From the Bottom of the Shotglass

Being a procrastinator. I always say I'm gonna do this or that" and I get distracted and put it off. Lack of motivation doesn't help much ether!

I have discovered a game that has inspired me to be creative in art once again. I often struggle to get started on any new kind of art project. I need some kind of motivation to do it. If person request me to paint something for them, I'll do it, but sometimes fid myself not "feeling it." If I want to do something on my own, I might pick out what I want to paint but hen find it hard to start. I attribute this to laziness and not feeling creative. Plus, the fact that I have to bring out the equipment and tools needed for art is not a prospect I look forward very much. I'm even reluctant to start doing digital painting because I don't feel creative.

I think that is about to change!

The game discovered is called Art Academy for the Nintendo DS systems.




I recently traded in my old DS for the DS XL. I initially didn't think I wanted to "expand that gaming system but for this particular game ( and a few others) the larger size works well, although I wouldn't go any larger if it came to that. Anyway, the Art Academy has tutorials and lessons that you can go through to become familiar with its settings and with the stylus & touch screen capabilities it is a true joy! I can create and practice my art. I am happy to find that after all this time (it's been a little more than a year since I've painted anything) I still haven't lost my skills. I still got it and this game shows it.

I'm looking forward to doing my own stuff outside the game, like actual painting and even digital. I just needed something to inspire me, to ignite that creative spark that has been dormant. I'm hoping it will help me in other venues of work, as I find it hard sometimes to get motivated.

Well, that's it for now. I'm still working on adding new stuff to my website and I'm even working on creating a fan page on Facebook. That should be interesting. I do look forward to that. Anything to help give me a creative jump start. Til next time, Happy Holidays!

I can't believe that it's Halloween already. I remember last year and it just seemed to fly by. Aye. There is no stopping it.

Well, I finally got my portfolio website up and running. I did have some stuff in my website before but it was not as I wanted it. It took me many months to figure out the style and color scheme I truly wanted. Even with all the work that I've put into it, it's still not "complete." Such as when an artists does a painting and says it's finished, they'll tend to look at it and say to themselves, "It's not quite there yet. Could use something." Sure, there should be some kind of finale to my website I suppose, but given that there will be new things going up there everyone in a while, it will always be a work in progress. But at least now i have some thing that people can actually look at instead of a "Coming Soon" or "under construction" page. I had that for a while and it just drove me crazy.

But I got something done. I won't have to be too worries about showing some work now. There some refinement I'm thinking of making but the important thing was to have it done. How else would anyone know what it is that I do if they can't see any proof of it? With all that, I had the help of using Tripod's Site Builder. It was the quick and easy way of getting me website done. I was able to find something simplistic to navigate through and eliminated the need for timely uploads from using Dreamweaver. Plus, all the little details are taken care of easily and I didn't have to worry about whether or not a link worked right or that something was missing. After a few clicks and learning how to manipulate what I was doing, it wasn't half bad.

Part of my problem has always been that I want to do too much at any one time. But it doesn't really work that way and I would get overwhelmed and frustrated, which would stifle my creative abilities. I had to force myself and learn that I can only do so much at one time. I learned that by doing a little here and there I don't burn out and lose steam like before. Still working on doing that most of the time because old habits do die hard, but as long as I keep at it a little a time, I know I'll get a lot done. Plus, how much work could I expect to get done if I don't try to do a little something everyday?

Now I finally got something working and it makes me feel good. People can see some of my work with ease. I tried to keep it as simple as possible. I know that most people want to just scan through stuff without having to wait for download time. Nothing better than to get to the page you want at the speed you want.

I hope to be able to update my blog often and post things that might be creative and/or fun in the hope to not only inspire others, but also myself. It's a great way to keep motivated.

Well, since it is Halloween and I'm wanting to post creative things, here a pic of my recent pumpkin carving:




My neighbor really like my barfing pumpkin last year and was awaiting for a new one this year. Each time I work on pumpkin, I'm learning to use new techniques and instruments. It seems to be easier now. I did this guy in about an hour (includes set and clean up time). It felt like it took forever last year (although I did carve two smaller pumpkins). But I'm glad at how it turned out. it looks even better at night, but I'll ave to get another shot of that one tonight. Until next, thank you for your time and Happy Halloween!!!