We are all mad

When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained

-Mark Twain

After finally finishing The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes combined with the type of day I've had yo-yo-ing along with my son's moods today this quote seemed so very on the mark.

Not as productive day as I was hoping for, on any front, but considering I got only 2 real hours asleep last night (if it wasn't one boy it was the other) and my little one was a hellion before his midday nap I think I might have ended up slightly ahead.

On the other hand, I glance over to the door and realized the garbage is still on the hand cart and the clothes to donate are also still over there... both of which are things that now get pushed onto my plate tomorrow. Lovely. Oh well. I just have to keep replaying that horrible footage from the Tsunami in Japan in my head and be thankful for the good of my situation and *try* to shake off the bad.

Returning to my roots in art leaves me with more concrete product, but I don't know how happy I am about the illustrations/inking/drawing yet. I LOVE the 4 by 6 sleeping Jaguar... but I feel like I'm too slow about it all. Of course, for every one page that I show to anyone other than Sebastian there are 3 that have been given over to him to "embellish" because something is bothersome in either proportions or inconsistency of style within the page.  Oh how the penguin was today's flop! The Empire Penguin's head came out beautifully. When I reached "Stop 1" it was too late to do anything about my error. While the head was wonderfully done and the body correct they were out of sync. I went and looked back at my inspiration image and realized immediately what I had done... I started at the head and then made the image fit the paper... the body was only 2/3 of the height it should've been. If I had been inking an adolescent I might have just shrugged, but I of course did up an adult first. 

There are no failures, only lessons.

So this penguin had a wonderful point and a wonderful lesson and doesn't leave the sketchbook. He does become a future teacher and now has a note along the edge reading "head should be only 1/6 of height, 1/2 width at girth" so that, hopefully, my next attempt is a more successful one.

Next project: work to stop 2 on "C is for Chicken" or work to stop 3 on full body jaguar.

-I plan out 2D work in steps and call a "stop" how far from one point to the next before I need to STOP and put down the work due to the material, my physical endurance or my perspective. Very often it's all 3 factors combined. Not each piece has the same number of stops, but I know how many each project will take once I start it (that is, when I have a very clear end image in my mind.) None of this would interest anyone reading this, but seeing as I only know of 2 people who may read this I don't really care! hahaha. 

I'll post the 4 by 6 Jaguar soon. If not call and remind me.