No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on September 13, 2011

DragonCon went well. Not as well as I would have liked but I do know that I amused a bunch of people and got a lot of compliments on my work.

There is something about artists that one admires telling then that their work is art and very good art that. One is validated by ones peers. I never thought I would be talking puppets with Jim Steranko and having him compliment me on my artwork. I am a big fan of his work and the style that he created for comics that is emulated to this day by various artists.

I took Lockheed to Artist Alley with me and had a lot of the people behind the table stop me to get a better look at Lockheed. They recognized him for what he was so I must have done something right.

I need to work out my schedule for the next year in terms of what I want to get done by when. While leaving time for those surprise projects that seem to crop up.

I have one project I have to do by the end of the year but I think I can get it done in plenty of time.

In doing Lockheed, I figured out that I can do more than I have been doing with some shapes and sizes. I am more confident in moving from a 2-D representation to a 3-D translation. Also the glowing eyes were a lot of fun to do. I’ll have to get more of those LED finger lights before they are sold out.

Charles and Erik were lessons in detail. And I forgot one that I need to add to both of them but everyone knew who they were and which was which. I have more confidences in recreating the little details and making them look right.

Castiel was a lesson in clothing and drafting patterns that fit the puppet. The Wings were a challenge too but I like the result.

I have about 6 dolls I want to do over the next three months but I am also hoping to land a contract for about 6 puppets for a show which would pay nice.

It is interesting to me how far I have come from thinking of myself as just a craftsman with a set of skills to an artist. It took me a long time to claim the word “artist” as my own.

I still can’t draw worth a lick but my drafting is improving a lot. I would like to be able to draw but I don’t think it is in the cards for me.

I am thinking about take the puppets and doing photos of them in action shots and selling them as prints. Good idea? Bad Idea? Do you have another idea that I could use?

I am going to be taking photos for my Etsy Shop and putting some stuff there for sale as a trial ballon. I’ll announce when I have something to look at.

I still have more ideas than time and that’s a good thing.

I am grateful for all the things I learned at DragonCon.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 12, 2011

I was going to post my NWR for the next episode of Doctor Who but my body had other ideas.

I slept most of the day and I am running a slight fever with a lot of body aches and a stuffy head with sore ears. So my brain isn’t firing on all cylinders.

So I am yet again behind on a bunch of stuff but getting terribly sick is not a good idea either.

Crafty Tuesday will be tomorrow however if you have any questions you’d liked answered of a crafty nature, please post them.

Thanks

I am grateful for the time to rest.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 11, 2011

I really debated about writing about 9-11-2001.

I could write about the day itself. Where I was when the first plane hit and the aftermath. It was during my time at Del Rey Books which was probably one of the best jobs I ever had. Or how my boss and I had a meeting in a building right next to the towers that afternoon. It had been in the morning but was switched at the last minute. Also due to what happened that day, I later was downsized from that job. I still miss it.

I could write about the trip home when subways were finally allowed to function again. No trains so I had to go to Jamaica Queens to stand in a line only to find out that was not the line I needed to be standing in but a kind MTA person helped me get on the next train home. I could write about the relief on my husband’s face when I came through the door.

I could write about the woman who got onto the subway. She was covered in a fine grey dust that a lot of people had on their clothes but hers was the thickest I saw. She was bleeding from a head wound. The subway car was crowded but the passengers got her to a seat and we helped two doctors and a nurse through the people to get to her. All she wanted to do was go home but she didn’t know really where she was or what had happened to her. One of the doctors and the nurse left with her at the next station to get her to a hospital that was there. They gave up their ride to help this woman. I hope all are fine.

I could write about my train buddy who had retired the week before but his company offered him an obscene amount of money (according to him) to train two replacements which would come in useful as his wife and him were going to take his sailboat around the world. They had been planning this for almost 30 years. He was always willing to show us pictures of his boat which he worked very hard on to get ready. We found out through his wife that he didn’t make it out.

I could talk about the people I know that are trying 10 years later to sort out bills and health insurance from that day. A lot of people were effected in that area who are still fighting the system to be compensated for their losses. Including two friends who had permits to raise endangered tropical birds and had an aviary down in the area. They lost all but 2 of the birds to lung problems.

Instead I would like to talk about an organization that started the next year. I don’t remember when I joined but it was in the first year or two. The organization is called My Good Deed.

From the website

.
It is easy and free to participate. All you need to do (joining millions of others around the world) is observe the anniversary of 9/11 by performing good deeds, supporting charitable causes, volunteering and engaging in other acts of compassion. copyright MyGoodDeed a non-profit agency.

The website is www.911day.org

It is simple to do a good deed and do it for those who are no longer with us and those who are still here.

My support this year goes to those most of American of things, a start-up of a business. My step-daughter and her husband have a dream and it is a good dream. They want to open a movie theater in Jacksonville that is a little different from most movie theaters. We are supporting them anyway we can and I ask for your help too.

From Peter’s web site (www.peterdavid.net)
My eldest daughter, Shana, and her husband, Tim, are trying to get a business started in Jacksonville, FL. They are attempting to raise money to refurbish a local movie theater and turn it into a showcase. I am extremely proud of her efforts and would love to see her succeed. You can not only find details of their endeavors (and how you can contribute) here…

PAD

So that’s what I am doing for my deed this year. Please help if you can.

I am grateful that I did make it home 10 years ago today.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 10, 2011

I will be starting the Doctor Who portion of my NWR tomorrow and catching up over the next couple of days. Tuesday will be Crafty Tuesday.

Again Spoilers under the cut and in the comments.

Yes, it had its problems but in the end I was entertained and that’s all you can really ask of a TV show.

Pacing was a problem. Peter and I sorted out that it could have been done 6 episodes if they tossed out the filler and the sloppy intro to Torchwood. 4 if they really wanted to condense it.

Yes, they did have to introduce the new audience to Torchwood, but did they really do that? We can’t tell since we have been watching since the beginning. They had elements and talked about the past but not really what Torchwood was.

Acting was solid over all. I don’t have any complaints about the casting.

My biggest complaints were dropped threads and shifting villains. More on that after the cut.

Would I watch another series of Torchwood? Yeah, I still love Gwen and Jack and their interaction.

I am grateful this series got made even with my reservations about it.
(more…)

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 9, 2011

Caroline made me a very nice card with the same misspelling I made when I was her age. I will treasure it always. Her drawing skill is improving by leaps and bounds.

Today Peter and I have a few things planned around Caroline going to school. My other birthday present is that Sunday we are going to a Mets game with our friends the Greenbergers.

Today I install the TV that my parents got me to replace the set in the living room which is dying a very slow death. Any time certain colors appear on the set we get some hellacious feedback, which is especially troublesome when we fire up the Xbox.

I did find the letter I wrote myself last year in the filing cabinet and replaced it with this year’s letter. I got a lot of positive feedback from people on it last year so I am again posting this year’s letter with some stuff that I don’t feel is appropriate for public consumption.

Dear Kathleen,

Another year has come and gone. Hard to believe that time seems to be moving that fast in your life. I can remember a time when it seemed to take forever to get to a Birthday or Christmas but now they seem to fly by.

There has been the usual up and downs. Some of the ups have been sky high and some of the downs have been almost to the center of the earth. But I’m still standing so that’s a start.

Caroline is growing by leaps and bounds both physically and mentally. She is in the 3rd grade now. She is taking her school work very seriously. She had a lot of fun this summer including a trip with her father to see a recording of an episode of Young Justice. She wants to learn so many things. We are working on focus but I am proud at how she is turning out.

Peter and our friends launched Crazy 8 Press this year in hopes of using social networking to promote each other’s work. He was first with the Camelot Papers which is being sold as an e-book and a trade paperback through all the major online book retailers. I hope this works for us. It’s rather nail-biting.

You did much better about exercising until the hurricane but I know you’ll get back into the swing of things starting next Monday.

5 Goals for this year

1. Don’t squander opportunities that you have to further your various careers. You kinda slipped up on that one this year big time. Let’s not have it happen again.

2. Planned better to get everything done and assume that something is going to come up and put a bit ol’ spanner in your plans which happened quite a bit this past year. You need to start stage managing yourself.

3.Get the dolls and puppets that didn’t sell up on Etsy or another site to sell. We’re running out of room here in the house to store your art work.

4. Take some personal time to unwind between big projects.

5. Teach Caroline how to sew on a sewing machine. Her legs are long enough to get the control pedal now.

We know what we need to do next to move things forward on various fronts, now we have to go out and do it.

Hugs Caroline for me. I wonder how tall she is now.

Love,

Kath

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