Fragments

Nevermind

piper282 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:32:20 +0000

Okay, I changed my mind about abandoning this page and my site, and here’s why: if no one’s going to read my writing, at least here I can organize it properly. Tumblr is great for pictures and sharing, though, and I stand by my statement that it’s so much less pressure to post something there than it is here–something to do with the site being the middleground between wordpress and twitter. Gotta love that.
I did post the story mentioned in “Success!” on Tumblr, so if you’d like to read that, head on over there. Otherwise, this will remain open, and so will my site. I spent too much damned time trying to figure out how to get lightbox to work with mouse-overs to trash the latter.
Other than that, I hope to have some new stuff up here soon. It’s tough when I’m spending all my creative energy working on something big (and no, I won’t tell you what that is yet because I’m insanely superstitious and I really don’t want to jinx the hell out of it), but we’ll see. Maybe all my activity elsewhere will spawn something here.
You never know.

The End

piper282 — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 03:40:44 +0000

It’s kind of ridiculous that I should be putting an end to this so soon after I started, but I really feel like I don’t devote any time here. Truthfully, I usually don’t even remember I have this page. I love WordPress, but I think something with less pressure, like Tumblr, might be a better fit for me. There’s just too much demand for me to write some huge novel of a post here that I think I block the whole thing out subconsciously. Anyway, I’m leaving links up for now, but I’ll be moving over to tumblr soon. Not a big loss for anyone I’m sure See ya around. . .

PS–This also goes (twofold) for my site. While I spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to put it together, not to mention designing it, I’m just done. It’s too much work to update. The contents from my site–those I deem worthy–will also be making a move over to Tumblr. Otherwise, I’m still on deviantart. Drop me a line sometime . If I bite, at least you can rest assured that I don’t have rabies.

Success!

piper282 — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:29:46 +0000

We are pleased to inform you. . .are there any more beautiful words? I know a lot of people ask that, but to the writer who submitted something for publication months ago, then found out last week that the acceptance/rejection letters were sent, well. . .
I didn’t know how it would go. I started off this year writing a story at the last minute about Polk. When I say last minute, I mean, I woke up on the day it was due, waited until 1 PM to start anything, and wrapped it up around 5 or 6ish in order to send it out. Needless to say, I couldn’t finagle any proofreading on such short notice–that and it didn’t get more than one run through before send off. I should’ve figured I’d get rejected, considering that, but I didn’t. I had grandiose hopes that anywhere I sent anything, they’d take it. Of course, welcome to the real world, this is Not The Case.
However, when I got rejected, I went back to the story. I fixed the dialogue up a bit, I read it over several more times, and I left it alone until my writing for publication teacher suggested (in the guilt-trip family way, as in “I’ll be really disappointed in you” if you don’t) that we submit for the Prairie Light Review.
Now, for those not in the know, the PLR is a magazine published and edited by my college. They take submissions from students and anyone living in my district, and review them anonymously so there’s no bias. You can read more about that, here.
So, with the guiding hand of my teacher, and numerous, nervous mouse clicks, I sent Polk’s story back into the void, hoping for a positive response. I’ve spent an entire semester learning that I have to have a tougher skin and go through dozens of rejections before anyone will take my work, but being the super sensitive person I am, I so needed a positive letter in the mail.
Then, today, I heard that lovely squeak of the box hanging by the door opening and closing. After assuring my dog that the noise came from the television, and not from any mail-person he could bark at for the next ten minutes, I collected the wad of papers and Netflix discs.
And there it was, right in the middle. The letter. It’s not like a college application, where you can tell from the size of it whether you got in or not. Oh, no, they want you to rip it open, trembling and wincing while you tug the letter out its envelope.
But then.
Oh. My God.
I’m in. I’m so in. So this spring, if you or someone you know lives in District 502, give the publication a look. The story is called “Late.” Make sure to let me know if you do!

Influence

piper282 — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 04:46:06 +0000

As it’s painfully clear, I normally don’t do these kinds of things.. or participate.. at all. But I really like the premise of this meme so I thought I’d give it a shot
And then I found out how hard it was to narrow down my influences. Truth is, anything I like influences me–sometimes the stuff I don’t like. It gets to be a bit daunting, so I decided to do 2 separate memes, one for drawing, and another for writing (which I’ll post here later).
And yet…. I STILL had a hard time o_o so these are the biggies. I wish I had room for everything, but.. what’re ya gonna do?

From top left:
Armin Mersmann — The man’s amazing. He draws some of the most realistic pieces I’ve seen, and always has some deeper meaning hidden in his work. His care and devotion to his craft is really inspiring.

Lois Van Baarle — I always look forward to getting her work in my inbox. Her colors and style are fun, cute, beautiful and professional.

Rammkitty-stock/beauties — This is a huge one for me. I love love LOVE beautiful girls. Their eyes, their hair, their everything, it’s so well put-together. I just want to copy it down. And who better to represent than the expressive chameleon rammkitty?

Sarah Joncas — She blows me away. Her style is so distinctive, her shading beautifully subtle, and her success… My god. She’s one of the best examples I can think of of an artist of my generation.

Ross Campbell — The older stuff from the beginnings of “Wet Moon” gets me. His ink wash characters are mesmerizing. With their pops of color, “alternative” look, and expressions, it’s a go-to for complex that looks simple.

Body Modification — I wish I could’ve made this bigger, because, to be honest, I get off on this shit. Tattoos, piercings, whatever, I have to watch every damned documentary and examine every person’s little bit of “self-expression”–it’s becoming an obsession. (P.S. — the ear may look familiar )

Engravings — Fine details in ink drive me nuts. I can stare at that all fucking day.

Loose drawings — Sketches and unfinished work are fascinating. I have a compulsion to finish everything within an inch of its life, so it interests me to see work be done without BEING DONE.

LISA FRANK — I feel like there should be an epic echo here. Lisa Frank is my idol. When I was a kid, I collected everything she did: stickers, binders, folders, tins, pencils, suitcases, whatever. She’s the epitome of illustrators becoming artists, or artists becoming illustrators. It’s why I have a tattoo based off a graphic of hers.

Chuck Close — The man is insane. Not only for being one of the founding fathers of Super Realism, but for tackling work at the scale he does. And to draw himself, which can be a challenge because it’s so hard to see yourself accurately.. It’s just.. crazy.

Jensen Ackles/beauties — But, you already said “beauties”. Yeah, I did, but we’re going to talk about men now. Their strength, intensity, those cute little looks they have when they’re confused or hurt–like a puppy. Damn.

Alex Rodriguez — I really admire his way of not only drawing loosely, but amassing a collection of work by drawing multiple images of the same girl in different poses. To have that kind of endurance to draw the same model… I guess I have ADD, but he’s some kind of special (in the good way).

Bob Ross — Is there anyone more peaceful, talented, prolific, or utterly ‘fro-tastic? No. There isn’t.

Erik Jones/WIPs — I love the guy’s use of combined media, his subject matter, and his graphic style. It’s all pretty awesome. And his work in progress is a great example of how watching other artists at work can really make you want to get started yourself..

I probably should get on that.

We’re On a Boat

piper282 — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 03:32:41 +0000

Okay, so lately I’ve been hit by the dreaded quarterlife crisis. I can honestly say that it is, in fact, a crisis. It’s like suddenly I’ve been left on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean, and I’m constantly looking around for something I can fashion into a boat or life jacket, but there’s only sand, sand, and more sand. Then it turns out to be quicksand and I start to hyperventilate and thrash about like a loony.
I don’t know exactly how everything turned out so nerve-wracking. I get all fight-or-flighty just having to go to school or work, or even doing stuff I want to do.
I don’t know. Maybe that’s why I wanted to do a boat theme in the first place. Some subconscious desire to get my floundering out there. Regardless of how, that’s what I ended up putting together for my illustration class.
We were supposed to collect “found objects” and compose them on the scan bed as a collage of some sort of theme. It was all about playing around in photoshop and inner-expression, that typical self-portrait type first project of the semester. So, I came up with two, and I think they turned out nice. Got a decent grade on both so I’m not the only one.
I just hope that I can chalk up these feelings to starting jitters, and I can hold it together long enough to push through until December.

Last Weekend of Freedom. . .dun dun DUN

piper282 — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 06:18:32 +0000

I’m not exactly the best updater. If anyone is out there reading this, sorry. I’ll try to be better in the future. But seeing as I did remember how much I’ve neglected this place, I’ve put up a few new fragments (“drunk”, “sunburn”, and “touch”). They’re bits I’ve written up between my big, big, BIG project that I’m working on with the help of my very good friend. She’s been kind enough to volunteer to ride my ass for the next few months so I can complete it. What is ‘it’ exactly? Well. . .when I’m done with it, maybe I’ll tell you. You’ll just have to wait and see.
Otherwise, things are going to get really freaking hectic for me. This is the last weekend of my summer of freedom before both work and school start up for me again. That means screaming, running, in your face children, and screaming, running, in your face young adults for the next several months for me. I should be scared, but I’m not. Instead, I’m going to work on finishing as much of my ambitious new drawing named after a new character of mine, and continue to work on this mysterious project (insert wiggle-fingers and ‘ooooooh’-ing noise here) before I’m overwhelmed. Wish me luck

Doing Everything to Avoid Doing Anything

piper282 — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:38:56 +0000

As I sit here on a green gingham sheet, munching on the elusive “toasted corn” flavored Doritos, it occurs to me that though I was nearly on the verge of tears earlier because I felt that my life was careening out of control, I’m. . .still sitting here. Sitting here and doing nothing about it. Not that blogging about my problems suddenly solves them, but writing, in all its wonder, helps. It helps more than bashing the heel of my hand repeatedly into the back of my ipod did to bring it back to life. Or turning up the volume on the television when the dryer buzzer went off for the fifth time. Of course, it would be fabulous if somehow my percussive maintenance had ended up in my ipod flicking back on and bringing up a big yellow smilie face, so unlike any of Steve Jobs’ wonder inventions. And god knows I would’ve been super grateful to the Kenmore if it folded the load of darks before I gave in after an hour of beeping. But life doesn’t work like that, and despite knowing that, I don’t think it helps any. I think it’s just my nature to want things to change, to beg for it and plead and scream and just about lose my mind before actually doing anything about it. Because to do anything about anything would take drive, effort, or, shit, just a sheer overwhelming whiff of determination.
Ha.
Maybe tomorrow.

New Year, New Me?

piper282 — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:25:49 +0000

I’ve always resented “blogs”. Even saying it would make my lip curl and my tongue poke out from between my teeth, as if the word itself was rotten. Blogs, to me, seem self-indulgent; a way for people to feel like homegrown celebrities and share the boring details of their life. You clipped your toenails? Fantastic. But aren’t you going to miss using them to climb trees?
Yeah.
I’ve spent a long time wasting my energy on complaining about everyone else’s decisions when, even if I were the overall dictator of the world, I would have no control over any of it. Too much of my time thinking about hate and resentment, or whatever other ugly emotion you can think of. It’s not worth it.
But when the clock finally FINALLY ended the last decade a week ago, I felt that weight, and the stress of ten years of hell, lift off my shoulders. Unlike every other new year, it feels like this one really could mean the start of something new. A new point of view. A new life. Maybe *A* life. Who knows? What I do know is that what little energy I have after all the latest drama, and three good weeks of snow, should be devoted to something better than seething aggravation.
Of course, it’s the first week of the year, and we’re all optimistic, aren’t we? Well, I’ll try, and that’s all I can do.
That’s all any of us can do.

I must be L’Oreal, because I’m worth it

piper282 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:07:12 +0000

It’s possible, though unlikely, that some of the people wandering to this page don’t know me. For those of you who do, you know why I would resort to a *shudder* BLOG after all these years…but if you don’t, it’s because of my, let’s just say it–html retardation. Thankfully, this site so far has been pretty user-friendly; however, you should at least check out my website. I’ve updated by loading ‘Altered’, my new baby who’s hanging above my desk, and the WIPs for him and ‘M. Shadows’. And, much to my astonishment, I figured out how to make rollover buttons which work with lightbox. It’s worth taking a look if only for the shock factor.

Once you’re done being knocked off your socks by my remedial-but-awesome html, take a look around. I’ll be uploading as I create (if it’s good enough for public scrutiny). However, please keep in mind that a good amount of the writing uploaded to this site is NOT appropriate for children. Most of the links to your right should be treated as PG-13, if not a flat-out R or X–I don’t want to hear about how I’ve damaged your child’s psyche with obscenity or strong liberal leanings. Attempt to tell me something along those lines and I will ignore you.

But, if such vulgarity doesn’t make you want to write to your congressman, sit in a confessional, or want to shower, indulge yourself. You’ll get a chance to read parts of stories, or ‘fragments’, that I’ve worked on this year. Think of it as ADD fiction: short enough to read before your mind wanders.

If it hasn’t already