and now for something completely different

[joflasher]

a post that is neither rant nor horses...instead, I give you Work

My project is going well. I demoed it to the board of directors a few weeks ago, it was a huge hit. My department head wants me to submit proposals for 2 IRADs next year based on it. It looks like everything will end on schedule and I haven't had to kick anyone on my team too hard.

We had one small SNAFU where the old project leader forgot to tell me that the final review was scheduled for a May 13th (next thursday), but that's fixed now. Final review is now happening mid-June. If it weren't for the 50+ pages of documentation I have yet to write, work would be wonderful. As is, work is pretty good.

Comments

Question...

[tulaq.livejournal.com]

Off topic, but when you mentioned in your first comment to me you liked my writing, did you mean my writing style in my journal, or my stories?

Re: Question...

[flasher.livejournal.com]

Both

I enjoy the way you describe your life. You have a definite "voice" when you write. Most people have a very bland writing style that blends together. If you removed their names from their posts and pile them all together, it would be difficult to sort out whos who without contextual clues. Your writing doesn't fall into that category.

Your stories are engrossing and vivid. I used to stop by your journal every few days hoping you had posted one. I always felt sort of like a peeping tom reading about your flesh world posts since I am stranger.

And if you are wondering, I came across your journal many months ago through a friend's journal. shimmeringjemmy used to list you as a friend. When she and I were closer and she lived in the Boston area, I used to go read her friends page to try to put personalities with the people she talked about. Your posts caught my attention.

Re: Question...

[tulaq.livejournal.com]

I'm flattered.
I hope I continue to live up to your admiration and not let it get to my head.

I enjoy your artwork very much, and think you should persist in your combat with watercolors. They may win the occasional battle, but you are winning the war.
I am interested in a couple things. One is, what method do you use to make prints?
and...
Would you be interested in doing art trade with me?

Re: Question...

[flasher.livejournal.com]

My printing method depends on the size of print I want. For 8x10s or smaller, I do them on my own printer with color fast inks. For anything bigger, I send them out to photoaccess.com. They are kind of expensive but they do very nice work and have an excellent "we messed up, let us fix it" policy. For them, I take my scanned in work and have 6 4x5 color tests printed up. If one of them is acceptablely close to the original colors, then I put in an order for the actual size I want. The 4x5s are fairly inexpensive and, if you do a couple paintings at once, are very reasonable. Eventually I want to get a larger printer but I'm making myself wait until I can buy it solely from art profit. Right now, I'm just about breaking even for the year but I still have to pay my worldcon registration.

I've never actually done an art trade. I would be interested but you'll have to walk me through it :)

Re: Question...

[flasher.livejournal.com]

Oh, and as far as the watercolors are concerned, you haven't seen the failures. They outnumber the successes 5 to 1. I've got too much pride to put any of them up on the internet.

Re: Question...

[tulaq.livejournal.com]

An art trade is just that.
You trade a pic of yours I like for a pic of mine you like...
We can also make pics ourselves that we think the other will like and trade them...
I like to ask people who read the Dermal Highway stories to portray something from the stories that inspires them, and sit back to see what they see.
Sometimes I will do part of a picture and give it to someone else to work on...so that the resulting picture is a hybrid of two artist's work, a creative cross breed.
I have also done things like had someone draw a creature and then, from the picture they hand me, tell a story about where that creature lives, and how it lives.

As for not seeing your failures...you will be your own worst critic.
I have loads and loads of 'failures' that I keep, whole pages of endless sketches that I occasionally refer back to, and even pull out, take tracing paper to, and redraw.
There's been countless times of me pulling out these relics for friends who want to see 'more of my art', meaning more than the sparce specimens I have in my living room, and hearing their exclamations at my 'failures.'
I have even used my sketch pages as wrapping paper for gifts.
All of it is equally valueable.


Email me at Matriarch@dermalhighway.org and we can toss things back and forth to one another there, if you like. I have scanned things, including an 'art projects' folder I can show the contents of to you.