The Meetings

NUMBER ONE!!!

WE MET... anyone know? O_O *bursts* EAGLESWINGS!!! *gasps for air* OK, so its out. XD Finally. So, we met EaglesWings. Am I repeating myself? Oh, well. ;)

To put it dramatically, 'The Eagle landed at 11:00 yesterday!' Quote partially taken from Jake's--and Manny's, methinks, own words. :D We went to sign up for the OYAN conference, and then we sat back to wait for Eagles.

Earlier, she'd told him that she'd be wearing a green X-Men shirt, so that we'd know what to look for. Jake just said that he'd probably be wearing a KU shirt. ;) Like always. So, we waited, and then finally she came. Introducing transpired, and then we wanted to have them over for supper. So, my dad left Manny, Jake, and I there with Eagles and her mom while he went to the store. We walked off to the dorms and into the lounge, and we talked to a few people about their novels. :D

Mom came along in the Suburban to pick us up, dad still being at the store. We got back to the house and... well... Ry was introduced, and we talked. A lot. At least, Ry and I talked a lot. ;) Poor Eagles.

EaglesWings looked at my art, and 'twas very nice about it. :) She is quite an exceptional artist herself. Then, she looked over my paintings. :D That was fun.

We at a supper of steak and sauce and rice, along with corn--and, of course--water. :) Mom was asking questions about homeschooling and such. :)

Well, they left soon afterwards, and today was the first day of Jake's One Year Adventure Novel Conference. :) The morning was made of lectures, then he came back for lunch, then he went to critique groups, and after that I'm not sure... but he came back for supper and back at around ten. :) He stayed for a bit afterwards with Eagles and her mom, and I found it funny that he couldn't seem to talk to other people; make conversation. On the internet, he's all out. In real life, when he has no idea who people are, he's completely an introvert.

Tomorrow he shall go back, and my sisters and I shall go to a co-op get together while he's gone.

THEN!!! The other meeting. Not with an Elf, nor a blogger.

'Twas Lee Hammond! OK, so maybe you haven't heard of her. Most like, you haven't. :P But she's one of my favorite artists, and turns out, she lived really near us, so we went to see her!

Dad nearly stepped on a cat on the way in, and said, "Oh, a dead cat." Then it moved. "Oh, wait, it's alive." XD We stepped inside, and Lee Hammond hugged me. :D She was extremely nice.

Her dogs welcomed us, and dad nearly stepped on a cat named Mindy. :) Turns out, there's a thirteen year old Manx cat, who is super narrow and skinny, his fur his horrible. :P The poor cat is not aging very well, and he's thirteen. Now the other cat, Mindy, she's just fine, just as healthy as ever--but here's the catch. SHE'S TWENTY ONE> O_O O_O O_O

Old cat. O_o She also had two dogs--a purebred Labrador, yellow, and she was real sweet... I forgot her name. Shame on me. But anyways, she's way smaller than she's supposed to be--half her size. XD But she's perfectly healthy. She's supposed to be eighty pounds, but she's forty. :)

And the other dog... she's real sweet, too! I'm not sure what kind of dog she is. Her name is Penny. She's thirteen, and the star of Lee Hammond's books. If her books have to do with dogs, then she's in 'em. The dogs crowded me when I stooped. Like I said, really sweet dogs.

In one of Lee Hammond's books she had a Great Pyrenees mix--well, there's a story behind her. She was part wolf, actually! But in her neighborhood, she wasn't allowed to build a fence, so they had an underground one. Unfortunately, the dog liked running... away. She didn't care about any old shock collar. They even put the huge kind that shocked right at the base of their ears--that's for cows! But she was caught one day (her name was Misty) and Lee Hammond would have had to pay a fee. Lee said she was willing to pay, but the dog would just run. This was a shelter that didn't put dogs to sleep, so she left her there to be adopted. It was better for the dog. :) Lee was already over her limit for animals.

We looked around--and some of the paintings and drawings framed on the wall were familiar from Lee Hammond's books. :) I recognized some. There were some adults working on drawing there, and it was fun to see what they were drawing. One was drawing her sister's grandchildren, another a husky, another painting floral, and another painting trees reflecting in water. :) Very pretty.

In a small closet-like room Lee had what was sort of a mini art supplies store. There were even a few of her paintings for sale. :) My mom was going to buy me a kneaded eraser and blending tortillions--but we waited till the end. She had all of her books on a shelf--at least the ones still in print--and there was one that she was going to have at a booksigning--a crayon one. 'Twas epic. Penny was in it. :D As well as Mindy.

She asked what I liked drawing, and I said horses, and she asked if I had the book, 'Draw Horses.' Better yet, I had it with me!! She took it and signed it. :D :D :D :D So now I have her signature on my battered copy of Draw Horses.

My mom was looking at drawing lessons schedules--and was talking to Lee. My mom signed me up for a five -day seminary this July!! Its from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. :D For five days. I FINALLY GET LESSONS!!! FROM LEE HAMMOND!!! And then, she saw crocheting in my bag, and turns out, she crochets! And knits. She knits bed things for the shelter nearby. I said, "Oh, I should learn to do that!"
And she said, "Oh, then we'll fix that too!!" She was EXTREMELY nice.

We went back for the kneaded eraser and the blending tortillions, and we were going to pay her. But surprise, she actually gave them to me--for free! I keep repeating myself, but SHE WAS REALLY NICE.

So, I am rather content. She asked me to get some Bristol paper and some reference photos. Whats funny is that she only had adult classes, but she said I'd fit right in, and she's putting me in the seminary anyways. :) *wide smiles*

So, all in all, a wonderful week so far! :D

--Vrenith

Writings by Jaavere and Vrenith

You're probably thinking, "Whoa--three posts in two days? Do we need to call the doctor?" But no, nothing's wrong with me. ;)

It's just that Jaavere and I have started a blog--one to post our chapters on. This is one you'll have to actually 'check' instead of looking at your dashboard, because we're still working on how to fix the chapters so that the top of the page states the first chapter, the next the second, instead of the other way around, if that makes any sense. So, anyways, visit this link to find our epic first and second chapter.

Fare thee well!! Oh, yes, and I'm about to do another painting, this one of a horse... 'nuff said. *waves a banner* *waves a flag* *waves a... a jacket?!*

--Vrenith

This is Wierd...

I was looking at this guy's blog--Andrew Janesko, his name is. He's a really good artist. So anyways, I was scrolling through his pages, and I came upon a drawing of a boxer puppy. Internal gasp!!

This puppy I've seen before! I'd seen it in Lee Hammond's Drawing Realistic Pets from Photographs. It was a tutorial thing in the book.

But the even stranger thing is that *I'd* drawn the puppy! It just surprised me to see it on the internet. :) I drew the puppy without the instructions--knowing me. I always draw the finished picture, because using the instructions never seems to work... but anyways, I would've posted this lovely picture, but something horrible happened to it. Remember what happened to the horse head? The horse? (the one that my dad had a picture of before it was ruined--it is now my profile picture) It happened to my puppy. It wasn't fixable.And, yes, I admit, I did cry. >_> But I mean, wouldn't you expect that? I am not usually one to cry over such things--more like, I'd get a bit mad. :/ But this had been so special--I'd loved it. And recently, the best of my drawings are ones that I knew I was going to give away, and ones that I kept somehow were ruined. It's been working on my nerves.

But, anyway, we must tear ourselves from my sad story. >_>

Here's the link to the guy's picture: (note, mine did not really have the fur texture, because it was a really shorthaired dog and didn't really put any hair texture in the picture, and I did not use professional pencils--just a really epic, soft one) http://realisticanimaldrawings.blogspot.com/2011/03/boxer-puppy-finished.html

Anyways, that was my random post.

--Vrenith

I'm Still Alive

Surprised? Nah. You knew I'd come back... didn't you? *wonders*

Well, I'm pretty sure that both you and me are not in for a long explanation of my weeks (yes, I haven't blogged for weeks. O_O), so I'll summarize.

We went to a Liberian, African's wedding--the daughter of a man we've known for like more than five years. It was in Colorado.

Then, we drove up Mt. Evans. I stood on the very peak of the mountain... and I didn't have altitude sickness (headache, etc) or fear of heights. Well, not quite. I did get altitude sickness halfway back down the mountain--four or five hours after we'd started up it. XD Altitude sickness is where you're not used to the altitude, and it makes ye a bit... woozy. My mom had it big time, and Ry nearly passed out. O_O

Then, we met up with some people who used to be in our church in Iowa. Heh.

We stayed in a cabin for three nights. :) Very small but comfortable, and the hiking trail was almost straight up, and then straight down... very fun to do that four times a day. XD The cabins (altogether) had two hammocks, a volleyball court (not the really fancy kind), a trail, a swing-set, and the owners had an outside hot tub that they allowed anyone to use.

After that we drove home.

Then we left for the farm a day and a half later. We brought both Beatrice and Moby this time, and slept in a tent during the night--Moby in the tent with us, and Beatrice on the porch in her kennel.

In the middle of the night, a storm came up, and we went inside the house for a bit. Somebody sat on my glasses. OW. The next day I spent blind.

The next morning, I awoke to somebody proclaiming rather loudly that Dad had let Beatrice off the leash and she'd followed him around for awhile. So, I got up. No way I could sleep in that ruckus. Ry, though, slept through it all... Heh.

Then came the fun! We decided to let both Moby and Beatrice off the leash. Now, Moby, used to have the habit of running away, but now he's older. He went all along the perimeter of the farm, and Beatrice followed. We gave up on trailing them. When you called for a bit, they'd come out of nowhere and sit in front of you. They ended up playing in the super small creek and getting all muddy... >_> So we gave 'em a bath, because we we're going to spend the night at my grandma's. Poor puppies had to be leashed to the porch so that they wouldn't get dirty again.

We slept at my grandmas, then they went to church (we didn't, because my dad wanted to go to a church that we used to go to, but some of my family didn't really want to, so it got too late. :P) 'Twas Father's Day.

Then, we went home.

Fun, eh? Going home.

Now, I've been having fun. I read both the Vanishing Sculptor and Dragons of the Valley in the last few days, and I love both... I've read them before. :) Both are extremely good. And last night, there were three friends who came over to help with the house, two of which are getting married this July, and one 23 year old African American named Colby. Her skin is a light brown, not as dark as some. :) She also likes art. Abstract, mostly.

So, we had a brainstorm and used one of my cardboard canvases and I drew a rearing horse, a strange flower behind the rearing horse, and a sky behind that. :) She had to leave, but we still haven't finished the clouds. Turns out, we'd been doing it till Midnight. O_o We ended up doing the inside of the flower mottled black, the petals yellow, and the horse bright red with a yellow mane and tail. :)

Then, today, I went back to painting! This time, the first person painting I've ever done, and it worked out rather well... for an amateur painter who needs lessons really bad. (take note of the 'really bad' part) It portrays the face, which takes up most of the canvas, and her hair. There's only two corners that show any white, and those are now gray for the background. :) The girl I painted was sort of Native American with darkish skin, black hair, and dark eyes. :) The shape of my face wasn't quite right, and my nose wasn't very good, but I did use blue to accent the black in her hair, and white for gleam, and it worked out rather well, though the gleams weren't that bright. I'm not sure what to name it. Once I post it, please abound with names. :)

And so, I bid thee all farewell!!

--Vrenith

E for Excellent--So they Say.

I've just been awarded the 'Rated E for Excellent' blogger award, or something like that. Actually, I wasn't *just* awarded. I've been putting it off. XD

To accept this award, I must list seven things about myself.

So, here we go. ;)

1. I was born.

2. I'm living.

3. I haven't died yet.

4. I have a mom and dad.

5. I have a character in my novel.

6. I can see through glass. ;)

7. I've just been awarded the Excellent Award. (as you can see)

This is following the example of Leauphaun, who posted pretty much useless facts about herself--on purpose. :)  So now you know barely anything more about me than you did before. ;)

There ya go. I award it to all of my followers. If they want it. I'm supposed to tag fifteen people--but instead I tag ye all, if you want to be tagged. :)

--Vrenith