Ah sorry, LJ. I promised to post some sketches, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I've scanned some of them in, but, as many of you may know, my current infatuation with all things Doctor Who and David Tennant has taken over my life. I can probably blame Kimbo and my local library for this. I go to pick up Series 4 from the library later today! You don't know how incredibly giddy this makes me. This is worse than my Andrew Bird obsession, mostly because David Tennant has much more of a media presence and it seems there is no end to what I can find.

For some stuff to hold you over, here's some more work art.
I have nice watercolor sketches from the zoo, contour line-sketches from an Andrew Bird concert back in February, but that will have to come later.
Currently working on a 2nd David Tennant as Doctor Who pencil portrait. First one wasn't very successful and went into the Scraps section of my Deviantart page. Second one, I am confident, looks a lot more like him, but I won't really be able to tell until I put it up and have other people look at it. Also working on finishing a piece I started from Kimbo's b-day Trail of Stars.

Waiting for the Amazon box to come with new CDs and books.

It is exciting to know that at least our current President is willing to take a stance on and do something about climate change. However, all it takes for one person to have a positive effect on climate change, is to be conscious of how our own actions affect the world around us and to have willing partners in the desire to change our ways.
In my own ways, I have tried to become more green by taking the train to work despite the fact that it takes twice as long as driving, carpooling as often as possible, recycling, and using CF bulbs. Unfortunately I don't yet own a hybrid gas efficiency level car, but I do own a Honda Fit, which does get some decent mileage and is a partial zero emissions vehicle.
I am also lucky to work for a place that cares about climate change. At the Aquarium of the Pacific, our newest classroom was recently Platinum LEED certified with green features such as running off solar power, a floor made of flyash, and grey water used to water the greenroof, which has local and drought tolerant plants. In addition, the Aquarium was recently awarded the Super Nova Star Award by the Alliance to Save Energy for being "the most energy efficient business with annual revenues under $50 million." Through education and the Green Team, the Aquarium takes the extra effort to help the public and its staff understand the ways people can change their habits to keep climate change from becoming a bigger problem. 

Still a little sore and tired from spending time at the beach yesterday. Caught a couple waves on the boogie board, slightly improving. No sunburns yet, though I am a little more tanned on my toes than usual.

Might post a few sketches later, but meanwhile, I finally posted photos of the murals I did this year. Check it out!
http://changewindsink.blogspot.com/2009/09/mural-madness.html

Went biking around the Santa Fe Dam today and walked some of the nature trails. It's a good place to spot quail, though only in the distance today. However, I did see a bird species I haven't before, the Cactus Wren, which strangely does sound like a car engine that won't start, as they described on the Nature Center signage.

Also, decided to get involved in K's idea of drawing to a song within the songs time limit. I have a limited playlist on my iPod shuffle, so I did this with iTunes. I did cheat though and skip one song though that I didn't want to hear, mostly because I haven't even heard some of the stuff I have on my iTunes. But otherwise, I followed the rules. :D
( My illustrated playlist: )

Mostly reviewing one of the CDs I got today.
So I finally broke down today and bought the deluxe edition of  Noble Beast by Andrew Bird. I also got The Boy with No Name by Travis to listen to on my journey up north for my annual sojourn to the Illustrating Nature show opening.
So, having listened to Useless Creatures, part of the deluxe edition, it's not quite what I expected. There's a few songs I like, though songs is a strong word for the instrumental tracks on Useless Creatures. I was expecting more of "The Supine" from Armchair Apocrypha, but the tracks are more of an experimental, discordant sound environment, but I suspect it will grow on me. Now, my biggest complaint about Andrew Bird is that he outclasses himself with his live concerts. I was debating for the longest time whether to get Noble Beast or not because from the sample tracks on Amazon, I could tell that the songs on the CD were nowhere near the tracks I enjoyed in their live incarnations. There's a live concert on NPR's All Songs Considered podcast if you're wondering what I'm talking about. The tracks on the CD are more restrained and some of the things I love the most about the songs are missing, such as the beautiful violin intro to "Natural Disaster" or just the more subdued tone, and lower notes he sings "Natural Disaster" with on the CD. I suspect they will grow on me in time too, as they are still good songs, just not as good as the live versions.

Meanwhile, the mural I've been working on is close to a point where I can declare it done. There's still a lot of touching up I can do, but I'll give it just one more day, because I have to start on the next one to be in time for summer . . . Erg, what craziness work sometimes is.

Been working on a mural lately, of which the computer mockup can be found here along with a photo of an older mural that I did for work. I've forgotten how physically draining it is to work on a mural. Always ready for food and bed these days. Going on four weeks now and it's still not done. Probably another week'll need to be thrown in. The actual painted mural is in some ways better, in some ways the same, and in many ways different from the computer version.
Meanwhile, been obsessing over Andrew Bird, who makes a great backdrop for the painting of this endless mural, a nice soothing voice and sound to cover up the sounds of screaming kids . . . Now I want to own more (or all) of his albums, even the obscure ones. Cannot get enough of "The Trees Were Mistaken" from the Soldier On EP, which can be found here virus-free. O.o
As promised eons ago, here are a few sketches. Will post more as time permits. These are some watercolor sketches from the various places I've been over the last year.

Hairspray stage from my visit to M in NY last February.
Really would like to see NY again sometime soon.

Max Brenner from the same NY trip. A cookie jar while waiting for delicious chocolate
decadence to arrive. Also some jelly beans and a random dragon from a later sketch
session.

A seascape on my way up to the Illustrating Nature show in Santa Cruz by Amtrak.

I keep forgetting to post this link, but here it is. LOOK MA, I IZ ON THE INTRAWEBZ!!! Erhmm, anyway, click on the "View Online Exhibit" to the right of the page. I did most of the illustrations there, though not the design, nor the coding. As I have no actual credit on there, this is me stakin' my claim. Right, anyway, this website also includes the two paintings I did way back in February of 2007. Those double trouble paintings I reference here. Click on the Menu section "How Have Our Watersheds Changed?" if you're curious to see two of my least favorite paintings (mostly because the perspective's way off (Behold! Wavy landscapes!) and they had to be done in a hurry after the first ones were scrapped X[ ).

In other news, I going to be a mandatory volunteer art mentor for the Art Miles Mural Project that's going on at work.

I have many sketches and small bits of work art to post, but that will have to wait 'til I get home and get around to putting them up.

Andrew Bird is back with a brand new album. It's different enough from the one before to be an album worth getting in my opinion. A little more of the whistling, multi-talented instrument guy. Already, I'm having fun discovering more to each song with additional listens. Take a listen at NPR's All Songs Considered. Dunno how much longer they'll have that up for, since they'll be doing a new album next week, but well worth the listen if you've got the time. The deluxe album looks pretty cool too with some nice original artwork. Anyone for a SD or LA concert in Feb?

Realizing I haven't finished a full artwork this year besides the stuff at work. Still need to finish two black and white illustrations whose due dates are starting to become years behind. Don't really know what it is, but I'm making excuses for myself, and just can't get past that start barrier. Will need to start on a Holiday card soon or I'm not going get one done. I get the itching to start, I want to see it form under my hand, but I can't seem to get it started, get it done. I feel guilty, I feel lazy, I feel obligated to myself, and I need to find a way to get over this.

Politically, I'm hoping the Supreme Court of California will defeat Prop 8. ( Much ranting up ahead. )

While there are interesting things happening in my life—I'm going to the taping of Wait, Wait . . . Don't Tell Me on Monday and doing some more biking this weekend—I've been following the news closely on this Economic Rescue/ Bailout bill. For the most part I'm somewhat angry, but I'm also somewhat conflicted about how I feel about it passing today.
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