Good afternoon everyone! Marisol here! Today, we have a guest blogger, Donna Ranskinski from Fayetteville, NC. She is a professor from Roosevelt University in Chicago. Please enjoy.

Through My Eyes

Claude Monet was a fantastic impressionist painter when he was alive. The colors, the vibrancy of the flora and the light airy dreamlike mood Monet created was a fantasy come true. The Robin Williams film What Dreams May Come reminded me much about Monet paintings and how one can see what the want to see in heaven, much like Monet wanted to see in his paintings.Monet was a special painter because he could not see color and images like many people do. Monet was legally blind, as am I. Click to read more …

Tags: adoption, Art, blind, blindness, Claude Monet, Donna Ranskinski, Guest Blogger, image, macular degeneration, makeup, Monet, paint, portrait, Roosevelt university, Starry Night, Starry Starry night, teaching, Van Gogh, Vincent Van Gogh, Writing

Once upon a time when I was in high school, things in my life weren’t going very well, in fact, things were downright disastrous, but I hid my problems well. Friends did not know that my life was really crumbling around me, nor did they know that I was unhappy in my relationship that was in for four years. No one truly knew what went on when no one was looking, nor did they believe me after everything was said and done. Mr. Man–who I finally left after becoming strong enough to realize I needed some self-respect–was more believable and charming because of his “I-can-do-no-wrong” looks and seemingly innocent personality; everyone believed his story over mine even after he stalked me for two years AFTER the relationship! Now he’s dating an ex-friend of mine which says a lot about her, picking up other people’s trash, but that’s a story for another time. I just hope she doesn’t realize too late what an emotional and sometimes physically abusive b*st*rd he is. Kids, don’t date the sullen depressed type, it’s not good for you or anyone else.

Anywho…

During high school, life literally sucked for me and it wasn’t because Ashley was dating Ricky, or Rachel kept getting pregnant, nor was it because a friend and I decorated my ex’s locker pink and  rigged it to play “Barbie Girl” every time he opened it (and oddly enough, this is the same friend who is now dating my ex), but because of everything my ex did to me. But then a group of friends and a little story came into my life, which helped me hang on to the few strands of sanity I had left. Click to read more …

Tags: Aqua, Barbie Girl, Fridge, Friendship, Kit, Kitana, Life Story, Love, Refridgerator, Soulmates, Ten'on, Tsuyoi, Writing

Birthdays… Tala had one on the 25th… today is my birthday… LOVE US!!

Happy birthday to me!

Marisol

Sometimes its really surprising what you can create with a graphics programs. Mostly, you have to draw everything on a graphics program the same way you create a real-life piece of artwork on an open canvas. But sometimes there’s little shortcuts you can use like the fill, resize, blending tools, and custom brush tools.

Is it cheating? Not really. Nothing on Photoshop, Gimp, or Paint.Net will automatically draw pictures for you. You still need to play around with the Photoshop features in order to get the results you want and you need to conceive of your own image.

Warning: Unlike other tutorials, this one requires Photoshop, Paint.net, or Gimp. Click on the hyper-linked text for free, no-strings-attached downloads of Gimp or Paint.Net.  They’re great alternatives if you’re not interested in spending the money. Or if you want to try Photoshop free for 30 days, visit the Adobe website. Additionally, if you want to try Photoshop with limited features, visit Photoshop online, upload photos to share with family and friends, and create photo creations with Beta mode. Click to read more …

Good evening, everyone!

Marisol here with her daily post. Today, I’m not got to be the one actually posting, instead, we here at Sketching House have a guest blogger. You read me right, guest blogger. Sketching House has only been around a short time and we already have a cult following. One of our loyal readers, Roger Ranskinski, a freelance writer from Fayetteville, North Carolina, has been reading our site since November when he stumbled upon us while searching for English language/Spanish language (we have a translation feature on the right of our screen) website to help his 10 year-old daughter learn how to draw and how to speak English. Since then, Roger and his wife Donna have been two of our biggest contributors and dear friends of the site. Roger has cited the relationship posts to be his favorite posts since, for his freelance work, he writes about relationships along with programming tips. Roger and wife also head up a Pit Bull rescue organization which helps to rehab Pit Bulls; they have housed some of Michael Vick’s dogs. Roger’s wife is also a traveling professor teaching Gender History at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

Roger and his wife have had problems in their relationship and yet, have been happily married for 36 years. In his post, Roger will share his secrets for a happy and successful relationship. I hope you enjoy this post and please comment.

Love always,

Mari Dominguez Click to read more …

Tags: Family Issues, Guest Blogger, Happy Relationships, Love, Meddling Families, Michael Vick, Pit Bulls, Relationships, Rescue, Sketching House

Hi everyone, Marisol here! Alex, Tala, and I have done some updates to the site recently. Our “Previous Post” button and archives have been fixed, so now you can search through our previous blogs. There has also been new categories added for our blogs such as “Baseball Blog,” “World of Warcraft Art,” “Kid Crafts,” “Just for Children,” and “Anatomy.” Other categories to be added include charitable organizations.

Another update occured in our Art Gallery where Tala added all of her wonderful pieces of art. Please check it out!

That’s all for our updates!

And today is just another great day to be Merry! I don’t have to work today or tomorrow, that’s good enough for me! XD. I’ve got a very cute birthday cake all made up for me today, sadly I don’t have a camera…(can’t find mine really) so I guess I can’t take a picture of it.
Ahh, to be 22… it makes me feel so old! Most people my age are married with families, or engaged, or some sort, and I feel a bit behind, but I suppose that’s just fine with me! I was wanting to do some Christmas pictures, but after work last night, I just about passed out. =P. I got one of my most favorite gifts ever! The awesomeness that is the Magic Bullet! Ever since I opened it, I made breakfast, three shakes, an iced coffee, and there’s so much more I’m going to make! Click to read more …

Tags: birthday, Christmas, Gifts, holiday

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

新年おめでとうございます!

聖誕節同新年快樂!

圣诞节快乐!

Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou!

메리 크리스마스 잘 지내고 새해 복 많이 받으세요!

GlitterLive.com" src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee252/augp/christmas/c001.gif" border="0" alt="" width="224" height="171" />Gesëende Kersfees!

Feliz Navidad!

Hyvää joulua ja onnellista uutta vuotta!

Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand!

聖誕快樂 新年快樂!

Chúc Giáng Sinh Vui Vẻ và Chúc Năm Mới Tốt Lành! Click to read more …

Tags: Chanukah, Christmas, Christmas Wish, Foreign Language Christmas Wishes, Hannukah, Hannukkah, Language, Meri Kuri, Merry Christmas from Around the World, World Christmas

According to Alex, “anything can be considered art as long as it promotes thought” (Beckett, “What is Art?”). In Sketching House’s first blog, I said that “everything is art,” in a very broad and general way without really elaborating on what I meant by that; that was back in October (Dominguez “Everything is Art!”). However, I’m an academic and a stickler for details and the “why” factor, so I feel rather foolish now for saying “everything is art,” when, in fact, there are cases where things done in the “name of art” is drawing the line between creating and doing something abnormal and citing art as the reason. After analyzing Alex’s post (I’m a Bachelor’s in English, analyzing is what I do), I shall now reply to what his thoughts of what art is with my rebuttal on what I now think should be considered art. Click to read more …

Tags: Abortion, Aliza Shvarts, Art, Artforms, Cosmetology, Death, Dying, Eminem, Family, Funeral Rights, Human Body, John McCain, Ludacris, Lyrics, music, Port-Mortem Cosmetology, Post-Mortem Art, Sarah Palin, Saw, Women's Rights, Yale University

HO HO HO! Merry Christmas!

This is Sketching House’s first Christmas on the web, and we–Alex, Tala, and I–are very happy to have been available to you guys the past few months. Thanks to all of you who have been supporters to our site and visited often. Without you, oh mysterious viewers, we would not have been able to continue with our site. However, thank you for the emails, the requests, and kind comments of encouragement. YOU, our viewers, are why we’re here and you guys are the most important feature to Sketching House.

Although there are still many days left in December, our posts may be very few because the three of us have families that we would like to spend time with. Tala and I have birthdays coming up on Christmas, and then there’s New Year’s! But don’t worry, we will be back in 2009! Click to read more …