Productivity is a Good Thing.

Yesterday morning = the perfect way to spend the first few hours of a Sunday. Ahhh, Sundays. Not a strawberry in sight...plenty of coffee drinking in flannel pajamas...hardy, home- cooked breakfasts...and drawing to my heart's content! What love. :) I drew allllll morning, and did not feel even an ounce of guilt. I felt very productive. For weeks I've been dying to do some drawings based on some of Kayleigh Morin's 365 project (Delusions of Grandeur.) The concepts for her photos are inspired; when I see her images, I'm filled with the need to create. This particular shoot was centered around the color red, and what emotions it reflects to the artist (you can read more about it in her blog.) I asked her if she would mind if I did some drawing versions, and she said she didn't mind at all! I'm so lucky to have artist friends. They help keep road blocks at bay by continually stimulating fresh thoughts. ^__^

Sketches

Inked

RED PORTRAIT I finished:

India ink, permanent marker, Crayola markers, Faber Castle brush pens.

RED PORTRAIT II finished:

India ink, permanent marker, Crayola markers, Faber Castle brush pens.

RED PORTRAIT III finished:

India ink, permanent marker, Crayola markers, Faber Castle brush pens.

These were the best photos I could get, since I still don't have the use of a scanner :/ I managed to get the inked versions to look decent, because they were in black and white with very sharp lines. I shall try to get my hands on a pretty little scanner as soon as I can, because I really miss having one.

DRESS STATUS: Last night I cut out all the pieces and bought my notions. And I found some AMAZING pairs of shoes that would be fab fab fab to wear with my dress. Not sure which pair yet. And if I do get them, I shall have to train myself to walk in heels. As of now, I stumble even in my mom's clogs. I am far to used to converse and running sneakers >.<

Both are from http://www.shop.ironfistclothing.com/.

The Coloring Issue and a Skull Quilt.

TO COLOR OR NOT TO COLOR, THAT IS THE QUESTION...

I've done another self portrait! I like it best out of the three so far. Right now, it's only in the inked stage. I haven't gone any further, because even though at first my plan was to color it, now I'm scared to make the plunge.

Knowing when a piece is "done" (or ready to be "abandoned" as my painting teacher says- "I've never actually ever FINISHED a painting; I've just abandoned them!" So true, so true) is the hardest part of art making in my opinion. There is always the quandary of whether or not it could be improved. The problem comes because just as easily as it COULD be bettered, it could also be made worse (or totally ruined!) And overworked is never good; once you go too far there's no going back, unless you decide to reincarnate it as something else. I asked some people about their opinion on the coloring issue- most of them thought that it was worth trying out the color idea, but that I should try to make a photocopy so that I would still have a black and white version. The drawing is too big for a regular scanner unless I want to try to scan it in pieces, but I can fit most of it on an 11 x 17 piece of paper, which could be done easily on a photocopier. I'm pretty sure that my public library has one, so I'm going to make a few copies to try out different coloring techniques/materials, and keep the original just as it is. I'll keep you posted!

Do you recognize that little guy? (The gross white glare on his eye is from the camera flash. I hate flash, but I couldn't get a proper picture otherwise :/)

This weekend I also embarked on my first quilting adventure. I've never done any quilting, but as you know I love sewing (PLUSHIES!! PLUSHIES!!! ^__^) sew I though I'd give it a go (haha!) It's a skull quilt made entirely from 4 x 4 squares of scrap fabric. I found the idea on one of my favorite websites of all time, Cut Out and Keep. If you're a crafty and kooky person, you should definitely take a look. It has all kinds of great inspiration.

Yesterday I finished cutting out all the squares and laying them out where I wanted them to go. I may start sewing today :)

The skull isn't super prominent because I since I only had scrap fabric to work from, I didn't have many choices. But I think it's kind of cool that way. I had SO much fun cutting out all the squares, as monotonous as it sounds. I could remember what each fabric was originally used for...there were a lot of scraps from various shirts my mom made before I was born, and there are even some squares from some of my old pajama pants!

Self Portraits from Photos

I've been going absolutely crazy not having any kind of guided art projects. No inspiration, no motivation, no feedback, no people to bounce ideas off of. It's HORRID (gaha, that word makes me laugh. I feel like I need to say nasally while scrunching my nose up.) And my greatly anticipated metal sculpture class got canceled, because apparently there weren't enough people as excited about it as I was. Only 6 people signed up, and the cut off for running it was 12 *sniff, tear* (cue sad music: "OH NO, TEARS ARE FALLING" - I just so happen to be listening to Kiss) The only slightly artistic thing I've been doing since Mr.Waffles is painting the kitchen red with my dad, which doesn't really count. I went to my high school's art show last night, and it made me feel EXTREMELY guilty for letting my art making muscles emaciate. This afternoon I forcefully told myself that something must be done. I slapped on one more coat of red paint, cleaned up, and went upstairs to try to find the SOMETHING in myself to produce ANYTHING. As I have very little inspiration right now, self portraits seemed to be the thing (when you can't find a subject to draw, just draw yourself, 'cause you've always got you.) I used photographs of myself taken by my lovely Bloggie Buddie because I don't have a mirror up in my room, and I find her pictures of my face more stimulating than my "live" one. I have to say, for someone who is feeling less than inspired, I pretty surprised and pleased with the results. They're kind of cartoony, I know, as they were meant to be. I think I will continue along this self portrait path until I stumble in a new direction...

This one was actually done second. I used sharpies, crayola markers, and india ink (in pen and brush pen form.) It also has collage elements, like the ripped paper. I quite like it.

This was the first one that I did. Crayola markers, india ink (pen and brush pen) and prisma color pencils.