From all of us out here in Epping...



Rather than spend money on a tree I spent money buying shite to make a tree out of, and a whole day's procrastinating to build it.

( In all its dubious glory! )

Enjoy your couple of days off and be kind to one another!

Well, it's been a while since I've posted any art to the public domain, but here is the latest:



December 2006 ~ Oil on canvas ~ "The Feeling"

This is my first full-size oil painting, and I'll be entering it into the Royal Easter Show come April. I swear it looks better in person - it's not as blurry as it appears (damn difficult shutter speeds!) and the light doesn't reflect off the black quite so much.

I've been trying to paint this for a while - The Feeling is the core of all feeling, a white-hot blast of every emotion that we interpret into happiness, anger, melancholy, elation and so on. So overwhelming is the feeling that, when engulfed by it, you might cry, laugh, shout, sigh or gasp. The feeling burns in my chest and I feel compelled to express it...

More to come soon.

Please be warned - Anniversary Post Follows!

If you're one of them cynical type peoples (I suspect this may be a good portion of my f'list) you might not want to keep reading. Extreme mushiness is on the way.

I don't talk about my relationship with Mitch very much because I know it would bore people to tears. Conflict is interesting to read about, and there is very little conflict between us. Naturally we have our moments of frustration and anger, but they are so rarely directed at each other personally (as opposed to something one of us might be doing at that moment) that they never seem to affect our relationship.

Despite the knowledge that reading about a good relationship is boring, I still want to write something today to celebrate our eight years together.

For those not in the know, a little background.
Mitch and I met in 1997, in a chatroom called 'Ninchat.' It was devoted to Nine Inch Nails, a band which we both loved. In that same chatroom I met several other friends whom I've stayed close to over the years, many of whom are here on Livejournal as well (and I still love you all!). In fact, as recently as this year I've made new friends who were also among the ninchatters of old even though we never met back in the 90's. But I digress.

Mitch and I quickly became firm friends after bonding over similar tastes in music, movies, books and philosophy. We also shared a similar absurd and often morbid sense of humour. At the time we met, Mitch was living in Townsville, which is about 18 hours drive north of where I was on the Gold Coast. Mitch was also dating a girl up there, and I was dating another lad from the same Ninchat site. Although my relationship with Tim (aka memnoch2, for any who remember him) only lasted three months, our break-up seemed to last for about nine. It was all very melodramatic, and during those nine months Tim got another girlfriend and I another boyfriend. Despite various sad and cruel things Tim and I did to one another, he still gave me two pieces of advice that changed my life.

The first was in reference to my then-current boyfriend, whom I felt quite apathetic about but dated through fear of being alone. Tim said, 'Stop wasting your time. Every minute you spend settling for a half-decent relationship is a minute you could be spending searching for someone who'll make you truly happy.'

At that time Mitch was just a good friend, and not someone that I thought of romantically. Even so, I dumped my boyfriend (a trial in itself - he liked to use tears as emotional blackmail) thinking that I'd prefer to be with someone like Mitch. Tim was right (and very wise for a fifteen year old boy) - my relationship had just been a comfortable waste of time.

The second piece of advice was in reference to a freshly single Mitch, whom Tim was also a good friend of. 'He would be perfect for you,' said Tim, 'his personality, tastes, everything. He'd fit like a glove.'

To cut short the nine months of courtship that followed, Mitch and I decided it was love. Naturally it wasn't that simple or easy - in fact, the first time I told Mitch I was in love with him, he was silent for a long time, then told me he didn't want to hurt me. He disliked long distance relationships, and found the whole idea of internet dating weird. We didn't speak for six months after that, and only resumed contact when I told him I was going to Townsville for University. By that time, I'd matured a bit but was still sure it was love, and Mitch had realised he'd made a mistake in pushing us apart.

Before I moved to Townsville, I planned to visit and meet Mitch in person. We made a bet (about what I can't recall now), and the loser had to kiss the other upon meeting face to face. The theory behind the kiss was something to the effect of being able to take something away from the meeting even if we hated one another. I lost the bet.

When the time finally came to meet, I quite literally froze. I was sitting on a hotel bed with a friend who'd come for moral support, and I couldn't move. Mitch was framed in the doorway, smiling at me, looking slightly nervous. He walked over and said, 'wasn't there something you were supposed to be doing?'
I smiled. He leaned down and kissed me.
It was beautiful, perfect, the greatest kiss of all time.
After the kiss he hugged me, and I said the first and only thing I could think of.

'I love you, Mitch.'
He squeezed me tightly and said, 'I love you, too.'

Every day since then, Mitch and I have said I love you at least a dozen times. It never loses value or meaning for us, because it is always true. Mitch was and is everything I had ever hoped for in a partner. He's kind, generous, caring, thoughtful, sweet, attentive, faithful and loving. He even says I'm gorgeous first thing in the morning.

Last Saturday, after eight years, I was reminded of why he's such a wonderful partner. I went into his room for a chat and a kiss while he was on his computer. He looked at me with his loving, dark eyes and said, 'you are so beautiful, Krista.'
Just like that, for no reason at all.

That's the sort of man Mitch is. The sort that people dismiss as a myth - yet I'm lucky enough to call him my partner. He's my best friend as well as lover, a person I always want to hang out. He makes me laugh and smile, he always knows the right thing to say and he gives the best cuddles in the world.

I know that I am a very, very, very, very lucky woman, for I found true love so early in my life. And today, after eight years, I'm looking forward to the coming eight with great delight.

I hope every one of my friends (if any of you have actually read this far!) can some day find what I have found - if that's what you're looking for - and recognise it for what it is.

[Edit: I just wanted to add one of the few recent photos I have of Mitch and I - looking silly, as usual]



♥

Normally I keep this journal pretty personal, but I thought this was too big to not post about.

President Bush, in the face of mounting backlash from the American people, has just made changes to the Insurrection Act - changes that will allow him to declare martial law at a moment's notice. And if you protest about it, that will probably be the trigger.

It might not be much better in Australia, but I'm glad I'm not living in a place where this has happened.

Some lovely person has started this free_huggles community, for people to post art (so naturally I posted my latest watercolour) or stories about giving out free hugs or generally cheering people up. Say it with me now! Awwwwwwww..

This made me actively cry for joy. I'm feeling pretty shitty, as though I'm coming down with the 'flu, but tomorrow I'm going to go into the city and hug this man no matter what. There needs to be more of this kind of selfless love in the world.

In other news - I've got to finish three new paintings for two art comps coming up, as well as another play for my sister. This will be number 16, and it's a musical about Robin Hood.

*mutters* why'd I agree to a musical, fer christ's sake?

The paint has only just dried on this new watercolour, and before I go to jam with plasticfeathers and then see Silent Hill I thought I'd share the fruits of my labours (two week's worth, no less).
I hope this gives you those nightmares you've been coveting, capitalcor..



September 2006 ~ Watercolour on paper ~ Better off mute (detail)

( Whole picture behind the cut )

I've spread this one around a few communities, so I apologise to people for the sake of their friend's pages.

My bass and beer are beckoning, so I shall bid you all a lovely Friday afternoon.

♥

It's been a while since I did that first sketch dump, so here's another. I'm pretty proud of a lot of these, and happy with how much I've improved since July (if you want to compare, the original is here)



( + heaps more )

What else...?

Trip to the Gold Coast was excellent (as usual, as suspected). The kids performing the play were really good - only one or two missed lines and a lot of great acting. Jammed with Dad on his birthday, with me on Bass and he on drums. Even though I piked pretty quickly (the action was too high and the neck too wide on his Bass, so my hands cramped after only a half dozen songs) he was very encouraging about my progress.
I also saw katinthefurnace and met her friend Trent. We all drank wine and played discordian cards until we were extremely merry, then had some random MSN man wave his penis at us over his webcam. Charming!

Came home to news of an open art competition which I plan on entering, so now I have to actually paint the pictures I want to enter. Several ideas have been swimming around in my brain since Tuesday, so I'll be working on those come the weekend.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, and programming will resume as usual from tomorrow onwards. For now, I still have an hour of work to go (and I should probably stop avoiding it by being on here).

♥

This one was untimed, but it took around 2-3 hours. Texturing rocks from scratch is a bitch.




September 06 ~ Digital ~ Life cycle

Yesterday I took the day off from art and spent the morning making a new mood theme set out of Evil Dead stills and the afternoon playing Bass with plasticfeathers and my boy. We drank steadily before and during the jam session, and consequently the music dissolved into terrible, terrible noise. Toward the end, I was attempting very bad slap, my boy was plucking the strings of his guitar with his teeth and plasticfeathers was alternating between whacking a pair of bongos and flicking his guitar like a harp. 'Twas most fun.

Today I did one speed painting (20 minutes, and definitely not good enough to post) as well as the larger work, and went food shopping. Tomorrow I have a date with a watercolour painting I've been working on since last weekend. I will finish it, damnit!

Today I decided to kick speed painting in the head and see what would happen if I took my time on a digital painting (now that I feel my abilites with photoshop have improved).
I must say I'm rather pleased with the result:



August 06 ~ Digital ~ Luchadores - 90 minutes

( Larger version under cut )

Not much else to report in my personal life.. Playing Bass regularly and improving, still waiting for my flute to arrive from America, wish I wasn't working a day job because I'd rather stay at home and paint all day - the usual.

Last night on the train I was complimented on my sketches by the guy I sat next to.. I got rather coy and embarressed, but secretly I loved it (of course). Makes me proud to know my sketches are improving so quickly these days. Amazing what constant practise will do!