Saturday, January 28, 2012

I hate soup now

The government has taken my freedom away, just when I was getting into Shameless and New Girl. Now I'll actually have to pay to watch tv series or find a website that hasn't been taken down yet. This wasn't supposed to happen, guys. I thought the people of the internet were taking care of it. I am very disappointed.
On the bright side, I might actually get through all the books I didn't get to last year. The only new year's resolution I've ever succeeded in keeping was my reading list for 2010. I didn't quite finish last year's, but I'm catching up. Watch my vocabulary double by the end of the year. Ohoho I can't wait. 

....

I found some violet, so I used it.



And I got my final prints back. 
My opinion of printmaking is that only anal people could possibly enjoy doing this. If done well, prints are amazing, but it's a lot easier to look at them than it is to make them.
 Also, Aaron didn't like my prints very much :(






And here's Timmy the bear. As a disclaimer I want to state that I totally thought Jackson had taken the reference picture himself. I was under the impression that he wrestles bears on the weekends. I had no idea that this is the seventh image google generates when you search for "bear". If my blog is deleted because of this I will hold Jackson Usborne personally responsible and he will never receive any food from me ever again. And I may or may not key his truck too. 






I hope you like it, Jackson. My blog better still exist tomorrow morning, though.


Monday, January 23, 2012

News + filter + Henry the rat + my mom

I got a couple of things done this week, but I mostly stumbled upon cool artists while I avoided filling out job applications. They'll be added to my list, of course.

Conrad Roset
Gabriel Moreno
Ben Tour
Anka Zhuravleva -I admit I don't have much appreciation for photography, but this artist's pictures are amazing. She also draws and paints, but I don't really care for those.

I added a couple of new things to this blog recently! You can now sign up to receive an email every time I add a new post so you don't have to check in compulsively to stay on top of things (or maybe I'm the only one who does that with blogs I follow...) And speaking of blogs I follow, there is a full list of those to the right somewhere. Many of the artists on my fancy list use blogger and you can now find links to their respective blogs right here thanks to me! I'm so thoughtful.  

Like I said this week wasn't very productive, but here's what I've got:


Another coffee filter.



Henry the scratchboard rat. 




And a portrait of my mom I did today. It's a little wonky but I'm happy she liked it. I tried to make it as graceful as my manly touch would allow in case my grandma sees it. 







I also made oatmeal cookies with caramel and white chocolate. I'll make some kind of pie soon, too. 

Cool the dog just peed on the carpet. 
I have to go clean it up. 

Have a good night. 


NEXT TIME I'll post Jackson's bear, Timmy.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

I don't want to brag or anything but

I'm still patting myself on the back for my ingenious solution to a problem I ran into several weeks ago. The crafty ladies I follow on Pinterest could probably come up with a better, prettier solution, but since I'm not a bored housewife who spends her time pinning pictures of DIY crafts and junk I'll never actually do, I'm rather proud of my own amateur solution. 

Naturally, I've amassed too many brushes to keep in my little folding brush holder thing, so I took myself to target and got a tin bucket from the dollar section, which I covered in gift-wrapping paper to make it look nice. I didn't realize the birds were upside down until I was done, but it was perfectly intentional. 
Anyway, I found that the little brushes were getting swallowed up by the big ones in this giant container, so after thinking about this for I kid you not thirty minutes, I had an epiphany. So I cut up some cardboard strips and taped them to a corner of the bucket and ha! big brushes can't bully little brushes anymore. Thank you, hold the applause.





...

And here are some coffee filters. 





 And a creepy horse based on one of David's pictures.



And a fish. Karla named him Toño. I took a picture of him at the zoo last weekend. 



And a self portrait since people aren't as willing to let me paint their faces as I thought they would be. If they feared I'd make them look manlier and angrier then they are, I guess that's a valid excuse...or it was until now! Look at that. Androgyny! And I don't even look mad.




And a portrait of Karla, for even if y'all don't believe it, it's NOT like painting myself.





And oh boy, I'm sorry Sam. I had such a hard time with this one. I attempted a second one, but it came out ten times worse. I really wanted to capture the expression on your face, but I failed. I owe you three pies.






That's it for artwork, but here is some music...





In the unlikely event that you already know all these songs, know that you have excellent taste.


Friday, January 6, 2012

There's a murderer in my house

Oswald has an enemy. Her name is Mila and she is my mom's dog. Apparently she hates him because I'd rather hang out with him than play with her. Being an old grouch, of course I'd rather paint with Oswald than play with her. All Mila wants to do is chew on my hands and pull on my sleeves. Uh, thanks but no thanks.
This wouldn't be an issue if she would stop wrapping her blasted leash around Oswald's leg to pull on it and make him tumble down on top of me.



Look at her. I see right through that cute face. She's nothing but blood and murder.

...

Moving on, here is what I did this week instead of looking for a new job...



Hooray! hand studies for a change. I used some of the rejected reference pictures I took for that hand painting I did over the summer.



And a second painting based on one of David's pictures.




And a self portrait based on one of the rejected reference pictures I took for my painting final. I was going to add some other color to this, but I like abusing my cad red light. I bought the tube just as I was starting my final and it's almost all gone now. It will be sorely missed until I get a new one.




And this candy that I always expect to taste amazing and it never does. It's the wrapper's fault. It's deceivingly appealing and shiny.




And Zach Michaels! Thank you for volunteering your face. I've discovered I have a natural talent for making everyone look angrier than they really are, so I apologize for that. I owe you a pie.


Next time I'll post a portrait of Sam Torres I'm about to start on. Rest assured, it's going to be masterful.


AND I knew I was missing something. I almost forgot to add these in after all the hard work I put into them! Seriously, it took me about four hours just to paint each one. Now I remember why I don't like acrylic paint and tiny hand-painted details. But I'm really proud of myself for getting them done!


The top two are for Blandine and loooong overdue. The bottom ones I made for Karla and myself.


I was really excited to put Paquita (my laminating machine) to good use after buying her over a year ago. I think she was excited to see daylight again, too.


Okay, that's all.