Fun!

Lots of fun, yes.

First, NaNoWriMo--I finished on the fifteenth/sixteenth (late night), at 50,035 words! :D So I started another one, but I don't know if that one will actually get finished before the end of November...I'd have to write four thousand words a nigh. O_O

Second, I had a little accident. >_> I DIDN'T DIE!! Don't worry. ;) I'm not dead.

Well, we had to carry some things across to our other compound, so I carried a box with things stacked on top. Unfortunately, the bridge broke a few days before (MORE FUN), and they fixed it crookedly. So that they could fix it they drained the lagoon, too. So a good six feet in the air.

Well, I couldn't see over the box and stepped one foot off of the bridge. >_< I hit the bridge hard (and now have a bruised tailbone and achy back) and then flipped and landed on my back in the mud. Definitely had the wind knocked out of me.

First thing I saw was this Liberian girl screaming. She grabbed my hand, crying, trying to pull me up. Next I saw Jake running down, and then I thought, "Now I know what I put my characters through." XD Well, I was not hurt permanently, but I did have mud all over my clothes. In my sister's own words, "I thought you had DIED. I will never be a nurse in traumatic circumstances because I stopped breathing when I saw you fall." Haha. In MY own words, "Then you would have been the next patient!"

Everybody was trying to pull me to my feet, but my hips were really painful at that point. Now, though, I'm fine. Mostly.

Funny things--I managed to leave the box ON the bridge while I fell off. And after the girl stopped crying my sister heard her bragging about how 'she helped the white woman up.' Everyone was more scared than I was, too. XD

My dad and younger sister were coming back from the compound and a dozen different people told them the white woman fell of the bridge. The first time they heard (secondhand from my sister):

Liberian: "The white woman fell of the bridge!"

Dad: "Which one?"

Liberian: "The small one."

Good to know I'm 'the small one.' XD

Well, drawing is going well, but not much else is going on. :P

:D

--Vrenith

Beagle Puppy

I finally finished a drawing--this one only took a couple hours to complete. I finished it this evening, so there are probably plenty of flaws I will have to fix when I have better light...

Also, NaNoWriMo is going well...my wordcount is currently 10,017 words. :)

Bye-bye. ;)

--Vrenith

Scenic Coconut Tree

I've been meaning to post this picture for several weeks, but this is the first time I've gotten around to it. I got this one, again, from my art teacher's book. Many thanks! I enjoyed this one a lot, and it was relatively easy.

 

The lines on the palm branches aren't quite as prominent as I'd like, because I had to use a fingernail, lacking the craft knife my teacher suggested.

Enjoy!

 

--Vrenith

 

The Silent Assassin

Creeping in beneath us--will I survive it this time? Or will I fail? Procrastination is on the prowl...but he is only the Assassin's sidekick. The true villain? NANOWRIMO. Sweet dreams! ^_^

Feathers and Fans

Nice name, isn't it? Well, I must say that's the name of a knitting pattern for a dishcloth...but what I'm going to talk is mostly feathers, pretty much no fans.

There are two girls who have been coming to our house before and after school, and one of the girls, who is nineteen, leaves her son, Theo (pronounced 'Teo'), with us for the day. He's maybe a year and eight months and is hilarious, though he doesn't help me get my schoolwork done...>_>

ANYWAYS, one of the girls told Alex that she would get a chicken that they could keep together. Well, today they brought a small, country chicken who has been named Life Can Change, (Liberians love these expressive names--a favorite one is Let Them See, which we shortened to LTS) but has been dubbed LCC.

The chicken's feathers are ruffled in this picture...I don't know why. But it LOOKS nice. ;)

And those aren't my fingers. ;)

--Vrenith

Here are the pictures I promised. :) Enjoy!

 

            This is the statue horse I did with my teacher's book. However, her colors were slightly different from mine, and she had a much bigger pack of crayons. I have a sixty-two pack, so a pretty nice selection, but she has over one hundred different shades in hers. Thankfully, I only had to improvise once on the mane. I didn't have the color Antique Brass, so I used another, though I can't recall which one I used.

 

9x12 on Multi Media paper

 

 

 

 

This next one is the only one I've done without the book--I graphed the picture, and then drew the outline with pencil. I don't usually use graphs because they mar the paper (I have problems with drawing lightly), but I gave in on this, just to make sure I would do it accurately. :)

 

I used a piece of paper and colored a bit with all my brown tones and a couple yellow ones and labeled them, and laid them on the photo to find which ones matched. So, this is a fairly accurate picture. I hope.

 

9x12 Sketch paper (it doesn't have any other classification)

 

 

 

 

All right, and thus concludes my post. :)

 

--Vrenith

Back in Black

The above phrase is partially true. I'm back in my Liberian house, helping do laundry by hand, doing my school, and talking to a dozen kids at once. :) I missed all the clamor. 

Mreow.

Anyways, we're back, safe and sound. No monkey, of course, but all of our other pets are safe. :) 

However, Ninja was not here when we came back. She hates strangers, and evidently went outside and only came in for meals, and even then not every night. When we came, they hadn't seen her for several days. 

The little kittens, Chai, Cess, and Snitzel, were there, a little bigger, but very scared. The people who stayed at our house said they came out to eat, then went and hid again. They wouldn't come up at first, but when they did, they just purred...and purred...and purred. If we stopped petting them and walked away, they'd wander the hallway and meow. 

There's an old burnt out building outside of our fence, and one of the security (not one of ours) said that he'd see Ninja over there sometimes. So we went to look. Now, this wasn't dangerous, because even though its burned out, its cement, so its not like we're going into an old, rickety, fire-weakened wooden building. :) Some spots have zinc on the roof, but other rooms are just open. 

There were cat pawprints everywhere, but no Ninja. Alex and I went back later that evening and--in one of those open rooms--there was Ninja! She let me pick her up, and we carried her home. She's doesn't like the dogs or the security, so I held her with one hand, and the other was on her scruff, just in case. Thankfully, she doesn't mind being held by the scruff, and knows she can't get away, so she was relatively calm. 

She was skinny, but very happy to see us. :) Once in our bedroom, she calmed down considerable, and we fed her some rice and sauce. Next thing we know, she's purring and we get a painful love-bite on the chin. XD 

Today Jake, my mom, and I helped Isaac do the laundry because there was so much today. My mom splashed me several times and got my new Skillet shirt wet...>_> 

Jolliff rice today--party food for the Liberians, but we like it so much we make it once a week. :) Mreow.

I've been working with crayon lately, with the help of my teacher's book, Realistic Crayon Drawings. I fall short in most of the exercises, but I did draw a successful plum and a pretty good statue horse. Also, I did a drawing WITHOUT the book, and it worked out rather well. ^_^ I have a sixty-two count box of crayons, so I have a pretty wide range of colors. Unfortunately, my teacher has over one hundred different colors, and thus I have to improvise on some points. 

While in the States, my grandma decided to have Grandpa take me out to get an early birthday present, so I got five different sketchbooks--one normal Bristol, and a bunch of others to test crayon on. My mom went crazy, and after I bought the sketchbooks, I didn't have any money left, so she went and bought five extra pencils, a sharpener, the crayons, and a couple other things. I always feels sick when I buy things...especially with other people's money. :P

The night before we left, three of my mom's friends came over to help pack, and one of them brought us a bunch of things to take. Some skirts and tank tops for my mom and sisters, pens for Ry, along with a case, and for me? Art supplies. ^_^ Pastels, a large case of watercolors, watercolor paper, colored pencils (of a much nicer brand).

Man, I didn't spend a cent of the money I don't even have, and I'm completely furnished with art supplies. XD 

A friend of ours had their eleventh baby while we were in America--another thing to be grateful for. :) 

Well, I've exhausted my supply of information. I should get off, or else I'll come up with something else to discuss at length. XD I'll try to post pictures of my crayon art--but don't take that as a promise. ;)

--Vrenith