knitted goods- this time with pictures!!!

My purse! Yeah, it's completely not done, or anywhere close to being done, and quite frankly, I'm sick of this periwinkle color already, but that's what I've got done on it so far...that's about 75 rows right there. And I screwed up on 3 rows already...you can see it if you look close- but I'm so ready to be done with the FRONT of the purse that I'm not ripping it all out to start over. I kind of think the mistakes give it character (at least that's what I'll tell myself!)
Here are 2 -35mm hats that I did (totally not following the pattern at all because it took too much effort to figure out the knitting code), both were supposed to be for Gonzo- however the first one I did, over there on the right turned out waaaaayyyyyy too small for his head (and mine for that matter- stupid knit 2 pearl 2 method!). So I made a second hat there on the left- which fits me and Gonzo awesomely. I decided on this pattern because Gonzo works in the "film" industry, he sees a lot of it everyday, and the fact that it's 35mm just made me laugh. I showed him the pictures from the blog I got the pattern from and he loved it and begged me to make it for him (ok, that might have been the other way around "please Gonzo? Just let me make a hat for you! COME ON!!!")

But see this picture, it makes it look like there's a giant gap in the hat...It doesn't do that on Gonzo, and I have a smaller head than he does, so the fact that it's doing that is making me question my knitting abilities (or my head size)!

Geez, could my eyes be greener? Anyway, I think I took this picture after seeing the last one and deciding I was annoyed by it all.
Happy Wednesday!

Family of 5

I did it! I finished the drawing! You know, the one I was referring to in the previous post. Yes, it was difficult to complete, but I finished it over the weekend and hand delivered it yesterday. I think because of this drawing I may have to implement some new rules for photo submissions- the 1960's and 1970's photos did not age well:

While I was able to complete this drawing, I am not happy with how it turned out. There is a great loss of detail in the photograph, along with over-exposure and under exposure making the shadows that I normally do look weird for a drawing (this is no fault of the photographer- perhaps the blame should be put on camera companies and development places from those decades)- yet not having good reference material to go off of, I had a hard time adjusting it. Also, the lack of detail in the photo made it very difficult to draw the faces and hands. I did what I could, and the recipient seemed pleased, but me as a perfectionist with drawings am severly unsatisfied with how it turned out. I guess if the customer is happy I should be happy right?

I think I am ok with it, I just got frustrated with it and I have the lingering feeling from that. And you know, it was a challenge which I do like (sometimes), so maybe drawing from 60's and 70's photos won't be all bad.

Oh well, I leave you with a close up:

still no pictures of the knitting, but...

I did complete this drawing yesterday while at work. I actually fully intended on doing this drawing several months ago. Gonzo and I had gone to this car show...forever ago...called Pistons & Paint, and we took a crap-ton of photos. I had printed all of these cars off that I wanted to draw and managed to block out all of them except 2, and then just let them sit there, stewing in their own filth (you know, as much filth as a 2B pencil and white paper can muster while hanging out in a manilla folder), and yesterday I didn't want to draw- I didn't. But I have another drawing that I've had for a week now, and I just can't get into it- so I figured if I drew something else during the day, by the time I got home from work I would want to draw it. I completely got into drawing this one- all of the intricate details, and the shadows- I loved it- I even managed to find a happy home for it, but by the time I got home I just stared at the other drawing- blocked in the rest of the faces (there are 5 people in the next drawing, which will hopefully be done by this weekend), and added some shadows and called it a night. If I'm not into drawing a photo, I have to walk away for awhile, do something else, because if I just rush into it, to get it done, it'll look like crap and I won't be happy, and most likely the client won't be happy. So I'm taking my time. I want to make it right. I think the reason I'm getting blocked by the other photo is because it's from the 1970's and it's really hard to see details...I thrive on the details. I'll get into drawing it, soon I hope. But until then, it's the Piston's and Paint mean looking piece of machinery that was finished. The only other vehicle drawing that I've managed to draw from all of the photos that were taken at Pistons & Paint is here. I'm trying to work on drawing vehicles- the wheels still don't turn out completely round, there's usually one tire that looks flat, and there are some straight lines that aren't so straight. Practice, practice, practice.

Do I have pictures?

No. Why? Because I'm an idiot!
I've been busy, with creating things- I swear! For example. For some reason, around this time of the year (the hottest part of the year), I tend to bring out the knitting stuff. (ex: here) So I've started knitting a purse. I got the pattern from a book called "weekend knitting"- which has a bunch of great patterns. This one however is being altered because it's a checkers/backgammon holder, and I would prefer it to have a pocket on the outside...so that's what I'm doing. So far I'm 70+ rows into the front of the purse (and only screwed up on 3 of those rows!!)...I still have to go and knit the back, the strap, sew on buttons...make a linning...ok, you'll get pictures when it's finished...in the year 2012.
Also- I knitted 2 black hats this past week and weekend. One of the hats is called a "roll brim hat", I got the recipe from a blog that I've been reading, which is absolutely histerical- Crazy Aunt Purl (although I have to warn you, there is one blog post that I found myself crying while reading...I was at work people- crying at work is not good). I'm the kind of blog reader, who has to read all the archives before I can start reading the new stuff, so I'm currently on January 2008- it's taken me 2 weeks of work time reading to get that far, and I've laughed out loud, so many times that my co-workers officially think I'm nuts! (especially with the crying) I actually stumbled on the "roll-brim hat" post because I was looking up free patterns for hats, it was the first one that popped up on google. Anyway, totally sidetracked- I made the other hat from a made up pattern, to get the brim, to not roll up, but stay flat. Why don't I have pictures? Because I made them for a guy who my boyfriend works with, who I've been told is kind of a germ-a-phobe, so I wanted to get those suckers into ziplock baggies as quick as possible so I didn't shed on them, or dust didn't manage to weave itself inside the knitting. Thus, knitted goods in ziplock baggies just doesn't photograph as well.
Let's see, what else did I do this weekend? hum....
Oh yeah- I attempted to re-do the header for this here blog. I suck. It didn't work out too well for me, so I'm going to keep attempting to fix it, until it works- in which case you will be able to see that fine work at the top of this blog. There won't be a post needed for that, I assure you.
That may not seem like a lot (or maybe it does, I feel like I could have done so much more this weekend), but with the purse still being unrecognizable, and not taking ANY pictures, I feel I have let whoever actually reads this blog down. I'll take pictures as things progress.
OOOOOHHHHH, yeah, I did also draw one picture last week. It's a Christmas present for my mom, so I can't post pictures yet...not until Christmas. All I can say is I actually colored it with colored pencils. One person down for Christmas presents, 80 to go :P

Amy's little girl

Here it is. It's done. It took probably a total of 5 hours for the whole thing. I used H, B, 2B, 4B, and 6B pencils. I'm not 100% happy with how it turned out, but there's only so much cuteness you can capture in a drawing. FYI, the drawing is on the right, photo on the left.

Oddly enough, drawing all of these little babies for everyone, still doesn't make me want any of my own (a baby, not a drawing...I like drawings). I like to be able to sugar them up and hand them back in time for the vomiting and all. I'm evil like that. They are cute in small doses. (Not your baby Amy, I'm sure she's the greatest little kid on the planet!)

Amy actually told me back when we were in High School that I would make the coolest mom if I had kids. That I would let them do anything and be ok with it. While I'm not sure exactly what she meant by that, I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that she helped me get out of my house on my 18th birthday and go get a tattoo. A tattoo that is like a "fish tail" to my mom. Every time she tells someone about her unruly daughter's tattoo, it grows. Originally she used to say "my daughter has a tattoo, it's big", now it's progressed to "my daughter has a tattoo, it covers her entire back". Sadly, it's what someone might call a "tramp stamp"...sorry mom!
But seriously, if I have kids, they can totally get a tattoo. You know those parents who take their kids to get their ears pierced when they are like... a day old? Yeah, I'm just going to go take mine when they are a week old to get tattoos. Perhaps that's why I don't need children?

One more...bigger:

I'm impatient, but I finished

I don't have my camera with me today, so I don't have any shadowy pictures to show of the drawing I JUST FINISHED!
Amy! The drawing of your baby is done! DONE! I'm so excited for you to see it! I wish I had a portable scanner...or my camera!
It's a really cute picture, I promise (for those of you not familiar with the actual photo I'm drawing from, it's a baby girl, with an adorable smile holding a ball...you'll see it). The plan is to go home, start the laundry (as is what I do every Thursday night), and commence with the scanning and adding copyright, etc. etc. (one of those "etc." means post it to my blog...)

If anyone is curious to know why i don't have my camera (which I know EVERYONE of you is interested in the "why"), it's because I have a severe sunburn. Sunburn caused by me being a complete moron and going to the Parker County Peach Festival last weekend and thinking it would be great to forget the sunblock. Or a shirt for that matter. Spaghetti strap tank top- not a good idea. So now my shoulders are actually doing something I've never seen before- I look like I have scales, hard nasty, discolored scales. Anyway, they're painful- so I can't wear my back-pack to work, I have my purse- which can only hold a book, wallet, and all of the pencils I own so I can draw. No room for my camera :( I'm fair warning you about this because I may or may not take pictures of the grossness and post it later. Why not, I shared my horrible dental experience with you already, what's a little shoulder scaling? FYI, next Dental appointment on August 4th, I'm not however getting all remaining dental work done, because I'm a weenie, and I'm also going ahead with a periodontal treatment, because I'm a weenie. The dentist scares me, ok?

FYI for anyone reading this and thinking "hum, it's July, I wonder what Amber is going to get me for Christmas..." here's a hint...It's hand made, and either knitted, or drawn- I hope that's ok. I'll have to restrain myself from posting those pictures. I might draw what the knitted projects look like, and knit what the drawn pictures look like...to throw you off the trail.

I will post pictures of the drawing that was mentioned way back up there at the top either later tonight or tomorrow!

I told you I knitted

First- Thank you Sawa for posting a comment! Thanks for the kind words about my drawings. And thank you so much for commenting! You don't know how good it is to actually know that someone is reading my blog (you know, aside from family and friends)!!! YEAH!!! I'm not just typing to myself!!! (big happy face and dance of joy now!!!)

I know, I know! Why is there a pile of leaves sitting on my living room couch? Actually, it's not leaves...well I'm sure in yarn world they could be considered that, but actually that's the scarf I've been working on for close to 3 years. HA!

Was it complicated? you ask...NO! That's what's so rediculous!

I actually started this way way way back in the grand old year of 2006, right before I got laid off for my dream job. Then I was unemployed for 6 months- which- HELLO! Is plenty of time to finish a simple knit every row kind of a scarf, but apparently watching TV and wishing my life would end (and totally not looking for a new job) was way more important than a silly old scarf.

I do not have the exact measurments of this with me, unfortunately (although I know, at it's widest, it's 10" and I think somewhere in the ball park of 56" long...I could be completely lying to you, but I won't know until I go home and find the tape measure). But it is for sale! That's the great news! It'll be going up on my other website for sale early in August for about $20.00. But I'm posting it here, now for $15.00. If you are interested in purchasing "the easiest scarf that took 3 years to make and looks like fall leaves all over the place" then hit me up. And if that link didn't just work, because I'm a slight moron with the hyperlink stuff then just send an email to: ASBTSF@gmail.com. First come, first serve, if you want it and you get an email in response that says "too slow" I appologize, maybe we can discuss a different knitted project for future dates that won't take 3 years to make...maybe.

Now that we have the 3 year project out of the way, I thought it was high time that I show off the "poncho" that I made for my boyfriend. It has only taken me 2 years to complete on a freakin' knifty knitter. That's how slow I am. (not really)

I'm actually pretty sure that my current boyfriend (you know, the one who had the tree fall on his car back in April...on his birthday) only started dating me, to insure that he would one day receive a "poncho" that I promised him. I started on this right during the key layoff period. This guy who had been following me around like a lost puppy dog who would treat me to lunches, and bring Pepsi's and donut holes to my desk every morning (when we worked together...um...hum), and I was completely oblivious to the fact that he might actually like me (when I, in fact, knew that I liked him)...anyway, I figured it was a fair trade for a pepsi- Maybe I need some back story here. He, being hispanic- and not at all politically correct, thought that it would be hilarious to get the "knitting white girl" at work to knit him a "poncho". The joke is on him. 2 YEARS! He's had to date me for 2 YEARS to get the stupid thing. And it's not even a PONCHO!!!! Short of me going insane last night to finish the stupid thing, he looked at me with those great puppy dog eyes and said "you can just leave it like that and I can wrap it around myself"- where upon I asked "wait, so I don't have to connect it? Are you just saying that so I will stop complaining about the 2 year old poncho that's not done?" and he said "yes". So there it is. The wrap/almost poncho- which I totally screwed up at the very end. (binding off using a knifty knitter is hard...unless you actually read instructions...in which case, it might be easy...I don't know.)

There. It's done.

No one ask me to make them a poncho. I don't make ponchos.

Ah drawings

This is my friend and former co-worker, Bryan Wallace's Daughter. Such a cutie pie! Anyway, I'm trying a few new techniques (new to me- I'm sure everyone who draws is way up to date with this...I'm behind on the times). Normally an 8 1/2" x 11" drawing takes about 2, maybe 3 hours to draw. Well that was back when I was using one pencil. A 2B pencil. With this new techinique...yeah, it took 9 hours roughly to draw this little angel. I used H, 2H, 4H, HB, B, 2B, 4B, and 6B pencils to give it a little bit more depth than my other drawings. My favorite part is the ribbon on her hat. It pops :)
Let me know what you think. Bryan certainly seemed to like it in the email I sent him last night. Let's just hope the digital image is representative of the actual drawing, hum?
Anyway, I've got another little cutie pie that I will be drawing this week- I'll hopefully be able to post it up this weekend (or sooner).
Also, I have knitted goods to show! Oh my! I haven't posted anything knitted in quite awhile! They're good, I swear. :P

no art work today

I'm in a not so great mood and would love to share a story with you today.
I went to the dentist yesterday. I've hated the dentist for a very long time- that doesn't mean I don't like taking care of my teeth, and that doesn't mean that I don't want straight teeth. I just hate the dentist because I associate pain with that whole practice. If the dentist had actually told me when I was younger that if I didn't get braces while in junior high, I would start getting migraine headaches because I have a cross bite, I would have listened, and begged and pleaded with my parents to get braces. If they had shown me the correct way to floss my teeth, so i didn't have to endure an hour long cleaning that I'm pretty sure entailed the hygenist ripping my teeth one by one out of my head with a pick to clean the gums violently with a stream of sand and then ramming my teeth back into my head- all while assuring me the procedure was not painful and shouldn't require me to breathe Nitrous Oxide, I would have flossed 10 times a day, the correct way. If I had a degree in dentistry I would have found out much sooner that the dentist I had gone to, to get my crown originally didn't do it right: meaning the whole "getting a crown after a root canal" was a really pleasant experience for me to start with, should have been the giant red buzzing light.
I hate the dentist. Still. But I started going to a new dentist recently because I needed a cleaning and my crown was bothering me. Here's how that all went down:
1. Dentist: "You have a cross bite do you suffer from really painful headaches?" me: "yes" dentist: "it's because of your bite. You HAVE to get braces. Well you HAVE to get them if you want your headaches to stop. If you're ok with the pain, then you don't have to get braces, you can just have crooked teeth"
2. Hygenist: "you don't have periodontal disease, you're gums just bleed, so we need to start you on a 3 session cleaning treatment" the bill: "periodontal hygene treatment" me: "Why the F*** am I paying for this if I don't have periodontal disease?"
3. Dentist: "You have 2 fillings that are metal and they are leaking, we have to replace those" me: "why?" dentist: "because they are leaking" me: "why are 'metal fillings' leaking?" dentist: "because they are old" me: giving up the arguement because he doesn't see where I'm going with this.
4. Dentist: "Who was your last dentist?" Me: "Dr. Meadows, in Dallas" Dentist: "Well whoever it was didn't put a post in to do the crown, so your crown that you have now is basically just hanging on...and it's fractured at the base, which wasn't even securely put on and you have a huge gap under the crown- this is bad, we have to do this" me: "how much will that cost?" Dentist: "well it doesn't really matter the price, you need to have this fixed".
5. Dentist: "See this crack on this tooth here? Yeah, we need to seal that before it turns into a cavity" me: "um, why weren't my teeth sealed to start with, so I wouldn't have to have it done now, and I would have never have needed fillings?" Dentist: *blink*
6. Cashier/Receptionist: "Ok, we don't want you to be homeless just to have beautiful teeth, but your bill is $2,000,000,000,000.00 of that your dental insurance will only pay $500.00
7. Me: "So can you tell me exactly why there is such a thing as dental insurance if they won't cover the full cost of a proceedure that is NEEDED because a previous dentist botched the job?" Cashier: "Because the insurance company wants you to go after your previous dentist to get the money. It's all about making their shareholders happy really". Me: "Insurance sucks" Cashier "yep".
So basically I had 2 major things done yesterday- the cleaning (which I'm cancelling further treatment for because it hurt so bad), and the replacement crown, which currently is only a temporary (and I really hope the post was permanent, because that was quite possibly the most pain I have ever felt in my entire life- including 2 broken bones and a sprained ankle). I scheduled the rest of my $8 gazillion dollar treatments for August 4th, asking if they have a payment plan. The way I look at it, I'll have everything completed August 4th and be paying it off until I'm 412 years old. Oh, well I'll actually only have my dental stuff fixed by August 4th. I still have yet to set an appointment with the orthodontist to correct this horrible bite, which will only cost me another 2 gazillion dollars, and my insurance will cover nothing.
Moral of the story: Parents- never let your children suck their thumbs, bottles, or pacifiers- it will only lead them down a horrible path of dental pain, and a growing hatred for the scary people who are in the dental profession.

100th post!!!

Yeah, I know I just posted. But I forgot about a drawing I had done last weekend, that was about to get forgotten about- for good.
I have this book that I got sometime between the time I graduated from High School and when I graduated from College, called "Anatomy For The Artist" by Sarah Simblet, Photograhy John Davis. HA! Ok, the director on The Ant Bully- A little known movie that I may or may not have my name at the end credits as the "Assistant Office Manager", was named John Davis- and I just now saw the name on this book, so that makes me laugh...
Anyway, getting back to my point here, I often draw from this book. I can't afford to take figure drawing classes right now, and I work during the day, so I can't really audit the life drawing classes at my former college. But this book has some really great poses, great lighting, etc. Recently I've been looking for some more figure drawing books to use, because...well...I've had this one for several years- so I've either drawn or painted almost every figure in this book.
But last weekend, I was in a figure drawing mood, so I drew this:
I know the face is pretty jacked up- but when you are drawing on black paper, with a white pencil, making adjustments is kind of difficult, so the face is bad. Hopefully the rest of it doesn't look to horrible. But I just wanted to post it up- because I have actually been doing stuff, just haven't had a whole lot of time to scan and update the blog. Let me know what you think. Or if you know of any Life Drawing classes in the DFW area that happen after 5pm, and don't cost hundreds of dollars to get in to...because I really miss taking those classes. It's great practice, for any artist.

Eye See You

Yep, that's right. A post I promised that I would make, and a post on a Saturday! What is going on???
Seriously though, I've had a fascination with people who are able to paint in photoshop and make it actually look like they painted with "real" paints, or they paint something in photoshop and make it look realistic.
I can't do that. So I found a book to give me a few tips and tricks that my college education didn't give me (I love that AID showed you a picture of something someone did in a program and tell you at the beginning of the quarter "when you get really good at Photoshop or Illustrator, you too will be able to make something similar to this"...then the entire quarter goes by and they teach you nothing that has to do with "painting" pictures in the program, only how to make textures for video games...)
Anyway, getting over the irritation, the book that I used to help me with photoshop is called "Digital Character Design & Painting The Photoshop CS Edition" by Don Seegmiller
I know I linked it to Amazon- it's probably cheapest there, if you are considering purchasing the book- but also because that's where I bought it. I'm a fan of Amazon.com.
Anyway, back to the actual picture posted- that's my eye. I took a picture of my eye, up close, and painted it using the techniques discussed in the above mentioned book.
I hope to have some more stuff painted in photoshop soon. But like I said, I'm new at it, so it may be awhile before I post anything like this again.

Scary Leaf Head Baby and other sketch book goodness

I started a new sketchbook last week, and figured since it was the 1st of July, I should maybe post some of the stuff I have been doodling in it :)

I used to have this re-occuring nightmare as a small kid about a giant who killed my only flower (it wasn't actually a giant, just a really big brown shoe). I still remember this horrible feeling that would sweep over me from the loss of the flower. I really think it was my first taste at the emotion "hate"- because I would wake up crying that "the monster killed my flower" Which yes, I have since read many-a-dream book and decoded the message from that dream. But I decided it was time to put the "monster"/"giant" into drawing. Only he came out looking like he has guilt, and he wanted to pick me a new flower to make up for killing the one I had in my dreams as a kid. Conviently he picked it at sunset, so it would be fresh for me in my dreams. Hey, it's cheaper than therapy...
I did this, with the complete intent on painting it in photoshop. I'm slowly teaching myself how to paint using photoshop, but I get bored. I taught myself how to paint an eye using the help of "Digital Character Design & Painting the Photoshop CS Edition" by Don Seegmiller. I have yet to post up the eye, but maybe sometime this weekend I'll get around to uploading it. I was pretty impressed. I'm actually quite sad with myself that I didn't express a greater interest in photoshop while attending The Art Institute of Dallas- maybe I could have picked up these tips and techniques much sooner...and on the schools time, instead of my own. Ah well, I'm not a team player anyway. Probably better that I learn on my own. I hope to share the end result with you once this one is painted.

And here's my pride and joy. I did this yesterday at work. I like to call it "Scary Leaf Head Baby". It's actually much more frightening in this drawing than the actual picture. A friend had sent one of those email forwards with a ton of cute random baby pictures and I couldn't resist. But this one is seriously creepy. It still makes me laugh though.

Ah well, hopefully I'll get some more sketches done soon to share with everyone. I did join deviantart.com last week, but have yet to post anything. I don't know why, I have social akwardness even on website forums. It's not even that I'm affraid of critisism, it's more of a "hey, I'm going to post to get feed back" and then I get nothing. Not even a look at my post...

a new project

A few weeks ago I was reading some article about custom "my little ponies" being sold at auction for charity. I freaked out. #1- I've seen some custom "my little ponies" before- and it's quite disturbing. Mainly because they are taking existing ponies and painting over the top of them- which I think is sacrilegious. and #2- they were actually using blank my little ponies. That's right- All white, never been dyed, touched, or painted on- ponies. Thus leaving me to realize my initial freak-out was completely unnecessary.

That lead me to search the internet for said "blank my little ponies". I found them. At the Hasbro toy shop (here). Being the wanna-be customizer that I am, I had to buy one...ok to be honest I bought 5. But here is my first-unfinished- attempt at customizing a blank "my little pony."

I had many many unicorn "my little ponies" growing up, but they always seemed so...not-like-what-I-would-imagine-a-unicorn-to-look-like, that I wanted to make my own.

I used air-bake clay...which i don't recommend for this. #1- the clay didn't stick to the pony, thus making me have to go buy some Mod-Podge to use as a glue and sealant. And #2- it was pretty messy- for the hands- not too bad on the pony itself- but clean up was kind of a pain.

The only reason I didn't use sculpy and bake it in the oven was because I wasn't sure if the hair would melt in the oven. I figured air-dry clay would be a good first attempt. Anyway, I have to paint it still. Granted it's just going to be white, with maybe grey hooves- but it will be a little different. I may post pictures once that is complete- but as of right now, I'm not sure when that will be.

Like I said before, I did buy 5 of these to work on, so over the next few months, I may have some more to show. If you like it let me know. If you have an idea for one, and would be willing to pay a few $$ for it, let me know- I might be willing to do a custom for you.

Doing this one made me want to get back to doing custom toys- I still have 3 blank munny figures to do something with, and a trooper teddy, as well as some little creatures that I can't think of the name right off the top of my head...but I know there's a monkey and a pig. Seriously, if I get any of those "created" into anything other than blank-ness, I'll post up pictures.

Welcome home Piggie!!!

THANK YOU DEANNA!!!! I love love love this piece of art done by Deanna Molinaro. She's absolutely one of the most creative people I have ever met in my entire life!

I've been admirering her sculptures for probably over a year...maybe longer (we worked together and I'm pretty sure I had seen her sculptures longer than a year ago). I asked her if she could make a pig for me- and this is quite possibly the most perfect pig sculpture I could have ever asked for! Seriously cute and adorable!

It's currently residing on my TV. I have to admit that the pink dots frightened me when I looked in the bag it came in. They were so bright I thought it was glow in the dark and I was like "um, ok, so when I see bright pink dots moving around in the middle of the night, I'm supposed to be scared of it then?"

So it's not glow in the dark, which makes me feel safe that I won't actually be aware of when it comes to life at night and starts playing the rest of the pig collection.
Granted this pig is the star of the pig collection now. It's almost too cool to even keep in a "pig collection"...I need to keep it away from the other pigs, maybe in my "art collection". I just can't get over how awesome it looks. The eyes are amazing, and I love the nose and tail. Deanna did such a great job! I'm thinking I might need one of her octopi next or perhaps a sea monster? I just love what she sculpts...one of everything please! LOL.
If you do go to her website, please make sure to check out her books, they are fantastic! I especially love Lonely Sea Monster and An Inconsolable Octopus. They are all great, those are just my two favs.

people are everywhere

For Starters, this is a drawing that I did to go along with the cat, with its head in the fish bowl, from yesterdays post. This is my co-workers daughter with boyfriend. No official title.

I'm learning to branch out and use more than one thickness in lead too, which is creating a lot more depth in my drawings. I'm kind of liking it!

A word of caution though- just because you see all of the squiggly lines and patterns and everything in someone's clothing, in a drawing that I've done, doesn't mean you should all rush to get me your photos with massive patterns and expect them to match accurately. At best I can make it a representation of what's in the photo. Patterns in fabric are really kind of a challenge and probably won't match very closely. Even stripes are hard to do. I wouldn't think they would be, but they are.

And here's the "mini" drawing of "Love Knows No Bounds". I posted the original that I did back in April/May a few posts ago. This is the one that I just did and shipped out earlier this week. Feel free to compare the two. I know there are some definite likenesses, and some definite differences.

No two drawings are every identical. Sadly.

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty...

Something strange is happening...I've actually begun to like some of my drawings as soon as I've completed them!
To some that statement might sound a little strange. But seriously, I rarely like what I draw, I'll look at it and go "meh, I could have done that better" or "maybe I should have drawn that differently?" But lately, I really like what I've been drawing. Like this cat for example. It's a present for one of my co-workers daughters, I started and completed it in about 2 1/2 hours just now. And I freakin' love this drawing! If it wasn't already sold, I would want to hang it on my own wall. That rarely happens. The one I did a week ago of "Arlene and Brandon", the people on the beach, when I was done with that one I wanted to keep it. I didn't, but I wanted to.
But anyway, just wanted to share this while I had the chance.

Do I get a vacation yet?

#1. Last week I took 2 days of vacation from work. Which turned into me also taking Monday off from work. Why you ask? Well, David went in for nose surgery on Thursday. As he likes to tell everyone, he got a nose job- as I like to correct him every time, I like to tell people he had a polyp growth in his nostril causing him to not be able to breathe, as well as a deviated septum that they had to repair. I can now say (at this date, I can't control my actions later in life), that I no longer want that glorious nose job that I've wanted since I was a teenager...Being nurse to plastic surgery patients is gross.
#2. I finished a drawing while on vacation from work. Remember the drawing "Love Knows No Bounds"? It had a mom with wings, and two girls below her and some clouds? Yeah, I had the requestor request a miniature version for her sister. I currently do not have that picture to show you...I really hope I remembered to scan it before I sent it off...
But in case I didn't (and I'm realizing now that I never actually posted this drawing anywhere on my blog), here is what the original looked like. I have since been informed by the requestor that the mouth was crooked (try looking at something for days on end and see all the problems...), so I fixed that in the newest drawing. I'm just sorry the requestor didn't mention that before I shipped her this drawing. I feel like a schmuck.
#3. I found a drawing I had been looking for and can't remember if I've already posted it or not. If not, here it is:
I think I might put this up for sale. So if you have an urge to purchase it, please comment, or shoot me an email: ASBTSF@gmail.com and we can discuss prices. If you would like to wait until sale time on the website...well fine then...go ahead and wait.

And if all of this sounds oddly familiar...which it does to me- then I think we are experiencing deja vu together...

"You draw to practice drawing??!!"

It has recently come to my attention that many people who are not from an art background/community, do not understand the concept of a sketchbook. So I'm here today, to enlighten some people as to why I carry a sketchbook around with me everywhere.

For me, not all artists, my sketchbook is like a journal- sometimes I write about the mood I'm in to reflect back on later as to why I drew something, or leave a causual note about what's been going on lately, and sometimes incorporate that into whatever I'm drawing. Other times it's simply there for me to pass the time and leave a doodle. Plus, you never know when there's going to be someone sitting right in front of you, that you can draw for free, just to remind yourself of how the human figure looks. The sketchbook is really there because I need to practice.
And today, that's what floored me about one person who laughed when she asked what I do with all of my drawings, and my reply was simply "it's all practice". To someone who is perfect, with no flaws, I guess this seems insane. "Practice, who needs to practice for anything?" No, you're completely right. Musicians never need to practice. In fact, every guitar player I've ever heard on the radio, simply picked up the guitar and started playing perfect pieces from day one. I'm sure Leonardo Da vinci never made any mistakes, anytime he touched a pen, or paintbrush to paper it was an instant million dollar drawing/painting from day one...yeah- oh she's got me, what am I doing?
No folks, artists do have to practice. Any art class I've ever taken they give you a warm up period, where you have to losen yourself up before you tackle some giant project. Any portrait I ever do, I don't just rush right into it, there's an underdrawing that has to be accomplished and cleaned up and then the real drawing begins. But it's not just that, I went an entire 6 month period, right after college, where I didn't draw anything, not one thing. When I tried to draw something again- it was like I was back in Middle School, going "techniques, what's that?"
I guess I was a little ticked off when she laughed as she said "You draw to practice drawing???" making it sound like I was the biggest idiot on the planet. It has made me realize though, that a lot of people out there think that artists can just go at the word "go" and make something spectacular right in front of their eyes. (Don't get me wrong, there are those capable who can make the most wonderful pieces of art right there...but it's definetly not me)
And another thing, why does everything that's ever drawn, or painted have to "be something"? Can't a sketch just be a sketch, that probably will only ever be seen by one person? Why does it have to go on to become this fantastic creation? Oh, AND, why is it that if you can draw, the automatic reaction from people is "you should illustrate children's books?" Why not "you should have your own business"?

Anyway- yes I have a sketchbook; yes I carry it with me almost everywhere; no not everything I draw is a masterpiece or deserves a spot on my blog let a lone my company website; Sure I would like to illustrate children's books, but it's not like that is something I can do after my 8 hour shift at work every night- I would have to be fully invested in it- possibly taking a hiatus from my job- which I can't afford to do right now.

Oh yes, I would love it if everything that came from my pencil that hit paper was a masterpiece and it would sell for thousands or millions of dollars...while I'm still alive...but I live in the real world.

Thank you for letting me rant...

I feel like going to the beach...taking a vacation...

Finished this drawing last night. It's on 14" x 17" paper, done with 2B, 4B, and 6B graphite pencils. I have to say, drawing water is difficult. Faking dirt and trees and what-not is relatively easy, but water- dang! I'm going to pick up a book on Amazon.com to give me some tips on drawing realistic water and other nature objects.

Haven't delivered this particular drawing yet, but hope the owner will like it.

Untitled #2 and tattoo design

It's June. Does anyone else think this year is flying by at a rapid pace? No? Just me, huh? Hum...
Ok, well anyway- with that out of the way I can show you the drawing I finished over the weekend:
This is my former boss, yet still co-worker Susan's father and his wife. I didn't get a title for it, so it's "Untitled #2". This was a tad on the challenging side. She requested 11" x 14" paper, which most portraits that are requested are requested on either 8 1/2" x 11" paper or the 9" x 12". I don't even know if I have done a portrait on this scale **(ok...there was that 18" x 24" of Santana, way way way back in the day...). While it was a challenge getting the proportions correct and getting the shading to look "normal", it was fun to draw. Susan likes it and is sure her dad will love it, which is more than I can ask for.

On another note, I've been getting bombarded with requests to draw tattoo designs for people. I don't actually think anyone has gotten one of the designs I have drawn, but at least it gives them something to go off of. I don't want to post up any of those designs right now, but in the spirit of drawing them for other people, I got to the point that I've decided I need another tattoo- however I fear this one will be much larger than my first. And I want to put it on my shoulder cascading down my arm...which, as a receptionist in a "business casual" environment, may not be the best idea (long sleeves from now on perhaps?)
It's supposed to be a ball of yarn up there at the top, because I like to knit, the pencil is an obvious...hello, I draw! and the 4 flowers have 2 meanings, 1. my lucky number is 4 (also my birthday day date), and 2. to symbolize my 4 grandparents who have all passed away. The one on the left, away from the other 3 represents my grandfather on my mom's side- as he passed away when I was 8, and was my favorite person on the entire planet. The leaf from that flower is touching the bottom flower on the right to represent his wife, my grandma who passed away in 2006, and it's to show that they were always together even though they were apart. And the 2 at the top are my father's parents; they died relatively close in time and were always together. The little buds along the string of yarn represent my path in life, little milestones and what-not. The stars are just there because I like stars. But yeah. Who knows if I'll actually get this, but it's very representative of myself.
I need to stop watching Miami Ink I'm affraid...

** Added note: apparently I've gone off the deep end. My most requested drawing size is the 11" x 14", I usually consider a "portrait" to be one face or a couple posed to look like a "classic portrait"...where as most of my 11" x 14" have either been multiple images combined, or an animal or objects. I do appologize to anyone who read this and has requested an 11" x 14" drawing and saw the above and was like "What is this lady talking about? I have the 11" x 14" drawing hanging on my wall right now!" So my "re-phrase" for the day is: a classic portrait, which takes up most of the sheet of paper I'm drawing on, is considered a portrait, and therefore I usually draw those on 8 1/2" x 11" or 9" x 12" paper. But I did enjoy the challenge for the "classic portrait" on 11" x 14" paper.

Got that?

Anyone know what that was?

I'm on a mission now. To find out what kind of spider that was on my car (that is pictured in the previous post- photo not drawing...) I just spent the better part of 30 minutes trying to figure out what it was and I'm not happy with my google search results.

1. my boyfriend said it looked like a brown recluse (um...aren't they "brown" in color then?)

2. When I shot that theory out of the water he came back with "maybe it's the male black widow?" (o...m...g...)

3. At work, I asked someone what they thought it was, from the blog photo and they said "that looks like one of those brown reluses" (ok really? Maybe he's color blind too?)

4. I saw a blog on my search that had a picture of a similar one, about the same size (size of a quarter)- but it had 8 really long legs, mine only had 4 long front legs and 4 short back legs.

At any rate, I would like to know what kind of spider this is, to know if I see another one if I can just thump it away, squish it, or leave it where it is. Because honestly, I'm a spider killer, because I hate them. I've contorted myself in many a weird angle to squish those suckers with my shoe- but something about this one...really did not sit well with me, and I didn't want to just brush it away with my hand, hoping it wouldn't cling on for dear life (to my flesh).

Fair warning, if you look up "Brown Recluse" on google- the images are really gross. Hands and body parts of HUMANS looking like a war zone because of the damage those little things can do.

Just because:

"Take it From a Texan"

Some of you may or may not know that while I was in high school I liked to draw a comic strip to humor my family. I called it "Take it From a Texan". At the time I was desperate to be a Texan and not live in Wisconsin. There was something magical, to me, about Texas. I've since learned that it's like any other state...except for the large bugs and insane humidity. so today, while looking for some inspiration I remembered a thought I had from last night:

In case you can't tell that's a giant spider with a cow-boy hat riding ontop of a car, while a girl inside is singing along with the radio. (Yes that's a classic VW Bug- No I don't have one...anymore.)

There is a caption for it that reads "NOTE TO SELF- Having a fear of spiders and living in a state thats slogan is "Everything's bigger in Texas" may not have been the wisest decision..."

And see, this comic strip, if you will, appears in my sketchbooks only, because, well...no one understands it except for me and my family.

But I decided to decode this one to share with ya'll (see, it's kicking in).

Yesterday on my way to lunch from work, I almost had a heart attack trying to get in my car. There was a spider on the side of my car by the drivers side door, making it very difficult for me to open the door to leave. "why didn't you squish it?" you ask? Well this is what it looked like:

That's the actual picture of it that I took trying to not go crazy and run across the parking lot speaking in tongues to get someone to kill it. (seriously scared of the smallest spider)

I'm pretty sure a bright yellow spider with red stripes means it was created somewhere in the 9th gate of hell, and therefore should not be toyed with. By the time I got to my destination for lunch, the thing was gone. But all day I couldn't stop thinking about it. On my way home from the grocery store I was thinking to myself that it would be really retarded if I got out of the car at home and there was the mutated son-of-a-gun holding as tight as possible to the roof of my car eating a bug. And by mutated I, of course, mean that the sun and humidity level caused the thing to grow 1,000% bigger than he was at lunch time.

But yeah, no spider on the roof, and I haven't seen the devil spawn since yesterday at lunch...and well, now in my sketchbook.

Is it itchy in here to anyone else???

Panels...because they look neat

Monkeys revisited. Yeah that's right. Upon request via a comment, someone wanted to see more animals, and more detail...ok.

Monkeys in panels are always welcome, right?

This guy just happens to also enjoy bananas in a tree.

Tania's Giraffe

She asked for it. I mean seriously.
Giraffe take 2. are you ready?

Yes, this is based off the last giraffe from earlier- but this one is especially for Tania. It's her giraffe. And her drawing if she would like it (comes with red draw-thru under the pencil as well!)

Shnika and Edward

An actual drawing, drawing for once :O Shocking, I know!!!

This was a mother's day present from my co-worker Ed (pictured on the right) for his wife Shnika (pictured on the left).

I do have to apologize for the poor quality of the photo, but people keep requesting the 11" x 14", which doesn't exactly work with my scanner at home, so I'm forced to take shadow ridden photos with my digital camera. This just so happens to be the close up. The pulled out, further away picture that I took is kind of blurry and has an awesome shadow of my hand holding the camera in the bottom left corner.

But anyway. Ed informed me that his kids didn't believe this was a drawing. they thought it was a photo printed off the computer.

I love kids. :)

Someone asked for it.

I have a love for monkeys. I admit it. It's actually a love so great that I will stop everything else I am doing to sit down and watch any one of the "Planet of the Apes" movies when it comes on tv. It's sick really.
If I go to the zoo, either the first or the last stop has to be where the monkeys are. In Wisconsin I would just go to the Monkey house that they have, and sit where the Orangutans were and watch them for hours on end.
Or I would go to the section that had the chimpanzees and hang out until I could get a good photo to draw later (which I do have one in my sketchbook from high school)
Even at the Ft. Worth zoo I find that I'll go to where the gorilla's are and just watch them- not draw, just watch. One time I was attempting to draw the silverback gorilla they have, and a hurd of wild kids showed up to pound on the glass I was looking at. The old gorilla had been fine with me sketching away, but decided he wanted to pound on the glass too, to scare the kids off. He did it so loud and so quickly, and with such anger that I decided it was best if I leave him alone too.
I even felt a little weird about the Dallas zoo, when they had to shoot an escaped Gorilla that had bit some people. Mainly because I was supposed to have gone to the zoo that day to sketch for awhile, but opted not to.
It was probably just tired of the little kids throwing things at it, or pounding on the glass. Seriously, they need to have a class on proper zoo etiquette before they have any school sponsored field trips to the zoo.

Anyway, I ramble too much. I love monkeys. Any kind. They fascinate me to no end, and are always fun to watch. I haven't been to any zoo in a long time, and I miss it. So I thought up this little hob-gobblin on my own today. I do realize that the foot resting on the branch should have the thumb wrapped around it to make it look better, compositionally. But what can you do...except appreciate those "damn dirty apes" :P

Quote

Aspire to greatness.
Do not settle for mediocrity.
Do as much as is within your power to advance your mastery of the craft.
Don't rush.
Be patient.
Learn.

-Mitch Macial

News? ***Orphaned Works Bill- Make it Stop!***

***UPDATE*** Please click here to send a quick (will take 2 minutes or less to complete) message to your House Judiciary Committee member to STOP the Orphaned Works Bill!!!

It's on every art forum thru out cyber space. I just saw this posting on the ConceptArt.org forum. This is important.

Ok, as we all know, I'm always behind on the times. Today a friend of mine emailed me about something that concerns me as well as all other artists dead or alive. It's a little disheartening to read about and of course I'm months behind on. But at the same time it's so unbelievable that it's hard for me to comprehend if this bill was read correctly (that may be a little out dated, but one of the only ones I could find doing a google search...this may be more current). But anyway, the uproar and the upsettingness is here. If any of this passes, I'm sure I won't be the only one who may take a hiatus from doing some art and just wait for someone to go "ok, we give...please do some work that will be yours forever and ever and you'll get all the profit from- we need artists!"

Giraffe?

By using the worlds smallest pencil, I drew a giraffe a few minutes ago.
I can't say that it's my best work, but it makes me grin.

Although I keep noticing that all "creatures" I've been drawing lately are facing to the right, have giant feet and the same freakin' nose. I think I'm ok with that. To be quite honest.
Although what I'm not alright with, is the habit I haven't broke myself of yet. Drawing with a tiny tiny pencil. What can I say, the thought of using a pencil until it won't fit between 2 fingers anymore, pleases me. Although my art teacher in high school told the entire class that once a pencil is smaller than the width of your palm, you need to throw it away and get a new one.
HA!
sorry Mr. D...but the pencil is still bigger than my palm...until I sharpen it again. (Yes I know that particular part of my palm is smaller than the actual palm itself...semantics people!) I actually have another pencil that I use that's bigger, but this one is my favorite.