Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 28

This was my fourth consecutive month of drawing challenges and the pattern of decreasing enthusiasm definitely continued.

Shenandoah Valley Street Art: Charlottesville

I finally got around to driving down to Charlottesville to take pictures of murals! I can't believe I did this so consistently last year.  Or maybe the fact that I did so many of these trips in such a short window of time is the reason I resist doing it now.  Who knows.

RVA Street Art: Miscellaneous Art and Outtakes

Every time I go to Richmond to take pictures, I find a bunch of new art that's not part of RVA Street Art Festival, Welcoming Walls, or The Richmond Mural Project .

RVA Street Art: Richmond Mural Project 2016

In July 2016, Art Whino returned to Richmond for its final round of The Richmond Mural Project, realizing their goal of 100 murals and helping to establish Richmond as a major art destination for tourists.

Unicorn

"Unicorn" Colored Pencil and Ink on Paper

The lovely ladies at White Willow Massage Therapy and Emporium asked me to draw a few things for them to sell as postcards, and this regal dude was the first one! The original and prints will be available soon in the Yeti Crafts shop, but you can already get products with this guy on them on Society6!

RVA Street Art: Street Art Festival 2016

In April 2016, the RVA Street Art Festival took on the old Southern States silos, transforming an iconic Richmond landmark into a work of collaborative art. They also threw what looked like a heck of a party! 

Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 27

#drawlloween 

October was my third successful month of participating in drawing challenges, though less so than the two previous months since I had multiple missed days requiring catch-up. I broke away from #yayeveryday2016 and switched over to #drawlloween2016.

Punk Rock Squirrel Girl

Squirrel Girl and Tippy Toe

I was recently hired to draw a punk version of Marvel's Squirrel Girl and her little sidekick Tippy Toe.  The colored pencil really stands out on brown paper which ties into the whole woodland theme of the character.  Thanks for making my job so good, guys!

Roses Afghan

On September first I became an Auntie!

My baby niece was over a month early and her birthday present wasn't finished yet.  I had to hustle, but I had it finished by the time I visited her. 

I used this chart I found on Pinterest to create the roses with Loops and Threads Snuggly Wuggly Yarn that appeared to fade gracefully from pale to bright pink, but in reality it created pale pink roses and bright pink roses. There was no in between, and in a couple of them, you can see the hard transition.   The rest is basic granny square with a continuous join and a border.  

#YayEveryDay2016 Drawing Challenge - September

#YayEveryDay2016 's September Prompts

I decided to continue with Toby Oliver Dean's #YayEveryDay2016 drawing challenge into September after my success with it in August, and I'm pleased to tell you guys that I kept my perfect score!

#YayEveryDay2016 Drawing Challenge

Aug 31 - Telephone Call

 Unfortunately, I didn't hear about Toby Oliver Dean's #YayEveryDay2016 drawing challenge until Danny Brito provided the prompt list for August.  As I've mentioned on multiple occasions, I love a good daily challenge because of the community element (feedback and accountability), the structure (it's every single day), and the opportunity to push my boundaries (OPP - Other People's Prompts).

Shenandoah Valley Street Art: VA Street Art Festival 2016 in Waynesboro

E-N Computers hosted the second annual Virginia Street Arts Festival on August 27 

Cthulhu

 Cthulhu 

When I was approached to draw something Cthulhu-themed for a baby's nursery, I may have wept with joy. This guy is my favorite thing I've ever drawn.

What I've Been Up to Lately: Future Auntie Edition

In which my sister's pregnancy inspires me to make a million adorable baby things.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Sometimes people hire me to draw or make things that are outside my wheelhouse, and I'm one million percent okay with that. In fact, I prefer it to the times people ask me to "surprise them" because it challenges me and pushes my limits, which is the only way to learn and grow.

Recently, I was asked to make a hat that looked like a soccer ball, but none of the patterns I found appealed to me.  I did find the photo below, but an exhaustive reverse image search produced nothing that would help me recreate it.  Someone else had attempted to reverse engineer it, coming up with this chart, but when I followed the chart, the result was not close enough to the image for my taste.

 

The mystery hat and its almost-chart.

After a few days of experimenting, I bumped the clusters in the chart up from three stitches each to four and went with it, even though I wasn't completely happy. I also opted out of the bill, because it's not what my client wanted and added the rose to incorporate the intended recipient's team color. Following the chart with my minor alterations produced a slightly slouchy hat (unexpected bonus!) so I also extended the band a little.  

Crochet Rose pattern by Kati Crafts (using half the recommended chain. The first rose I made was massive!)

In the end, I made a cute hat and learned about hexagonal and pentagonal granny squares (granny hexagons and pentagons?). Plus, look how happy she is about it!

Saint Sebastian

The call to artists for Larkin Arts' national juried show was the perfect opportunity to pull out this painting from a couple of years ago and give it a total overhaul. 

Sea Hag Update

2013 vs. 2016 

I've been having a little bit of an existential crisis lately and even briefly considered going back to school, but was dissuaded by the idea of oppressive debt and generally complicating a life I've worked so hard to simplify.  Since we live in the future, I have access to pretty much anything I want to learn anyway. 

Armed with that can-do, autodidact attitude, I decided to give Skillshare another try and signed up for Christine Fleming's first Art School Bootcamp installment, which focused on the elements of design and composition techniques. The assignment for that class was to use the techniques she discusses* to update an old piece of our own artwork.  Sea Hag was one of the first things I did when I decided I wanted to make art again three years ago, and I feel really good about how much progress I've made since then.

*briefly - I think the whole class took less than an hour. Skillshare is excellent for people like me who are deficient in the attention department.

What I've Been Up To Lately

In which I am both eternally grateful and filled with melancholy in the course of a single post.

It's been awhile, guys.  Over the past month and a half, I got divorced (I mean, pretty much.  I'm just waiting for official decree or whatever.), spent two weeks on the other side of the country for my best friend's wedding, fulfilled a lifelong dream, worked my booty off preparing for a craft show that was an unmitigated disaster, and then spent three days feeling sorry for myself and watching movies.

Shenandoah Valley Street Art: Harrisonburg

Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 25

In which I set a literal fire out of frustration and then took a class.

What I've Been Up To Lately

Drawing, a little rebranding, crochet, and sewing!

Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 24

Welcome to my biweekly summary of things I've drawn.

Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 23

In which I jump ship on the drawing challenge and make art for money.

Shenandoah Valley Street Art: Waynesboro & Staunton

Last summer, Ian MacRae, who owns E-N Computer in Waynesboro, organized The Virginia Street Arts Festival, bringing together about a dozen artists from all over Virginia and Washington D.C. to decorate the industrial building that houses his IT business.  When I heard about it (ironically from Mickael Broth when I met him in Richmond) I decided to hunt down public art in the Shenandoah Valley area like I did last year in Richmond.

What I've Been Up To Lately

A little more Rococo,  some robots, and the whole entire solar system.

Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 22

More 30 Day Drawing Challenge sketches and other things, too!

Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 21

In which I step outside my comfort zone into a pile of graphite dust

Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 20

Ain't no party like a Rococo party cuz the excesses exemplified by the style may have contributed to the downfall of the French aristocracy.

What I've Been Up To Lately

In which I draw things until I die.

Larkin Arts Annual Regional Juried Show

Here's me - looking exactly as uncomfortable as I was. 

I'm really proud of myself, guys.  My circus girls were among the 64 accepted submissions to the Larkin Arts Annual Regional Juried Show earlier this month (out of 224 total).  I conquered self-doubt and anxiety and was validated with acceptance.

This post is a little NSFW in a classy, artistic kind of way.

Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 19

In which I labor endlessly with hair.

What I've Been Up To Lately

In which I make myself Birthday Presents and think a lot about the circus.

Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 18

In which I overindulge in the color green.

Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 17

IX Art Park Charlottesville, VA

 Last month, I went to the IX Art Park in Charlottesville and it was pretty fantastic.

Sketchbook Round-Up: Volume 16

In which I return to drawing regularly!

What I've Been Up to Lately: Christmas Edition

Look at all the stuff I made for my friends and family!