Huh...

My LiveJournal is slowly coming together. I have a Master Post that I'll update periodically and I have selected a Supernatural animated mood theme. Which reminds me that I need to catch up on Season 7. I've only watched the first episode and maybe 10 minutes of the second one. I think it's already halfway through the season now. *Sheepish*

On a happy note, I've been participating in NaNoWriMo and have almost 9k written. I had too many essays due to really get it done in November, but I'm definitey not giving up. I'm planning on making this a graphic novel, so I'm also designing the characters. I also have a small collage/mixed media series planned.

Small update

Well, life's been busy. I am currently on winter break from uni, so I'm hoping to get my blog updated. I also created a LiveJournal yesterday, to see if I prefer that layout or if I should use it in conjunction with this one. That one is waywardwhisper. I have my first post up on it and i'll be adding pictures of my three sculpture projects onto it and on here as well. Anyways, toodles for now!

Just a little update

Hey everyone,

  Life is going okay. I'm loving my classes at uni at the moment, and am almost halfway done with the stone carving project.

 

On a more frustrating note, I'm currently having to see a counselor once a week and a psychiatrist on the first. Having some physiological issues that need to be addressed. Joy. ^^; The counselor is really nice though and loves her job, which makes the little sessions fairly comfortable so far. On an awesome note, my plan for my degree is being formed. I'm doing an art history sub-plan, under the Studio Arts section for the BFA. It's as close to double majoring as they would let me do.

Busy

Classes have kept me fairly busy, so far. I will be updating with artwork and comments on classes soon. I'm almost finished with my first sculpture project and am creating sketches for the next.

Anyways, I hope to post on here more often, even if I just talk about life in general.

Classes about to Start

Hey everyone,

I do have a lot of new artwork, but I might not post it on here since I've fallen so behind. ^^; I'm thinking about adding that dA widget, so that pieces can be viewed even when I do forget to get on here. I might post my newest, but need permission to do so first. I've also started doing digital art again, so you'll be seeing those as well come shortly.

Anyways, classes start on Monday. Went to the New Student Orientation a few days back and got a fair amount of stuff done. Buying some of my books on Monday... I'm both really excited and extremely nervous. Sculpture is my first class in the morning, so I'm curious as to how it'll go.

Dean completed... though not as expected

That last W.i.P I put on here? Yeah... didn't go as planned. I'm considering it a dead drawing until I figure out what I want to do to it. On the other hand, I started and completed a different version of Dean Winchester... and it actually turned out fairly decent, if I may say so myself. Here's the completed version and work-in-progress shots.

Completed version. Took a few hours; done with HB, 2B, 4B and 6B lead.

Current work-in-progress

Dean Winchester fanart again... I have a long way to go.

Eric Northman drawing for my mom

Completed version. Done in about 2 hours in charcoal.

The next few pics are the W.i.Ps, if you want to glance at the process. :D                                                 

Sketches from the past week

Playing catch-up on the blog. Next post will be a completed charcoal project and its W.i.P.s.

Attempting something different. Most of my hand drawings are usually cleaner looking.

Completed version and some quick sketches

Hello everyone!

I'm doing two posts today. This one will have the finished version of my last painting, Serene, and some sketches I've been working on the last few days. The next post will just be on some interesting links. Anyways, on to the artwork!

End product, titled Serene.

Then, working at Art Walk, I was able to knock out two quick sketches while there was a lull.

Sketch of photographer Irene Quiroga's "Little Dancer"

Palm tree over water. No reference, though it was inspired by my boss' collage/mixed media paintings.

And finally, just a random practice page.

New work in progress

Trying different techniques. This one is going to be done in just black ink. It's kind of acting like a quick sketch/gesture drawing- it's actually rather fun to do. At this point, there's only about 10 minutes of work put into this. Two pictures at different stages.

Completed version of Painting

    Worked on the last painting a bit more after some great constructive crit.

First big summer drawing

Apologies for not getting on here recently. I can be a tad bit forgetful at times. Anyways, just finished a drawing today and I thought I would put up the WiP photos and the final result.

Midway point on the drawing.

The almost complete version... watercolor, gesso and black ink.

Watercolor and recent doodles

I still have quite a ways to go, to get this all up to speed... but I decided to go ahead and upload two recent drawings- one a quick sketch and the other a watercolor and pen drawing that I'm satisfied with. As I mentioned before, I think, I'll probably upload most of what I draw on here. That being said, I have "good days" and "UGH" days, so not all drawings will be equal in overall quality. That's life, though. ^^;

Synthesized face that started off as a quick pen drawing.

And for the not so pretty, though still useful, drawing.

An... attempt at Drawing Dean Winchester, from the box set cover for S1 of Supernatural.

   Yeah, the Dean sketch didn't work out so well... Good practice for speed drawing and being more loose with my pens though. And for something that only took me ten minutes, I feel it turned out decent.

An Update

  I've been a bit busy, of late, but I have multiple entries planned that I need to do. For one, I do have artwork and photography that I need to upload. Finally used up some film this summer at a local boardwalk, so those'll be going up. Still doing the digital portion of the processing on a chunk of them. I'll also hopefully have an image ready to put up for my "About the Artist" page.

  I've also started watching Supernatural recently. I'm now on to Season 3, episode 7... even though I only started watching this a few weeks ago. I'm a tad bit addicted to the show, be honest. I ended up doing a few marathon runs, to avoid getting stuck on a few cliffhangers. I'm digging the main characters and the 67' Chevy Impala is pretty freaking awesome. While many of the episodes seem to be little mini horror movies, the humor and interesting characters keep it lighthearted and entertaining enough to keep it from drowning in angst, etc. Another plus: I love classic rock and that seems to be the main focus of the show's music. Talk about freaking awesome! Well, awesome except for the fact that "Highway to Hell" and "Back in Black" are stuck in my head... on repeat. While I may like those particular songs by AC/DC, they get mildly frustrating when they won't get unstuck from your brain. ^^; I wonder if Hotel California will make an appearance in the soundtrack?

More to come later, essentially.

Some Doodles and an M. Interpretation

  I have managed to get a few doodles down this past week and one attempt at a Master Interpretation done.

My very quick interpretation of Edvard Munch's Madonna

  Below is his version:

  I actually drew mine by using Robert Hughes' book The Shock of the New. One idea he mentioned in the section pertaining to Munch and his fellows, was that many Norwegian writers/painters seemed to view women as "a Belle Dame Sans Merci, bringer of anguish and emotional ruin.... [Munch's] women oscillated between fantasies of rape... and visions of woman as devourer." (Hughes 281) Apparently, the Madonna painting showcasing Lilith would be an example of the devouring aspect. The original border and text that was meant to accompany the painting delved into that a tad bit further, from the sounds of it.

  Other than that and me slowly finishing The Shock of the New, I managed a few doodles when distracted from other things.                                                                                                                          

Work and DMC

  Been a week since I last updated. Whoops? Anyways, this past week's been a tad eventful. Starting to work more often at the gallery, which is great. Going in a few hours for a shift. I've also gotten hooked into a pc game the last few days. :D I've had it for a while, but have never bothered to install it- Devil May Cry 4.

  It's such a blast! I'm already at Mission 11, though I've played through the first 9 twice now. (Training essentially, to try and get more "proud souls" for abilities. Also to get better scores in general.) The graphics are stunning even on the low settings (which is all my poor laptop can handle) and the characters are intriguing. I'm also rather interested in the new installment they're working on, though Capcom isn't the one working on it. People are freaking out over the 5th, due to it being an "origin" story with a distinctly different looking Dante. (Then again, I think it's slightly obvious that he would look different in his beginning.)
  I think it has potential- either to flop spectacularly or to be exactly what the series needs. Watch the trailer and see for yourself.

Watercolor 3

Today's drawing/painting... took about an hour? Really need a better picture- my camera phone and artificial light are not conducive to decent photo taking, when trying to get images of my artwork. -.-' I will try to post sharper images tomorrow.

I freaking love watercolor!

  Ahem, well... you get the point. Anyways, today I was re-inspired to play around with watercolors. There's this artist on deviantART called agnes-cecile, who does some pretty amazing stuff. I even glanced at her speedpainting videos... and I was fairly blown away. Intimidated? Yes. Wanting to yank out my watercolors? Definitely. :D

  Well, my first attempt didn't go too well. (Read: Too embarrassed to put an image of it up, until it goes under extreme re-hauling.) I had stepped away from watercolors, for the most part, in the last couple of weeks. So, my first attempt was admittedly- well- yeah... it showed that I was intimidated and over-complicating it. -.-' My second attempt though went a lot more smoothly. I rather liked how it turned out. :D

    In other news, I get to hang out with Lizz from Ketch a Wave from Friday afternoon till sometime Saturday. Should be awesome! Dragging my Vivitar SLR and some art supplies with me as well, so it'll be interesting to see what pops up on here next. I'm definitely going to be messing around with watercolors there as well, so we shall see. Might be a few days before the pics go up, though. My SLR is non-digital.

Cover/Page 1

First work-in-progress shot for the sketchbook. Trying to decide whether or not the first page needs to have the quote done in ink or collage.

A tad blurry, but you get the idea.

Progress on both Blog and Sketchbook

  Progress is finally being made with the blog. I'm still fiddling with the background options, trying to find the one that best pops everything forward without being distracting. I'm also tweaking the layout and I added a bio page finally. I do plan on adding photos, etc. to that particular page, and I'd love feedback on whether it comes across alright. Writing in the third person can be rather frustrating. :D Also, is everything legible? Used one of the webfonts in spots, and I have changed to a different template. I want to make sure that it doesn't irritate anyone's eyes to read this.

  For my sketchbook, I finally started to play with what I want the layout and storyline to be. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm intrigued by Carl Jung's theory, pertaining to the Animus and Anima, as well as the Shadow and Persona. I'm not sure if I entirely agree with what I have read about it, but I do find that certain elements click for me. I'm also wanting to explore a theme I played around with in one of my art projects- thought processes/raining words. (I'll post some images of that particular project later). Which is partly where the collage aspect of my sketchbook comes in.

  As far as the first page goes, I'm currently inking it pitch-black, and will then splatter it with gesso- perhaps even white water color. I'll then go back with a dip pen/quill and carve back in with black ink to form letters out of the white. (I'm rather curious to see if it will work, quite frankly). This first page will be of one of my favorite quotes, by Friedrich Nietzsche. "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." I feel that this quote will open the first art/chapter page quite well and will mesh with the themes of my little story. 

  I may open each little scene with a quote and am starting to feel as if this little story may have to be continued past the sketchbook. We shall see. It will definitely end up deeply personal, by the end. I just hope that I can adequately- at the least- give voice to what I'm picturing for this.

Getting Organized

 Summer is in full swing. Finally graduated and will be receiving my Associate's Degree in the mail soon. I've been a little lax on the drawing/writing the last few days, but I'm starting to gather steam now. My goals for the summer are:

• improve drawing by playing with more media
• do personal homework on Art History
• Start and potentially complete The Sketchbook Project
• shed some body fat

  I am currently playing with the storyline for my sketchbook. I am thinking about doing a graphic novel that plays around with mixed media/writing styles. It's... challenging, so far. I'm playing around a bit, with different personal symbolism and half-formed ideas...

  One of the influences deals with some of Carl Jung's theories- especially pertaining to the Animus, Anima, Shadow, and Persona. Mix that with dreams and stream-of-consciousness moments, and it's a rather difficult- and volatile mix- to write. Especially since much of it deals with drawing or the application of media. So far, I know that I'll be using ink, gesso, watercolor, and collage.

  Anyways, more a little later tonight. Honestly. If you're curious about animus/anima check out:
Wiki page on animus and anima and Wiki page on The Shadow. I don't agree with all of it, but some of the imagery it inspires clicks with me, for some reason.

A chance to catch up

   I've been remiss in my blogging duties. :D It's just been a crazy week. I do have some pictures to upload, but I'll do that later this evening or tomorrow. I had two critiques, the last bit of online discussion questions, a comprehensive final, and graduation this week. It's been a long one. Now I'm just looking forward to getting my degree in the mail. Woohoo!
   I'm also entertaining ideas for my sketchbook, for The Sketchbook Project. I'm considering doing a mixed media graphic novel and will possibly play around with a psychology theory that I find intriguing. We shall see. I'll post more later though.

Final Projects and The Sketchbook Project

  Finally, artwork update! Here's the completed version of my Design 1 isometric drawing.

   The completed ink portion of my Drawing II project, both a close-up and slight distance shot.

 

And finally... the sketchbook!

Again?!

  I made quite a bit of headway on that Drawing II project... and then completely forgot to take a picture to show the progress on here. *groans* Everything's coming down to the wire, at the moment. I have two Art History tests this week, have to finish both my projects, and I have to deal with graduation on Wednesday. I'm a little stressed at the moment. ^^;

   To top that off, I still haven't received my sketchbook from the Sketchbook Project. I wonder how long the shipping takes? Maybe it'll come in the next few days? I also need to work on my friend's tattoo design, which I won't be posting on here. It's going slowly at the moment, due to all of my other projects and it being stubborn. Anywho, I wish you all a great evening/morning- wherever you may be- and will try to actually have an art related post tomorrow when I get home. :D

An update and Happy Mother's Day

  Hey everyone! No new drawings for the day at this point... though that may change. *crosses fingers* I actually need to finish going over my lecture notes for my Art History 1 class and to start studying for my Art History 2 final. I am starting to feel just a tad overwhelmed? :D At least I'm almost done with my Design project and the proposal for my Drawing 2 project. I'll be able to take pictures of those on Monday and Tuesday. Then, I have graduation on Wednesday. O.o Which is slightly strange since my last classes are on Thursday, but hey... whatever floats the college's boat.

   Enough about my goofy self! Happy Mother's Day to any mom's passing by! I hope you all have nice, relaxing days. My mom is currently taking a nap before we have to head out for work. I'm hoping it will have been quiet at work, so that we can leave as quickly as possible. Anyway, more later! Have a great one y'all!

Just finished Simon Schama's Power of Art documentary...

   Finally finished the Simon Schama's Power of Art today. The last three installments were excellent and rather informative. The series covered eight rather influential artists, bringing them back to life- in a manner of speaking. The last three installments covered Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rothko...

I hadn't really heard about Rothko, prior to the series. And I don't always connect with a lot of the Modern art, though I couldn't tell you whether that is due to personal aesthetic taste, the fact that I've grown up in a Post-Modern world, or a little bit of both. I was surprised to find that his later work, shown in the movie, were ones that I could connect with emotionally. There was one in particular that caught my eye, near the end.

Rothko, part of his Black on Grey series

Not the best image of it, but I couldn't find a better one sadly. (It's a tad difficult finding a variety of images of his work. There's a plethora of some of his work, and barely any of other examples.)This particular painting made me think of isolation, of standing in a pool of white with nothing around for miles. Not sure why, exactly. It just did. Anyways, that's enough for now.

Drawing II W.i.P continued

   It's been a long day. Had a frightening moment where I thought there was an issue with Graduation, but found out that everything's moving smoothly. Have to go clothes shopping soon, though. UGH! Just cant wait to have that Associate's Degree in hand.

   Anyways, here's a little more progress on the Ribera interpretation.

finished line art

Starting to do ink washes

And here's where I left off for today. 

 Next time, I hope to start on the other version  of the interpretation. I'm possibly doing a young man trapped in a toy store, stuck with the costume and strings of a marionette. We'll see. ^^;

Final Project W.i.Ps and The Sketchbook Project

I can finally upload some current work. I'm working on final projects for both my Design 1 class and my Drawing 2 class. These are work-in-progress shots, so they may look extremely different when complete. For my Design project, I'm doing an Isometric drawing on a full sheet of Arches (140lb Hot Press) paper.

Full view of the Isometric drawing. Watercolor and graphite at this point. Glass-like architecture.

 And for a close up of part of it:

My Drawing II project is a bit of a Master Interpretation drawing. I'm doing the proposal on a sheet of Stonehenge, and breaking down the original painting into line and shape- instead of subject matter. Then, on a sheet of Arches, I'll bring back the subject matter, but with my definite own spin. The painting I'm using is Jose de Ribera's Martyrdom of Saint Phillip. Here's what I got so far.

Full view. This paper is almost as tall as I am. O.o

Close-up

The actual reference image:

Martyrdom of Saint Phillip by Jose de Ribera, Spanish Baroque

    Also, I decided to participate in The Sketchbook Project. It sounds amazing, and I can't wait to receive my sketchbook. I'll upload the drawings as I work on them. That's all for tonight!
  

Testing, testing 1-2-3

   I figured today would be a good day to actually upload some of my more recent artwork. These are just a few of a watercolor series I completed last week. I tend to use graphite or ink more often, so these are a bit... different from what I normally do. I actually did about eight of these, but I'm only posting the three most recent ones. (Everything else will be from this past weekend and on, when I start uploading more.)

A self-portrait based on a photograph.

The smallest of the series, and the one that seems most like a gestalt.

A bit of an eye study. Used a dip pen and burnt umber ink to go over the watercolor.

    If anyone would like to see more of the series, just left me know. :) Later, everyone!