The Emerald City

So, I'm leaving in about a half hour for the airport to head over to Kansas City to visit my brother and his family for a week.  I'll still be posting but can't promise much to say that will relate to art things.  I'll have a sketch book with me and some drawing supplies, but I don't think I'll have much time to do anything more than draw a little. 

I'm looking forward to getting away from J-town - which has put in some new parking rules, making it just about impossible for me to park the car anywhere.  I would get a residence parking permit, BUT as I don't live on the residence streets (I live in an apartment on the main street), they won't issue me one.  So I had to place a formal complaint and I'll have to attend some town meeting to get my voice heard.  It is absolutely ridiculous.  I won't get started on my visit to the borough office to discuss this issue.

Ah well, away from stupid J-town and stressful work to visit family.  Shouldn't be stressful... right?  :D

Oh look! Pictures!

My friend Dave came over last night to baby sit the dog for a while and when I came home, I found he was kind enough to bring over his wire for his digital camera.  What this means is, that I was FINALLY able to upload the images of the paintings from my camera onto the computer and post them here.  DAVE IS A HERO!

So, here are my paintings from the Painting a Day exercise

Painting a Day - Day 1

Like all the work I did, this was based on a photograph we have hanging on the wall.  This was my first oil painting since college and I didn't think it came out too badly.  The picture is dark because the flash just kept reflecting on it and the light wasn't working with me.  (I have my logo and the text in the pictures because I've had to deal with some art theft in the past - I'm not a famous artist but I feel like I have to do what I can to protect myself and my art.  I mean, these aren't masterpieces and they are at low resolution and all that... but people are weird on the internet...  So, I apologize if it looks annoying to have that stuff on there, but forgive me...)

Painting a Day - Day 2

Keep in mind that I hadn't found subject matter to paint before starting a painting.   I was trying to keep my feelings on doing the painting fresh and so would think a while before sitting and doing it.  While looking through a book on animals, there was an image of two... emus I think, walking with a red sky and the sun behind them, all in silhouette.  Wanting to do something fantasy, I used the image and made it a dragon.  I won't say this is brilliant or anything... it isn't my favorite.  But again, this was also after a full day of work and trying to work with a medium that I was not yet comfortable with.

Painting a Day - Day 3

So, I hadn't done a person yet, but I didn't know what to do for it and was feeling pressured.  I looked at another artists work and tried to figure out how they had done the figure and used the paint.  This is another ok piece.  I think I had worked till 6 p.m. and hadn't been able to sit down till 8 p.m. to do it or something.  Looking back on it, I was probably rushing myself.

Painting a Day - Day 4

I had gone to Barnes & Nobles and gotten a book on castles which was very inspiring.  This painting was really the first one that I REALLY liked and was very happy with.  

Painting a Day - Day 5

I have a book on Geishas and there are a lot of beautiful photographs in there.  I wanted to do a sort of landscape/person image instead of just landscapes.  This was a little difficult and again, the oil paints don't always work with you, but I was happy with this as well.  I liked a lot of the textures and the feel of it was good.  

Painting a Day - Day 6

Again, this was from the Geisha book.  My mother asks me about my fascination with the Japanese culture and I think it has a lot to do with the graphic nature of their world, the bold patterns and colors.  I was very happy with this one as well, because I think her face came out well and she looks Japanese - not like a white woman pretending to be Japanese.  I was also happy with the how the robe came out.

Ok... Here is where I should have the 7th painting.  Because I really didn't like it, I didn't have it where the other paintings were, so last night when I was taking pictures, I didn't take that one.. and so didn't upload it to the computer.  I didn't realize I didn't have it on there till this morning when I started fiddling with the pictures to put in the post.  I'm sure there was some sort of subconscious thing going on there....

I plan on going out and buying a new wire today if I can.  And I will post it after that.

Upcoming Trip

I'll be leaving on the 16th to go visit my brother and his family in the midwest.  It will only be for a week and then its back to the daily grind!  I'll have my laptop with me, so chances are, I'll be keeping up with the blog - though, I'm pretty sure at this point only Pooka is reading it!

Oh, I plan on buying a new wire for the camera.  I contacted the manufacturer and tried to get information on the wire, but apparently they don't sell them.  They don't even talk about them.  The email I sent asking about it, got no response back.  *insert angry face*

I'm still working on that one painting and I hope to finish it before leaving.  Just to have it done.  I'm not sure what new work I'll have for Balticon, but I also want to have the new website up before that too.  We'll see.  I think this might be a case of my eyes being too big for my stomach if you know what I mean.  I have work and projects and freelance things...  So...  Wish me luck on everything.  

If I get the wire today, I will be able to post the art!  *crosses fingers*

Paintings that won't finish

So... not as productive a weekend as I'd like it to have been. I forgot a lot of things I needed to do, while getting other things done. One thing I wanted to do was finish a painting that I started a few month ago in acrylic. I am working on that with the oil paints.

Its going longer than I want it to, but its the added combination of the oil paintings and losing focus or changing the the way I wanted it to look.

Other than that, saw a lot of movies lately.

Horton Hears a Who: Enjoyed it very much! Was a lot of fun, and kept a lot of the spirit of the original story. Yes, they changed a lot of stuff in it and added more story, but the storybook wouldn't have lasted an hour and a half. The animation was fun to watch and the characters were enjoyable. A sure sign it was good for kids? They didn't get bored and they were laughing and involved the whole time. A good sign it was for older grown-up kids? They were laughing and involved too!

Leatherheads: I don't know why they decided to do this. It was an ok movie. It wasn't a bad movie, but it certainly wasn't a great one. They were going for this... 1930's or 40's feel of film but had too many things that removed it from that era of film. The "His Girl Friday" attempt at banter didn't work because Rene' Zellewiger (I don't know how to spell that woman's name) was miscast... and I'm tired of her squinty pouty looks anyway. Clooney was charming but this certainly wasn't anything we haven't seen from him before. It wasn't a COMEDY with great moments of humor... it was just a film with some funny bits. The pacing was slow too many times which certainly wasn't going to happen in "His Girl Friday" (that movie has whip crack timing!). I felt if they needed to pan it out, they could have done more shots of the games. They talk about plays like a "Crusty Bob" or "A Pig in a Poke" but they never show them so you the viewer can know what they are and why they are so great. Also... waaaay too much cursing. It MIGHT be a nice family film if they hadn't cursed... Something you'd have never seen in a film from the era they were showing. I'm not talking about saying hell or damn or anything, but harsher cursing - which just seemed... un-needed.

We rented some dvd's too.

Michael Clayton: A very good film and proof of George Clooney's acting skill. After so many films with dark moods and violent people, this was a little bit of fresh air - not that it doesn't have dark moods and violent people - but it offers hope. Very interesting performances, including Tilda Swinton (who got the Oscar for her role in this film).

30 Days of Night: If you read the graphic novel, then you might as well see the movie. It has been awhile since I read it and I actually can't find the darn thing (probably hanging out with the missing digital camera wire I'm looking for still). But it was a good graphic novel and a good movie as well. I'm not a horror movie fan over all. I don't like the blood and gore, slasher scare-fest that most movies of this type can be. But 30 Days of Night ended up having a lot of suspenseful psychological moments. While we watch the characters trapped in an attic, hiding, it almost turns into Nazi Germany with people hiding from the enemy. Questions of what to do and whether to stay or go come into play... Is it better to run and hope some survive? Do you stay and wait it out? Yes... there is some gore scenes... We are talking about vampires. But it was pretty good.

Eastern Promises: VERY good movie. The performances are (and I use this word very rarely) mesmerizing. The whole film is. They never really establish where it takes place, though it is mentioned they are in London. But there aren't any establishing shots or set ups so you really know and that helps keep it very ungrounded. You never feel safe or that anyone is safe. The famous scene with Viggo Mortensen fighting naked is... well... Wow... Not because you see his body. You have no time for that. But you can feel how exposed he is and how hard it must be to try and fight from such a position. You feel unsettled after the movie is over, but you definitely get the sense that everyone is where they are by their own choices. Very good movie though...

So... uh.. yeah... I HAVE to finish that painting... And I need to work on some new ones too. I started slacking after the initial burst from the paintings a day. I need to keep on myself to keep doing things.

What's Next?

Well, this past weekend was a reorganizing one. I cleaned off the drawing table and did a bit of cleaning up (Pooka: No luck finding the camera cord - I'm afraid it actually went with my father in the thought it was part of his phone or something... >_< I'm hoping not but the more I think about it, the more possible it is). I had to do some taxes and go through bills. Paperwork!

Yeah, the ugly underbelly of this fancy freelancing life-style.

I have been doing some drawing in my sketchbook - just some characters and such. The paper in the sketchbook is colored so that is actually letting me use some colored pencils for color touches which I like to do.

I am thinking I will have to order a new camera cord though. Very frustrating. But you do what you have to!

I also have to do some work for Balticon. I have the small paintings from the Painting a Day project, but I need to do some more fantasy based things.