40 Before 40 - #22 Complete!

 I'm writing this on a cell phone so please forgive any mistakes. I can't believe I haven't posted in a year!! If anyone is still here I'm so sorry for the unexplained absence. I guess it's probably understandable. This year has been nuts. I don't want to dwell on the stressful stuff so let's get right to it.

I have wanted to draw humans for a long time, but was always intimidated by it. Many of you have probably seen my first attempt.

It turned out pretty good for a first try, although there are issues with proportions. Eventually I got brave and went for a second try.

I drew Billie Eilish and was really happy with the result. This was my first time drawing long hair. There are obviously mistakes and room for a lot of improvement, but art is always a process. That's the fun of it. This drawing really motivated me to keep going.

Sorry these are blurry. I don't have access to my computer so I took screenshots from my Instagram. Next was Keanu Reeves from The Matrix. This was difficult, but fun! The reference image was lower quality with less details, so I went for a more blocky shading style. I really like how it turned out.

The next one I took requests on Instagram and drew Cara Delevingne. I love how I was able to capture the shine on her skin. This was a great learning experience, although not my favorite drawing.

The next one was a special project that I did for my Dad. I spent days (weeks?) on this. It was insane and this is officially my favorite drawing I've ever done.

I'm so proud of this one. The legendary John Wayne. Dad said he's going to frame it, but first I have to get the guts up to spray fixative on it. I'm going to get some better photos in better lighting first. Anyway, I kind of burned myself out on this one and took a break from drawing humans, but there are some more random ones below.

One last thing before I go to sleep. I know that I still have a lot to learn. I want to study anatomy and learn to draw figures from imagination, but these drawings from reference were a good starting point for me to conquer my fear.  I hope you all are well. I miss you guys!! Enjoy the rest of the random human/humanoid drawings below.

Fan art of a Gundam Wing character. Loved that show when I was a kid.

Practicing with markers with a fun Spiderman.

My Christmas drawing from last year. In pen!!!!! I had never drawn anything like this in ink before. I'll probably do a post with all of my ink drawings too eventually. It's scary not being able to erase.

A fun zombie I did a long time ago.

A simple drawing I did to relax one night.

Wordless (not!) Wednesday - Grand Canyon Ground Squirrel

This is my favorite photo from our entire epic road trip.  A ground squirrel was kind enough to pose for me in front of the Grand Canyon!

2019 Epic Road Trip - Part I - 40 Before 40 Item 10

My husband and I went on an epic road trip a month ago and one of our stops was the Painted Desert!  I have wanted to visit this place since the first time I saw photos of it.  I've been dreaming of taking photos of it for years.  I can finally mark it off my bucket list (and my 40 Before 40 list - it wasn't on the original list, but when I realized I can't donate blood because I'm on thyroid medicine I replaced it with this).  It was smaller than I expected, but still absolutely incredible!! 

The photo above is my favorite out of the group.  It shows the different colors so well.  The others are decent, but uploading them messes with the quality of the photos.  They look better on my computer.  Oh well, hopefully they are still good enough to be enjoyable for you guys.

 

 We weren't able to go at sunset when the colors would have been at their most brilliant, but there was still some great colors.

The one above was looking in the other direction.  It's not a Painted Desert picture, but I had to snap it and share it because of the huge dust devil.  So cool!

 This is another one of my favorites.  The purple color is so neat!

Luckily we were able to drive around to the other side where there were more shadows for more dramatic visuals.

 Hubby taking pictures of the Painted Desert.

 My Rogue made the trip so enjoyable!  I couldn't resist snapping a picture of it in the desert.  It is blue... it just looks black because of the lighting.

 We saw so many ravens out west!  They are the coolest birds!

 This was the path leading down into the desert.... we decided not to hike down there.

 There were some tracks, but they were so far away I couldn't tell what made them.

 I'll post more pictures as soon as I can!  Make sure to check out my other blog (LINK) to see pictures of my mule ride at the Grand Canyon!  Another dream come true!

30 Before 30 - #29 Complete

I finally found time to sit down and write my 40 Before 40 list and it was fun!  Aging is often not very fun, but I'm excited about this list so that makes it something to look forward to instead of something to dread.  :)

First I want to say eventer79 made me laugh with the comment about putting "make a list" on my list.  You just don't understand how much of a list addict I am!  I love making lists.  I'm one of those people who writes a "to do" list and then when I do something that wasn't on the list I add it just so I can mark it off lol.  I have post it notes full of lists stuck to the wall next to my desk.  :)  So thanks for making me laugh eventer79!!

For my 40 Before 40 list I decided to break it up into categories.  It helps me stay organized and helps keep things diverse because all of my lists tend to be very Chrome oriented to the point of excluding other things.  So without further rambling, here it is.

40 Before 40

Travel

1.  Visit the Grand Canyon
2.  Ride on a sailboat
3.  Visit Canada (do you need a passport for this?)
4.  See, pet or swim with dolphins
5.  Ride a train on a multi day, multi state trip

Try New Things I've Never Done Before

6.  Ride/drive a jet ski
7.  Try Paintball
8.  Become confident driving a standard on the road (because I still haven't......)
9.  Go kayaking on a river instead of a lake
10. Donate blood (yeah haven't ever done this... always been afraid of needles, but I'm getting over it with my annual blood work)
11. Ride in or drive a convertible
12. Get a massage
13. Do a color run 5k
14. Drive a horse in harness
15. Try something new that hubby has never done, but always wanted to try even if I've done it before so we can do it together (thought that sentence would never end huh?)

Hobbies/Art

16. Learn 1000 ASL signs (100 down, 900 to go hehe)
17. Own and learn to use a DSLR camera
18. Relearn how to play piano (especially Fur Elise and Disney songs) and play grand/baby grand piano
19. Complete the 2015 Reading Challenge and read 500 books between my 30th and 40th birthday
20. Take my art to a show of some sort, like a fair
21. Paint a picture of Chrome, Jackal and Storm (separately, not one big picture)
22. Learn to draw humans!
23. Learn more about illustration and possibly do the illustrations for one of my own stories
24. Complete a whole sketchbook and participate in challenges (such as 365 challenge or 30 day challenge or a sketch a week for a year or draw the first thing you see on Pinterest)
25. Have someone other than family read/review one of my completed novels

Chrome/Jackal

26. Take Chrome and Jackal camping (together or separate)
27. Reach Jackal's goal weight (50-55lbs)
28. Haul Chrome in a trailer to someplace other than the vet (separate from the camping trip)
29. Teach Chrome to neck rein
30. Take lessons on Chrome (doesn't matter what discipline) or go to a clinic
31. Teach Chrome to bow
32. Gallop Chrome
33. Photo shoot on Chrome in a dress
34. Compete Chrome in something (dressage schooling show, trail challenge, anything I want)
35. Teach Chrome and Jackal 5 or more new tricks and get a video of them all

P.S. All of those apply to Rocky too if hubby is interested in doing any of them.  :)

Miscellaneous

36. Finish our house
37. Have a new horse trailer
38. Build a horse barn!
39. Buy/adopt or rescue a Papillon
40. Have my own miniature horse!

Something I thought was really cool is that I wrote a list in September of 2013 and just now when I looked back over it I realized I completed some things on it already!  I walked a half marathon, visited the Kentucky Horse Park, took a tour through a cavern and learned calligraphy!  Two of those even got added to my 30 Before 30 list hehe.

So there's the list!  I'm really looking forward to checking them off!  ;)

P.S.  I almost forgot to mention I reorganized my bucket list page (link here) and even put up a video of me petting a shark that I've never shared on the blog. :D