PewPewPew. Random stuffs=Laser Gun

I should probably be entered into a "Worst Blogger in the World" contest; I'd win hands down. I intended on writing about my Day of the Dead mask and the laser gun for my brother-in-law's Dr Horrible costume last month, but time slipped away silently. Now, we rest on the cusp of Thanksgiving and I'm writing about Halloween garb in between the greeting card illustration I'll be sending out Thursday.

Below is the base toy gun I used for Dr Horrible's laser. I found it for dirt-cheap at Goodwill and the bottom bar of the handle was perfect to re-fab...
it needed to be moved to the back, of course, but that just took a little elbow grease, a hacksaw and a lot of plastic dust.

After digging through my storage closet for a box (ended up being a chocolate box) and the White Drawers of Randomness, which include quater machine bubbles, spools from wire, cigar containers, etc., then decoupaging with a leftover cell phone manual, I was left with this rough looking beauty:
I enjoyed the patterns that the text offered, but Dr Horrible's gun was black and silver, so I pulled out the spray paints and went to work (on the porch, otherwise the cat would've gotten high on fumes.)


Of course, like any nerd, my brother-in-law was SUPER PSYCHED to recieve such epic awesomeness.

And, like any artist would do for a family memeber, I accepted payment in Blue Moon beer.

I decoupaged my own mask using the same cellphone manual, first molding the paper around the the brow and nose from a cheapie little Zorro mask, letting it dry overnight to ensure the shape would hold as I built layers upon Layers upon LAYERS of paper using a model skull to keep the shapes and symetry correct. It took three days between employment, drying glue and making sure I liked the shape. Below are the process photos (featuring the super helpful studio cat, Mr Copper!)and the final product and costume, pictured with my awesome husband as Captain Hammer (Dr Horrible's nemisis.)

April Showers?

Lately April has been full of art and some pretty severe storms here in the South. Luckily my area of TN has been saved the worst of it all, but I did have to work about 3-4 hours in candlelight last Monday after our power went out for a while. It was interesting, but only minimally slowed things down. I had to put all the design work on hold, but started the final piece of the Twins for the Untitled Spring show (yes, yes, drop off for that show was only two days after the storm...but I've been busy with freelancing!)



So above we have the ancient original sketch and the recent study (in purple) above the current larger version in gray. At 16"x20" this version of Twins was the largest squiggle to date, so while working by candlelight I laid in the basic shape and position of the heads, the ribcage, spine and a few major drips and stretches. You might still be able to see some of those original pencil marks.

After I was happy with the basic shape, I started shading in the larger basic areas very lightly with a Bic Ballpoint. Those are probably the only pens I can achieve this level of shading with, and would just cry if they were pulled from the market.
I try not to even think about what I'm shading if it's not a vital section, like the head/torso/spine, because the more I think about shading the area, the less organic it becomes.

Every once in a while I set the drawing across the room and seriously just cock my head to the sides and stare at the piece, judging the shaded areas and comparing them visually with what will become the highlights. Pretty much just weighing the visual balance.
After my little brain is happy with the shading process I then attack the highlight areas with a white colored pencil, when go back into a few places to push the darkest areas even darker.

Most squiggles will also get a background treatment of colored pencil a shade or two off from the paper, but I was really digging the monochromatic image and smooth texture of the paper, so I let it be.

Not only is this method a little theraputic with it's slightly brainless execution, but I really enjoy people looking up close and HARD trying to discern what instrument I used. Twins was really well recieved at the Untitled show, and even if the title block reflected the wrong piece, people got a kick out of the figures. A new art friend even claims he was struck by inspiration through the figures, which is a higher compliment than money in my little brain.

I really enjoyed socializing and making new art friends this time around, so I honestly can't wait to get out there & do it again. The Untitled meeting tomorrow will start the ball rolling on plans for the 20th Anniversary Show in July, so I expect more hard work will be put into it, too.
Below is a before/after photo of set-up...though I did forget to take a Really Before photo without the walls. You just get Ryan and Joe hanging pieces, and then the first visitor to the same area the night of the show. Maybe someone else has a photo of me hauling around those panels or being a short little She-Ra...but if not, there's always a chance to photo those moments in the next install.

Magnets now available

Friday, June 18th I'll be selling magnets at Untitled's show "Sorry I Arted" featuring a few Bible Series images and others (if there's time.) I'll also have the four new framed Squiggles on display, untitled but representing something that people will get to guess at ;)

Now, back to last minute details and getting things in gear. Hopefully The Hobbit doesn't mind such neglect ;)

Speaking of Shows!

My next showing will be the next Untitled's show "Sorry I Arted" on June 18th at Avenue 9 (312 9th Ave South) link to the Facebook event page if my interwebs linkage language isn't too rusty.
And then for non-FBers is the link to Untitled's site

Only one piece will be up, but it will be a matted and framed collection of four new squiggles. You may have run across me working on one during my random social times or at lunch, but one will be so new it might not get done!
Come, though. It's a free show and will have over 50 other local artists who are Massively talented.


I'm looking at a small group showing for a night in July, but I won't go into detail til it's solidified.

See, I like shows, but maybe I'll stick to two a month, at least til next year. I do have the wedding to plan, a honeymoon to entertain myself with and then the holidays to do.
In the meantime, I'll just do little things and keep to myself. The things I do best :)

Art Shows

They should be the one thing I treasure and seek to fill my months with. Well, that and lists upon lists of freelance clients, but that's another face of my art world we'll address later.
Art shows help get you exposure and let the world know who you are and what you do and what you'd do for them. It gets your work "Out There" and in the hands of possible buyers. They help you meet new people, make connections, make new friends, all that great jazz.

But, they also shove you in a room full of strangers who you're supposed to "sell to" without making that so obvious and be social. I am not a social cat. Never have been, even as a veryvery small child, and it takes a serious amount of energy for me to be the social cat.

Not to mention the stress you feel, as an artist, to create new and exciting work for each show. Cause, even though Nashville is a larger city, it's art community is pretty small and the chances that the entire crowd from Show X will be at Show Y are high....and I still have that mentality to "Do something Big, New and Ground Breaking!"


Another "But" to the art show thing is that I balance on the dividing art ling like a trapeeze artist:

I am not a Fine Gallery Artist. Not a Craft Artist. Not a Graphic Designer.

I do it all. Maybe I'm not the best, not the most inspiring or the most ground-breaking, but people seem to like what I do. Most importantly, though, I Love what I do, no matter the style. My drive to art is to Make Something. Anything. I joke about making art from whatever doesn't move fast enough out of my grasp, which is a bit of truth.

That's why I'm going through the effort of making and putting my own wedding together. Sure, I might save a bunch of time buying two boxes of invitations and crap, but it's WAAAAY cooler to say "I designed and made alllllllll of that." When the save-the-date postcards went out I got compliments on them and felt a little pride saying "yeah, I designed those." I'm really enjoying putting the invites together too even though the time I need to design, print and assemble is more than just printing on store bought or ordering everything from a supplier.
I'm betting that in the long run I'll be spending less money, but that hasn't been calculated yet. But, hey, I know at the least that 500 sheets of paper for $12 is definately a savings that wouldn't happen if I outsourced the printing. That's enough paper for Everything I could possibly print.

But I digress, sorry, bride-brain takeover.

My trapeeze analogy is that I don't fit very neatly into one type of art. I have a little fine art stuff worthy of gallery shows, but not much outside of the Bible Series. I've heard that the Heartwork stuffs are more crafty and not so much "art show" material, which I can understand. (see, I would rather not be social and be able to eavesdrop and hear the honest opinion of the viewer. the person I heard this from didn't realize they were speaking to the artist. sorry :) I'm not upset, just collecting critizism.) I do a little graphic design to make ends meet, but I'm definately not going to be breaking ground in that feild either.

I want to do more shows, yes, but the time and cost combined with the constant back-and-forth with feeling like I don't fit in keeps me holed up in my Shire with Future Hobbit Husband doing my own art thing. Maybe I'll be like an Emily Dickinson of the Art World and have post-humus fame after a life of seculsion. Either way....I have a home full of art, which I would love to make my Bread & Butter of life, but without having to be Social Cat :)