The last of my old skecthbook

I finished off the last pages of my sketchbook the other day and wanted to show you some of my favorites.

This one happened almost entirely by accident. I didn't like what I was doodling, so I just started scribbling lines over my page; drawings and all. It was so therapeutic that I keep going until Jon told me not to use up all the lead in my pencil. It's definitely not something normally considered "artistic", but for some odd reason, I liked how it turned out.

This is another slightly odd sketch. I looked down at a book with a man on the cover that happened to be upside down and decided to do a semi-blind contour drawing of what I was looking at.

This is a light hanging in front of a row of windows in a church. 

This one might be a wee bit difficult to follow, but it's a quick gesture/texturing sketch of a landscape I was looking at.

Two lawn ornament angels. I've noticed myself incorporating a lot of lawn sculpture subject matter into my work as of late. 

Another rough landscape of houses. I've been trying my hand at doing some architecture and landscaping recently, two things I used to find boring and avoid.

As the note says, it's a still life of things I had on hand in my purse.

Another church sketch. Modern, protestant churches always seem to have a clean, geometric look.

Ok, this sketch merits an explanation. I went out to take subject matter pictures and when I came back, it occurred to me that I probably looked like some weird, hobo girl. So, I came up with an entire character based on my horrible outfit, all the way down to the hub cap I found while I was out and carried back home. (I figure it's my equivalent to Captain America's shield.) 

The darkened faces started out kind of as a reflection of the silhouettes I was seeing and ended up turning into an unique way to represent mass. I'm quite pleased with the blind contour drawing as well.

Because I like foxes and cupcakes!!!! ^_^

sincerely,

me

Crayon painting = melted happiness

Got something a bit funtastic for today. Are you excited? You should be. Feast your eyes upon this creation of joy inducing, color overload!!!!

I don't know about you, but  for me, seeing all the colors of the spectrum together invokes irrepressible happiness. It's either the artistic part of me, or the part that never grew up. Or maybe both. ^_^

Anyway, this is the project I did in art class this week and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. It was fairly simple, although it does require some patience. Basically, you hot glue some crayons to a canvas, (use Crayola, they work the best) and blast them with a hair dryer set to Hot on High. I first saw the idea when someone posted this link on facebook.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1zQ541/megduerksen.typepad.com/whatever/2011/08/you-knew-i-was-going-to-make-one.html

Of course, when this lady did it, her crayons dripped in nice, neat lines. Mine got blown all over the place by the hair dryer, but that's ok. Life is messy sometimes.

sincerely,

me

2012 wall: January update

Remember the 2012 wall I mentioned starting at the beginning of this month? Well, here's how it's grown!

These targets are from my Christmas/New Years vacations when I shot a .22 rifle at my uncle's. Not to sound arrogant, but I'm pretty pleased with how well I did. In the event of a Zombie Apocalypse, just get me on a roof, give me plenty of ammo and find some way to slow the zombies down a little and I'll be good.

A few details. Kind of ended up with a bird theme. 

A mini collage I threw together in a few minutes and ended up really liking.

Thus far, I'm really liking this system. It gives me a place stick reminders, ideas, memories and random stuff that's been sitting on my studio floor. The hands on element has been really fun as well. I shall continue to keep you posted on it's further development.

sincerely,
me

Watercolor tree

So, you've sort of already seen this picture, but here's a better version. 

"Winter Tree"

I was a bit apprehensive about tackling this kind of subject matter. Normally, all the meticulousness detail and ambiguous color gradients of the tree would keep me from trying something like this, but I loved the image so much that I decided to give it a shot. 

Guess it just goes to show that the risk is worth the final product. One of my goals in art is not to stick to the things I'm comfortable with, but to push myself to try new and challenging ideas. It's also nice to be able to see that your abilities have grown and improved. Knowing that something which used to give me trouble isn't so hard anymore is very rewarding.

Well, I must be getting off. I have a few things to take care of, then I'm going out to lunch with my mother-in-law. I might even go get some shoes that I've been wanting. ^_^

sincerely,

me 

All done!

I know this is breaking the unspoken rule that you can only write one blog post per day, but I just wanted to let you know that I finished the coating process without any calamities. Considering the problems I've had with this stuff in the past (if you recall, I mentioned it back in October), I'm very thankful everything turned out so well. I'm one step closer to actually get them on the restaurant walls.

sincerely,
me

Good News!!!

Guess what?! I made it into that religious art show I entered a few weeks ago!!! Super excited! Now all I have to worry about it not ruining the piece when I coat it with that toxic smelling, preservative stuff. No pressure. ;-)

As far as that goes, I'm ready to tackle round two today. If all goes well and no terrible misfortunes befall me, everything could be done this evening!!! I'll keep you posted on my progress.

sincerely,

me

The results of 2-3 months of work

Hello!
Today, I decided to lay out most of the art pieces I've been working on for the past 2-3 months. Here they are.

I have to confess, I wish I had more to show for my efforts. But still, it's a decent bit of work. Most of it I made to hang in a local restaurant. You've already seen most of this stuff, except for the watercolor up in the top right-hand corner, which I finished yesterday. I really should have taken a picture of it today, but that just didn't happen.

Because it was so nice and non Januaryish today, I started the process of coating my collages with the toxic smelling stuff that keeps them from fading. So far, everything has gone very well; no chalky residue has dared to ruin my pieces yet!

Again, sorry for not updating sooner. This week has been kind of turbulent; but here I am, on the other side and still in one piece. I was able to get rid of some emotional baggage I've been carting around for awhile, which was a huge relief. It's kind of amazing how long we can carry old burdens we don't have to bear.

Anyway, my brain has stopped working, so I should really end this post and get ready for bed. Good night!

sincerely,
me