Holy Frijoles!

What is this madness?
What is it?!
...
Oh, whew. It's only an update. Nothing to be afraid of folks (unless you're a critic >:/ ); I come in peace!

In all seriousness, though, I'm sorry about my unexplained hiatus.
There's no explanation for it.

So! On to the pictures:

This is one of my all-time favorites, which was displayed at the 2010 Arts Coffee House for Bluefield. Pen&Ink, watercolor pencil, and pastel.

This is now in the possession of my aunt. I mostly like the shadowing in the background.

Pencil drawing of a Swedish diplomat (?).

This one is interesting, but I wish I had put more definition into the background. Human anatomy is still kind of difficult for me.

This is also in my aunt's possession. I finally realized what it is that throws me off in this picture... The horse has no forelock!

The semester is nearly over. I do hope to update more regularly now, but life happens sometimes. Once I get school squared away, I should be all set for preparing updates and enjoying some free time. I'm looking forward to it!

Continuing On

I've been experimenting with using oil pastels layered with oil on my el cheapo $1.25 canvases. So far, it seems promising, but I'll have to see what happens when I actually try to do some real work with it. Other than that, I feel like I'm in an art rut, which is no good. I can't stand doing the same thing over and over, so realizing that my pictures are starting to look all the same bothers me deeply. Hm.

Skyler again. He's a pretty cool dude. I can't tell if I like this piece or not.

This is one of my least favorites, but everyone so far has disagreed with me. At least they enjoyed it.

This looks like something you would hang in a baby's room. These are seldom used colors for me.

A miniature horse collage. I love minis!

Despite having been surrounded by them since birth, cats continue to be quite difficult for me to draw.

I really should start updating this regularly again. I just lack the ambition to even crawl over to the computer some days.

I'm not dead!

Life catches up with me sometimes, that's all. This post marks the end of my second 2009 sketchbook.
School is once again snatching all of my creativity away as well as all of my time... DAMN YOU EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS! Even though I am enjoying this new semester more than the last one, there are still days where leaving and not going back sounds like an excellent decision. Oh, well.

In response to my favorite games all having red-heads with spiky hair I now present to you... a red-head with spiky hair! Gee whiz, never saw that one coming!

A color saturated sunset (oil pastel). I actually like looking at this one because of the colors. Yep.

Disproportionate dog, but considering that I seldom draw dogs, well - Hm. It appears I have no excuse! HA!

Done during vet camp. Cross hatching in purple ball-point pen? I'm down with it.

Also done during vet camp. This is Cheyenne my baby who is severely underestimated by everyone. The eye should be bigger, but I'm pleased with this anyway.

The next sketchbook was started in 2009, but the bulk of it was done in 2010. Shall I call it the Grade 11 sketchbook?

Getting These Posted

Before I head to class! Sorry guys, I don't have too much to say tonight. Hopefully I'll have something good for next time!

More book pages. Never fear! I used Gossip Girl pages, to prevent anyone from reading that trash :D

Sleeping kitty. I think I did this in marker and then tried pastel.

Trying a cartoony style. Stylistically, I like this one a lot. COLORS

Farting around with oil pastel backgrounds and gel pens. Why not?

Axl's helmet. This one scanned in really well. I'm particularly proud of figuring out how to do the crystal effect with markers!

Enjoy!

Chickens

I finally got the last of my money from the summer crops. I picked so many yellow beans this summer that at one point the only thing I could dream about was yellow beans. We're hoping to get an early crop started in April to sell in June (way ahead of competitors), but we'll see whether the wind will allow the greenhouse roof to stay on or not.
Also, while I was picking up the money, I visited my chickens which are wintering with Contessa's birds. My rooster is double the size of her biggest chicken, and he has the attitude to go with it. Those poor, poor chickens. My hen just hides in the corner because he picks on her so much.  
I've created a monster! 

So! On to the pictures!

Golden crowned kinglet. I used to sit in the school library during all of my free time and sketch. I'd flip through an encyclopedia, find something interesting, and draw it.

Axl. Always up to something. I don't like peach colored markers for skin. >:(

Colored with nail polish.

A pacer. Looking at this scanned in, I can see the conformational flaws. Still, it's a pretty neat use of a brush pen!

Branching out of my comfort zone! Book page, oil pastel, and picture clipping.

That's all folks!
As you can tell, I've been rather busy, so it will be harder to post on a regular schedule. I will try my best to do so, though!

Nice Day

It snowed about 5 inches last night, but it warmed up considerably to about 4 C today. I took this opportunity to play with Willie all afternoon. We went for a walk (2 hours!), ran around in the snow, and generally had a great time. I hung around with my pseudo family and helped them set up for the PEIMHA Christmas party, which is taking place tomorrow. I then came home and burned an hour playing MMX8, which is my favorite game of all time.
Overall, today was a very relaxing, enjoyable day.

Pictures:

Done in sgraffito. I'm still trying to use up these 8-year-old oil pastels!

Practice, practice, practice.

A windy day. I need to work on my backgrounds.

More practice.

And some more.

Somewhat meagre offerings today, but they will have to do. Have a nice weekend!

I've learned so much! (start 2nd 2009)

... By creeping around the internet >.>
That probably sounds worse than it is, but I've been talking to people ALL OVER the world, and it is really, really neat.

~~
So, yes, today. Hm.

Today, I was supposed to have an "art day" with my friend. Of course, that usually means no art is done during the course of the day, and we manage to have fun without it. We were going to get a coffee and pretend to be artists, but we ended up having a driving adventure in the downtown area, which was far more exciting than it needed to be, before finding a parking space on one of the busiest streets. Fun.
We bought ourselves some tea and hot chocolate and got booted out of wherever we were, so we went to the mall and had an excellent chat about crazy people we haven't seen in years. In the middle of our chat the fire alarm in the mall goes off.
Everyone sits and stares.
It was much funnier than it should have been.
So we leave the mall, cups in hand, and wander around.
"Are you hungry?"
"...Yeah..."
So we went to eat. Before we could go into the restaurant, which has the most delicious Lebanese food, I had to chug the remains of my peppermint tea. The smell of mint has not left my nasal cavities.
While we were in the restaurant, my friend started talking to another person who she recognized. This lady looked very very familiar, but I could not place her. After watching me have difficulties pushing in a chair (...), my friend came back and we ordered/proceeded to eat our lunch.
Halfway through our meal, the other lady said good-bye and left.
No biggie.
Eventually we finish eating, laze around (as is customary), and get up to pay the bill.
"Your bill has been paid."
"...What?"
"The nice lady at the table next to you paid for you! Have a nice day!"
My friend looked confused. I looked confused.
Then we both said a collective "D'AWWWWWW....! That was sooo sweet!"
We didn't stop d'aww-ing  for the rest of the walk/ride home.
Thank you lady-who's-name-I-kind-of-remember-now! You made my day :)

~~~
Today marks the start of my 2nd 2009 sketchbook (white).
This one was started 8/24/09, and marks the start of my new life in PEI.

If the forehead was smaller, and if the head overall was smaller, this would be a pretty good person.

YES. I need to get back to this level of ability!

Sayaka, depressed. Experimenting with a different pose.

Hummingbird. If there was more detail in the green, I think it would have brought this to life more. I do particularly like how the flowers fade into the background, though.

 

Horses. Lots of horses. (partial view)

... Wait a second. That last one doesn't belong here! That was an entry that I submitted for a local show at the library in October 2011. I had originally planned to color it in, but seeing as I remembered about the show the night before entries were due, and drew this in about 3 hours in order to actually HAVE an entry, I think it's decent as is.
Derp.

Hey, Now!

Look here! A post done at a decent hour of the day!
Since my mom came home, we've actually gotten things done on time, which means, wonderfully enough, that I actually have time to do what I want during daylight hours! TEARS. TEARS OF JOY.

I think I'm going to take the wee-man for a walk in the snow. Yes. That is a very good idea :3


Also, I encourage you to check out this lovely person's site: http://alysenicholson.blogspot.com/
It's always nice to check out other people's art when you need some inspiration!

Okay, pictures:

This was done in oil pastel. I don't use oils pastels very often, but I find them to be fairly versatile when trying different coloring styles!

If you ignore the doodles underneath the paint, this is an interesting composition. Maybe I'll do a version 2 someday...

A sketch of the minis I used to take to nursing homes.  I was originally going to color this, but once my sketchbook is closed, I don't touch anything in it.

I like this character. I don't think I ever named her, but the design is clean and simple. Job description? "Master Badass."

This is the last picture of the sketchbook. I really really love this one. There is very little that I could pick on, and the style is so... stylish? Crap, I ran out of words! Ha-

Speaking of job descriptions, I've had a number of unofficial jobs, but my two favorites were being a pet therapist, which involved taking miniature horses to nursing homes and rehab centers, and being a freight elevator operator for Western Ave. Studios in Lowell. They were fun and interesting jobs, and even though the elevator got stuck between floors* every freakin' time so often, I had a good time and learned a lot about who I was as a person.

This was the end of my 2008 sketchbook (15 year old self, btw). The next sketchbook I've been considering skipping altogether, but I want to share how my "art cycle" goes. There is very little in it that I think merits scanning, but I think struggling artists need to see what they have pulled themselves out of in order to keep moving forward. (RNN, I'm looking at you!)
So here we go.
Big hint: it's really bad.
>. >


*Seriously, people. Do not open the doors without the operator's permission. That's why there are signs everywhere. GAH.