Ink Vanilla

The Third Guest

The third guest nurtured by the elixir, his path an essence of the universe.

Five minutes after the second guest had arrived, the third made an appearance.

Bent on discovering the identity of the oriental dressed man, Fredrico tried in vain to strike up a conversation. But the man behind the mask, spoke few words. Moments later, the mysterious stranger excuses himself. Fredrico politely stepped to one side while inhaling the scent of many earthly spices. Just then, he suddenly sensed a key ingredient which triggered certitude as to the third guest occupation.

*Comments Closed.

The Second Guest

The second guest has gallant visions nourished by an aqua world.

It is twelve minutes pass seven o'clock. A sudden wind stirs autumn leaves outside the entrance of the castle by the sea. Inside, Fredrico paces the flag-stone floor like a caged animal. Anticipation weighed heavily on his mind for the Masquerade Ball of nine guests (himself included) to commence. For several weeks, great preparations were made upon his brother's request. Fredrico's role was simply delegated to appear on the appointed evening dressed incognito. And now the time has come, his thoughts allude to the whereabouts of the host. Sounds of horse hoofs beckon his attention toward the front door. 

Outside, the second guest dismounts a carriage. Moments later as a valet opens the door, Fredrico finds himself mask to mask with a mysterious stranger. Bowing courteously, there is no mention of names. A handsome and dignified uniform, including hook billed mask ... for Fredrico, it was an easy guess as to the stranger's occupation. 

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Notes:

1. Contrary as of last post, comments are here onward closed for the duration of masquerade game. This way those who wish to play aren't swayed or dis swayed by other player opinions.

2. The illustrations require a lot of research and time to render. So posting may be days passing before you're able to see the next guest. Also, this game just came about on a whim the other day. So please bear with me while I try to create something worthwhile. Meanwhile, I'm getting those cards ready for the lucky winners!

3. Don't forget ... custom hand-made paper treasures available soon on my upcoming online shop. Presently designing website pages, banner, illustrations, etc. In the near future, I will be producing specialty items such as accordion fans including paper dolls for children. There's going to be a lot of unique things so please stay tune!

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For details on how to play The Masquerade Game, see July 20th Post. Thanks.

*Comments closed for duration of game.

A Masquerade Mystery Game

The first guest to arrive was Fredrico from the town of Sortino. A charming fellow, his heart desires a certain lovely lady with violet eyes.

Under a full moon, a bell tower clock chimes seven times. And so begins the masquerade ball located in a castle by the sea. The owner of the castle whose name shall remain anonymous, has invited nine people whose occupations ~ (profession, hobby, pastime, interest) he finds admirable or intriguing. And the first guest happens to be his dear brother Fredrico. For several days, his pastime has been spent pursuing a mysterious lady with violet eyes. So enraptured by her beauty, Fredrico has fallen madly in love with her. Unbeknown to him, she will soon arrive at the ball.

As Fredrico enters the castle, you're welcome to join him on his quest to guess the occupation of the other eight guests soon to arrive.

When you see the last illustration showing a clock tower with the little hand at eight, this means the game has officially concluded. Then and only then should you feel you know all eight occupations of the guests...email me. If correct, you'll receive a free custom-made greeting card by yours truly. What sort of greeting card? That's a secret!

So be sure to return here every few days to help Fredrico solve the mystery behind the masks and you to win a special card!

Tip: pay close attention to hints given with each guest. Remember it's about their occupation.

Bonus Prize: To the winners with correct answers including the name of Fredrico's  love interest, wins two greeting cards! 

Also please feel free to leave comments. It would certainly be entertaining to hear what others may be thinking. Just remember they could be wrong and you could be right! Or you could be wrong and they could be right!

Good Luck!

*More details regarding email responses, etc. will be provided on the day game is officially over.

For those of you who will be winning a greeting card or two, they're the very first samples of my new greeting card line in development. They'll be printed on acid free heavy-weight paper with envelope included. In the future, I will have boxed sets available for purchase.

The Masquerade Ball

Cornucopia moleskine sketchbook.

The Masquerade Ball and the Guests Who Came

Ciao,

Here is the first installment of a new series of illustrations heading your way. As you'll notice the theme will depict a masquerade ball and the guests who came. Beginning tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. pacific standard time I will introduce you to the first guest who arrives at this gala event!

Speranza verrete unite il partito e venite a contatto degli ospiti. Arrivederci!

A Lesson Learned

*Illustration not part of Moleskine series, just a little filler.

Copyright 2007 June Parrish Cookson.

Hello.

First and foremost a special thanks goes out to my good friend Juan who alerted me about a blog display problem I was unaware of for ten days! It all began after composing a Type List NEWS! heading on my sidebar using Firefox browser. Apparently, I had forgotten to close tag utilizing upper case fonts. Although the blog looked perfectly find in Firefox and Safari on my iMac, it never occurred to me to double-check Internet Explorer on my PC. So greatly apologize to visitors who were plagued by the irritating all capital letter fonts appearance.

After discovering the mistake, my first reaction was utter confusion. I had no idea that it was an incorrect tag. Had to get help fast. What to do if you're a Typepad user needing help? Typepad Hacks ! How was it fixed? W3C Markup Validation Service. Good to know ~ problem solved! Thank you John T. Unger. You can also go to Typepad Support Base 'Troubleshooting Weblog Display Issues'. Anyway, while at referred link page, check out Browser Shots to know what your blog looks like in different browsers. Of course, there is the alternative of manually checking any you may have installed on your computer. The one thing I've noticed is how different each browser displays the colors in my blog. Images look nearly 100% correct on my iMac monitor through Firefox and Safari browsers. But not so great in IE. Too dark and saturated. Probably need to color calibrate my PC monitor. Then again, maybe it has to do with my larger monitor screen on iMac. Hmm, no less showing my computer stupidity but I'm not a computer guru so have to figure out this later.

Lesson learned ~ to assure that your site is always working properly, try to make it mandatory that you validate your HTML codes including browser displays.

That said, I can now return to creating my next Moleskine illustration for upcoming post. And not withstanding...everything else concerning my art that constantly pulls me in every direction. Oh well, glad to be an artist no matter the complications!

Until next time ~ bye.

The Return

The Return ~ pencil and ink. Copyright 2007 June Parrish Cookson

Apologize for delay in posting since last. Very busy trying to wrap things up with client job. Also illustrating images for upcoming  greeting card line.

Picture above called 'The Return' is something I thought I'd post until I can complete the next moleskine book illustration.

It was drawn a few weeks ago while contemplating writing a witty yet suspenseful short story about a British Governess. I'm thinking of setting it in 1890's New York. Recently, I was rummaging through piles of other stories slowly collecting in baskets filled to the brim. Alas, I read completed manuscripts while contemplating why I haven't the courage to send to publishing companies. And always the assumption being that they're not good enough. Of course, this is not an attitude worthy of festering much longer. There is one amongst the pile that might have potential. Nearly two-hundred fifty pages long, it's based on the life and times of an alien visiting planet Earth. It's quite unusual and perhaps would take an editor who likes quirky, unconventional stories. Nevertheless, I'll spare you the details!

Next illustration currently twirling round inside my head relates to 'La Commedia Dell 'Arte' (Italian Comedy). It will be for the Cornucopia moleskine series.

Until next time...