Protected: Not for publication (yet)
•May 11, 2016 • Enter your password to view comments.More Watercolor
•April 9, 2016 • Leave a CommentStill playing. Took some stage photos of these three pieces and a few people have told me that they like seeing work in progress.
Now time to get off of the computer and go make some more stuff.
Art, Figure Drawing, Life and (you know) just stuff
•March 31, 2016 • Leave a CommentPlaying with working with different media for Figure Drawing still. The shorter poses here are done with ballpoint pen and the last one has a variety of things going on.
more figure drawing… still messing with mediums
not sure why those came out so small. I guess the Universe knew I wasn’t really happy with them?
In the fall I am taking a class from Robert Liberace. He will be teaching rendering of the figure in Silverpoint and in Watercolor. Since I have never done either I figured I should at least try them out before the class. So these are my first attempts at working with sliverpoint. It’s like pencil, except the mark is lighter and can not be erased (well unless you consider sanding the board down erasing). After time the silver will age and patina and the marks will darken some. I’m not clear on how long that takes (I think it may be years).
More silver point… and I seem to have no control over the size that these upload, so I guess if you want to see them better you will have to click on them individually. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
and still more silverpoint
Drawing for a tattoo that I decided to take in a slightly different direction (did you think this was going to be all figure drawing?)
and still more silverpoint. wasn’t feeling very good that night. drew very small and didn’t stay for the last (long) pose.
More silverpoint figure drawing:
and then the watercolor experiments start. Now there are two reasons for this. One is the aforementioned Robert Liberace workshop. The other is that I am going to Italy the end of April. I would like to be able to work in a little travel sketchbook while I am there. It’s not convenient to carry a huge assortment of markers or colored pencils. So I figured why not try to learn watercolors a bit.
I’ll tell you why. Because watercolors have been my nemesis. I don’t understand them. But hey, it’s art. It can”t hurt to try. No one can fire me. So why not play and see if I can learn some stuff. While I don’t expect to master them anytime soon…. it is another great opportunity to stretch outside of my comfort zone and learn something new.
and then flying WAY outside the comfort zone… water colors for live figure drawing (I mean why not… I’ve done three watercolor pieces so far at this point if you could the owl and the bunnies as two separate pieces).
and then to completely make myself nuts… I start playing with the new Gamblin solvent free mediums. This is also in preparation for the trip to Italy where I intend to do a lot of painting. The solvent free mediums make it possible to fly with them (checked) instead of trying to find mediums there. They are a bit different and I want to practice with them before I go.
one of the kittens helped me with this one
more not good figure drawings with watercolor… this is really a struggle for me and my instinct is to hide them… but we all have to start somewhere
when I got home I read that it was mermaid Monday – so I figured I would give that a go as well
and more
and then oil again
an idea for a tattoo that I am supposed to be working on for a friend – instead I decided to play with it with watercolors (this would make a terrible tattoo)
An Easter Jackalope… because it was Easter and because it has been too long since I’ve rendered an angry bunny.
back to the bee… feeling discombobulated yet? welcome to my brain
and because I’m just not experimenting with quite enough new things at this point… I decide to try out oil paper which I have never used before either.
Back to Figure Drawing …. and BREAKTHROUGH! I make some figure drawings with the watercolor that I don’t hate. I actually really like some things about these.
All of which has frustrated me lots and taught me a ton. I’ve been busy. I will continue to be busy… but productive. It feels good and it keeps me out of trouble.
Lots more in the works… stay tuned.
Tattoos? Glad that you asked.
•March 31, 2016 • Leave a CommentI have been updating semi-regularly with the artwork produced from my suggestion list. But during that time I have still been working as well…
Here are some of the tattoos that you might have missed since I posted tattoos last:
Gretchen came into town. I’ve said it before, I will say it again. I love this lady. She is awesome. Not just because she lets me make really cool tattoos on her – but also because she is a fellow cat lady, she understands me in a way that few people do and I am super super glad that our paths have crossed. I hope she continues to think that I am cool enough to hang out with.
This is the section that we had done previously… it is healed except for the (obviously new) outline to the top right of the photo.
and after this session:
Added Harley Quinn to what I hoped was going to be a full Batman sleeve. At least we got the ladies on there. For now it is a half Batman sleeve (with no Batman).
Another half sleeve – this time intentionally so and the top half. This is the second session and clearly half healed. I did get better photos of this one later.
A very long time ago in a land not so very far away I made this ThunderBear tattoo for a wonderful bear of a man.
After the Gods called him home. I was honored to make this (much) smaller Echo of Thunderbear for the woman who walked with him in life. Their hearts will always be one.
Maybe we should call him Echo the ThunderCub?
Much love to you Bec ❤
Dreamcatcher tattoo with her horse. I did know the horse’s name… but it seems to have escaped me at the moment.
after a very long hiatus we had another session on this floral sleeve…
Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction. Hope that I am able to get healed photos of her.
Nice solid session on the Dragon Sleeve. Can’t wait to work on this one again!
Healed version of the Angel & Clock half sleeve.
Very fun piece to do. Hard to see the color in this – but it is primarily sepia tones with touches of color. Hope to get healed photos (as always).
A very impressive First Session on a SteamPunk Knuckle 3/4 sleeve. While technical (and potentially tedious). I designed this one (so I have no one but myself to blame) and I am SUPER excited to see this one finished. It’s going to be glorious!!!
First kitty on what will be a montage of all of her little fur babies #catladiesunited
Black and grey lion tattoo on the chest.
While I’ve gotten better about my photography. I had some sort of relapse on this one. This photo does not do this tattoo justice at all.
Nice “little” cobra on the tummy. That feels every bit as badly as you think it does. Worth it in the end.
Got some healed photos of the 911 Flag background that I made a while back.
and last but definitely not least…. started working on the lower half of Shawna’s arm. This will have realistic flower background behind it and will be a stunning piece when it is finished… not that it doesn’t stand well on it’s own as is.
Wouldn’t want for you to think that I was idle while I was away.
Humbled Beyond Words
•March 31, 2016 • 2 CommentsThis incredible piece of art was made for me by Jeff Crawford who had been working on it for a very long time completely unbeknownst to me.
She is Audhumbla – who’s story I will not attempt to convey here. She is a Mother Cow from Norse Origins: arriving on the scene shortly after Ymir.
There is a lot here. A whole lot. With my artwork I prefer not to tell the whole story – allowing the viewer to get what they can from my creations. Jeff did let me in on his intentions behind this piece. They mean more to me than I can say here – so I simply won’t try.
—-
Jeff made most of the piece. His sister Any made the glass spheres (there are two inside of each other) that form the bulb.
This version of Audhumbla is beautiful to behold in person. She is sitting in the front window of the Greece studio. I hope to find a suitable platform for her to live on permanently. If you stop by at night and ask me nicely I will turn the electric on and you can see how breathtaking she is in person.
Thank you Jeff.
That doesn’t seem like enough to say – but I think that you know me and my heart enough to understand just how much it really means to me.
I really need to stop crying at work or the crew is going to think I have completely lost my mind.
Some More from THE LIST
•March 24, 2016 • Leave a Comment# 28 – Gothic MedicineMan
# 29 – Dancing Fairies
# 30 – Rabbit Rulers
# 31 – Octobunny
This one was a challenge as I have made an Octobunny in the past and while I wanted this one to be similar… I didn’t want them to be too much alike.
I very much enjoyed the addition of the dreaded Tree Penguin.
I hadn’t noticed it at the time I had scanned the Octobunny, but the flame had disappeared in the scan. It would have been nice if I would have noticed it at the time as I used the new neon prismacolor pencils that I used for the flame much more heavily in later drawings – and they magically DISAPPEAR in the scans.
#32 – Biker Cinderella
I had a nice vision of her riding off by herself on her Harley – tossing the remaining shoe over her head behind her. In all honesty – I didn’t want to render the bike. I don’t like drawing things that have to be exact in my free time since I do so much of it during the day. No matter what, I had a lot of fun with this concept and will probably develop it further later (with my sincerest apologies to Anne Rice).
# 33 – 80s Workout Bunnies
Here is where the magic disappearing colored pencils became a bigger problem (but I still didn’t know it at the time). The neon colors photograph fine (as shown here) but only the paper shows through anywhere that the neon colors are used when they are scanned. I am going to need to redraw this one completely with conventional pencils as I drew it for a friend who wanted to use it for something… that it has to be scanned for.
sigh
# 34 – Gabby jag Harry the rabbit aka Hanukkah Harry the Rabbit
I honestly had never heard of Hanukkah Harry. I had to google him. If your curious – you can google him too…. but here he is as a rabbit.
#35 – Toothless
I am fully aware that there is an adorable animation character named Toothless. In the interest of not offending large animation studios, I went another direction.
For whatever reason I thought of the little shrunken head apple dolls that we used to make when I was a kid. Which reminded me of the kitchen witches that everyone else’s mom seemed to have when I was a kid. They might be toothless.
# 36 – Winter Bunnies and Butterfly
#37 – Horse wildfire running across a snowy field
This is where I finally did some scanning and realized the major problem with the neon colored pencils. This is from a photo as the scan shows nothing where the tail and mane should be.
#38 – Toothy Plant
This may be the end of the series. It is possible that I will pick it back up as there were more suggestions made after this. I have started other projects though and am beginning a (potentially long ugly) battle to learn to make loose flowing watercolors. So far it is not going well, but I have hope.
I had an Opening!
•February 8, 2016 • 6 CommentsI guess in some ways that makes me feel like more of a “real” artist. I know that probably doesn’t make sense to some of you. I am reading a book where the author talks about having Imposter Syndrome and I think I have (more than) a touch of it myself.
Anyhow. Solo show. Had one. Was kind of excited and kind of nervous. Wound up having a great time. Super surprised at who showed up and what they went through to do so. It was excellent all around. A bunch of the drawings and a couple of the paintings sold.
I completely forgot to take any photos at all that night.
So I have for you here a couple of photos that I took the night before when we set everything up.
and some photos that some friends took (and were nice enough to send to me).
some more:
If anyone else took any and could send them my way I would greatly appreciate it. Now I need to get to painting so that I have a bunch of new stuff should this kind of opportunity present itself again.
Thank you to everyone who came, everyone who helped and everyone who has supported me along the way. Also thank you to Jeff from RocCity CoWork for being such a great host!
Big Love to you all!
❤
Edit
I forgot to mention that the show will be hanging until at least next First Friday (possibly longer if they can’t get someone else lined up between now and then). It is at RocCity CoWork which is in the Village Gate – third floor of the building that houses Salena’s. Actual address is 302 North Goodman Street Suite 308. Their normal hours are 9-5ish. They have said that they are okay with people popping in to see the show, as long as they understand that it is a CoWork and the hours may vary.
Please Join me for my very first First Friday show
•January 27, 2016 • 2 CommentsSuper excited to announce that I will be participating for the very first time in my own First Friday event.
I will be showing my paintings on Friday February Fifth from 6-9pm at the Roc City Cowork in the Village Gate. Physical address is 302 Goodman Street North, in suite 308. This is the separate building in Village Gate that houses Selenas and has the big mural on the outside (several stories tall).
In addition to the paintings that I will have showing (and of course for sale) I will have the original drawings with me from the Drawlloween series and the more recent series. They will be for sale for $50 each. Unfortunately I will not be able to accept charge cards there.
Even if you aren’t looking to buy a piece for your own I would really really love to have you come and say hi! This is a big thing for me and the sort of event I tend to get nervous at, so all the friendly faces would be appreciated.
I’m planning on munchies and we will probably round up some wine or something for those of you who are into that sort of thing (I hear that is pretty standard at these events).
If you have any questions or anything, please let me know.
Hope to see you there!!!
Link from First Friday Website
Carrying on from #20
•January 14, 2016 • 2 Comments#20 = Natural Magic
Wanted to do something with the elements, Earth, Air, Fire and Water… and the day before I made this drawing I found out that a group of rabbits can be known as a Fluffle, so of course they needed to be bunnies.
Elemental Fluffle
#21 – Sewer Angel
For this one I wanted her to look both attractive and disgusting. I wouldn’t want to mess with her. I don’t imagine that she smells very good either.
#22 – Weepy Willow
#23 – Viking Cat Bear
#24 Dragon Train Squirrel
This one threw me. I almost stopped here. I really couldn’t figure out how to combine these three elements. I had a bunch of sketches of a dragon training a squirrel to do things… but all of them seemed like things the squirrel should know how to do already. The dragon teaching the squirrel to play violin didn’t make for an interesting image.
#25 – Footwear
Of course my footwear of choice had to be bunny slippers. I think I look like this in the morning. I know I feel like this in the morning.
#26 – Roller Derby
literally
#27 – Sea Unicorn
and still going…
more soon.
🙂
Continuing on with the Drawing Prompts
•December 31, 2015 • Leave a Comment#14 – Self Animal Portrait
If you pay attention to my work or we have ever talked about it in person – you probably already know that most of the times when the winged merbunny appears in my paintings and drawings that it is representational of me.
So when I got to this prompt it only made sense that it was going to be her again.
When I was working on the drawing a co-worker had commented that it couldn’t possibly be me as she had never ever seen me that relaxed. She suggested that I go more of a Kali style and give her multiple arms trying to do all of the things at once. I gave it a lot of thought. I decided that this is more of a feeling thing than a visual thing. This is how I feel when I am creating. When I am painting or drawing or sewing or cooking or anything that creates – I feel at peace. Completely calm inside my own skin and my own head. It is the only time that happens.
After I posted it someone had commented “Dang girl, you are one sexy merbunny!” at which point I became super self-conscious and wondered if it looked egomaniacal. I don’t think I am hot. I almost pulled it down or put up a disclaimer. I decided eventually that none of the people in my drawings actually look like themselves. They are how we appear in the little world in my brain. Since this piece was more about how I feel and not how I think I look, I decided to leave it.
I did toy with the idea of putting flames in the background. I do think sometimes I focus so much on the good and the beautiful that I don’t notice my world is on fire. Which I also know is completely contradictory as I can be super cynical as well.
Welcome to the very busy, crowded, noisy, confusing place that is between my ears.
#15 – Devil’s Advocate
Initially I had the bunny with his arms up like he was talking with his hands. He had on a little vest.
He looked entirely too much like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. I decided this one was more about the look on the Devil’s face than anything else and made the rabbit much simpler so he didn’t take away from the Devil. I do think that bunny is probably pretty silver tongued though.
#16 – Dandelion Wish
Dandelions are a thing in tattoos (at least for the last few years) and they are super hard to render in a tattoo in a way that will hold up and look pretty in years to come and not be too dark or heavy. It was a JOY to be able to render one on paper and not have to have any of those concerns. Had a lot of fun with the fur textures as well. I feel like I am getting clearer in my head about what I want things to look like.
#17 – Owl Cat (Meowl)
Meowls. They are an internet thing. I have seen lots and lots of them over the years, but have never drawn one. I did a whole lot of little thumbnails to figure out what I wanted him to look like. I couldn’t pick just one.
This in the nice Meowl.
and this is the not as nice Meowl.
#18 – Spirit Bunny
This one was prompted by my sister and I got it most of the way finished on her birthday. Was bummed that I couldn’t time it to be all the way finished on her day, but was pleased with the drawing itself.
The day after I posted her someone said that they had a dream about her. That made me ridiculously happy. I really like that my characters have the ability to spark someone else’s imagination. I think that is perhaps the point of it all.
#19 – “Love Bubble”
The prompt was Love Bubble, but I’ve been calling it Cheese Chapel.
I’m working on the next one now… so there will be more here soon.
Happy New Year everyone!
🙂
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