My first designs

I thought I'd share some of my Cafe Press designs here as I post them in my store. I'm thrilled at having finally done something productive and creative. I have to tell everyone I can. :D

Here's the first one I uploaded and the only one that's sold so far. OK, a friend placed the order, but I have to start somewhere.


This one is my favorite. It turned much better than I'd originally planned. I'm glad that Cafe Press accepts the PNG format. It kept the design clean. As you can see here, JPGs lose crispness.

Until I can get back on track for the Artist's Way, I will post news about my store. Well, and even after. This just seems like the logical place for creative endeavors.

I did it!

I finally took my first step in getting creative. I started a store at Cafe Press, Luna's Gathering Designs. I have two designs ready for sale on various products. Very soon, I will upgrade to a premium store and add a new design each week. It's the perfect way to get my creative juices flowing. From there, I'll start working on my cards again, the handmade ones. But I want to take it one step at a time, at a fairly slow pace, so I do it right.

Been away too long

Very soon, I'm taking my life in a direction that makes finishing the AW program a must. I've had family business to deal with and a house guest staying until the end of this week. With that out of the way, I'm finally ready to get my rear in gear.

The first chapter is about enemies to my creative self-worth. After spending time with my whole family, I think I can face that chapter honestly. Without that honesty, the program just won't work. The first two times I tried starting this, I wouldn't admit that my family contributed to my problems. I told myself it was me that was my problem. Silly, silly me. Now my list of "enemies" will be correct and not include myself.

I never could get my printer to work, but thank Goddess I have a good digital camera. The only bad thing about that is it's less forgiving with tracing paper. Even so, the drawings still show up just fine. And, omigod, I can't believe how much I missed my Photoshop. Even if it was just for brightness and contrast. The first three are more traces. The last one is my freehand version of the third trace. I had a lot of fun with these.

Technical difficulties

I'm finally back online. I haven't made anymore progress with the Artist's Way program at this time. But things are falling into to place so that I can focus more fully on it. In the meantime I was planning to post a couple more of my sketches. My scanner (actually an all-in-one printer, scanner copier, and fax) has decided to play hard to get. As it is late, I will attempt to get the thing working properly tomorrow and get my drawings posted. If the scanner refuses to work though, I can always take digital photos of them instead. One way or another I will post something tomorrow (well, today really.)

A couple more traces and some freehand

The first two are traces (of course) and the last one is my first try at freehand copying something in a very, very long time. I still need a lot more practice, but it does at least look a bit like the trace. I am happy to see that it isn't too terribly deformed. Eventually I'll be able to create characters of my own instead of copying others.

Too long between posts

I know it's been way too long since I've posted here. I don't have any new work to put up. Just a bit of news.

I have finally started putting one of my fan fiction stories on paper. I never thought of myself as a writer, but some dear friends have read what I have so far and say I'm good. Go figure. The current story is for Inuyasha. I will put the link here once I finish the story and post it on fanfiction.net.

I hope to have some new pictures in the next few weeks. It'll depend a bit on the weather and whether I have to walk to work in it or not.

I also plan to start AW again soon. I've realized that putting it off is just giving in to my self-doubt. Which is what the program is supposed to help me with. I've gotten some great ideas for Artist's Dates which seemed the hardest on such a limited budget. But my friends Rivercrow and derianti have helped with ways to have an Artist's Date without spending any money or having to leave the house. Check out their blog Frugal Creativity.

I think that's all for now in my creative life.