Music that Inspires Art!

Again, you get to read the text in the image. Sorry.



But seriously, today I decided to use a YouTube playlist be my itunes and this is what I recommend...

Aston Classical- epically amazing classical covers of Lady Gaga and whoever did that 'Bulletproof' song.

Lady Gaga- 'Born This Way' (on repeat), which has become my anthem and that of every other freak and geek out there
Eels- just fun stuff

Then when I started working on Ordo (the clone trooper) I switched to Star Wars videos, starting with "Duel of the Fates" (my favorite piece from all 6 movies), then a techno mix of it, then a bunch of random songs set to SW clips (Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' and Justin Timberlake's 'Sexy back' [which featured Darth Maul clips]). I must say it got me going. Now I'm waiting for the layers to settle a bit, so I can assess what more needs doing on the dragon and background (if anything) and add the red to Ordo. I need that layer to be nice and set so I don't end up getting pink armor.

Also, I did more job stuff, started setting up my store on Etsy.com (nothing there yet, but soon) and went to the fabric store with my mom. She bought me enough fabric to make 5+ dresses, similar to the one I made for Nicolette (but not with sharks...that's exclusive).

Good things are on the horizon finally! I can feel it!

Crash Course in Oil (and life)

It's been 5 years at least since I worked with oil, but I found some old paintings of mine while helping my mother clean her house and I was pretty decent at it and decided to give it another shot. My mother bought me a starter set of Windsor Newton Artisan water soluble oils, Robert got me a solvent jar and some palette knives and I was to hit the ground running. But where to start?



Did you read the descriptions in the WiP (work in progress)? I hope you did because I didn't feel like retyping it. I have some smaller brushes from my mom that I can use now as well. I figure if my client doesn't like it, I'll print another, less dark and use watercolor to paint it as originally intended.

What else am I doing you ask? Well, I found out my boyfriend thinks I have a disorder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder which if you read the description, it's more accurate than ANY horoscope or rather description of the attributes of Scorpio I've ever seen. Basically, I had a sudden onset of depression and self doubt, followed by an identity crisis, since it suddenly seemed like everything that I did, going to cons, trooping and so on were because of this...THING?! He and I really haven't talked about it beyond that day, other than that he loves me and even though whatever it is gets a bit much (he told me to just dress 'normal' and not in costume to go to SakuraCon) he loves me all the same, and admittedly it's those quirks that caused him to fall for me in the first place. That's reassuring at least. But I am finding myself second guessing things a bit more and trying to hold my tongue and think a bit harder before I speak and react to something. But it feels like one more stress that I DON'T need right now.

The last few days, in addition to painting, I've been walking all over the internet, rewriting my resume and job profiles. Updating my accounts on Monster and Linkedin (which I forgot I had) and set up a profile on CareerFan and TCG. Linkedin so far has proved eventful. I went to the Starbucks HQ site and they have an opening in the design department. My former sorta not really boss (but still friend)'s wife works at HQ, though in a different department. I also recalled that a classmate of mine from the Sci-ill cert at the UW works (worked) there IN THE DESIGN DEPT and she is a connection on Linkedin! I sent her a PM and even though she's no longer at Starbucks, the company she works for now is looking for a junior designer and sent said she could put my resume in front of the owner!!!! *crosses fingers*

Other weird stuff? While cleaning in our laundry room, I found a notebook from my college days. It's filled with sketches, lecture notes, a list of songs to download (which I did today) and a fantasy I had of myself and a person I messed around with during college having a thing in one of the studios. Pretty weird to read it all again.


One last bit of art stuff if anyone is still there, I started on another oil painting, just covering the canvas with spray paint to hide the white, but you can picture what it is. Eilean Donan castle along Loch Duich is something I will lament not getting to see for more than 10 minutes. I'm thankful to have the internet to show me a virtual tour, but how good is that really? *sigh* The painting itself is based on a combination of photos to create the composition I want, even though the view in the painting isn't one that I saw in reality, but may in fact exist. If I ever make it back to Scotland, hopefully I can pester my sister from another mister that we make a trip up there...a long long trip. It looks like it's 60KM or so from Glaskow.
http://www.eileandonancastle.com/ *sigh........*

Scotland/Ireland journal and something extra

I have no desire to post the entirety of the journal here, even if it's many less pages than my Tasmania/Australia journal (which I never scanned sketches from...hrm, I'll have to rectify that). But here are some samplings for your viewing pleasure:

This is from 4/5-4/6/2011 which is our second night in Galway and our drive to the Cliffs of Moher the next day. In this and my Aussie journal, Rummy is my personification of myself.

Our first night with the group in Edinburgh, I was feeling very lonely at the bar with my cider, so I started conceptualizing an 'Apple Angel' and this is actually my second shot. I was really pleased with it and it got folks at the pub (not bar) to talk to me. Yay for art as an ice breaker!

From that some of the guys on the tour, Jeff and Kevin asked if I could draw them a tattoo design from this dragon statue they saw in England. They showed me a photo and I drew the little sketch in the upper left and from that and memory drew and inked the pic. They were both very impressed and I made Kevin a photocopy. No clue if he actually got the tat done or not.

I drew another pin-up gal (these are in non reproduction [non photo] blue btw, which is why it's so light). She's supposed to look 'ethnic' and those are supposed to be hops vines. Eh.

Our night at the Loch Ness Lodge (the night before I got sick) we played trivia and our team, TEAM PENETRATION, came in second. During that evening, I did this painting start to finish. Tamara said it needed a diver or something, do there's a little boat in the picture.

Sean asked me to draw a gal with bat wings. Women with wings and curves are some of my favorite things to draw. How could I not oblige?

On 4/11 after the tour was over and done, Robert, Tam and our friend Mike who had stayed a few extra days got to explore the Dublin area at our own pace...or my pace I should say. We went to the National Botanical Gardens and it was lovely. I would've loved more time there, plus it would've been great if the Lily house was open *sigh*.

On our last day we visited St. Patrick's church, and even though I'm not a religious person, I was inspired. Maybe I'll turn it into a painting one day...

And know for the surprise! Remember the piece I did for Emerald City Comic Con, with text added (hence all the extra space above the characters). I noticed I forgot to put the vent stripes on the TK when I was viewing the scan (my flash drive was misplaced right after con). It is owned by the lovely James Holliday, who donated $100 to receive it. That went towards our team "Garrison Titan and Friends" at the BIG Climb 3/20 for the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society.



If you'd like a print or copy of the file without text, you have to ask his permission first.

If you'd like to commission me to do a piece for you, contact me SarahS2748@gmail.com
As a cheering up present (don't ask) my mom got me a set of water soluble oils, so I can get back into that too! Woot!