New Year Oils in Progress

Two glorious days this week, I got to immerse myself in oil paints. As usual it always seems like I get more paint on me than the canvas. Two more pairs of jeans have been officially baptized into the world of art. Here are the in progress images of what I've been working on for your viewing pleasure...

One of the things that I do and why I have SO many unfinished paintings, is I rotate through paintings, working a layer on each one and then switching to the next and the next. This allows me to keep working while one is drying. It also prevents me from getting my hand in the paint and messing it up from dragging it across other wet areas, or getting bored and pushing it which usually ends up in a lower quality image.

The first painting is a portrait done from LockStock's Mucha reference pack. Lockstock is one of the amazingly generous stock photographers on Deviant Art who posts pictures for artists to use in their work. Learn more on her DA site at http://lockstock.deviantart.com/.

The next one, was a painting that I had been working on of Morgan le Fey. I was focusing on the sky at the time. Eventually the ground will be snow covered, and possibly the signs of battle will be evident around her.

Just in case you are curious, my daughter was not named after this particular Morgan, but she did inspire to keep going with this piece.

The next was a canvas that had been previously painted on, but as I was not happy with the original image, I took it and recycled it into this image.

It is inspired by my horse, Destiny, who died around this time last year. Although there is a little reference used on this image, it's probably a lot more free form, driven by the emotion of missing an animal that was closer to me than most people. Most of my adult life, she had shared with me. The figures are facing away from each other signifying the passing, but also, I used to hug her neck and lean on it. It always seemed like she hugged back by lowering her head, so in that respect it's just another expression of my love for her and how much I miss her...

This next image is a portrait of my dear friend Stacy, and is an experiment in texture. Using gesso and oils to create a tactile experience to the image, I wanted to express the rich nature of the image that I was going from.

First I did a layer with gesso canvas primer, blotting it on with a paper towel. Next a layer of oils was painted over the gesso and blotted to have the gesso show through. As this is an experiment, I'm not entirely sure how it's going to turn out. I'll be sure to post more pictures so you can see the results.

More pictures of the beautiful Stacy are available for other artists to use at my stock site http://linzstock.deviantart.com as well as many other images of other wonderful models available for use.

The last two are different ends of the spectrum of finished. The knight is nearing completion while the one on the right has just begun. The knight is painted from model Thomas Willeford who also posed as Thor for me. The woman on the right will be the norse goddess Freya. She still needs her feathered cloak.

Often I start off most oils in this fashion. It starts with a pencil drawing then rendered in black and white with black gesso paint / acrylic and then painted over with the more opaque oils. It helps the under layer to shine through as a guide.

2010

This new year, I spent ringing in while drawing. So I hope that is a good sign for 2010. No mystery that I've been frustrated by the lack of creative time since becoming a mother, but I'm hoping that soon once I kick the Christmas crud out of my system, I'll be burning the midnight oil on some more creative endeavors.

The easiest medium to clean up, pick up, and put down if need be, has been colored pencils. Although it lacks that velvet touch that I so love with oils, or the texture of watercolors, I'll just have to make due.

In this case, while rearranging the studio I found lots of things that grew legs over the years. The stack of unfinished art is still intimidating, but the oils will have to wait. I found this watercolor from 2003 that was yet unfinished, and decided to give it an upgrade with color pencils. Obviously it is far from finished, but hopefully I'll be able to put something out soon, and won't feel so frustrated by the lack of new art.

Among the great finds was the long lost sketch book with my Ik pics. I'm excited to be able to be able to finish those off. If you liked Snuzzles and Drat, then you will be pleased with these. They exude all manner of cuteness.

I am on a mission to finish all my old pieces before starting anything new, which is driving me nuts as I have one oil painting wanting to virtually explode out of me, but it will have to wait. Maybe it will just encourage me to work faster.

The other thing I found was a stack of discontinued prints, that I am matting for sale at the GA Renfest. The show schedule is a little up in the air, but I don't have to pass jury for Dragon Con after winning an award, and I am pretty well locked into GA Renfest from here till Doomsday.

Coke Bottle Angels

So I finally got a chance to get into the clay and create using the coke bottles. This was the first time doing this project, so there was certainly a learning curve. Still it was a great way to recycle some things laying around and make some cute Christmas gifts.

The Process:

I took a glass coke bottle and placed flesh toned fimo mixed with Puppen fimo on top of the sip hole for the face. Although I went for a gesture piece as opposed to realism, this clay mix is excellent for doll work, but it takes a long time to press and warm the clay with your hands to get it workable. When it finally gets to that point, it's a dream. I got the tip for the puppen fimo from Wendy Froud at Comic Con one year. Unfortunately I don't remember the exact mixture that she told me, as it was a long time ago. The one thing I did learn from this is that while in the oven, the air from the bottle will find a way to make a hole in the fimo, so it's best to go ahead and make an air hole in a discrete place to allow the air to escape, before it finds its own way out.

Taking the clay, I fashioned a "bodice" down the bottle neck. This left the bottom piece as the skirt. It would have been a pain to do the whole thing in clay. Then it was cooked in the oven for 30 minutes at 275 degrees. If you venture this project and are using a coventional oven to cook the clay, it's going to have to lay down. It will be too tall otherwise.

So to finish up, below the bodice for the finishing touch, I took some modge podge and glued fabric beneath the bodice to make a skirt. I made the bodice flare out kinda of like a corset, but looking back, I think it would have been better to end the bodice at the waist line. It would have made the skirt more consistent. Also to hold the skirt while the glue dried I ultimately still had to tie it with a piece of cloth around the waist, which looked a bit odd with the flared corset waist.

For some reason the image thing is not working ... so I won't be able to show the finished result.

Coke Angels

Recently Trenton (my husband) found coke in glass bottles made with real sugar. Most coke in America is sweetened with syrup as opposed to sugar. So he bought a case of these bottles and brought them home. So now I have a bunch of cleaned empty coke bottles and bottle caps. Of course I see this as a potential craft project.

So I've got some sculpey and material that will hopefully turn these great taste bud find into a tasteful art project. I have some puppen fimo for the figure as well. Hopefully it will have more success than some of my other projects. Sometimes though I wonder if I learn more from a failed project or a successful one.

Ways to Ward off the One: Hygiene

So some of these things seem elementary, as though they need not be mentioned, but apparently... they do... anyone who has been to a convention, knows why I'm mentioning this.

Let's face it guys, you stink! It's called testosterone, and it's not your fault; however, flaunting your masculine aromas is probably not the way to entice a female to want to snuggle or even get within whiffing distance of you. So use some common sense, shower, use deodorant, don't wear the same pants a week straight (yeah, we notice), and wash your hands. Throwing your clothes in the dryer to make them smell better is not only a horrible waste of energy, but is not the same as clean.

With swine flu scares and HPV spreading like wildfire, simple things like washing your hands and watching your hygiene becomes even more important, but women may be even more wary as men could be wielding several potentially painful problems for her. Aside from pregnancy there is the threat of a urinary tract infection. Not washing your hands after using the restroom can spread HPV to anyone you greet by shaking their hand.

If you have had multiple partners and are lacking in personal hygiene, a smart girl sees someone who probably caught something. After all, if you are neglecting hygiene, what else are you neglecting in terms of sexual safety? Although short term connections may not care so much, that long term woman that you want to take home to mama, is probably counting you out because "I don't know where he's been". What you think makes you look like a stud, makes you look like nothing more than someone else's one night stand, to the woman seeking stable long term partnership.

Another thing that may be warding off some of the good ones that get away is tobacco. Spitting chewing tobacco or being kissed by a smoker are both things that are very unattractive to a lot of women. Yeah the woman smoking in the corner might go home with you, but she probably won't have your kids... and would you really want to have her smoke while pregnant with your children? If you do happen to have a woman who cares about the health of your future progeny, she will not take kindly to you smoking, even if you smoked when you met her. Kids change things, and each puff is a threat to the well being of your children.

Your poor hygiene may result in her pain, so your bad habits probably upset her because in a way they are a subconscious threat to her health and well being. In her mind she may be mapping out your potential future together and the possibility of you making her children sick as well. If she has a poor or weakened immune system to begin with, these bad habits pose a future of antibiotics and burning pain, which any woman with experience will probably avoid. So even if you think you are a nice guy, if you have bad hygiene you may not only repulse her, but be viewed as a potential threat.

There's no need to go to the extreme of metrosexual or any other such actions, but looking and smelling like a homeless person, does not make you someone that a woman really wants to take out on a date, much less keep around very long. If you want to have a happily ever after, try cleaning up your act!

Ways to Ward off the One: Cost Benefit Analysis

You come in for a lunch interview and sit across from a fellow interviewing you for a job. He tells you all the funny stories about the company, while glossing over the important details. From his charismatic presentation, he makes it sound like a fun place to work, but that's not why you would take a job. You have needs that this position is supposed to fill.

"So how much does it pay?" you ask.

He becomes surly as though you should be thankful for the honor to work for him, "it doesn't pay. You'll be expected to continue working to support yourself, and of course, the company."

"What is the job?" You ask skeptically, but in hope that maybe the position is still moving in the direction that you want to go with your life. He details how you will be expected to cook, clean, do the accounting, taxi, nurse him when he's sick, and put your life and health at risk to produce their product. You speak to other people who have worked for this company and they say how it sounded great until you started working for them and if you complained, they would retract all your benefits.

How likely would you be to take this job? Be honest, you probably would not want it.

Say you are looking at two houses. One is a fixer upper that will drain all your available resources, and the other is ready to live in, efficient, and takes care of itself. Which one would you choose?

The fact of the matter is, relationships are work on both sides. The work doesn't stop after you get the job, it starts after you get it and it requires constant maintenance. If you want to have a happy relationship, there has to be something in it for both of you. There has to be some sort of emotional compensation for the efforts contributing to the partnership that the two of you form. Relationships are an investment that both parties expect to see some return on and have a certain amount of protection. This is why marriage was originally considered a contract, but more on that later...

So...

Since my fiction writing partner... as opposed to a fictional writing partner, mine actually exists... is caught up in nanowrimo, I've been short on my writing goals as of late. I would nano... but I just don't have a novel idea at the moment. They seemed to have all been replaced with shorter essay type stuff and philosophizing, so that's what I'll do. As the art is not frequent enough to post, you'll have to endure some of this instead.

So what are these essays about? Well, I know a lot of guys, often geeks, who can't figure out why they don't get the right girls. They go so far as to think that they are "too smart" or that nice guys don't get girls. Well, one of the things that first has to be grasped is that the female of the species has many different motivations that are not simply emotional. It may seem that way, but there are often logical explanations. This series will be called "Ways to Ward off the One". Although aimed at educating males, it could probably work either way.

The other things that I was considering writing about was how the modern interpretations romanticize things like marriage, and this will be called "Romancing the Stone".

I understand if you are not interested, but it's been rattling in my brain wanting to get out, and what artist is not also in some way a philosopher and an observer of the world around them? So here goes... snuzz willing...