remains of the creative day ~

[lookingland]

i dinna quite finish James today. i still might, but i wanted to post what i had so far. i love the riding outfit. it's so snotty. and i love cadmium red (it's such a joy to paint with). i will finish this for sure during the week ~ after i finish drawing the other couple of outfits i wanted to. i also sketched an Emmaline, but have yet to commit her to real paper at this point. we'll see about that.


otherwise i have struggled some today. finished a draft of one of the stories i have been working on, but it feels weak. it's missing something (coherence? cohesion? co-something?). i feel like i really had a strong sense of what i was writing when i started it, but it's muddly now that it's semi-finished (at an alarming 5,700 words). it feels suddenly oddly pointless as a story and i'm not quite sure how to fix that.

Stars in Their Courses

synopsis: James ropes Lewis into trying to have a heart-to-heart with a woman who has been recently raped. Anyone who knows Lewis well enough ought to know this is destined for disaster.

a wee darling: He had left Camp Faiger in heavy buckskin trousers, a worn cotton blouse, a brown worsted coat on the verge of needing patches, and boots so bent and scuffed they appeared to have fought the late war all on their own.

mean things: Interestingly, this one of those rare instances where James isn't actually trying to be a jerk but comes off like one anyway. The meanest behavior actually comes from the woman, who jumps to unfortunate conclusions about everyone else's intentions.

nice things: i absolutely adore how Emmaline defends Lewis (i adore Emmaline, period). i think this moment and the final scene in which James gives Lewis an astrology lesson (metaphorically speaking - which is where the title comes from) are what inspired me to write the story.

random fact: i confess to perpetrating appalling things against the woman character in this story because, frankly, i don't like her. it seems strange not to like a character i created it, i guess, but sometimes characters are just that unpleasant.

I'm going to give the story a once more over and then maybe send it to a few peeps of distinction to get some needed perspective on it. then i can start doing illustrations for it. eeeeek!

: D

Comments

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Pink coat!

Something you might want to play with at a later date is a hunting crop for him. They're really cool-looking, usually with an antler handle thingy....oh heck, here's where you can see what they look like:

http://www.tackagain.co.uk/mall/departmentpage.cfm/TackAgain/74061/2/1/%2D/%2D/%2D/title

There's a bunch of them in the "gents crops" title banner-y-thingy....

Are you gonna paint him a horse too? :D

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

ooooo ~ i wish i'd seen those crops before. i dinna do my research!

does the coat really look pink on your screen? it's screaming red on mine ~ hahahahahaha.

i hadn't thought of painting his horse. hmmmm. i just may! he has a sloppy, dappled spanish mustang in this period (whose name escapes me at the moment) that looks sorta like this (http://www.spanishmustang.org/Images/90Sundowner.jpg).

: D

p.s.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

just because (http://www.kiltday.com/seanconnery2.jpg).

: D

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, the coat looks red, except in riding, it's called a pink coat and has to be earned. These days, it's worn by Grand Prix show jumpers, but I believe pink coats were originally reserved for masters of the hunt. I'm not sure why they're called pink coats though...there's a bit of info here:

http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~reedsj/pink.html

Nice pony! I wouldn't mind one of those myself...:)

Re: p.s.

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Oooo! Purty kilt! Now, if only we had a Youtube of him taking a little swagger...:D

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

well there's a bunch of stuff i am totally ignorant of! i will have to remember to totally use that!

thank you for the link!

: D

Re: p.s.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

maybe it's best we don't.

i would faint.

: D

Re: p.s.

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

This is footage of the DH's regiment (he's a reservist) on Remembrance Day a couple years ago....much swaggering! A bevy of kilted lads!

Re: p.s.

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Oh, and apologies for clogging up your LJ, but I thought you might like this (I'll post the link rather than embed it). This is the DH's regiment again arriving back at their armories with the pipes playing their regimental song (Black Bear):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byMaE9GcmL0

[sparowe]

The riding outfit is definitely my favourite. :)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

thank you! i'm rather fond of it myself. it's been a joy to put together.

: D

Re: p.s.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

swoon x2.

these are fabulous!

: D

Fanning self

[(Anonymous)]

men in kilts...men in kilts...gasp...sputter.


:-D

Wow, you're really percolating kiddo! Much work being done (are you APPRECIATING? gotta, it's in the rules)

James was quite the spiff-meister wasn't he? I never realized James was so dark headed --had him pictured a medium brown ...doncha ask me why.

I also didn't realize the fourth Eleison was out--what door have I been standing behind? sheesh.

Keep on, boo boo.

X,

mooey

Re: Fanning self

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

yeah, i'm kicking myself for not having a Scottish character at the moment. that might need to be hugely rectified.

that's inneresting about James's hair. i wonder if maybe it's because he goes salt and pepper pretty quick so most drawings i've posted of him probably show him with sort of brindled hair, which mighta left the impression that he was more of a brownie than a darkie.

and yes, i be appreciatin'. thankie moo!

: D