Organization

Well, I had all of my art completely unorganized. I couldn't find commission sketches and it was making me crazy. Now, I've filed everything according to category, found old commission descriptions and can get a move on with my work.

Organization is the key. :)

Slowness

I'm going to post this on my home page, too, but I am having a very difficult time with my backlog of commissions.

I hope that people understand why. Just in case they don't, here's the low down.

1. My husband is deployed. That means that it's just me and the kids. We have no family in town to help me and I only have a couple of friends who also have busy lives. This means I'm constantly busy with the kids. There's no getting around it, and frankly, they come first.
2. I have clinical depression. I take meds to help me with it, but sometimes, due to all of the pressure I feel as a temporary single mom sometimes overwhelms me. When this happens, I really can't work, get to the post office or anything. It sucks and just has to run its course. When I'm depressed, all of my energy again, goes to my kids. :)

I guess those are the two big reasons. I used to be able to do two drawings a day--full complete drawings. Now it takes me three or four days. I don't like being so slow with the work, but it happens.

I hope everyone understands!

Oil Painting: Underpainting Helps!

For practice, I started working on this picture of Oscar Wilde. Oscar is just about my favorite person in history and I think he has an interesting, enigmatic look to him.


I was really surprised by how the picture is turning out. I'm not done, but I'm getting close! I think what helped me so much is that I did an underpainting in opposite-type colors using cheap-o Wal-Mart acrylic paints. Then, when I went to paint over the underpainting, I could use it as a guide to help me find the lights and darks.

I painted the darks first, then the lighter parts. I have a lot more work to do with this. Oscar is recorded to have green-yellow eyes, for example and his hand is jacked up.

But if you have trouble with oils, try the underpainting thing. It helped me a ton.

Publishing for real?

Normally, I write something and put it up on the web... but a few people in my life have been urging me to try and get something published in print. I just discovered a great site called Lulu where I'm trying my hand at the publishing thing by making a photobook for my kids, husband and family. :)

Maybe an art book in the future (though Lulu won't let me publish pornography.... too bad).

>.<

Resurrection of the Dead [Prismacolor Marker] *moved

Don't throw away a dead Prismacolor marker! Resurrect it!

1. Remove cap on fat end of marker.
2. Pull out the marker tip. It should come out fairly easily.
3. Fill empty cavity with several drops of rubbing alcohol.
4. Replace tip.
5. Cap marker
6. Let it sit a little while for the alcohol to wick into the tip, bringing old pigment up with it.
7. Be happy that you saved $3 per marker. :D

It seems to work really well. I actually tried this in order to create a washed out green, but I ended up with the original color of green the marker had in the first place. I suspect that doing this over and over would indeed wash out the color over time.

A blog just for what's going on with my art and writing

Yeah, like the title says. Art and writing. There ya go. ;)