Scorpio.

Sketch for Scorpio.

(Note: This post was written before the last post. Because I had been in a sickly state, I felt the need to whine about my being sick and post that one first. I am happy to report that after attending work for only two hours on Friday, and after a fully swollen face on Saturday, I am very-muchly recovering. Though I do find my hearing to be a bit funky still.)

This sketch went through a bunch of changes, and I think it's very close to being done. I'll most likely revise it when I create the final drawing in prep for inking. I know of at least one thing I'd like to change, that strap across her chest. It completely makes the eye just get stuck on it. And once it's stuck, it doesn't move.

Almost all the sketches are complete now. I'm reworking Cancer and only have Pisces to finish. What was to be a simple task has turned out much bigger than I planned. I'm not sure why I can't keep things simple. This was to be a bunch of small doodles, teeny, tiny, simple drawings. But they're already growing both in idea and physical size.

I have to keep reminding myself that it's okay to let things go and let them develop. I'm not only trying to apply this principle to creating stuff, but also to my life in general. Kind of a go with the flow mentality.

And onto other news...

The lemon is operable once again! Many monies, and a tax return later, it drives in superbly buttery shape. Meaning smooth and flowy. I can no longer hear a deadly rattle emanating from the rear of the vehicle, and am reporting fewer bone rattling, road bumps.

Good morning puffy eyes.

Tuesday at the studio.

Seven AM. I'm dressed and ready to go to work, well, mostly ready anyway, and I'm not going. My nose is running like a faucet, my head is filled with lead, and my ears have become tunnels to nowhere. I kind of knew I was coming down with something this past weekend. It was an extra long weekend too, since I took Monday and Tuesday off from work to focus on painting. Sore throat on both of those days, but yesterday I felt alright and I thought that I had managed to come out mostly unscathed, with barely any sniffles. Hah! Good morning puffy eyes! I have to say, the worst is the ears. They are hurtin!

Mmm, hot cup of tea.

I wrote up a completely different post last night, but crawled off to bed in a sickly daze before I got to post it, so I'll be saving that for later today or tomorrow. It was a post that was four days in the making. I think I started it Sunday night and wrote a bit every night after.

Art store purchases of goodness.

So my four days off were spent in a mixed state, Saturday and Sunday being spent with family members (Easter). Even though I didn't have a vehicle, I managed, through bribery, to get a ride to pick up some art supplies. Except for the brushes and some panels, which were a necessary purchase, Brad at Blackbird Studio inspired the oilsticks and spraypaint. His forays into different techniques are giving me all sorts of ideas.

Six PM. Feeling ooky. No, feeling ookier. I had taken a three hour nap, and feel like I need another. Foggy brain makes me just want to sit around in a daze and not do much, like stare at walls. I feel like a rubbery carrot. All rubbery and bendy in the brain.

Capricorn and The Lemon.

Sketch for Capricorn.

Capricorn detail.

I got too involved with Capricorn. It began very simply, just a woman on a goat, and then came water, then the cloak, and it went much further than I intended. I was hoping to keep this much simpler, not as detailed. I just enjoy the process too much. That's okay. But I have a goal that I'd like to keep to. Which makes me want to rant. . .


Some force out there is working very hard at trying to keep me down. If it's not one thing then it's another. With the absolutely rotten year I had in '08, I was hoping that with 2009 the luck would change. Nope. Wishful thinking. Kaplooie! The lemon (that's the vehicle) crapped out. After dropping it off to get it looked at, I found out this morning that there are so many things wrong with it, and the past few months of driving destroyed the brand new tires I bought less than 7 months ago. Well, I could get it running again properly, if I put a few grand into it. Yes that's it!

I'll go find the magic money tree,
and have it rain 100 dollar bills on me!

I rely on this monkey cart to get me to work everyday (45 min each way), and have been borrowing my father's vehicle over the last month, but he needs it back, which is understandable. So what do I do now?

Well, let's see,

A) I could hitchhike to work, or

B) I could force the car to drive to work, park it there, and sleep in it, though I'm not sure how I would take showers in the sink.

C) I could buy a used motorcycle with the bit of moola back from taxes. Though come winter that would be an issue.

D) Quit my job and live in a cave in the woods, hunting and gathering.

Hmmmm, other options.... Anyone?

The direct impact of this conundrum is putting quite the cramp into getting the store up and running. If funds are being directed at the lemon, then there are no funds being directed elsewhere. Oh the joys of life!

Not to despair!
I shall the lemon repair!

And all will be quite fair,
as I stray from my lair,
like a proud legionnaire
riding my bronze mare.

Encounter, I will, a sight that is rare,
a raging, thrice horned bear,
that I duel, and ensnare
in a web of golden horsehair. . .

Zodiac.

Leo

Aquarius

Gemini

I've been working on some sketches for the store pieces I want to create, which are based on the zodiac. I figured that this is a good project to work on for a few reasons. One, I'm in the middle of moving living spaces, and also setting up the art studio the way I want, and still moving into that space too. Because I've got so much going on, these pieces are relatively small so I can have them travel with me and work on them whenever I have some time. This is only because I can't sacrifice as much time as I would like at the studio on some of the larger pieces I've started back up on (which now are on hold again). I think this may end up being a crazy month. I'm trying to accomplish a lot of things quickly.

So these zodiac pieces just started out as random little sketches and doodles, and I thought, why not do all twelve, keep them small and quick. Though the thought of doing them as quickly as I would like is fading. I tend to fall too easily into details and perfectionistic tendencies. I admire artists who don't put too much thought into their process and let it happen naturally.

Wait, I'd like to rephrase. My process is detailed at times, but the creation does happen naturally. I never take pencil to paper and say, "this is what I am going to draw, and this and this have to be in the image". I may say, oh "Aquarius, let's see what happens" and then whatever comes out is what I channel onto the paper. Though, the medium I use, however slightly different, changes the effect of how the idea presents in itself in the end. The three above are all about the same size, but even though the weight of the paper is relatively close, the texture is slightly different. Aquarius is on a very, very, silky smooth paper, almost a semi gloss, where the pencil travels skid-like across the surface, which gives itself easily to a type of flow, like water. Leo, was on a standard sketchbook surfaced paper done with the exact same pencil. And gemini, on smooth, higher end, copier paper (i draw on whatever I can find).

Leo (detail)

Aquarius (detail)

So if you can, follow these random thoughts: I don't think about characteristics I'd like to present, I think about the people or situations I know who do represent, in this case, each sign. For instance, I don't have religious tendencies, but let's say that possibly, if God was the creator of all things then he could be a Leo I guess. Look at all the attention he gets. Leo, the sun. Look at at her, creating her world, becoming the center of her world. Leo, the creator, the attention whore, and I say that with love. I love Leo's. Some of my closest friends throughout life, they're quite brilliant people.

Aquarius. I'd like to paint her, she bears water, like a mother giving birth. A pure form of nature. Aqueous, she becomes the water she has to bear. Many close family members are Aquarians. They become what they strive for. It's an odd way of describing them, but it makes complete sense to me.

Gemini, hmmm. That was about line and form, and will need more development.

Gosh, I wish I had some cookies.