Mermaid drawing demo

Here's a mermaid I drew last night. I filmed myself drawing it, you can click here to watch me draw!

My Favorite Word

I took 2 old pieces of mat board, sheets of old packing paper, dental floss, elastic and hemp and turned it into a nice Coptic-bound sketchbook.

 Here's a closeup of the Coptic binding, with criss crossing to help tighten the binding, which if done by hand tends to be loose. I couldn't pull too tightly because packing paper is somewhat delicate.

 Coptic binding allows your pages to lay completely flat, which makes it nice for sketching. That's my cat Poco.

My cat friendly woke me up this morning. I think he misses me.

On the cover of my sketchbook I wrote the word "Endurance"

Endurance is my favorite word in the English language. With regards to sports, it means pushing through physical pain and continuing on. YOUR BODY IS A WIMP. It ALWAYS wants to give up, and endurance is your mind telling it to continue. With regards to life, WE ARE ALSO WIMPS. We have goals we want to attain, but we have a thousand reasons to not go for it. Too old. Not enough time. Not enough money. Too lazy. Too scared. Do it anyway. Endure the hardships. Find away around obstacles. Complacency makes you normal, but endurance is what makes you great.

Using exercise as a metaphor again, working out isn't fun. Go anyway. Endure. It's the people who go anyway even when they don't like it, that can keep themselves fit, hot, healthy, focused and a cut above. That's life too. Sometimes you're down - you don't want to do what it takes - do it anyway. Endure. With art, with love, with life, with exercise, with cancer, with AIDS, without your arm, eyes, with your significant other or without, with all, endure.

Drawings coming soon,
Tiffanny

RIP - Ramses

This is Ramses (bottom cat) joining my other two that I lost a while ago.

The last week was really hard for me, I had to take my cat to the vet and have him put to sleep. His name was Ramses but we called him Psycho, for when he was a young man he was very naughty. Psycho passing seems very strange and eerie. This was a cat who was around when I was a sophomore in high school. He's seen me graduate high school, was there to comfort me through my first breakup, then a second, and then some more. He was there when I graduated college. He's been with me through my first job, my marriage, my first house, several moves, to Maryland, Pennsylvania, and then Texas. He's always been around and now he's gone.

I sometimes wish that great love was enough to keep us together. If only all I needed to do was hold him tighter, tell him enough times that I love him, that that would be enough to keep him from disappearing from my life forever. But love, powerful though it may be, is still a glue that loses it's hold over time. Togetherness doesn't last forever, and it never will. It's the nature of things. (I define togetherness of course in the physical realm. Being together "in our hearts" is a poor substitute for the real deal and doesn't even deserve comparison. The ability to get lost in a snuggles and kisses is the thing I will miss the most.)

So grab your kitteh and hold them tight. Savor the togetherness while you can!

Goodbye Ramses! I'll always be in love with you!

Tiffanny