Day 85 & 86: Valentine's Day and other hijinx

This was the first time that I've ever had plans on Valentine's Day. It's just not my favourite holiday, though I do appreciate the efforts of the martyr St. Valentine's. Particularly now that I'm married. Still, it's just not a big deal for me. Even now that I am married, my husband and I didn't really have plans, and weren't keen on making plans. However, events took place, and we ended up going on with my husband's friend and his girlfriend. We had supper with them on Thursday, and then plans were made. Now... we'll return to that in a moment. 

Valentine's Day.

This was one of the strangest Valentine's Day. I left the house to go and hand in an assignment. While I was out, I decided that I should run some errands, pick up some art supplies, do some printing, and so on. While I was at ACAD, I found an envelope on my desk. It was a card from my friend Natalie, and it was filled with glitter. I've never received a card full of glitter before, and it delighted me to no end. I made her a card with a drawing of a rhino, which (from what I can tell on Facebook) made her happy. Later, I was walking to the Sunnyside Art Supply store, and while walking there, I passed lots of people. Normal, because I walk quite rapidly. I passed a group of three teenage boys. I noted that one had several roses sticking out of his bag and I thought "Oh, that's so cute- He must be giving flowers to someone he has a crush on, or his girlfriend. D'awe." Shortly after I pass them, I hear "Excuse me, miss!" I turn, confused, and the boy with the flowers trots up to me, and says "You dropped this!" He hands me one of the flowers, and says "It's fake so it won't die... Happy Valentine's Day!" I was speechless and flustered, and completely dumbfounded. It was so adorable, and just so sweet. What can I say? Sometimes I'm hopelessly enchanted by the arbitrarily kind gestures of strangers. Later, my husband gave me a practically new copy of Season One Volume 1 of She-Ra: Princess of Power that he found at the thrift store. Remarkable condition, and it's really cool, because She-Ra is impossible to find... Unless you want to pay upwards of $30 (and that's for a used copy!). My husband is such a lovely man. I like him. 

So, this brings us to the events of the evening, the shenanigans. We went to a Mr. Lahey and Randy stage show with some friends. First we went to Peter's for burgers and to get burger wrappers for Randy to sign. If you're unfamiliar with Mr. Lahey and Randy, you probably haven't watched Trailer Park Boys. Trailer Park Boys is a Canadian made show, and it's really funny, kind of weird, and Randy and Mr. Lahey are one of the best parts. Be warned, the show isn't for everyone, but it's funny if it is for you. The stage show was really funny, really Canadian, and even more lewd. I will say that I've never felt more patriotic in my life. It even ended up involved singing the national anthem. It was crazy, though. We weren't sure if we would get tickets, or if we would even get it. However, we ended up getting tickets for free from the people who were working for the radio station that was one of the sponsors. Bonus! It was a fun show. Afterwards we met them briefly and got signed photos. I'm going to hang mine in my studio and people will be puzzled. Such a weird night, but a good'un. 

Now, onto creative endeavors. So, yesterday I went to Sunnyside Art Supply, and got some art supplies. As mentioned. Sunnyside is great. One of my classmates from school works there, and he's so helpful. Seriously, if you're ever there, talk to the young guy with the beard. He's great, knowledgeable, and just a nice guy. Any ways, we talked and chatted, and he gave me a tiny piece of his almond brittle square thing from the organic market. Tasty. I told him what I was working on, and he helped me figure out what would be best for me in terms of watercolours. I'm totally sold on watercolour now. I've even broken out my watercolour pencil crayons and started using them like an adult. After a bit of work, I finally got to a point with my drawing where I am happy. That sentence sounded stupid... but I digress (and also, I don't know how I can fix it right now)...

This was my work space around 3 o'clock yesterday.

And this is the finished submission.

Her one eye is driving me insane, and I didn't notice it until photographing it, so I'm going to fix that before actually scanning the submission. Otherwise, I'm quite pleased! I'm going to do another submission on top of this one, but over all... pleased. One of my friends suggested that I have prints at my table, and I think I will. I'm planning to sell postcards of drawings and my photographs, and this will probably be one of them. I might even sell a black and white version. My mum suggested that if I do a line drawing version, I should invite people to colour them and submit them on Facebook. I want to build a community, and having activities for folks to be creative with... That'll be fun! 

My favourite part of my Mermaid submission is the background coral and the scales on her tail. Y'know, it feels good to spend so much time on a drawing. I haven't done it for a while, but every time that I spend a few hours on an illustration or drawing or design, I always end up feeling so satisfied, successful, and just happy in every way. I definitely want to do more drawing. Lately it's all I've really wanted to do, and I've been itching to do more. Everything I watch keeps inspiring me. Which... is kind of funny. Because the things I've been watching by myself have been My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, a documentary on Bronies (ha... I watched it twice in two days), and a documentary on drag queens. All of these things make me want to draw. Among other things. I want to draw lots and lots and lots... and draw lots of different things!