En Plein Air Painting At Kalamazoo Farmer's Market

 It was a little busier than I thought when I got there at 8:30. I stayed for two hours.

 Thanks to Scobey's Produce for letting me steal a spot to paint in. I did this little 8"x10" for them as a thank you gift.

Here I'm letting some palettes dry before I pack up, and getting the WIP dried up too.

Here's a view of my spot. I didn't end up using this canvas though. Not yet anyway.

Small Acrylic Paintings and Other Odds and Ends

Acrylic, 2010

Here are some old beauties of paintings I thought I would air out online.

Acrylic, 2010

Pen and ink, 2010

Watercolor, 2009

Acrylic, 2011

Acrylic, 2013

 

 

 

Digital Painting, 2013

Tryptech Acrylic Gel Transfer.

I love this process! Take a digital collage and transfer it to canvas with acrylic gel medium. But that's not all, this was transferred onto a gold ground, which gives it an almost 3-d effect when seen in person.

Ideas for Creature Making

A roly poly soot dragon. The current idea, and the many iterations of it. I have a large box of donated fur coats to make creatures out of. Normally i wouldnt pick real fur to work with, but the coats are not in good enough of shape to be worn or donated for anything else, so I shall make creatures. So far I have mostly brown, dark rust, and black fur, with a little faux gray and really cheap tan. So cheap I'm having second thoughts about using it at all. Maybe to practice with.c

Creature Making Inspiration

this one is mine

Its hard to define the kinds of creatures I want to make, but done of the first steps that I can do it find things like it.
I have quite a bit of random materials, and would love to populate a craft booth with creatures like these.


This  is a good example of the kind I want to make:
http://www.dollmakersdream.com/free-polymer-clay-tutorials-creature-6.html

Its semi realistic, soft bodied, and also has polymer clay sculpting.










Also like these:
http://santani.deviantart.com/art/I
nari-Foxes-418720127

http://lisatoms.deviantart.com/art/Silver-aqua-dragon-spirit-411076252

http://wood-splitter-lee.deviantart.com/art/SOLD-Poseable-Hand-Made-Baby-Fum-420878939

http://scenceable.deviantart.com/art/Exalt-435968577

Old Acrylic Painting I Did

This now hangs on my brother's living room wall. I didn't know what to do with it, and I didn't want to store it, so I gave it to him as a gift for helping me move. His roommates like it too!

I think I did it in 2010 or 2009. Acrylic, 18"x24" or possibly 16"x20" since I did it for a class and the standard required canvas size was 16"x20". I've learned a lot about perspective since then!

When I painted the city on the right, I was listening to a History channel documentary about Hitler, and those buildings will always remind me of that!
I was also living at home, and we didn't have much room. I used a milk crate on top of books on an upside-down chair balanced on a chair to make an easel. Some of the books never recovered.

Felted Creatures for Etsy, Craft Fairs, and Practice

A beginner at felting creatures, I declare this one DONE. And it looks like a Pokemon.

He looks more blue in this picture.
I got tired of jabbing him over and over again so I wet felted for bit. This may have made too tight of a felt for putting the doo-dads on him, because it was hard, and broke a needle!













I start with an armature that looks a bit like this:

The proportions were different for this one, however.

Armatures for polymer clay creatures.

I'm new to armatures for polymer clay, and so I'm going to list resources that help me.  I've been using steel wire covered with crumpled aluminum foil to help bulk out the form, and therefore use less polymer clay. But I want more tips on making anatomically correct armatures for animals.

http://www.squidoo.com/armatures 
http://joshuamosley.com/tutorials/claymationArmature/armature.html 
http://evasion.imag.fr/Membres/Franck.Hetroy/Projects/Skeleton/gallery.html

 Here's the concept of one of my creatures, and the final little dude. My sister bought a smaller similar creature for $20. I dyed the feathers too.

Fantasy Papercraft in Shadowbox

 Layered up paper-crafts!

      Fun little 3-d projects with character, and a nice way to add dimension to watercolors, like this one. Watercolor, and India ink with a nib pen-one of my favorite combinations.
   The box is about 5"x8" tall. and 2.5"inches deep.

   

Acrylic Gel Medium and How to Use It.

What is acrylic gel medium?

            It's easy to fall in love with acrylic gel when you play with it's versatility.
            Acrylic gel is basically acrylic paint, without any pigment. It starts as a white goo that dries clear and shrinks a bit as the water evaporates from it, just like Elmer's glue.
           Artists use this to stretch out their paint, and add a luminosity to it, like adding more oil in oil painting. It can also be used as a varnish, and a "glue" for almost anything you can stick on it, like glass beads. Gel is also used for transfers, when print out are transferred to another surface using the gel. 

          There are a few kinds of gel, gloss, matte, and string. Gloss gel gives a great depth, and makes the surface very shiny. While you do have a problem with glare, I find it the best for enhancing colors. Matte gel does not have a shiny surface, and is easier to view in different angles. it can also make the surface look whiter because of the diffuse way it reflects light. String gel is like melted cheese, it make long strings instead of puddling up or making drops.