Journal Post 6/30/12

Good news:

I didn't have to pick up my painting "Good Morning" from the gallery today because it sold. I guess this makes it the first gallery-sold painting - congrats little dude!

Though it's kind of sad I won't get to see it again.



Lousy news:

We decided to pack up the car with all the junk we'd been collecting for the past year to finally go recycle/whatever it all.

We got down to the underground parking and saw that someone had busted the lock on the driver's side door and made themselves comfortable inside. The car was empty but he/she left it unlocked.

I'm quite annoyed by all the pointlessness of it. Why break the lock on my car for no reason? Just to hang out? There's no money, no nice stereo, no tools, no nothing inside the car, so.... why?



And so I'm creeped out that had they had the ability to open the gate, would my car be missing right now? Who knows. And how did he/she get in AND out of a parking garage that needs a key to get in and out of?

So mysterious.



Despite all the rain, we purged our small apartment of all of our bottles and too-small shoes and broken gadgets, so we're still pretty pleased right now :3



Tomorrow is Canada Day and I super super hope that the weather clears up because I wanna go to the beach! Vendors (whhhhyyyy not me? lol) and burgers and kite clubs galore! Maybe I'll get to see local fireworks for the first time since I was a child? GASP!



Holy cow I can go anywhere, and on a weekend to boot! Amazing stuff, gais. 

Mini Painting - Fishing for Compliments

I have not completely forgotten my original goal of providing original artwork to those who have little money to play with.

Before I started art journaling and before I truly got back into painting, I was into Artist Trading Cards, which are baseball-card-sized pieces of art meant for trading. From that, started an ACEO trend where some artists sold the trading cards for money, and suddenly art was affordable and abundant.

I actually don't like the size/shape of ACEOs at all, so I decided to try a 3x3 inch square of paper! I think it's cute and can imagine one of my apartment walls covered in them. Wouldn't that be adorable?

Here is a video of the first one, "Fishing for Compliments"



So yeah, one of the things I plan to buy one day for this business is a new camera! Heh. Well, it's a nice thought anyway.

Portfolio Flip Through

Trying new ways to put videos together. I can't wait to get a new camera some day. :/

I normally don't record sound, but I discovered that the microphone on my laptop is decent compared to the mess that is a PowershotA620.

Anyway this is a super quick flip-through of the carry-around portfolio I'm making! It's not totally finished and I'm open to any ideas. I love the photos and I'm glad I didn't hide them behind shiny plastic :3

Sneak Peek - Portfolio

Here's a peek into what I was doing today. I was puzzling over the idea of a carry-around portfolio and wasn't sure how to do it. I thought about online publishing, but the layouts are too strict and unfit.  I thought about scrapbooks, but hated the shiny plastic pages.

I saw a photo album in a photography store, which was just large photo prints glued to thick, black pages in a perfect-bound hardcover book. It looked really nice! The idea stuck with me all the way back home.



In the end I used the last of the art journal materials to make a portfolio (minus one signature, two was plenty). I think this is what I wanted from the beginning but thought it would look too... "homemade". And maybe it will. I haven't gotten around to filling it yet, but when I do I will show it off!

The reason I haven't finished it is because apart from the HUGE life change of getting weekends like normal people (!!!), I am also officially as-of-today a driver! I dumped all of our money on a pretty little red car and I am freaked! It's like a giant baby! Felt weird leaving it in the parking garage and out of sight.

But it felt FANTASTIC to drive alone without someone there to judge and test me. :3

Journal Post 6/23/12

Here's a casual one. It is easy to fall in love with this paper; it takes watercolour so wonderfully and I can't believe I lasted a whole journal without it.



I drew a model from a magazine. I guess I was in a bit of portraiture mood this week.



Splashing paint onto the paper....



Tracing dried clovers from the garden...

I have a headache from all of this walking around today, but I can't stop thinking about mini portfolios. It is a great idea to have samples of my artwork on hand at all times. There have been many opportunities where I could have shown them to people!  :O

But I feel a total lack of creativity coming on... there are so many clever examples that I could never think of. I'm also not entirely sure what artists do with them! 

Rolled Fondant vs Marshmallow Fondant

So I learned a new lesson.

If you've been following a while, you'd know that on occasion, I might make a cake. You might even know all about rolled fondant and how I abandoned it for the new-fangled marshmallow fondant. 

Silly me, I put my marshmallows in the bowl to melt and just left them there on the stove until they were crunchy little dried up things which was no good at all (do not multitask in the kitchen, btw).

Because I am making lots of roses for a wedding cake that will not be eaten (and I was out of marshmallows), I decided to just throw together regular rolled fondant instead. I remember holding the bottle of vanilla in my hand, thinking if I add this, it won't be white and then it won't match the marshmallow ones I've already made, so I will use the clear almond instead.

Well guess what. Marshmallow fondant isn't as white as I thought.

Ha!

Also, the texture is totally different. I'd much rather use the marshmallow kind because it's the only one that tastes decent. But it's ever so slightly off-white. 

Remember that when you're mixing the two and you want them to match. Because they won't. And you'll feel silly and wish you'd just gone to the store to buy more marshmallows. 

From the Post - Stephanie Law

This may seem obvious to people familiar with her work, but when I was a teenager my absolute favourite artist was Stephanie Law.  Her detailed landscapes and fairies inspired me to fill up many sketchbooks. The way she used layers to create the illusion of light kept me focused on improving my own skills. Her tutorials (which are probably still on her website) quite obviously guided my explorations into watercolour.




Back then, we were all very interested in fantasy themes. It was all about the Lord of the Rings, Angel Sanctuary and fantasy novels. I have an entire sketchbook embarrassingly full of wings wings wings.



I don't actually care much for fantasy themes anymore, and so I don't keep track of Stephanie's work as closely as I once did. But I did fall in love with this dragon print. Maybe it's the colour theme that made it stand out from the others?