Illustration Friday - Adapt(able)

Adaptable Gemini twin sisters Ces and Buckram And Bembo. Pigment ink on 11"x14" bristol Board.

GEMINI
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NOTICE: I did not write the article below. I compiled it from the many horoscope interpretations of GEMINI (word for word) and I inserted my own opinion (in parenthesis). To find similar articles, google "Gemini Adaptable".

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May 21 to June 21
Gemini is a Mutable [adaptable] sign and ruled by
Mercury

Positive Traits: Adaptable and versatile Communicative and witty Intellectual and eloquent Youthful and lively

Negative Traits: Nervous and tense Superficial and inconsistant Cunning and inquisitive (Pffft!)

Gemini, the sign of the Twins, is dual-natured, elusive, complex and contradictory. On the one hand it produces the virtue of versatility, and on the other the vices of two-facedness and flightiness. The sign is linked with Mercury, the planet of childhood and youth, and its subjects tend to have the graces and faults of the young. When they are good, they are very attractive (Yah!); when they are bad they are more the worse for being the charmers they are (This very seldom happens). Like children they are lively, happy - if circumstances are right for them – egocentric (NEVER!), imaginative (What’s wrong with that?) and restless. (Big deal!).

They take up new activities enthusiastically but lack application (Who says?), constantly needing new interests (that’s good!), flitting from project to project as apparently purposelessly as a butterfly dancing from flower to flower (This is so not true!). To them life is a game which must always be full of fresh moves and continuous entertainment, free of labor and routine (And this is a problem?).

Since they lack the quality of conscientiousness (Excuse me!), they are apt to fight a losing battle in any attempts they make to be moral - in the widest sense of the word (WTF!). Their good qualities are attractive and come easily to them (Naturally!). They are affectionate, courteous, kind, generous, and thoughtful towards the poor and suffering (This is true) - provided none of the activities resulting from expressing these traits interferes too greatly with their own lives and comforts (This is not true).

They quickly learn to use their outward attractiveness to gain their own ends, and when striving for these they will use any weapon in their armoury - unscrupulous lying (WHAT? I NEVER DO THIS!), cunning evasiveness - escaping blame by contriving to put it on other people (Nope), wrapped up in all the charm they can turn on. In their better moments they may strive to be honest and straightforward, but self-interest is almost always the victor (You don’t like Gemini, do you?). If things go against them, they sulk like children (Hah!). Also like children, they demand attention, admiration, and the spending on them of time, energy and money (What’s wrong with wanting that?), throwing tantrums if they don't get what they want (I cannot ever remember throwing a tantrum).

They reflect every change in their surroundings, like chameleons, and can become pessimistic, sullen, peevish and materialistically self-centered if circumstances force them to struggle in any way (This is extremely not true). If the conditions of life become really adverse, their strength of will may desert them entirely (So if you love me, don’t let this happen!). They can become uncertain of themselves, either withdrawn or nervously excitable worriers, sullenly discontented, hard and irritable, with self-looming ever larger in their struggles (You don’t want this to happen). On the other hand their versatility can make them very adaptable, adjusting themselves to control the world around them by means of their inherent ingenuity and cleverness (See, they know how to solve their own problems).

Geminis have a keen, intuitive, sometimes brilliant intelligence and they love cerebral challenges. But their concentration, though intense for a while, does not last (Are you talking about eons, so of course it won’t last). Their mental agility and energy give them a voracious appetite for knowledge from youth onward, though they dislike the labor of learning (Play is better). They easily grasp almost everything requiring intelligence and mental dexterity and are often able to marry manual skills to their qualities of mind (TRUE!). Their intellect is strongly analytical and sometimes gives them so great an ability to see both sides of a question that they vacillate and find it hard to take decisions (TRUE! TRUE!)

Mercury in Gemini people are generally quick-witted. They can come across as somewhat scattered (so wrong), and this is mainly due to their eclectic interests. They seem to know a little about everything. Turn to Mercury in Gemini men and women for lots of facts and figures as well as broad (A real broad) knowledge. Their learning is a little superficial—they generally have too many interests to delve too deeply into any one. (These are only the unevolved Gemini)

These natives learn best in a stimulating environment. They get bored easily, but they are fast learners. Impressionable to a fault, Mercury in Gemini people pick up more from their environment than most, and they can process information at lightning speed! The restlessness of Gemini is especially obvious when Mercury is placed in the sign. There is a nervous energy here that is unmistakable.

Although Gemini is a fairly open-minded sign (Read that Renee? I am open-minded!), there is often a bias towards logic (and very logical, darn right, I write logic modules!). Unless Mercury forms an aspect with the Moon in the birth chart, Mercury in Gemini natives don't always rely on intuition, nor do they take into account the world of emotion (very unscientific and people manipulate your emotions) in their decision-making processes. In this sense, they can come across as a little too intellectual or just plain logical (but it ends up being fair!). The lack of heart behind what they say and think can be frustrating to more personal communicators (you are so emotional!).

Although Mercury in Gemini people are generally interested and interesting speakers, they can also be quite detached (what’s wrong with being objective?), easily discarding or ignoring more personal issues (these are messy stuff). They don't get attached to their opinions and ideas for too long, and the result is a changeability and coolness that can be frustrating to others (Be adaptable, man!). On the other hand, their curiosity and willingness to adapt to the environment around them often endears them to others (it can’t be helped). Because they possess versatile minds, you won't have much of a problem convincing them to change their minds (But only if they love you, otherwise, FORGET IT).

Mercury in Gemini natives can be smooth talkers (CRAP!), even a little deceptive (MORE CRAP!), although this is generally not with cruel intent (See, I told you - kindness!). It's done, usually, with a sense of humor (So fascetious). In fact, it's more of a mental exercise than anything (It’s all in your mind). They are able to quickly spot human weaknesses and then play around with them, (Uh oh, BUTTONS!) Decision-making is generally done quickly and competently (Absoultely!). They have fun with words, they are good on the phone (very sexy voice), and they make engaging speakers (so captivating!). They communicate with a strong sense of fun (very playful), and they can "speak to" people from all walks of life with equal ease (truly egalitarian!).

Mercury in Gemini natives often possess presence of mind (So don’t think you can sneak one past me) and will generally impress you with their wit (What wit!). For the most part, it is unlikely these people will bore you! (NEVER! Guranteed!)

But their intelligence may very well be used to control and unify the duality of their natures into a most efficient unit. If faced with difficulties, they have little determination to worry at a problem until they find a solution - they will pick the brains of others (This is called initiative and networking). In their intellectual pursuits, as in other departments of their lives, they risk becoming dilettantes, losing themselves in too many projects which they follow until they become difficult (I love challenges).

In love they are fickle, not intentionally so but because of the basic inconsistency of their emotional nature, which has an amoral (WHAT?!) aspect to it. Their is a side to Geminis which can become deeply involved emotionally, and another, hostile to sentimentality, which stands back from a romantic situation, laughing at it and the protagonists in it, including themselves, and analyzes it intellectually. Gemini subjects take nothing seriously (LIFE IS SO SHORT).

So, in love, in spite of their temporary depth of feeling - for the intensity of involvement lasts only while it is new - they are superficial, light-hearted, cool, flirtatious and unimaginative (WHO SAYS?) in the understanding of the pain they may give others (WHAT”S WRONG WITH YOU?). They like intrigue, the excitement of the chase, but once they have caught the prey, they lose interest and look around for the next creature to pursue (This is not true, I am LOYAL). In less serious situations they make witty, entertaining companions, good acquaintances rather than friends.

Even at their worst they are never dull - there is usually playfulness below the surface, and they can be brilliant conversationalists (TRUE!) - but they can also be quarrelsome, prattlers, boasters, liars and cheats (Exception rather than the rule).

Geminis can be successful in many walks of life though their general characters tend to make them unreliable (I am dependable and realiable). They are often skilled manipulators of language, in speech and writing, and may be debaters, diplomats ,though in politics they are more interested in theory than practice, orators, preachers- brilliant rather than profound (How about both?) teachers, authors and poets, journalists or lawyers. In business any work which combines quick-wittedness with change of surroundings suits them - working as a travelling salesperson (SALESPERSON! Not unless I am selling pots and pans at Williams Sonoma), brokerage work or dealing of any kind.

Because they are dispassionate, logical, rational and analytical they make good scientists, especially medically, astronomers and mathematicians. VERY LOGICAL!). They can also make excellent members of the Forces (SALUTE ME BABY!), for they take danger no more seriously than anything else and can earn themselves a reputation for devotion to duty and heroic acts. In the arts they may excel in music, painting and sculpture. They make good psychical researchers of a sceptical kind. Negatively they can degenerate into confidence tricksters, thieves and even adepts in the black arts (I DON”T KNOW ANYONE LIKE THESE).

Physically Geminis often appear youthful, even childlike (YES!). They have tall, thin (I WISH), but strong and active bodies, with long arms and legs culminating in short, fleshy (FLESHY?) hands and feet. Their faces are also inclined to be long and sallow, with large, piercing hazel eyes, often in contrast with dark complexions. Their hair is often dark, almost black. They use their hands and eyes expressively - they are great gesticulators - and their movements are quick and active (WATCH ME BRACHIATE!)

Gemini's hot spots are the hands and arms (This is true. I can sense the texture of a surface through my brush or pen). These are very sensitive regions and are very receptive a massage and a gentle touch or stroke. This also calms the high-strung Gemini and relaxes them, setting the mood for passion. Gemini's usually love their finger being sucked or nibbled (HAHAHA!), a great integration into foreplay that will heighten the mood. Gemini women love it when a man grabs their hand and kisses it, like a princess (WHAT ABOUT SLIDING A DIAMOND RING INTO THE FINGER?)

Gemini rules the arms, shoulders, hands, lungs and nervous system and its subjects need to beware of diseases and accidents associated with the upper part of the body, as well as nervous and pulmonary disorders such as catarrh and bronchitis. Their mercurial nature may also affect a constitution which is not strong if it is put under strain. (Then be nice to me)

Gemini loves to experiment and sex with a Gemini is full of novelty and excitement, trying anything and everything nearly anywhere. (You wish!). Gemini is not for the faint of heart or the shy and secretive lovers! (SEX IS OVERRATED).
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From:

http://www.cafeastrology.com/zodiacgemini.html

http://www.astrology-online.com/gemini.htm

One Brick At A Time

Day 8. One brick at a time...Rockface, ursu, lagomorpha, rodentia, reptilia, ovum...alas you're cracked!

One Rock At A Time

Okay, so it is just a bunch of rocks. Why is it taking so long?!



Day 5, Day 6 and Day 7. (I have forgotten I started this seven days ago).
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One day my neighbor rang our doorbell. She was wearing a white plush bath robe, the kind you see offered in diamond-rated hotels. It did not really bother me that much except I was a little taken aback by it because we were not on close-friend terms with each other. I talked to her in the garden and then suddenly she just opened her robe and flashed her "nekkid" body in front of me! WHOAAA! I tried to look away and she asked how her scar looked. I tried not to look below her abdominal incision but it was very difficult. I told her it looked okay to me, and she started telling me about her surgery while keeping her bathrobe open. I tried to look away. Deep down I was amused and wanted to giggle.

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Then another neighbor asked me to look at the boil on his thigh. He was bitten by a spider and his thigh was clearly inflamed and the purulent mass was ripe for drainage so I screamed "EEEEEK!" He dismissed my reaction and reminded me I was a nurse and I replied with disgust "Yes, but I am not your nurse, I am your neighbor!"

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I get called by children of couples who are fighting in the hope that I will be able to intervene. I only tried that once. What if the crazy couple had a gun and they will start shooting at each other and I could get shot, that would be very painful.

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The worst deal was being asked to change the dressing twice a day of my neighbor who had a gaping hole on his back. Yeech! I could not refuse because my husband asked me to help because it was our friend and he had surgery. His wound was so deep it was like going through my purse!

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And then there was my neighbor on whom I had to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after Hurricane Ike...

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...and Em's friend who was hit by a car...

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...and that kid whose ears were bleeding after he fell on his motorbike and I had to ask for an ambulance and Life Flight helicopter...

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These stories have nothing to do with the above drawing, it's just that I started thinking about them when I sat down in the kitchen early this morning as I drank my coffee and continued to draw.

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So now you know. Okay! I am off duty!

Illustration Friday - (un)Cracked

Moleskine doodle done during Lunch and Learn lecture yesterday.

When I was in fifth grade, my teacher who also happened to be my eldest sister, introduced our class to English literature. One of my favorite poems is Invictus. My sister encouraged me and my classmates to feel and think during our recitations, immerse ourselves in our delivery. To this day I cannot recite this poem without getting tangled in the emotions it conveys.

As I went through life during my youth, I was faced with many challenges as part of the normal growing and learning process. However, I was also exposed to adventures that I thought were beyond the ordinary. Or maybe they were ordinary, it's just that my tempestuous and intense personality magnified their effects.

I have learned to say this poem in a praying manner because many times I have silently recited this instead of the Psalms as I faced my struggles. Today when I saw the prompt for Illustration Friday, "Cracked" I thought of Renee because I was doodling on her Moleskine at lunch time. I thought that despite her adversity she still manages to inspire others and spread happiness, she may be battered at times by her cancer but I don't think it will ever crack her spirit. So I incorporated the poem in the doddle. Can you see it?

William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903

Invictus

OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Friend-Sister Bella Sinclair, Yeah!!!

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You believe me now when I tell you I am the luckier one?

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I still have not gotten over the thrill of the Cuppa Cuppa Tree and she sends me a Happy Mother's Day gift, beloved Friend-Sister Bella Sinclair who lovingly drew two adorable little girls holding ginkgo biloba leaves. The Ginkgo is an ancient tree saved from extinction by the Buddhist priests. I was drawing my first leaf series when Bella came to my life. What an auspicious project - drawing a living tree and finding life with a new friend!

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Bella and I started blog/visiting/commenting with each other several months ago and I think it was sometime in August of 2008. However, it wasn't until later when we started getting to know each other when one day she saw a change in the tone of my illustrations and my posts and offered an ear to listen and a shoulder to lean on. Thank you Sweetie!

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"Friday! Skywatch or Illustrate"
22 Comments -
Bella Sinclair said...
W.O.W. You are simply amazing! What incredibly lovely and detailed drawings you have. I wish I had your level of patience. These must have taken a long time to ink.I love looking up at a canopy of leaves, too. I get myself dizzy that way. And I like your fascination with windows. I have a fascination with doors! I will definitely be back for more ooohs and aaaahs.
August 16, 2008

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And then I went to see visit her...

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"IF - Detach"
Ces said...
Hello Bella. Thank you for your sweet comment at my blog. I am sorry to hear about your friend Arlene. The struggles some of us go through are incredible and the strength and courage they bear are a source of inspiration to us all. I pray that your friend heals and may she live a bountiful life.
August 17, 2008 12:46 AM
Ces said...
Your pencil drawings are fantastic!!!
August 17, 2008 12:47 AM

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My life has been so much happier ever since! This is what makes blogging fun. I find brilliant (she is truly I a shining star - I am sworn to secrecy and she is so humble) talented women like her who brightens my days and makes me laugh and love life. I met so many wonderful women through Bella because she attracts these gifted and talented artists with her most adorable and incredible illustrations and genuinely fabulous personality. I am so darn lucky!

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Thank you! Thank you!!!

Moleskine Project Part II

Every time the three wildfires gather, they shoot sparks that light up the starry night!

Getting started on the second Moleskine notebook I am doing for a friend who most definitely sends sparks flying everyday!That's what I think of her anyway. She, shown above weaving her magic in her flowing vestment with one elegant dilettante brainiac who magically draws the most beautiful, adorable illustrations, you know who you are; and then me, the left -brain Sunday painter.

I am blessed, very blessed. So blessed it sometimes scares me. I keep pinching myself making sure it's real. I close my eyes and make sure they are still there when I open my eyes. And they are there! But I keep self-guessing, why?! What have I done to deserve them? They are the most loving, caring brilliant women I have known who offer friendship, love and caring without demands. They love me and do not ask for anything in return. They do not demand I see them every month or don't get upset when I don't answer an email right away...I take that back. Renee curses like a freight train run amok. She is very impatient.

See! They have proven Aristotle right. All these years finally I can say, yes it is possible to love someone just because it makes you happy doing so, not asking for anything in return. Love is truly a virtue.

I want to linger, but my left brain tells me to go to work and earn money so I can buy another canvas and perhaps an oil paint tube of cobalt blue and cadmium red and orange!
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50-Servo

I am 50 years old. Soon I'll be 51. Dang! I can't even see without glasses.

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I love being a woman, being female except for the pain and the agony, to be specific, the pain of menstruation, of childbirth and the agony of perimenopause. Other than that, I always thought being a woman was a pleasant and auspicious situation; at least that is how I was brought up or made to believe by none other than Father. Now I wonder what he told my two brothers. He must have said the same thing, making us equal then. Father had the enormous task of sharing child rearing responsibilities for six daughters and two boys with Mother, in a country and culture where women were expected to behave in a subservient manner.
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I saw a man who was rather authoritarian, who raised his voice to emphasize a point but most of the time he spoke gently and in a rather melodic voice. He smiled. He smiled a lot. He was a most amiable man, tactful and diplomatic but no one dared step on his toes. He hated injustice and he detested unfairness. He was egalitarian in the truest sense for I have seen him give the same respect to a man or woman in any station in life. Most of all he was not macho and he had enormous respect for women. He was also altruistic, an unusual trait for a man. I remember him telling me about my responsibilities, not just as his daughter but as a human being.
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So there was Father, I remember him talking to us, addressing us sometimes while he tinkered with his camera or while he rigged something, argh! I hated his rigged-up projects but Mother just let him. They were a pair, a loving couple and equal partners. My parents raised their daughters and sons and subjected them equally to the same rules and I must say oppressive rules sometimes meant to sap the life from a teen-ager. Curfew was before The Angelus and as we got older before the sun dipped into its cradle.
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Quite surprisingly, for a macho society, the Philippines is full of contradictions. Women are subservient in marriage and are frequently treated as sex objects yet in professional and civil settings they have enormous power. The Philippines had female justices in the supreme court long before the US had its first. They elected a woman as president then a second one. It is a maternal culture where mothers and grandmothers are perched on pedestals, recipients of frequent bows and whose hands we kissed, protected, yet when things have to be done and decisions have to be made, the woman leads. Yet, I could not go to aviation school when I wanted to go because I was a girl. A man can hit a woman and the wife cannot divorce an abusive husband.

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Father went along with all the customs but I remember the day I was struggling to decide whether I should amount to something or be a bum. I told him that I wanted to go to college where I had a better prospect of finding a good-looking and wealthy man. His retort, as he tightened the vise on the plumbing pipes he was fixing, was delivered plainly. I happened to be his assistant that day even though my sisters and brothers were milling about. He spoke in a mixture of English and Ilonggo. “You need to grow up and make something of yourself so you will not be in need of a man for your survival. Lead your life so that you will be happy whether you got married or decide to be an old maid.” So I reminded him that Mother stayed at home to take care of us and she was dependent on him. He paused and said in a gentle voice, “No, I am dependent on your Mother. Without her we would never be the family we are, she is a special woman, she is different and there is no one like her.”
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To my father, men and women are equal, they each play different roles, but what was surprising to me was the fact that he was clearly telling me I had a choice and he did not expect me or my sisters to follow set expectations and roles.
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My sisters and I detested the “old maid” label. Our eldest sister declared we will be women bachelors, if we so chose. So for a long time, we were women bachelors and we lived at the university campus for years. My sisters and the younger of my two brothers were academes. I was on my way to full fledged woman bachelorhood when one day, my eldest sister told me that I should get married. Me of all the sisters!

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“But I am a tomboy and I am not very feminine, you know, I don’t even walk like a lady. And I don’t even know how to flirt.”
“Yes you do, you just don’t know you are doing it. Remember when you were 14 years old and that boy followed you home?”
“Yes, but he was a creep.”
“No, he was a good-looking kid and he asked permission. Men like you because you are natural. So if that guy Bob pursues you, pay attention to him or the other men interested in you but choose an intelligent man, someone you will respect and also you don't want to have just plain average children.”
“But I don’t need a man! I can take care of myself.”
“Yes, but Mother and Father need grandchildren.”
“But why me? And I have to have children?!”
“Because you are the one with the most suitors and you like men the most.”
“No! You did. You were the one with the most proposals.”
“Yes, but I turned them down so I can help send my younger sisters and brothers to school. Don’t be like me, get married and continue the circle of life. You can do it for me, if you want to think of it that way.”
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Sister, you know what? I fell in love, but not only did I not forget what you told me, I always remembered it.
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Mother, a while back.
“You’re only going to have two?”
“Yes, I am in America, I don’t have maids. They are expensive.”
“The maids or the children?”
“The children!”
“You equate children with money? That makes me a rich woman then?”
“Yes, you are a rich woman, in every sense.”
“Do you have to make it so permanent?”
“I am too old to have another child, it’s dangerous.”
“How old are you?”
“You know how old I am.”
“I had you when I was thirtyeight.”
“I know. I played baseball with you when you were fifty years old and you hit a home run and that ended the game because we could not find the ball.”
“You will only have two children?”
“Yes, that’s all I want to have.”

"Only two...make sure they if they fall they don't hurt their heads, always protect their heads and faces.”

"Yes, I will. Thank you."

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My son cracked his bicycle helmet when he was three years old; in second grade, he ran unto the gymn wall and split his right eyebrow; at fourteen he slipped and fell on the pavement and cut his nose. He's okay, they're okay! See!
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Scarlet

You are my scarlet Fiestaware in the snow!

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Awaken!

30 inches x 40 inches.Oil on canvas.

Aaaw! I have never been more excited and enthusiastic to paint! I am so happy and so energized, like an internal trigger was implanted in me.

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...and I seldom dislike a painting because I will cover it and let it be gone, but this one, this one, I just love her! She was in a coma for a year and a half! She was neglected in a dark unkempt closet and I was ready to get rid of her.

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Self-analysis: Impetuous and tempestuous are not the best of combinations in a woman already intense and oh so ambivalent, but through the years I have learned to be earnest and prudent, or have I? Maybe I have just learned to live with the consequences?

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I am past middle age. I don't think I will live to be a hundred, therefore I said that. Sometimes I take stock of everything and everyone around me to assure me that I am doing the right thing. On whose terms though? Ah, I subject myself to many standards and rules and I make my own for me...and do I think I am successful? Let me rephrase the question, Am I satisfied?

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My husband has a slight complain about me. I avoid answering questions. Oh, I do reply but a series of statements hardly answer the question. Repeat the question, Am I satisfied?

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Scarlet, yes, that's her name. Scarlet up there was born a few months ago. Go back to my previous posts and you may find her. She metamorphosed way back from winter and today she has made me very happy, copacetic, in fact most satisfied.

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She had her eyes closed and she did not look very happy. One day I decided to start anew and then came along one. She guided my heart and my hand and I was uncapping bold pigments! Her ashen face blushed and she opened her eyes! Oh my God, she looked at me and I sat there and I smiled. Yes, you will do. You are alright! I love you and I will give you the things you like, a cup of coffee served on a scarlet mug, very hot, it stings your taste buds, you hate tepid, you love hot; a good book, fine paper and a beautiful pen, flowers and that darn black notebook. And you will sit in a bright room, the color of which will match the skies of the sunrise and sunset in the desert which will be your new home.

Sunday Painter

This is my 663rd post! Just for this blog alone. This does not include my first blog which I deleted. So many posts to delete. All I have to do is click one button "DELETE" and poof! I am out of here. You never knew me. When you see me crossing the street I am not Ces and I don't have dishes. That's what happens in the blogs. You get attached to someone and poof, they are gone. I miss Anon, I wonder how she is doing. I hope she is happy and healthy.

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So I am back to being a Sunday painter. Today I was very ambitious. I opened a 30"x20" stretched canvas frame and 2 16"x20" stretched canvas frames. I started with the smaller frames and painted the Vinegar Woman's sisters. My hands feel funny. I have a different touch. I can't paint the way I painted the vinegar woman which flowed so easily. I kept focusing on the new sisters' eyes. Oh, they look like they had a hard life. They look like peasants. The coconut sister looks like the wife of our butcher when I was a kid. Her name was Tia Rosa and she gave my mother discounts. Sometimes I went to the market with Mother and I helped carry her basket. She carried a woven basket made by the natives. There was no paper or plastic crap. They wrapped the vegetables in news prints. We hardly made any garbage and Mother recycled or threw things in the compost bin. In fact there was no trash pick up. We lived in the suburbs and there was no electricity where we built our house. My father had to pay for electric posts and telephone poles to be erected because he needed electrical power and telephone service for his studio. We were the first family in the area to have a telephone. Wow, I feel so ancient.

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Have a wonderful week!

Illustration Friday - Contagious...and Priceless!

Har! Har! Har! Shabang!!!

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Renee the Mental Ninja Magician and Bella Sinclair Mental Ninja Brainiac Dilettante Extraordinaire Exercising Ces, the Irreverent Unapologetic Sleepy Vampyre Blogger. Pigment ink on ruled Moleskine notebook.
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HA HA HA HA HA!!! I can't keep a straight face. The thought of blogging with Renee and Bella Sinclair just makes me smile. I sometimes have to bite my lower lip to stop my face from a full grin or laughter. I am still having a wonderful 23rd Wedding Anniversary celebration and my beloved Anglo-Saxon-Viking is with his friends and the Epsilons are with theirs so I am with mine! A time for everything...

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Contagious, infectious. Hmn, Odd words to describe enthusiasm and life but there it is contagious enthusiasm and zest for life. That would be Renee and Bella Sinclair. In fact I declare downright, they are both epidemics happening at the same time, no, make that pandemic! So here is all I can say about that. Their humor is virulent, they are brainiacs and mental ninjas and Bella..., oh Bella! She is the most incredible illustrator that I have ever known and quite dilettante! They are priceless! And My Dearest Renee, she is so serious, intense, irreverent and unapologetic at the same time. truly contagious!

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So this prompt gave me an idea. I like all my blog friends and I want to recognize all of your contagious enthusiasm but you have to be patient because as you can see, this requires a drawing interpretation of my blogging relationship with you. I am not the creative warehouse that can just whip up drawings and...another thing, I try to focus on something special so I have to do a lot of remembrances and I am laughing so much, I can't work fast enough...HA HA HA HA!!!

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So in the meantime, please accept this Quarantine Award if you agree you are contagious, infectious, irreverent and unapologetic. Hahahaha!

Well, Done!

Okay, I think she's done though she is in a precarious state because I have not signed her. Ha! I already see something I need to do.

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I love life. I am happy.

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Today is my 23rd wedding anniversary. My husband gently reminded me yesterday because even though I remembered earlier this month, today is the actual day. So 23 years ago at around 9:00 o'clock AM, I was talking to my mother over the phone. I told her that I quit my nursing job and moved all my things to Texas to the apartment of one young man whose name I did not share. She was clearly horrified and distressed that I was with "that man". I could not bear to hear her cry and I thought I was doing the right thing by moving to Texas to plan my wedding and so on...

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"That man" in question was asleep in the sofa having barely survived a sports victory party the previous night. I woke him up and announced that we either had to get married or I have to find myself a separate apartment. He woke up thinking he was dreaming. I clearly told him it was real. He never met my mother, only my father and my brothers and sisters but he understood that it meant so much to me that I relieve my mother's distress.

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Oh I did start making wedding plans with my friends, my sister and my future mother-in-law and we had general ideas but getting married...getting married was perhaps a year away. That day however, was not going to pass without me legally changing my surname or move out of that man's apartment. I looked around and saw my things still in shipping boxes occupying the living room. I decided getting married was easier. Oh God, there was a sense of urgency. My heart was pounding and I did not think about the long term effects of a marriage but the urgent need to restore peace in my mother's heart. All I could think of was that I broke my mother's heart, she wept over the phone. She was gentle and clear in her pronouncements. She told me she was disappointed that I chose to live with a man who was not my husband. Never mind that it was only three days ago that I arrived and I have not unpacked a single box yet.

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There is a lot to be said about love being enough, most times. Love was enough that day. I loved the man from the very first moment I glanced at him across the room seven years earlier. In fact before I knew his name, the thought "Oh my God! I just saw my husband!" rattled my brain and froze my heart. So that day love was enough, we were to get married.

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We knew nothing about getting married, where to go and there was no Internet, just the yellow pages. We went to the county clerk's office. Oh my God! This is important! Thank goodness I had a linen dress! All my other clothes were nursing scrubs, blue jeans, trousers, shirts and a skirt. So at least I looked decent, actually quite simply elegant. So we filed the papers and paid the fees and the clerk asked when we wanted to get married and we told her "today". She was taken aback and informed us that the judge was out to lunch and will be back at 1:00 PM.

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We had all that time before he came back from lunch and I was not about to go back to the apartment all decked in stockings and shoes...we went to lunch. As we drove by a hospital, I told him that I wanted to stop by and check it out. We went to the human resources department and the recruiter offered me a job that day. I thanked her and told her that I had to get married first and see what happens next. It was becoming surreal as the day progressed.

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The judge married us and as he asked us to repeat our vows, I gulped and was hit with the realization that I was getting married and felt so alone. My sister who shared my birthday anniversary since the day I was born was not with me, neither were my friends, my family, most especially my mother. I only had this man standing beside me, holding my hands so tight. I drew myself closer to him and bowed my head as I wiped a tear, then held my head up to meet his loving gaze and said "I do".

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We went back to the apartment, it still looked the same except I was now a married woman. I called my mother and awakened her from her sleep, it was 3:00 0'clock in the morning. I told her we were married by a judge. I heard a sigh of relief and then she said, "Well' you're not truly married, you have to be married in church." I smiled and I told her the next time I am getting married she had to be there to see me get married. It was a year later but we did get married in church. To me it was satisfactory but according to my Gemini twin sister everything was a mess, something about me behaving like I was just going to a picnic. Well life is a picnic! I can't help but laugh though, now that I think of it, it was a fiasco, it's perfect because it was "so Ces!" Hahaha! Oh my!

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Mother was right. She told me love is the cornerstone of a marriage and everything else will fall into place. My husband and I have been together since. I have a good marriage, although I have to say the reason why I was up at 3:00 AM today was because a certain tail-wagging dog awakened me begging to be let out. She was up with two men, my husband and my son who were on their way to bed. In my irritation I picked a fight with the man who clearly did not care about anything else but going to sleep. In fact, I don't think he heard me grumble as I stood out there in the yard with Daisy.

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All in all it's not bad. I have a loving husband, a terrific son and a fabulous daughter, a gentle dog, a soft rabbit and a peaceful fighting fish. Everyone else is asleep including the fish and I am up drawing and drinking coffee.

Finis

Here you go. All done. I sent the Mo-les-ki-ne notebook on its merry way. This was a fun activity, even more fun than drawing on my own notebook. Oh well for this one I doodled frequently even while I was socializing! I fell asleep several times while drawing or writing so what I wrote especially did not make any sense. When I woke up I corrected most of them. I tried to do my best but I ran out of ideas! Below is a detail of an old drawing I did last year. I was drawing my cluttered desk and yes, there was a Moleskine notebook on my desk!

Hurry Up Already!

To all my blog friends and visitors, thank you for your kind comments on my previous post. I shall return and reply soon.

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I want to start another painting. I already made a study of the next painting but I can't leave this one yet. I want to clutter her table, maybe a Waterman fountain pen. Hah! I told Bella she is reading Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth set in Baskerville with the display face in Delphin and with gold inlays on the cover, so I have to do the book cover! Haha! Actually I have a book set in Baskerville and Delphin but it is Rudyard Kipling's book. I gave away my Good Earth book.

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I love The Good Earth. I must have read it...well I read it many times. Once I read it when I was pregnant with Em and I cried on the page where she delivered her baby and then went back to the rice fields to work. I wept and my tears soaked the page of the book. It was not totally ruined. It was a beautiful leather bound book with gold inlays and it was one of my prized possessions. I gave it to a friend who I thought was a good friend of mine but I don't think she appreciated it. She would have been happier if I gave her something from the mall.

Wake Up!

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Do you remember her? She was relegated to some dark and unkempt carport closet going on two years. She was about to become extinct and painted over , who knows, not another cathartic painting, please! She needed a good scrubbing, a lot of grime and stains (metaphorically?, are you kidding?). She's not a closet woman, except for her clothes which need a bigger closet and a bigger house. So she scrubs up well doesn't she?

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What happened? She woke up! She opened her eyes! Holy crud! She can see. Maybe she was able to see before, she just did not want to see everything, maybe she wanted to close her eyes. And look! She is no longer blue! What was I thinking when I painted her? I could not finish her. I was so disaffected and disconnected but I showed her nevertheless, I shared her with my friends who urged me not to destroy her...
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So she's awake, except I could hardly keep myself awake while painting her. My daughter took photographs of me painting and this is the most decent pose of the batch. Hmn. So Mother's Day huh? What did you do? You went to dinner, got pampered or maybe your family just left you alone? I gave my husband a reprieve a long time ago. Listen, life is stressful enough. don't stress yourself over holidays and celebrations with flowers, jewelry, dinner, gifts? Okay? Sure okay, except he took it to heart. Hahaha! Men! They are so dense. They think you are being a good sport by making arrangement like those. I actually was unsentimental until I had children. Then the holidays took on a different meaning when I became a mother.

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Today my children were extra thoughtful and considerate and my husband, well we're going on 23 years this month, he finally learned to keep the peace at home - please the woman! Ha-ha! So today I got what I wanted - undisturbed day of painting and no I did not want to get dressed and go to dinner. My daughter and I stayed at home, she in her pyjamas and me in my scrubs. All I wanted was my favorite pizza so my husband and son drove across the highway to get my pizza and they came home with roses and tulips. Just in time for my painting - I needed flower samples. She is not finished yet. Her hands are unadorned and the book she is reading is untitled. She has her coffee, though served on a scarlet mug! She needs a pen and a paper, perhaps she is writing a letter to a new friend.

Award! Award! Award!

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I have been blogging for many years, I have never seen this type of excitement among the art blogs. I call it Punctuated Equilibrium with Sustained Momentum.

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Bella Sinclair's Flower Girls Series:

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13 illustrations

8 posts

675 comments and counting...

84.374/post comment average

countless laughter

immeasurable joy

Best Illustration Series

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Bella Sinclair's Flower Girls Series

Illustration Friday - Parade

The quadruplets had a vantage point for viewing the Water Festival parade. Pigment ink drawing on a pocket Moleskine ruled notebook.

Meanwhile, at 3:20PM the mice get very excited because someone wakes up in another part of the world. This is my current project. Drawing on a pocket ruled Moleskine notebook which I plan to give to a friend. It will be her first Moleskine notebook and I wanted to litter it with drawings on every page. My friend can still use the notebook for writing notes because, except for a few illustrations that fill up the entire pages, most of these drawings are borders. I have done 1/3 of the notebook, I think. How many pages does it have? 200? This project is making me mentally agile. What could I possibly draw in every page? Hmn? Sometimes I fall asleep while drawing making this a snorebook, even though I don't snore!