Day 9 and 10 - mostly white noise, some humor

After 3 weeks of no working and staying up to ungodly hours in the morning (5, 5:30, 6...) - I had an 8am work day. There was no way I was going to go to bed early ... so I decided to just reset by staying up ALL night, and going to bed early tonight so I can get back on a more regular schedule.
Its working. Its midnight and I'm exhausted finally.
Unfortunately, I didn't make any masterpieces.
Over the past 2 days, I did make some doodles in my sketchbook not really worth posting but I will anyway, was inspired by some hats (a friend of mine has gotten into millinery - check out The Deviant Hatter on Etsy), and created something humerous in photoshop not to be undone by lack of art for these 2 days.
Enjoy:



Sometimes I wish my toes could chat with me.


And then some sketches where I've been writing some notes.


The notes talk about some ideas involving an Magician Tarot card commission for a friend, and a wedding portrait for some other friends, and a random doodle inspired by elements from those hats I saw.

Daily art # 8

My wacky schedule had me wake up at around noon, and I didn't do ANY art until 2:00 am.
I am now writing this at 5:21am.
I am surprised how much happened in that time span.

Yesterday I concentrated so hard on the master copies.
I think today I needed to just loosen up and create things purely from my imagination.
Automatism is the best way to get started for me when I'm feeling uninspired, and I really like how things turned out.


"Chaos Bliss"
6" x 11" on Yupo. Available for $75.


"Paradise Dream Women"
6" x 11" on Yupo. Available for $65.


While I was working on the first piece, I also did a small ACEO / artist trading card.

2.5" x 3.5" ACEO (artist trading card) on bristol. Available for $9.

A Word on YUPO
I LOVE yupo. It is the SMOOTHEST surface I have ever worked on, and yet it seems to work with everything I throw at it so far and it DOES NOT WARP. It is a little more expensive than regular paper (bristol for example) but it is COMPLETELY worth it, and I think I'm hooked. And well, its not 'paper' anyway, its plastic. (but fancy plastic! and apparently it won't yellow.) I have yet to try oils, but who knows! Perhaps I'll have to try it out soon. so far I have tried various inks, watercolors, bic pen, colored pencils and acrylic.

Random Art Question of the Day:
Have you tried painting with something other than your dominant hand?
how about your feet?

I have even gone so far as to draw with my belly. (I taped a pencil to my belly, sticking the end in my belly button... it was a hoot.)

Day 7 - master copies

(as always, written the night of the day, and posted the day after)
Last night (1/6/11) I went to bed and wrote a note in my sketchbook to do some master copies.
Today (1/7/11) I actually followed through!
I've been wanting to do more studies, to avoid getting stuck in my own drawing/painting habits, and to improve skills.

I chose to paint from my favorite era, copying some of my favorite paintings. I have always been a fan of Pre-Raphaelite depictions of magic users. Priestesses, Sorceresses, Witches, etc.


"Very Dangerous Secret" --- After "Medea" by Frederick Sandys
5" x 7" acrylic on book page
(available at my etsy - $35)


my version of "Circle of Magic" after Waterhouse
5" x 7" acrylic on book page
(also available at my etsy - $35)

I could also get into a heavy discussion about the Pre-Raphaelites - they are a favorite subject of mine - After teaching art appreciation/history, I was quite astonished to discover that nearly all the art books I used to teach from AVOIDED the Pre-Raphaelite painters like the plague, as if they had no drastic impact on the modern art world. HA! (one of my books merely mentioned them with no explanation, and provided a poor representation of the movement in black and white, and then proceeded to wax poetic about Cezanne for 4 pages and how he was the most enlightened painter ever. I wanted to throw the book out the window! "The Story of Art" by Gombrich E.h." 10th ed - its actually a very good book, except for the Cezanne pages, and the chapters on modern art) I do understand why the Pre-Raphaelites got buried in art history, and why other movements won out in popularity at the time.
... but that is a story for a different time I'm not here to lecture, just to improve my self drive by showing publicly what I did today.

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INSPIRATION for Today:
Currently Playing "Mystery Case File: The 13th Skull" Hidden object and puzzle game for the pc - by Big Fish.
Why do I include it here? Because the graphics in the hidden object game has made me see EVERYTHING in a new light - Every time I look at a cluttered spot in my home, I feel like I'm in a big fish game and I have the urge to turn places in my home into 'hidden object' images. I am starting to feel a new appreciation for all OBJECTS. While I was cutting veggies earlier, I was making note of how all the food was laying on the table. The balance and volume of everything.
I was looking at everything with fresh eyes. And I mean EVERYTHING.

- my bookshelves with the cornucopia of trinkets on top, and on the shelves, and on the wall above the shelves I have a type drawer filled with tid-bits.
- my bulletin board , fairly empty now but OH the possibilities!
-The kitchen cupboard, filled to the brim with cans and bags and other food stuffs.

Anyway, time to stop rambling.

ART DAY SIX

DAY 6 of ART

Almost forgot to post what art happened yesterday.
First of all, it was my bf's birthday. I made a sign that said "HAPPY 14th BDAY", cutting each letter from printer paper and puttin the '14' inside a cut heart. (the 14 is um... I was having a dyslexic moment) Also, for his amusement, I provided a silly lesson on color mixing.


(Remember children, blue and yellow make GREEN!)

More Art:
I put some more quick creations in the sketchbook for the sketchbook project. I have to postmark it by the 15th for it to go on tour. And with the loose theme "Science Project Gone Wrong". My opinions on this project below the images.






My Thoughts on 'The Sketchbook Project".
Ok. I'm a huge fan of sketchbooks as art. I love the fact that someone is putting together a library of sketchbooks. The joy of hand done art that people can enjoy in person and touch the pages is extremely exciting. The problems with this project are that I feel hesitant to just give all this work away for free. (or rather paying to give it away, as there was a cost to participate - I understand this however, and my complaint doesn't lie there. They need $ to take it on tour and buy/send out the sketchbooks) Also, because of the theme and time constraints, the work is less like the organically developed sketchbooks I keep, and more like a desperate race to the finish line, resulting in sub-par work and nonsense as I try to make these creations bend (loosely) to the theme. Also, the paper is the thinnest paper I've ever had the ... ~joy~ of working with. But, I don't want to turn back now, and I don't want to waste my money, so I'm going to finish it dag-nabbit, and hopefully there will be a few visual gems inside to make flipping through it worth while.

INSPIRATIONS:
I started watching the movie "Klimt" - a drama about the artist Klimt played by John Malkovich. I loved the art nouveau movement, and the movie even has some very nicely done surreal moments that reflect those ideas. Also, beautiful naked women wandering several scenes surrounded by colorful silks and elongated patterns can't help but be inspiring.

Art Day 5. colors!

Day Five, Stayin Alive.

The day started out pretty flat.
The Struggles
I woke up too late, felt sleepy, and was wading through unfound feelings of doubt and slight depression. This is just an artist's lot. Its gonna happen. Thankfully I'm able to push through it eventually. D suggested I finally buy the big fish game I've been drooling over for days. And we finished watching season 3 of Sliders on Netflix. Such horrible scripts allowed me to laugh and get back into the swing of things.

First creative act:

The art I started with isn't anything finished. Its more like using my tools to make more tools. I just went crazy with colors on a piece of watercolor paper. I will use this in several ways. I will scan it in for digital textures to be used on other things, then I will either create something out of it, or cut it up and create several things out of it. Perhaps serve as background for some more ACEO works (2.5" x 3.5" artist trading cards) Its always good to do something mindless like this when I'm not feeling that creative.

Next I worked on a collaboration project. Something... narrative... graphic novelesque in the works. No details until it gets somewhere but here are some visual snippits.
A drawing of a building I did on yupo paper last year (aka, sometime last week) - today I added watercolors and re-drew over the pencil in ink. (005 micron pen thats wearing down).

On the 4th day of art...
I made some sloppy expressons in the sketchbook-project sketchbook and took some creative photos.






The text on the hand says "I am forced to wear ambiguous labels and fit into limiting CATEGORIES."

I also painted D's belly before he got in the shower, but I don't need to include a photo here. ;)

The rest of the day was dedicated to magic.
Every first Tuesday Dave and I attend a magic show on Theatre on the Square. I've been doing the programs for over a year now. Its a layed back gig and I get to experiment with my graphic design skills. I showed the latest one on the blog yesterday.
This one had a special guest couple doing magic and face painting in the lobby. I got my face painted - she did a beautiful simple red shading with black white and orange streaks around my eyes and addd glitter- but I forgot to get a photo!

Afterwards, we went to the Old Point Tavern. Never far from my camera, I decided to take a few creative shots - I am always fascinated by the red wash of color you get in the corner area by the neon lights.


I took this photo covertly - I always feel a bit strange taking photos of strangers but I wanted a photo of the colors, and she fit in perfectly. I would have asked her permission but people look so much more natural when they don't know their photo is being taken.


This is Pat Smith. He will be performing at next month's Indy Magic Monthly - Excellent magician, and wonderful to have as a friend. I find the mood here quite ambiguous. At first I thought the red wash made him look like a dangerous person, but now it feels more contemplative.

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More Inspiration:
At he end of the day, I read a bit of Clive Barker's "Great and Secret Show".
In it, there is a special 'island' that gets described - like a dream place cathedral building, but more vast, complicated and strange than anything in reality - in a place where physics doesnt matter, and you can have 'towers as thin as reeds' etc. The full description isn't as wonderful as the images my mind was conjuring as I read. I would't be surprised if you start seeing more bizarre structures appearing. I could FEEL the images pasting themselves to my brain.

random creations day 3

After attending work at 8 am only to realize that my work starts NEXT WEEK, I had some extra time. So, when I came home I started looking at a library book for the Chelsea Awards (fantasy art) -But someone must have laced my book with a sedative, because I passed out for a few hours. So much for an early start to my day!

Next, I watched my boyfriend be tortured by the dentist. While I was there I did some sketchbook drawings. (These are for "The Sketchbook Project" - when I finish it in a few days, it will be sent off to be at a Brooklyn Sketchbook Library - Interesting idea, more opinions on it later)


(The text on the 3rd image says "The dental tools gained sentience and began to worship the sun". Also you can see the inspiration of teeth on the first image)

Next on the agenda (after some more 'inspiration' from a hidden object game from 'big fish games') I did the program design for Taylor Martin's "Indy Magic Monthly"

This is the front and back page (front page on the right) - I also did the inside and an insert. If you want to see the rest, you'll have to come to the show! Every first Tuesday at Theatre on the Square - Indianapolis, IN. Check the website link for more info. Doors at 7:00. Show up at 6:30 for extra stuff in the lobby!



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I stayed up even later, and did one last minute sketch with color in the book:

The text in red pen on the left side of the page - something that just popped into my head. "She cut off a tiny sliver of her skin, to experiment with, to test, to gain power." "That was part of it. Blood, life, pain, + power." Wonder if I've been reading too much Clive Barker lately. heh. That mixed with the predetermined theme sent to me for this book 'Science project gone wrong'.
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Thank you to everyone who left comments and/or critiques on the "G / GRIM" drawing!