A Few of My Favorite Things

For no reason but that I really appreciate them right now, here are a few of my favorite things:

Semi-precious stones, jars of found bones and butterflies, crystals, boxes of “treasures” that I’ve collected over the years. If I were a dragon, this would be my hoard. As it is, I try to keep the treasures I collect small and few. I move often, and have made an art-form of paring down what I’m willing to take with me. These things, though they have no practical use, survived the cull because they are special to me.

20140101_141555

Ultimately, all things are just things; but there are certain things whose beauty soothes us. Winter is cold, so I’m taking moments here and there to appreciate this kind of beauty.

“Perennial Hope” Progress Pictures

I just finished this 8×10″ painting, oil over acrylic. Unfortunately I didn’t take a lot of photos along the way, but here’s what I’ve got.

I call her “Perennial Hope”… partly because I finished her at a time when I have reason to feel hopeful after a long spell of depression…
Perennial-Hope-web
The winds change once more, and I see that look on her face… it’s certainly not an inclination to jump up and down in enthusiasm or even really smile yet. But there is something there, that feeling of having survived, and being aware of the possibilities.

Oh Dear. It’s Nude, Isn’t It?

This enormous painting sits unfinished in the attic. I don’t know how big it is, 4, maybe 5 feet wide? It sits there because I’m overwhelmed by working on such a large canvas; but every time I see it I want to finish it so I can say “here is painting with a nude man as part of the subject, and it is as beautiful as anything I’ve made.”

When this canvas was new, I stood in front of it with a stick of charcoal, and swung my arms in wide arcs, spinning where I stood, pacing fretfully away, puzzling over the natural conclusion of a line, and pouncing forward to enact that order that made most sense to me.
Continue reading

DIY Faerie Wings!

Here is my very first pair of wings, completed this morning!

I used the Faerie Muse tutorial as my guide; she gives excellent details, though I admit I skimmed through some parts. (Note 9/4/2016; that tutorial has been offline for several months so I removed the link).
Continue reading

Recognize and Avoid Art Scams

I was looking at the art listings on Craigslist when I clicked through to an artist’s website that seemed a little off.

The first thing I noticed: the artist’s picture was peculiarly crappy. It didn’t make sense that she had such professional pictures of her art, but was willing to put up this tight-cropped blurry snapshot for a headshot.

Then I noticed her paintings were super-large scale, some quite good but suspiciously like things we used to import from China at my former workplace; some things looked like Photoshop effects, and others were so disparate in style they didn’t make sense in the same shop.
Continue reading