Zombies And Other Minor Distractions

A naked guy in Miami was high on something and ran around chewing people's faces off.

Literally.

He was shot and killed by police.

It took four bullets for the guy to finally stop.  He's dead.  And the headlines are all abuzz about this 'zombie' in Miami.  

Everyone's talking about it . . . 

 . . . myself included.

Some are saying it's the beginning of a zombie apocalypse.  It's the end of days.  We're all gonna die. 

I chuckle.

Mom always told me, "Don't fear the dead.  It's the living you need to worry about."

And if the living happens to be high on some mind altering substance, multiply the fear times infinity.

But if Mom was wrong, and zombies do start an apocalypse, have no fear.

The media will blast some other random story to distract us from the real problems going on at our front doors.  

Progress Report

On the plane ride back from Chicago, I had an epiphany about the latest illustration I've been working on.  She just wasn't translating as an illustration in reality as she did in my head.


Ugh!


My epiphany?


If it isn't broke, don't fix it.


When I got out of my own way and stopped trying so hard to will the illustration into being, the diva presented herself.   

Voila!  

I may still add a cat.  I'm not sure.  I'm actually leaning against the idea.

Sometimes an illustration can get too 'noisy'.  I don't want to have so much going on it loses its charm and becomes a mess.

At this point, if I add something, that means something has to go.  I'm going to polish up a few things in the next few days or so.  But for the most part, she's about done.

We'll see.  

What's important is I got the vibe I was looking for. I kept it loose.  I stopped worrying about proportions and logic and did full on whimsy . . . just like the first one that inspired her.

It's cool how sometimes the very best thing to do . . . 

 . . . is nothing at all.  

Be sure to check out my CafePress for Doodle Divas gifts and prints!  

Powerful Rainbows

While I was in San Francisco, I was inspired by something quite innocent . . . Kids.


There were lots of toddlers and strollers - in Castro no less.  Some were being strolled by two adults or one adult of the same or either gender.  


At one point, I overheard one girl,  no more than 3 or 4 years old, point and ask her dad about the display in a door window.  It was a rainbow flag.


"Those are the colors of our neighborhood." he answered.


My inspiration was complete.


Kids should be able to see the rainbow flag displayed and be comforted.  Its display means: the person, store, driver . . . neighborhood that displays this flag, has a zero tolerance for bullying, harassment and hate.  


They are accepted.  They are loved.  They are not alone.


And now, "Love is Power" Doodle Diva,  has got their back too.

San Francisco and Other Urban Legends

San Francisco was an education in reality versus perception.


Perception: oodles upon oodles upon oodles of young, hot, fashionable gay male eye candy walking hand in hand with their boyfriend flashing million watt smiles.


Reality: I didn't see a lot of men walking hand in hand. In fact, what stood out to me was the number of straight couples, straight families, lesbians, and apparently a new phenomenon - very effeminate STRAIGHT men.


The very first thing that I noticed about San Franciso? - super duper chilly!!!


Oh my GAH!


I took heed from my hosts and research and erred on too many layers versus too few. That was hands down the smartest thing I did for my San Francisco trip!


Otherwise, I would have been miserable. It's not just chilly. By late afternoon it's flat out cold.


The guys were normal. I guess I was expecting these extremely crafted by da Vinci types as the norm. Like physical perfection en masse.


No.


The guys were normal - fashionable . . . But no supermodel norm.


I guess I figured it's California and they're all about beautiful bods, speedos, convertibles and oozing hotness 24-7.


Nope. They were all shapes and sizes. Though skinny gay younguns seemed to be everywhere.


Lots of Hispanics, Latinos and Asians. I liked that. Very melting pot vibe.


Lots of art. Lots of coffee shops. Lots of restaurants.


Oh my gah!


The restaurants.


Seriously. It's impossible to have a bad meal. And the food all tastes like it was fresh from the garden or farm a few hours ago.


It was like really tasting food for the first time. It's an other world experience. It's like your tastes buds have been sleepwalking all this time and then KAPOW!!!


Fireworks.


If for nothing else, visit for the restaurants.


Then there's the coffee.


Coffee snobs that diss Starbucks have always made me roll my eyes. Whatever. Starbucks always tastes better than or the same as the coffee houses I've been
to.


My host refused to drink Starbucks. He practically hissed when I asked. I rolled my eyes.


. . . Only to have them stop in mid roll after one gulp of the coffee from a coffee house on the same block as my hosts'. Oh my. I stand utterly corrected.


There's a robustness, a boldness, a kick, an organicness, an authenticness and a richness unlike any Starbucks brew I've ever had. I had three or four different coffees from three or four different coffeehouses. They all made Starbucks seem so . . . plastic.


Even the sweet potato fries at one diner were like a lesson in "how it's supposed to taste - 101".   Light but crispy - (they should have forbade ketchup!)


Speaking of food . . . I finally got my wings and salad delivered and devoured here in Chicago. So I'm off to bed.


Stay tuned. More about my San Francisco visit to come . . .






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Chicago

An Utterly Haenus Day

What a haenus day!


I was already blue. Vacay was over and I was sitting firmly on two of the H.A.L.T. 's, ( hungry, angry, lonely, tired).


And I discovered something tonight. It's the reason I'm blogging from a hotel room I can't afford in Chicago instead of my own abode.


Gate changes.


Apparently, a plane can change gates at will. It can change gates a couple of times. You can be sitting for three hours for your flight that has already had one change . . .


And it change again.


And somehow, you, (well I), never get a memo, a tap on the shoulder, a head's up, a muffled loudspeaker announcement, advising of this added change.


I had a weird feeling. Something was amiss. I grabbed my boarding pass and felt the blood rush from my head to my tiptoes.


My flight should have been airborne 25 minutes ago!


Surely some mistake. I was sitting right there in front of the attendants.


But the attendant confirmed my flight was gone. I would need to reschedule.


The sheer exquisiteness of my panic, horror, frustration, anger, bewilderment . . . I was a big pile of pitiful.


I picked up on external cues from other passengers. Getting rude and angry would do me zero favors. So I lost it. . . Internally.


Four attendants, one rebooking, three phone calls, two Priceline bids, and one wrong shuttle bus later, I find myself here, in a hotel I can't really afford, starving. 


Did I mention I'm still dressed in San Francisco layers in Chicago's 80-90 degree heat?  My outfit alone SCREAMS "I'm a clueless tourist. Please take advantage of me."


Did I also mention the earliest flight is tomorrow afternoon? 


And it's a two hour flight. 


And I'm supposed to be at work. . .


. . . at 8:30am.


I'm going to eat and hit the sack and pray tomorrow proves to be more favorable. 


I had a glorious time in San Francisco. I have volumes of blog entries to share.


And of course, not every ounce of this day was haenus. I was even able to complete another diva . . .THREE divas over vacation. The inspirations were abundant.


I just had to whine. I now have the presence of mind to realize without the crappy days, the divalicious days wouldn't be nearly as special. . .


. . . Damn it!!!














- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:N River Rd,Rosemont,United States ( Chicago)

Progress . . .

So the new illustration is still in progress.


So far it's gone from this:

To this:

She's still a draft.  I still want to incorporate a couple of ideas.  I'm leaning toward a cat.  Poodles are so typical.  

I want to give it some more energy.  I'm thinking the legs could be exaggerated for the energy I'm trying to capture.

However, I don't want to clean it up too terribly much.  It needs to stay loose and whimsical.  

I'll be visiting peeps and fam in Atlanta this weekend.  This will probably take longer than I originally planned.  But once I get my mind set on something, it gets done when it gets done. 

And it's always worth it!

Buy t-shirts, mugs & gifts from my shop.

My Best Ideas Happen . . .

  . . . in the morning between my first and second cup of coffee.  


Did I mention my cup holds two cups of coffee?  So by the time I can see the bottom of my favorite coffee cup while sipping, if I have an idea, it's already scratched out in rough draft.


A recent conversation in my head went something like this:


What if I used the same 'Audrey's Martini' concept in different poses, with different props??


No!


Scratch that.


Same props but different pose.


 . . . and a dog!


No.


A cat!  


Wait.


A poodle?


Ugh.  


Just get a rough draft down for now.  I'm gonna be late for work!  


I grabbed my pad and came up with this rough draft:

Audrey rough draft 1 by Steven Hall/Doodle Divas

Audrey's Martini

Now the idea is at least down and I can play around with some ideas.  Rarely does the idea match the actual rough draft.  Rarely does the rough draft match the final illustration.


So between now and the next 24-72 hours, I'm gonna toss around some ideas and have a completed illustration.


My ideas:

• legs crossed at the knee versus the ankle
• poodle in her lap
• cat in her lap
• red sofa
• red background
• curled up in chair versus sitting

What do you think?  Like any of the above?  Have other suggestions altogether?  


Every participant gets entered in a drawing.  So one person can end up with the finished illustration, (matted, signed, plastic sleeve, etc), just for passing along an idea.  


Meanwhile, I'll keep you posted on the progress.  


nighty-night!  :-)

The Bright Spot of My Day

Today was one of those days.  Well it was Monday.  So it started off bad by default.


It was dreary.  I didn't get enough sleep.  It was Monday.  


Oh yeah.  I said that already.


By the end of the day, I was ready to go home.  But no.  There was still grocery shopping, a department store, and a drugstore to get to.


I canceled dinner plans.


I was in no mood.


I was the walking dead.   


Finally, home sweet home.  I was uber eager to say 'Goodbye day! Hello bed!'


I did the ritual of stopping by my mailbox before parking in front of my pad.  


Junk mail.  


Bills.  


Pre-approved credit notifications.


 . . . wait a minute.


What's this unusual brown flat square thingy?  Is it a dvd?  A cd?   . . . 


No!


IT'S SO MUCH BETTER!


It's a surprise package from the one and only "supremely skilled southpaw" Kristilyn , owner, creator and master genius of Zombie Romance!!!


Suddenly I'm ripping the package apart and hear myself gasp in utterly awed appreciation of the contents:

(WARNING:  NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH)

This would be an adorable Doodle Diva inspired Zombie Diva as only uber talented Kristilyn can imagine and create.  


Isn't it disturbing?


Isn't it twisted?


Isn't it just the cutest thing you ever did see?!!


I love this girl's creations.  And mark my words:  I predict Kristilyn's Zombie Romance is going to be a very, Very, VERY big deal sooner than later.

A little note from my fellow Southpaw

Too adorable.  Check out those eyelashes and the adorableness of these little fawns. Meanwhile, their fearless leader is wearing a skeleton.  I love the way the stark contrast just coincide like business as usual.

Meanwhile, her surprise got me my second wind.  Suddenly, Monday doesn't seem bad at all.  I have a Zombie Romance original inspired by Doodle Divas.


WHAT?!


And it tickles me to know that while my girls are positioning themselves to take over the world one walk-in closet at a time, Zombie Romance's gals are taking over the world as well . . . 


 . . . one brain at a time!   :-)



                 












Buy t-shirts, mugs & gifts from my shop.

Mother's Day

I never reply "WHAT?" when someone beckons my attention.
That's rude.
I reply, "Yes?"

That was one of a multitude of things my mom taught me.

I love you.  Thank you.  While all absolutely fine, it just doesn't pack the same personal punch as the specifics.

• "Thanks for teaching me to keep a little bowl by the tub.  I can use it to rinse the tub after I bathe to prevent tub rings."

• "Thanks for teaching me to rinse the dish cloths in fresh water so they won't get gross and sour overnight."
• "Thanks for teaching me the best ice cream is Breyer's, the best candy bar is Snickers, and the best music is Motown."

• "Thanks for teaching me to root for underdogs, see the beauty in small things, and always say 'thank you'."

I rattled off a multitude of things Mom taught me.  I could tell she absolutely appreciated it. In an age where experts, talk show hosts and even Time magazine love to point out what parents did and are doing wrong, it's music to a parent's ear to hear all the glorious things they did right.

Happy Mother's Day.

Doodle Divas

Sitting Like a Lady

I've always associated class, sophistication and diva-ness with crossed legs.  


Turns out that just like everything else that appears completely innocuous, researchers have found crossing your legs is actually hazardous to your health.


Here are their findings on the health hazards associated with crossing your legs:

• Slower blood flow
• Extra burden on the heart
• Varicose veins
• Change to posture

What advice can I give those ladies that read this information but still insist on crossing their legs?  

Turns out that like everything else that appears completely hazardous, I have found crossing your legs is actually nowhere near as hazardous as smoking.

In fact, Here are my findings on handling health hazards associated with crossing your legs:

• Tell those researchers to kiss your ass