A Lazy Friday Thoughts

I felt so cold today. I haven't done much but slept and tried relaxing with not so relaxing ways. I was also thinking of setting up a new blogsite for my arts alone but I don't have enough collection yet to put them up on a blog of their own. All the artworks I've done before I got here in the U.S. are left in the Philippines, probably just sitting on the bottom shelf of a cabinet, accumulating dusts. I was thinking, I shoulda' woulda' coulda' duh. Since I got here, I didn't really find time to draw or paint anything even though my husband bought me a two-hundred-dollar plus easel and some other stuff I could have used everyday but I didn't. I felt like I wasted too much time. I just started going back into it lately, like last month when I realized I should update my blogs, I started last 2006 and probably monetize it(which I find so difficult and complicated). I was also thinking of just working at home so I can find enough time for whatever things needed to be done here in the house(our house is a mess) but I just can't find any. So, now, I'm looking for a real-world job(or whatever you call it) and might have found one already that will possibly hire me. I need a lot of money for my meds coz I'm a sick fat cat.(lol) the thing is, as I said I just started going back to my passion and just started this blogging life, will I still have time when I get a real job? Well, that's my Lazy Friday thoughts.

Well, yesterday, I wasn't so lazy so I drew a portrait of this cute little girl, her name is Chloee.

I used a soft 4B Charcoal pencil on a drawing paper. The size of this portrait is 9" x 11 1/2".

Uhm, vocabulary test?

Well, I know I'm not tagged with this, I just grabbed it from somebody and tried it. I'm kindda suprised of the result so I thought I'd just post it here. I'm not bragging or anything, this just motivates me to read and read more. Have a nice day everyone!

Your Vocabulary Score: A-

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Book I'm Reading Right Now: Sister Freaks

I'm still halfway through this book but I just want to share how I love reading it so much. It's all about women who serve God whole-heartedly and faithfully that they let Him lead their way no matter what happens. They sacrificed everything for God and are never afraid of the outcome because they know God will always be with them. The stories are so touching, they range from the stories of women like Joan of Arc and others from the biblical times and of modern times. They are really inspiring. This book tells me that the best life can be found in living with faith in the Lord and in serving him above all else. I know I can never serve Him enough, I'm not a missionary or something for that matter and I chose a different path in life but I'm praying that in my own little ways, I can at least give some service to Him.

If someone wants to check this out, the information is:

"Sister Freaks: Stories of Women Who Gave Up Everything for God" by Rebecca St. James.

Just Two of My Old Sketches

Yesterday I was really busy cleaning up some mess around the house so I can have a little space to put my easel and hopefully to use as my little studio. Our house is so full of everything I just don't know what to do anymore. As I was looking through those stuff on that area, I found a lot of important papers that would have been a cause of a chaos in this house had I not meticulously scrutinized each one. What's delightful is that I found some of my sketches from a couple of years ago. They immediately brought back memories. The one at the top reminded me of those times I was dreaming to become a fashion designer wishing I can at least audition for Project Runway. The next one made me smile. I draw that last year when I was reminiscing of those times my friends when we were supposed to be studying for our final exam but instead we wasted our time chatting about stuff not related to our exams at all. Ahhh... nostalgia... I'm looking forward to reuniting with them soon. (That drawing was just my imagination and don't look like any of my friends).

I found more sketches from that area and they all convinced me that I shouldn't stop drawing, I shouldn't stop what I like to do just because I don't have enought time. Drawing is like my yoga, my meditation....

Midnight Blues

It's already midnight here right now but my eyes are still wide open and my mind still wandering around. It's crazy that it's hard not to post on this blog anymore. It's like I'm gonna get punished if I don't. So I would.

Sunday was really a nice day. It was sunny and warm with the temperature in the 40's. It felt like spring for one day. Yeah, just for one day! Come Monday morning, a snowstorm will hit again that will probably last until Tuesday afternoon and the forecasters said that we might get to a foot more snow on our 5-foot pile white little crystals. They look nice from the inside of the house but so nasty when you're outside. I guess I just have to look at the positive side of this, "no matter how long winter seems to be, Spring will come and it never snowed in June".

Another thing, my linker on my sidebar seemed to be dead. I don't know what happened to it. I hope it comes back to life so I can retrieve those links that was put in there. They're not much yet but still, you know. I actually forgot the url of that linker. So to those who wanted to link with me, just leave a message please and I will link you in a little bit here. Thanks.

Have a wonderful Monday to all!

Goldfish: My Oil Pastel Painting

I missed the original appearance of my favorite goldfish because he is terribly sick right now. I hope he still gets better. I just thought I would make a portrait of him last night using oil pastel. I just imagined his previous looks and I based this painting to that. It's just sad that he's loosing some parts of his tail and fins and he's got dark red spots on his side now.

Time Lapse Video of The Portrait I Posted yesterday

This is the video of how it the portrait I posted yesterday came to be.

Portrait of my Mom and Sis

Portrait
Originally uploaded by letjim

I paint this portrait using oil pastel sticks. It's my first try on using oil pastel in painting faces. I don't do justice to the beauty of my beloved mother and little sister but I did my best. I am looking to trying any techniques in painting using this media because it is somewhat difficult to maneuver without using spirits. I am also looking for a better camera to capture my artworks.

I have been looking for topics on this blogs since it's just for random thoughts but now I realized, I am a self-proclaimed artist, why not blog on this topic: ARTS. Well, it's still gonna be random but more on random postings of my artworks and artistic thoughts now.

I'm so glad I'm finally inspired to share with you what I really love to do. I hope you guys like this Portrait of two of my inspirations so I can keep going with posting more about arts.

Please leave a comment.

The Wealth called Friends and Family

What does "Wealth" mean to you? What is it's essence in your life? How about "Friends"? "Family"?

Everybody has friends, even the pauper on the street, the man convicted of murder, even animals have friends. But friendship in humans are very important in the core of our existence and well-being. Real friends are our motivators, our shoulders to cry on, our cushion whenever we fall and the list goes on and on.

In this digital age and fast-paced, profit-motivated life, we have been unknowingly ignoring the importance of the real people in our lives, those that we were suppose to share parts of our lives with, those that we call our inspirations, our bestfriends and love of our lives. Instead we're stuck in front of a machine trying to figure out how to get rich so we can buy anything we want to, may it be for real or in the virtual world of internet games, or for most people, working 24/7 to pay for that entertainment showcase in the basement. No wonder anti-depressants are selling like hotcakes and the world is having numerous issues with healthcare. We lost touch of the real thing that makes us healthy and wealthy - the companionship and friendship of the ones we really value, the ones we are actually neglecting. We're so focused on giving them the material things that we tend to loose sight of the more important aspect in life - people's emotional needs - they need to be met first and everything else will be more rewarding.

A Hug or any simple gesture of gratitude and love can be shown everyday to slowly correct this imbalance in our lives. Do this to your mom, your dad, your spouse, your bestfriends, and anybody who had impacted you life but had never been reciprocated for it yet, and, everytime, make sure to look at their faces and you'll surely see the true meaning of wealth.

As for my friends, my family, my beloved husband, and those people that are literally strangers but have been giving me inspiration and motivation in life, "THANK YOU". My heart is always with you and I will see all your smiling faces soon.

Need Advice on my Goldfish

I have been looking around and browsing the net about what our favorite goldfish really afflicted with. I hate to loose this one on the video below because he's got really nice fins and he's getting bigger now. Sadly the fins and tails are the first ones showing symptoms. We thought he would grow healthier than he is but too bad he's having some disease we aren't really sure what. That's why I'm seeking any advice from anybody who knows about these stuff and those who had an experience like this. We thought it's Ick so we started the treatment with those tablets that we bought from the pet store, we're on the third day now but it seemed a little different from the symptoms of Ick that I read about. Or is it Fin Rot? Yesterday he started looking like he was really tired and just wanted to stay and sit at the bottomof the tank and then after a little while he would swim like normal again. I hope it's not too late yet. We really want to save him. Please share some insights about my situation. Thanks.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just wanna greet all my family and friends, and my readers as well , a very Happy Valentine's day! May your day be filled with love and happiness.
It would be nice if everyday is Valentine's day and everybody will be appreciative of the love other people give them. See, it's not just about lovers expressing love to each other, most commonly by giving gifts, it is also about the people who love and are being loved by anybody in their life. Showing more love is how it should be celebrated, not just by giving material gifts. But however you show that love is up to you and if it's heartfelt, it will be receprocated.
Me, I'm just thankful to God that He loves me and is always giving me people in my life that shows me how to love and love me sincerly. I hope you guys reading this have the same feeling(being grateful).
God bless you all!

Earn Some Rewards and Cash Online!

I know there's a lot of blogs about these stuff already but I just thought maybe it would be nice to share some of those legitimate ones I'm sure would also be helpful for those who just started looking into these, just like me. These are my top 3 favorites so far. Please click the links or icons to visit the site.

1. Answer Questions and Earn CASH: http://www.guessnow.com/show?signup&refID=cheesy143
I'm really having fun answering questions on this one. They even gave me extra points for answering expired questions and correcting grammar and spelling errors. I got hooked! I think it's only for US residents.


2. Read Mails, Take Surveys, Shop online: http://www.inboxdollars.com/?r=cheesy143


Out of all the survey sites I've checked, this one is really easy and reliable. Their clients are big companies like ebay.com, homedepot.com, and a lot of legitimate merchant websites. So I highly recommend this.

3. Play Games and Get Rewards: http://club.live.com/
Well, this one is by Microsoft. I already got 2 1-year subscriptions of very good magazines from them. I'm now playing to get Zune mp3 player. It's really fun and informative. So try it.

To those of you who know more sites I may be interested to try, please post a comment here or PM me. I hope these are also helpful. Thanks for the time.

My hand-made Valentine's Card

I made this card for my mom-in-law for Valentine's day. Just thought I would share it with you guys. I used watercolor for the rose and most of the colors on the front.

I just so hope she'll like this.