Saturday, June 30, 2007

Painting a Day - 5




Still Life with Sandcastle Sculpture
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Mat Board

And a picture of me taking a picture of the pictures... yay!

Mom is back! This time she chose to paint a sand sculpture and a shell, and a starfish. Looks pretty good, doesn't it? Mom thinks the color is off on the photograph (no surprise) but likes the actual painting.

I think mine could be better. I've been completely wiped out since my brother had three nights of people spending the night... AND WOULDN"T GO TO BED! *Ahem* Sorry. So... I felt more like sleeping than painting and I see all my usual mistakes. Hopefully it will all be better tomorrow.

We're thinking of different things to paint, anyone have any ideas? I've got the Squido Painting a Day page bookmarked (http://www.squidoo.com/paintingaday if you are interested) and we're getting ideas from it. Yay! So, enjoy until tomorrow,

Ja!

Friday, June 29, 2007

Painting a Day - 4

Self Portrait
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Matt Board

I'm sad to report that mom will not be joining us today. So, I thought I'd do something a bit difficult... well, something my mom doesn't want to do at all. Whenever she's tired from work, I'll probably end up doing portraits. And as I'm the only willing subject... *sigh*

I've got to get better lighting. Bathroom, full frontal, crappy florescent, ugh! Best I could do though. At least without digging another mirror out of my closet. But, enough of the crap I had to go through to paint it.

I used a limited Zorn Palette: White, Yellow Ocher, Cad Red Med, and Lamp Black. It should be Ivory black but I keep picking up Lamp because I can never remember it's MARS and IVORY I need. So I have five tubes of Lamp and no Mars or Ivory. I'm a brilliant human being.

It looks just like me though. Asymmetrical features and all. I have just one highlight to correct and I think I'll do that now. *Goes and does it*

It looks better now. Wee. That highlight under the right eye... It's actually a highlight now. Yay!

*edit* Yeah, in all the excitement about the highlight, I forgot to explain some things. I painted this without my glasses on, which is why I'm not wearing them. So... it really helped me with putting down large value shapes and it's one of the reasons I'm so happy with it. I have also started working with my best friend Katy on writing and painting a day. She's writing, I'm painting, and we're trying to work together. One thing she wrote described this princess (Sleeping Beauty) that had just woken up. It was described perfectly so I thought I'd work on an expression. And as I'm the only model... faux shizzle. I was going for just woken up, having a bad day already, yet trying to at least act like a princess and not let everyone know I'm completely miserable. I think it turned out pretty well. I got the expression pretty much (I think I started with the mouth slightly open and I think it would have worked better... but... yeah) and it looks like me so I say, yay. I'll go get what Katy wrote and post it. *nods*

Enjoy!
Ja!

Title Troublesome: Behind the Times (frontrunner)

sleeping beauty Ella Enchanted style (not same universe)

I very nearly screamed.

It was not the quaint, romantic scene that most people seemed to believe in the days and years to come. For one thing, he’s just fought through a surprisingly dangerous hedge and killed the dragon then sprinted (though I would have walked) up several flights of stairs until he reached my bedchamber. He’s sweating like a pig, breathing hard, and there’s blood everywhere. He looks like he’s about to collapse on top of me any moment in exhaustion.

But he was still beautiful.

He’s too charming to admit that I wasn’t, but I know the truth. I’d been asleep for a hundred years, tossing and turning in nightmares occasionally, hair in knots it took me a week to fully work out, eyes bleary, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had keeled over from my morning breath. I had been struggling and running before I finally collapsed too.

He was also too charming to allow me to walk down the Tower. However exhausted he was from hacking into the Enchanted Castle and battling with a dragon, he picked me up and carried me down from the tower room where I had slept through the last century. Truthfully, I would have rather stretched my limbs a bit.

There was a particularly lovely moment on the way down when he nearly fell and sent us both tumbling down the stairs, saved only because he toppled into the wall, which caught him. Despite this brush with injury, we burst into the bright sunlight and I could barely see for almost ten minutes.

In the meantime, there was the ferocious smell of dead dragon mixing with the sickeningly sweet smell of what I would soon see were the two to three foot tall orange blossoms that over the years had tricked dozens of knights into approaching the hedge without fear. It was a truly revolting combination, and I felt the distinct need to barf. If he had put me down, I might have run behind a corner and done it, dignity be drowned. Just about everything else had happened to me at this point.

When I finally could make out the scene revealed in the relentlessly dazzling sunshine, I saw the last three familiar faces I would see from my old life.

Anna had tears in her eyes. Laura curtsied gracefully, having politely saved her greeting until she knew I was able to witness it. Rachel had simply gracefully extended her arms.

“Will you put me down, please?” I asked politely, surprised at how well my voice worked. I hoped that he wouldn’t be offended, but at that precise moment I could not bear to remain in the limping, painfully slow grip of even my gallant rescuer. The moment that he set me down, I took off and ran into the arms of the last three people I would know in my new world.

I suddenly felt old, beyond the sixteen years I looked, beyond even the hundred and sixteen years since my birth. It didn’t matter in that moment that I had been asleep and unaware of the past hundred years. I had experienced them, through dreams and nightmares so vivid that I could still remember details of the vast number I had accumulated in that time. As I greeted, after a night too long to measure, the three immortal (or nearly) fairies who had saved me and guided me a century ago, it suddenly came home that everyone else that I had ever known was gone.

It seems strange to think that it was what made me grateful to him more than saving me from my century-long enchanted sleep, fighting off a dragon and risking death, challenging the will of, I was soon to learn, an even more powerful than before mad fairy, being a gentleman and savior. In fact, it may well have been the only thing that kept me from hating him for waking me up from my long sleep, where at least the losses I had had were not fully real, and thrusting me into a new world I did not understand. My rescuer approached where I sat collapsed in sobs on the ground and gently put his arms around me, murmuring the nothings people always said to comfort the grieving in my ear. He did not ask why or for whom I was crying. His understanding meant more than his bravery.

After a long moment, I managed to compose myself. I turned to face my rescuer and gave him a long look. I brushed some matted hair out of my face, wiped the tears from my eyes, and stood to face him. He stood in front of me. I extended my hand. “Princess Audrea of Camarca, thank you for rescuing me.”

“Prince Charming of Mitica,” he replied, taking her hand gently and kissing it with the utmost delicacy. “Delighted.”

“Your heroism in coming to my aid has been truly remarkable and you have my eternal gratitude,” I added, straightening up and assuming a more refined, proper form of speech for a royal daughter.

Prince Charming shook his head at me. “And you were doing so well,” he said, pulling her toward him with the hand he had clasped. “Shall we endeavor to attempt a formal reenactment of said heroism?” he asked, adopting a playful imitation of her formal court speech.

Sweat and exhaustion or not, he had the most amazing bright blue eyes and his sandy blonde hair looked almost artfully disheveled. Prince or not, he was a handsome and very strong knight. And he had rescued me. “It was entirely my pleasure,” he whispered, barely an inch from my lips.

“Perhaps things are moving a little fast,” I protested.

Prince Charming moved away quickly. “I apologize, I suppose I will have to adjust to a more conservative courtship style.”

“And I will have to adjust to being considered conservative,” I replied with a small smile. I didn’t quite feel like laughing though.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Painting a Day - 3



Still Life with Flowers
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked MattBoard

Ok, this time I'm not totally pleased with mine. And looking at these photographs they look even more awful. But it is 9:27 and it's dark and I have horrible lighting. I will get better pictures of these things soon.

Mom's looks pretty good in real life. She's getting better at this 'value' thing. I think I'm going to get her better light. Definitely needs something better than a desk lamp.

I was a bit distracted. I might have a pretty cool job lined up at Hobby Lobby. I'll know more tomorrow. I do know my picture is tilted, so the bowl looks more off than it actually is. I won't say it's perfect, but it doesn't look /that/ bad.

Well, we got 'em done and I got 'em up. Three done! We're doing this thing, yo!

Ja!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Painting a Day - 2

Still Life (S)hell
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked MattBoard

This is our second attempt at this whole 'painting a day' thing. I think it's coming along really well. As per last time, the top one is mine, and the bottom one is mom's.

This time we had a fixed light source (instead of the sun) so it was a bit easier. But it was harder for me to get a picture. I think I got our pieces all right. We did different shells this time (obviously) because I thought mom might like a big, easier one instead of three mildly difficult ones (I didn't get the mother of pearl sheen, patina, or translucency right) but she thought it was way, way too difficult with just the mild translucency of her large pink shell.

I'm really happy with the way mine turned out despite some difficulties, but mom didn't really like hers until she got to step back from it. She said she wasn't completely happy with it, but she knows for her second painting ever it wasn't too bad. I say a month of this and I'll have competition :P!

I've got to get better pictures. It was seven when I finished so I have to put light on it and then take a picture, and one side ended up darker than the other... I think I'll wait till they dry and take another picture and upload them. I think it'll be better once I do that. The color isn't showing up exactly right.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Digital: One Million Masterpiece


The One Million Masterpiece Arts Project

This is my drawing that I've done for One Million Masterpiece. You can read the story behind it if you click on "Bulletins" and see it played back a bit more slowly. I love the frog on it!

What's Up: The One Million Masterpiece!

Well, if no one has gone to the One Million Masterpiece site, send me your email address and I will invite you! http://www.theonemillionmasterpiece.com/en/register.php?ref=lnk421573&ck=10611 is my referral link for uber-easiness!
http://www.millionmasterpiece.com/profile-421573 is just a link to my profile! Wee!

I've been busy painting (I almost have another commission ready to post!) so I haven't been really on OMM, but I received an email... everything has been updated! I'm so excited! Everything looks magnificent so if you haven't joined, now would be the best time to! I've just found out as well that I have 'supporter' status. I was /really/ happy to find that out. Now I feel like I have a lot to live up to with my five other images!

As soon as I finish my commission, I'm going to be on so much! I'm able to get on a bit because I've got a lot more time without school paintings. I'll do at least one painting on OMM before I finish my commission, but I don't know if I'll get more than that before then.

I'm thinking about going to London. I'll have to save up money (though if I get some commissies I can do it...) but it would be so worth it! I'd love to meet everyone. It would be... amazing!!! *spaz*

Faux Shizzle, Yo!
Ja!

Painting a Day - 1



Still Life with Knife
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked MattBoard
The top piece has been sold

My mom and I are going to start doing Painting a Day images together, and these are our firsts! The top one is mine, and the bottom one is my mom's.

It took forever, because I was trying to teach. It wasn't just a straight shot to painting. So it took about two hours, but that wasn't just painting. Also, we started working with my brother who did nothing but whine and complain. It was awful at first. But then Sam settled down (didn't finish painting, but it was turning out okay. He's just OCD like I used to be).

Also because Sam was there, I had a really, really awful angle with the light. Mom had a really good angle. Sam had a great angle. Ah well.

Mom was so excited! And she should be! She doesn't even draw and then she turns around and does a pretty darn good painting. And she had such a fun time! It was fun working with someone who was learning about seeing all these random colors. It was very refreshing actually.

I'm happy, but doing a painting a day should help me get better. I feel kinda off kilter a bit. But I feel more excited than I have in forever!!

Oh, yes, if you wish to buy either, leave a comment. My mom said "If I could get a bit for mine I'd be so happy... it'd just make my day!"

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Quilt: First squares in our Quilt of Valor




Well, here we go! This is not going to be a basic nine patch, but something called a 'Streak of Nine Patch.' I've gotten all my nine patches finished and I'm pretty excited. Apparently I miscounted the first time and the person I'm working with had too few and I had two few and the extras... so I sewed the extras up and now we have plenty. Yay!

We're trying to do this with precision quilting, and all I have to say is HARD. I spent most of this time just undoing screwed up stitches. *sigh* And I thought I wasn't /that/ bad at sewing.

These look a bit odd because I haven't ironed them out yet. They really need it. I'm in love with that star fabric. It looks excellent with the red we chose. It might be a bit corny to go with a red.white.blue theme for a quilt of valor, but we wanted to be safe. I've only made one quilt before, and the girl I'm working with has not made one at all. We're working with a local authority on quilts, my former teacher and good friend Gaye Ingram, so it's coming along well. At least I think so.

I can't wait until we get this done! It'll look smokin'!!

Ja!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Craft: Butterfly Cross Stitch


Yay! After a little under three years, I am done. I am so happy! I'll try to get a better picture once I frame it. It was hard to get a straight picture while it was on the floor.

I'm so happy with it! There are only a few mistakes and those can't even be seen at all!

Well, I'm off to work on my quilt. I feel much better about doing that, now that I've actually finished this!!

Faux Shizzle,
Ja!

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Craft: Camp Project



Well, this started out as a block of flower/packing foam, that I carved while in experimental drawing. Then, after spraying a primer, I gave it a coat of spray paint that's supposed to look like a rock. I think it turned out pretty well. It's a simple enough project that I'm letting my kids at camp have at. I think I'm going to have the younger ones do a simple 10 commandment project, while my older kids can kinda branch out and do more figurative work if they so desire.

It looks really heavy, but it's as light as a feather, and you can't even tell that the head snapped off before I was able to spray it so it makes it easy for the kids so they don't have to worry about it breaking. Just have to have some toothpicks and viola.

Next time I think I'll try a bust. Not sure who of though. I think that will be better to take to camp anyway, I don't think the kids could handle anything 'nude'... At least, that's been my experience. I could be wrong, of course, but I don't want to chance it.