Dave's Digitals

Having your age play a part in how much leave you get is definitely a first for me. But I think that's pretty neat. But I guess it's not too different in the long run, when you look how some others operate. ... Like when you first start where I work, they inform you that you will earn 4.5 hrs. Sick every two weeks, and this will never change. You will also earn 4 hrs. of Annual for the first 5 years. After 5 years you then earn 6 hrs and after 15 years you earn 8 hrs. So I guess when you look at it, you are older with each upgrade. Though your method would benefit those who start a job at an older age though.

But yeah, I'm really dreading taking Shelby back Friday. I'll be picking her back up Saturday morning, and as hard as it is for her to go through all this it's not much better for us, especially my wife with her on-going issues. She was just saying last night that she hopes she will be able to handle it again. - 3 weeks ago I had to rush her to the hospital, after being woken from her calling out to me from the restroom. She told me she was having severe upper and lower abdominal pain and she was hardly able to walk or stand upright. I finally got her over to the hospital where they put her on IV's and took some X-Rays. They said she was partially dehydrated, but that the X-Rays showed she also has an Ovarian Cyst, a Cyst on her kidneys, as well as kidney stones, which we learned can come from being dehydrated. (something neither of us knew) ... If that wasn't enough good news, a week later I took her to an orthopedic surgeon after getting the results back from her recent MRI's on her lower back. They basically informed her that she has Degenerative Disc Disease, which simply comes with age and is not really a disease, but that there's nothing they can do to help her with her on-going back pain, at least not surgically. They recommend her trying pain management again, which didn't do much the first two times she's tried it. ... Oh well

Kidney stones are no fun. I've never had them but quite a few people I work with get them. I started drinking more water to avoid that problem.

Sorry to hear that Shelby's hurting again...it's so hard to get them to slow down or in my case stay out of cat fights. Loki comes in chewed up but wants to go right back out then gets mad at me because I 'ground' her.

Thanks Lori. Like you, I've never had stones either but have had many people describe how bad they are.

But yeah, I'm dropping Shelby off tomorrow morning and picking her back up Saturday morning. What really sucks is that we did everything we were supposed to do the first time. We followed all their instructions, not allowing her to get active or get on the furniture, walking her on a leash, and not allowing her to play with Kito & Khaleesi. (which was probably the hardest when she would watch them horsing about) ... I just hope it works this time so she doesn't have to deal with it anymore.

And I hear ya about the cat fights too. My Mom always had cats, and though they got along well with the dogs we also had, they seem to always be getting into fights whenever they came across another cat outside.

Some times, for no reason, a surgery won't take...not your fault. Just hope this time it will work and after her forced inactivity she will feel much better and can be as active as she wants.

With all this going on hopefully you can find some time to sketch a bit ...at least with pencil and paper.

Yeah, that's just what the surgeon said as well. Even though he did say that Shelby would only be like the 3rd dog he's ever had to redo, out of something crazy like 9 or 10,000 he's performed. He said he will let me know what did happen once he goes in to work on her, meaning did it re-tear to simply come loose.

And yep you're right, babysitting her will definitely create some down time. Not to mention the wife's been getting on me to finish two of the images I was working on. The Feline piece & the Elf Maiden piece.

I'll definitely give it a shot though.

Thanks

Well I woke early this morning and went & picked Shelby up. She's back home and resting now and doing pretty good, considering. According to the surgeon, the graft he used to repair her ACL didn't break, but she somehow stretched it out. So this time he added an additional graft to double it, as well as adding a piece of nylon cord threaded through the bones to help support the joint even more.

Just hope it takes care of the issue this time.

On another note, I actually pulled the Feline image out last night and played around with it for an hour or so. Mainly just roughing in some more vegetation to the foreground, and also worked on the panther some. Trying to add some details but at the same time, lightening him up some since it's was so dark. Though revisiting this piece, I'm not liking how her tummy area is looking. Namely the side near the panther. It looks wonky, and I think it may be the shadows doing that?

I like the quality of the colour and texture in this Dave. It is rich and very eye pleasing!

The panther and the belly are causing a bit of a tangent because it looks like her tummy ends right where the panther begins. It is implied by the curve of the abdominal muscles too.

It is such a shame to see structural issues when the piece is so rich and far along. I don't know what you could do about it without making some pretty big decisions.

But the piece, overall, is wonderful Dave! I really like it!

Thanks, Dom. Will work on it some and see if I can get it to look better.

Also sat here doodling last couple hours, just waiting to head off for work tonight. Basically just foolin about just to make something.

Looks great Dave, the eyes are amazing look realistic, the shading is really well done.

The two top tigers look really good detail is really high and they have a perfect design, the lower ones need the detail to match, I think you could make her pop in the environment by adding some highlights to her skin, its a bright sunny day she should radiate the sunshine.

Thanks Micro, just don't zoom in like I did. You will see how off shaped her eyes are! (Plan to fix that) ... But yeah, I mostly just worked on the eyes after rough sketching it, but then had to head out to work through the night. I actually just got home and plan to get some much needed sleep. Might work on it some more later today after I've rested some?

And yep, I do plan to work up the lower cats some more along with the foreground grass, just haven't got that far yet. Guess I'm kind-of just flubbing my way through it, jumping around to work on different parts at a time. I will also be adding some more to her, as you suggested. Just haven't figured out what that is or how to do it yet.

Thanks again.