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!!

Happily Ever After Points

Happily Ever After Points

Growing up on Disney and lots of fairy tales, I have been thinking as of late that people with happy, interesting lives never "win the story" in fact, those people who are happy and have what they want usually turn out to be a villain or some sort of mentor like person just trying to help the protagonist along.

The sad, wretched, orphans whom nobody likes or cares about are the only ones who can really go out to seek their fortune and actually have a hope and a half of getting it: whether that be a marrying a prince or princess, winning the science fair, or getting all the treasure...

In Fairy Tales, the prerequisites for having an adventure usually are pretty bad. Parents and siblings have to be killed, orphanages have to be endured, you must be really bad at whatever you're going to get once the story is all over... so on and so forth. For example, in a piece of pretty modern literature, Harry Potter has to endure the Dursleys for ten long years. He was really raking in the Happily Ever After Points. Even in school, the points didn't stop coming to him. Did Ron get to be the hero? No! Because he had a perfectly good family who loved him. And it wasn't perfect and he didn't have a lot of money, so, ok, he got to be a side kick. He only acquired that many happily ever points.

I don't have a complete system for what terrible thing that needs to be endured is worth more than some other terrible thing. And most people I explain this to, almost immediately relate it to karma, but karma it is not. In karma, if you are good, good things happen. With Happily Ever After Points, the more miserable you are plus how happy you can pretend to be, the better your life will get in the long run.

Right now, I'm cleaning toilets, none of my friends are talking to me save two, and I'm feeling pretty wretched, but I still manage to wear a happy face. I think I've gotten a few points in the last couple of days, but not enough to ever really win the story. But a few more very bad terrible days and we should be down for trading in the Happily Ever After Points for The End!

----

Yeah,  I wouldn't take me too seriously :) It's all in fun.

Not Painting, and Writing

After a string of wonderfully bad weather, I finally got to not paint because of my work schedule. Even having to leave early did not give me enough of the light I really need. I'm so close I can taste it and I'm just about sick with worry about getting the thing done before I turn thirty.

I'm painting tomorrow, rain or shine, because I have the whole day. I'm not even going to waste time getting some roses. At least not yet. I've got the bottom part of the dress and some lace to really get me started. After that, It'll be the roses and some touch ups, and then I'll varnish the whole thing because it really needs more than a matt fininsh. Not high gloss, but enough of a sheen so that it's just not blegh!

Writing has been going much better, in the fact that I've actually been attempting it. But this rewrite thing is so SLOW. I've knocked out all the plot, I've got the characters where I need them to be and where they are willing to go, I've written some of the best scenes, and I've gone back and made sure each scene actually had purpose and point... now I just have to go through, and really think about everything, write it from the correct POV, make sure it is interesting to people other than me, and make sure the dialouge actually works! 

I've gotten four pages. Single spaced, sized 12 TNR, so it's a pretty good amount. But it feels like so little. I don't want to not enjoy this, because I don't want it to read as painfully as it is being written.

It's completely different from how this blog is banged out. I really have to fight to bring everything out perfectly. I know that creates some of the best painting, but I actually trust myself when I paint. I trust myself when I'm ranting here. This book I'm crafting is much more difficult because I've gotten out of the habbit of writing intelligently and well and with a whole, whole lot of thought. 

Stream of conciousness is fine, but I'm no Faulkner and I know this. I want people to at least have a chance of liking my work!

- -

I did have pictures to post, but it takes this computer about half an hour to bring it and CS3 up, and before anything could work mom had to turn 'em off so, oh well. I need a better art computer X(

Doodles and Writing.

I've not been painting, but I do have an excuse. It's been raining like you wouldn't believe, and I need natural light. I have to go buy more roses to paint now, though I'm thinking fake ones might have to work. Ugh. Pulling a Cezanne there, no? Since I'm not doing them in any great detail I think they will work fine if fake, but I am worried about it. A bit, anyway.

I have, however, been writing and doodling. Which is fun! Because I get to be all tight and controlled while doing this second draft, and I can get all freaky with the doodles, since I'm not really trying to be all artsy with them. 

So I have about ten pages of doodles and only four typed, single pages of my story. And I've been working on the story for five days. I've only been doodling the last hour... Ow. The disparity.

I need discipline. 

But hey, I am posting! Cookie time!