Michelle’s Art Blog

I opened up a box full of puzzles today. Jigsaw puzzles. The box contained about 10 picture puzzles and I decided to show my five year old how to put one together. It would be a mother/daughter puzzle day.
She picked a puzzle. A boy with a horse. Out of all of them, I figured it would be among the easier ones. Although still something along the lines of 250 pieces, I hoped she wouldn’t find it too daunting. I decided to teach her the way I learned, turn all the pieces picture up and find the edges. Put the edges together first and then find one element in the puzzle to put together. We decided on the boy since he was wearing bright blue. She did pretty good through the edges although I could tell she was beginning to get a little bored. By the time we had found all the blue pieces, it was pretty much me putting it together by myself.

I sat in a cramped little Disney Princess chair hunched over a little white kiddy table until finally moving the puzzle to the floor. (Don’t ask why we didn’t put it together on the dining room table.) And spent most of the day trying to put together the rest of the puzzle. My ten year old son finally helped me for about an hour. Then I needed to rest. After being on the floor for several hours my legs were about to fall asleep.

Then, my husband told my oldest to let the dogs in so they could go straight to the bedroom and what happens? The come into the living room, the little dogs go crazy, all the dogs are bouncing around on the unfinished puzzle, and suddenly it is spread all over the living room floor. Countless hours lost. I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry.

We found all the puzzle pieces, put them back into the baggy to save for another day. Maybe when she gets a little older and can sit patiently enough to put a puzzle together.

Okay, so I’m trying to figure out whether the book I am writing at the moment is YA or MG. I thought it was more a YA book but so far the critiques have been saying it sounds more like a MG. The language is more MG. Should I change the language and make it sound more YA, or change the story some, the age of the main character and make it MG. I thought long and hard about it. The language in it is essentially me. I don’t think I can change it. The main character however I can change. So, I made her 12. I know, right on the cusp of MG to YA, but there is that small section in the middle, (10-14yrs.) that I think I can write it for. I do also think that younger children would like to read it as well, so we’ll see.

Don’t you just hate those traffic cameras that take pictures of you as you go through a red light? I swear the yellow light was like 2 seconds and then blinked red just as I was crossing into it. It was at one of the largest intersections in Arlington so I thought there would be a long yellow light as well. Boy was I wrong. Shortest yellow light I’ve ever seen. I think I’m going to go videotape it and then clock the actual light time. I bet they’ve illegally made it shorter to get more revenue for the city. Now I owe $75 bucks. Technically, light camera’s should be illegal anyway, because when you get charged with anything, you have the right to face your accuser. How can you face an unmanned traffic camera?

Visit Manic – The Author/Illustrator Network

That’s Texas excitement for those that aren’t familiar with that term! I was listed on kidlit.com as an honorable mention for the query contest with Mary Kole! That is sooooo exciting. I have the link listed on the sidebar for those that want to see it! She listed my query and told me what’s right about it and what’s wrong with it and how to make it better. Wow! I sent her my story post haste so she could critique some of it . Oh my gosh, I hope she likes it! I have been enamored with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency since Jennifer Rofe spoke at our North Texas SCBWI writer’s group earlier this year. I know it is nearly impossible to gain an agent until you’ve had a book published, but it’s always nice to dream. At least she’s actually reading my book! I know it didn’t go into the slush pile. How many people can say that? Well, here’s to a few days of waiting.

On a side note, I’m trying to make a stand mosaic for my fish tank. It’s 62 inches long by 26 inches high. I’ve never done mosaics, but they fascinate me for some reason. Well I found a company that sells little 3/8 inch tiles and discovered that you would need 1/8 grout between each. So, I went onto photoshop and made a file 62 inches by 26 inches and then set gridlines up for each little tile and the space in between for the grout. It actually wasn’t that difficult. It’s exactly 2 tiles per inch, or 4 per square inch. So the mosaic will need 6448 tiles total. I think that’s what I came up with. I sketched out a picture, and then took screen shot of the tile colors. Then I copied and pasted a tile into each block so that I would know exactly how many of each colors I would need. It took 2 days to paste all those tiles, but it looked pretty good. I used a dark teal grout color because it just looked more vibrant with a dark grout. It was very pale with a light colored grout. So now I just have to do it, no telling how long the real thing will take. I also want to try the area above my bathtub if I have the time, and maybe some pictures for my little girls room. But we’ll see if this one works. So, here is the prototype from photoshop. When I get the real one done, I’ll post it. Might be awhile though, so don’t hold your breath.

Sorry for the constant theme changes to this blog. I think I’m addicted to themes. All you have to do is click a button and pow! your blog is completely different. It’s such a joy to see a new, fresh theme. I wish you could do your house that way. Just click a button and zip! New paint on the walls, new carpet or nice smooth wood on the floors. Click another button and blammo!  modern couch, new kitchen or sleigh bed. Man, where are the scientists to create those things? If only everything could be so easy as this….

I am so proud of how this one turned out. I worked for a long week on it, but it was well worth it.