Update :)

So, I am still alive. Funny how I start out my posts that way now.

But for real. This time, there is a real update that is worth something:

I've moved to Nashville! I have amazing roommates, a job, and it all seems to be working out. I have no idea about art school yet (still waiting for financial aid) but this is a huge step to get me going again. I needed this badly, so this is very good.

It came up VERY suddenly, and the past month trying to move in and find a job was absolute chaos; but yet, it has worked out so much better than any other endeavor I have meticulously planned the past few years. Yeah. Chaotically peaceful, and I am oddly calm. I guess there is something to this idea of God's timing... yeah, He's pretty amazing, "let's just be honest," to quote one of my lovely roomies.

You guys have been so patient. The past few years have been so hard... I have had health issues, money issues, people issues... and I was caught in so many ruts, just kind of becoming actually part of my tiny bedroom, like a ghost, or that decrepit old lady in Great Expectations. I needed this.

Hopefully I can become more disciplined, motivated, hopeful, etc, now that I am out playing grown-up. I am so glad to just be moving at all, I don't really care what happens. God knows.

So I may be back and making art for you to see here again soon! I really believe things are going to start happening for me. So much has in just one month. Someone Up There is up to something.

Pray for me and I'll pray for you. <3 I start my new job soon and I have the jitters.

Fall is coming and I am alive.

Hey guys.

Yeah, I'm still alive. :)

I'm fighting again to get into art school, but in the mean time, it's almost Fall! A lil drawing to celebrate. Guest starring Mouse and Spider.

"Target Practice" made with a Bic Atlantis pen.

A kid using the falling leaves for practice with his "sword." Struck me as amusing, and it was fun. I love using my ink pen. It's kinda a sentimental thing for me. Maybe because I used it so much for drawing pictures in-between note-taking during class? Not sure. (But, I DID take notes. My friends would tell you I took more notes than anyone- and STILL had time to draw somehow.)

I hope you guys are doing well. I am doing pretty well myself. My hands are still giving me trouble, but, I think my health has really improved this summer. I have lots of hope for getting back into school soon.

Sketchbook Tour

I decided to do a little sketchbook tour of what I have in my current sketchbook. It's.... a bit scary actually. But, I know I love spying on other's sketchbooks, so, I am going to indulge you. A bit. I won't show EVERYTHING... my camera is less than ideal, and I do want to sleep some tonight. But I will let you have a bit of a peek- consider yourself highly favored. Maybe I will do this again down the road, and I pray you (and I) will detect something resembling improvement. :)

Well, apparently I can't just group them all together..... This could be special. This is going to be a very looooooooooooooooooooonnnnnngggggggggggg post.

Sometimes I tape reference photos inside to work on from time to time

 

Bright Star cover.. and my own critique notes...

Apparently the photos have a mind of their own in regards to their placement? Sigh... so annoying. Is it just me? Yeah.. it's gotta be me.

Princess Out of Bed plans..

I can put words here! Interesting.

A bit of Last Airbender there. I LOVE that show so very much!

"Mummy" drawing around the form.

Maybe in the future, both my drawing AND my blogging layout skills will be better. Reach for the stars, Mary!

Been practicing a bit of anime style lately...

Balsa from Moribito:Guardian of the Spirit... Such a good anime and novel. :)

<-- This area looks awkward. 

More words! Oh blogger you are so accommodating.

A kind of gesture drawing of Eliza Dolittle while watching My Fair Lady.

Contour practice.

A quick Dr. Who fandom.

Not my original design... and I cannot find where it came from! Grr.

Drawn outside in nature. I felt very... refined doing it? There was a baby deer behind me.

More nature!

It's like I am playing tag with where I can figure out I can put words...

From a book cover at work (the library) during lunch break. 

More words? Huh. This looks awful. 

Boring but important quick gesture drawings.

There you have it. It's late, and I am tired, but I am glad to share this. I really need to start a new painting project or something, and not JUST sketch around. 

Maybe the next tour will be amazing.

Still crossing my fingers about art school this Fall. My financial aid with all it's power to give and take has not arrived yet... Waiting waiting waiting.

God bless!

Still Here, Still Fighting

... Don't worry your pretty little faces, I am still here. I have been out of town, had my life put on hold by a stomach flu, etc. I am thiiiisss close to going to my local university to get my bachelors of fine art with a concentration in graphic design, and maybe a minor in creative writing. I have been emailing and calling and emailing about financial aid, a living situation, etc. So far I have next to no answers, but I have hope! I am so so close! No, this school is not my IDEAL art school, but at this point I think being strong means taking what I can get, and if it weren't for the fact that I may have to commute an hour one way everyday at first, I would be very happy. With my health issues, I know that's gonna be tough, but I don't really know how to give up on this, so, I will keep fighting.
      I just wish I could keep up with this blog in the mean time. I am trying my best to draw in-between all this madness, but I am not producing much that's worthy to put on here, to be perfectly honest. Mostly anatomy tutorials and gesture drawings, etc.
    But if you only knew! I have classes coming up soon! Classes! As in, I will have something to work on! Something to make me feel like I am making progress! I have been kind of stuck at home with health issues for two years now, feeling like I am getting nowhere. But, this lil artist still loves her art, and she isn't beaten yet. She has this foolish tendency to be obnoxious enough to have the audacity to keep going.
     Oh, yes, I get frustrated with the seemingly impossible task of finding money and a job and a living situation, but I can't help but hope that it's all getting very close now. Something is coming. Even if it takes its time arriving, whatever it is, I will always be here, and I am always looking for a way to do what I believe I should.
    I am so excited! Wish me luck, and of course, pray for me as I pray for you. You must be the most patient followers, and I do appreciate you. Very much.

P.S.
      Oh, and I am working on a story for Mouse and Dragon, and maybe Spider (Mouse is a kind of regular on my blog, when I actually blog, for those of you who don't know. Dragon and Spider aren't so much, but I love dragons, so, there you have it.) I have always thought they needed a story, and proper names, so now I am slowly slowly fabricating a world for them. I have no idea when it will be done, but if anything, I hope to finish something that I can at least illustrate a few scenes from someday.  

P.P.S.
        For a bit of added inspiration, here is an amazing speech given by Neil Gaiman on the making of art. Especially if you are an artist of some sort, click on this link. Keep making good art, no matter what.

Little Christ in a Garden

I am alive and painting. I just couldn't show you this painting until just now because it was a commission/surprise graduation gift for My Lovely Friend (click on the link!). Now she has it, so now you can see it:

Little Christ in a Garden

Detail Image

I love this painting. As you can see, I managed to do a ginger-headed, freckled-faced, little Jesus with a mouse and toadstools. I had fun painting this. I was hoping for a fairy tale feel- I don't see why the Christ child wouldn't have loved fairy tales.
      And I think I should let you know that for some reason my carpal tunnel is better lately. I am not sure why, and I don't know how long this good spell will last, but I will take what I can get.
      I just got back from Franciscan University where they sent off the newly graduated class of 2012. If I had stayed at Franciscan longer than 2 years, this would have been my class. I love them so. It was a great blessing to be there with them, through the good and the bad.

‎"WHAT was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world." ~GKC: 'Autobiography.'

“My imagination is a monastery, and I am its monk” -John Keats

When you are describing,
A shape, or sound, or tint;
Don't state the matter plainly,
But put it in a hint;
And learn to look at all things,
With a sort of mental squint.
~Lewis Carroll

Updates, and Ink and Fairydust

I thought I would let you know the results of those tests I kept talking about- I have carpal tunnel and nerve damage in both hands and elbows. Excellent news for an artist right? Oh well. Thankfully, my left hand is the worst, which is good because I am right handed. Will my right hand get worse? Probably. It's already given me issues for a long time, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. God has taken care of me thus far- I don't see any reason to doubt Him now.

Also, the next Ink & Fairydust is out! Featuring a lovely cover by Mary MacArthur. There are a couple drawings inside done by yours truly that I have already posted on this blog.

I have a crazy month art-wise ahead of me. I have another commission, my Arthouse Sketchbook Project, and the next issue of Ink & Fairydust to illustrate before the end of the month. I work best under pressure, so in some ways I am excited, just as long as I get it done in the end! Time for the montage music.

I hope you all are having a blessed Good Friday, one of my favorite days of the year, and that you have a lovely Easter!

God bless and happy Easter!

One Lost Chord Divine

I am back! And with a painting. This one is a commission for a lovely friend who has managed to get two pieces out of me, which is quite an accomplishment actually. I jest of course. A little bit.

Anyway, enough nonsense, here it is. She hasn't actually seen it or okayed it yet, but I wanted you to see what I am working on none the less:

This is a mix of ink and watercolor. Mostly watercolor.

It is based off this poem:

A Lost Chord

Seated one day at the Organ,

I was weary and ill at ease,

And my fingers wandered idly

Over the noisy keys.

I do not know what I was playing,

Or what I was dreaming then ;

But I struck one chord of music,

Like the sound of a great Amen.

It flooded the crimson twilight,

Like the close of an Angel's Psalm,

And it lay on my fevered spirit

With a touch of infinite calm.

It quieted pain and sorrow,

Like love overcoming strife ;

It seemed the harmonious echo

From our discordant life.

It linked all perplexéd meanings

Into one perfect peace,

And trembled away into silence

As if it were loth to cease.

I have sought, but I seek it vainly,

That one lost chord divine,

Which came from the soul of the Organ,

And entered into mine.

It may be that Death's bright angel

Will speak in that chord again,

It may be that only in Heaven

I shall hear that grand Amen. 

-Adelaide A. Procter

Alice and Snowflakes

       Well, I did it. I gutted out a drawing late last night. Heh, you guys are so good. Yesterday, starting in the morning and lasting all day, different people, both friends and complete strangers, encouraged me in one way or another to keep drawing, just do it, etc. That did more than you know. Even the tiniest bit of encouragement can go a long long way, which I need to learn from myself.
        These are two more pages, done once again with my trusty Bic Atlantis pen, for my Arthouse Sketchbook Project book, which is due in less than a month, and I am no where NEAR finished. Grrr. Need to gut out some more drawings!

“Do you hear the snow against the window-panes, Kitty? How nice and soft it sounds! Just as if some one was kissing the window all over outside. I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” And when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves all in green, and dance about — whenever the wind blows — oh, that’s very pretty!” cried Alice, dropping the ball of worsted to clap her hands. “And I do so wish it was true! I’m sure the woods look sleepy in the autumn, when the leaves are getting brown.” -Lewis Carol, Through the Looking Glass


      Tomorrow I get the results back from some tests, and find out if I need surgery, or if they even found anything wrong, etc. So, again, prayers would be awesome. I am actually more afraid that they didn't find anything than if I need surgery. I have been through this before, and I hope they actually find something wrong this time. Can't fix the problem until you know what it is you know. 


One of the lovely people who helped me yesterday sent me this:

       Thank you, lovely little person you. 

Just so You Know...

        I am alive. But not so well. Thus so much.... inactivity. I have my own health difficulties, someone else in the family is sick, I am still wrestling with school issues, etc- so, not much priority has been given to blogging, unfortunately. Or drawing, which I hate like I hate very few things. I am actually having difficulty with my hands, which is NOT ideal for an artist. So, if you could say a little prayer for that, that would be amazing. So far it's mostly my left hand, which is good for a right-hander like me, but if the right hand gets bad, well, I suppose I'll deal with that if and when it comes.
      I hope you are having a good Lent. I think I have. I never really know for sure, for better or worse.

God bless! 

'When it is all over you will not regret having suffered; rather you will regret having suffered so little, and suffered that little so badly.'
-St. Sebastian Valfre

‎"The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man." -Fyodor Dostoevsky

Men say the sun was darkened: yet I had
Thought it beat brightly, even on—Calvary:
And He that hung upon the Torturing Tree
Heard all the crickets singing, and was glad.
          -GK Chesterton

“From one thing, know ten thousand things” -Miyamoto Musashi

“Under the sword lifted high, There is hell making you tremble. But go ahead, And you have the land of bliss.” -Miyamoto Musashi

Now, just why am I quoting an ancient martial arts master? Because the next article I have to illustrate for Ink and Fairydust Magazine is about weapons. And, well, because any excuse to quote Miyamoto Musashi is good enough for me. 

I fancy I am the middle one...

“Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.” -Miyamoto Musashi (just because it sounded cool?)

More such quotes by him:

“The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win” 

“When you decide to attack, keep calm and dash in quickly, forestalling the enemy...attack with a feeling of constantly crushing the enemy, from first to last.” 

“Perception is strong and sight weak."

“To become the enemy, see yourself as the enemy of the enemy” 

I had fun with this drawing. 

Dianthe Illustration

Here is another illustration for Ink and Fairydust Magazine. Well, I haven't actually heard if they will use this drawing particularly, but I thought I'd show you what I have been working on allllllll day. This is the second version- the first had an ink splatter on her nose.

This was a mix of ink, watercolor, and touch-up with Corel Painter X.

This coming issue is on mythology. This drawing was for a retelling. Shew. Now I have to do an illustration about weapons! Hopefully I won't splatter ink on this one, and take all day doing it.

Dear Beatrice,

“I will love you with no regard to the actions of our enemies or the jealousies of actors. I will love you with no regard to the outrage of certain parents or the boredom of certain friends. I will love you no matter what is served in the world’s cafeterias or what game is played at each and every recess. I will love you no matter how many fire drills we are all forced to endure, and no matter what is drawn upon the blackboard in a blurring, boring chalk. I will love you no matter how many mistakes I make when trying to reduce fractions, and no matter how difficult it is to memorize the periodic table. I will love you no matter what your locker combination was, or how you decided to spend your time during study hall. I will love you no matter how your soccer team performed in the tournament or how many stains I received on my cheerleading uniform. I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every Tuesday. I will love you if you cut your hair and I will love you if you cut the hair of others. I will love you if you abandon your baticeering, and I will love you if you retire from the theater to take up some other, less dangerous occupation. I will love you if you drop your raincoat on the floor instead of hanging it up and I will love you if you betray your father. I will love you even if you announce that the poetry of Edgar Guest is the best in the world and even if you announce that the work of Zilpha Keatley Snyder is unbearably tedious. I will love you if you abandon the Theremin and take up the harmonica and I will love you if you donate your marmosets to the zoo and your tree frogs to M. I will love you as the starfish loves a coral reef and as kudzu loves trees, even if the oceans turn to sawdust and the trees fall in the forest without anyone around to hear them. I will love you as the pesto loves the fettuccini and as the horseradish loves the miyagi, as the tempura loves the ikura and the pepperoni loves the pizza. I will love you as the manatee loves the head of lettuce and as the dark spot loves the leopard, as the leech loves the ankle of a wader and as a corpse loves the beak of the vulture. I will love you as the doctor loves his sickest patient and a lake loves its thirstiest swimmer. I will love you as the beard loves the chin, and the crumbs love the beard, and the damp napkin loves the crumbs, and the precious document loves the dampness in the napkin, and the squinting eye of the reader loves the smudged print of the document, and the tears of sadness love the squinting eye as it misreads what is written. I will love you as the iceberg loves the ship, and the passengers love the lifeboat, and the lifeboat loves the teeth of the sperm whale, and the sperm whale loves the flavor of naval uniforms. I will love you as a child loves to overhear the conversations of its parents, and the parents love the sound of their own arguing voices, and as the pen loves to write down the words these voices utter in a notebook for safekeeping. I will love you as a shingle loves falling off a house on a windy day and striking a grumpy person across the chin, and as an oven loves malfunctioning in the middle of roasting a turkey. I will love you as an airplane loves to fall from a clear blue sky and as an escalator loves to entangle expensive scarves in its mechanisms. I will love you as a wet paper towel loves to be crumpled into a ball and thrown at a bathroom ceiling and an eraser loves to leave dust in the hairdos of the people who talk too much. I will love you as a cufflink loves to drop from its shirt and explore the party for itself and as a pair of white gloves loves to slip delicately into the punchbowl. I will love you as a taxi loves the muddy splash of a puddle and as a library loves the patient tick of a clock. I will love you as a thief loves a gallery and as a crow loves a murder, as a cloud loves bats and as a range loves braes. I will love you as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence and as justice loves to sit and watch while everything goes wrong. I will love you as a battlefield loves young men and as peppermints love your allergies, and I will love you as the banana peel loves the shoe of a man who was just struck by a shingle falling off a house. I will love you as a volunteer fire department loves rushing into burning buildings and as burning buildings love to chase them back out, and as a parachute loves to leave a blimp and as a blimp operator loves to chase after it. I will love you as a dagger loves a certain person’s back, and as a certain person loves to wear daggerproof tunics, and as a daggerproof tunic loves to go to a certain dry cleaning facility, and how a certain employee of a dry cleaning facility loves to stay up late with a pair of binoculars, watching a dagger factory for hours in the hopes of catching a burglar, and as a burglar loves sneaking up behind people with binoculars, suddenly realizing that she has left her dagger at home. I will love you as a drawer loves a secret compartment, and as a secret compartment loves a secret, and as a secret loves to make a person gasp, and as a gasping person loves a glass of brandy to calm their nerves, and as a glass of brandy loves to shatter on the floor, and as the noise of glass shattering loves to make someone else gasp, and as someone else gasping loves a nearby desk to lean against, even if leaning against it presses a lever that loves to open a drawer and reveal a secret compartment. I will love you until all such compartments are discovered and opened, and until all the secrets have gone gasping into the world. I will love you until all the codes and hearts have been broken and until every anagram and egg has been unscrambled. I will love you until every fire is extinguished and until every home is rebuilt from the handsomest and most susceptible of woods, and until every criminal is handcuffed by the laziest of policemen. I will love you until M. hates snakes and J. hates grammar, and I will love you until C. realizes S. is not worthy of his love and N. realizes he is not worthy of the V. I will love you until the bird hates a nest and the worm hates an apple, and until the apple hates a tree and the tree hates a nest, and until a bird hates a tree and an apple hates a nest, although honestly I cannot imagine that last occurrence no matter how hard I try. I will love you as we grow older, which has just happened, and has happened again, and happened several days ago, continuously, and then several years before that, and will continue to happen as the spinning hands of every clock and the flipping pages of every calendar mark the passage of time, except for the clocks that people have forgotten to wind and the calendars that people have forgotten to place in a highly visible area. I will love you as we find ourselves farther and farther from one another, where once we were so close that we could slip the curved straw, and the long, slender spoon, between our lips and fingers respectively. I will love you until the chances of us running into one another slip from skim to zero, and until your face is fogged by distant memory, and your memory faced by distant fog, and your fog memorized by a distant face, and your distance distanced by the memorized memory of a foggy fog. I will love you no matter where you go and who you see, no matter where you avoid and who you don’t see, and no matter who sees you avoiding where you go. I will love you no matter what happens to you, and no matter how I discover what happens to you, and no matter what happens to me as I discover this, and no matter how I am discovered after what happens to me happens to me as I am discovering this. I will love you if you don’t marry me. I will love you if you marry someone else – your co-star, perhaps, or Y., or even O., or anyone Z. through A., even R. although sadly I believe it will be quite some time before two women can be allowed to marry – and I will love you if you have a child, and I will love you if you have two children, or three children, or even more, although I personally think three is plenty, and I will love you if you never marry at all, and never have children, and spend your years wishing you had married me after all, and I must say that on late, cold nights I prefer this scenario out of all the scenarios I have mentioned. That, Beatrice, is how I will love you even as the world goes on its wicked way.”

                        —Lemony Snicket

And that was the BEST thing ever.

Happy 200th Charles Dickens!

Today is Mr. Dickens 200th birthday! I do so love him! If only I had been aware of this coming.... I could have drawn a bit of something for him. As it is, I only found out about it through Facebook, as I do so many things these days.

Young Charles Dickens

I absolutely love him! I haven't actually finished THAT many of his rather long novels. But none the less, I find his writing to be almost soothing. He creates such characters! Such touching situations.

Who better to discuss Charles Dickens than Chesterton? I happen to have the book Chesterton wrote about Dickens (it was being discarded at the local library. What!? Oh well. At least I have it now), however, I regret to say I have not read it yet. But, I will fix that soon.

‎"The full value of this life can only be got by fighting; the violent take it by storm. And if we have accepted everything we have missed something -- war. This life of ours is a very enjoyable fight, but a very miserable truce." ~GKC: 'Charles Dickens'

I also recommend this link. I am especially fond of that last longer quote in the article, 

it is one of my favorite quotes of all time. 

Here are some quotes by Mr. Dickens himself:

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.” 

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.” 

“Never close your lips to those whom you have already opened your heart.” 

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” 

“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.”

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.”

“Every traveler has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering.” 

“Family not only need to consist of merely those whom we share blood, but also for those whom we'd give blood.”

..... I could go on. And on. And on. But, maybe instead of that, you should just read him. 

Lord of the Rings Legos

Does anything else need to be said? Maybe, "bout time!" or, "where were you when I was little enough to justify buying these?" Such is life.

Ink & Fairydust: Fairy Tales!

Hello! I am proud to announce and display Ink & Fairydust Magazine (click on the link!). This issue is special to me for 2 reasons: 1) it's about fairy tales and fantasy, which are always the best topics, and 2) because, ahem, well, I illustrated the cover and one of the little fairy drawings inside. This is my first time illustrating something published, so, I am rather excited about it. I am so glad to be a part of such a fun project with such lovely people.

And, of course, we need a quote about the topic. Here is one by Mr. Lewis that I found recently:

“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” -C.S. Lewis

A Beautiful Musical Blog

written by my lovely friend, and very talented musician. I love her dearly, and I wish the world could know what she is doing for it by simply existing. She is a musician, and on her blog, she discusses music of all shapes and sizes. You can get some good ideas and thoughts on music, individual musicians, and simply beauty and art in general.

I love you Mimi.

Image by Eredel/DeviantArt

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent” -Victor Hugo


“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens.” -Maria von Trapp


“Ah, music! A magic far beyond all we do here!” -Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Arthouse Sketchbook Project

       As I mentioned before, a loooong time ago when I did regular posts (who am I kidding- I've always been ify on that particular subject) I told you about the Arthouse Sketchbook Project that I started. Below are a few excerpts from what I have done so far:

          When signing up for a sketchbook, you have to chose a topic. Their list of rather vague topics leave lots of wiggle room. I chose, "the secret and how to tell it," for mine, and the title is Childish Things. Yeah, that's going to allow me to draw pretty much whatever I want. Just what the secret is, I don't really know yet, and it so far it hasn't really mattered. I figure it has something to do with imagination, common sense,  childhood, etc. Just think, of course, what Chesterton would say on the matter. 

       I am also TRYING to start painting digitally with my new bamboo tablet and Painter X. It's rather very very difficult, but, I am doing my best to teach myself. 

     Now some quotes on the before mentioned theme:

“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” -C.S. Lewis

“Grown up, and that is a terribly hard thing to do. It is much easier to skip it and go from one childhood to another.”-F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Well, one can't get over the habit of being a little girl all at once.”

-L.M. Montgomery

Miyazaki is at it Again!

      I am sure some of you are familiar with The Borrowers by Mary Norton? Well, Miyazaki is doing a spin off of the books with The Secret Life of Arrietty.

I am so so so so SO excited! I have never actually read the books... I have always wanted to, and I have watched a movie or tv version with Ian Holm when I was little. Anyway, the point is, I think this is rather perfect! You've got a lovely little British-like book series about little people who live in houses and collect, or "borrow," things from the "human beans," such as scissors for weapons, and a japanese movie maker who excels at lovely and gentle details. 

      Now, there may be some kind of new age spin to it all about protecting the environment that's not in the books, but still, I will take what I can get. And most likely, I will be taking my little sis to see this. I will probably enjoy it more than her, but it may be a good opportunity for some sister bonding time.

Below is the official trailer, which I haven't watched yet, but I imagine it is decent. 

If you are not tempted yet, here are some lovely adorable movie stills:

And NO WAY! It's Miyazaki's birthday today! (or, for ten more minutes at least- it will be midnight soon) Happy Birthday Miyazaki!