Away, away!

By the time you read this, I will be driving away to Minnesota, where I will reside in a woodland cabin near two lakes and with no internet. So, though I will try to check online every once in a while at the public library, emails and such will probably go unanswered until I return, in late July.

I do have a couple other posts already made and scheduled, so do check back here! I also might post from the aforementioned public library. I will be doing alot of art; hoping for the fruitfulness of limits, I'm leaving behind my markers and inks and relying only on pencils, pens, watercolor, and oil. I will be participating in the plein air painting competition I've mentioned, too!

I watercolored the above picture of the landscape going by as I was riding in a car. I should be doing alot of that!

Mother of Stars

Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy, this time in oil.

Holy Face of Mary

I finished the commissioned painting of Our Lady and delivered it to the client. Here it is, in the mat she provided for it.

It was a challenge filling out and making colored the faint image from the Pieta Prayer Book. What frustrated me, however, is the book says it was drawn by an Italian mystic, but it doesn't say who, or when, or give any information more specific than that! And I couldn't find the image anywhere else but the Pieta Prayer Book. Practically everything in there is private revelations--I hope it was an approved one! If you know anything more about the image, do let me know!

Minding my own business

I got into the Jaques Plein Air competition! This means I'll be part of an art show, and may get inquiries, so I'll need business cards! And that means I'll need a business card holder.

I made it using this tutorial.

Miku tablet test

We got a wacom tablet! So to try it out, I drew Miku Hatsune in Deviantart's drawing program, DAmuro. It's harder to use than I thought, but fun.

Selkie Lullaby

Oh! Hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, o’er the combers, looks downward to find us,
At rest in the hollows that rustle between.

Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow,
Oh weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!
The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee,
Asleep in the arms of the slow swinging seas!

~Seal Lullaby by Rudyard Kipling

I made a bag

That I did! It's for me, and made of denim and upholstery that I had in my fabric stash. The only thing I had to buy to make this was some interfacing, and that cost 65 cents. 

I didn't do perfect turning the corner, but I really like the upholstery colors.

The clasp is a wallet, cut in half and each half sewn to each side. As it turned out, the bag was too floppy for the clasp to stay shut by itself, so I supplemented it with zippers. Fortunately they were a matching color too! (In my opinion, but I am told I the colors I think look great together are crazy.)

The handle is an old belt.

In hindsight I should have made it less wide, but it'll do.

This is what's going in it so far:

A sketchbook, a notebook, crayons, and another set of watercolors to supplement those in my purse. The whole idea of this is to be a slightly-less necessary addition to the necessities I carry in my purse, which is jam-packed with my wallet, checkbook, coin purse, moleskine, keys, phone, smaller watercolor set, pencils and pens, and my waterbrush, which I might post an entry about soon. (I love it!)

Painting, paint-cakes, and light in glass

Many pictures in this post!

First, I worked more on that commissioned painting of Our Lady. I couldn't get one single good photo, so here are a few to show different aspects.

This one is the clearest. I may do a few more finishing touches, or it may be done. I'll scan it when it dries.

 

 This is a bit dark, but shows more of the color dimensions.

This overexposed picture recalls the faint image it was based on, from the Pieta Prayer Book. I can find no other information about that image, which is frustrating. I'll have more to say about that when I post the final painting.

 I bought a very small set of watercolors for keeping in my purse, as well as a brush that holds water inside it! Unwrapping the cakes was fun--like candy!

And just for beauty, light coming through the base of a depression glass bowl.

I did it all in one week!

I just spent the last week working like crazy on a very silly satirical short comic called Unclean, for a contest. If I win I'll get to go to San Diego Comic Con! At this point, starting off Beckyless, that would be perfect. *lost in dreams* And speaking of Beckyless, I did the frontspiece and you can see both these things in my portfolio. 

green hair

The skin color is weird, but I was using up leftover paint again, so yeah. Also tried out Gamblin Galkyd Lite as the medium. It gave the paint a nice-looking consistency, with a more matte look than my usual medium; but it was harder to get the paint to come out of the brush, both onto the canvas and when switching colors, and it didn't smell nice.

McGovern Lake

Third piece for the plein air competition. I sent off my application yesterday. Fingers crossed!

rainy hair

Using up paint.

more smallbook

Shrine at Morning

Second plein air piece for entering the Jaques competition, done this morning.

smallbook silhouettes and an Accomplishment!

I just finished drawing an almost silent comics short story called Christmas Yet to Come! I'm starting to look around for someone to submit it to... perhaps Dappled Things. I don't know if they're too highbrow to accept comics, but I can but try. It's probably going to have to be a Catholic publication; there's some pro-life stuff in it.

better underpainting

Does anyone recognize what image this is based on?

I won this nymph

I won this needle-felted doll in a silent auction! It was made by a friend of mine (and the picture is copyright to her.) There are even more colors woven in there than show in the picture; there's some neat strands of pink in her hair and the greens are much richer in real life. I bask in my victory.

very small underpainting

For a commission.

Liondial

Quick gift for Zera, whose birthday is today.