Monday, October 15, 2012

State of the Artist 10/15/2012

View halloo, all! It's Monday, so it's time for another State of the Artist update! Weekly Words Doing a straight-forward, clear-cut task that has a beginning and an end balances out the complexity-without-end that often vexes the rest of my life. Sacred simplicity. -Robert Fulghum Ah, simplicity... Current Project This week's project is a very personal piece commissioned by a dear friend who recently lost her father after a considerable struggle with failing health. She requested a 5x7" watercolor of her father with his two dogs, silhouetted against a setting sun; an image from a dream from before her father passed away. These kinds of projects always make me rather nervous. While I am always honored to be asked to complete so personal a project, I'm always extremely aware of just *how* personal these commissions are, and I want to be sure I've done right by my client.
Near Future Ack! I've got a commission sitting on my plate that I need to make more progress on, I've got a personal painting I'd LIKE to make more progress on, but seems to be stalled... I've got a convention I'm not prepared for coming up in 11 days... and I've got a Holiday Card to design... eek! I need more hours in the day! O.o I'm hoping to post the Holiday Card Request post this week, and close it off again mid-November, so stay tuned for that if you'd like to receive a Holiday Card this year. Taking suggestions for themes for this year's Holiday card! So, go ahead and let me know in the comments below! That's all, folks! So much for another State of the Artist update, thank you for joining me! Feel free to leave comments/feedback and I always appreciate feedback!
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Monday, October 8, 2012

State of the Artist 10/8/2012

View halloo, all! It's Monday, which means it's time for a State of the Artist update! Weekly Words Dogs are wise. They crawl away into a quiet corner and lick their wounds and do not rejoin the world until they are whole once more. - Agatha Christie, 1890 - 1976 Current Project This week's post sees the second half of "The Eastern Star" WIP pics!
Done with the figure and border, and so now moving on to laying in the initial layers of the backgrounds. I decided to go with greens and golds for the fabrics. I wanted colors to contrast with the large amount of red I'd ended up using near the bottom of the image (again,) but not *too* much contrast... *** ... since I was going give the rest of the background a deep, old, oiled wood feeling. *** Last few layers of color for the fabrics and coloring in the sky background seen through the ship's porthole, results in... *** THIS! Original: SOLD Prints (8x10" archival prints): $12
Near Future Still on the commission streak... I've got one rather complex one sitting on my plate at the moment, and it doesn't seem to be cooperating much with me right now, much to my dismay. I'll be attending Necronomicon in Tampa, FL from October 26-28, so if you're in town or attending the convention come by, say hi, buy a print or commission something new! Thank you for joining me for this week's State of the Artist update, please feel free to leave comments to what's been posted or suggestions for new works! A LiveJournal account is not required to reply to any post in this journal.
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Monday, October 1, 2012

State of the Artist 10/1/2012

View halloo, all! It's Monday, so welcome to another State of the Artist update! Weekly Words In youth we learn; in age we understand. -Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 1830 - 1916 Current Project As I said last week, I'm posting WIP pictures of "The Eastern Star," the second in the crew lineup of the Lofty Pursuits airship brothel. I'll start with the clean line art image, full of lots of little details guaranteed to drive me nuts: and move on to adding in base coats of the skin tone colors, gradually building up color in layers, and the border. While working on "Red Light Flights" (the first in the series) I found I'd get some pigment bleed if I left the pale border colors for last so I did it first this time: ... adding in costume pieces, again in light layers to build up color depth and intensity. I used to work straight from the final color I wanted only to realize it usually made things very heavy and blocky, without any kind of luminosity. Next week, moving on to the background! O.o Near Future Not much different here than last week's Near Future plans: more Necro con prep, commission work to do, and Holiday Card ideas to consider.... Ack! Thank you for joining me for another State of the Artist update! Please feel free to leave comments below, a LiveJournal account is not necessary to comment here, and feedback is always appreciated, it makes for a Happy Kit!
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