Nene Tina Thomas

Poor Kitty Cat

2013-05-14T12:43:01Z

My cat Little Dude is at the vet getting two rotten teeth extracted, and hopefully getting his kitty IBS cleared up as well. Poooooor Little Dude, it's been a rough past couple of weeks.

Birthday Present

2013-05-09T00:06:36Z

I gave my sister her birthday present today, only 3 weeks late..... She loved it, really, really loved it though, so I don't feel quite as awful for being soooooooo late :(

Edited to add: And I have a new nephew--YAAAAAAAAY!!

Something I am looking forward to, and something I am not......

2013-05-07T23:21:02Z

Good thing first: I am really, really, REALLY looking forward to the new Star Trek movie. Trailer goodness here: You can watch it about a billion times like I have!

Then, the bad. I have to get a cavity filled this week :(

And because misery loves company, now that my cat Little Dude's ,cat IBS seems to have cleared up, we need to take him in to have 2 rotten teeth extracted. Poor Little Dude. So both of us can dread the Dentist!

New Paintings Duet, Discord and Harmony--image heavy post!

2013-05-04T20:30:21Z

First off the three paintings together:

These 3 prints are available here:

And for some closeups:

Snow and a hoof.

Long tail and trees.

Prince Valeriad's hand and the horse's head and silky mane.

And lastly the faces of the handsome Prince Valeriad of Dakkadia and the beautiful Queen Lyrahe of Illymar.
Duet is of course one of the new paintings for Marionette: Book 3 of the Zarryiostrom. Slowly but surely I am working my way through the stack of paintings to be done!

Just finished a new painting!

2013-05-01T02:43:07Z

I'll be releasing Duet and its two companion pieces this week, but in the meantime since I JUST finished, I think I'll go to bed now. I've a terrific headache, and I kind of want to sleep for the next 12 hours or so! I'll post up some previews of the new paintings when my head isn't pounding so....

Cold

2013-04-24T13:14:15Z

So I look up at my monitor and the temperature reads 31 degrees!!! I think all this snow I am painting is jinxing the weather. Either that, or we have somehow skipped summer and have just gone on to autumn. o__0

I had to make a Vet appointment for one of our cats today. Nothing serious, thanks goodness.

Gray Day

2013-04-23T20:15:07Z

It's a gray day here in central Oklahoma. We had rain, lots of rain, and even some hail last night. I was going to go photograph spring flowers today, but I'm sure they have been flattened into the ground, so I think I"ll wait a few days. Besides that, I don't want to use my sister's Nikon. I don't like it. Actually, I hate, loathe and despise it--would be more accurate! I'm hoping that maybe my Digital Rebel will magically heal itself in the meantime.... I still don't even know if the body works. I have another lens I could try out--a 200mm lens I think. It's basically for photographing celebrities in the next state over or something like that. I hardly even use it 'cause it weighs, oh, about 10 lbs or something crazy. But I need to see if anything can be salvaged from my Digital Rebel.

So I'm closing in on the end of a couple of pieces--companions to my unreleased Zarryiostrom piece Duet which I have previewed on my FB page, and my life is only eat, sleep, paint..repeat, repeat, repeat. I'm painting a particular animal in one of the pieces, and I have been painting nothing but fur for the last two days.. I had an idea to do a painting with a 'group' of these creatures, and now I know that it will take me 2 soild days (about 10-12 hours each day) to paint just one. Maybe it's not such a good idea then!

Steven made Chicken Curry last night and went out and bought me some carrot cake from the wonderful bakery La Bauguettes. Steven is such a good cook. He's been making dinner on the weekends when our friends come over to game. I don't game though--haven't since High-school. I've noticed since Steven has started cooking everyone is darned punctual about coming over...

I finished watching Season 7 of PR, and am now just starting Season 8. Gosh, I love that show, and I'm actually happy how my piece is going even if I am unutterably weary of painting fur!

Quinton Hoover

2013-04-20T22:19:11Z

I just found out that the amazing artist Quinton Hoover has passed away. This is terribly, terribly sad. I remember his art from the original Magic the Gathering. His gorgeous paintings were always my favorites--such a perfect balance between exquisite line work and bright jewel-toned colors. I only had the opportunity to speak to him once, but he was really friendly, I'm sorry I didn't get to know him better.

If you aren't familiar with his work, please do check it out, you'll be glad you did.

Journal Organizing and ...stuff

2013-04-20T11:25:26Z

I went and 'friended' people who had added me as friends. Sorry it took so long, I hardly ever check it.

And more randomness, since with me, there is always randomness on my LJ....

Actually, I'm posting soooo much and about such pointless stuff, that I"m sure I'll have even more people remove me from their friends list. Sorry about that. I like to...not rant, exactly, but put my wandering thoughts down as it helps me focus before another long day, in a (it seems) never ending succession of long days of pushing pixels. And the thing is, when I go to sleep, I can hardly wait to wake up so I can paint some more, I love it so!

So back to what I was going to write about--Honestly, I am glad we adopted all these outdoor cats. Almost anything is better than looking out the window early in the morning and seeing a still, small, shape on the road, and with a sinking feeling of dread, knowing instantly what it is...
However, when I have had dreadful, horrible, awful sleep, because Domino keeps jumping up on the bed and putting his paws on my face with claws oh, so delicately extended to wake me so I'll pet him, and then nips me when I stop petting him--because, y'know, I'm tiiiiiiiiired, yeah, I sort of hate all cats. But then Domino rests his face on my cheek purring so loudly, and I don't hate him quite so much.
But I'm still exhausted!

So back to painting snow, snow and more snow. And snowy branches. Maybe I'll even get to the owl today? Actually, I'll probably be painting for a good long while since I discovered that Hulu has the last 5 seasons of Project Runway. Of course I watched them all as they broadcast since PR is my favorite show ever, but it's nice to watch them again!

Storm

2013-04-18T20:03:19Z

We had a terrific hail storm yesterday. but luckily for us, a cold front held over OKC proper, though I heard Norman, OK got hammered by hail. I was napping during the storm (or trying to, since the thunder kept waking me up). I usually love storms, I love the feel of the wind, and seeing the heavy, heavy rains, and the flashes of lightening that illuminate the entire sky with jagged streaks of light flashing from one side to the other. In the daytime, I like looking at the roiling masses of clouds that tower up thousands of feet. In theory, I should like seeing tornadoes, because they are beautiful, but the one time I actually saw a real tornado, it was many years ago when we lived in Minot ND, and they (there were 3 of them, faint grey, swirling smudges in the sky) absolutely terrified me!

But the storm is passed, though the cold front remains, and poor Gozer was curled up on her little kitty heating pad, probably wondering if Spring, much less Summer will ever get here. And speaking of cold, I am painting snow. Snow, snow and more snow, on two little companion pieces to go with my unreleased painting Duet, which I previewed parts of on my FB page.

So while I am pushing pixels, I am currently watching "History of Britain" hosted by Simon Schama on youtube, and it is excellent. I recently finished his "Power of Art" series also on youtube, and though I did not agree with the choice of artists he covered (Rothko--not my favorite!), I thought the series itself was phenomenal and I highly recommend it!

So back to painting snow--snow, snow and MORE snow!

Rotten Cats

2013-04-17T07:07:34Z

I was downstairs eating leftover Gyros for dinner when I heard a terrific thump from upstairs in my studio. I didn't think anything of it until I went upstairs and found that the cats had knocked over my tripod with my camera still attached. I picked up the camera and heard the unmistakable rattle of broken glass. Well, greeeeeeeeaaaat..... guess I'll be buying a new lens.

I attached some more hair wefts to a wig cap for my Deirdre-doll, and I still have glue stuck to my fingers, which is annoying and causes me to keep picking at the skin on my fingers. Actually the glue could be long gone, and it's just psycho-somatic. Er, yeah, I really hate 'glue fingers'. I'm trying to make a wig for her, and hopefully this wig will turn out better than the last which was so awful it was never finished and got thrown away. but I want to finish a wig for the dolly since I did a faceup (my first ever) and I wanted to photograph it with my wig. Guess I'll have to borrow my sister's camera.

Cassira is sitting by my computer looking for love (or more probably krispy kitty treats), but I *hate* all cats now, except for Domino and Pumpernickel which were on different floors when my camera was killed :(

Well, should probably get to work, but my Aveliad painting which I thought was going to be such a joy and a delight to do has very rapidly turned very difficult. What do I expect, the Dhaerhans are always difficult!

So I wonder what lens I'll be buying for my camera. I was using the default lens for the Canon Digital Rebel which has stood me in great stead for many years, but perhaps I should upgrade to a new camera. I'd hate to buy a really nice lens and then have the camera body die on me or something, and then I'd have a lens and no camera..... the evil cycle could continue indefinitely......

Another Earthquake

2013-04-16T19:54:34Z

We had another earthquake this morning, and I was (sadly) awake for it, and it was also large enough to be felt, around 4.2, still small enough to do no damage really. Apparently we had 5 little earthquakes yesterday, but most of them so small, they are hardly noticeable.

This one was noticeable. It was at 5:16 AM and I was happily pushing pixels, when all of a sudden, there was a lurch, and then the shaking began. I could hear things rattling and pipes banging, and I ran to stand in a doorway, but it was over as suddenly as it had began. My heart, however, was absolutely pounding, and I was shaking so hard, I could barely stand. As I said, I really, really hate earthquakes. My cats didn't freak out like they usually do, but after the earthquake was over, my Cassira stared up at me with her big, round eyes, even rounder and wider than ever.

So, I'm working on a new painting of my character Queen Aveliad, and since it is in the early stages, it's going smoothly. Three weeks from now, I'll probably be tearing my hair out, and banging my head against the Cintique because it frustrates me so, but for now, all is well. Aveliad is one of my very favorite characters to paint, and is probably the most distinctive of all the characters I have created. With her long ebony hair, white porcelain mask, black and white wings, and white and black dresses, she is instantly identifiable. I think after I finish my Deirdre doll, (if I ever finish my Deirdre doll!) I will try and do one of Aveliad.

So what happened to the painting of Aveliad's husband, King Madari. Well, it's still sitting on my hardrive, just waiting, waiting, waiting for me to get back to him. I'm almost done, but I ran out of inspiration.....and I'm avoiding it.

So, I'm painting snowy trees,around Aveliad which is restful and rather calming, while I gather my courage for the hard parts, and the parts that need to actually be designed. And I need restful and calm, since I only got 4 hours sleep and didn't want to lie in bed hoping for more sleep to come. I can sleep over my Cintique--haha!

Cats, art, earthquakes.....

2013-04-16T08:36:19Z

We had an earthquake here in OKC while I was sleeping (thank goodness) Earthquakes terrify me!

On the bright side, I took two pieces, Duet and Queen of Silk from 'first done' to final done yesterday--yay! So if I'm adding in the Madari piece as pretty much done (well, it is really close) that means I am half-way done with the pieces for Book 3 of the Zarryiostrom: Marionette.
I also started a new painting of Aveliad yesterday as well, that will be the cover for my next art book, as well as going in Book 3.

edited to add: Well, yeah, apparently I can't count. So with the new Madari piece it will only be 9 paintings done so far for the book. sigh...... So I'm not half done. This is so frustrating. Book 3 is AWESOME--by FAR the best in the series, and the hold up is silly me with the silly art. Steven's already into chapter 3 of Book 4. Gah, I wish I painted faster!

And lastly, I leave here a photo of several of my cats milling around before feeding time. It was taken a while ago, because my beloved Ambar is still alive in the photo (sad).
From left to right, the cats are: Greylordling, Little Dude, Baby Blackfel, Ambar, and Cassira-boodles.

Now, I'm armed with a nice hot cup of lemon zinger herb tea, so I'd better get to work....

Freezing

2013-04-11T11:02:14Z

OK, it's freezing, I mean literally freezing--31 degrees cold. This is some seriously crazy weather! I have my little heating pad on, and my computer and cintique put off a lot of heat, but I am really cold. I need one of my 8 cats to come crawl up in my lap and give off some heat.
But cats, contrary little beasts, never do what you want them to!

And Pumpernickel is off whining about something...... I hear some hissing so I guess he is tormenting Blackfel or Cassira....

Well, back to work. I painted on scale-mail all day, now it's time to define Madari's shoulder armor, and the horse's barding, well, it's just a grey smear at this point. My goal of getting this to first done before the weekend is looking less and less likely :(

Brrrrrrrr

2013-04-10T05:13:37Z

It's 37 degrees here. I had to turn on the heat again, after having the air-conditioner on yesterday. I also read that Denver is expecting up to 20 inches of snow???? That's crazy! So it's time to work--I'm just plugging away on the painting for the back cover of Marionette. I am hoping (and hopefully, I won't jinx it!) to get it to first done this week.
I hope...
So back to work and shivering!

Little Annoyances (and no, I'm not talking about my cats)

2013-04-03T05:39:57Z

I seem to have trouble getting started painting tonight, even though I've been working all evening. I am going to be releasing a new piece later today, and I realized that somehow it was the wrong size--it was 4656 x 7000 and our frames and plexi (most of them anyway) are sized for 4310 x 7000. AND this the cover for Book 3 of the Zarryiostrom: Marionette, so for layout purposes, it HAS to be 4310 x 7000. Of course, since I caught the error for the front cover, then I was able to fix the back cover, which since I have only just started, was much easier to correct.

So, it took a lot of toggling. I mean a LOT. things had to be moved, stretched, erased, and re-painted, and after I sent it down to Steven I saw an error, so I had to delete it and re-send it. And then I formatted it for the 8 x 10 version, because I'm doing 8 x 10 open edition of all my pieces now. I've been begged for years now for smaller sizes of my pieces that don't take up so much wall space. Or any wall space, since you can just stick the smaller ones in a notebook if you want. And the little prints are easier on the wallet--something I think everyone can appreciate nowadays!

However, my super limited editions like Promises, Last Queen and Lyrahe will not be available as 8 x 10s.

But, I have another piece I got to 'first done' so enjoy some sneak peeks in the meantime. This is of the Dragon Witch Sekkerastoya, Queen of Silk. I showed two of these on my FB page already, but here, for my LJ friends, have an extra glimpse. I have also flopped the piece since I posted the previews on FB last week, since I decided she looked much better facing the other way. Just one of the fun things about digital.

Gosh, I had fun painting that kimono--I never wanted it to end! So I've been painting a lot of Dragon Witches lately--two this year so far, and I've got several more to go, though I won't paint them all this year, of course. Steven introduced 7 new Dragon Witches in Book 3, and I still haven't gotten around to finishing a painting of Cassiramaithres, even though I have been working on a painting of her for nearly 5 years now. I keep changing my mind and deleting it and starting over. However, I now *think* I have the perfect idea to do her justice, I think....

Lobster Thermidor

2013-04-02T08:19:25Z

I wrote last year at Dragon con, I finally had Lobster Thermidor for the first time.

I was dying to try it, believe it or not, from playing The Sims 2 and watching my little simmies eat this (according to their actions) incredibly delicious food. My simmies would happily eat Lobster Thermidor every day of the week with no complaints.

So here is Loster Thermidor in real life:

It was good--really good, but for that price, I would rather have my beloved Alaskan King crab legs. But anyway, that was a longing fulfilled.

It's cold here this morning in Oklahoma with a chilly drizzle falling, and I am craving some hot food, maybe even Lobster Thermidor again.
Well, back to painting--this time on King Madari, for the back cover of Book 3. I was going to upload some closeups from my latest finished piece, but LJ doesn't want me to upload anything tonight apparently. :(

Maybe tomorrow....

Still Winter

2013-03-26T10:13:16Z

It is 24 degrees outside--BRRRRRRRRR. I guess spring is not quite here yet--this is some crazy weather!

ER

2013-03-23T23:00:31Z

Had to go to the emergency room last night. I managed to slice open my finger while carving some resin. After a 6 and a half hour wait (!) the doctor, who was very, very nice, treated it by sealing it with 5 tiny strips of extremely strong adhesive and some glue, and some antibacterial ointment. Soooo glad I didn't have to have stitches and a tetanus shot!

The ER was packed! And some people waited much longer than I, so I can't complain that much. The reason we went to the Er is that the deep cut would not stop bleeding although after 6.5 hours it was well on it's way to sealing up until the doctor examined it and the cut just started to bleed again. I'm glad I went still, but I wish I had taken some embroidery to work on. I finished my book after only the 4th hour, and then my iPod ran out of power, but luckily I didn't have much of a wait after that!

New Art Print

2013-03-19T05:44:14Z

We are releasing two new prints this month, “Garden in Gold” and “Bouquet in Blue”. Both still-life paintings feature shy kitties hiding behind beautiful floral arrangements, caught in the act of stalking unsuspecting prey.

These prints are available in two versions.

The larger size is a signed, numbered limited edition of 25, and is only available framed for $195.00. The image size is 16” X 22”, framed to 22” X 28”.

The smaller open edition image is 8” x 10”, and costs $15.00 unmatted and unframed.

Here are the links to these images: http://nenethomas.com/

The cat in Bouquet in blue is my Cassira, and in Garden and Gold, it's Butterscotch Pudding.

Pizza and Pop

2013-03-13T22:24:03Z

Pepperoni pizza and soda pop--breakfast of champions! Well, not really, but it at least has got me going for the day. I am really, really inspired today and have just jumped into pushing little pixels on my latest painting!

I miss The Sims 2

2013-03-13T03:35:04Z

Sims 3 just never really captured me the way that Sims 2 did. Which is probably why I have been so productive over the past few years! Anyway, I found this random screen capture from Sims 2 that I wanted to share.

I give you a random ghost--I think from my Tarasova house, but I'm not sure, and I don't have any idea which sim this was. But I love the way the ghost turned to look at the camera as she was floating by....

Old photo of Snowmane

2013-03-07T12:38:41Z

Steven found this old photo of his cat Snowmane on his phone, and I wanted to show it because it has such a nice atmosphere to it.

So this is our cat Snowmane, sitting in front of the back door with the evening sun casting long shadows on the beige tile. Photo taken last summer.

Pumpernickel and Butterscotch and their family-- VERY image heavy post!!

2013-03-06T12:38:44Z

Here is a photo of our latest addition to our cat 'family', Pumpernickel. He was a stray that got hurt, so we brought him into the house for his leg to heal, whereupon he used his feline wiles upon us and is now part of the collective!

Here Pumpernickel is sitting on the stairs looking up at me. We already have two of his siblings as part of the cat collective--Gozer and Butterscotch whom I recently completed a painting of here:

And while we are at here, here are some of the other siblings, and the mother, Tsk, who was bound and determined to do her part to produce as many kittens as possible. To the best of our knowledge, Tsk had at least 6 litters of kittens!!

Tsk and Rain, Pumpernickel's brother and litter-mate.

Pumpernickel, Soot and Rain. This is the only photo I was ever able to take of the three brother kittens. This was also Tsk's final litter of kittens. Soot actually had a little spot of white on his chest like his big sister Gozer from two litters previous, his much older brother Spot from 3 litters previous and Stormy from the litter just before his. To our knowledge, since we didn't see all the kittens from all the litters, Rain was the only gray tabby Tsk ever had. She seemed to have orange tabbies, and black kittens every single litter though.

Another photo of Rain, sleeping peacefully in the summer sun.

Cloudy, from a previous litter, Rain as a little kitten, and Tsk of course. Cloudy hated Rain, and would go out of her way to be mean to him. In this photo she is glaring at little Rain, and Tsk is oblivious to all but the canned kitty food.

And lastly, Tsk with her previous litter, Cloudy as a kitten, Sunny and hidden to the left by Tsk, little Stormy, another black kitten with a small spot of white on his chest.

No Blizzard

2013-02-27T02:08:12Z

So we didn't have a blizzard or even any accumulation of snow--just lots and lots of rain.
And today was even sunny, so I thought I'd put up a photo of a bright sunshine-y colored cat.

This is my little sister's cat Taffy--sister to my cats Butterscotch, Gozer and Pumpernickel.
Now, back to work. I am painting, painting, painting away......