Saturday, September 27, 2014

REMEMBER ME?

Uh yeah, So that blog break lasted much longer than I had planned.
Actually though it wasn't really planned at all.
I kinda lost the drive to write after that whole back stabbing lying ordeal
and then it was so busy at work and it still is!
Usually it slows down when the kids go back to school but people are still traveling.
I guess I shouldn't whine about it...it keeps me employed.
Then just when I started to feel like blogging again I started having computer problems.
I also had my oil light come on in my vehicle so I took it in for an oil change
and of course they found I needed shocks and struts and a serpentine belt.
So I charged that and then the next week I couldn't back out of the driveway.....
Long long boring story but MAJOR repairs to brakes and things that added up to BIG $$$
More credit card charging.
And then my laptop went black and never came back.
Sigh....
The good news is I found this great company that sells refurbished laptops at very reasonable prices 
(more"cha-ching") but I finally have a working laptop and so far it appears to be a step up from what I had!

So I'm back!
I have a lot to write about but not sure where to start.

I did try to read blogs on my phone but I have a horrible time trying to comment,
Finally,  I just didn't.
I lurked.
Facebook was easy to do, so I spent a lot of time over there and
I do LOVE Instagram, it kept me in touch with the world
and I now have quite the collection of boarding pets photos that we've posted on our vet clinic's FB page.
And if I say so myself, I'm kinda proud of them and the reason why is because
we had a professional photographer come in and take shots of our own pets and then she enlarged them onto canvases and hung them around the clinic.
Most of us were extremely unhappy. She cut the ears off of almost every pet and some she cut their noses off!
A few turned out nice but on the average I was really surprised that they weren't better since they are "professional".
I'm not one to usually blow my own horn but my phone photos at least got the pet's whole head and captured their personality.
So I will share some of those photos... but not today.
Instead I'll share a painting that I did.
One of the veterinarians asked me to paint her dog and you all know my bad experiences in the past
but she had found my blog and read about it and reassured me that it would not happen with her.
And really, she's one of my bosses LOL! so of course I did it.
So here's the photograph of her dog:

and here's the painting I did:

She was SUPER HAPPY, which made me SUPER HAPPY and she paid me.
That always makes me happy. 
She had told me no rush and of course that made me drag my feet but then I felt bad about doing that,
so I also did an illustration of her little dog too.
Something she could keep on her desk.

This is what I truly enjoy doing.
The illustrations.....which yeah, I'm still not done with my Kanga book.
Actually haven't worked on THAT at all while on the blog break.
Instead I was very busy with another activity...

But now I'm back!
I will try to get into the swing of REGULAR posting
between doing  the house and yard and work and life stuff
But truly, I've missed you all and I hope you are still out there reading!

16 comments:

Vicki said...

So happy to see you're back Cindi!! I would check from time to time to see if you were here.
Your second comment got through to my blog. Don't know why, but iPhone comments sometimes don't register with some blogs on the first try.

I LOVE your painting! You captured the wee dog's character so well - those eyes and mouth. Perfect!
And that illustration is a sweet portrait. Love your work.

I don't honestly know how some people can call themselves professional photographers... it takes more than ownership of a camera. It is an art, and the camera is an extension of the artist. Capturing the spirit of an animal or place takes talent. And, cutting off the ears of a dog is so wrong - ears embody a dog's cahracter, they are so expressive.

Follow your dream Cindi, that book of yours will be so awesome xx

Cindi Myers said...

Thanks Vicki!
At first I felt panicky not blogging and also not commenting but then I fell into a pattern of just working and then coming home and vegging out!
Now I'm glad to be back! It feels good.

The woman who took the photos follows the clinics FB page and I made sure that the girl who posts my photos gives me "photo credit" and this photographer has "liked" many of my photos. I never comment but I want to say "See his ears!?" LOL!

Besides the blog, I'm back on the path with the book too! :)
xoxo
So glad to see your comment!

Debby said...

I'm glad you're back!! I missed reading your blog but sometimes life gets in the way.

Love the painting!
Debby

Cindi Myers said...

Thanks Debby!
I hope that the rest of this year is a bit more uneventful! LOL!
I'm happy to be back!

leslie said...

yay: you're back. love, love, love your paintings and photos. (and how funny you are.)

boo: car. computer. wicked witch. etc.

Nita Stacy said...

I'm glad you are back! I haven't been blogging as much as I usually do. I'll admit I've done a lot of the same activity as you...watched tv. Lots of that. As for the photographs...it's in style now to radically crop photos. Chopping off ears and even noses to show only part of a face. I've seen quite a few done like this and I really like them. I'd have to see the ones you are talking about though. What kind of laptop did you get?

Cindi Myers said...

Oh Leslie! Thanks so much.
And thanks for commenting so that I know you are out there reading! ;)
xoxo

Cindi Myers said...

Nita,
Yes I noticed that you weren't blogging as much and several of my other favs had scaled back too. I think summertime activities keep people busy...and just life.
Actually that was helpful for me, because I hated missing my blog friends posts.
I know what you mean about zoomed in photos. Some shots I have taken myself, I have cropped them to focus on the big happy eyes or something but these aren't like that. The one of Blue she did was a side profile and you can't even see his EYES...I mean, come on.
Another co-worker brought in her shepherd mix dog with big soulful eyes and she had put a "necktie" on him. He looked adorable and this photographer made a canvas of the shot where you see under his chin as he looks up! no eyes, no face really and no necktie. Another was a kinda good photo but not centered and chopping off just one ear. Truly disappointing. My friends Boston was taken standing reaching for a treat from the side...again no face.
Yeah, I KNOW you would hate them.
OK, I'm climbing down off this soapbox! LOL!
It's a DELL. I had a Toshiba before but this is much nicer and because it's refurbished, it was just $200!
Thanks for commenting!
xoxoxo

tammy j said...

i've missed your wacky self so much!!!
you just are an original in every way! LOL. yes. too much with the lol. can't help it.
you always make me at least smile.
i hate your bad luck.
vicki's too . . . with her sick kiln. just so unfair. but you both persevere with such grace.
i'm thinking you could moonlight as a pet photographer yourself.
then you can call yourself a professional. heck.
you already ARE. and a thousand two hundred and forty six times better than her. PAH. no ears indeed.
xoxo♥

Jan said...

Welcome back, glad to see you again. Love the paintings but truly I love the illustration one best. Really sweet.

Cindi Myers said...

Tammy,
Thanks so much.
:)
Yeah, you are right...this year has really sucked. It's just been one thing after another. Sigh.
But hey, it's gotta get better...
right?
I feel so bad for Vicki, just when she needs things to go smoothly, her kiln breaks down.
I'm planning on doing a post about those photos, just to get input to make sure that me and the girls from work aren't the only ones that feel that way.
Thanks for commenting!
xoxo

Cindi Myers said...

Hey Jan!
Thanks so much, I'm glad to be back too.
I like the illustration better also.
I feel like it's more "me" and more creative.
I see so many paintings that are the same style as mine and while they take longer for me to do, I feel like they too restrictive. I'd like to do more of an abstract version but no one seems interested in commissioning that!
Thanks again! xoxo

Christer said...

Only because someone calls himself/ herself professional it doesn't mean they know what they ar doing or is good at it, it just means they charge for what they do :-) I've never understood those that crop their photos in that way, it's just ugly!

I do like Your paintings :-) and I've seen some of Your photos on FB and yes they are good!

Have a great day!
Christer.

Cindi Myers said...

Christer,
Yes, you are right. So many professionals who have no idea what they are doing.
And thank you about my photos!
That means a lot coming from you because you take fantastic shots!

CheerfulMonk said...

Welcome back!

Cindi Myers said...

Jean,
It's good to be back.
:)
I need to get myself into the routine again of posting. I sort of lost the rhythm of it. LOL!