Tag / Illustrations

by Janet

Lady Godiva?

Part Five is here and things are getting exciting!

This is an ongoing story that is continued each day (more or less) using the Daily Spur’s word prompt. Todays word is: Host. The previously written parts run below the new addition so that, in the end, it will be a completed short story. Backwards.

Part Five

Before Bob could respond, and before Draco knew what had hit him, the host pranced by on horseback—looking like Lady Godiva, no less—and she snatched Bob’s glasses away from Draco. The mob roared, and some bloke in the back let out a loud catcall. His wife slapped him so hard that the entire room fell silent, and then Draco began to shriek with laughter.

No one knew what he had come there to do, but the madness that had enveloped the room seemed enough to satisfy him and he left the building practically unnoticed. The only signs of him that remained were the echoes of guffawing slowly fading through the alley.

Part Four

Things hadn’t always been uneasy between Bob and Draco. Years ago, the two of them—along with Anastasia who was now watching from the stage—were thick as thieves. They lived in a land that was like no other. The valley was lush and green, surrounded by fragrant purple and blue mountains that sheltered the town from the icy ocean winds.

The three grew up together, there in the valley, and they loved each other in the most pure and transcendent way possible. It was childlike and platonic. Until the summer of ‘85, that is, the year that changed everything.

Part Three

Bob was enjoying the attention, but he was having difficulty seeing the faces of his admirers since he’d lost his glasses in the confusion. It wasn’t until he heard the room gasp that he noticed a striking figure at the back of the room. There he was. His nemesis. Bob recognized him immediately, dressed in his old familiar garb, looking like old Willie from the Chocolate Factory had just stepped down from the stage and was now basking in the audience’s cheers for an encore performance.

“I believe these are yours,” he said with a straight face, holding Bob’s glasses in the air.

Part Two

The crowd applauded, not just for the woman but for Bob as well. He had gone unrecognized until the wine debacle caused every eye in the room to gaze upon him. He had removed his dampened jacket, revealing a colorful football jersey. His face displayed the signs of a life well lived, and his balding head was covered with a handsome newsboy cap. His firm and muscular body, the one that had taken the team to the championship years ago, revealed his true identity… the town’s former star quarterback.

Part One

She made a grand entrance, as usual, causing quite the disturbance. Bob’s glasses fogged up, causing him to bump shoulders with the maître d’ as he rose to greet her. His wine glass soared through the air, spinning end over end as the crimson liquid showered down onto the patrons below. Finally, it hit the checkered tile floor in front of her, shattering into a million pieces.

Unfazed, she strutted her way across the debris and onto the stage…

“Good evening,” she said as the microphone reached her lips, “this one’s for you Bob.”

I hope you’ve enjoyed the story so far, or that at least you’ve been entertained. I’m a day behind so I have one more word to do, which is DICTIONARY, so it should be a fun twist!

Peace & Love!

by Janet

Revision, Revision, Revision!

After publishing my post, Be Gentle, I played around with my illustration a little more and came to like this sketched version better than the original. Maybe it’s a more accurate depiction of “gentleness” because of the softening of the colors. 

I hesitated to share it because you’ve already seen the original, so it seemed kind of redundant, but then I got to thinking about how relevant revisions (tongue twister there) are to life. I mean, we’re always editing and revising ourselves in one way or another. 

My son shared something with me the other night, from Robin Sharma’s book, The Monk who Sold his Ferrari, and it reminded me not only of how people are always working to improve themselves, but of how valuable those changes can be:

One night a father was relaxing with a newspaper in hand after a long day in the office. His son, who wanted to play, kept on pestering him. Finally, fed up, the father ripped out a picture of the world globe that filled a whole page in the paper and tore it in many pieces. “Here son, go ahead and try to put this back together,” he said, hoping this would keep the little boy busy long enough for him to finish reading the paper.

To his amazement, his son returned after only one minute with the globe perfectly reassembled. When the startled father asked how he achieved this feat, the child smiled gently and replied, ”Dad, on the other side of the globe there was a picture of a person, and once I got the person together, the world was okay.”

Another great analogy! It took me back to the start of my (real) recovery, when I came to understand that other people’s attitudes and behavior was not mine to change—but that I had the power to change everything about how I responded to it. 

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.

Rumi

My pondering also made me realize that the revisions I do to my images and illustrations are important as well, and definitely worth sharing. Nothing is ever really finished, as there is always room for change and improvement.

I think it would be interesting to take one image and revise it several times over the course of a year—just to compare the changes from the first to the last. I might just add that to my list of targets. We’ll see.

Anyway, I think that sums up my thoughts on revisions for tonight.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

Whether it’s art imitating life, or life imitating art… it’s all a work in progress.

Janet

A Little Note. My post title here is a little inside joke. When I worked in real estate, I was often involved in the advertising of homes for sale and we had to come up with headings for all of the properties. One of the most frequently used titles was less than imaginative and often totally irrelevant:

Location, Location, Location!

I don’t know. I thought it was amusing to follow the ‘repeat it three times’ rule. Maybe it’s another one of those ‘after midnight’ things creeping up on me again.

Until later,
Peace & Love!!

by Janet

Idioms: Part II

The Conclusion

A SHORT STORY
In case you missed it, here is Part I

Once in a blue moon things happen that surprise me. I figured there was a snowball’s chance in hell that he’d call. I mean, the kid was gorgeous and I was sure he had bigger fish to fry. So, imagine my surprise when the phone rang. I was on cloud nine.

I didn’t mince words either. I gave him my address and told him to come visit after work. It’d been a decade since I had dated, so I figured that ship had sailed. Needless to say I started feeling nervous, but I told myself to be cool… surely it’s like riding a bicycle. Things would all come back to me.

Well, when it rains it pours. The night was a disaster. Talk about the perfect storm. First, he showed up late, and I’m a real stickler about tardiness. He started sweet-talking me with excuses and apologies, and I told him that actions speak louder than words. 

We decided to call it a truce, and we sat down to get to know each other better. We had just met that morning, after all, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. After some excellent conversation, he leaned over and kissed me softly on the cheek.

“You’re a sweet lady,” he said. “You remind me of my mother.”

Well, that was the last straw. My face turned red, my head started spinning, and I knew the night was going down in flames. I guess it’s not all his fault, it takes two to tango after all. I should have known the age difference was too extreme. I don’t even know what I was thinking… your guess is as good as mine.

“Obviously you’re not playing with a full deck,” I cried. “You don’t say that to someone you’re about to sleep with! Besides… you can’t judge a book by its cover, you know.”

“Are you off your rocker? He squealed as he opened the door, “I just wanted to talk!” 

The door slammed, rattling the pictures in my hallway as they always do. And there I was, sitting alone in my living room, lit only by candlelight, feeling like a fool.

After a night like that, I was certain that I’d wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. But I actually started the day in a good mood and I know that every cloud has its silver lining.

I put my foot in the shallow end and took a chance. It wasn’t the best date I’ve ever had, but it was a blessing in disguise. You know how the old saying goes, “no pain, no gain.” It’s like exercising… the more you do it, the easier it gets. I’m not as afraid as I was before, and I sure as hell know that there are other fish in the sea. Next time I’ll just be sure to look before I leap.

And check his ID.

Anyway, I think the key in this dating thing is patience… 

Slow and steady wins the race, and good things come to those who wait.

Until next time,
Stay blessed!

My featured image for Part I was a bit of an afterthought, and not really original, so I decided to use one of my own illustrations for Part II. I post things on Facebook from time to time, and I had posted this one there – but I’ve never shared it on the blog. I thought it would be perfect for the conclusion of my story. Although I’m not real sure it’s concluded yet. I have piles of idioms left, and my protagonist has a lot of life left in her!

Honestly, this has been a REALLY fun writing experiment. I thought I would share a link to the site that lists a bunch of idioms, in case anyone is interested in some idiom fun. I will say that it got me thinking!

Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed!!