Summer: The Bane of my existence.

           I have a secret. It's a shameful secret for a mother of two young boys to have. It's so shameful, I feel I should be walking down the streets of King's Landing in the buff with a scary nun in front of me ringing a bell and repeating "Shame....Ding....Shame....Ding."

           
                                              (10 points to anyone that gets this reference)

 So with that said, I must confess my shame and get it off my chest. Sigh. Here it is...



                                                  I HATE SUMMER!!!

  That's right folks. You heard/read that right. I hate summer with a passion!

You must be asking yourself,  "But Stevie, why do you hate summer so? It is a time of play, a time to swim, and frollick in the fields with your children at your side."

              Indeed you're right. Summer is the time to swim, have a cook out, Baseball season, fireworks, and just down right have fun.

Please allow me to explain my utter hatred of the season of fun. I wouldn't mind the summer if I was in an area that didn't promise an immediate fiery death upon an excursion out the front door. Here in the good ole south, Summer is a death trap. (For me at least)

       The humidity levels are out of this world and when you walk outside in the dead of summer (such as now) it's like getting slapped in the face with a hot wet towel, garroted with it, and then slow roasted with it still strangling you like a mutated boa constrictor!

To top off all this misery, my air conditioner stopped working. Yep. So at this very moment, my living room is 83 degrees fahrenheit, and that's a cool temperature compared to the 91 that my thermostat was gloatingly reporting this afternoon. That's right people. My home, my sancuary, my place of peace and relaxation has been invaded by the evil that is Mississippi heat.

I am jealous of the people that live in an area that the summer time is always around the 70's. Hell, I'll take the 80's if it's a dry heat. 

I was watching a vlog on youtube a few days ago. The Shaytards. They live in Idaho. The first family of youtube and one of the families I would love to meet one day. Shay, the father said something about it being down in the 50's at night in August. I immediately gasped! 50 degrees?! In August?! Unheard of here.  

Summer is the bane of my existence and possibly the assassin that will do me in at the tender age of thirty......oh.....um.....I mean twenty five. Yeah. Twenty Five. That's my age alright. *nods unconvincingly.    25 years old. 

So with that said. Summer. I hate you. 

Sincerely, 

Stevie, the incredible melting mom.  

New illustrations and sketches.

Hey Ya'll. I promised from my last post I would publish some of my sketches and illustrations I did during the summer while I was on a hiatus. So here they are. These are a few of the commissioned pieces.

For those of you that use Vine. This is one of my favorite viners. His name is Greg Cleaveland. He asked me to do a drawing of him so I decided to draw him with his two beautiful little girls. 

A friend of mine is getting ready for her Handfasting. For those that don't know, handfasting is an ancient celtic ritual for marriage. She and her husband are renewing their vows, and she wanted me to do her wedding invites. She wanted it slightly steampunk with a few gothic vibes to go along with it. 

My dear friend Nancy started her own clothing line called Lilly Hazel and she requested that I design her logo. I have to say this was one of my favorites this year. 

A gentleman wanted to surprise his girlfriend with a portrait of them with their fine four legged friend here. He later told me, she loved it. 

This one and the one below broke my heart. This gentleman, I didn't have the pleasure of knowing. But hearing stories from his friends and family, it sounded like he was a pretty awesome guy. I was commissioned to do his portrait for his wife as a gift. Later I was sent a video of his wife opening the gift and her reaction made me smile and cry all at the same time. She was so happy. 

This gentleman is David Ratliff. He was a dear friend of my family and many families around our neighborhood. He was what you would consider a reliable shadetree mechanic. Everyone in town sent their vehicles to this man because he could fix a car better than any dealership. He passed away a few days after Thanksgiving from complications with his cancer. Rest in peace Mr. Ratliff. 

This goofball is my little brother. Enough said. 

A new friend wanted a portrait of his wife with her late father. 

This one was fun too. I love drawing kids. They are so expressive and it's always a challenge to get the proportions in their little faces just right. 

Alright. Now for the fun stuff. 

I don't have a clue as to why I drew her as an elf. I just wanted to do anatomy practice and it came out as a steampunk elf. Weird. 

A mermaid I did for a youtube video I put out a few months ago. I was supposed to be a 30 day sketchbook challenge, but you see how I've done with challenges so far. I've really got to stop doing this to myself. 

More mermaids. You can never go wrong with more mermaids. Unless they're the ones from ancient myth. Those bitches were scary. 

a little girl walking in the rain because she doesn't own a car. 

More freaking mermaids. What the hell is up with these mermaids?! 

Oh yeah! My kids have their own youtube channel now. We don't have game night, we have youtube night. And I wouldn't change that for the world. 

Here is the link to their channel. 

                                                       https://youtu.be/Pd8sgXKCGtA

My two best friends are probably the coolest and goofiest people I know. So I decided to join in their insanity.  Look closely at their faces, you will see the evidence of their unhinged minds. 

And another of my little brother. Because.....well just because I love torturing him. 

Finally something other than a freaking mermaid! 

And there you have it. Art art and more art. So. Yeah. 

What should we do now? 

I'm hungry. I think I'll open a can of spaghetti o's. 

Why are you still here? It's over. Go home. 

Oh and come back later for more. 

Yes, I'm still alive! Woo HOO!

   Well hello there stranger. Long time, no see. I know. My bad. I've really got to stop doing this whole....disappear for a while, suddenly reappear with excuses and apologies, and then suddenly disappear again. But here is one word that may sum it up for you. Mom. Yep. I'm a mom. And now that both my little man cubs are in school, things have become a lot more busy around Bullock Manor.
         
             During the summer break Jax wanted to play T-Ball. What was I going to tell my little monster? No? Absolutely not. So I said "Of course you can baby." So there I was, lugging around a bag full of gloves, baseball bats, balls....hee hee hee. balls. Oh sorry. Ahem. and a cooler of drinks for the team. It was fun, but here in the good ole deep south, the summer temperatures are not people friendly and dear old mom was miserable.
              While the kids had the game to keep them occupied, I was melting. If you consider soaking your clothes with sweat in 10 minutes melting (which I do). Plus my youngest man cub didn't want to play with his big brother so he decided to just sit on the bleacher with me and complain the whole time or run around the sports complex trying to find someone to play with him. All in all, we are doing it again next year. The boys are excited. Me? Meh. Not so much. Forgive me, but I don't enjoy melting for an hour. Call me a city girl, I don't care. I'm a winter girl.
       

     Then we got four wheelers for playing with and doing chores around the yard. But when you live in the south and you love going to the creek, guess what happens. Yep you guessed it. You ride the creek.

But if your husband is anything like mine. You end up graduating to mud riding. 

So yeah. That was basically our summer. 

And naturally being the artist mom that I am, I also did a few illustrations, both commissioned and personal projects. But that's for the next post. 

Any hoozles. Catch ya later peepers. 

Stevie.