Craft: Dressmakers Doll

Dressmakers Doll

Packing Tape and Garbage Bag

Hehehe! I had such fun with this little sucker. It looks so... weird! Mostly because it's me. I've been wanting to do this for a long while, I've had the tape and everything ready. So I have no idea why I decided to do it today. Besides my being off work and cleaning out my studio. That might have something to do with it.

Basically I cut head and armholes into a garbage bag and put it on, and wrapped myself (carefully!) with packing tape. A lot of packing tape. I really had no idea what I was doing, but it came out looking exactly like I wanted it to, though it almost looked like I was posing. I hope that doesn't mess with what I make clothing-wise.

I won't be doing a whole lot of clothes making right off the bat. So I feel kinda odd making that. But I wanted to make something. I was getting tired of cleaning and listening to my boyfriend studing Japanese.

I'm getting ready to update more, as I said in the last post, but I don't have everything together like I want. Until then I will update with small crafts that don't take awhile to do, or drawings or something. Not quite daily. Maybe I'll post pictures of how my studio is getting clean. Right now I'm trying to find out how to store all my fabric. I have so much I just have to find something to do with it. The sad thing is I have patterns and everything and I still haven't broken out and done much.

Painting comes first though. I might use some of the uglier pieces for canvas and stretch it and use the clear gesso that I have and see what happens. That might be fun. Well, I'm getting all my fabric up before I go to bed, so the only thing left is the tool box.

Then on to painting, and then, daily blog updates! And maybe I can work less and create more <3

Ja!

Regular Updates

Regular updates with art (that might be) worth seeing and some new articles (that will be) worth reading: all to start in a week and a half. First post will be a map up of a working schedule and what to expect, then everything after that will be content, posted regularly.

Hope you enjoy.

Vi

Rick's Angel

Guardian Angel

A coworker at work, Rick, wanted me to paint this for him, as it means a lot to him. So, after a bit of trial and error with the substrate, I got this painted. I'm actually really pleased with it. I worked fairly large, larger than a 16x20 for sure. I also did this in acrylics, something I'm still not used to working in. The only thing that needs to be done is I have to spray it and give it at least a satin finish, because the matte acrylic just looks way too chaulky for me.

My palette was fairly large (for me) and I had a white, a black, a warm red, a cool red, a warm blue, a cool blue, and of course yellow ocher. I used liquitex heavy body acrylic medium on shellacked vellum. Yes, odd, I know. Worked well, too. He asked for it on very thin paper, and nothing wouldn't wrinkle so I had to seal it. 

I was so sure I would have so many more problems with this than I did, I'm terribly pleased with the way it came out. I haven't done a master copy (can I refer to this as that? It was what I was thinking while I was painting it) in so long, and I didn't want to paint it exactly, and I didn't want to go way out on a limb. I think I hit a pretty good balance. I painted loosely, but everything still pulled together well. 

Hopefully, in about five or ten days, I'll have the other painting finished. And then I can move on with my life. Yes.

Ja!

New pictures soon

Just want to let everyone know I haven't completely disappeared. It's just been very, very hectic.

I'm going back to school, my friends just had a new baby, I've been helping another friend watch her baby, I'm working on two projects that I'm going to have finished soon (they are both turning out better than I thought!) and someone has been in contact with me doing some wax sculpting for them which I am really excited about. I've also been working on learning a new language and getting caught up to speed on physics and math. Not to mention I'm working full time and my cousin is going to move away soon. Poo. 

I promise I have been drawing everyday. I just haven't been posting. They are really small little ink drawings from life, though, nothing terribly informative for viewers. I like giving you all something with substance. Or a little note telling you I will soon. Like this. I've just been noticing a lot of new traffic to the site, and I don't want people to think I've completely given up. (Anyone seen my wand of motivation?)

I'm hoping I'll have one painting done tonight or tomorrow morning, and another in about five to ten days.  I've been kind of down for awhile, which is why I haven't been posting, but I think I've been mopey enough and I'm going to try to get back in the scheme of things. Posting book reviews, little art articles, and, of course, projects I'm working on. And just painting.

Drawing a Day - 9

Ah, it's the little things that keep me sane. Like doing these doodles of Justin when I have a spare couple of minutes. They're much more fun than working on the giant painting.

I did paint online yesterday, but I did not twitter. I am glad I got some of the painting done, however I did it. I got the book laid in, and one of the hands looks really good. I also played a bit with lace and her neck, but that's all going to get covered up. Next time I should have the hands, book and rose all done, and then I'll post a picture on the blog. 

I also started something yesterday, but completely trashed it. It's been awhile since I've done that. Not really so much for the bad painting (thought that didn't help my decision) but because it would not have worked. My client would like it to be sealed onto his car, and what I thought would work would have been a disaster. There is a reason we should all take chem! Yay for science! I forgot a couple little facts. Ah well. I'm preparing my substrate better tonight, and hopefully get the drawing done. I will not paint until my foundation is good. 

I hope to have this done before the weekend is over, and then work on the Adams image. 

If I can get these two things done, I think stress will be a lot lower. I'll twitter when I'm working online next time!

Ja

Drawing a Day - 6, 7, 8

So, I've been working on some large pieces for some people, and I have not done much that I could post. So I did these, and as I don't have my camera with me, I scanned these images and tried my best to save them in photoshop. I've really got to practice that, or just go get my camera.  Justin is good for posing a couple of minutes at a time, and I'm getting better at speed so he doesn't have to sit there and read so much.

The first one was hard because I had not done sketches from life in awhile. I've mostly been working from photographs and imagination and it took a minute for even that to pop off the page. And he looks so old and terrible. Perhaps that's just because that's how I was feeling while drawing. Sorry Justin!

The second one turned out pretty well. We were at Books-A-Million and Justin was reading my newest find, Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan. Shaun Tan is an amazing artist, and his books are a wonderful mix of painting, writing and design. On his website http://www.shauntan.net/ I love his paintings. A couple remind me of Wayne Theibaud (in design, not so much subject, but there is that first landscape that gives me fits every time I see it! The color! The abstraction!) Go, read his books, visit his site. <3

In any event, the picture I did of Justin turned out better than I would have thought. His head was moving all over the place, looking at the illustrations, but I managed to get it down. At least he looked younger.

The last one isn't too bad. It's Justin's favorite and I slapped it together at the iHop. Over a fruit crepe and ice cream sunday. I liked his expression, but I'm still picking them all apart. I only posted because I know I've been neglecting my little blog here. I really need to clean up this sucker a bit.

In other news, I will probably be painting online later today. Still working on Mrs. Adams, but I've got something else I've got to work on as well. It won't be as interesting to watch, so I suppose I will spare you all. XD No use running everyone away. 

I am also going back to school in Physics. I think that will be fun, as it's something I've always been interested in. Oddly enough, more people are saying "What are you going to do with that?!" than they did with the art degree. I will never understand people. I am a bit nervous about it. I haven't looked at physics since highschool, apart from pop science books that, while fun to read, aren't exactly as informative as they should be. I'm going to be brushing up on my math as well. Ah! My Calculus! I have forsaken you and you are such a cruel mistress!!

I'm also working on something that will keep me from having to work at what I hate. Anyway, I'm not going to let so much time pass again before I post. And maybe next time it will be informative!

ja!

Books and Videos!

A lot of fun new things are happening this year. For one art related thing, I'm getting a piece worked on that has been taking me a couple of years now (see last post) and I've started painting live on ustream. 

The link is here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/a-separate-piece-art 

It was an interesting first show. I don't think next time I will have a live model. Especially my younger brother. I will also probably teach more, as last time I was just trying to get back into painting. I did talk about the Giacometti method a bit, though only a few had logged on long enough to see that. I will definitely hit on that, and other techniques more. 

The only reason I didn't is that my brother was moving. A lot. And talking. And trying to be a giant ham and a half. :P But he's twelve. I'll paint him again when he turns thirty. And that show wasn't recorded, so it's all good. 

Right now, I'm going to get my studio fixed up a bit more. Its a bit difficult to have so many people in here while a show is going on. Too many things get knocked over, and I never paint sitting down, so I've got to work on not running into my tripod.  Right now I'm only using a small net book and a webcam for the show, but if I keep doing this, I will upgrade. As it is now, I'm going to work on shows where I actually teach /something/ and then maybe write it up and blog it. Or just record it and slap it to my blog. 

I just went to the bookfair yesterday, so I will also be getting all the books I got up on library thing. The link to my Librarything is here: http://www.librarything.com/profile/Writist Justin and I have quite the obsession. I can't believe how many I get. Especially at the fair, because there are some books I really don't want to spend money on, but if they are going for either twenty-five cents or a buck, yeah I'll buy 'em! 

Well, I've got work ahead of me, so I'm off. I'll post a picture of what I painted on the show once the light in this room gets right. 

Ja!

Bigger Image

Sorry for the blur. The sun went down and I didn't have a tripod. Ah well. It is a bit bigger. I tried!

The Painting That has been giving me fits

So it's time for me to post the painting I've been working on for three years. Since, you know, I get about 20 people a day to the blog, and I haven't added an image for... uh... a long friggen while.

Ok, so here is the image I am working on:

It's 3ft x 3ft and I've been messing with it piece meal for three years and I've kinda developed a block on it. Today I finished the vase, blocked in the dress and hair, and as you can see only the background and curtain are even beginning to look good. 

The original of this image was painted by an artist named Depujoles. Here is the original:

Now, I also have a photograph of this woman that I am working with:

And the original wasn't really liked so I've been trying to fix some things, and yet still have the same sort of idea going through the thing. UGH! I've got to work on her head, the lace of her dress, the roses, the book, and the chair. Pretty much everything except the vase, the red veil, and the background. I think I will do the roses and chair next. Then the dress, and then the hands and books, and then the lace, and finally I'll fix the head to really work. I have the values blocked in, but the colors are off.

I'm so much better when I work from life :P

Well anyway. Just thought someone might be interested.

Hmmm

Still no painting. What could be wrong with me?

Can't blame work. Well, I can, but I don't think I should. I really don't have it that bad. 

I just got some new software and stuff, and I am going to try and post a video of myself painting. I think that will be fun! I enlisted the help of Justin. Now I just have to decide what to paint. Oranges? Eggplant? Vase? Just work on the Adam's pic that has been eating away at my very soul?

Probably the soul eater. Gimme three to five days and I'll have something up. Well, granting they don't put me at returns. *grumps*

Ja!!