Self Portrait Challenge June 27, 2006

Well, this is the final SPC for June. The theme was pop art, which is fun, and cool and all that... but I don't seem to be doing to whole pop art thing so well for some reason. Next month should be interesting though I am excited. The theme you ask??? Well, its not pop art so I just might come up with something better than my last 3 entries. That said, I do still like what I have come up with, I just don't know how poppy they are. I had a big plan to make one with me holding a Dr. Pepper or something, cuz that is my DRINK, but I did not have time, nor did I have Dr. Pepper. So, insead I made this for todays entry. I am not sure exactly HOW I did it... kindof another one of those happy accidents. I was attempting to make a Vector drawing of myself originally but I did not have the patience for it... perhaps another time. This did turn out kinda neat though.



I realized that in pretty much every picture of me I am not smiling... Why is that? i don't know exactly, perhaps next time i will try to smile in one. We will see.

On another note, it is HOT here!!! I tell people all the time that I live in the arm pit of Hell becuase it is soooo nasty hot here in the summers. Incase you are ever thinking about moving to Mesa Arizona, DONT!!! Well, unless you enjoy sweating profusely and having 400$ electric bills just because you try to keep your house below 80 degrees inside when it is 115 outside... or hotter even. I guess the heat would not be so bad if I had my own pool or something, but alas I do not. My In-laws do however and they live relatively close, but I feel bad living at their house everyday. Plus I do not like to be seen publicly in a swimming suit (I count their house as public becuase people are there and they see me). I guess I should just get over that one, but I don't think that will ever happen. Well... if I looked like that chick in Blue Crush I think i would get ovr it. HA!!!

Well, I am off. I need to go fold a mountain of laundry before it takes over the house like black mold. The other night the hubby and I were getting ready for a little of the old mattress roll around, and I told him not to let his ascent up mount laundry ruin the mood... If he just kept climbing he would eventually find the bed :)

Sunday Scribblings #13... Music.

I have loved music all my life, probably because of my dad (he is a professional musician). I am a singer (not that i get to sing much these days). When I was younger I was in a few bands and I was involved in choirs and on a small scale I was involved in musical theatre. I took voice lessons for many years and If I had to say so, I am actually kindof good... Don't tell anyone though, I have gotten a little shy about it these last few years. *wink*

One of my favorite things ever that I was able to do with music was when I was in highschool. During the time I was sixteen till I was eighteen I was in a band called Silent. Silent consisted of myself as the lead vocalist, my dear friend Chris Reynolds as the drummer, my friend Brian Henrie on lead guitar, Adam DeVincent on guitar, and Ryan Raggonzine on Bass.




From left to right: Brian Henrie, Ryan Raggozine, Georgia Cranston, actually in this photo it was Georgia Dixon (Me), Chris Reynolds, Adam DeVincent.


We were not really the greatest band in the world. But we had potential. Think Evenescence (we had a sound similar to them). We had a pretty large following as well. We played at alot of local venues, as often as we could. We participated in battles of the bands on a couple occasions, not winning but learning alot and having fun. We even recorded twice and went on "tour" through california. Hehehe... It was basically a 2 week road trip we all took to california, where we crashed at peoples houses and played one real show at Club Raven in Hollywood. The other shows were at a park where there was no electricity so we could not plug in our equipment (there was a homeless guy there who was just beside himself with anger that we could not plug in. He shared some of the best beef jerkey I have ever had with us), and in someones garage... I think we had a small audience in someones living room too. I was amazed my parents let me go seeing as how I was only 16 years old at the time and I was the only girl crammed in a van with all our equipment and five guys (our fried Emmet Montgomery came along as a stage hand/tape seller/ crazy dancing machine), unil we came home at which point we has 7 guys and little old me ( a couple friends came home with us).

When I was seventeen years old Silent kindof split up because Brian left on a mission for our church. At that time we decided to also get rid of our bass player and find a couple new people. We reformed the band with the three remaining members (Chris, myself, and Adam), and added 3 more. A new bass player who's name has slipped my mind, a new guitarist also by the name of Chris, and a back up vocalist/keyboard player name Britta Baum. We called ourselves This Dance.

This Dance was pretty good as far as things go. We had practice twice a week and had some really great songs going. But alas, I found myself in a situation where I felt I needed to move away from some other things in my life for awhile... So, I did exactly that. I first told my friend Chris (the drummer, and possibly one of the best friends i have ever had). He understood and agreed that I needed to get away from some of the things in my life as well, and if moving away was the only way I could make it happen then I needed to do it. I know it killed him to say so too, because the band was always very important to him.

So, with Chris's blessing I took off and moved to Arizona. In moving to Arizona it seems I have also moved away from the whole music thing.

There was a time or two where I tried to pick it up again, Brian the old guitarist from Silent moved to Arizona for a while and we put a couple songs together... but alas, he moved home to Utah and neither one of us really had time in our schedules to play much.

I miss music so much, I miss singing, I miss being up on stage with the lights dimmed and then having them slowly come up and get brighter and brighter as the song begins. I loved the feeling of being onstage and singing. For me, when I was up there everything else just seemed to dissapear. I am glad that I was able to have those experiences, that I have been able to make those lifelong friends.

It is funny that the writing prompt this week is on music, just the other day I got a message from someone I had never met before on my myspace. She is someone who had seen Silent perform and remembered it... This was 10 years ago! And she had the nicest things to say about coming to see our shows. She told me I should really keep up with the singing. Thanks Natasha! I think I just might. My life is very different now, but I really think I could make room in it for a little music. Everyone needs a little music in their lives right?

Pop Art??? Well, i don't know.. But I still like it.

Well, I posted yesterday for the Self Portrait Challenge and did not pay attention to the fact that it happens on Tuesdays. So, today i made another one. I tried to start doing a pop art thing, but my brain just was not feeling it today. So... I came up with this.




I can pretend that its pop art by saying that my eyes really pop in the picture. But whatever kind of art it is I still think it looks kinof neat. I am still very unsure of how to use many of the tools that come with Photoshop, but that has led to some happy creative accidents... like my profile picture for example. I have no clue how I achieved that, but I am rather pleased with the results. Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

My first Self Portrait Challenge... FUN!

So, I have decided that in order to keep the creative juices flowing I need to do more creative things. To do that I have joined several blog challenges. They all post a challenge of some sort, whether it be a writing challenge, and craft, a photography challenge, or a scrapbooking challenge, then everyone who wants to participate creates their little work of art and posts it for the world to see. Nice! I love it!!

So, to kick off my creative blog I will be doing the Self Portrait Challenge. This month the theme is Pop Art. I am not so great at pop art but I tried at least. Here is my creation. Enjoy! I call it Blue eyes. I just could not think of another name for it.




I made it in Photoshop with my super limited photoshop skills... I am still learning. I hope to get better, I really want to get a Wacom tablet because I think stuff like this might be REALLY fun with one. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I know this is not really all that Pop arty... but I did not have alot of time and I had just taken this picture of myself. Next time it will be better I promise. ;)