Simon's Cat fan art

If you have read this blog from the beginning, you might recall my love of Simon's Cat, an animated series featuring Simon's Cat whom is always up to no good in his quest for moar foooood. Simon's Cat has appeared in videos, games, comic strips, and books. He is freaking awesome. The creator, Simon Tofield, started Simon's Cat with a video called "Cat Man Do" somewhere around 2008 and it blew up from there.

I'm a huge fangirl and as such, I like to doodle Simon's Cat still frames from time to time. Well, the other day, I found some awesome knee high pink faux-chucks on clearance at Clare's. I couldn't pass them up even though they are pink. In fact, I bought 4 pairs of them- one for me, one for E, one for L, and one for the cousin staying with us. Let's be real- no one turns down knee high faux-chucks when they were as cheap as I found them. Seriously.

So when I got these things home, I knew I'd be decorating them. My cousin painted a braided chain of multicolored hearts on her's. L painted bows, skulls, and stripes. E painted stars, stripes, bows, and paint splatters. I didn't want to do that- I wanted a high concept that would challenge me and my very poor painting skills. That's when I came up with the idea to use Simon's Cat! Off to Google I went to find still frames that I wanted to use for my boots.

I painted the familiar logo on the tongue of each boot. I don't plan to lace them all the way up anyways so that worked out well. Then, on onE boot, I painted Simon's kitten in a teacup on the bottom and Simon's cat with a bat on the top of that panel. On the other boot, I painted Simon's cat trying to convince a birdy that he is the birdhouse. I think they came out beautifully. I have some complaints but since these are only for me, I won't list them. I'm very happy with the way they came out. :)

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

Hula Girl is Done!

Well, like it or not, my art project is finished. To recap: I painted a beach scene with a hula girl cutout for E&L's birthday party coming at the end of the summer. Voila!

Here is L trying it out just as soon as the paint dried. So we have a windswept sky, crashing waves, and a palm tree in the background with a hula girl in the foreground. I'm not good at making stuff non-cartoony but the girls love it and that is what counts. I have my own complaints (the tree... the freaking tree! It should have been bigger.) but the girls are flipping for it. I'll call this a win.

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

Revision is Done!

So all internet activity was put off for the past few weeks while I finished a final revision on my 3rd novel. I can proudly say that it is finished and ready for my beta readers. It took a lot longer on this revision than usual but the extra effort really showed. After a computer sabbatical yesterday, my fingers don't ache, my eyes are uncrossing, and the frown lines on my face may go away soon. Score!

I have 3 other projects in various stages of 1st draft-ness. The 2nd novel in my urban fantasy series is about 1/2 finished. My childrens novel is about 1/3 written. The 3rd novel in the Immortalis trilogy isn't beyond the 1st chapter yet but that's why they are called works-in-progress. I thought I would be going back to one of these projects now that the latest one is finished, but no.

Instead, I am taking on a massive art project. Yeah. E&L's birthdays are a few days apart at the end of the summer. They are having a luau themed party this year and asked me to make a stand-up cutout for photos. You know- those things where you get behind them and stick your face in the hole so that you are magically part of the photo. They want a beach scene with a dancing hula girl. I think they have completely overestimated my artistic abilities, but we'll see what can be done. It will be interesting for sure.

I've missed the internet. I had a good streak going with the blogging over the past couple months so I'll be back at that while I try to figure out how to paint using this awesome background technique I found but still be able to put my hula girl in the foreground. I'm out of my league here, but I'm not going to tell the girls that. Cross your fingers for me to figure it out soon.

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS