Just a little something I made for the New Year

Just Roll With It-2011

So I was thinking what I could send my friends and family (all on the east coast) this Holiday season. It always seems that regardless of how much money I have or do not have, each year my favorite part is when I make something to give to everyone. I have always loved to give and receive handmade gifts, I guess that is just the artistic/creative spirit in me. This year I got to thinking of something I could also make that could also be downloaded to give away to my friends online as well. This is the product of that thought. The idea of a one page calendar is certainly not original, but it is the very first one I have ever done and it was a lot of fun. The title is a bit of advice that my father in law had told my husband once when he was having an extremely stressful moment in his life, and advice that we both adhere to even today. Sometimes we just have to "Roll with it".

Here is to you Pop...

Photo Tribute to a creative man in his own right

It has been a year of extreme ups and downs. On Sept 23 my father in-law, to be, died suddenly, less than two months before my wedding. I love this man and he welcomed me with open arms into his family. He always made me laugh and teased me unmercifully, but I know he would not have done so if he thought I couldn't take it. He was a sweet and frugal man who took wonderful care of his family both near and far. (His son and I being the ones afar.)So "Pop", here is to you, to whatever you had planned for our Halloween wedding, for all the times you made my belly ache with laughing, and for the sweet tender things you did for me (The cork not included...giggle), like the black bird you carved for me to sit alongside the blue bird you had made for you son years prior, and the beautiful pineapple that graces the front of our home to welcome our guests.  Pop you live with us everyday, in the temporal as well as in our hearts and minds. You left a legacy that few men can live up to. I love you.

A quick doodle - a possible for my tarot deck

A little doodle I did waiting in the car for a friend who had an appointment. I like spontaneous little drawings that have had no forethought. I tell people I have a magic pencil and I just put it on the paper and see what the pencil has in store for me. I may develop her further to become the Queen of Swords for my tarot deck. 

A few of my sketches colored in photoshop

Steampunk Spats

Victorian flair

Ribbon Stocking

Edgy Retro

So I decided to color a couple of my previously posted sketches along with a couple of others that didn't make it into the sketchbook scans.  These were really fun to do. I love shoes, maybe I have a foot fetish because I like to draw feet. Well Freud isn't here to figure it out and I am not worried about it. I scanned in these small images from my sketch book at 300 dpi grayscale. Changed them to RGB once in photoshop and then used a soft wet media brush to apply layers of color starting with the mid-tones and worked in dark and lights.

Sketch book from the last week.

So on my way back across the US, from NY to WA I had a lot of time on my hands as the navigator. I drew, I actually drew quite a lot. Not all will make this post but I did get a couple of descent scans. Some I may color, some will just remain inspiration, some will likely never be heard from again. =P

What art means to me.

I love art. I love the creative process. I love the creative spirit. I can appreciate and even love and adore many types of art, because it is a force that moves people to create. That is such a powerful force. So although my art may not appeal to everyone, it is this same force that drives me to create. My vision is different, the process will differ, but the force that drives me to create is the same. Now imagination...that is a fascinating thing. A tiny bit of insight into the psyche of the artist. It is kind of like walking by homes in the evening when the lights shine through windows, curtains and such, and you get a glimpse into the lives of people you don't even know. Art is that for me. Art expresses what is going on inside of me, good, bad and ugly. I used to be afraid of the things I create because they might give the impression that at times I might be suicidal or homicidal, or something horrible, but not anymore. It is just the expression of emotion, thought and ideas. Harmless, but helps me tremendously. It is a gift for some to be able to release that which they feel in an audible or visual sense. Hell, any sense for that matter. I salute all artists who take the chance of putting out to the world a bit of themselves. Always in opening up we make ourselves vulnerable to criticism of all kinds. So we grow tough skins (hopefully) and continue on because we really don't have a choice. The alternative of bottling up that which I release in the creation of art us just not an option for me.