Thursday Art Walk

 

TFW you accidentally ruin a fairly good piece
by trying too hard...

I was trying for a fun color study today, using different crosshatches of different colors from my big box of 72 Arteza watercolor pencils. 71 colors (because I accidentally got 2 Turquoises and haven't had the brain to go through and figure out which color they replaced with the spare Turquoise) hatched chaotically across a page of watercolor sketchbook paper later, I got the bright idea to try some blending.

So you guys know what happens when you blend multiple colors from differnt areas of the color wheel together, right?

Yeah. It went from a riot of desaturated, sketchy color to a muddy sprawl of shades of greige (that awful gray/beige tone) and unwell taupes.

It, in short, sucked. A lot.

So I had to start over a few hours ago when I'd finished the pencil art yesterday like a good blogger.

Oh boy did I have a better idea!

"Rainbun"; watercolor & Micron brush pen on watercolor sketchpad; 2023
[ANIMAL]

I really, really love how the outlines came out on this one, and the shadow actually looks pretty decent too! All told, I'm pretty pleased with this image.

Eventually I'll try to scan it, but for now, I think that's a fairly decent photo! It's just slightly brighter in real life than it is in the picture, but I think it gets itself across well enough.

If you'd like a say in what I draw for next week, feel free to shoot me a donation over on my Ko-Fi account with a message telling me what category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Food, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word)

Tonight is a sleepy night - I only got about 6 hours of sleep total and night before last was a bad sleep night too. It's really damp and muggy in my house, but I don't really dare to take my fan out of my window since we really need the ventilation. The moisture keeps me clammy, which is gross as heck.

As sleepy as tonight is, though, I still crave reading and writing and art.

I'll go until I fall asleep, I think, and forgive myself if I wake up late.

For now, I'm going to watch videos and relax with a book.

Go Enjoy Something,

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which It Is A Transition Week
So I am Discombobulated

Oh boy do I get thrown off easily. I usually do my shopping (for cheap snacks and drinks) on Wednesdays, but yesterday it was pouring like a tap during Happy Hour in a dive bar in Poughkeepsie, so I stayed inside all day, hilariously tired (seriously I could not keep my eyes open for more than 20 minutes at a time), and ridiculously cozy (pajamas all the way, babies).

This meant that I had to go outside today, and today was, as the memes say, heckin wimdy. Gusts of like 35mph at time windy, in fact (that's 56,3kph!)

But I went out! In a tank top and a sweatshirt! And I was fine! Because I only walked to the nearby uphill-both-ways shops I go to on the reg and back, which is about a 1 mile round trip lol.

That only took me about a half hour total, I'm pretty sure, and when I got back, I cracked open a lime Jarritos and a bag of locally sourced potato chips (sour cream & onion!) and got to painting!

"Dream Bunny"; Watercolor and Micron; 2022

I'm really happy with how this little experiment turned out! I didn't draw anything, just started laying down little dabs of color with those brush pens I got a while back, then blending them out instantly with a clean water brush. I chose the colors at random using a number generator between 1 and 24 (which is how many colors there are in the set). I might try this again with my other sets and other animals!

A Dream Menagerie sounds nice, these days, doesn't it?

So that's this week's art!

I would chat some more, but I'm actually working pretty hard on the crochet projects I have right now, so I should probably get back to those...

Even though I really want to try to paint more dream animals...

;)

Go Enjoy Something, guys!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which My Hard Work Cannot Pay Off Yet...

I have high hopes for my current art project, but unfortunately it's not ready yet, so instead, I'm gonna have to show off an unfinished sketch of a bunny girl witch.

"Bunny"; graphite in sketchbook; 2021

This is an idea I'd like to go back to sometime when I'm a better artist, but for now I think I'll let her hang out.

The other project I'm working on is complex in theory but shouldn't be anywhere near as complicated in practice lol. I am thinking of calling it "AVM", so we'll see about that lol!

That's about all I can talk about right now, artistically, but I think it'll be really fun to show off when it's done.

See you again on Monday where I'll talk about the Mystery Project and the progress I'm making on my shawl :)

Don't forget to Enjoy Something!

Fiber Monday

 

In Which Today Has Been A Day, Has It Not

So... Facebook.

Amiright?!

That was fun.

Anyway, today was my crochet day, but most of the morning was actually spent looking for our hot glue gun so I could secure the eyes into Mystery Project #1, which... I FINISHED!!!

Sort of.

See, I ran out of yarn for the tail, so instead it has none. If I ever find a good deal on the yarn I'll pick a skein up to make the tail (and possibly a friend for this lil dude!)

The lil dude in question:

He's so cute!!!

This lil guy, believe it or not, is a "Dumpling Kitty" by Sarah Sloyer on Ravelry. It's an easy pattern, but I had to go and be creative (or something) and do one without 1) stripes and 2) a mouth, so that required a bit of thinking (pro-tip: the color changes count as a stitch!). Mine came out kinda looking like a rabbit, but that doesn't stop it from being hecking cute. It is so stinking cute! And I don't miss the tail (which, uh, is good because I'm 100% out of this yarn).

If you weren't here last week, you're maybe wondering why I can't just substitute in another worsted/heavy DK weight white acrylic yarn for this project. If you were, you probably want me to prove that this stuff does what I said it does...

Ladies & Gentlemen, we have GLOW!!!

Yes! The glow looks great even after only 15 seconds of close exposure to my bedside lamp! If I have any complaints about this yarn it's that:

1. The skeins are tiny (like, maybe 100 yards tiny)
2. The yarn itself seems to be polluted with sharp bits of plastic that can really hurt
3. Splitty, splitty, splitty yarn

I did a little more work on the other Mystery Project, though, and for that, we can either look next to the first pic of that lil critter or I can show you this:

Wow... Not a big difference from last week, huh...

And yet there is a significant difference.

There's at least 6 new rounds, and I'm taking it up to around 150 stitches around before next week, I hope. If not 180!

Okay, you may be thinking, but this is getting a little... big. You'd be right. I have plans for this bad boy and they don't involve it being microscopic... no matter what a 1.9mm hook might suggest :P

Anywho, that'll about do it for me today. I'll have a lot to blather about tomorrow involving my cat, the internet, and more, so stay tuned, folks!

And don't forget to

Go Enjoy Something!

FC