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dmmccabe

[ website | Diana McCabe - Illustration, Art & Fiction ]
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[sticky post] Hi and Welcome! [Jan. 1st, 2024|07:16 pm]
dmmccabe
Welcome! Thanks so much for visiting, and for friending if you choose to! :)
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Can it really be a year... [Jan. 26th, 2016|05:47 pm]
dmmccabe
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Wow - it's been a year ago today that we took in our little feral kitten. (Story is here.) Zoe won our hearts immediately, and after weathering her getting-into-everything-every-minute-and-making-me-wonder-if-I'd-ever-get-any-work-done-again kittenhood, she has grown into a lovely, loving cat who no longer tries to climb the curtains or the bookshelves or into the washer, and who remembers she is not allowed on the kitchen counter. :) She does still get in the middle of anything we're doing, because that just is a cat's job, after all, ;-), but her presence is now an integral part of our day and she has become a beloved member of the family. As I type this, she is curled up, warm, sleepy and purring, on my lap. <3



( More pictures under the cut...Collapse )
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Art: In Memory of Alan Rickman - sharing the sadness and shock... [Jan. 16th, 2016|03:00 pm]
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Alan Rickman was without question one of my most favorite actors of all time. His untimely death has been a shock and I have felt this loss keenly. I am also deeply grateful for all the joy he has given me - from his stealing-the-show performance as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves to his heartful portrayal of Col. Brandon in Sense and Sensibility to the glorious silliness that was Galaxy Quest (to name a few) - I have loved all of them. But perhaps above all, he was Professor Severus Snape. He will so be missed.

( In Memory of Alan Rickman...Collapse )
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Chihuly Art Glass in San Francisco [Mar. 7th, 2015|12:35 pm]
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Chihuly art glass ceiling at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. We visited this exhibit in 2008 and this has to be one of the most wonderful things I've ever seen. I could have stayed in this room for hours...



( More photos under the cut...Collapse )

Posted for participating in LJ_Photophile's Theme of Color
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Just sharing the cuteness... [Feb. 9th, 2015|02:11 pm]
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Well, we are entirely in love with our new kitten, Zoe. I think that makes us kitten smitten! *grin*

We've had her two weeks today. Behold the CUTE!:



( More CUTENESS under the cut...Collapse )

The story of how we got her is here...
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We have a new kitten! [Feb. 1st, 2015|02:46 pm]
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This was completely unexpected, but we have been adopted by a little feral kitten! We have not had any pets since our parakeet Pippin died in 2011, so this is going to be fun and challenging! At least the kitchen remodel is finished! lol

This is Zoe. :) She is the sweetest little thing. You would never know she'd been living wild. She's moved right in and taken over the house - and us. ;-)



More pics and story under the cut.

( A couple of weeks ago, we started seeing a mom cat with one kitten...Collapse )
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Animated art post: Happy Holidays! [Dec. 24th, 2014|11:13 am]
dmmccabe
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Hee - I'm in the middle of my annual Christmas Eve cookie baking marathon! So far, I've done three versions of oatmeal cookies - raisin/walnut, cranberry/macadamia/white chocolate chip, chocolate chip/pecan - and chocolate peppermint cookies. Still to go - gingerbread! :D

Thank you so much to saras_girl and dannyfranx, demicus, and leochi for the wonderful Christmas cards!! *hugs to you all* ^.^

One of my most loved books of all time is the Hobbit, so here is a little holiday greeting from Middle Earth!

Preview:
Greetings from Middle Earth

( Holiday Greetings from Middle Earth...Collapse )

Happy Holidays to Everyone!! May the new year be filled with joy and blessings!!

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It's been an insanely busy year... [Dec. 19th, 2014|07:08 pm]
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Looking back I see that I last made a post here last January. (Yikes! How could it possibly be December!) I had no intention of disappearing for so long! Looking back, so many of the creative projects - art and writing - that I'd intended to do this year, are still waiting to be started. You just really don't know what life - that sneaky bugger - is going to throw at you! Most of the time-consuming things this year were good, and some were hard...

( We unexpectedly decided to completely remodel our kitchen...Collapse )

( My grandmother died this November at 100 years old...Collapse )

Hopefully, I can be back on LJ more now. I can't wait to see what 2015 is going to come up with! ;-) New laundry room is on the radar... And some of those on-hold art and writing projects hopefully will get finished. I'm more than ready to get to work on those! <3
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Art: Two book covers from the world of Harry Potter [Jan. 3rd, 2014|01:59 pm]
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Happy New Year, everyone! Hopefully, the 3rd is not too late to say that! :D I was tied up with extended family events on the first - we have a tradition of spending January 1st together with lots of great food and fun games. ^.^ Then yesterday, I did nothing. Well, that is - haha - I played PS3 Lego Lord of the Rings all day. ;-) OMG - Lego Legolas! He has a little braid on the back of his hair! *dies from the cute* :DD

Also welcome to new friends!! <333 I am excited and grateful to have you here! ^.^

And here is some new (or rather not-posted-here-yet) art! This past fall I did cover designs for two books mentioned in the Harry Potter series. These were drawn for hd_fan_fair's 2013 Harry/Draco Book Fair.

Preview:



( Book covers from the world of Harry Potter...Collapse )


Wishing everyone a wonderful 2014!! ^.^


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Happy Holidays!! A Snail's Christmas Story... [Dec. 22nd, 2013|09:32 am]
dmmccabe
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Wishing everyone a blessed holiday season! <333

Please enjoy this little Christmas story written by saras_girl and illustrated by me. ^.^

Title: A Snail's Christmas Story

Rated: G

Media: Photoshop

Preview:



( A Snail's Christmas Story...Collapse )


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Art Post - The Gory, Spoilery Alphabetic Guide to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [Oct. 24th, 2013|05:37 pm]
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I started this back in 2005! I'm happy to say, it is NOW FINALLY FINISHED!!! Actually, it is not only finished, it is entirely reworked, and a brand new "B" has been added. This project was one of the very first things I tried to draw digitally, and over the years as I learned better how to do that work, the style changed significantly. With B in particular, I realized that the original version was not in keeping with the rest, in that it was not an illustration of an event in the book. So therefore, I've redrawn a new B and redrawn the others a bit so that the style, while still not exactly the same, at least is more consistent overall. And finally, I've added the missing letters: W - Z! :) Yay!!

Title: The Gory, Spoilery Alphabetic Guide to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Rating: G
Media: Photoshop
Notes: The poem in this work is inspired by The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey. I did not try to imitate Gorey's very unique art style, but I did do B/W digital illustrations as a tribute to the wonderful ink drawings he is famous for.

Preview of W - Z:




( The Gory, Spoilery Alphabetic Guide to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceCollapse )



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NEIL GAIMAN Awesomeness and ART!! [Jul. 13th, 2013|11:15 pm]
dmmccabe
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[Current Mood |excitedexcited]

I went to "An Evening With Neil Gaiman" Wednesday night. :DD He is definitely one of my favorite writers, and it was so much fun to see him in person! He was on tour, promoting and signing his latest book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It was truly a delight to listen to him talk, answer questions from the audience, and read a bit from his book. As it happened, a thunderstorm rolled in just as he came on stage, and he told us with understated glee that he had promised himself that if that ever happened during his tour, that instead of reading the usual bits from the first chapter of the book, he would read the really scary part from the middle of the book that happens during a thunderstorm. So as the actual thunder rumbled and growled outside the auditorium, he did just that. It was marvelous, as many times the thunder seemed to come just on cue. Hee! :D

( More, plus two pictures of Neil...Collapse )

AND, there was another recent connection with me and Neil Gaiman! Earlier this spring, Neil created a mass participation project called, A Calendar of Tales. He asked twelve questions, one for each month of the year, and invited anyone who wanted to, to answer in a sentence or two. Then he picked one answer for each month, and wrote a short story based on it. Finally, he posted those stories and invited anyone who wanted to, to illustrate them. So I did!

( My art for the Calendar of Tales...Collapse )


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Art, movie nights, and back to class... [Jan. 6th, 2013|02:31 pm]
dmmccabe
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[Current Mood |excitedexcited]
[Current Music |Moon Control]

Ken and I did an unheard-of thing this week - *grin* - we went to a movie in the theater both Friday AND Saturday night. Friday night we saw the Hobbit, which I loved. And last night we saw Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, which was gorgeous and amazing. I am now feeling very inspired to make art with fabulous costumes and bodies covered with intricate designs. :DD

The only piece of original art I did last year was a card design of the Reiki Principles. As of last December 2011, I am a Reiki Master-Teacher and this card was a gift to my Reiki teacher. I think it may the first of a small series of card designs I'll do for Reiki/energy healing...

( Reiki PrinciplesCollapse )

Classes for Winter quarter start tomorrow. I'll be taking a class in Business and Marketing, which I think will be very interesting, and also the second level of Jin Shin Do, also very interesting! :D
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Happy New Year! [Jan. 1st, 2013|06:20 pm]
dmmccabe
[Current Music |Moon Control]
[Current Mood |happyhappy]

Wow, I haven't posted here since June, 2011, when I quit my job! I've been quite busy, as I somehow found myself back in school very unexpectedly that following September, but I've been enjoying it immensely. I've met lots of lovely new people and have learned many new and very interesting skills in massage/energy therapy! I love doing the energy work, like acupressure and craniosacral therapy, and even if I don't actually become a LMT, I'm still loving learning it. Right now, that's really all I know - that I want to learn it. And at least for last year, my involvement in school pretty much took over all my time. But this year, I'm cutting back to one class a quarter, and probably will drop out in June. I want to start working seriously on some original art & writing projects this year, and hopefully using this journal more often. :D

Wishing everyone a very blessed 2013. ^.^
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Well, I've done it now! [Jun. 26th, 2011|04:45 pm]
dmmccabe
[Current Mood |bouncybouncy]

I quit my day job.

Monday, driving home from work, I said to Ken, "I don't think I can stand doing this job even one more day..." and he said, "Then you need to go in there tomorrow and tell them you're quitting."

So I did. Wow! My last day will be August 31, and I've already started training my replacement. The college girl that's been helping me with stuff part-time has not been able to find a job in her major since she graduated this spring, and she's already got a handle on doing some of what I do. They offered her the job the same afternoon that I gave notice, and she took it. So win-win!! :D I'm really happy that this worked out so well.

It's obviously a leap of faith on my part, since I don't have something else specific planned. But I have this very strong intuitive feeling something will come up. And I wanted to be free and ready! :DD Yay!! I can't wait for September 1! ^.^
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Goodbye, dear Pippin <3 [Jun. 12th, 2011|12:02 pm]
dmmccabe
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[Current Mood |sadtearful]

Our little Pippin died yesterday afternoon. It was very sudden, and very quick - a stroke most likely. He simply fell from the perch in his cage and was gone. Ken and I were both there in the room. I saw him fall and jumped up immediately to see what had happened, but there was nothing we could do. It's such a helpless feeling to stand by and watch a beloved pet die before your eyes. But I am so very grateful that we shared his company for six years, that we were there with him in the end, and that it was quick.


Pippin
3/15/2005 - 6/11/2011


He was such a lovely, funny and dear little personality. He could always make us laugh. He will be missed very much.
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ART Post - new Portrait art [May. 27th, 2011|10:51 pm]
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I took a break from doing fanart for a bit to paint art for my dear kupukello for her birthday. I've wanted to paint this portrait of her beautiful daughters, Katrina and Bramble, for ages. The references for this portrait were three photos taken at different times by kupukello.

Preview:



( Katrina and BrambleCollapse )



I just came back from a really fun vacation trip to Florida. We visited some fabulous art museums and Universal Islands of Adventure/Harry Potter World and the Kennedy Space Center. Pictures to come!
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Snow - make it stop already!! :P [Feb. 13th, 2011|01:08 pm]
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[Current Music |Stars and Midnight Blue by Enya]
[Current Mood |amusedamused]

I was telling some people just last October, that we rarely get any snow here. Boy, was I wrong for this year. We have had more snow this year than I ever remember seeing in my whole life. For some of you, I realize this is the way things are every year, but people here go crazy when it snows. Case in point: Wednesday it started snowing around 3:30 in the afternoon. We left work at 4:30. Traffic was SO insane it took us 5 1/2 HOURS to drive the 6 miles to our house!!!! People were getting stranded - not from the snow - from running out of gas! We didn't get home until 10:00 pm. :(( What an ordeal! Not to mention we were pretty hungry by then...





( A few snow pictures under the cut...Collapse )
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Art Post: The Horcruxes of Lord Voldemort [Jan. 23rd, 2011|01:45 pm]
dmmccabe
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[Current Mood |artisticartistic]

This is my entry for this year's "Imitation of a Famous Work of Art" Challenge on hp_fringeart. I had the hardest time finding something I wanted to do this year, and finally came up with this. Just because I'm a huge fan of Mucha, I had to do something of his again... :)

Title: The Horcruxes of Lord Voldemort

Rating: G

Characters: Harry Potter, Nagini, assorted horcruxes, basilisk, Sword of Gryffindor

Notes: Imitation of "Lorenzaccio" by Alphonse Mucha (copy under the cut). In the panel under Harry's feet, I added two of the things that destroyed the Horcruxes: the Sword of Gryffindor and the basilisk.

Preview:



( The Horcruxes of Lord VoldemortCollapse )

.
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Massive Photo Post - Rock City Gardens [Nov. 28th, 2010|10:57 pm]
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[Current Mood |busybusy]
[Current Music |Tell Me]

Every October, usually the last week of the month, Ken and I take off work and take some little day trips to places in the area that we love to visit. I'm finally getting around to posting my photos from our trip to Rock City Gardens - er... in 2008. lol

So before everyone is completely out of a fall/pretty leaves mood and into winter (is anyone really into winter??) or rather Christmas, I wanted to get these up before I feel I must wait another year. :D



I've been four or five times and it never gets old. ^.^

For any of my friends who are fans of the book "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman, the final battle takes place on Lookout Mountain, and partly in Rock City. You can read what he had to say about it here.

( Rock City Gardens PhotosCollapse )
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(no subject) [Nov. 14th, 2010|10:33 pm]
dmmccabe
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[Current Mood |busybusy]

Last Sunday was the last day for the Chihuly Art Glass exhibit at Cheekwood. I had seen it in July when it first opened, but wanted to see it again before it left. So I went Sunday afternoon, and was very pleased to be able to get photos of all the pieces that it had been too dark to photograph well the first time. :)


Preview:



( New Chihuly at Cheekwood pictures...Collapse )
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Flower/Bird/Critter Photos and a Funny Fox Tale [Aug. 1st, 2010|01:58 pm]
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Massive Photo Post! :DD

This spring I put up a bluebird house since we'd been seeing one in the yard all winter, and sure enough, the most adorable bluebird couple moved in. We think they have raised at least two broods since this spring.




( Other flora and fauna pictures from this spring...Collapse )

( Some birds and flowers from early this Summer...Collapse )


( A Funny Fox Tale...Collapse )

I seem to have acquired a sudden adoration for foxes. So cute!!! ^.^
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Chihuly Exhibit photos [Jul. 2nd, 2010|12:39 pm]
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Last Friday, I went to the new Chihuly art glass exhibit at Cheekwood, and of course, I took my camera! I LOVE his work - it's just incredible. Many of the pieces are lit after dark, so we stayed to see that too.

Preview:



( Pictures from the Chihuly Exhibit at Cheekwood...Collapse )

These are only a sample of the many photos I took at the exhibition. All of them, including close-ups of many of the pieces, and after-dark photos, may be seen in my gallery HERE. Please do click to see full-size - the glass is absolutely gorgeous! I will definitely be going back to see this again!
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Hee! I won! :DD [Feb. 9th, 2010|09:39 pm]
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[Current Mood |bouncybouncy]

I've been sitting on this announcement for a few days while I put the finishing touches on this new journal, so with no more delay....

I am very excited to announce that I won this year's Rosatide Art Competition with my Wraeththu art, "Portrait of the Tigron". Beginning in March the art will be featured on merchandise in the Immanion Bazaar on Café Press!

Preview:


( Portrait of the Tigron...Collapse )


Many thanks and hugs to calanthe_fics for introducing me to the fascinating world of the Wraeththu books by Storm Constantine and for inspiring me to draw art for them. Thank you so much, my dear!!! ♥
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this hardly ever happens... [Feb. 1st, 2010|07:41 pm]
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We are snowed in!! It rarely snows where we live, but we live on a steep hill, and when it does, we can get stuck for days. :P K tried to shovel our drive yesterday, but it's iced over and was hard, so he didn't get far enough for us to actually be able to drive out. Luckily we got food in the house the morning it started... so we won't starve or anything. lol

This poor little guy, an Eastern Bluebird, was sitting in the tree outside our front window, freezing his little er, tailfeathers off, no doubt. *wants to pet*




( More pictures under the cut...Collapse )

And K and I have discovered Torchwood. I love it! Snowed in = Torchwood Marathon!! :DD
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