuque Letterpress Post Card Series! I love this project for two reasons:

1. it’s Letterpress!
2. it’s cheap

If you’ve never contributed to a Kickstarter campaign before, this is a great one to join. You get a nice letterpress postcard for just $5. How cool is that? [iframe src=“http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pfraterdeus/creative-dubuque-letterpress-post-card-series/widget/video.html" frameborder=“0” width=“640” height=“480”] Letterpress is one of those things that I’m actually afraid to learn to do because I’m afraid I’ll become addicted to it. So instead I spend time looking at the prints that other artists have created. [iframe frameborder=“0” height=“380” src=“http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pfraterdeus/creative-dubuque-letterpress-post-card-series/widget/card.html" width=“220”]

One of my favorite holidays is St. Patrick’s Day probably because I get to drink beer, eat corned beef and potatoes and just have a good time with leprechauns. This is a picture I drew of a leprechaun. I did it based on instructions from the About.com drawing and sketching website. Thanks Helen! Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Helen, the Drawing and Sketching Guide, then pointed out that I’d have gotten smoother lines using a vector drawing tool instead. But I had a lot of fun drawing this stegosaurus (my favorite dinosaur!) using her tutorial and my Bamboo tablet.

I am trying to get comfortable drawing on the computer directly, rather than in a notebook and scanning. I have been resistant for a while, primarily because drawing with a mouse is challenging. Then when I got the tablet, I realized that I was still chicken. So I thought that if I did some exercises like the ones on Helen’s site, I might get more comfortable with the idea. Let me tell you, drawing with a layer tool is really cool. You can draw the body of the stegosaurus on one layer as a big circle/oval and then draw the plates on top, and simply erase the parts of the body that the plates cover, without worrying about erasing the plates! I know, this is probably obvious, but it was almost magical to me, and I’ve been using Photoshop since 1995!

The hard part of changing my lifestyle is that while it’s going great, it’s easy to keep doing and not get frustrated. But when it’s not, it’s not. I’ve now had two weeks in a row of either no weight loss or weight gain, and my measurements have gone back up. And this is after I started going to CrossFit twice a week to try to get more fit. I know, I know, if I’m weight training I’m going to grow muscle and that weighs more than fat. But I’ve only gone to CF three times, and I doubt strongly that 2 pounds of muscle were formed in that time frame. I’m hoping it’s water weight and that if I just drink more water and wait it out this too shall pass. One success: I was able to keep from downing all the valentine’s chocolate in the house (which is really just one small box of See’s, but still…) after looking at the scale this morning. So, I’m trying to cheer myself up by posting the Valentine book I did for NORBAG (North Redwoods Book Arts Guild) It has the quote inside “Be around the people you want to be like because you will be like the people you are around.” And then in the heart cutouts I wrote artists, writers, book artists. The cover is this cabbage rose paper I got in Seattle with an appliqué heart that came on a card I got a while back.It’s an accordion book made from a kit that my mother-in-law gave me. Like many of the books I make, I liked it so much I didn’t want to send it out to the swap. :-) But I did, because I don’t need 90 million books lying around. I hope whoever gets it likes it too.

This December I was busy doing a lot of things, from Disney World with Mark, Jaryth and Mark’s parents, to both our birthdays, to Christmas, to work, and more. But one of the fun things I was doing (okay, all of those things are fun for me) was making some books. These are some of the books I made in December (and early January):

Elves

My mom sent Jaryth some mail art of some elves, and every picture had one elf sticking his foot out. Jaryth does that when he’s crossing the street, to check for cars. And of course the elves cracked my mom up. So she sent us the postcard. I loved the elves so much that I carved a stamp of them. And then made two books about them.

[caption id=“attachment_398” align=“aligncenter” width=“320” caption=“Cover of my 2011 Holiday Book”][/caption] This is the outside. On the inside it’s blank except for the instructions. The idea is that everyone who gets a book can then customize it with their own family memories. I’ll be taking mine to Thanksgiving this year to get people to write in it. [caption id=“attachment_399” align=“aligncenter” width=“320” caption=“The inside of the holiday book for 2011”][/caption]

My mom sent me instructions for a box that I modified to hold my Firefly ATCs. Here are some pictures.

So, carved a stamp for a Zodiac ring and when I mentioned that the carve was approximately 5"x5" a couple people freaked, saying it was too large. So I made this ATC that showcases the print but is still only 2.5"x3.5". It’s a card AND a pop-up book. ;-)

closed

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I decided to carve a three layer print. It looks odd at first, but as I stamp the layers it really comes out well.

I’ve got my new template up and running. I’m sure I’ll continue to find things I need to tweak and fix on it, but for now I’m pleased with it.

This is my first foray into my own images for a design. Or I should say, it’s the first time I’ve ever used a painting or drawing I did. I really like how it turned out. If you’re curious to know more about why I built this template, check out the About this Site link in the navigation above.

I’m enjoying the drawing part of my class, but the writing part, not so much. Holy cow! I honestly don’t care about what Margaret Kilgallen’s influences were/are. And it’s frustrating that I have to figure something out to write about them.

Edited to Add…

So, I worked on my paper, and after talking with the professor, got some great ideas. I was still stumped for a while, so I made a little pictorial book of her influences. That was what I needed. I ended up with a 9-page paper that I wrote in about an hour. Whew! And it was actually fun to write!

I am drawing my NGPA for a project for my Art class. And to stay inspired, I decided to also try out a challenge from Sue’s site: Out of Border It’s fun! [caption id=“attachment_48” align=“alignnone” width=“300” caption=“NGPA Out of Border”][/caption] I think what would be even cooler is if I wrapped the text around the edge of the birdhouse, rather than having it appear above it. But this is definitely a start. Thanks, Sue, for the inspiration!