The Adventures of KJ & The Dreamy Giraffe

IF I Was An Open Book...

Illustration Friday

10/05/07

This week's topic is: Open

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                                                                                  (click to enlarge)

I wasn't going to participate this week, because I couldn't come up with a single idea for the theme, but then I DID (an open book with the characters sitting on it) and I mentioned it to my mom, whom I may've told you before is The Dreamy Giraffe's Head Consultant For All Things That Require Consulting and who I'd asked to help me brainstorm on this one, and she said, "You won't believe this, but I was thinking of an open book, too!"  So an open book it was, though the idea wound up being a bit different than I'd originally dreamt up -- don't you just love it when you're reading a book and the characters start going AWOL midway through?

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& hey, this week's Illustration Friday is a wee bit special...25 entries will be chosen to go in an actual gallery show at Open, a bookstore and gallery  in California, the sponsor of this week's topic...and YOU, yes, YOU, can help decide which 25!  It's all voting, by secret ballot, so if you'd like to go put in a vote for me, please do!  (But only if you really, really wanna!) 

(From Illustration Friday's website:

How do I vote?
Log into the forums (or create a new account if you don’t have one already), then go to the Link Viewer and scroll through the entries to find your favorites.)

& a close-up (or two):

 

Adventure #85: KJ & The Traveling Zoo

Dear You,

Well, I am proud to report that this morning I woke up on the productive side of the bed.  It could've easily been another cranky morning, to tell you the truth, because I dreamed I was kissing on a very good-looking man and woke up to find that the very good-looking man seems to not exist outside of my dreams.  Bummer! 

Anyway, by 9:45 a.m., I'd gotten two packages ready, gotten myself ready, and had been to the post office, the gas station, back to the post office, to Dollar General, to the grocery store, and was already BACK HOME.  That's productivity, people!  I was actually at the post office before they opened, which is why I killed a few minutes by going to the gas station across the street, not to get gas but to get a grape-flavored Aquafina.  Yes, I know, Aquafina's tap water or whatever, but that flavored version is just good.  I blame my sister for getting me started on it (along with Guiding Light and Grey's Anatomy)...I don't know where you folks without siblings get your recommendations for beverages and television shows.  You must be very thirsty and watch a lot of QVC.

Let me tell you: There is just nothing better than when errand-running is smooth sailing and annoyance-free, which doesn't happen very often, but today, each stop went off without a hitch.  (Okay, there might be SOMETHING better,  but that kind of errand-running is pretty darn nifty!)

I mentioned yesterday that I was almost finished with my art for Monday Artday's theme this week, which is zoo.  I just finished it up, and here it is, "The Traveling Zoo":

 

(More babbling & additional pictures behind the cut...because I pity other people like myself, who are on dial-up, and hate it when I feel like I'm growing old waiting on a blog to load.)

IF My Mom Hadn't Said "Blonde!"

Illustration Friday

08/17/07

This week's topic is: Captain

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If my mom (who is The Dreamy Giraffe's Head Consultant on all things that need consulting) hadn't said, "Blonde!" when I asked what color hair this little sailor girl should have, this would've been a completely different painting.  In my head, I pictured her as a brunette (but it didn't quite feel right when I started to actually pick out the paint), with the background as a nighttime, moonlit, cloudfilled sky and the water dark and murky and turbulent.

I have to say, I like it much better this way, which just proves once again that Mother knows best, as they say.  Thanks, MiMi!

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& though it has nothing to do with this post AND I hate to get all TMI on you, but last night, I dreamed that I was married to Brandon Walsh.  Perhaps the  taking a swig of children's Benadryl before bed and watching two shows starring Jason Priestly (90210 & Side Order of Life) in as many days is not the wisest combination.  (And let me add, that it was the DONNA MARTIN GRADUATES! episode, which I just couldn't resist, and Jenny's boss is a cutie pie, isn't he?)

& a close-up:

 

KJ's Third Sunday Scribblings

• Sunday Scribblings 
• Prompt #73: Dear Diary
• {It's fiction, of the untitled, unfinished variety. }
• {This is Part III.   Part I is here.  Part II is here.  If you haven't already, go read those parts first, or you'll be like, "Huh?"}
• We now join Carole Tenley (Green?!) & her family & friends, already in progress...

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July 15th, 2007

11:19 P.M.

The Tenley (Green?!) Upstairs Walk-In Hall Closet

                                       

Dear Diary,

 

It's Molly.

 

Something weird's going on.  Mom thinks she's turning green. 

IF I Lost You

Illustration Friday

08/03/07

This week's topic is: Missing

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Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and doesn't know where to find them...bet you can finish THAT line.  But did you know there are additional verses?  There are, and you can read them here, if you're a curious cat.

I confess:  This piece is not new, but it was too perfect not to use.  It's an 8" x 10" painting, on canvas, done in acrylics, and is titled, "Missing Ewe".  Hee.  That's punny.                     

I confess, Part II: I am a dork.  I've never denied that.                                             

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& though it has nothing to do with this post AND I hate to get all judgemental on you, but I must say: Sarah Jessica Parker looks quite scary and like a total madwoman at the very end of that new perfume commercial.  There've been times in my life where I felt I had to have something, too, Carrie Bradshaw, but I TRY not to frighten people with my desire.

                                           

What IF?

Illustration Friday

07/20/07

This week's topic is: Poem

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Fairy Tale

(a prose poem)

by

Kathy Jeffords

(that's me)

                                       

                A couple dances beneath the moon.

               

                There was once a story, handed down from generation to generation, of a warted and wet-skinned toad, who, upon being touched by the lips of a beautiful young girl, morphed into a prince.

                     

                These people are those people.

                   

                She is yellow-haired and ivory-skinned with sapphire eyes and cheeks as pink as cotton candy and he is now tall and dark and handsome.

               

Though he has lost his warts and wet skin, he still occasionally ribbits at the most inappropriate times, such as when they dine with her father and wicked stepmother.  The sound escapes him and he glances at his fork, wondering why he is using silverware and eating roast pork instead of just snapping his tongue out to catch a fly.  Meanwhile, she, his savior turned wife, the breaker of curses and washer of dishes, apologizes for his rudeness. 

                           

She adores him because in marrying her, he made her a princess.  She adores him because she has always been hell-bent on getting a happily ever after and he gave her this, which is close enough. He reciprocates her adoration because she sped up his evolution, transforming him from a frog to a man in two seconds flat.

                            

And he does not kid himself: her feather bed is much softer than his lily pad ever was.

               

And, now, they dance beneath the moon.  More often than not, they waltz.  If she’s in the mood, they cha-cha.  Sometimes, they just sway in the pale light.

                  

                “Stop dancing beneath me.” the moon says night after night.

                  

                “Did you hear something?” asks the prince.

                   

                “The only sound in my ears,” replies the now-princess. “Is our two hearts, beating as one.”

                        

                The moon shakes his big round head sadly at these silly fools.

THE END

KJ's Second Sunday Scribblings

• Sunday Scribblings 
• Prompt #69: Wicked
• {It's fiction, of the untitled, unfinished variety. }
• {This is Part II.   Part I is here.  If you haven't already, go read it first, or you'll be like, "Huh?"}
• We now join Carole Tenley (Green?!) & her family & friends, already in progress...

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July 15th, 2007

6:41 P.M.

The Tenley (Green?!) Upstairs Bathroom

                                       

I sat horizontally in the claw-footed bathtub, schlumped way down, my head resting somewhat awkwardly against one side of the tub and my legs dangling over the other.  My legs, which (as I'm sure my nearest and dearest would be mortified to know I freely admit) had not been shaved in so long I cannot tell you when the last time I shaved them was and were now not only hairy, but green!hairy.  Neon!green!hairy.   I know you're thinking:  Eeew, gross.  And probably also: ?????  And to answer those questions: 1) My armpits DO get the razor treatment regularly and were free of hairs, green, neon, and otherwise & 2) ABSOLUTELY NONE of your business, nosy britches.

KJ's First Sunday Scribblings

• Sunday Scribblings
• Prompt #68: Hair
• {It's fiction, of the untitled, unfinished variety.}

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I found it on the morning of my 40th birthday, right there, front and center, amongst my bangs, as if it, you know, belonged there.  The only difference being that while the rest of the individual bang!hairs mixed & mingled, demurely blending in, this one stood out, demanding attention.  It might has well have been shouting, "Look at me, look at me!"