I didn't MEAN to take the summer off...

Well where the heck did July and August go?!

Never mind, they aren't coming back so let's not waste time pining away after them.

I'm rusty... really rusty.  I have to confess I haven't been making ANY art.  There are a couple of people who come around once in a while and step into my craft room, looking around hopefully, wondering if I've been holding out on them and secretly making great things and just not sharing.

Nope!

Besides working, (I actually really like my job, so please don't think I'm complaining... just that it keeps me very busy) I've spent some time keeping these pesky chickens alive...

(Side note, go see my friend Heather's blog, she's an AMAZING photographer... seriously)

We started with 25 day-old chicks, and now they're four months old, so we're expecting to see some eggs any time now.  We have 12 roosters and 12 hens, (one chicken didn't make it) and we're ready to cull most of the roosters, because wow, are they ever turning into the most aggressive little five-pound assholes you've ever seen.  They beat up on each other, they beat up on the hens, and they've even started biting ME, which pretty much sealed their fate as far as I'm concerned.  (Bright side: the "pecker" jokes just write themselves.)  So I've been marking chicken recipes on Pinterest, and we're trying to figure out if we can make our own chicken plucker.  BIG THINGS GOING ON AROUND HERE, I'M TELLING YOU.

Not interesting enough for you?  I also wangled an invitation to go harvest honey from some beehives and my fascination with bees just grew about a hundred fold.

My friend Tracie, her friend Mike, and sweaty, happy me.  Those bee suits are HOT.
 No really, don't we look awesome?

Mike is a big-time firebug.  I think his favourite part of beekeeping is getting the smoker going.

Ever seen 80,000 bees up close?  It made my whole week.

... and I also got an A+ in the Photoshop course I took over the summer.  Yay me!

About that - I'm well on my way to earning a Graphic Design certificate, and the next course is one I've been excited about ever since I found out I had to take it.  "HAD" to, indeed.  Psshhh.  It's called Drawing & Illustration, and I cannot WAIT.  It starts on September 18 and then I'm probably going to bombard you with with my doodles like an enthusiastic kindergartener.  Lucky for you I can't demand that you all put them up on your refrigerator.

In the meantime I know I have to warm up my drawing (and illustration?) hands again and get comfortable with my art stuff now that fall's coming around.  Today I drew this young lady:

Eyes are wrong, hair's too dark, lips are weird... but her nose is MAGNIFICENT.  *proud*

And I'm not TOTALLY happy with her (besides the fact that she looks like she's judging me), but I can't be too upset because I really haven't been practicing.  Back in February I signed up for Jane Davenport's I (HEART) Drawing online class, which is just fantastic - drawing these girls is one of the first lessons.  And now she's doing a brand-new live version.  Once you sign up for one of her classes you have access to all the lessons and videos and message boards for a full year, so I'll get to see all the new material.  I'd join it all over again just to watch her draw, she is seriously talented, and a glowing ray of sunshine to boot.

So I'm mentally cracking my knuckles and getting ready for a busy fall - but this time it's gonna be busy because I'm doing what I love so much to do... making art.

(and eating chicken)

Thanks for sticking around!!

Love Shelley!