Random Hallmark Moments: Rainbow Brite

   Here it is... my entry in Hallmark Cards' headquarters art show featuring dozens of artists, each with their own interpretation of RB! Rainbow Brite was created by a Hallmark artist in 1983 and was wildly popular, with animated TV series, live action TV, Macy's Day Parade float, multiple Emmy awards, dolls, toys, games, sheet sets... you name it, this girl was likely on it. It's kind of mind-boggling.

    I will readily admit that although I liked some of the characters back in the day (before I developed a lil' thing called "taste"), I am not a fan of the character design style of RB and her contemporaries. This includes Strawberry Shortcake, Pound Puppies, My Little Pony, Cabbage Patch Dolls... the styling looks dated and doesn't hold up well against modern character design. But they were modern for their time. My goal with this piece was to keep enough of the hallmarks of the characters to make them immediately recognizable, but to update their style, with a Japanesey "chibi" or "kawaii" look, and costume updates like shifting the color palette away from those hideous primaries, and making the arm and leg cuffs transparent.
   Here is "the making of" the piece, step by step... including the fancy chocolate and sauvignon blanc which clearly aided the process. Considering how infrequently I get the opportunity to paint (not since Hallmarket 2013, and before that... who knows!), I needed all the help I could get. LOL!

   I completed the piece during the Sochi winter Olympics.That was my background noise. It kept me going longer and gave me a front seat to all the snowboarding action.

Speaking engagement: AIIKC

   This morning I had another opportunity to present my research on & my passion for Japanese character design to a Japanese Pop Culture class at The Art Institutes International of Kansas City. This was my third or fourth presentation there in the last couple of years, and I'm thrilled that they keep inviting me back! It's a great chance for me to practice presenting, to "try out" what it would be like to be a teacher, and great motivation to continue building on the deck. It has grown a LOT since its humble beginnings in 2010, when I created it for the Japan-America Society of KC.

   This class responded well and had great questions, particularly about how to learn the Japanese language. I LOVE being able to encourage and influence students to learn more about something I love so much! Thanks to Jason Smith and Barbara Brooks for having me out yet again.

DM test success!

   I walked into Skin n Scuba at 8:30 this morning, confident that I had studied and prepared myself well for part two of our written exam for dive master certification. What I, and everyone else, didn't realize was that we were also being tested on using old-school dive tables to calculate things like pressure groups and surface intervals. Not a big deal, except that I hadn't even looked at a dive table in over four years, and have always go with the computer to calculate all that for me.

   Math stresses me out. I feel like I am always the last person in the room to "get" it. And I hate being put on the spot when I don't know the answer, and i'm struggling. So this morning was very frustrating. I really had to work to keep my internal tension from being too visible. But, in the end, what Sam always says is correct: he may be crude, but he damn sure can teach scuba! After our review, we took the test, and I got all those dive table questions right.

   I only missed two questions on the test today, and they weren't things that I had studied, so I just had to guess. I had also missed two questions on part one of the exam. The perfectionist in me that I try so hard to keep at bay wants to be frustrated, however, I am thankful that I got 116 out of 120 questions correct!

   Sam shocked us with his story of how a large moray eel nearly took off his middle finger while he was spearing lionfish in Belize. He had nearly 30 stitches in that one finger, and it was still quite swollen several weeks after the accident. He's lucky he still has it!

   In the Caribbean, divers have been spearing lionfish and feeding them to the eels, because lionfish are not indigenous to the area, and they are killing all of the native species. Problem is, the Eagles have started associating the flash of us here with food, and sometimes they strike first and ask questions later. Ouch!

   After the test everyone started packing their things to leave. Wally came in and asked for a volunteer to lead a Scuba refresher session, and no one spoke up. I had expected to be at the shop all afternoon anyway, so I said I'd do it. This was my first refresher course to lead. And the two guys in the class, Monte and Kevin, were great. Though neither had been diving in a few years, they both took right to it again, so it made my job easy. A perfect time for me to practice my teaching skills!

   When all was said and done, I drew a shark on Wally's dive slate, and headed home to enjoy a nice dinner and some champagne to celebrate. Now all I have to do is pass the skin diving exercises, and the open water scuba work, and hopefully by June I will be a Divemaster. Or a mermaid. Or both!

Kick@**!

   I made it to illustration circle for the second week (in a row!!!) and was planning to sketch, but Mirna kindly offered to share her gouache, brushes, and postcard-sized watercolor paper, so I painted! Today's theme was to create an Olympics poster. And here's the trouble I caused:

   It's not great and it's not even finished but I love it. I plan to keep going... and plan to do what the painting says soon again. Just booked my next snowboarding trip.

Rats!

   Fun with actual text from the PADI Adventures in Diving book:

Skiers vs. Boarders

    Jack sent me this side-by-side image and I have to admit, she does have my smile. But... she's a skier and I'm a snowboarder... we're from different worlds!

   The thing about skiers and snowboarders, I've learned, is that when you are on the mountain together, you can ride side-by-side in harmony, regardless of your mixed modes of travel. Except that the skiers get all pissy when they glide right off the lift and are ready to take off immediately. Their friends the snowboarders ride the lift with only their front leg strapped in, and have to dismount and simultaneously land their back foot in the middle of their board next to their back binding, hold their balance and not fall down like an amateur, causing the lift operator to stop the lift--which would embarrassingly leave all those people hanging in midair. And not only that, then the snowboarder has to pull over to a spot where they can stand or sit to strap in. As for me, I'm quick at that, but I have an additional pause at the top of every run for starting up my iPod so I have the proper riding music. Critically important. By then the skiers are either getting impatient, or they've already left without you.

   But the advantage of snowboarding over skiing (other than it just looking a helluva lot cooler, let's be honest) is that when you're tearing down the slopes and hit a bump or patch of ice or just pick up too much speed, and happen to crash? Well, the snowboard ain't goin' anywhere... It's strapped to your feets. When skiers crash it's a "yard sale" because all their wares (poles, skis) are strewn out along the mountain.
   I will say, though, that when I'm out riding I get a little jealous of the cute little snowbunny skier girls in their color-coordinated tight snow pants and tiny fitted jackets. They look super-cute and feminine... like I try to look in my street clothes.

   Snowboarders play a little rougher and have their own style, with longer jackets and baggier snow pants and thicker boots... and certainly all in louder colors.

   I also happen to look three times larger when dressed for snowboarding that I am in real life. ;)

When I'm out there, I'd rather look kick@** than cute anyway.

Mer-Cat

   I stopped at Petco today to stock up on canned kitty food. When I get home and looked at my receipt, I noticed that all of the Merrick brand was listed as "Mer-cat". So of course I had to draw it:

Get on the bus, Gus!

   Due to my snowboarding trip, I missed out on the chance to buy my monthly bus pass for February. I was so bummed when I realized it! So I was put in touch with the admin of our fleet department, and she had the bus driver bring a pass for me. Wow. This is what I left on her desk…. Hope it gave her a laugh and adequately expressed my sincere appreciation.

Dreaming of the sea

hour one...

   I finally finally made it to Mirna's lunchtime drawing session! Been wanting to go for over a year. Decided I'm making time for it this year. One hour a week is not too much to ask. Had a blast drawing with Mirna, Maya, Lyla, Amber, and Ken.

   Usually Mirna throws out a subject matter and visual inspiration. Today she threw out a poem, and it spoke to me. It was the perfect accompaniment to a drawing I've had in my head ever since my whale shark swims in September 2012. Need to finish the drawing (filling the page with creatures I've actually seen while diving), and then ink it. It's the last spread in my sketchbook before I start a new one. My favorite page so far because of the incredible memories it invokes... Just like it was yesterday.

   Here's an update of the drawing after hour two at the dive shop:

hour two...

Laying it on thick

A little wobbly, drawn on the bus. Based on actual events.

Reunited and it feels so good

   Southwest airlines located my snowboard bag (with all my gear inside) and it was delivered at 1:30 AM. I know this because the courier left it on the front doorstep. The dogs heard his car in the drive, and barked up a storm. Let's just say I didn't get much sleep after that.

   Very glad to have my board back, as it's my first--the only one I've ridden, save the lessons I took on rentals. I think it's about time to retire it and hang it on the wall, and upgrade to a higher-grade board. A little treat for all the progress I've made. I can blame Brett for this idea; at Solitude he suggested that I'm hitting a point where my beginner board may impede further progress.

   And now that I'm watching night one of the Olympics featuring the slope style competition, I already can't wait to get back on my ride again. It's only been two days, but that's two days too long. My heart is definitely in the mountains!

Sharkstyle!

   I was talking about how much I love watching the Olympics. They started tonight with slope style and coming up soon will be half pipe and snowboard cross. When Trish heard that she said, "Ah, slopestyle… Add sharks and you would have your perfect sport." And just like that, inspiration is born.

   These drawings are crap. Which is partly what I like about them... They make me laugh!

Quite a team

   I never would have believed this, had I not seen it myself… I heard Kismet coming up through the door from the basement. I turned to see Aki sitting just outside the door. Kismet was carrying a live mouse in her mouth and just as she came through the door, she released it, Aki pounced on it and chomped it (almost) to death in one fell swoop.

   Horrified by what I had just witnessed, I ran to the mouse's rescue and scooped it up in an old towel that was nearby, used to wipe the dogs feet when they come in from the snow. I could tell the mouse was not much longer for this world... But at least it wouldn't be eaten by these two. These two who are now, apparently, partners in crimes against smaller mammals.

   With this new reality, I can only imagine how successful they will be as a team. Each has already caught their fair share of wildlife single-handedly. Lord help the little animals!

Giddyup!!!!!

   Heavy snow as we touched down... Double-digit fresh pow overnight! Pow all day long. Power to the Pow-Pow! Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss

Fruits of my imagination

   Cute + slightly disturbing = 

Double entendre

   Question: Someone asked me if, because my snowboard bag is bigger than me, it doubles as a sleeping bag when I arrive at my destination. Answer: if I had thought of that, I could have saved some major bucks on a condo!!! No indoor plumbing in the bag, though.

   However, it will be a moot point if I'm disallowed from departing...

Drawing time: Three wetsuits

   I mentioned in an earlier post that the swimming pool was a scant 69° on Saturday while we were diving. So I actually wore three wetsuits: a full-length 3mm, and then two 3mm shorties on top of it. I felt like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man! It looked a little something like this:

   I messed up my eyes in that first drawing where I am dipping my toe in the pool. I also meant to further exaggerate my size while wearing three wetsuits, for comic effect. That's the problem with drawing with pens, you can't erase. ;)

   This is the advantage to drawing old-school rather than on the computer. Sometimes things don't come out quite right, but often you surprise yourself with something you wouldn't have done in digital form, armed with the opportunity to make easy changes.

Drawing time: Nickname

   I was telling my friend Gerald about my race results (beating my first 10k time by 23 sec/mile), and he said it sounded like I was in beastmode. I love the moniker so much that I couldn't help but draw it. 

   Not a very flattering drawing of myself, but I do get that pent-up, aggressive, competitive flurry of feeling as I'm waiting for a race to begin.

   My favorite part of a race is in a crowded chute with thousands of people, the gun goes off, and everyone jockeys for position. I love using my size to my advantage and darting in and out of the crowd.

Thank you, Gerald, for inspiring me!

Drawing time: Shark and platypus

   Couple of new pieces to share: I drew myself diving with a friendly whale shark on Scott's dive slate while we were waiting for a couple of novice divers to finish up in the pool. (The funny thing is it's not at all to scale… I would be much, much smaller compared to a real-life whale shark, as I found out firsthand in 2012.)

   And let me just say, a sport that combines my love of swimming & my love of animals… & the ability to draw pictures underwater… Like, up to 100 feet underwater? Awesomest. Thing. Ever.

   I drew this guy for my friend/coworker, Charlie, because he's very unique--both in his personality and in his incategorizable role at work. So I call Charlie "the platypus". He's one of several true creative geniuses with whom I've had the pleasure of working. Our partner Amy is brilliant as well. I don't have a colorful nickname for her… Yet. (Unless she is simply the "tiny pies girl")  ;)

    I really enjoy experimenting by drawing with different instruments, like a pencil on a dive slate versus a nearly worn out Sharpie marker. It gives the finished pieces a totally different quality, and it also challenges me to draw differently to suit the media. Are the magic of the iPhone, I can crop and add filters to, to give them yet another dimension. (Ha! I just made myself think of "Intergalactic" by the beastie boys. "Another dimension, another dimension…")

My new ride

   Do I need a new hobby? No. In fact... Hell no. But, I've been thinking about this board ever since I saw it as we walked past the windows of the shop in Portland on Christmas Day. And I figure if I am still thinking about it three weeks later, perhaps I should consider it.  The artwork is just THAT good, and I wanted it in my home.

   I have absolutely no reason to think I will be even slightly competent at longboarding, but if it turns out that I am, it can only help my snowboarding too. At least that's how I'm rationalizing it. Brett said he would teach me. Soon there will be a new fox in the henhouse. Game on! If nothing else, there's something to be said for a foxy chick on a foxy longboard, right? ;)

   We spent a couple hours watching the X-Games and selecting trucks, wheels, bearings, hardware, bushings, and protective gear. Now I have a new reason to look forward to Spring, though I'm in no hurry to see the snow go.