Po'traits

A birthday portrait of my sister for her birthday... Why the baby deer? Cause it's random and funny, that's all.





















I've been starting to do some commissioned portraits/custom illustrations of people. If you know anyone who'd like one, let me know. You can send me a photo of the people you love (or don't love—maybe you want a drawing of your enemy, that's up to you), and I'll draw them and hook you up with the original piece or a print as well as a digital copy. They make good prezzies.

Dream Sampling No. 18

I tend to do things in my sleep. I've always been a sleep walker, talker, laugher, etc. Sometimes I'll wake up rifling through my bag, or the bookshelf, seeking out something in my dreams that doesn't exist in real life.

On this particular day I awoke with braids in my hair (having fallen asleep without) and no recollection of putting them there. Then apparently I decided to write about it and draw a picture with one eye open, my head on the pillow, next to the book. It makes for a skewed perspective, which I obviously felt necessary to point out at 6am.

1.20.10

Dream Sampling No. 19

9.10.09

"We all lived in trees and only ever ate sandwiches."

Dream Sampling No. 17

9.5.09

"Clara had a cupcake shaped like a saloon and she had to share it with Jemaine."

Dream Sampling No. 16

1.15.09

"In my mom's garden we had a big hill overflowing with wildflowers, and raspberries. I also planted some seeds that grew into a tiny elephant. I picked it out of the ground and just held it and loved it so much."

Dream Quotes

I usually write down dreams in a story format or short little bursts or thoughts. Some days I wake up with a random song in my head. Some days I'll go back and read the dream book and find quotes—literally short phrases accompanied by quote marks, and relating to nothing. Just a straight up quote. And, I usually can't remember their significance, or remember writing them for that matter. Here's a few I've come across...

"A meanie in a cloak instead of a coat."

"Be sensitive to your heart's contentment."

"...the freedom to go where I must, where I'm called, to know myself, to know the work."

"The next girl in the family shall be called McGlowdie."

"We're hearing an echo."

"We just lost our summertime. It's spring now."

"To hello joy all the rest."

"My phone's not always as pretty in the morning. It escapes."

"They've got neon copper deadlines!"

"Sometimes your life needs accompaniment. You sound better."

"We are Grandma's Herzig decorations."

Dream Sampling No. 15

Wow, this is a long one. But it intrigued me so I'm including the whole thing...

1.13.09

"Lived in some strange land over a lifetime. People got smaller as they got older. Eventually everything was on floating islands, like boats, because the world became water. My friend and I were the only survivors of an original group in this land. There were other people, but none of my kind. They were always trying to catch us. Why? I don't know what we did. Our names changed as time passed too. They got shorter and people forgot us. Eventually cars were tiny—the size of a kid's big wheel. The police were after me and my friend. The head of police was my family's old butler. Buddie was his name. He didn't really want to catch us, but knew he must. When he finally did after years of chase, we reminisced about how my little sister Olive would have loved the place where Buddie caught up with us—there were waterfalls and so many flowers. Olive had died back in the good years. It was very sad, yet I felt happy remembering her after so long. My friend and I were very agile and acrobatic, and we could get out of any situation. We each had special abilities. I could fly and she could walk through walls. Buddie though, was the only other one of our kind left in the world, and thus the only one that could catch us. I just have overwhelming feelings for the olden days, when we were all together and did extraordinary things. Then my people all disappeared and went away. We got smaller. The world got smaller. The oceans got bigger. I might be watching too much Heroes."

Dream Sampling No. 14

11.4.08

"Everybody in the world carried around sheets of music, their very own life music. Each person had a continuing song and we'd have to upkeep them, take them everywhere and sing our life songs for one another.

On an unrelated note, I had to fight off a wolf."

Dream Sampling No. 13

10.11.08

A psychotic squirrel was out to get me. I drove home to my parents' house and it climbed all over the car, waiting to attack me when I got out. I managed to escape, but it chased me to the house. I had to kick it into the bushes a few times, and the 3rd time it climbed right up the plum tree. As I reached the porch, it flew down at my face, but smacked into the glass right as I shut the door.
Take that psycho.

Dream Sampling No. 12

5.16.10














"I went skydiving again. It was different this time. I could simply hover and float above the clouds until one of the instructors came to take me down (which involved diving headfirst towards the ground and pulling my chute at the last second). While waiting for the instructor, I started playing in the clouds. They were a thin, wispy layer of fluff, like a giant sheet of soft paper floating over the world. I would drag my hand through it, making paths and strokes for the people to see on the ground below. It was my first time drawing in a cloud. It was incredible.

When I got back to the ground, they taught me how to better float, spin and dive. We ate some tomatoes off the vine and everybody took naps. I just laid in the grass and stared up at the sky, because all I wanted to do was get back up there and draw in the clouds."

Mother's Day

I got to celebrate Mother's Day today with my sister Heidi. She has two kids, represented here by freckled eggs (in reality they're much more mobile than eggs at this point). We ate food, planted flowers, raced paper airplanes, had a dance party and painted our fingernails in shades of neon. Twas a joyful day and I have felt truly grateful for all the moms in my life. Especially my own, who's unfortunately in Kansas. But hey, distance makes the heart grow fonder, eh?

Dream Sampling No. 11

4.27.10






"I saw the most tiniest hummingbirds. Their wing and tail feathers were so bright and pink that they actually glowed in the dark shade. I tried to take a picture of one really close up, but before I could, it opened its beak really wide (inside were long black, needle point teeth) and it gobbled up my phone. Dang it!"

happy earth day to you

Last night I dreamt that the earth was my cupcake and I ate it. Sorry humanity, but you were just too tempting.



















Okay I didn't really dream that... though this cupcake does make the earth look real tasty. It's actually a little graphic for a free song download my sister is offering for earth day—to download the tunes, click here. Happy Earth Day to you!

Dream Sampling No. 10

3.18.10







"I got to ride around on a soft, furry humpback whale. It was incredible! I just loved it so much... Granted we flew around a whole foods, which was strange and crowded, but still thrilling. I'd lay with my head down against my whale and we could hear each others' thoughts."

Such a pain in the neck...

My neck got bent in half somehow this week. I'm not sure how or why it happened. Maybe fighting dragons or swirling around in tornadoes in my dreams. I'd better read back through the dream journal to find an answer to this puzzle... Anyway, I found relief today after visiting my massage therapist, Tenile. She has magic hands—a genetic gift received at birth—and worked some goodness on me and my chronically f-ed up neck. I'm very much looking forward to turning my head again, something I've missed dearly this past week.

Dream Sampling No. 9

7.19.08













Jason Bateman and I fell in love in Africa. He was there establishing some frozen banana stands and I was starting up an art school for blind kids. He donated so many frozen bananas to the school. The kids could not believe their eyes.

...I've been watching too much Arrested Development.

Dream Sampling No. 8

4.29.08























Andy was going to give Rach a tattoo around her mid section. It was a saying or proverb about rabbits, along with some bunny illustrations. Rach had a crush on him and liked him too much to stand up for her body. She was too blinded by love to be able to see that a rabbit tattoo would be completely stupid. I had to stand up for her and her mid section and tell Andy, 'no.'

Dream Sampling No. 7

4.9.08

I went on a run through the forest as the sun was setting. I stopped to rest on a bench, but I had forgotten that a certain type of snake would always try to bite me when I was on that bench, and I'd have to kill it with a plastic sword which happened to be laying around. I had a feeling one of them was my friend, so I said, "Ryan, is that you?" He curled up, protecting his head with his snake body and nodded 'yes.'

I want the road.

I am itchy. I am feeling the itch. There's something out on the wind calling my name. It's a little whispery song that says, "Annie, get up away from your desk for a little while and play. Come to europe and play. Mkay?"

I think it's time for me to go. But this is what I want: a Europe friend. I was all for venturing out on my own awhile ago, but I've realized over the past months that I want a wonderful soul to share it all with, to look back on the adventure in years to come, to reminisce, and laugh and cry and blow our noses over all the things that are going to happen. But who is that person? Who can swing it, both financially and time-ancially?

Where are you my little friend? My little companion? Who wants to join me with the sticks slung over our shoulders, bandanas tied to the end, full of bread, cheese, toothpaste and a clean shirt?

Come on, let's go...

Dream Sampling No. 6

8.30.09

"Walking into town from my mountain home. There were lots of riots and fighting going on due to health care and Obama and Michael Jackson. So many people throwing rocks and shooting guns. I was afraid. I almost got shot. I got pissed at someone who threw a rock so I threw one off the back of the truck and it almost hit Michael Jackson. He tried to throw one back and it was an awkward throw. I felt bad and hand signaled him that I was sorry and he did it back. We held up peace signs and pretended to hug and made up. We drove away. His face was sort of black and charcoaled from a fire someone set off. He also looked like a skeleton."