My new boyfriend (in my head)!!

Today is seriously slow moving! I have things to do but all I want to do is finish off my Rozelle Artists Guild sketchbook & go home to cook some bangin' Ramen for lunch. This officially solidifies me as a Monday Fail! I then made the mistake of fumbling onto Twitter leading to more potential failage (new word). One of my fav artists Erykah Badu (@fatbellybella) retweeted a link to some artwork by a fellow E. Bady lover & artist by the name of Rob Gibson (@robartistic). He did two awesome pieces in tribute to Erykah & Corinne Bailey Rae. How random to find a guy that loves two of my favorite artists & then he got down on the canvas with them. Immediately, I pegged him my new boyfriend in my head as Wendy Williams would say! Check out his work:

Lollapalooza 2010

His blog if full of more awesomeness so stop by & check it out! Really, I don't want to be the only person Twitter-stalking him!

Happy Monday!

My week? Let me show you it!

This is the best way that I can describe how my week has been! Long hours, high stress & health issues = WOWZA! I rarely go into details about my job because some days it's just too wacked out to understand. Between backstabbing, gossip, legal woes & other randomness, I think people would much rather hear about the good in the world! Gotta run to another meeting & then I'll be joining the NyQuil Nation! PEACE!

Tell Me Something Good!

Longest day ever & now I have insomnia! Luckily, Soul Train saved the day with this gem!

Confessional is now open!

I don't boast about it but I'm a bit artsy fartsy when left to myself. I don't have a particular medium that I like to work with. I've tried a few different techniques over the year. My job doesn't allow for any creativity so I escape by way of quick pencil sketches. My mind gets so cluttered with random idea that a few years back I started carrying moleskin notebooks in my purse. Fairly quickly, more than half of the pages are littered with random doodles. I never show anyone because they're never anything special. It's my little secret! Once I've finished a book, I throw it into a pile and rarely do I ever go back to look at them. I picked up the drawing bug from my dad. He's the most talented artist that I know. Sadly, it's not a talent that he uses often; if ever. He's a secret doodler like me. In high school, he was granted an Art scholarship but he didn't use it. He was pushed to focus on basketball because of his height. (He's 6'9"!) When the basketball thing didn't get him into college, he just started to work. I remember the first time that I discovered he could draw. I was working on a project and asked for some help drawing a horse. In minutes, he'd sketched out the most perfect masterpiece. I contemplated signing my name on the bottom to turn it in as my own work but he wasn't having it. He took me through the steps on creating my own. And that's when the art bug bit me! I've drawn all kinds of things & recently branched out to photography. I get super excited at the opportunities to get outside to take pictures or lay out & draw. Doesn't happen too much but it's a treat when I get the chance.

I'm sure you're wondering why this qualifies as confession worthy! Well, I've been wanting to discreetly put together a collection of sketches and photos. I've been putting it off & making excuses about time and my lack of professional training. I received a random e-mail from a childhood acquaintance and wrote a super-charged motivational e-mail reply just to realize that I should be taking my own advice. Dawn Okoro's recent blog post pretty much reinforced that little voice that was telling me that I have no more reasons to run from it. I'm entering a local event where random citizens are asked to fill a small sketchpad with their creativity. I should get my book by the weekend. I'll share the final product before I turn it back in at the beginning of September.

Won't Let Nothing Show Through

Today, I had on a serious poker face! I can feel my exhaustion all the way to my bones. Since there is no such thing as time outs in real life, I had to keep pushing through the day's events. I survived my first real day under my new boss and an off-site event. I even dug down deep to muster out a workout, a quick trip to the grocery store and slight housework once I escaped the workhouse. I'm now zonked and heading straight for the Sandman's neighborhood!

♫Listening to Do You Feel Me by Anthony Hamilton♫

Right to the point!

I'm such a fan of Anthony Hamilton & his sound! He's one of the few artists that I can see having REAL music that will be passed down to the next generation. This song was my favorite as soon as I heard it and I can never listen to it just once (or 3 times). It gets put on repeat for hours & never gets old to me! What can I say? It's just that good to me! I have all the love habits listed in this song. Not always the best way to love but I'd much rather love to the fullest than to never get the chance to do it at all. I guess that makes me a love dispenser!?!? Just like extroverts energize by being in their element of large groups, the opportunity to authenticate my love by way of true action refuels me. Not in a way that expects reciprocation but just to let someone know my love is there when they need it. I fully believe that when you give love from a genuine place without expecting anything in return, God will keep it flowing and it's our job to find new vessels to deposit it. He'll do for us just like He did for the widow in 2 Kings 4. I love the line in Eat~Pray~Love when she says that she wants to one day have the capacity to love the whole world. I wonder what that would feel like! Just imagine!

Happy Tuesday!

Another year in the books!

Yesterday I celebrated my 29th birthday & of course, it was a day of mixed emotions for me. I can't begin to tell you how many people called, e-mailed & texted to ask me when and where was my party. I was beginning to think someone was actually planning a party for me without telling me. With each inquiry, I had to respectfully let down the person and let them know that I had no plans. Honestly, the introvert in me wanted nothing more than to find a small island to jet off to celebrate alone. A private island was out of the question but a drive a couple of hours away did the trick. Funny thing was that the friend that I met up with needed the visit more than me! Cocktails, movies, football and much needed down-time was a nice birthday present for me!

The drawing above is by the talented Brianna McCarthy! I'm a fan of her work & get super giddy whenever she updates her blog with new work. This piece is called Bella - The Colours of Hope, Faith and New Beginnings. We both agreed that she looks a bit like me. What do you think?