Soooooo, uh, long story short, I had to replace my old DS. So we bought a 3DS. Unfortunately I'm one of those people who can't look at 3D for very long at all or else my eyes start to hurt and I'll get a headache so I have to play with it off most of the time. But I've got it none the less and will not have to skip out on new games when they start making them exclusively for the 3DS. >.=.<

I got Solo to Robo and Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns to go with it, so I'm thoroughly gamed out at the moment!

Thanks for the new watches guys! Holy cow I've gotten like, 10 today!

I will be updating my commission prices here in a couple of days but I'll wait till I'm down to my last two commissions to open up new slots. Stay tuned for further details.

For any of your who were or might be interested in my other hobby, I've set up an updating schedule for my gardening blog http://thegardendirt.blogspot.com/ It should update Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The whole thing is set up to try to educate and encourage people new to gardening. I've got a lot of information that I've gathered and consolidated, but I will still make plenty of mistakes for my self so that people can learn from that as well. If you've ever wanted to try gardening yourself, I really encourage you to come take a look and then have a try.

Oh and any questions you might have for me, either on this or about my art or commissions is always welcome so don't be afraid to drop me a note or email!

It's not art related though. Rather, it's about my other addiction: gardening.

Check out my deranged obsession here: http://thegardendirt.blogspot.com/

I am officially the mom of a two year old today.

Lets see if I survive to three!

Okay, that break lasted a little longer than planned. Love bought Minecraft and it ate my brain a little :/ (and my time a lot XD).

Ahem. Anyway, just a few things to report!

1. I will in all likelihood be adjust my commission prices some time this month or the next. I've found that I don't get as much of a return on time invested with the commissions I've been getting and I want to find a happy balance of income to time working ratio. Not to worry, it won't be a huge jump, and none of the people currently on my commission list will be effected. It will only be going forward from the time it's made official (ie. I change my pricing guide). Sketch prices will stay as they are. Line art and flat color fulls and busts will go up by $5 and their ad ons will stay the same. All full color prices will go up by $5.

2. When noting or emailing me references for pics that you've commissioned, I'm going to start requesting that you'll title it as such, like "Refs", "Refference Pics", "Commission Refs" etcetera. It'll make it easier to find them amongst the the various other communications I get.

3. Um... I forgot what 3 was. Oh well it'll come to me later.

Edit: Oh wait, now I remember. I'm gonna start posting WIP's in my scraps so you all have something to look at while waiting for finished uploads!

Miscellaneous:

I've been considering some sort of discount program for returning costumers and for giving referrals but I don't have anything solid in my head yet for exactly how I want that to work :/

Also trying to figure out a discounted rate for doing pokemon teams. Under the normal rates, it would get kind of expensive to do, say, a full color of your trainer with is team if I counted each pokemon as a character and they're just too quick and easy for me to draw to really do that. As a note, this would only count to non-anthro pokemon. Once you start making it into your own anthro character they get more complicated. But, again, I'm still working out the details!

Well I think that's it for now. Back to work!


Look for more updates to come

Okay, I'm seeing flowers every where I look right now and if that doesn't make sense to you, wait till I post my last commission. Imma take a real short break for a couple days. Gotta do taxes tomorrow. I think this is the first time we're getting them done in February rather than late march...

Back on schedule on Friday!

As I post this I'm one hit away from two thousand views.

*Watches*

Edit: And we've hit 2004! Whoohoo!

Ever wondered what's the big deal is about GM (genetically modified) foods is? Are they really a bad thing? Are you eating a genetically modified food right now?

Well, this video is a bit long but it is both informative and easy to understand so if you've ever been interested, give it a watch.

http://vimeo.com/6575475

Edit: Seems that a lot of people are responding with out watching the vid. And yes, I can tell. The GM foods that this is talking about are not cross bred or cross pollinated plants. It's specifically the GM patented seeds, that a majority of which are owned by Monsanto. Again, watch before you comment. I'm not saying there aren't arguments to be made, but I want you to have to information here before making a statement blindly in response or else I'll end up just having to repeat everything laid down in it trying to exlpain it! XD

Okay, who ever gave me their cold, myou can have it back now, thanks! Oh and I'd like my energy back too.

Ugh.

Thought I'd be able to have things back on track now commission wise after the holidays but then this thing jumped up and bit me in the face after New Year. Good news is it's at the tail end now. I should be hitting my stride again by tomorrow.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm torn between going to Idaho fur and Sakuracon this year. If money allows I'll swing both, but if not, I have to pick one. While Sakuracon is bigger and more well known (plus we'd be going to see our best friend who moved out to Seattle last year) I do kinda want to be there to support my state's first furry con.

Decisions!

Well it's officially 2012... happy last year on earth everyone!

You know all those things you used to do this time of year, every year, with your family? I've been thinking about all of mine lately, especially now that my daughter is getting old enough (well... almost) to start being introduced to some her self. It's a little funny how many of them revolved around food when I was a kid, now that I'm thinking about it!

But we're our own family now, and I've decided that we're going to start our own yearly traditions. Which is why I've just spent the last three hours baking my little tush off, making pieces for a ginger bread house and the spice cake that it will sit on! XD I always loved looking at those ginger bread kits and displays in stores when I was little but my parents never got me one. Not so much because they didn't want me having it but more because we just got so busy with other holiday stuff that they wouldn't have time to do it with me or would just plain forget. Now that I'm the parent, I've been quite taken with the idea that we will bake and decorate a gingerbread house on Christmas eve from now on!

Well now that I've stayed up far to late I wanted to wish you all the happiest of holidays and hope that you get to celebrate all those traditions that you've come to enjoy with your family, and maybe even a few of those not so great ones... Because, let's face it, Christmas just wouldn't be the same with out them!

Hop over and check out  bourbon's Journal for his awesome Japanese spa orgy pic!
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2976618/

There's still some slots left to get your character in as of the posting of this journal but you'll want to hurry because there filling up fast!

Edit: More pimpin'!  Hizzie's Mistletoe Auction, check it out!
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7003290

So, I got Xav a full poster sized print of the pic I did for him a while back for Christmas:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6311677/ !

It turned out awesome! At full size it actually looks like a real show poster. Now I just got to get a frame for it. Hope you all have luck finding that special something for your loved ones as well!

So, I hope everyone had a great turkey day! Mine was crazy busy and chaotic but in a fun way. My best friend and my favorite grand mother who both live in different states can up to visit for the weekend and I spent so much time talking and merry making I lost my voice! Time to recoup with a little Skyrim and then back to drawing!

God damn I want to listen to this while I'm slaying dragons!

http://www.youtube.com/user/331Erock?feature=g-all

Reposted from  peanutchan's Journal on DA

Why This Is Important

The IP Act (S.968 - PROTECT IP Act of 2011) establishes a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be "dedicated to infringing activities." The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against the alleged infringer and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. In some cases, action could be taken to block sites without first allowing the alleged infringer to defend themselves in court. The PROTECT IP Act would allow copyright owners – movie studios and other content providers – simply to accuse a website of infringement, which could lead to that site being shut down by court order and entire links to the site being wiped clean from the Internet. The bill is so poorly written that it would allow any copyright owner to shut down a legitimate retail website, such as Amazon or Best Buy, by alleging that one product being sold on the site could "enable or facilitate" an infringement. It could even allow any content owner to block access to the Patent Office website if it receives and posts a patent application for a product that is believed to use content without permission. The PROTECT IP Act will hurt American innovation. This bill will give one side the power to put the other side out of business and this is dangerous beyond words.

(Petition created by Veronica Deevers)

http://www.change.org/petitions/sto.....ntrol-bill-now

...in Skyrim. My self personally is curled up nice and toasty warm under my snuggy while I run my new Argonian through blizzards and bandits. I must say that I don't think these lizards have ever looked sexier! It's a big step up from Oblivion which its self was a step up from Marrowind. Please note, I'm talking about the character models only here. Jury's still out on the game it's self since I haven't played enough to form any opinion yet.

Happy Guy Fawkes day to all you UK furs out there. Sadly we probably won't get an excuse for fire works here in the states till New Years so I hope you enjoyed your selves!

I haven't been updating much, The Kiddo and Halloween kept me pretty busy and we also have quite a few relatives with birthdays in the last couple of weeks but now things should be slowing down till Thanksgiving. But rest assured I have still been drawing, just haven't posted anything new yet! I will be opening up commissions here in a day or two so stay tuned!

Current status on my request art!


Current Requests:
1. Rika_Wolf Done!
2. KuragariOokami Done!
3. the_last_centaur Done!
4. plu Done!
5. crobat In progress

I've been a bit slacking the last couple of days on account of Love bringing home Sims Midevil and myself getting sucked in...

So sorry! Back on track now. :D

Current status on my request art!


Current Requests:
1. Rika_Wolf Done!
2. KuragariOokami Sketch, finished
3. the_last_centaur Ink, in progress
4. plu In progress
5. crobat In progress[/center]

New laptop is all set, all programs reinstalled to it. Only thing I have yet to do is transfer over my picture and document files but since my old flash drive is full up of Love's PDFs I'm gonna have to wait till next payday and get a new one. Other than that we are good to go!

It's here! Yay! Please excuse me while I hug my new computer for the next 24 hours.

Actually, I would love to set it up and start using it but I need to wait till I put Eris to bed because she will be all over anything I try to do. Toddlers, what can you but love 'em? I'm surprised it showed up as quick as it did, given how slow our mail usually is in this area. New eggs is on the ball.

Ordered the new computer yesterday! I can't wait for it!
....Think it here yet? I'll go check!

...
...
...
...
...

No. Damn.

I am a furry. Or more specifically a scaly I suppose. Semantics. Anyway, I'm pretty much openly one at that. I don't just walk up to people and introduce my self as such, mind, but if a friend or acquaintance starts talking about the fandom I'll usually tell them that I am part of it and give them my insight into it. Most often the conversation is started by a non-furry talking about how weird or gross furries are. When I then casually inform them that I am a furry they're usually quite shocked (I'm a pretty down-to-earth person which I don't think is what most people mentally associate furry with) and they like listen to my own take about what furry is to me. Usually the people I meet who don't like furries are the ones who've only ever seen people cos-playing in dog suits humping each other or had some childhood memory raped by god-awful art.

But the one question that I'm asked and have asked of my self is, why?
And I can never really pin down to a specific reason. But in thinking about it I have come to some conclusions that might have contributed to it.

1. Disney and its fellow competitors. Now don't get me wrong here! I'm not saying that if you watch cartoons as a kid then you'll eventually be a furry. Not even close. There are multiple generations of kids that grew up on the stuff and I'm sure that only a handful out of each continues to be accepting of the idea of walking and talking animals into adulthood. But this the idea that it introduced. Through the late 80's and the 90's, feature length children's animations often centered around the plights small furry critters that banded together and overcame their troubles through pluck, luck, and doing the right thing. Talking animals fed my imagination. Which would bring to...

2. The very thing that allows me to create my art and stories is my imagination. I was accused of having too much of it as a kid since I was always labeled as "a day dreamer" but I scoff at that idea as an adult. Never such a thing as too much. In fact I think most people need more. It allows me to bypass the ordinary and hypothesizes the fantastic, then create it! I guess sentient fauna is a little too fantastic for some people.

3. The internet. Okay no not the internet its self but rather how I was taught to operate it as a kid. I was about 12 when we got our first internet connection. Ahh good ol' 56k dial up. I played Everquest on you...err sorry. Started getting nostalgic there. Anyway, before even letting me try out the new toy my parents warned me that talking on the internet was essentially talking to any one in the country or even the world. They were all complete strangers and you never knew who could really be on the other end of the connection typing on that other keyboard (A murder? A rapist? A pedophile?) so don't give them personal info! No last name and try for no real first name either. No phone number and especially no address! With this beaten (not literally) into my mind, I sojourned into the online world and quickly found the best way to protect myself was to create a false alter ego. My first "fursonas" if you will.

4. Highschool. Let's face it. Unless you're rich and popular, being a teenager sucks. Trying to really figure out who you are, and who you're supposed to be when slammed with the of deluge hormones, peer pressure and the looming responsibility of adulthood can send your mental facilities into complete overload. Everyone deals with it differently. Me, I had online gaming and RP chat rooms and message boards. Eventually I'd meet my future husband and he'd introduce me to D&D and tabletop role playing as well. The per(fur)sonas that I had created and cultivated gave me an escape where I could let off some steam. I also really started feeling a sort of spiritual connection with some of the animals I loved: the loyalty and determination of wolves, the grace and power of felines, the primal coolness of reptiles. All things that I wanted to emulate and cultivate in my own being as I became my own person.


So why continue to do it? Well I have no real explanation other than it's fun and I like it! I like the people I meet in the furry community. I love the inspiration I get for my art and I love the fun I have with the whole thing. Yeah, there's some weirdos in there. But let's face it, there's weirdo's every where- you're kidding yourselves if you think otherwise. It's when someone attaches their weirdness to their furriness then flaunts it, that it just gives it a face for other people to target. This is unfortunate because there's plenty of great people out there who're relatively well adjusted and also happen to be of the furry persuasion.

So to all you non-furries out there who might happen to read this, next time you see one of those strange people in their bunny outfit just remember, they probably don't get your interest antique steamer trunks or Boggle or whatever your interests might include either. But then again maybe they do. So don't be afraid to wave. Even say hi. It won't kill you and neither will they. Probably.