I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but back in late November, early December I had started a digital painting project. Needless to say, I put a few hours into it, then kind of forgot about it.

Turns out that was for the best, because now I'm ready to finish it, and it will be much better than it would have if I finished it those many months ago.

The reason being? Well, a group of friends and I hold a weekly D&D campaign, 'cause we're nerds, and it was to be a "group shot" of all of our characters. But, back then, we only had four of us (and one DM, obviously); since then we've had four new players join, and one leave.

Earlier today I realised I should go back to that old project and see what could be salvaged from it, and made into a better picture. This should be the biggest project I've ever tackled; each individual character is like one painting of mine - and I have SEVEN to do.

I have three outlines completed, so I'm really just at the tip of the iceberg here. It should be quite some time before it's finished and ready to post. But, thankfully, I have the weekend off, so I'm hoping to get a good chunk of it done before monday rolls around.

Keep your eyes peeled, kiddos.

Yesterday I got to look at a lot of my dad's photography - pieces I haven't seen in years. He was going through his old slides, trying to decide which ones he could live without - since he was running out of storage room in the basement.

Now, for those who are unaware, my father was the #2 wedding photographer in Ottawa for 20 years, only second to his boss. These pictures, however, weren't his professional shots - these were taken either before he became a professional photographer, or just at the start of his career.

Looking at his work was very inspiring. I had seen it all before, but not since I was about 6 years old. I believe these images were stuck in my subconcious, because while I was looking at his photographs, they reminded me a lot of my own. A lot of the same subjects, perspectives, lighting... I thought I dabbled in a little bit of everything, and that I didn't have a specific style - but it turns out I do. I have HIS style. I am my father's daughter.

He gave me a lot of good advice for things to experiment with; things I had hoped to one day experiment with, but wasn't sure how to before. I also got to hear all the stories that went with his shots, which in itself was enough to make it worthwhile.

It's hard to deny that my dad and I are alike. We look alike, act alike, have the same sense of humor, same tastes in pretty much everything - I really shouldn't be surprised that we even have the same artistic style.

So today and yesterday I've been pretty busy working through my account here. It's been too long since I've done anything like this, and it was well overdue.

I started by combing though my scraps and deleting anything I found to be grotesquely ugly. Then I moved on to my regular gallery and moved some things to scraps, and deleted others (in total, I probably deleted about 60+ pieces, and moved 40+ from my gallery to scraps).

Today I organised my gallery into folders (I'm not sure if I like this new system... I'm hoping it grows on me). Then I removed any person I was watching who either hadn't signed in in a certain number of weeks, or who hadn't posted anything new in a certain number of months; I cut it down to half. And, finally, I went through my favourites and was going to remove anything I no longer desired, but nothing was removal-worthy.

In late November, I wrote about how I was feeling... unmotivated, uninspired, and... basically, depressed. I still feel this way, but not to the extent I once was - which is why I have some newer stuff in my gallery. I'm still not keeping up on it as much as I'd like to be, though... But, I'm getting better, so I'm holding onto the hope that this general shitty feeling I have will pass sooner, rather than later.

I've been way too busy lately... I just got promoted at work; I'm rebuilding my lost social life; we've started a weekly D&D campaign; and if I do get a spare minute, I usually spend it with Nick. Today he's busy, so this has been the first real bit of "Sarah time" I've had in... frig, I can't even remember. ...It's kinda nice.

Of course, I haven't been able to just sit back and enjoy it, though. I had to keep busy by giving my DA account a good makeover. My computer too, actually. It's was starting to overheat, so I gave it a good vaccuming to get the dust out of the fans. Then I took a good chunk of time to organize the wires in the back; so now it's no longer just a jumbled mess of hate.

Now I should stop writing, so I can clean Rosie's cage for the second time this week - she's peeing in every compartment, and it's making my room smell. Stupid hamster... She's lucky she's cute. hahaha

Take care, all.