vombatiformes and I were in there last year and want to do it again this year. BUTBUTBUT we want to be by friendly people this time!!

Signups for the Dealer's den are sort of soon, and we were thinking we could maybe find a group of people and write eachother's names in the 'wewannabenexttoBLAH' part?

I'm really sick of ending up next to jerks, haha.

Woke up early this morning to write my capstone (about 10/20 pages done, due tomorrow night). Only to find out that that the deadline has been moved till friday! Don't know how I feel about it, but whatever.

The most amusing thing for me is that the email was sent at 2:34 AM. This particular prof. happens to be my boss - I've met his kids. It's really interesting to think of him up late on Saturday night. I wonder if he was in the lab???? (I go in there at night to do my work because I'm jumpy and don't want to be bothered, but he always like. . .shows up with his kid at odd hours).

Anyhow, the pressure has eased a bit, though I might as well try and write it now anyway. Thanks for the chance to write this like a responsible student and not like a maniac!

Does anybody have tips for focusing? My senior capstone paper is due Monday and I feel like I'm going crazy with lack of concentration. I find myself staring and staring and staring without any direction.

;______;

I feel bad for crying about my bugwork all the time here, and at the same time, I want to cry more. . .so I made a tumblr!

Will probably be updating it fairly frequently with updates/pictures of what I'm up to - so if you're curious at all, stop by!

http://homopteran.tumblr.com/
http://homopteran.tumblr.com/
http://homopteran.tumblr.com/
http://homopteran.tumblr.com/
http://homopteran.tumblr.com/

lool so right after posting about being on a hiatus I'm opening up for a round of sketches! Truth be told I'm sort of destitute right now and think I'll have some time tonight to draw, so I'm opening up for some sketches to be done within this weekend or your money back!

The product will look something like this: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6802181/
You can choose to have flat colors on one part of the image (I sort of like the way that turned out), either your character or the clothes.

$5 a piece, 5 slots for now:
1. Umah
2. Umah
3.
4.Jadekatt
5.Jadekatt

If you're interested, comment here or note me with your character reference and a mood/pose/theme/whatever and then send $5 to distome[at]gmail.com with your username in the message.

edit: done with bugwork for today, ready to start whenever anybody wants something ;__;
EDITEDIT: Please somebody take me up on this so I can stop studyinggggg D:>

So I've been so busy with schoolwork I cannot even think lately - this week it was a combo of Anthropology midterm and Capstone presentation.

I have been reading and reading about caterpillar polyphenism. Presented it today (all 30 minutes of it) - to an audience of microbiologists/pre-med majors (this includes the prof) who had no clue what I was talking about. ALL the people who are interested in ecology skipped today, and the only prof who knows anything about the subject forgot to show up too. SO I may as well have stood there and talked gibberish.

The only questions anybody had were unrelated - basic questions about caterpillars and moths. The prof asked what caterpillars eat (note that my paper was on dietary vs visual cues in determining color phenotypes - so diet was mentioned several times), for example.

WHYWHYWHY?! I feel like I am sacrificing so much of my life to schoolwork, and for what? Nobody even really gives a crap about anything I'm interested in. At least people respect painters (which was an alternative career plan when I was making those university decisions). Sure people respect scientists, but the moment they hear 'caterpillar' or 'bug' they dismiss it as 'something children play with'. Not to mention the large groups of people who just don't believe in evolution. :|


SO ANYWAY. I'm VERYVERY sorry to all of you commissioners ;__; But between school and ID work I just have no time at all. I would MUCH rather be painting/drawing/sculpting than reading textbooks or doing research that nobody cares about - but life is life. unless we've already worked out a deadline - I have to declare an official HIATUS - Until January I can't guarantee any progress on anything. I'm very sorry about this. Anybody who would like a refund - please contact me and we can work things out.

After January (when hopefully my ID work will be finished and maybe I'll be taking less credits or something) - things should resume as normal and I will finish up my que.

http://youtu.be/M1nsOKBgmOs

vombatiformes and I found Yo Gabba Gabba recently and are IN LOVE.

I'm so hungry for knowledge lately! There's caterpillars, and insect behavior, animal behavior in general, physics, philosophy of religion, color theory, painting techniques. . . these are all burning in my head right now and I want to do everything - physics problems, paint, look at bugs, read read read. ..! UG

Unfortunately, I'm obligated to do more reading and physics problems then painting, but I'm trying to find time for everything hrrrrrg.

The following is more for myself than anything (I usually do this on notecards but then loose them so it becomes pointless) - Things to do before Tuesday:

-AT LEAST two more insect samples [
-return my father's email
-finish at least one of the bug speedpaints [two are almost finished]
-read 1-2 + 1-3 of Ritual and Belief
-watch Jesse's youtube video
-write up a schedule for Stats + email it to Mulcahy
-send schedule to singh and tandieeeee ;__;

(these will dissappear as they are finished)

I finally have a break (vombatiformes is about to get out of class and I don't have time to start anything else), so I figured I'd update here!

I'm REALLY sorry for being gone recently. I've been super-busy with life things (work, insectwork, college, blaahblahblah), so much so that there's been very little time for anything, let alone hanging out online! :(

Hopefully this three-day weekend will provide a little bit of downtime where I can contact people and maybe even get some artwork done?!

COMISSONERS: if you have an issue with my inactivity, let me know and we can work something out (a deadline or refund or whatever)!

Some exciting things that have happened recently:
a BEAR ATE HALF OF MY EXPERIMENT last week, and I had to drag poor vombatiformes along to replicate it and get replacements last weekend.
Potatoe (the hamster) gave birth to a MILLION BILLION babies, there shall be pictures soon!
Started college again and this time I've actually been keeping up with all of my readings, homework, etc. not that it's much (first week), but I really hope that this will finally be the year when I keep on top of things!

I'm very happy lately. This summer has been wonderful, and these past few days have been no exception. Fieldwork is both great experience and very enjoyable. meatball-the-cat is here, and though I don't get to stay up with them all the time, she and vombatiformes put me to bed with a chorus of giggles from the workroom, which makes it impossible to be bitter :-P

Tonight we're hosting a blue-berry carrot themed dinner, and I'm cooking cookingcooking. I've been up all night, and now those two critters are asleep and while I was about to puree some funky meat mixture ("kafta"?) to go between carrot buns it's storming and our smelly little dog is crying so instead of working I'm holding her and typing this. I know it's cruel to be happy when she's so distraught, but despite her terrible stench, it's nice to hold her for once (she's pretty antisocial for a dog). Especially since the kitchen windows are big and look out to our little flower garden, which is beautiful in the rain.

Still haven't gotten paid at my new job - my fault (lost my SS card and had to get it replaced), which means money is running super tight (was able to borrow some money from my mom which will come out of my paycheck when it gets here, so it's not like I'm dying, but it's still frightening). Yet I'm both happy and finding it increasingly hard to be motivated to do art! Don't know what's up with that. Once I finish the current batch of commissions, I think I may lay off for a while - just draw what I want to draw, or whatever. Sorry guys!

Incase anybody's interested, here's the menu for tonight:
Carrot chip appetizer
Blueberry mint tea
carrot souffle
carrot bread with cream cheese swirl - and added blueberries (not in the recipe, but I have to get rid of these blueberries somehow!)
carrot burgers (what I'm working on right now
carrot salad
And for dessert - carrot (cup)cakes by :linkvombatiformes[/url] and a blueberry pie (haven't picked out a recipe yet)

All blueberries involved are fresh picked (meatball-the-cat, vombatiformes and I picked 33lbs on Friday ), so is the basil that I'm adding to some of the recipes and the mint, too (our own precious ditch-mint, haha)!

Sorry for this rambling, but I certainly can't cook while this poor little dog quakes in my lap, so here's some babble for you.

I have gotten almost nothing done that I wanted to get done today, but am still really excited. I haven't felt like working on something so much as I have tonight. It's a sculpture and I'm very proud of it so far. I have all the parts made and have to connect them now, which is terrifying. Then it's in the oven and to be painted. Hopefully. . . It'll turn out OK and I won't destroy it trying to fit everything together.

Sorry, I know this isn't relevant to you guys, but hopefully sometime tomorrow I'll upload it :X Sorry commissioners for using up my non-work time for something other than commissions - I didn't intend to, I swear. I inked hollenheist badge and then instead of painting it took a minute to start this thing and now here I am, 5:30 AM (as vombatiformes just reminded me, the time I'd normally be leaving for work - it's going to be fun reajusting to that schedule next week!), with no badge and a mostly finished sculpey thing.

Ho-hum. Just trying to share my excitement. I'm holding back with the WIPs because I want it to be a supriiiseee.

:< All I want to do is finish it, but I guess it's bedtime for now. On the morrow!

:> I'm growing close to finishing  kalikafutago's badge (I love how it's coming along, but for some reason acrylics have been stressing me out so it's slow going), and thought that tonight I may indulge in some speedpainting!

It'll only be $10, but the catch is that there's a set theme - giant inverts. Put basically: you choose a favorite invertebrate (can be any sort of invert.) and I'll paint your character with it in its natural environment as though you were friends! XD

Like this: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5934072/

unlimited slots for now, but only the first will be done tonight (probably) - to get one just comment or note me with your ref and an invert you like!

If you hate bugs but still want art, keep in mind that I'm open for regular commission, too!

I'm opening for commissions! Just gonna list things that I actively feel like doing, but am pretty much willing to do anything, so if there's something that you want but isn't listed here, feel free to ask :)

Cheapo stuff (price is per character, no background included)

$5 traditional sketch - [http://www.furaffinity.net/view/643.....]example[/url] example example example
example
example
example
example
example
example

$10 loosely colored digital sketch - example example example example
example
example

$15 digital drawing (examples are NSFW)- example example example example

$15 fancypants bust - example example example example example
example

$15 painty icon - example

Big stuff[u] (price includes one character. A simple background (e.g. a field with things in the far background, or some foreground objects) can be added for %10 of the original price. Complex backgrounds and additional characters for 25% of the original price)

$25 speedpainting - example url=http://www.furaffinity.net/view/665.....]example[/url] example
example example

$25 Fancypants full-body badge - example example example example example example
example

$50 painty badge (price includes background)- example example

$60 finished digital painting - example example

$80 finished traditional painting (price includes simple background) - example

Other stuff to know:
-Any species or rating is fine
-All prices are subject to change if your character is crazy detailed or simplified - a portrait will be less than the listed full-body price, for example.
-Shipping is free for badges but nothing else D:<
-because my style varies over time, if there's a specific example you like, please feel free to say so.
-I'm willing to work with deadlines and with any sort of schedule you like. Normally I just send you the finished image when I'm finished with it, but if you'd like to approve sketches, too, let me know and I'm happy to comply.

Slots for main commissions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Slots for discount/ontheside commissions:
1. 2 bugpaints for cornershop [20% done]
2. full painting for novelteeth [65% done]

[u]To claim a spot[b] comment here or note me with:
[b]Type of commission[b]:
[b]Character species:
Character ref (written is fine):
Mood/Theme:
Additional notes:

at one minute of this video there is a train of caterpillars. If you watch it long enough (don't worry, not long) something HILARIOUS happens! I COMMAND EVERYBODY WHO READS THIS TO CLICK THIS LINK AND WATCH THE CATACLYSM

We have one air conditioner in the house and I think it's dying. It's 90 degrees at 11PM after a day of DEATH HEAT (half of it spent in the field running up and down the side of a mountain to measure tree diameters). I showered already and yet it's sweat-city AGAIN. This is not conducive to working on art. Or life in general.

Despite feeling like shit, I'm in a pretty good mood. The second half of work today was caterpillar feeding and ID, and I met some cool cats. After that it's hard to be upset, even though I sort of want to DIE.

Cry cry complain complain, why is Bradford's weather such a paiiinnn? (I just want to sing to everybody all the time instead of talking. Why is text communication so limited?)

Any suggestions for overcoming the sluggish feeling induced by heat?

$20
You get: a 8.5x11@100px/inch page full of sketches of up to two characters. You can suggest a theme or actions if you like.

examples:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6104279
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6085693 (except your page would be more packed full)

These are to be done after work, as a way of raising gas money (it's a 40 minute commute each way, gas is expensive, and it's a looong time till I see a paycheck), and expect they'll get finished by Friday at noon, or your money back!

Comment here or note me with a ref and theme if you're interested!

Slots:
1.  roslin
2.

I was feeling sort of crappy about having to get up at 5:15 and go to work tomorrow (I love the new job, but wish there was more time in the day - I don't like going to bed early every night). . .and then I made lunch! A dried tomato, feta cheese, mustard, basil, and lettice sandwhich and I'm all excited for the excuse to eat it! :D

WHEW my first week of fieldwork is complete! :) As it turns out, I'm not just working on caterpillars, though that will be a big part. I'm also helping with vegetation analyzes for a bird project. So far I'm loving it! The people are very nice and the scenery is beautiful, and I'm learning a lot every day (I'm finally learning to identify trees) - which is probably the best part! The whole thing has me very optimistic about the future and field work in general. I can't wait until I'm more comfortable with the caterpillar labeling system that they have worked out so I can be of better help, right now I sort of feel like I'm in the way!

However, it's a bit of a commute, and it looks like I'll be using up about half a tank of gas every week (which is a lot on our fuel-efficient car). And as far as I know, I don't get paid until the end of the month! D:

I only work three days a week, which means that I have until Tuesday to make some gas money! It's embarrassing to say, but I literally do not have the money to fill up the car with gas to make it to work after this week! Tonight I'll work some on karannia's illustration, though I'll probably end up going to bed soon (looong days with little sleep lately and I'm so pooped). Tomorrow vombatiformes and I are going to try to work outside, which means that hopefully I'll get kalikafutago's badge painted FINALLY (sorry for the lag - I want it to be beautiful and I'm completely intimidated by it) - and then I'll be free to take some quick commissions (I'd love to do more of these things).

lalala just a little update. :)

I have some serious art blockage, and am afraid to work in traditional, permanant media (acrylic paint), so I was thinking I'd take something for tonight.

What you'd get: an 8.5x11 full resolution page, full of colored sketches of your character, in a style similar to this, except for more packed with images.

I'm willing to draw anything other than poop and pee, with up to two characters.

$20, guaranteed completion by tonight if you get it before midnight, or your money back.

Comment here or note me with your ref(s) and a mood or theme if you're interested! Feel free to keep posting even if there are already comments because I may get more than one done tonight!

I'm super giddy right now because of This badge that  doirn just uploaded. Isn't it amazing? Very happy to have found her at AC! And she's open for more, so go get one!!

Some other things of note:

-I DID get that caterpillar job mentioned in my last journal. Basically, in a week or so, I'll be working 30Hrs/week with a team of grad students - finding, feeding, and IDing caterpillars. A Dream job, really, especially since it's a commutable distance away and I'll be making over minimum wage ($8 isn't much, but it's more than I've ever worked for) at something that I'd volunteer to do for free XD

-I just finished a little Pokemon comic for a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon group on DA, which I'll be uploading shortly. It was a little bit of guilty pleasure, so I hope you guys (commissioners) won't hate me for doing it >.>

-I'm waaaay behind on finishing up commissions, and I'm sorry for that, but starting right after I post this journal and that comic, I'll be getting to work serious-time, and you guys can expect more frequent uploads. I want to get things done, because last night I fell in love with Sketchbook pro and would LOVE to do more with it, and save up for gas money to get to my new job, haha (I've been living off of AC money, and won't be getting paid at my new job till who knows when. LOL). That being said, I have made some progress! Here's my last list, and here's what I owe as of now:

From AC:
1.  kalikafutago painty badge [sketched!]
2. jadecat: two headshot stickers

Others:
1 karannia dragon illustration [Done!]
2.  crystacian fancypants badge trade [seriously almost done inking now XD]
3.  trashedbat digital painting [probably about 60-65% done]

Tonight the auction for my unicorn painting ends!

The WINNER is  rulke with $60! O-:

GO HERE IF YOU'D LIKE TO BID! (ends at midnight, tonight!)

ALSO, I just got back from three days of bug field work and it was not only wonderful, but the field station also housed a grad student team who were doing a project on CATERPILLAR diversity, and I volunteered to help (COLLECTING, IDENTIFYING, and FEEDING CATERPILLARS), and as I left today they offered me a joobbb, because two members of their team will be leaving in two weeks! So potentially (assuming they find the funds and we can work out a schedule), I could get paid $8/hour (more than I make with art XD) for 40h/week to find, ID, and take care of caterpillars. I don't know how I stumbled upon this insect wonderland, but if we can work out a schedule where I get to get the 40 hours out of the way in as few days as possible (I totally want the experience and money, but I want to enjoy a summer full of art and vombatiformes, too), then I will be the HAPPIEST person alive!

LALALA now to work on my que/queue

More for myself than anything else, but here's what I've got to finish before opening up for new commissions (which I'd like to do sometime around Sunday afternoon):

FROM AC:
1.  Silverclaw1 ink [Done!]
2.  kalikafutago painty badge (EXCITE)
3.  ishaway ink+sketch combo of her and serendipity! [DONE!]
4. jadecat: two headshot stickers
5.  hollenheist fancypants badge [sketched and waiting approval!]

THE REST:
1.  maroanalove joint commission with vombatiformes [DONE!]
2.  karannia dragon illustration [at least 60%]
3.  crystacian fancypants badge trade [in the process of inking stilllll]
4.  trashedbat digital painting [probably about 60% done]
5.  Awkward-Sloth fancypants badge [inked and painting initiated D:<] [DONE!]

Of course, tomorrow through Thursday I'll be off in the woods collecting insects, so who knows if I'll get to complete this list before Sunday, but I hope to at least get mostly done!!

PS: I'm also auctioning off this unicorn painting that I did for the AC artshow! You can bid here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6009424
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6009424
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6009424

It went very very well :)

Met nice people and was surprisingly (and flatteringly - thank yououou) successful in the dealer's den. Definitely going to try to do it again next year!

Thank you everyone who stopped by and said hello! I may not have been very talkative (I'm intimidated by pretty much everyone in real life, especially those who I want to be friends with. . . which is pretty much everyone), but I really appreciated it and every friendly smile brightened my day a little more!

EDIT: I just remembered that Thursday there was a nude figure drawing panel and it was the only panel I attended and I REALLY appreciated it! Here in bumblefuck PA I don't have access to such things, and it was really useful. I can't wait to live somewhere where figure study classes are available. In just an hour or so I learned so much (It tried to focus on knees). I feel like it was one of the most useful panels I've ever seen at AC and I hope they continue to offer it in the future :O

:) going going going! in between painting the unicorn piece I'm working on my GIANT sign. putting it together has me feeling better about having a dealer's table, since I've got more examples than I thought.

Overall, I feel like I've reached a good equilibrium again (at the beginning of summer I sort of lost my motivation to do science and got lost in art, then this past month I was all immersed in science again with no desire to do art. . . but now I feel like I have fun and important things to keep me busy in both aspects of my life and I feel really good about it.)!

Really excited for AC now. My table will be E20 (next to  vombatiformes and I'll have a giant sign of my monster sitting on a disgruntled wombat)! I'll be taking badge orders and sketches to do at the convention and some to take home, too.

(Sorry for another journal. Don't like negativity on my front page!)

OK. So vombatiformes and I are really busy getting ready for AC, obviously. And for some reason all of our family members (who are unemployed) find it appropriate to criticize us constantly for not going out to dinner with them and crap (Sam's dad is up here visiting since he dropped vombatiformes off recently and my grandfather (who lives nearby with my mother) recently got back from visiting Hungary.). I should mention that Sam's dad gets along famously with my family and they've been running around like mad.

It's not as though we don't want to see them, we're just busy. This is our source of income for the summer, so it's actually serious. And none of them have any obligations (they're all a mix of retired or unemployed) so they don't give a crap about picking on us.

Anyway. It's really frustrating. We don't make tons of money or anything, but we rely on our 'business' for everything right now, and they just treat it like we're playing around and being antisocial. . . and there's no polite way to tell them to fuck off already D:<