Irene oh dear Irene

It has been a while since I have been in a hurricane, or in the path of one. The last time, I was 15 or 16 years old and it was Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Our house was struck by lightening and there was a lil flooding and the power was out for like a week. Thats all I remember. So, this is the first one since then that I will be involved in as an adult. We just had an earthquake earlier this week, which is strange too.

The update so far is that by the time Irene hits Virginia Beach, it will be down to a category 1. We are not evacuating, although Sandbridge was evacuating, which is a few miles away from us. We got 4 cases of water, tons of food, gas in our tanks, everything tied down, and candles. 

This is a picture a few days ago...I hope Irene keeps this park in good condition!

My husband works at the Target down by the Oceanfront, and everything got wiped out: water, flashlights, batteries, coolers, candles(tealights) and whatever else needed for hurricane supplies. In fact, I had to go to a few stores to look for tealight candles, until I remembered that Micheals Craft Store will have them! and I was right! I found a 100 count box of tealights for only $5! so I grabbed 2 boxes and went on my way. I love Micheals, and what was cool is that it was not crowded at all, it was like my secret hiding place where only I could get them!!! well, and my aunt too, because I called her and told her to get them too!

I never got a chance to post that I did my whole head RED (well, actually its Vampire Red, from Hot Topic) and a cute lil updo I did!

The kids went with me while I ran last minute errands, plus they wanted Cookie Crisp cereal, which  sounded really good!

While I was driving, I asked the kids how they felt if I got their names tattooed on me and I figured they wouldve liked it, but they said they would prefer a picture of them on me which the idea I like way better, but I thought it was adorable that they suggested it! I have been on tattoo fever lately! So, I will keep that in mind for a portrait tattoo when the tattoo expo comes around in November. (I will do a post on that soon!)

Oh, and cool thing that happened to me today was that another blog I followed gave me a lil shoutout!
See his blog here http://ecentrikarts.blogspot.com/2011/08/tropical-paradise-aka-original-tropical.html
He makes the most unique custom shoes ever and I stumbled upon his blog sometimes last year, I dont even know how or when, but since then I draw inspiration from him and his site. I like to be in contact with other artists, it helps to get my creative juices flowing! So, thanks Elom!

Well, Just in case anyone keeps tabs on my blog, I may be absent for a few days due to Hurricane Irene. I will prolly do another post later tonight. Thanks for stopping by, subscribe or comment if you would like to leave any feedback!

Quote of the day:

Taking chances is one of the hardest aspects of life not only to understand, but may also be difficult to actually use effectively as well. Taking a chance is leaving a safety net and stepping out into the unknown. Sometimes the unknown is better than where you were before, and sometimes it simply isn't. Taking chances though is absolutely necessary to advancing in life.

Without doing so we would never make our lives better than before, our lives would simply be at a stand still. There are many ways that you can take chances throughout your day in order to change. From accepting a new job, or to buying a different kind of soft drink at the gas station, the smallest decisions to the biggest decisions change our lives everyday directly and indirectly. Make sure that your life is full of taking chances and calculated risks, in order to maximize growth and success.

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Earthquakes are good luck?

Anyone who has heard, yes the northern eastcoast had a lil earthquake measuring at 5.9. I cant believe we had an earthquake! I have only been in a small one before while visiting my grandparents in California when I was real young. My hubby and I were at the bank when I felt it. I thought that maybe I was dizzy because I was real hungry, but then I see everything swaying and it was just wild. Something totally out of the ordinary, like when there was a tornado in Brooklyn a few years ago. Its been a long time since Virginia Beach has had a quake. And I guess we are also gonna be having a hurricane too impact our area soon. Crazy. We even had the power go out for no reason a few days ago....very strange.

My makeup today, just very natural with blue eyeline to make it pop and of course my usual colored eyebrows!

So, my husband said that after a quake, its considered lucky because we "survived" hahahaha so he bought a lottery scratchoff ticket for a $1 and won $5. Man, too bad we couldnt play for a bigger lottery. hahahaha

well, last night I finished the memorial angel tattoo with the shading and a hint of color, but I am not sure I like the sunset rays in it. I may just redo that part.

We went and saw Captain America today and we spent more on soda and popcorn than we did for our actual movie tickets. But we had a good time. I love the plot of the movie and the era it is filmed in, but as far as some of the action scenes, it couldve had a bit more BOOM-POW- for me and maybe a few more scenes with Captain America shirtless. :) hehehehe Amazing body

well, that was my day pretty much, with all the excitement and buzz of the earthquake, this girl is pooped! lol did I really just write pooped, well, you know what I mean, I am tired!

Quote of the Day:

Every moment that passes by is a moment that we will never get back. It should be a huge priority for everyone to cherish every moment that we possibly can. Make sure that you spend that time with your loved ones. Yes, it is important to work, but sometimes sacrifices must be made in order to just be there for the people that we love, and that know really need our support.

Don't waste time in the pursuit of your dreams. They may seem out of reach at the moment, but the farther along that you progress, the less the distance will be to the finish line. Never stop, or let anything stop you from doing what you love, with the people that you love and that truly love you. Cherish every single moment in your life, because you never know when it will end, and because time is something that when spent, can never be recouped.

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Graphics and Design

This was in class on friday :)

Sunday is a day for me to relax, well kind of. I do sleep in, eat in my bed, stay in my jammies and watch movies and jam out to music, but I also try to squeeze in blogging and my art. In between eating pizza and watching E.T. (hehehe) I designed my new blog banner. I had thought I saved my work, but then the comp died, so lost my first design, but this one is way better than the original. So, maybe it was a good thing it died on me.

I dont need to post that pic, because you can see it above! I worked for hours on this bad boy and I really love it. It has all the things I am interested in and the stars and moon and some of my makeup photo shoots all incorporated in it.

I managed to do my makeup-for no particular reason other than to pick up hubby from work. I finally am able to put on false lashes by MYSELF! Which is no easy task! I usually have my hubby do it, or a friend.

I am working on a memorial piece that I mentioned a few posts ago, I just have the line work right now which I am in the process of inkin it right now. I got the design approved from my client after I drew it in pencil, so she loved it! I worked on it a lil bit while the kids were playing. We all had slurpees. They had a mixture of wild cherry and berry and I had Pina Colada.

My necklace and bracelet reflected the suns light onto my drawing which I thought was appropriate considering it is an angel memorial tattoo piece. This looks pretty plain, but once I am completely done, it will look really nice. I hope to be done with it hopefully tomorrow.

That was my day for today, it is nearing 2am, so I am gonna stop and go to bed. Tomorrow will be another art-filled day! Thanks for stopping by!

Quote of the Day:

Seeking to be fulfilled and happy is probably one of the most important goals that we should aim for throughout our lives. When we learn about ourselves earlier on in life we then realize who we are and what we are passionate about. Whether we choose to pursue these passions then falls on us.

Sure, there is a plan for our lives, but there is also a heavy responsibility on us to actually make the right choices and to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead of us, that we feel in our hearts are actually for us. No one wants to go all the way through their life, and then realize at an old age that they were never really fulfilled. You have to live take risks, follow your heart, laugh, love, and most importantly be who you are, who you really are at your heart�s level. By doing this fulfillment and happiness will come by default!

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

LOVE HATE

My grandfather has the words LOVE and HATE on the inside of his wrists, and I have always admired them. I even drew up a tattoo design a few years ago that I am thinking about getting tattooed on my forearm.

these rings are sooo cute. I found them at here

For me the love and hate represents relationships, the good side and the bad sides of any relationship. It doesnt even have to be about a marriage or a love, it can even be about friendships, or even be a metaphor for other events, like for me, can represent my feelings about the Army when I was enlisted. I loved many things about the army but hated it at the same time.

I never asked my grandfather the meaning of his tattoos...so I finally called him and asked him what the meaning or story was behind it. He told me he was drunk and he got it with a buddy of his and he couldnt even remember the other guys name. I couldnt help but laugh at him. It was really funny and we laughed over the phone about it.

Its interesting to learn about your family and the stories they have. I look up to my grandfather so much. He served 20 years in the US NAVY as a CW04 and then served 20 years as a correctional officer in Lakeland, FL. He is also prolly the biggest Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan ever. Not only is his house painted in BUC colors, and has every type of sports memorabilia ever, he also has various buccaneer tattoos. I look up to him in so many ways, so in a way this is a lil tribute to him.

Love and hate, Ce Cilia

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

BOUND by Ink

I have found my new favorite tattoo magazine: BOUND BY INK! I picked up this baby when I splurged at Border's going out of business sale. What caught my attention to this mag, besides the gorgeous Queen Esther on the cover, was the design of the magazine (enter graphic design geek mode), the cover itself is nice and smooth and is a thicker paper which is nice because I like to take magazines with me everywhere and regular magazines get ripped easily.

I am starting to lean more towards magazines that feature stories about tattoo artists, or people with hella ink.  I like to learn about people and their walk of life, their background, the reasons why they get inked. I just love it.

I really enjoyed reading the article about Queen Esther, a model that made a name for herself and went on to open her own modeling agency. What impressed me is that she is not only a strong, beauitful, independent woman who owns her own business, but she accomplished all that with 5 kids! Yes, I said 5 KIDS!

I just wanted to share this with you and hopefully you will be inspired like I am

Thanks for stopping by as always!

Quote of the Day:

Seize the day that you are living in. When we make it a habit of putting off doing what we love, we send a message to ourselves basically saying that we aren't important. Life is really too short not to love every moment of it. Spend time exploring who you are at your heart's level. Make time to follow your dreams, and achieve the goals that you know you want to achieve.

Don't let the tough parts of life discourage you, for we all experience them. You are the master of your dreams, and only you can achieve them, nobody else will achieve them for you. Putting off the pursuit of your dreams will lead you to a dead end on Unfulfilled Street, and before you know it your whole life may have passed by. It is never too late to start going in the direction of where your dreams, and goals are located. As long as you are at least in the pursuit of your dreams by the time that it is your turn to go, the odds are better that you will be more fulfilled than if you would of never tried!

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Tattoo Book

With Borders going out of business, Jermie, Nique and I headed there a few weeks ago to grab some book marked down 40-60% off. I mainly wanted to get some tattoo books, not just magazines, but an actual technique book. I found only One book, actually Jermie found it for me. Its called "Advanced Tattoo Art How-to Secrets from the Masters by Doug Mitchell. Its taken me a lil bit to read through it, I only have time to read it on my lunch breaks at school, but I gotta say, I really enjoyed it. It doesnt give everything you need to know to tattoo, but it does give some good tips on the type of needles an artists uses, outlining and shading.

I finally finished reading it from front to back and I just wanted to share a good book for anyone interested in it.

This picture above was the last tattoo of the book and was prolly my favorite one because it resembles my style of drawing. Someone asked me what my style is yet, and I am not sure. I wanna say I am more of a classic style, but not sure because I like all styles. I guess with each drawing I do, I will discover my style.

I hope you enjoyed this post! I am off to go put some stuff in my storage unit and then get to drawing that memorial piece.

Quote of the Day:

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Thought Process

When someone asks me to draw something up for them, there is usually a process I go through. First, I get the basic details such as what they want, colors, and size. If it is a tattoo drawing, I like to know where it will go on the body so I can visualize it.

I have been watching tattoo shows such as L.A. Ink and Inked on Netflix, and just been basically obssessing about the tattoo culture. I have been paying attention to every detail I can, becoming a human sponge.  Last year, when I first moved back here, after seeing an ad posted online for a tattoo apprenticeship at a local tattoo shop, I jumped on it. I gathered all my drawings, all my sketchbooks and went down there and spoke to the lady in charge (of course a female tattoo artist) and she told me straight up about what it was all about-she didnt sugar coat it. (enter quick story)

She told me that an apprenticeship is tough work, it isnt paid, you have to be there everyday and it takes months before you can even pick up a machine. And trust me, this didnt scare me away, but I realized that it just wanst the right time for me. I needed to get a job, learn a trade I can work soon and fall back onto if I needed to. I told that manager thanks for the info, but that it just wasnt the right time. Enter going to Cosmetology school. I have been attending since January and will be graduating in December. So now, I am back on the tattoo track.

okay, okay- back on where I was going with this- and I think I remember where I was going with this. Oh yea- so when I am drawing up a tattoo, I get into the whole thing. It is not just a drawing, I love to hear the stories behind what it means to that person. I place myself in "their" shoes, when I draw, I imagine it as if the drawing is for me, as if I was getting that tattoo inked on my skin. Thats why I love watching tattoo reality shows, because the artists on there feel the same way I do about the art they are putting on someone. I feel more and more like I am meant to become a tattoo artist. With each piece I draw, I am one step closer to my goals.

So, for this next piece, is a memorial tattoo drawing. A friend of mine lost both her parents when she was young and as a tribute to them, she wants to get inked and she needed help coming up with something. I suggested two angels holding each other and the dates in scrolls under them.  This is my next piece I am working on.

Here are a few reference pictures I am using and going to take what I like and create my own version of what I think would be an amazing piece for her.

I hope you enjoyed this post on my thought process and how I help to create drawings. Sorry that I rambled on in a lil tangent. I am off to bed, I am not going to stay up until 3am again tonight.

Quote of the day:

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.