javelin_deano

artoftheempath @ 12:10pm: Fruit tingles ...
I can haz red fruit tingles ... I is happy.

Hey moonvoice ...want one??

On another note ... when did my little boy suddenly become a man? Where did this 6ft tall blue-eyed young man suddenly spring from? When did the focus of our conversations suddenly turn to career path's, the pros and cons of doing a school-based traineeship, of going to university or college, and saving money for a first car and/or a new 'big' amplifier for his guitar so he can perform at highschool events?

I saw the changes. I knew they were coming.

But wow ... I'm suddenly hit by the realisation that I only have him for a few more years before he will fly away.

hawkstudios @ 1:25am: Wall-eeeeee

artoftheempath @ 6:54am: *is happy*
Since I posted a reminder about the current auction in my update, I just thought I had best write a quick note to let you all know that 'Queen of Hearts' sold through the 'Buy it Now' option. I'm a little stunned, but also very delighted. Even better, I know that my little queen is off to a new home with a wonderful person I who will treasure her.

balthaser @ 4:23pm: Ah I'm so bored. I've sat and watched crap TV all day, whilst attempting to do some washing and made pancakes.
Now I am watching Hollyoaks and I never do that.
I got a phonecall from work at home saying they'd scheduled me in last night and today. They're obviously so organized as I'm not due back there until the 13th. Stupid people.

I'm going to go eat ice cream. I wanted it to be hot again like yesterday but it's not.

hathy_col @ 2:34pm: I'm not doing very well today. I'm not sure why. Today is my day off, I woke up at the reasonable time, etc, etc. Yesterday was a relatively enjoyable day; I know what I'm doing in work now (other than a wail about being cursed when it comes to hotlining orders, don't ask) and we all went out for a drink on the company after work. Good fun.

Today, though, I just feel like shite. I have no energy to even think about doing anything; I went out to Dundee for a change of scenery and just felt so inadequate and invisible that I sort of just gave up and came home. Now I am home, and I have loads to do; I need to research my dissertation (as bloody always), I need to clean my room and sort out my laundry, I need to buy more laundry powder, I need to handwash the dress that Katie lent me, I need to make up some food to freeze, I need to phone the landlady about the massive crack that has appeared in my wall/ceiling overnight. But I don't want to speak to the landlady because I just can't be arsed, because it means I'll need to clean and get most of the postcards off my wall. It doesn't look deep. I'll assume the house isn't going to fall down and tell her before, you know, the end of the lease, as I'm not being charged for this.

I think I need something more concrete to work towards than 'Doctor Who on Saturday and then... er..." I am bored and apathetic and feeling very lonely, probably not helped by constant dreams about Simon and relationships and just... stuff. I would like to go somewhere for a few days, but I only have a day off at a time from work, and given I'm in The Arse End Of Nowhere, this makes things problematic. I'd like to just go out of an evening, chat, go to the cinema, that sort of thing, but town is just dead at the moment.

Right. I'm going to clean my room, handwash that dress, and clean up the kitchen before doing a whole heap of cooking. At least then Hollyoaks is on?

artoftheempath @ 9:47pm: The Empaths News - July 08 Update




Please forgive my lack of website updates. Those of you who know me, or watch this journal will know that I have been hard at work illustrating a new and beautiful oracle deck, The Mythic Oracle. The artwork for the deck has kept me occupied for the last six months, but now the last
illustration has been completed and the deck has gone into production. The Mythic Oracle, written by Carisa Mellado, is to be published by Blue Angel Publishing, with an anticipated release date of October, 2008.

With the ending of one project, work on another begins. I am currently working on my first book of art and verse, Dreams of Magick. It will be a high quality 100 page hardcover book, filled with over 100 of my artworks, several illustrated poems, along with a walkthrough of the steps taken to create the cover artwork. More information about Dreams of Magick can be found --> here

I am also please to announce that I have been signed by Blue Angel Publishing to write and illustrate my own tarot deck – the Dreams of Gaia Tarot. This is a project very close to my heart and one I am truly excited about. Work will commence on the tarot project later in the year, with an anticipated release date of early 2010. More information can be found about the new tarot project --> here

But wait! There's still more news! It's my birthday this month, and I have celebrated with a mammoth update to my website. There's lots to see, and lots of new treasures to buy.

Several months ago, I contributed over twenty of my older works for inclusion in a new oracle deck – Oracle of the Dragonfae – written by the magickal Lucy Cavendish. This gorgeous, high quality deck is now available --> here

There have also been over 50 new artworks, both personal works and those created for the Mythic Oracle, added to the website. Prints and original artworks can be purchased in the following galleries --> Greek Mythology Art ... Dragon Art ... Original Art

Finally, Art of Faery, my website devoted to all things miniature, has closed and merged with Dreams of Gaia. ACEO's and miniatures can now be purchased through the Dreams of Gaia website --> ACEO Open Editions and ACEO Limited Editions

Don't forget there is also an auction running for a magickal faery `Queen of Hearts' -- an OSWOA 4"x6" miniature artwork -- for the next four days. It can be viewed and/or bid upon --> here

Brightest Blessings
Michele-lee

anne_artblog @ 8:53pm:

A question for any of you technically minded people...

I am re-designing and updating my web site and rather than just linking to this blog from it  I would like the blog to appear as part of one of the pages. So the header and tool bar of my site will appear as normal on the top and left of the page, but the blog will be inserted within the rest of the page. Is this possible and if so how do I do it?

Any advice would be much appreciated! :)

artoftheempath @ 10:36pm: New Artwork: She
"She is the cat's mother," my mother would say whenever I used 'She' instead of the name of whomever I was discussing with her at the time. Tis something my grandmother used to admonish me for too, but in this circumstance, I have no idea what her name is. What is God's name? Can you tell me?

I was initially going to title this painting 'God' and see what sort of reaction I got. I'm feeling a little mischevious at the moment, and why not, when in this situation, God is whom I have drawn. The fact that I have depicted God as a woman is irrelevant. In this circumstance, She is the Creator. She is God, the Goddess, and She is All.

But that's awfully 'big' of me, and I'm not really thinking on a large scale. Instead of titling the picture 'God' I decided to instead thumb my nose at my mother and my grandmother who always used to love chiding me. So, she is 'She' and the next time my mother tells me that She is the cat's mother, I can say, "Yes, I know. She is mother of us all." *winks*


Title: She
Size: 8.5"x11"
Medium: Graphite


And yes ... I will be doing a coloured version *smiles* ... this one is being used for my 'goddess' title page.

artoftheempath @ 10:14am: Emails ...
Just wanted to quickly apologise to anyone waiting for a reply to an email. I'm doing website updates at the moment and must not allow distractions until I am done. Will be in touch as soon as I am done.

*hates website updates*

*wants to procrastinate*

hathy_col @ 8:07pm: So, now that I'm over Doctor Who I can write in a calm and sensible manner about my weekend.

Firstly, graduation ball! Friday night proved problematic, as I had to somehow juggle the fact that I had to catch up on bits of Hollyoaks but couldn't watch it all (as I would cry), and then had the added problem of my dress not fitting. I have no idea how, but I magically put on a dress size overnight. One slight panic and a wail to stupidore, who is basically my personal clothes library and Gok Wan rolled into a tiny package of awesome, and I walked out of the house in my fabulous new heels that I had bought the day previously and a blue and black dress that I had wriggled into only a few minutes previously. SCORE.

Now, my intention of going to this ball was to see friends, to do the charity work, and to sensibly drive home as I had to be in work the next day. I was going with New Housemate Ceri, who I don't know that well, so I was just going to be calm and collected. After working on the chairty cloakroom for two hours with her, engaged in those eminently girly sports of Perving and Bitching at the people going past, we ended up getting trollied on whatever booze we could get our hands on and then dancing like fools.

Classy.

I spent the rest of the evening with Ann and a few other friends and quietended down a bit before realising I would need to geta taxi home, as I was a. drunk and b. wearing three inch-heels. Whoops.

... as you can imagine, I was chuffed to bits to be woken up by Jehovah's Witnesses the next morning.

Anyway. That was pretty much the high point of my weekend, neatly followed by the revelation that work has cocked up my paperwork which is why I still don't have a staff number and aren't going to be paid until end of July. Er. Oh dear. I really enjoy this job, though, so not to worry. Means I won't feel so bad unexpectedly quitting in a few months time.

My future is not one filled with shiny glee, other than Saturday night OBVIOUSLY. I have a staff meeting tomorrow night - an hour after my shift ends which means I basically have to hang around town for a long and dull hour ARGH.

Someone suggest something fun for me to do. Any good plays on soon, any parties I should know about, films, books? For the forseeable future I don't have any 'weekends' and instead just have a day off here and there, so I can't even travel anywhere. SUGGEST ME STUFF, PEOPLE.

erishkigal @ 5:35am: One minute entry
I feel stronger now than I did the other day. My friends persuaded me to come out instead of sitting at home feeling miserable and it was a really good idea. Somehow it actually worked in taking my mind off things, though I did not think that was possible. Copious alcohol could perhaps be attributed but I don’t think that was the cause – though I drank a mix of whiskey, beer, vodka and jager I still did not get too drink and thankfully didn’t really get the hangover to match either. I just had a really fun night out and met lots of lovely people. The Daemonolith gig was a joke; only about 30 people turned which for Camden on a Friday night was appalling! So, some angry faces as a result. Ended up in the Dev till about three when some of us headed back to this guys flat nearby. Played the Wii but I got bored of it extremely fast; I don’t understand why people love it so much! Eventually I passed out after the sun had come up, but I woke just a couple of hours later and decided I wanted to be in my own bed so I walked back to the tube station in the blazing sunshine, which was not so great for my poor head, and spent the rest of the day being lazy.
In about an hour I must start getting ready to leave, as my trip to Metalcamp begins. However I have to take a detour to attend a wedding. It’s quite unfortunate timing that it falls on the morning of the first day of MC, but I will still make it before any of the decent bands. In fact, there aren’t really any bands at all there I want to see to be honest but that is fine with me. The only ones that vaguely appeal, I have already seen enough to fulfil me. But I do want to see Catamenia and it will be nice to hang out with the Cataboys again.
I started packing only an hour or so ago which was a VERY bad idea, christ. I didn’t sleep at all tonight and have so much to do tomorrow. It’s a nightmare! I have to pack for eleven days, ranging from a very fragile dress to wear to the wedding to army boots to bikinis. There is just so much stuff to fit in! I am quite a light packer and have happily survived a fortnight off one backpack before but I can see that will not suffice here. I can’t wait to just be there in the sunshine, floating in the cool river drinking sex on the beach or a june bug with metal in the background and my friends by my side. But first my other commitments, and then to Italy, then finally in Slovenia I shall arrive. Cheers!

missy_b, posting in finnish_music @ 4:30am: Hanoi Rocks, Mama Trash & Turku Romantic Movement in B.S zine #31
Just thought of the members of this group might be interest to know Issue 31 of the UK’s finest, and only fake-fur covered (!), glam / sleaze / goth / punk / ‘billy zine is out today and includes an interview with Hanoi Rocks’ Michael Monroe, plus a report on US promoter Mama Trash’s inaugural festival in Helsinki this spring, and a feature on up ‘n’ coming Finnish rockers Turku Romantic Movement. Every copy also comes with a free 16 CD, cover images and full details of contents are ( under the cut. )

artoftheempath @ 8:35am:




Medium: Mixed - watercolour, coloured pencil, acrylics, ink
Size: 4"x6" (OSWOA)

Queen of Hearts has been listed for auction. There is a minimum bid of $140.00 and a 'Buy it Now' option of $175.00. The artwork in question will be published in 'Dreams of Magick' -- my coming book -- which will be released late 2008, early 2009.

Click here to view auction

hathy_col @ 8:09pm: Well, I was going to write about the graduation ball, Jehovah's Witnesses, work, and the ongoing saga of my lounge singer voice but FUCK THAT SHIT because DOCTOR WHO WHAT THE FUCK.

( Big massive spoilers )

I am going to go and rest my voice whence I have been screaming at the telly and lost it again.

artoftheempath @ 10:55pm: New Artwork: Queen of Hearts Coloured



Medium: Mixed - watercolour, coloured pencil, acrylics, ink
Size: 4"x6" (OSWOA)
Price:US$150.00


I must stop painting these little beauties in a manner that makes me want to keep them all to myself. I don't usually like cute, but I must confess that I adore this painting. The colours are perfect. The gold bits have all been done in metallics, which of course never scan well. The whole painting has this delightful medieval air to it, and I believe that the fact that the image above is actually larger than the original is a testament to it's quality.

As with Starborn, who sold rather quickly, this OSWOA is for sale. If it does not go to a private buyer in the next 48 hours, it will be auctioned on eBay with a first bid of $150.00, and a buy it now of $175.00. There's just too much detail in this miniature artwork to have it sell for anything less. *grins* I'm only too happy to keep her with me while I wait for the right person to come along. So for those who are thinking that they might snag a bargain by waiting for me to auction it, then I regretfully suggest that you think again. You might find that you get a better price if you don't wait.

I know *cheeky grin* I'm a spoilsport, but I refuse to fall into the eBay trap and auction my work off for a small fraction of what it's worth.

artoftheempath @ 10:54pm: New Artwork: Queen of Hearts


Title: Queen of Hearts
Size: 5.5"x8.5"
Medium: Graphite


Tis another wee graphite for the Fae title page in my book. She is the Queen of Hearts, and she wants you to be silent in order to hear the magick and love that whispers and wraps itself around your heart.

I will be painting a separate colour version of this one tomorrow for my next auction. Not sure if it will be an OSWOA or an ACEO. It depends on how small I feel like working when I print out the linework tomorrow. *smiles*.

And now it is time for me to relax for a spell.

balthaser @ 9:50am: ( cut )

hathy_col @ 11:02pm: won't you let me know
I gave up today and phoned the doctor. So, sue me, I worry about this sort of thing if I can't see, feel (or in this case, hear) any improvement in a week and I'd hit that time frame now and I just feel like death on a stick. So I phoned the doctor, got an appointment with the shiny evening surgery, and then spent a day in Dundee as part of my ongoing attempt to Look A Bit More Like A Human. Quite a good day with Katie, doing Girly Type Stuff.

Yeah. All good. I meandered to the evening surgery and got me seen to by a doctor. She, after a wee bit of poking around, declared I had a 'nasty virus' and laryngitus. I assumed this was a posh celebrity disease that singers got but apparently not. NHS Direct informs me this will apparently go on for weeks. I can't sound this manky and croaky for weeks! I have to talk to people! I get actively penalised if I don't! *flails*

I also feel a bit daft having gone to the doctors for what is essentially a non-illness. Ho hum. I feel like crap and next time I know what to look out for. But it hurts and my chest hurts and I am very good at feeling sorry for myself. In order to properly feel sorry for myself, I'm going to spend all day in my pajamas and do my dissertation reading because I am SO BEHIND that it isn't funny.

HOWEVER. Because I am crazy and because I want to wear this sodding ballgown this June, I'm going to the Graduation Ball tomorrow. BUT COLLEEN YOU ARE NOT GRADUATING. (Oh, don't shout, I can't shout back.) Well, no, I'm not, but I have volunteered to run the cloakroom for two hours. Yes, I have work in the morning, yes, I am ill, but, well. I'm determined to try New Stuff this summer and actually be interesting and stuff. Plus I know a few people who'll be there, so it'll be fun. And if not, well, I'm doing the first two hours so I can sod off early. :-)

Now though, bed. I had to get up early this morning to let the washing machine repairman in. Don't ask. It is a ridiculously long story even by my standards.

hawkstudios @ 1:22am: Strong

hathy_col @ 11:13pm: ( Big Read Thing )

I have thirty on there, which isn't bad. Plus, I am currently trying to work through all my Classic Literature, because I live in a university town and therefore the second-hand book shops and charity shops ae crawling with cheap copies of them. It's not that I want to read them, but I'm enjoying being challenged by literature and big thick books take up a lot of time. And sometimes I do enjoy them; Cranford was wonderful, and I read Les Miserables and Anna Karenina voluntarily and for fun when I was on holiday. Enjoyed them, too! Crime and Punishment, on the other hand, BRINGS ME PAIN. But, well, Dickens got paid by the word and I'm looking for that at the moment, so there we are.

Still have no voice. Well, I sometimes do, but when I do I sound like a sexy jazz singer. By 'sexy' read 'Any Winehouse' to be honest with you. I have ice cream now, though.

erishkigal @ 11:14pm: Hellfest
Hellfest was absolutely amazing!

It didn’t start off that way with many troubles on the journey out to La Rochelle – left my packing till the morning on the flight and left loads of things behind (including sun cream which is why I am now glowing red all over! So strange because I never normally burn. Borrowed some off various other campers but it was not enough!), having to unravel my tent and hand over my pegs at Stansted, but having a diva moment and getting them back, arriving at the hotel in Nantes to find it was closed and literally not a soul was working. Spent an hour or so chatting to an Australian guy who had flown over for the fest and was staying there, he hunted all over for me but since no one was there at all, a lot of phone calls later we finally had a new and expensive hotel room for the night!
By the time we got there it was after midnight.. not a great start! The next day we checked out and seconds before we got on the train to Clisson, I realised I had left my mobile behind in the hotel room. The pitfalls of having a phone about the size and thickness of a credit card, it disappears easily. Luckily, some really nice French people offered to drive us back to the hotel, waited while I retrieved the phone from within the bedsheets, then drove us to Clisson, stopping off in their mates beautiful rustic villa near to the festival. We had some beers and their friend gave us a map with the villa marked on it along with the pin number to get in and their mobile number, with an offer to come and stay or just use the showers any time. It was so ridiculously nice of them! We didn’t take them up on it, mostly because we still felt cheeky and besides we couldn’t be bothered to walk back there in the sun, but they wouldn’t even accept money for petrol so it was just a massive favour.
Okay, I know a lot of people criticised Hellfest in the past for the seemingly awful organisation etc, but they made so many changes and really went above and beyond the call of duty this year. No showers, but a marquee full of taps which was a godsend in the extreme heat – everyone was just stripping off and washing as best as they could, which I really needed to do particularly after some very sweaty band sets! Loads of food, drink, even sweets (doesn’t beat my ice cream while watching Immortal but I had a toffee apple during Belphegor this time, rock on!) a fire pit which was lovely to sit by at nights and chat during bands.
The worst part was the heat, it was immense, not sure of the temperature but waking up in the tent each morning felt like being a lump of chicken in a boil-a-bag. Everyone was sunburnt to a crisp; cloudless skies and relentless sun, got hosed off during some bands but dried pretty much instantly! In the field behind where we camped, if you went through the bushes and climbed over the barbed wire you discovered a very pretty area with a big pond and lots of shade. Spent loads of time lazing there and drinking, watching sexy men strip naked and swim (put my bikini on but didn’t dare to join them as it didn’t look like the cleanest pond in the world), ahh that was the life. Now I’m determined to pack all the necessary supplies for staying at cool at Metalcamp!
I saw Rotting Christ, Marduk, Mayhem, Katatonia, Carcass, Paradise Lost, Venom, Shining, Watain, Impaled Nazarene, Belphegor, Satyricon, Anathema, Candlemass, Primordial, Cult Of Luna, Morbid Angel, At The Gates, Misanthrope, Opeth, NOFX, Motorhead and Slayer which was a lot more bands that I really wanted to see, rather than just why-not bands, at a festival. So a great session!
Best band was Watain. Seriously FANTASTIC. Excellent performance and atmosphere, afterwards I was so exhausted and sweaty despite getting sprayed with water, went to the tap tent and just drenched myself until I was lovely and clean again, orgasmic.
Worst band was NOFX. Have no idea what they were doing there, poor music that sounded like an aging Blink 182, embarrassing and clearly rehearsed stage banter, just awful.
Most surprising band was Cult Of Luna from Sweden. I was intrigued by some samples I heard so I stage-hopped during Morbid Angel to catch them and am really pleased I did. The fact that they have ‘post-hardcore’ vocals was the only thing that damaged an otherwise incredibly atmospheric and overwhelming set. I think bm vocals would be better if you got the right singer. It was late at night on the last day so I just lie down in the tent and let the lighting and music wash over me, quite a trippy experience. I’m sure they are not everyone’s cup of tea but I really enjoyed it! They’re playing in London next month but I won’t be here, so I’ll try and catch them someplace else to see if it was a one-off or down to alcohol or something.
Overall had an awesome time, caught up with some friends (though never as many as I intend to, as usual) and met some cool new people, lots of fun.
The day after the fest we packed up and caught the train to La Rochelle, got there in the evening so we checked into our hostel and went for a walk along the beach in the dark and ate some horse with wine. It was pleasant being back there, but some things have changed since I used to go all the time - it is much more expensive, for one! We spent today lying on the beach – blue sky, warm and blissful, all throughout the fest I would have killed for a big wet sea and now I was swimming in it, joy of joys! However, still no suntan lotion so oww. Had some nice dinner and more wine before flying back to London earlier this evening and coating self in aftersun lotion. Must detox now!

hathy_col @ 10:47pm: I am, as it happens, alive. I am very very figuratively quiet at the moment because susie22 is here for a few days and it is a bit rude to leave one's guest on the sofa by herself. I am also literally very quiet as I have acquired The Lurgy and, for the first time in ages, am actually properly ill. Well, I'm not. That's what infuriating. I'm running a constant low-grade fever - you know, the type that makes you freezing but also sweaty and manky - my joints hurt, I'm coughing, I have a sore throat and this morning I woke up with no voice. I coaxed it back into existence by the medium of tea and patience, and now I have a strange warbling creature of a voicebox and on certain words and pitches - I'm natureally quite high-pitched - it just gives in entirely.

This is what I believe is traditionally referred to as Bloody Annoying and as I'm not displaying anything else than this in terms of alarming symptoms then I can't really scive work. Actually, I can and tomorrow I probably will, as talking to customers when you can't say words who then ask you more questions is not great. They let me be in the basement for most of today. Hurrah! I am setting the alarm early and if I can't talk then I'm phoning in sick.

To be honest, it's sort of funny, but it's getting irritating. SEND ICE CREAM AND WHISKEY PLEASE.

artoftheempath @ 9:31am: Starborn Update
I am glad to announce that the coloured version of Starborn has been sold. I will have to do a replacement painting for auctioning.

artoftheempath @ 12:18am: New Artwork: Starborn in Colour


Title: Starborn Coloured
Medium:Mixed - watercolour, coloured pencil, acrylics, ink
Size: 4"x6" (OSWOA)
Price:US$150.00


Okay, the colour version is done, and it's gorgeous. The scan does simply not do it justice. It's quite dark, with a beautiful gothic feel. It's so pretty I want to keep it all for myself, but the sad truth is that I have bills to pay so I won't be. Unless somebody wants to purchase it prior to my auctioning it, I will be doing exactly that in the next couple of days. However, it will have a high first bid price on it, only a wee bit lower than the price I have it for sale now. To be blunt, I'd rather have it not sell for a pittance at auction and make it available in the original section of my website than to have it sell for less than this gem is worth. The amount of detail, and the quality of this beautiful wee painting is amazing.

artoftheempath @ 2:08pm: New Artwork: Starborn


Title: Starborn
Size: 5.5"x8.5"
Medium: Graphite


The full title of this painting is 'Starborn - Portrait of a Dragonkin' and it came to be after I felt a need to revisit a concept and composition that is like a comfortable pair of shoes. I have used the same composition for 'The Lady' and 'The Trickster' -- two paintings that represented the start of my love and desire to do a tarot deck that explored the concept that we all carry the essence of dragons within us, and that dragons are akin to angels.

Little did I know at the time that my love for dragonkin would develope into such a grand passion. I love dragons, I adore dragonkin, I love doing any subject that weaves the essence of dragon into it. To me, dragons are magick, the cosmos, and I that is why they will feature heavily in my tarot deck.

This wee graphite, however, is not going to be a part of the tarot deck, but is another illustration for my book and will grace one of several title pages. I am also going to be doing a coloured OSWOA version which will be placed for auction on eBay once completed.