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Sunday, June 01:

Quite frankly, I think this is a new record- me posting an entry on the first day of the new month. Anyway, just a quickie update on how things are flowing.

Well, my first My Little Pony custom "conversion" is about 90% done. Mom wanted the first pony to be done for her, and I told her to map out what she wanted. Using the 2007 model Royal Bouquet, I completely redid it. The original body was yellow, with an fugly as hell flower decal on it's one haunch (it looked as if a child haphazardly drew it on). The mane and tail was a bright pink with lighter pink hue highlights. The eyes were green and yellow.

Now, most of the pony mom didn't want changed. In fact, this first pony done doesn't have re-rooting, which will actually be saved for my Celtic heritage pony. Anyway, she wanted to keep the eye color and mane and tail color. Using acetone I let it eat away at the symbol, completely erasing it (only took a few minutes). Using high artist quality acrylic paint (with a touch of water), I completely painted over the pallid yellow body. The color and hue is a gorgeous hunter green- so dark that it really brings out the green and yellow swirled eyes.

I must admit, at first I wanted to puke at the thought of a green pony with pink hair. Still, after seeing it so far, I have to say that was the BEST choice she could have made!! The pink really stands out against the dark green body, and it brightens the shadowed hues, bringing the features out a lot more. She wanted ivy curling up at least one leg, but I managed to paint it on both of the "display side" legs. Tomorrow I have to finish by having one vine curling up into a stem on it's haunch, releasing a hand painted rose or something. She also wants a pink small jewel glued to the forehead of the little creation.

Now... that's been going on for a few days. Let me tell you about today and tonight!

So, starting off, I worked from 10:30 to 8:30. Doing the math... yeah, that's a lot of hours right there. I was drained, tired, but happy. However, the day was pretty turbulent to begin with. I had the weirdest things happening all day.

By four or so I was beat, quite literally. I was looking forward to getting off when a familiar face walked through the doors the store. Billy! He had just gotten done biking for a while and wanted a Gatorade. Anyway, when I went to ring him up, he produced a DVD. It's Stargate, and my dad can't wait to watch it. He knew my dad was a fan of anything like that, so he's letting him borrow it for a while.

There was one other thing he handed over. It was in a little plastic baggy and, upon seeing it, I got giddy.

It was a raccoon skull.

Most of my friends know I collect bones and skulls of animals. Why? No, I'm not a necromancer. I simply collect these bits and pieces of the old dusted animal remains to study for my art. By studying the structure of the skull you can get a better idea on how to draw whatever creature it was once from.

Yes, I bleach these things at least three times, ending with a personal soap and water wash afterwards. These suckers are completely cleaned, being germ AND brain/organ/ligament free. They're like the things you see in museums now. They grace my upper shelf of the bookcase in my room. I have a stag, a chipmunk and now two raccoon skulls! Pretty impressive.

I have to thank Billy so much. He went to the creek around his house and hand plucked that piece of treasure. I have to begin the bleaching process tomorrow, which will take four to five days. After that, it's pretty easy from there.

The neat thing about this skull? There's no back plate, which means I can actually SEE what is INSIDE of the skull for once!!

heart Peace out, ya'll! heart