Artist Trading Cards - Stained Glass Art

When I was a teenager I used to sit and doodle for hours.  I also liked to do art that looked like stained glass.  Some day I will find my composition notebook where I created decorative alphabets and doodled.  But, for now I have to satisfy myself with trying to remember how I did these things and see if I can reproduce them.

Any one of the following designs I would choose to have as a stained glass window.  Well, maybe not the walking man, but he did turn out rather cool.  Maybe that one for an elementary school gym!  I would love to actually learn how to do stained glass and maybe some day I will.

I used a Micron 02 pen and permanent markers to hand draw and color the following artist trading cards (ATCs).  I am also thinking about starting a swap over at ATCs for All titled "Stained Glass".

Stained Glass - Butterfly

Stained Glass - Dolphin

Stained Glass - Flowers & Circles

Stained Glass - Moon & Sun

Stained Glass - Walking Man

A Little Spirit Lift

I think every once in a while it's good to get a "spirit" lift.  I really am trying to be more positive, even though most of the time I just want to scream at the top of my lungs "what the heck is it all for anyways?".

So, tonight I find out that the new Art Trader Magazine Issue #18 is available.  I download it and start browsing through it to see if there is anything that I might be interested in doing and there is.  The "10 Minute ATC" article is staring me in the face.  A 10 Minute ATC, really?  This is very cool, because I'm tired and haven't made an ATC in over two weeks.  This particular method is about blending markers and looks to be pretty straightforward.

Green Flower Garden

It might of taken me a little over 10 minutes as my white gel pen kept giving me fits, but I completed my ATC and posted it for trading.

Whew!  After that I continued browsing the magazine and I get to page 25.  Guess what page 25 is?  It is the Reader Gallery.  Guess who is in the Reader Gallery?  That's right; it is me!  It felt good and gave me the little spirit lift I needed.  Thanks to the Art Trader Magazine group of administrators for keeping art alive.

Paper Dolls: Fairies and Magical Fliers of Fancy

Buttercup Goblinwand

Nettle Reedwand

Feather Icefilter

Whimsy Bird House 001

Politics! Everyone's Got An Opinion!

Peas in a Pod...

 Typically, I stay out of political and religious discussions.  It never bodes well for anyone that is, I guess, liberal.  However, I would like to point out that everyone has an opinion and everyone is entitled to said opinion.  My Alumni, Colorado Technical University, recently posted on FaceBook a link to an article that displayed 22 Executives and what the best advice was that they had ever received.

Having been a business owner myself, I wondered what it was that set those familiar and successful people aside from people like, who only wished we could be like them.  So, I proceeded to read each and everyone of the 22 executive advicements and the one that stood out for the most was the one by Mohamed El-Erian, CEO and co-chief investment officer, PIMCO.

He said "I remember asking my father, 'Why do we need four newspapers?' He said to me, 'Unless you read different points of view, your mind will eventually close, and you'll become a prisoner to a certain point of view that you'll never question.'"  From a 2009 interview with CNN Money

Wow, that was so profound for me.  Know why?  Because lately everyone is so fixated on their opinions about the war, Israel, the United States deficit, etc. and it seems like it is only on the negative.  It also seems that as humans, by nature, we look to blame those that are in charge because we don't like how something has turned out or where it is going.

So, before you consider someone's elses opinion or assume that something someone says is GOLD, remember there are different points of view and you don't want to become imprisoned by only that point of view.  Research and talk to others so that you can form an educated opinion of your own.

Flower Swap - Due April 25th

Where Am I (Mentally)?

What did I do today?  Well, I sat on my kister and flipped the channels between CSI and First 48.  I should be able to apply for a position in forensics at the end of the week!  But seriously, I have no life and no job.  I don't want to do anything but sit here and feel sorry for myself.  So, don't call and say "what did you do today?" or "did you get that job?".  My answers would be the same today that they were yesterday; nothing and no, but I will let you know if I do get a job.

What I would like to say is that if you are happy with what you are doing and don't need any additional education, then don't go to school and rack up student loans.  I can't believe that when I did go to school four years ago for a Bachelor Degree in Accounting I had to take out a personal loan because we were making too much money.  Now that I am "poor" and "jobless" I still have to pay back a 13% personal loan and two federal loans totaling more than $400 a month.  This just doesn't seem right and to top it all off; I live in a small town where people keeps their jobs forever and there just isn't anything.  So, I continue working online as an independent contractor because that is all I can find.

You may think that this gives you the freedom of working from home, but when you are stuck at home 24 hours a day and sit in front of your computer for most of that waiting for a job to come through, the glory of being self employed is taken from the equation.   I would gladly give my degree back if it meant that I would no longer have to pay my loans.  What about that anyways?  You can return a shirt to the store because it doesn't fit, but you can't return an education that isn't doing you any good.

For those thinking; get off your butt and find a job, there has to be something you can do, etc.  There isn't and I've tried.  I am cranky and, honestly, tired of playing the never ending game of finding a job that no longer exists.  You remember, that job you had so much fun doing and everyone you worked with was awesome.  It seems those jobs are long gone and so are those employers.

So, for today, this is where I am mentally.