Sunday, August 14, 2011

Back Online at Long Last!

Well, after lightening bolts caused a power outage that killed my websites last Sunday, I am happy to report that today - an entire week later - I am finally back online again! Hurrah!



(...yes, I know - but I just had to break out the vintage dancing bananas for this one...)

Now it's time to finally finish various website updates I started working on back in June, begin showing this Doodle Diary some love again at last - and maybe even finally manage to influence the movements of the Universe enough so that my MildredLovesYou.com domain is finally (FINALLY!!!) back in working order as well. Wish me luck!

Cheers, LaLaVox

LaLaVoxBox.com
The "Mildred Loves You" Blog

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Lightening Bolts Killed My Websites!

My LaLaVoxBox and MildredLovesYou websites are hosted on a server system run by Amazon in Ireland. There was a major power outage on Sunday apparently caused by lightening. Since I am not well versed in server-speak I don't know exactly what's going on at this point, but what I do know is that my website has been offline since Sunday!

http://status.aws.amazon.com/

I don't suppose it matters too much, since I don't run high-powered, financially important sites - and also since I've sort of been on a mental vacation away from my websites and Doodle Diary since our big MildredLovesYou anniversary/birthday bash back in mid-June - but I still find it quite distressing!

I'll post again once service has returned.

Cheers, LaLaVox

The "Mildred Loves You" Blog

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Cat Portraits and Mutants from the Archives

I know that I will absolutely not have time for new Doodles today (my Doodle well seems a tad dry at the moment anyway). But here's something I've had lying around as a draft for a while, wondering if I should actually post it or not. Since there will be no new (or old) Doodles today I've decided to go ahead and post it after all:

Alright... This has nothing to do with Doodles or doodling, but since my Mildred Loves You blog seems even less like the right place for this post, I will deposit it here...

Once upon a time one of my cousins asked me to draw a portrait of a cat of hers who was getting on in years. I did several from photos she sent, but wasn't happy with any of them really.

They are hanging on my cousin's walls though, and looking at the photocopies I made of them back in the day (while sorting through boxes recently), I've decided they're not really all that awful after all.

The following are scans of these photocopies...













And here is a series of mutant animal "mash-ups" from even further back in my foggy past. It was so long ago in the meantime that I'll spare you the details. Don't ask, just look at the pictures... ;)













The drawing materials used for these animal "mashups", by the way, were a Rapidiograph technical pen (the 0.18 nib - if I'm remembering correctly), a no.2 pencil, layout markers, and white bleedproof gouache (for some of the the highlights).

Cheers,
LaLaVox
www.lalavoxbox.com
www.mildredlovesyou.com
mildredlovesyou.blogspot.com/
The "MildredLovesYou.com-Turns-Three" Party on June 15th
The LaLaVoxBox.com Doodle Gallery
(unlikely to be updated anytime soon, but thanks to this
blog, now continually acquiring new future members ;))

Monday, May 30, 2011

Doodling Again: Day 50 (Rejects!)

...My Pentel GFKP Refillable Pocket Kanji Fude Brush Pen, by the way, is apparently not frayed after all, but was only slightly clumped after being somewhat dried out (I guess). The line has become nice and smooth again.

But I still can't draw worth crap this evening - in spite of what should be inspiring brush-stroke smoothness.

I think I have mentioned before that my Doodles are done with no pre-planning and no models, so it's not often that the first Doodle that escapes from my pen or pencil also makes it onto this blog.

But I'm exhausted at the moment, so tonight you get these 2 rejects instead of new People-Doodles...

New rejects:



...Um... Hm. As I was posting these Achim came in and asked me why the left one is a reject. Well, alright then; the left one is a new People-Doodle and the right one is a reject. How 'bout that? :P ;)

And here's the old Creature-Doodle to finish off the day:



Cheers,
LaLaVox
www.lalavoxbox.com
www.mildredlovesyou.com
mildredlovesyou.blogspot.com/
The "MildredLovesYou.com-Turns-Three" Party on June 15th
The LaLaVoxBox.com Doodle Gallery
(unlikely to be updated anytime soon, but thanks to this
blog, now continually acquiring new future members ;))

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Doodling Again: Day 48

I'm staying with my (now slightly frayed) Pentel GFKP Refillable Pocket Kanji Fude Brush Pen for today's new People-Doodle too...

A new People-Doodle:



An old Creature-Doodle:



And there's been an update over at my "Mildred Loves You" blog today as well. We will be throwing a party on June 15th to celebrate MildredLovesYou.com turning 3 on June 16th. Please click this so-tiny-it's-practically-unreadable flyer to see more:



Cheers,
LaLaVox
www.lalavoxbox.com
www.mildredlovesyou.com
mildredlovesyou.blogspot.com/
The LaLaVoxBox.com Doodle Gallery
(unlikely to be updated anytime soon, but thanks to this
blog, now continually acquiring new future members ;))

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Doodling Again: Day 46 (with a vintage pencil)

Two new People-Doodles:



This first new People-Doodle was drawn with an honest-to-goodness vintage pencil; an Eagle Turquiose 4B (U.S.A. Quality Control No. 82056). According to the website I found while Googling for it, it must have been produced sometime during the 1970s: if you scroll down a bit you can find it at this page of the Leadholder Drafting Pencil Museum.

And here's my rather dreadful scan of the actual pencil in question:



I have no idea why I have this pencil. I'm assuming it once belonged to my dad, and that he never used it because he's an H-pencil kinda guy; not the sort of fellow who would use a B-pencil at all. This would mean that this pencil has been with me for years and years and years, traveling with me from Mississippi, USA to Berlin, Germany in various boxes or other, to eventually land in a drawer next to my desk lying in wait to be used by me at long last. I can't recall ever having used it before. Ever.

But enough of that! Let's move on to today's 2nd new Doodle of the Day...

For this 2nd new People-Doodle I simply used my tried-and-true uni-ball eye (fine) pen once again... ;)



And now the old Creature-Doodle of the Day (one of my favorites)...




Cheers,
LaLaVox
www.lalavoxbox.com
www.mildredlovesyou.com
mildredlovesyou.blogspot.com/
The LaLaVoxBox.com Doodle Gallery
(unlikely to be updated anytime soon, but thanks to this
blog, now continually acquiring new future members ;))