The Adventures of KJ & The Dreamy Giraffe

Adventure #103: KJ, The Original Peanut Butter Girl

Dear You,

Long, long ago, and far, far away, when I was a little girl, a friend of my maternal grandmother always called me "The Peanut Butter Girl".

I always thought this was because I liked peanut butter sooooooo much (and still do -- make mine crunchy, please!), but recently, I asked my mom, just to make sure, and turns out I was misinformed.  I earned the name Peanut Butter Girl by looking like the little girl that was on the jar of some brand of peanut butter back in the day.  (I have Googled extensively and cannot for the life of me find out which brand it was and my mom doesn't remember.)

On a seemingly unrelated note: I like painting superheroes.  Along with mermaids, princesses, pirates, fairies, and my versions of fairy tale heroines, they show up fairly often in my work.  And to me, Peanut Butter Girl sounded sort of like a superhero name.  A superhero with very laidback superpowers, for sure, not the type that's out leaping buildings in a single bound or battling dark forces with deadly ray-guns, making bad guys sorry they were ever born.

And so I started dreaming up what Peanut Butter Girl would look like.  What WOULD her powers be?  And, of course, she'd have to have a sidekick, 'cause what's peanut butter without jelly?

And soon thereafter, Peanut Butter Girl and Jelly Bean, her faithful companion and partner-in-(lowkey)-crimefighting were born.  They're not your average superheroes, oh, no! Their superpower is the ability to discern the precise moment someone is absolutely going to freak out if they don't get a PB & J, and to bring aforementioned PB & J to the poor about-to-freak-outter. You might say they're saving the world, one sandwich at a time.

Here they are, starring in their first adventure, "Peanutty":

 

WELL.  A painting of two peanut buttery superheroes is kind of a quirky painting.  Um, what I mean is, it wouldn't fit as neatly and easily with traditional and  typical living room decor across the world as, say, a nice landscape or abstract piece would.  It would take a certain, special, unique, peanut butter-lovin' individual to have the wall just right for it to hang on.  Not just any setting would do for art with this sort of offbeat subject matter.

I actually kind of believe that each of my paintings don't sell until that right, perfect buyer comes along and finds them.  Like, you know, if a painting takes a year to sell...it's because it took that long for the person who absolutely, positively was meant to have that painting to see it.  (That sounds a little hokey, but, I do genuinely hope that is how it works.)  And that was certainly the case, I think, with "Peanutty".

Adventure #100: KJ & The Milestones

Dear You,

I know, I know.  You were probably just about ready to send out a search party, but never fear: I've not been kidnapped by aliens, or runaway with any circuses.  I haven't abandoned my blog.  Okay, I DID abandon my blog, but it was a temporary abandonment.

I've been putting it off, figuring that Adventure #100 was sort of a milestone, and worthy of a super special post...a post with confetti and cupcakes with pink frosting, balloons and fireworks, and maybe some kind of earth-shattering announcement.  

Alas, I've none of that.

BUT, instead, I'll ease back into the blogging with a fairly low-key post about ANOTHER milestone:

It was one year ago today I sold my first original painting on Etsy.

The exact e-mail I sent to my friend Lisa:

AND man, that seems like a decade or two ago, but nope, only 365 days.  That was only my fourth or fifth sale...and now I'm 12 sales shy away from 200.  200!  

I'm excited to see what # the Adventure I post on November 18th, 2008 will be, what milestone I'll be nearing a year from now, and if, looking back then, I'll be amazed that only a year has passed, at all that happened in those 365 days.  My one wish is that no matter how many sales I have, that each and every sale between now and then still makes me feel like I've won the lottery. 

To the next 365 days, reaching milestones, and adventures.  I'll be back to documenting them on a regular basis starting in the a.m. and you're invited!

Love,

KJ

P.S. If you've not checked out the shop in a while, there's bunches of new stuff and will be more coming everyday!

Adventure #99: KJ & The Bee-u-tiful Bee-lady

Dear You,

Here's the custom painting of the bee-girl I mentioned I was working on Saturday, all finished and ready to fly away to her new home:

Okay, so, I also mentioned on Saturday my inability to get my dreamy giraffe-y little hands on one of the DCWV Once Upon A Time Matt Stacks.  WELL, my friends, I now have my hands on TWO of the DCWV Once Upon A Time Matt Stacks.

See, see, see:

If anyone ever tells you that there aren't giving, generous, bee-u-tiful people left in this world?  You tell them KJ says they are WRONG.

The lovely, sweet, fantabulous Greta who commissioned me to paint the above "The Birds & The Bee" painting as a present to herself for her birthday, read my blog post last week about my wanting Once Upon A Time matt stacks and she went on a mission to all the craft stores in her area until she found them and she bought one of each for me!!!

Now, Greta (whose name I keep mistyping Great, which is as a typo, well, very fitting!) does not know me, live and in person.  A friend of hers bought her a print of mine as a gift and she was so happy with it, she asked me to do the custom bee-lady for her.  For the past couple of weeks, we've chatted via Conversations at Etsy and I'd love to have a chat with her face-to-face someday, but the point is: we have never even met.   And she did that for me.  And that means so so so very much. 

I believe I said in that other post, that one of the best things about doing art for a living is the supplies?  WELL...even topping that, is the awesome and amazing and supportive people I get to meet along the way.

Now I must go do the happy dance!

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz,

KJ

P.S. Greta, thank you so very very much.  I really and truly cannot express how much this means to me.  Let me know if it's okay and I'll add a link to your blog in this post.

Adventure #98: KJ Learns She Is Not Perfect

Dear You,

Last week, at the post office, I was standing across the counter from my Friendly Postal Worker, while he was weighing one of my packages, when I noticed something amiss on one of my labels.

"Oh, no," I said. "Can I have that one back for a second?"

You might be thinking the same thing Friendly Postal Worker must've been thinking, as he handed it to me: That I'd misspelled the addressee's last name, or had the street number wrong, or only had four numbers in the zip code.

Um, no:

I'd just left out the comma between Dallas and Texas, so the address looked like:

When I told Friendly Postal Worker that that was the oopsie I wanted to fix, he said, "Ah, you want everything to be just right and proper, yes?"

And I said, "No, I want everything to be perfect."

Which is true, kind of, but ugh, but what a drag is that.  Because is anything perfect?  No.  So that goal always leads to disappointment and letdown. 

So, my fellow perfectionists, let's stop trying for perfect.  Let's just wonderful and fabulous and sweet and understanding and friendly and funny and caring...and imperfectly good enough.  Chances are, after all, no one expects you to be perfect but your very own self!   So, let's be our best, which will never be perfect.  Our best, which includes our flaws, because they are apart of who we are, and without our flaws, we aren't really being our best, because we aren't really being US.  

Where is all this coming from?

Weeeeell, this morning, I was going through my art, getting a bunch of stuff ready to list (oh my gosh, the hoarding -- I had NO idea that I had like thirty something pieces finished or veryveryvery close to being finished -- why don't I listen to the advice I so often give other -- if people can't SEE your work, they can't BUY your work), and I picked up a painting that I've never listed the original of, but have had prints of available in le shoppe for a long, long, long, long time.

And imagine my inner perfectionist shrieking in horror, and possibly curling up into a teeny tiny ball of humiliation and shame, upon  my realizing, that yes, the girl in this painting?  Only has one set of eyelashes.  And it kind of makes me laugh -- because I am normally so picky about each and every little detail -- but, um, yeah.  No robots here, obviously.

 

And, yes, I really and truly listed her that way and all this time have never even noticed.

You can see the actual listing here -- I've not changed it yet, but tomorrow, after I give her that second set of lashes, I will.  Actually, I may take the print down and list the original. 

In other news, I had three really, really, really, really bad nights, totally sleepless nights, so I've sort of kind of fallen off the NaNoWriMo bandwagon.  But I AM going to get back on tomorrow morning.  Thank goodness, I was able to sleep last night.  Actually, I slept most of yesterday-day, then last night.   I don't want my blog to be known as The Drugged Adventures of KJ & The Dreamy Giraffe, but I think I have to say:  I am so very, very, very grateful to the makers of Tylenol PM.  I am just not a girl who can function without her zzzzzzzzzzzzzz's.

Imperfectly,  Well-Rested-ly Yours,

KJ

Adventure #97: It's True, KJ Will Paint Whatever You Want Her To

Dear You,

I've been keeping pretty busy lately with working on commissioned custom pieces (which I'm always thrilled to do...the more, the merrier...hint, hint ;)), but yesterday, I took a break from painting to go get supplies so I can do more painting.  Oh, and so I could go to lunch with my friend, Summer, (Unofficially) The Nicest Person On The Face Of The Planet.

We hadn't been to lunch in a while, so we went to our favorite restaurant, Red Bone Alley, where we had a waiter so ridiculously attractive that my math skills flew out the window and I forgot how to do basic multiplication and I think I left him like a 40% tip.   Girls, this is how the good-looking menfolk begin to affect you when you work at home and don't see many of them live and in person (so McDreamy & McSteamy do not count) on a regular basis, so just be aware.  It was a lot of fun catching up.   (For those interested in the details, I had the Mexican Pizza Dip.) 

Then I hit Hobby Lobby.  One truly awesome thing about being an artist is the supplies.  Love, love, love supplies.  Love, love, love anything made by Die Cuts With A View.  Love, love, love that Hobby Lobby had all scrapbooking papers 50% off this week so I got 2 matt stacks for the price of one.  (The  Rock Star one & The All Dressed Up one.)  It kills me that I can never find any of the Once Upon A Time line in stores.  But, then again, it's probably a good thing -- because if I did find that one, I probably wouldn't be able to limit myself to the matt stacks. 

Today, I'm back to work, spending the weekend on more commissions that I'm really psyched about and ready to get going!

Here are some shots of the ones I've just finished up:

An idea sketch of a dragon, which is more detailed than my usual idea sketches, but I'd never painted a dragon before, so I wanted to be sure to get it just right!:

And the finished piece:

The idea sketch for a little girl perched atop a car:

And the completed painting:

AND something really different for me, here's part of a more traditional portrait, which I was VERY intimidated by, but I'm kind of pleased with how it turned out.  (I wrote more about this one here.)

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work I go (though, on days like today, when I'm working on something as fun as a blonde queen bee-girl, it feels kinda silly to call it "work" !)

Hope you all have a fabulously dreamy weekend!

KJ

P.S. Is it heigh-ho or high-ho or hi-ho?  I do not know!

Adventure #91: KJ, The Mermaidballerinasuperheropiratefairy & The Seahorse Prince

Dear You,

Finally, at last, I finished the painting I wrote about here, the one for Creative Challenge #71 in the Etsy forums, the one that was supposed to represent my shop, the one that I said was like a self-portrait of my innards?  That one. 

I also said that I'd take pictures of it as I worked on it and I swear, I remember taking at least a dozen, but my memory card argues that I only took two.  Two!

The Dynamic Duo:

And, complete:

And detail:

(Pssst...she's in the shop, just in case anyone was wondering. ;))

The type of girl who really, really wants to believe we can be anything (and everything!) we want to be,

KJ

P.S. Oh, and Johanna, never fear, your mental picture of me is not THAT off -- I'm a dark-headed giraffe, not a blonde!

Adventure #89: KJ & The To Do List

Dear You,

So, forever and a day (which is quite a long time!), on each and every To Do List I wrote up, the following To Do would appear:

• Yoga Girl

That is Yoga Girl, as in Y is for Yoga Girl, the missing Alphababe. 

And finally, finally, yesterday, I made myself sit down and finish her up.  Because A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X & Z does not a complete alphabet make.  Close, but no cigar, as they say.

So, anyYay,

• Yoga Girl

is now:

• Yoga Girl

Here's she is, which means the first series of Alphababes are D, O, N, & E. 

(I thought about putting her in a more adventurous pose, but in the end, settled on something simple and serene.)

Last Friday, I took a break from the To Dos and went to breakfast with my friend (since 7th grade) Sheila for her birthday.  She turned 30 and that requires a celebration, even if that celebration only consists of a croissant combo and chat at Burger King.  I don't know what to tell you.  We are party animals.  

Anyway, somehow, I wound up with NaNoWriMo getting tacked onto my list of To Dos.  NaNoWriMo, for those of you not in the know, is National Novel Writing Month, where a bunch of overly ambitious and quite possibly crazy aspiring writers pledge to pen a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.  Now, these days, the only breaks I have time to take are potty breaks, so I really don't know how I'm going to manage 1667 words a day, but I guess I shall just have to learn to multitask better or forgo the potty breaks.  Could they not have chosen a month with 31 days, at least?

Seriously, I'm kinda excited about it.  I made an attempt at doing it back in...1873 or something, but didn't get finished.  Actually, I barely got started.  But 1667 words a day isn't really that much, is it?

Other things on my To Do List (and if they aren't on yours, they should be):

• Penelope of Illustration Friday is hosting something called Monster Mash 2007.   The Deadline is October 31st, so you've still got time to get in on it!                       

                                                                                     &

•  Also with a deadline of October 31st, is the First Annual Pumpkin Junkin' hosted by the wonderful Holli Conger.  The aforementioned friend Sheila is supposed to be picking up our pumpkins today and we're getting together Tuesday morning to tackle junkin' some punkins!  I'm super psyched about this one, and it only adds to the psyched-ness that there's a prize, and it's a piece of the wonderful Holli Conger's wonderful work (and it's a piece I've loveloveloved since I first saw it on her blog ages ago!). 

So...I'm off to get to doing!

KJ

P.S.  Most of the (series one) Alphababes are in new homes now, but B, E, J, L, N, Q, R, & Z are still available in the shop.  Y will join them shortly and O is at Glitter & Grunge.  If anyone's interested in getting their letters on. :)

-------------------------------

Update: I got a phone call from Sheila a l'il while ago and pumpkins have been purchased!  Whoo hoo!  There will be photos Tuesday, once they're junked up...those pumpkins don't know what's about to hit'em!  

We Now Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Adventure For a V.I.A

(That's Very Important ANNOUNCEMENT, in giraffespeak).

'Tis rare that I put my work on sale (boy, that sounds a bit more snotty and pretentious than I intend for it to...actually, my intent isn't snotty or pretentious, I promise!), but last Saturday night, I participated in the Saturday Night Specials that go on in the Etsy forums and it was so dreamy, I've decided to do something similar again this week, so I am pleased to announce:

The FIRST EVER When The Giraffe's Away, Everyone Plays Two Day Event!

I'm going out to town this morning and will be gone until sometime Wednesday.  While I am away:

--- Buy an Alphababe, Get a Free Print (Your Choice)--

--- All Prints 1/2 Off!! ----

 

--- All Originals (Not Including Alphababes) 10% Off --

 

-- 1/2 Price Shipping, No Matter What You Buy! ----

It'll probably be this time next year before this sale runs again, so if there's something you've been eyeing, now might be the time for you to make it all yours! ;)

Please wait for an updated invoice before paying!  I will have access to e-mail, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask. You will receive your updated invoice on the same day you order!

All orders will ship Thursday, October 18th!

Regularly scheduled adventures will resume regularly Thursday!

Adventure #87: KJ's Self-Portrait (But Not Really)

Dear You,

Saturday's early morning easy breezy peasy errand-running and productivity was so nifty, I decided to do it again, so here I am, blogging at you from 5:55 a.m.  (Sidenote:  Normally, I do not go to the grocery store twice in one week, but Food Lion is having a crazy sale on Del Monte Summer Crisp corn, which, is the best corn you will ever eat out of a can.  In fact, it's almost as good as corn you'd eat off the cob, straight out of someone's garden.  Well, not STRAIGHT OUT of the garden, but y'know, cooked and stuff in between the removal from the garden and the eating.  It's 4/$2.00 when it's normally 4/$3.78.  Math isn't my strong suit, but that's practically half off, y'all!)

There's already been a glitch in my early morning easy breezy peasy errand-running and productivity repeat plan, though, and I lost about ten minutes freaking out because I couldn't get my camera to turn on.  I pressed on and it...did nothing.  Now, I know, I know, a bright person would've just replaced their batteries and moved on with life, but I had just replaced the batteries a week or so ago and had only used the thing once since, so before going to fetch more batteries, it was logical to me to take a few moments to imagine the price of a new digicam on next month's credit card statement and have the appropriate panic attacks.  And then I was so worried I couldn't even take the time to run into the kitchen to get brand new batteries, I just ran around the bedroom, muttering "oh no, oh no, oh nonononononononono" and yanking batteries out of other random battery-operated thingys -- the remote control, the mouse, my Craft-Lite Cutter -- and shoving them in the camera.  And it STILL wouldn't turn on.  But then I forced myself to take a deep breath, went to the kitchen, and got brand new batteries...and I have pictures to show you that were taken this very morning, so obviously: All's well that ends well.

I am SO jazzed about the weekly Creative Challenge at the Etsy forums.  It's Creative Challenge #71 and here's the rules:

Anyway, this week's challenge is to create something that shows what your shop is all about. A signature piece or show piece if you will. Something that shows what you want your shop to be known for or what your shop stands for. Think outside of the box. Have fun and be creative.

(You can see the thread in the forums here, if you like, to see other people's responses as they roll in.)

At first, I was way intimidated by this one, because

1) That could be kind of limiting, like asking you to describe yourself in five words...

2) The Dreamy Giraffe is ME, my art is ME (as hokey as that sounds) and creating one piece to show the world what The Dreamy Giraffe is all about is kind of like pouring my heart and mind out on a canvas and saying, "LOOKY HERE" (which more hokey: is sort of what I do with every painting, I guess, but times 28907879978) and

3) Honestly, if I could only show people ONE of my paintings and have them know what The Dreamy Giraffe is all about, it'd be a painting I've already painted, Humpty Dumpty Was A Girl.  That one is my all-time favorite, I think it pretty much sums up my art, The Dreamy Giraffe, AND me.  My immediate reaction was: I can never top that one.  And if I did, it would absolutely be like a self-portrait, that showed my insides (not the gross body-partsy ones!) instead of my face.

 

But, not a girl that's going to back down from a challenge (okay, I might initially back down from a challenge, but then I'm right up on that wall:  Iwillnotfall, Iwillfnotfall.), I started brainstorming.  Then I started sketching.  And here's what I've got so far:

 

And here's a picture without the shadow that looks like a claw holding a box (but is actually my hand holding my camera, which triple yay! still works!):

 

If my camera keeps camera-ing and my memory (actual memory in my head, not memory card in the camera) does not fail me, I will try to take more pictures throughout the day and update this post. 

Ooh, and hey, if your familiar with my art, if you wouldn't mind, let me know your thoughts 'cause I'm curious: If you were going to tell people about my work (oh, how nice of you, I love you, can I get you some cheesecake?!) and could only show them ONE painting that YOU think would convey exactly what my art is all about, which one would you show them?

Later gators,

KJ

P.S. Ms. Good Girl, provided that BRILLIANCE isn't from a movie or something and using it won't get me sued or thrown in the slammer, you've got yourself a free print.  Let me know what colors (any color you'd like) you want the one with your phrase to be.  And Mrs. Brown-Eyed Fox: I totally agree and it makes me very happy that I'm not the only one in the world that feels that way.  When I'm drooling daily at 3:00 p.m., I'll now know I'm not alone.

Adventure #86: KJ Is Not Quite Rapunzel (But Getting There!)

Dear You,

Okay, just in case you're keeping a list of the various emotional and physical states I wake up in, so that one day you can make a spreadsheet and track them to see if there's any pattern*: this week, I've woken up cranky and productive, and this morning, I rolled out of bed on the headachey side.  I mean, the type of headache where it feels like you've got ten mini elephants line dancing on your brain (which is not quite as bad as the headaches where it feels like you've got ten full-sized elephants line dancing on your brain).  Sinuses.  Okay, enough about me, more about me!

I tend to really change up my hair every few years and back in...oh, 2004?  It was super long (well, halfway down my back, anyway) and I got it chopped somewhere between shoulder and chin-length.  No hesitations for me.   And since then it got shorter and shorter and shorter.  Don't get me wrong -- there's nothing wrong with short hair.  I've had some short cuts that were super sassy and cute.  But I really, really, really have wanted to grow my hair out and have it be super long again and so I've not had it cut since last January, when I got it cut the shortest it's ever been.

Goodness, KJ, get to the point, No One Cares What You Had For Lunch and no one cares what's on top of your head.  But the point is, the other day, I got out a ponytail holder and guess what?  My hair could be put into an actual, legitimate ponytail, not just a little sproutlet of hairs bundled together and protruding straight out from the back of my head resembling a rabbit's tail.  An actual ponytail, people! Yay for the small victories! 

Speaking of hair:

Oh, no, I'M not getting a trim (and go back to the sprout thingy protruding from my head instead of a real, genuine ponytail -- no way!  I know, I know, split ends, blah blah...eventually it'll be taken care of, but just not right now!) -- BUT the little girl in the above print sure could use one, pronto, Tonto!  When your hair starts tying you up in protest over its length, it's definitely time for a trim!

That's just one of the versions of this print I'm going to be offering  in the shop each in a different color with a different saying, like: 1) All bad hair days are not created equal. 2) Some days her hair just had a mind of its own. 3) We all get into hairy situations from time to time.    They started out with a drawing I did in colored pencil and graphite, and then scanned in and fancied up using my graphics program and a steady hand and a whole lot of patience!

The original of this one is also going to be available for purchase.   It isn't quite finished yet, but it' s going to be another one of my Rapunzel Variations** and will say something like "She really wanted to let down her hair...but her hair had other ideas". 

If YOU come up with a saying you think would be cute on one of the prints, comment or e-mail me with it and if I use it, I'll send you a free (yes, FREE) copy of that print!  Yay for free!

And I totally had something else to say, but it has slipped my mind, which I hear is one of the symptoms of having ten mini elephants line dancing on your brain.

Ta-ta for now!

K to the J

----------------------footnotes----------------------------

* If you are, in fact, keeping such a log, please don't tell me about it.  I might get a wee bit frightened or something.

** The other Rapunzel Variations, the first two which have gone to new homes and the third which is quite obviously still a work-in-progress: