FAE forum's ocean fantasies themed art show is now open!  My newest piece is in the show and there are many other wonderful artworks there to view as well.  Please do visit and have a look!   :)

Here's the new artwork!




Also, I'm slowing uploading new products to my Zazzle store in case you are looking to buy my art on products I don't produce myself.

A second test post, please ignore.  :)

I think I will be sticking with livejournal for the foreseeable future for all my journaling. I wasn't sure I wanted to stick with it after the transition to the new owners, even though I have a permanent account, and started trying out all sorts of other journals. None of them have quite the same feel to me though as LJ. I really love it the best...except for perhaps a privately hosted wordpress. But that is something I decided against for the meantime. Maybe in the future if I ever have to migrate off of LJ. I will keep my blog though just in case as well. I might use it as a place to cross post journals in the future, but I'm not sure I want to go through all that. Especially when LJ has a RSS feed for journals here too. People can just add me to their feed reader if they don't want to keep up with LJ. :)

And I think I am going to put an effort into writing more into my journal as well. Posts not only about art. I'm not so sure how well that will go as I'm the sort of person who as a kid got a new diary for Christmas and would religiously write it it for about a week and then give it up. I've thrown away many practically new diaries over the years. I think my life is somewhat boring to an outsider, so I will try to stick to the highlights of my day/week instead.

I also tend to write about positive things instead of negative things. Mostly because I'm an introvert, some because I just don't want to think about it. However, I know that many people express frustration with people that only write happy things...so... I'll try to keep it more 'real' with a little rant or something every now and then. :P

To start that off... my head hurts! I'm in a season of migraines it seems. I think they are cluster headaches though as it is usually behind one eye and feels like a dagger in my eye socket. :( boo I'm not too keen on going to the doctor because I'm not sure what she will be able to do for me. Most pain meds make me sick to my stomach. Still, maybe there is something and maybe I will go if they don't let up after a few more days.

And something positive... I did new art. And have scanned it in and will be uploading it soon. I've made a personal resolution (not unlike a new years resolution except i never really stick to those) to be more prolific in my art and fill up my portfolio. I've done a few pieces these past few months, but they were gifts and not fantasy so I didn't scan them in.

Well, off to do some domestic chores and then back soon to upload the new art. :)

Thanks to a suggestion from Carol, I've been listening to a station on Pandora created with the seed artist of Fauxliage.   I have really been enjoying the music they pick based on that band.  :)

Lately a lot of my time has been taken up by our chickens.  :)  They are a lot more fun than I anticipated when we first got them.  This is our latest project we had to do for them.   They were escaping their little yard on a regular basis and so we constructed this to keep them safe from the hawks, dogs and whatever other kind of predator that might find them tasty.



They're both hens, but still no eggs.  I don't think they are quite old enough yet but maybe another month or so and they will be.  :)

My allergies have been worse lately and I've been having lingering headaches from them.  I haven't felt overly social, thus my lack of journaling of late.  Between the bugs, allergies and excessive heat/humidity summer is my least favorite season.  I can't wait for fall....  :P 

I had forgotten just how much music makes my soul feel happy.  Don't get me wrong, I have the radio on for the birdies almost all day long (they like it...especially when I sing along, then they dance), but regular radio isn't my thing.  I am so tired of hearing the same songs and all the ads.

Lately I've been listening a lot to Pandora (I upgraded to Pandora One just tonight) and I'm sitting here realizing just how much I enjoy listening to music.  And how out of the habit I had become since I didn't care for the regular radio stations anymore.  I especially love Pandora and love how all it takes is to type in one favorite artist and it creates a whole station with similar songs.  I'm listening to an Enya based station lately and it just makes me feel so happy and relaxed.  :)   <3

Here's some of my older artwork for your browsing pleasure.  :)

You Scored as Arwen You're Arwen Evenstar! This elven princess may not get in on too much action, but she's always optimistic and hopeful for the future. She does what she can to help her love, Aragorn, who is off fighting, and is always supportive of him. "I would rather spend one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone." Gandalf 88% Arwen 88% Aragorn 69% Eowyn 63% Samwise 56% Pippin 38% Faramir 31% Frodo 25% Gollum 13%

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To take the quiz:
Which LOTR character are you

Does anyone remember the video (or picture tutorial??) of the humorous rant about how digital artists cheat by using the secret "make awesome button" in Photoshop?  I cannot remember where I saw it and I wanted to share it with a friend of mine. 

Thanks!  :D

Oh boy.... this one is delish!  :)   We made these last night. 

The Ultimate Brownie Recipe

 

( the recipe.... ) The Ultimate Brownie is my absolute favorite brownie. It is tall like a cakey-brownie, but is dense like a fudgy-brownie. I'm sure it will be one of your favorite brownie recipes too.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 8- 1 ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup butter
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2-1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.

Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat; set aside. In a mixer, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes**. Blend in chocolate mixture, flour and salt until just mixed. Stir in the nuts. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. (Don't overbake.) Cool and frost if desired, but that is not necessary.

** It's not required, but this is when it's very nice to own a stand mixer.