The Bubbles are Making Progress

I’m still working on the watercolor with the little girls playing in the bubbles. I originally did the colored pencil sketch that pops up in the background of these pictures back in the summer of 2008 in honor of Maria Chapman.

It was the very beginning of a “no eyes” phase where my characters’ faces were showing, but something was always in the way of their eyes, usually hats or hair.

My oldest bother made the joke that someday when people study my work they’ll make special note of different phases I went through the way Van Gogh went through phases where entire paintings were blue or entire paintings were red.  “Yes, and these were from her early years.  Best we can tell, she was approaching her work through the psycological perspective of . . . ”

He’s funny.

Anyway, until then, I’m still painting. . .

Skylight

When God closes a door,

He always opens a window.

But sometimes instead of a window,

He gives a skylight.

So that we will simply stand still

And look up.

something I’m working on

There’s something really cool my mom taught me when I was little.  I drew a colored pencil piece a few years ago and more recently I thought of how good it would look done with watercolor.  I traced the original piece and then rubbed the lead from the tracing onto watercolor paper.

Next I thought I would try it as a way to reproduce my work.  Professional printing of artwork is pretty expensive in the initial start up, so I decided to try doing multiple tracing and transfers of the same piece and paint them at the same time.  It works since watercolor requires more time to let the layers dry.  I haven’t painted since I lived in Mesquite.  I just picked it up again last week.

I’ll upload the finished product when I’m done someday.

Unknown Adventure

This is one of my favorites from last winter.

It feels like looking at an unknown adventure in progress.

Oh, and this is my 100th post.

Just thought I’d let you know.

Snow Photo

Unfortunately, I still can’t type since hurting my wrists last month, and my brain moves too quickly to tolerate the two finger pecking I’m reduced to.  But I thought I would share a photo I took the winter before last that turned out rather nicely and mocks the Texas stereotype of dry, hot, and crispy.

It’s also how I feel on the days I work in departments with extensive, expansive, enormous, glorious, and kill-me-now-I’m-too-cold-to-go-on walk in freezers.

I’m so glad I live in this corner of Texas where I occasionally get to see spectacular wonders such as this.

Hoodie Girl

This one was just for fun.  It’s kind of patterned after me, even though she doesn’t literally look like me.

I had a really good hair day and my hoodie was just all wrinkled the way comfy hoodies should be.

And I was off work,

and being lazy,

accomplishing nothing,

except for getting back to drawing,

which of course is highly significant.:)

Chinese Baby

When I was seventeen I started doing a lot of research on Chinese adoption.  It’s something that’s been close to my heart since I was ten years old, and when some friends of my family started adopting from Vietnam and Guatamala, the interest was rekindled, and I started researching in earnest.

And I draw the things I love.

If I’m reading history, learning to ride a horse, writing a story, or researching international adoption. . . I draw.

The research is my head, the art is from my heart. I want to adopt someday, and in the meantime, I draw.

Oh, and I didn’t draw the hands, because I didn’t feel like working–not because I can’t.  I’m just defending my honor as an artist. . .

Siamese Fairy

So I’ve been watching the TV show Bones on Netflix too much, I think.  I decided to see if I could construct a human form from the skeleton up. . . but of course Bones doesn’t deal with anything except for bones, as you might expect.

So my first attempt at a person from bones up turned out to look something like a malnourished cadavar, so I decided to try shooting for something a little less human that is allowed to look a little more delicately skeletal.

Gotta love fairies.

So since I was going to aim for something a little extra or not quite human, I decided to have some fun with it.  I decided to make a Siamese fairy with a little inspiration coming from a Siamese cat.

This is my fairy from Siam (which is now called Thailand, actually) from a very basic bone structure all the way up to the fairy wings, color coordinated with the bikini top, which is the official fairy attire as we all know.

Baby Raccoon

I’m going to be working on an art project that involves baby raccoons, so I needed to get some practice.  I looked up photos of baby raccoons on Google Image.

Oh. Wow.

Baby animals always look so bewildered to be alive.

Adorable.

Nature’s Wedding

The trees all over Tyler look like they’re getting ready for a bride’s grand entrance.  Little white flowers are covering trees everywhere from the yards of the middle sized mansions of the Tyler aristocracy to the small patches of grass next to gas stations and cold-water-walk-ups.  Fallen blossoms are in mounds around the corners of parking lots like the leftovers of last winter’s snow.  It looks like the city is getting ready for a spontaneous wedding ceremony.