Well, I went into it knowing it was going to be a learning experience, it was my first Anime Con.  Both to go to and to sell at (whee)! So didn’t really know what would sell best and what I should bring. So I prepped.  By prepping I made magnets, got a new display for the magnets, which I tested at home, made prints of a lot of my originals, and added more originals to my book, made a new binders specifically for my skulklan work, as there got to be too much of it and I wanted to seperate it from my originals for sale binder, and ran off a lot of ACEO prints that I needed to have extras of.  Oh, yeah, and I made stickers.

Verdict from all of this was that the display didn’t work when I got to A-kon (I don’t know, guess there is too much aluminum in the metal so the magnets didn’t stick AND it wasn’t readily apparent that they were magnets, so I really need a better way to do that).  The stickers sold really well! I should print more!  Some prints still never made it in the binder, which was unfortunate and I don’t know what happened to them.  My ACEO’s were a hit, and the Editions were really popular (CHEAP) so I had to reprint quite a few.  I NEED to get a button maker… need need need.  They will sell.

Trying to figure out if I should do any fanart… I just don’t know.  It’s not really my thing.  But it would sell?  How much of an art mercenary am I?  I mean, I could really only fanart Studio Ghibli stuff, bleach and cowboy bebop, as that is all I have seen… I don’t know, it is still all up in the air.

I realized AT the con, that I didn’t have prints of some of my favorite/darker/large pieces.  So I need to bring them for next time.

Oh so the fun bits.

I LOVE watching people so A-Kon was awesome for that.  So many cool costumes, so many ummmmm…. different costumes.  So MUCH to see!  Lots of awesome vendors too!  I got a chance to meet Ursula Vernon (check out www.RedWombatStudio.com – her work is amazing), and get her to sign the various books of hers that I own.  Even my poor abused copy of Nurk, which my dog chewed on.  And we nabbed dinner at Cafe Brazil after Iron Artist (which she grabbed me to work in on Saturday night – and was great fun to do).  Also met the peeps from Scuttlebutt (http://www.scuttlebutt-inc.com/ ) who are full of win!  Awesome badges, and just cool to hang out with, wish I had had more time to get to know you guys.  Sat beside a great draftsman and another cool peep – Tom Mucha, and the fantastic Diesel LaForce (http://shadowcastings.samsbiz.com/) whose sculpture is something you HAVE to see.  Just stunning in detail and realism, he is also a very cool person.  So check out these fun peeps.

Things I wish I had seen include – the apparently awesome outfit of the guy in stripes from Ponyo (I suck at names, sorry), the whole Doctor Who crew that was there Saturday, getting to go downstairs to check meet Jennie Breeden (http://devilspanties.keenspot.com/ ) and the people from Redstring (http://www.redstring.strawberrycomics.com/ ).  But hopefully I will run into them at a later con.  (The webcomic peeps at least).

Soes… all in all, a FANTASTIC convention.  Big thanks to everyone who put it on, and I hope some of you who are visiting this site met me there.  If so drop a line.  I’d love to hear from you.

Oh, and next stop is ANTHROCON!  It’s in Pittsburgh the weekend of the 24-27 and I’m taking preorders for badges.  If you order your badge or sketch or whatever NOW instead of at the con – I’ll throw in a free 5×7 print of your choice (has to be something I make prints of, of course).

Will update more shortly…

When the gods first appeared they were ephemeral.  Their shapes were as fluid as the wind.  Though each had a basic form to float back to.  The more each God interacted with it’s subjects the more affixed into a form they became.  Except for S’Hll’Shith.  But then again, he is a cat. Z’Haa’Eiarth – Goddess of the Whhr’Saiyn

Of course Isis thinks I got her a three new toys, so I am glad they are not in the yard together.  Hopefully she’ll calm down as life goes on.

Day 6

More than half gone now.
I will be so sad to leave Italy.  Kaity already said she wants me to come back next year, that made me feel good. I am constantly afraid I am going to be a burden. *happy warm love feelings*
So… I was SO tired after yesterday – museum wore me out.
Got up at 10:30!
10:30!
Craziness.
AND the it is snowing again! It was lightly snowing last now, but now it is snowing HARD THICK AND FAST!
Took a shower (too tired last night)
Had delicious lemon bread we made last night for breakfast
Kaity was tired too, she slept in until 1:30, she was tired too.
Well, it was too late to go to the museum I wanted to go to so we went out shopping.  And brought Kaity’s Eeyore to take pictures with us.  And it was still snowing!
Got a present for brother – not telling what it is, as he will get it later this year.
Found the yarn store and got mom some yarn.
GotTodd  a FANTASTIC Italian cookbook! I love it!
By then my knee really hurt and we were both FROZEN from all the walking in the wet and the snow so we went home.
Put up our lovely purchases (Kaity got a book and some yarn too) and the camera (and Eeyore) – and I took some painkillers, my knee was really hurting.
Walked to the grocery store to pick up supplies for Canneloni.
Made canneloni with Kaity – got the recipe too. It was DELICIOUS! She is such a great cook!
Painted a bear on a bicycle for Kaity She wants to hug a bear, and said earlier today that she doesn’t believe they would really eat her, that they really like to give hugs and ride bicycles. So I painted her a bear on a bicycle.
Then watched some Jim henson “The Storyteller” episodes and now it is time for bed as i am tired and my wrist hurts.

Day 7

Well, anyhow.
I had these weird dreams about carving longhorn horns which had been naturally shed in the pasture near my parents house and then learning that a werewolf venom infected tick had bitten a friend and spent the rest of the dream rescuing my friends, and bits of carved horn from the destruction of my crazy werewolf friend.
And woke up freaked out that Kaity had missed her appointment with the police station.
You see today we had to leave by 9 to get to the police and immigration station by 10:35 so that she could meet her appointment and officially become a resident.  She has been here and had started processing back in november…. but, it’s italy. They are SLOW and apparently inefficient.
So anyhow, woke up at 7:50 and thought we had to leave at 8 and ran to wake her up – whereupon she told me my error and my sleep foggy head tried to go back to sleep for a bit.  Didn’t work.  Had breakfast and got ready.  When we were about to leave I asked about my camera and was told not only NO but HECK NO it’s in a bad neighborhood and by the way do I have any cash/credit/valuables on me? if so ditch them.
So vaguely concerned but glad there were two of us, I set off with her.  Knee still bothering me, but not as much, and it was warmer today, I think that helped.  Freaking beautiful day.
We got there around 10:10 or so.
It is a huge holding room.
Rather than see our appointment time, they gave us a number.
701.
They were on 800 something or another…
At least a couple of her friends that she knew from Johns work were there so we chatted with them.
At around 11:30 or so we ran out to get food.
At around 2:00 we were finally done.
It was a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day.
But that’s all right.
We went out afterwords to a pizzeria, though it turns out it doesn’t serve pizza for lunch.  Oops. She had risotto with artichokes and I had Spaghetti with ‘fruita de mare’ (I think that’s how you spell it) meaning fruit of the sea.  It had clams mussels and shrimp.  Omnomnomnomnom… with tomatoes too.
Lovely. I wish I had my camera it was beautiful.
Then we went home and grabbed the camera.  Kaity was so sweet. she was so thankful I was there and helpful and not upset that we had to wait (sure it was a bit sad we had to spend the amazing day in that place, but what can you do??) I think she was really glad not to have to go to the bad part of town alone.  (Honestly – it was bad, but as I told her, I think Dallas scares me worse… though her remark that she would rather be mugged in a language you can understand does hold merit). Anyhow.  Got home, had a cup of tea, then went out!
Took a few pictures but the real destination was the art store a few blocks down.
Watercolors here are CHEAP! $2.50 per tube (Euro not dollars but $3 US is a FANTASTIC DEAL)!!! I got a few and a block of paper to try, with the intentions of going back and getting more if I liked it, and got home, tested it and LOVED IT!  Went back to get more but they were about to close.  Kaity got me some for my birthday – she said she wanted to get me an early birthday present.  She is SO super sweet. I felt like a princess or something.  She also got us both these Macceto (Not sure if the spelling is right) but it is a wonderfully delicious coffee drink… three layers, bottom is hot chocolate (which here is just melted chocolate) middle is espresso, top is whipped cream (real cream) then you stir it together and it is FANTASTIC!

I am going to go back and get more paints though. Good deal and I can’t wait!
So we came back, ate leftover cannelonni and pasta, watched an episode of scrubs, I painted for a bit and took a shower and now I’m writing to you.
Tomorrow we plan on going to the armorie museum – which has 12 wooden statues of horses, covered in horsehair, with authentic equestrian armor on it! I’m excited!

And my plea.
I need to make some money.
any money.
Every week, or I will keep having to do this nonsense.

So I am considering offer a beginning of the week $10 special. $10 will get you you character in whatever outfit, in watercolor OR graphite OR ink OR prisma. Whatever you want. No backgrounds please It will be about 4×6 and I will ship it to you. I need to make a little money every week if for unemployment to stay off my back. This starts now.

Would this be something you guys would be interested in? It is first come first serve, the person who gets it would be the first to comment, either here, FA or DA . I will post each entry announcing the beginning of the week at about the same time monday morning on each forum.

So again, apologies and a plea… Thanks for being SUCH loyal watchers and such fantastic people.

Through my skulklan creation process I have had all sorts of ideas for color schemes and body types, here are a few of the color schemes I have toyed with.

From my balcony

Snow day! Yeah, so between the fact that is was sunday and, more importantly, it was snowing and Kaity isn’t a big cold person. We didn’t leave the apt today.  Oh well. So started w/breakfast – banana and tea- then watched some Dexter, had lunch (3 cheeses, an asiago, a gorgonzola… and a something else….) with prosciutto. Made a orange lemon bread, also nummy – the oranges here aren’t orange inside. They are pale pale red and yellow with dark red splotches. One we opened to juice was blood red. They are SO tasty though. Bread came out nicely. Had bread and tea, deveined shrimp for dinner, had dinner, skyped Johns mom and then watched more Dexter. Nice day, beautiful snow. Wish we had gone out Oh well. Sure we’ll get to go tomorrow.

Day 4

Woke up this morning at 10:30
10:30!
Freaking late for me.
Oh well, thought “That’s okay, Kaity isn’t up yet…”
had breakfast (eggs and an orange and tea).
waited and checked mail and sketched. She woke up at noon thirty.
We had lunch (cheese and prosciutto for me)
talked about what we could do
realized it was too late to do much
Had grilled cheese while she had soup
About 2pm we left – walked to the Piazza d’Armi which is south of where we are (about 9 blocks) which turns out to be pretty much a military area we can’t get in! Oops! nice walk though, saw lotsa puppies and cool buildings. If it was the US I would so be on Secret Services list, I kept taking all these pictures of military buildings, but they had such cool statuary!

Eagle statue that flanked the gates

Then took the tram north to the area around the polytechnic institute,there is beautiful old old old housing there, so walked and took tons of pictures.

There is also a street there called the Corso Stati Unitit – the United States Street – roughly) Then had a cannoli and a cappuccino at a local cafe (Kaity’s fave – the Corner Cafe) Then walked back via the Corso Meditterraneo – which is a popular thoroughfare and saw a really cool old complex of buildings that apparently used to repair old rail cars. I think it would make a really cool farmers market if they cleaned it out… also a cool metal building… took a pic of it at night too.
Back to the apt to warm up and get tea, then out for pizza for dinner.
I had pear and gorgonzola pizza and NOM It was delish. And they gave me flowers, little yellow ones called mimosas. It is womens day here. A Day! To celebrate women! D’awww…. John says I should my boyfriend hell b/c on womans day you are supposed to give the woman you love flowers and being in the states is no excuse
Walked back home via the Corso Meditterraneo and took the picture of that building.
Came home, had a cappuccino and watched Marley and Me (fantastic, but a little sad)
Now looking at flights – we were going to try and puddle jump to Napoli – hoping to see Pompei, as it is supposed to be AMAZING and Kaity loves it, but it looks like it may be too expense… normally flights are round trip 50 euros but can’t find any for that price So we’ll see.  Honestly there is enough here to keep me occupied!  I really want to see the egyptian museum and there is another cool armorie museum I’d like to see… we’ll see what we make it to.