Ugh.

I feel like Rip Van Winkle, waking up from a 100 (right?) year sleep. My poor husband got the flu two weeks ago, and was so sick he ended up in the hospital not once, but twice. Thank goodness he is feeling better now!! And I have hopefully managed not to get it.

However, while he was sick I literally spent 24/7 taking care of him, and haven't been able to sleep a full night since. While he was sick I slept about 2 hours a day, and now my sleep schedule is so messed up that I can go to bed at 1:30 am and get up at 4 pm and still be tired. No matter how much or little sleep I get, I am SO exhausted! So, I feel completely out of touch with everything, like I blinked and missed all of 2009 already. What's this whole deal with March being next week?!

While my website redesign was sadly delayed, it has been going really well and is super close to going up. I tried the green, leafy theme, and it just didn't work... so, I went with elegant Victorian. I love it!! The only thing holding it up is me finishing the kitty painting that's in the website header. I have the absolutely hardest time painting when it's been a while or I have a lot of other things to do (*cough* thesis *cough*). Even though painting is what I WANT to be doing!

Okay, I can't remember what else I was going to say. I want to go back to bed!

It's 2:30 AM and I'm cooking my second batch of chicken... I'm not eating it tonight (this morning?) hehe. We're trying my parents' cook-a-bunch-then-freeze-it method, which will hopefully mean less tv meal dinners!

Yes, I know it's been FOREVER since I've updated on here... sorry about that! January was spent recovering from the holiday season, plus figuring out where we're moving in May. We visited states like Idaho to see where we'd want to move! In the end we decided to move back to California. So, I've been able to actually focus on other things now, thank goodness.

First, I finished my first painting of 2009-- Dark Faeries: Nightshade. Nightshade is my first painting in my new Dark Faeries series, and was both really fun and really hard to paint! Please click the picture below to see her on my website:



It felt really good to finish a fairy painting, since the last one I completed was in July! Of course, I was then suffering from kitty withdrawl, so I'm currently working on a fairy kitten and a fairy bunny. I'm also redesigning my website and working on my Master's thesis, so things are as crazy as ever.

I can't wait to finish and release my newest fairy kitten... I haven't figured out the title yet, but I'm considering "Strawberry Dreams" or maybe just "Strawberry Fairy Kitten" or something. If that gives you a hint ;) I'm trying to finish Strawberry and a new fairy painting to release with my website redesign. I'm having my typical indecisiveness concerning the website... one day I want a green, leafy theme, the next I want an elegant Victorian theme... it always depends on my mood! I'm about to just pick one theme and get too it.

That's all for now :) I hope everyone is having a good February-- I can't believe it's already February 2009!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! I wish you all safe and fun holidays with lots of love and laughter. Tim and I are enjoying our first Christmas together, and are currently watching some funny Christmas movies with his family. My family comes over tomorrow :)


Merry Christmas!

It's been forever since I posted on here since things have been just absolutely crazy! I'm not stressed to the hilt like the last time I posted, but I suspect that's because I'm almost done with everything.

Last week I had my new winter kitty merchandise in a local Christmas bazaar, which went surprisingly well. Tomorrow I have to take my art to OryCon for the Art Show, and then I'm DONE with obligations for a while!!!

I finished classes tonight by spectacularly failing my medieval manuscripts exams. Which I am SO pissed about because I worked hard every week and really studied the scripts. However, having only a half an hour to answer 16 questions identifying scripts and random contractions (wtf?!?) totally stressed me out, especially since you had to answer the questions in order. That was SUPER unfair. Grr. What a great end to my Master's program.

Anyway, I just released three new holiday kitty paintings, so go to my website and check them out! SpellboundWings.com. Prints are on sale, and I've got some cameos on sale as well in my beloved Etsy shop-- SpellboundWings.Etsy.com.

I'm done with cats for a while, and am working on a few angels and fairies, which I'll be releasing over the next month. I probably won't get much done next week since I'm going home for Thanksgiving, but I'm REALLY looking forward to taking a break. I'm tired of winter already-- it's SO cold in our apartment all the time, even when it's not that cold outside!

Wow, it's been forever since I posted on here. I guess it's not surprising, since things have been crazy in a good way!

However, tonight I am very tired and I suspect a little cranky. No good reason! I'm thinking about calling it a night and going to bed; I know I'll just lie there for the next three hours, but maybe I'll get lucky and fall asleep early.

I've been really busy filling orders lately (yay!) and making cameo necklaces in real life AND in my dreams lol. I adore my new Etsy shop!!! SpellboundWings.Etsy.com. I have literally about 15 paintings in progress, with a bunch of them really close to being done. I love this batch of paintings and feel it will expand my portfolio a lot- always a good thing! I've also been confirmed as an artist in OryCon 30's Art Show this November-- whoo hoo! It will be my very first convention and art show, so we'll see how it goes :)

I'm not going to rant about it extensively since I'm SO SO SO SO SO SOS OSOSOSOSOS SO sick of the freaking election, but can I say if I see one more pro-Obama, anti-Palin sticker/button/phrase/bumper sticker I think I will lose my mind, grab a pair of scissors, and run around screaming my head off trying to chop up invisible nargles.

I hate politics. I hate McCain. I hate Obama. I hate what I've seen this election bring out in millions of Americans. I do not agree with many of her policies, but I have been appalled by the disgusting attacks perpetrated against Palin. There is NO excuse for wearing a T-shirt at her speech that says "Palin is a c_ _ _." NO EXCUSE. I can't believe that it's not only acceptable but encouraged to bash Palin extensively, including using crude language and metaphors, yet if someone doesn't want to vote for Obama ( cuz he's a frigging UNLIKEABLE IDIOT WITH NO EXPERIENCE), that person must be racist. Give me a BREAK! The only people making this race about... race is the ones who say crap like that. I can tell you, if we were to have President Palmer from 24 running, I would vote for him in a nano-second. I don't care if he's black, white, polka dotted or purple. Obama is NOT Palmer; he has no experience, no good ideas as far as I'm concerned, and I can't stand hearing him speak any more than McCain. I can't believe how many people are mindlessly worshipping Obama; if they were doing the same to McCain I'd be just as disgusted. Sometimes people really are sheep and lemmings.

Whoops! So much for not ranting. Politics just seems to bring out the ugliness in humans, and really makes me want to crawl back into my fantasy worlds and paint all day... even more than usual. It just annoys me when I'm on Etsy trying to look at handmade items and all I see are Obama pins and anti-Palin pins with disgusting phrases written on them. I wish Etsy had a no-politics policy!

Okay, that's all tonight. I'm bummed I didn't get any painting done, but that's what tomorrow's for, right? :) Or homework...

It's one of those days that just makes you want to curl up in bed with a good book! All gray and potentially rainy.

Unfortunately, today is that pirate festival I've been looking forward to so much, and tomorrow's supposed to be even worse weather-wise, so we're going to go and brave the weather today. Ah, the things I do for love... aka gargoyle figurines and daggers LOL.

I have SO much to do when we get home tonight. My new Etsy shop has been kicking butt, which means I have a lot of items to make this weekend so I can ship them out on Monday. I have a Halloween painting I need to finish, several new products to work on, and I still have to update my DeviantArt & MySpace pages. Among other things! For some reason last week I dreamed up a new line of clothing and accessories, related to my art but not necessarily; I've been releasing some of the jewelry in my Etsy shop, but the clothing is still a WIP. I'm VERY excited though-- I've named it my Gothic Angel Collection. I haven't decided if it will get it's own website, or just be a subdomain for now.... which is another thing I need to work on; redesigning my website!

Where to start? Lots going on! I'm painting and doing lots of business stuff, and have LOTS of new exciting products on the way!!! I can't wait!

I opened a shop on Etsy: SpellboundWings.etsy.com. I LOVE the user interface and everyone on there is so nice! It's also inspired me to create some jewelry and such that's not based around my paintings... supplies are on their way!

I'm currently working on a bunch of paintings, including a Halloween kitty, some gargoyles (!!!), and a black-winged angel. I'm also redesigning my website! Luckily school is quiet this week so I can work on this stuff exclusively for a while. I'm also applying to vend at OryCon 30 in Portland in two months, which would be awesome.

Today was the release of Faefever, the third book in one of my absolute favorite series ever. I'm almost halfway done!!! EEK! I do have more self-control than before though... in the past, I've have been done by now. Also, there's a huge pirate festival in Portland this weekend, which I am SO excited about going to. Tim still owes me a dagger as a wedding present, and I think they'll be lots there!

Last (but not least!), I'm a member of a wonderful group called Fantasy Artists Emerging Forum (FAE Forum), and A Purrfect Autumn is in our Autumn Art Show. Head to www.faeforum.com/events/v/Autumn2008 to check it out! Lots of great fall art, perfect to get you in an autumn mood!

Off to work!

Whew! I feel like I've been working non-stop lately! When I actually have time to choose what I want to do now, I don't know what to do with myself lol. I did a massive website update, which I'll copy and paste from my newsletter below. I've finally been catching up on places like DA and Elfwood, and ... so much other stuff I can't remember! Augh!

I figured out what I want to do for my new website design... now I just have to do the painting for the image header :) I want to start it tonight, it's just so hard to start a new painting sometimes. Even when you really want to! Maybe I'll post again when I'm not so discombobulated. If I ever am! Haha. Oooh--- Faefever comes out in 8 days!!!!!!!!!! I've been waiting for this book forever, I'm SO stoked it's almost here. And on our one month marriage anniversary! Lol. Here's the September update-- you can always receive these when I send them out, along with secret sale offers, by signing up for my newsleter at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SpellboundWings/!

Spellbound Wings September 2008 Update

Welcome to the Spellbound Wings Newsletter

We have many exciting updates for you this month!

• Melissa has released a new fall painting, titled "A Purrfect Autumn." This magical new painting can be viewed here. A Purrfect Autumn makes a particularly enchanting clock, which you can reach through our Clocks page. You can also view Melissa's progress on this painting on Melissa's Blog.
• Melissa has added FOUR new cameo necklace designs to the website! These new necklaces range from simple black chokers to intricate creations with fine chain, black lace, and crystal beads. Visit our Necklaces gallery for links, picture, and descriptions of these new amazing adornments.
• Hand-embellished prints are here! Many of Melissa's most popular paintings are now matted, signed, and decorated with rhinestones and glitter. These new collector's items are available on the Embellished Prints page.
• For Angel Fallen fans, you can now purchase a special collector's item: Angel Fallen fancy matted, framed, and signed! Visit our Collector's Gallery to view this irresistible item.
• Finally, we have added several new jewelry boxes to our Fairytale Boxes page, along with new detail pictures.

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Melissa says "That does it for September updates! Thank you so much for reading. If you'd like updates on what I'm up to in between newsletters, please feel free to check out my blog on the website. I wrote a long article about my wonderful experience at Faerieworlds, a work-in-progress walkthrough of my latest painting, and hinted at the subject of my next painting."

Fairydust and Angel Feathers,

   Melissa Dawn

   www.SpellboundWings.com

 

Tiiiired! I had a very rough night & morning. For some reason I couldn't fall asleep, so at 8 am I was walking around and I found that Savannah must have caught the digestive problem that Strider had... though with her I found "presents" on the floor in the living room and kitchen. Since she's a long-haired cat, Tim and I had to cut away a lot of her tail/backend fur. Which is really fun at 8 am with no sleep, or in his case, half awake! I slept from 9:30 to 10:30, then again 1-1:45. Yes, that was it lol. And my to-do list for today is huge!!!

Happily, I finished my fall kitty painting, which is now called "A Purrfect Autumn." One of my faves! I added most of the merchandise to the website, though I haven't totally updated the site, which I really need to do today. I've been working on some hand-embellished prints, and I think they're turning out well. Though they're much sparklier when the glitter glue is wet! Haha.

My parents are going to Alaska in two days... I'm SO jealous. It's their first real vacation without me and my sis, which feels weird. Maybe since I don't get to go! Lol. What's weirder is the fact I won't be able to talk to them for over a week... though Tim thinks it's weird we talk every night :) I guess weirdness is in the eye of the beholder.

Okay, I'm going to try to get to work, but first I give you "A Purrfect Autumn" (clicking the pic will take you to the page on my site):

Well, I didn't get the painting done, but I'm really close! I'm thinking of calling it "Autumn Catnap" but I'm not sure if I like that. Maybe it needs more of a magical name?

It's almost 3 am and I'm tired, but I've been sleeping so badly I don't really want to go to bed. Our bedroom is the hottest & most uncomfortable room in the house, so I stay in the living room as much as possible! I'll be spending time in my office tomorrow, since I really need to work on the three new products I'm about to release. Fancy chokers, bookmarks, and hand-embellished prints will be released, probably next week. I wanted to do it this week but I've been so busy with this painting I haven't had a chance. I'm really excited about the hand-embellished prints! The mats I got for them look really nice, which I'm going to decorate with sparklies :) I'll also probably be releasing the Artist's Proofs of several of my most popular digital paintings as well.

I almost forgot-- we got our wedding pics today!!!!!!! WOW the photographer did the most amazing job. For the first time in my life I actually have pictures of myself that I like lol. I will be posting those everywhere tomorrow... then printing them out and wallpapering our walls haha. I can't wait to use my wedding dress as a reference for new angel paintings!!!

That's about it for now... here's a new WIP picture with lots of progress:

Ugh. For some reason my stomach is really hurting. Though I guess since we went to Claim Jumpers and ate tons of rich pasta tonight, maybe it's not so surprising! Just sucky.

I've been working on the fall kitty a lot; I'd like to get him done tomorrow (haha!). I really need to start working on this thesis, which means painting will be on the semi-back burner for the next two months. Of course my "quick" paintings never turn out as quickly as I want since anatomy always messes things up! Here's the latest WIP:



I'm still undecided as to what color I want to do the background-- the kitty stands out better against the light background, but the wings stand out better against the dark background. Guess we'll just have to see!

Grrr. Stupid fall kitty painting, the "quick" one, is NOT going well. Both last night and tonight I put in many, many hours, and once I again I may go back to the pic BEFORE all that work. For some reason, this kitten that's supposed to look cute keeps looking like a bat! Whyyyy?

That's really all I have to whine about tonight, so I guess that's a good thing. School just started again, alerting me to the fact I have 2 months to write an entire Master's thesis, which I'm not motivated to begin. Oops.

*Wants to wake up and find kitty painting finished itself*

I got my new Wacom tablet today.

It. Is. HUGE!!! It's bigger than my big laptop lol. I have no clue how I'm going to paint now-- normally I hold my tablet and have my laptop on my lap. I'm gonna have to come up with a new plan! It's very exciting :)

Tim and I used some of our wedding giftcards to get some new DVDs, so I finally bought Harry Potter 5. Every time it's been a while since I've seen it, I convince myself that it wasn't that bad (especially since it was my favorite book). Then I watch it and cringe the whole time! It is by far my least favorite of the five HP movies. I am just so baffled as to why, with all the resources they must have, they were unable to put out quality HP movies. *cries just a little bit*

So I decided some things last night. I have only done a handful of new paintings this year, since it's been so busy. I only opened my website and did my first festival in April, then followed that up with two more festivals, lots of new products, and other art business stuff. I was going to do several more festivals this year, but I think I'm going to scratch that and focus on doing new paintings instead. I'm also closing most commissions as well. I have at least five paintings that I would like to get done in the next four months, not to mention writing a hundred-page Master's thesis! So, I'm going to add just a few new products this fall, but try really hard to get a bunch of new paintings out.

And on that note, here's a close-up of the WIP of my fall kitty painting, which I'm showing a WIP tutorial with on my website blog:

... where to start?!?

The shower was a blast, my mom & sis did such an amazing job organizing it. Last week was off the hook crazy; I was up until 3 or 4 am every night working on wedding things, especially those darn centerpieces! The night before the wedding was great; we had our rehearsal dinner at the Macaroni Grill, then everyone came over for dessert (though our apartment was literally almost 90 degerees!). After everyone left, my sister and Tim's sister spent the night and helped me with centerpieces and seating charts and whatnot. We didn't go to bed until 4 am!!! Luckily the wedding wasn't until 5 pm on Saturday, but I still only got about 5 hours of sleep. We slept on the floor in front of the balconey because it was so incredibly hot in the apartment. Not quite what I pictured all my life lol, but still it was fun.

I need to do a post on the wedding itself... I think I'll cross-post that here, my blog on my website, and myspace when I get pics from the wedding. So stay tuned for details about the wedding itself!

After the wedding, we went to Tim's coworker's beach house on the Oregon coast. It was AMAZING! The house was so cozy, and it felt wonderful to just relax for the first time in months. We took naps every day, and ate pizza and ice cream for breakfast and dinner. It was the life! Unfortunately, we were only there for two nights, since Tim had to go back to work yesterday. So he's back at work, and I'm slowly catching up on everything art-related.

Oh! And my Wacom tablet got really scratched, so with some of our wedding money, I ordered a new one. A NINE by TWELVE inch tablet!!!! I started out on a 6 x 8", and my current one is a 4 x 6", so you can imagine how I'm dying to start working on a 9 x 12"!!! Supposedly I get it in a week. I can't wait!!! Okay, I think that's all for now... I have so much to do, and a painting I really need to start. It's nice to get to paint again, and to be a wife finally :) Though I still can't get used to that!

Sleeeeepy today. Tim found out yesterday that his playoffs for softball are tonight, so we get to leave at 4:30 for that and then fly down to CA at 9:30. *rolls eyes* Which means I have 3.5 hours to get ready to leave for the weekend... ugh. Each weekend we have such fun stuff going on, but I really can't wait until we're just here for a few weeks straight! Savannah's decided to express her disappointment that we're leaving by lying on all my papers and licking my elbow lol. Anyway, my mom and sister have been working really hard on my shower tomorrow, so I'm really excited. And tomorrow's my last dress fitting! Yikes. I can't believe this time I get to take it home with me! Well, kinda. I have to give it to my mom-in-law to drive up here :)

Oh, and we got our wedding bands!!! They're so pretty, I actually want to wear mine already (I previously disliked all the hundreds of bands I tried on). So that's good! The centerpieces are still a mess... I'm trying to use flowers and jewels to make the candles pretty, but so far nothing's really worked for us. I guess that will be the first thing I do when we get back! Anyway, I'm off to pack... one of these days I'll actually be able to sit down and paint!!! Someday...

Where to start? I haven't been on LJ for weeks cuz things have been sooo crazy here. I always think they can't get any crazier, then they do! I left off with a funeral for my printer... I did go to Fry's and get a new Epson R1900, which I'm now in love with. I did all my printing for the Marion County Fair, then spent about 60 there over four days! I had a lot of fun, but there were few enough people there that I was able to use the time to update my website. It has a brand new look!

I also (finally!) finished Summer Dreams. Click the small pic below to go to the full view on my website!




Since the fair, I've been working like crazy trying to get things ready for Faerieworlds. I'll have new cameos & chokers, as well as some other items I'm still working on but am very excited about! I was hoping to get at least 3 more paintings done by the festival, but I'll be lucky if I get one done. We have to fly home this weekend for a wedding, then next weekend is Faerieworlds, then we fly back home for the shower/bachelorette/bachelor parties, then the next weekend is the wedding. I'm not sure I'll survive the next month with my sanity intact!!! And don't get me started on people who are invited to the wedding but never bother to RSVP...

Hmm I think there was a lot more I wanted to write, but I'm so tired I can't remember. Mostly things are going really well and I'm really excited about Faerieworlds and the wedding... it's hard to believe that in a month the two biggest events of my summer will be over! I'm looking forward to finally relaxing. Whoops! Once I'm done with this, I have to work on my Master's thesis, which is due in November. Eek! Okay, I'm going to bed before I think about that too much!

Well, it looks like this weekend I'll be holding a funeral for my printer. I've been doing what I can to try and fix it, but at this point I think it's hopeless. So, Tim and I have a date for Fry's this weekend-- now all I have to do is figure out which printer I want!

Since I couldn't print today, I worked on redesigning my website instead. I thought I made a lot of progress, but now I'm questioning how I want it to look. I think the problem is it's been too long since I came up with the new design and now I can't really remember it! I probably should be spending my time finishing Summer Dreams and um starting the dragon piece I wanted to paint before the fair... but web coding is so addicting for me lol. I can't decide between themes... autumn? Gothic? Cheerful spring? Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow morning and know exactly how I want it to look! Haha.

In California we don't really have summer storms, so it's really weird for me to see blue lightening and hear thunder in the middle of the summer and 80 plus degree weather! I've actually only seen lightening a handful of times in my life in California... and the pets aren't used to it either, the thunder keeps freaking them out!

I'm having big printer troubles right now which I think is stressing me out a bit, considering I have a fair next weekend and tons of printing to do first! We had such a good evening-- a bunch of Tim's co-workers came over and we all played poker. It was really fun, and I was in such a good mood! But after messing with my printer again for hours, I'm feeling pretty bummed. I may have figured out a problem, but I either don't know the solution or there isn't really one... except to get a new printer. Yikes.

On a better note, I pulled out Summer Dreams and worked on finishing her last night as I waited for CafePress to come back online. She's looking great and I'm so excited about her... still her dress and wings to go though! I may end up working on her a lot tomorrow if I can't print. I also want to set up my CafePress store and redesign my website. And order business cards for next weekend! I ordered some clocks and journals to take to the fair and I'm really excited to see them... I hope they look as good in person as they do online! I was contemplating calling it a day and going to bed, but I'm not sure I'd be able to sleep with the lightening and thunder... maybe some Harry Potter reading is in order? :)

It's another ridiculously hot day, here in Oregon... it was 87 degrees in our bedroom by 7:30 am!!! We are contemplating going back to Borders and other stores today in the afternoon, since the heat's once again becoming unbearable here. And I'm trying to convince Tim to buy another fan!!

I worked on Snuggle Angels until after 3 am last night (when the living room finally cooled down!), and then didn't save any of the work I did cuz I just didn't like it. I think it's done, though. About a week later than I wanted, for various reasons! But, without further ado, here it is (click the small pic below to go to the painting on my website):

Oh. My. GOSH. It's over a hundred degrees here, and it feels like it! To escape the heat, since for some reason apartment builders in Oregon are too stupid to include AC, Tim and I had a nice date at the movies. We saw Iron Man, which I must admit I was surprised to love. But it was really funny and enjoyable, and definitely worth the money.

We then walked around the shopping center and found a huge Borders (yay!), which surprisingly didn't have any comfy chairs to sit and read in. We sat on these hard benches and read for a while, but I mistakenly hoped it would have cooled off enough to come home and get to work on art stuff since it was 8 pm. Oops! It's like 90 degrees in our apartment, and since we've got the fan cooling the bunny's area off so he won't overheat, the rest of the apartmen is sweltering.

My newest painting is done... I keep messing with different areas so I need to step back and say "Finished!" so I can move on to some dragon paintings. I was just going to save a small version and post it here but for some reason my computer screen's colors are completely wacked out all of the sudden... now I'm freaking out a bit since this has never happened before. I'm going to restart the computer and hope it fixes itself since I have no clue what's wrong... I'll edit this entry with a pic of the painting when I can. The title is "Snuggle Angels," for a hint!