Bunnies

Just a little furry fun on this holiday Sunday!

"Patches" 4x6 watercolor/acrylic on hot-pressed

If you celebrate the holiday, Happy Easter! If not, happy day-before-all-the-chocolate-bunnies-are-75%-off day!

A Big Reader

I just love books. If I'm not in the middle of a book, I feel off kilter. I probably read between three and six books a week (which really makes me wish I had a library that had any selection at all, rather than being the size of a public bathroom, but that's what you get for living in the country.) I have a kindle that I read all sorts of things on, but I admit to still loving the feel of a good, solid, heavy book. I especially love the old tomes that you simply never see anymore with their amazing bindings and covers that seem to be something of a lost art.

In the studio, I really wanted to do a full-size dragon, and a friend suggested one with multiple heads. However, I wanted to tackle a full grown dragon with just ONE head first, before I started complicating matters for myself. I didn't realize my dragon was going to be a book lover too, but as I worked through what I wanted him to be doing, I couldn't shake the books, and that resulted in this:

Before I layered in the background, I realized he wasn't quite fancy enough yet. So, I finished him off and then decided on a smokey rust background.

I should note that this is on the paper that ruined my elf painting. Since I figured out to treat the dragon scales as I did the peacock's feathers, I realized the rougher and absorbent surface might actually work to my advantage. Which is good, because losing a whole block of paper hurts my poor frugal heart just a bit! I am going to order the Fabriano for my fairy paintings, but until then, I still have this block staring at me. Mocking me.

I thought I'd be able to finish the dragon quickly, because the one in my previous painting snapped into place quickly once I figured out what I was doing. I realize now that the small amount of space it took up had something to do with the quick pace of painting, because a dragon that fits a 12 x 16" surface is not a wee small beastie!

Getting the face done helped. It's my connection point with a piece, the face. I know many artists put off the face until the end, but without the eyes to look into I feel a bit lost. I did have some help, a color consultant... but he's a bit of a diva:

Figuring out the armoring scales on the front of the dragon felt good too, once I hit on how I wanted them to look.

And then he was done:

"Lire" 12x16" acrylic watercolor on hot-pressed paper.

I have to tell you that I flat out LOVE him. And it is a him, as I think a female would have a more slender snout than this handsome fellow. The entire dragon is done in iridescent paints, and it shifts and glitters in the light like it's moving just a bit. Makes it tricky for a picture, but in person? I wasn't even sure I was going to put it up for sale because I like it so much (I did, but it was a close one.) Interestingly, I accidentally flipped it black and white when I was editing the print file, and it turns out those iridescent paints work beautifully for this purpose. You can see all the brushstrokes, and how detailed it actually is when turned like this. I liked it so much that I polished it up and released it as a print option as well:

"Lire" in black and white, print only.

I've managed to come to a resting, breathing point which is nice. I have been working hard, flat out, for several weeks now. More things are stirring too - I'm starting a new company! Art based, I just filed my LLC papers. I'm not losing my current one either, but it's something new. Something more, that I'll be excited to share more about when I can.

Busy busy busy! And now I'm taking stock of things. I know I need to run full tilt into Alice. Alice needs to be finished, as she's gone on far too long, and I'm not even sure I'm half way with her. I have the Cheshire Cat in progress, but there is much further to go. Red queen, Jabberwocky, Alice herself.  Yes, I believe an "Alice Binge" is on the horizon for me!

Easter is this weekend, and every year I have planned to do Ukrainian Easter eggs, and just never manage to get the kits together. This year, not only did I not manage to get the kits together, I didn't even pull out any of my silly Easter decor either. No eggs hanging on trees, nada. Some days, I have been working so hard that I am ashamed to admit that I have often forgotten all manner of basic human chores. *sigh*

But I'll leave you with a picture I took last year of myself, and the wishes for a happy weekend for you all - whether you celebrate the holiday or not!

Making Up

Last night, we had family movie night. We don't really enjoy going to the theaters any more because of many things (people are exceptionally rude to the point that it causes simmering anger just to sit there, the seats are uncomfortable, it's a long drive to get there, it's seriously over priced, etc.) Luckily, my husband loves his toys and we have a large screen with surround sound, a fluffy couch, comfortable PJ's and more. We had a make your own pizza night, my parents came over, and we were all finally able to see The Hobbit!

Well, I should say "most of it" because both my husband, my daughter and I fell asleep at different parts. Now, this wasn't because of the movie. No, our dozing episodes had a great deal more to do with the time when the movie finally got started and some very full bellies while snuggled down all warm and comfy together. We're going to watch it again later today. My son, who didn't fall asleep, LOVED it, and wants to watch it more than once today (which is overkill, once should be plenty!)

After murdering that painting a couple days ago, I started that other one quickly to make up for it - and I finished it:

"Malvina" 9x12" watercolor on paper

It's fascinating how a face and body takes so little time compared to hair. Good grief, there are only about 3-4 layers on the body, but well into the double digits on the hair! Another thing I find fascinating is that I remember hearing that pretty much everyone in real life has every color of hair on their head, and that their hair color is determined by which one shows up in a dominate amount. I'm finding that to be a true statement when it comes to painting hair. In order to give it depth, no matter which color you choose, you're going to end up using all of them and just leaning heavily on one in particular to make the overall color.

I used iridescent paints again (I just don't think I'll ever be able to stop) on the hair and the dragon. The best thing about this painting is the dragon, because I had a little breakthrough of sorts: I started painting the body like I did the peacock's feathers from My Steed.

I started thinking to myself how short feathers and scales don't look remarkably different, and I think I actually heard the "click!"  I really feel like I improved my dragon so considerably that I am planning on doing a full sized one today (sketching it out anyhow!) Now all I have to decide is how I want him to be, exactly. I also have thought since this technique is rougher, perhaps that paper that let me down and killed my painting from before would actually work for this? I don't want to kill another painting though! Hmm....

Murder

I killed a painting today.

This one:

Actually, if you click on the picture and make it huge, you can see how rough it was. Really, the death of this one was due to materials malfunction. I'm working on hot-pressed, and it just started falling apart. I've had problems with this brand (Laquarelle) anyway with shedding, and then I switched masking to a different bottle, and when I pulled the masking off, it just... well, it's almost like it unraveled the top of the paper. As if the hot-pressed part of the surface that kept everything together simply broke.

I worked hard to salvage her face, and it was OK, as you can see in the picture. But when I got down to her bodice and skirts? The problem wasn't something that could be worked through. It all looked rough and muddy, and... ARGH!

I paced the kitchen. I ate a waffle (I'm a stress eater.) I cussed at it. Several times.

Finally, I realized that it is better to let it go - even though I've put a lot of hours into it already. It's better to let it go now, cut my losses now, than it is to keep working and complete at BEST a mediocre piece that I'd be embarrassed to sell.

So, I stopped. It's now among the collection in my daughter's (14 yr old) room, because she has been fishing out all my rejects from the trash and keeping them. I'm not sure why, but I'll let her.

So, this painting is dead. Which makes me really mad. I have my shopping cart all set up with Fabriano blocks (unless you all have a better brand suggestion for a smooth, non-shedding hot-pressed?) and I'm just waiting for a good coupon/sale to come up so I can order.

I did sketch out something fast on my other block which is still OK. I felt like I had to make up for this. I need to do something to erase this mistake!

The upside is that while I know this failure-block (different from the one currently in progress) won't work for future paintings, it will on sketches. I have had several people ask me to just finish out the sketch in pencil, that they'd like to see something like that. So, I'm going to give that a go. A solution to my murderous circumstance, such as it is!