More Fun with Illustrator

My youngest son helped with my art assignment yesterday. The assignment was to create a symmetrical black and white design. I felt bad because I spent most of the day working on writing for a client, so I let him scan in some of his Pokemon cards and showed him the different filters on Photoshop. He really enjoyed playing with it.

This week, I got some free software- a music production suite. He's anxious to play with that too. My kids and I have always done a lot of creative activities for fun.

New Website Is Ready!

Well, it's up and working.. but I am still working on it. It is a website dedicated to my interracial erotica and erotic poetry.

EroticSwirl.com

New Blog

I feel the need to document my journey from SSI recipient to independence. I created a blog to both encourage myself to keep moving forward and to perhaps help others in the same situation.

Some of the topics covered soon will be how to make money from writing and art as well as issues related to working with a disability.

New blog:

Path From Poverty

Fun With Adobe Illustrator

I had some fun doing this assignment for my Fundamentals of Design class at The Art Institute. Basically, the objective was to create a design using only black and white to create positive and negative space. Pretty cool, right?

Photos from my Art Show

The turnout was much better than expected
for a holiday weekend. Thank you to everyone who
came to the show.

If I have another solo show next year, I'll probably
show the series of mixed media paintings that I am

working on that depict the homes of famous people in
a way that reflects their contributions.

Venetian Street at Night

Here is another painting that will be featured at the art show.

Another Piece for the Art Show

This is a painting of a Venetian farmhouse that I did specifically for the upcoming art show at Cafe Beracah on Friday, July 3rd.

Hope to see you there!

Seascape

Here is a seascape that will be shown at the art show. The theme for my show is water. Obviously, this painting focuses on the beauty side of water. Wait until you see the other portrayals of water!

Upcoming Art Show

Isn't it awesome when you see stuff like this?

Lebanon Art Factory Exhibit Schedule
-check out July 3

I'm finishing some pieces for my next show. I decided to focus on water.. reflections.. all kinds of ways that water impacts our lives. Not many things can be so essential, so beautiful, and so devastating..

January's Reader's Choice Awards

Thank you to all who read and vote or comment on my poetry.

Bound Wrists was chosen as the top illustrated poem for January on Literotica. Poems do not win the monthly contests at Literotica, but it means the poem will be considered for a nomination for the Annual Readers' Choice Awards.

My goal last year was to have 2 entries in the Reader's Choice Awards. I had 3. I think I will try to have 3 entries in next year's contest as well.

New Poems!

I had some new poems post recently:

Pennsylvania Tornado

Shopping

Neglected Garden Path

I Love Her Still

Loving Art School!

This is a sketch I did for my perspectives art class. It feels good to be drawing again. The sketch isn't perfect, but I have enjoyed getting back in the habit of drawing. It's been about 20 years since I've drawn.

I'm loving art school. I'm learning so much already. The best part is that I would pay to learn these things even if I didn't have plans to use it in my career.

Tetris Fights PTSD?

Did you all hear the news that playing Tetris after a traumatic event may prevent PTSD? Now, let's face it, the study was small and had some issues like using undergrads as participants and replicating a trauma instead of using real trauma victims. However, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is no joke. It's well worth a try if you have a traumatic event like a sexual assault, serious car accident, or witness a violent crime. What do you got to lose, right? So, you play Tetris for awhile in hopes that it will help.

I'd like to see the result of future studies on this subject. Unfortunately, playing Tetris only seems to help prevent the symptoms of PTSD, not cure it. Kinda makes me mad that no one handed me a gameboy when I needed it. Do people still use gameboys?

New Limerick!

A new poem of mine, a limerick, posted today. It's definitely not my best, but kinda fun. I had to write a poem from the perspective of an adult toy for a contest. What do you think?

The Frustrated Vibrator

New Poems!

I have 3 new poems that posted on Literotica today.

Please check out my illustrated poem:

The Roses

New Poem!

A new illustrated poem posted. Check out my attempt at a sonnet and let me know what you think!

Love's Sunrise

Love For My Readers

I just want to show a little love to my readers. I appreciate them so much! It seems like any time I feel discouraged, I get an email from readers who tell me about how much they enjoy my stories. I'd also like to give a special shout out to the president of the Oklahoma chapter of my fan club- Laconia Hughes!

Literotica's Readers' Choice Awards

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Art School

Many of you know that I recently started attending the online degree program of Art Institute of Pittsburgh. I'm studying graphic design. Soon, I'll be able to offer my clients services in addition to the freelance writing projects that I do for them.

So far, I'm finding the Art Institute of Pittsburgh to be impressive. I'm a little overwhelmed by the amount of software that I need to learn including Adobe Design Suite.. including Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Illustrator. These are all new to me. There are some quality tutorials from Adobe among others online. Feel free to share if you find some great tutorials.

New Story

I have a new, erotic story posted on Lit.

The Tribal Threat

Two men live with an African tribe in which the women do a majority of the work. The tribe elder is concerned and uses these newly trusted men as examples of how men should treat women.

(Please vote 5 if you enjoy the story.)