Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Tippy-Tapped My Way To Art

I brought a cup of water upstairs last night, fully intending to make a watercolor or two, but instead I started playing around on the Art computer again, so all of my art is digital this week!

It also got delayed because this afternoon, a power transformer caught fire near my house and my dad and I were watching it shoot flames for an hour or so. So you know, uh, I was a wee bit distracted. That being said, the art is finished!

"Garden Myopia"; digital; 2023 [LOCATION]

This was a really fun piece to make, and I'm so happy it came out like this! To me, it kind of looks like what a garden would look like if I took my glasses off lol. But it's very restful and lovely, if I say so myself.

"Rocket Rocks"; Digital; [MINERAL]

I am way happier with today's Guaranteed pic (Rocket Rocks) than I thought I would be. I randomly generated the colors and the rest came together quickly! I'm really happy with how the shading & blending worked on this one!

So yeah! That's this week's work!

I just rolled next week's guaranteed category and it is.... GEOMETRIC! We have finally broken the Mineral curse!

If you want to have a say in what else I make, feel free to send me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, or Word) and I'll draw it!

I'm gonna go back to watching videos with my boyfriend and working on more art :)

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Have Two Delightful Pics For You!

As you may recall, I had a piece lined up for this week under the MINERAL category, and I did just that! I also received a coffee from a patron on Ko-Fi with a request for a LOCATION picture. Unlike last time I had both categories, I was told to keep the categories separated, so instead of being another rock face like The Old Man Of The Mountain last week, it's two separate images!

So here is the promised MINERAL painting:

"Ruby Shard"; watercolor and watercolor pencil on cotton paper; 2023
[MINERAL]

I'm pretty happy with how both the background and the image itself came out for the Ruby Shard image. The highlights aren't too overstated, the shadows aren't too understated, and the piece itself feels both organic and sharp! It was also a lot of fun to paint, to be honest.

As for the LOCATION, I decided to delve back into the Dreamland idea I had a while back and painted this:

"Desert Dreams"; watercolor and watercolor pencil on watercolor sketch paper; 2023
[LOCATION]

The colors are very intentional here. The pink swirls, the blue around the moon, the otherworldly sandy pink of the desert, the purple half-real cacti... it's a dreamland desert seen under a particularly fiery aurora! Is it the Aurora Borealis somehow reaching into the deserts of the southwest? The Aurora Australis somewhere in the middle of Australia? Is it just a particularly lovely dream?

I leave the interpretation up to you fine folks. For me, it is just.... pretty.

If you want to have a say in what I create next week, feel free to send me a coffee over on Ko-Fi along with a message telling me what category you'd like me to work from - ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MINERAL, DEDBERT, LOCATION, GEOMETRIC, WORD - and I'll make it for next week! You can also tell me if it's okay to combine your prompt with my Guaranteed Prompt (last week's was Mineral, this week's is... also Mineral. Hmmm...). If it's not okay, I'm 100% fine with that, it just means more art for you to look at!

As for me, I think I'm going to finish this cup of decaf, write more in my manuscript, and plan what mineral to draw next week. Thank goodness there are so many and that "mineral" as a category just means any inorganic substance including alloys, metals, elements, and glass.

I hope you guys are all working hard at your art and it's all going well, whatever that art may be!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

Today I Have Art!

Today was a weird day. I managed to get my art done, but boy have I felt laggy and off-kilter. I keep craving hot beverages and chocolate, so I have made an ill-considered 8pm mocha. I have also taken a picture of the final version of the artwork for this week!!!

Z sent me money for a Location image.

I rolled for a Mineral image.

I sketched a few really bad landscapes and another accidental wang that I will not be showing on here (because I threw them out like a petulant child). I stared at the ceiling. I thought.

And I decided that I would finish One image. A Mineral Location image.

Which meant something grand, something made of minerals but very obvious and something people will recognize.

Since Z has an affinity for New Hampshire and I like to poke fun at that fact, I decided I'd resurrect The Old Man Of The Mountain.

"The Old Man"; watercolor pencil & watercolor with white Gelly Roll on watercolor sketch paper;
2023 [LOCATION, MINERAL]

I'm beyond thrilled with how this came out. I had no idea if it would look like the actual formation, and it does! I hope that I can con the scanner into working again so I can throw it on my Redbubble, because the photo doesn't quite do it justice. Somehow the natural striations of the paper worked in my favor and overall I'm just thrilled.

If you would like to have a say in what I'm drawing or painting next week, head over to my Ko-Fi account and buy me a coffee with a note attached telling me which category you'd like (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word).

My personal prompt for next week is: VEGETABLE. This doesn't mean you can't also request a VEGETABLE artwork, it just means that I have to have two veggie arts up! And if you request anything else I may try to combine Veggie with it, or I may do separate images.

I'll be typing up more words in the manuscript and also checking the internet to find suitable plant material to draw after this. I hope you guys are having a lot of fun with your own art projects.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Got A Request!

This week I received a Ko-Fi request from the ever delightful Z who asked for something in the way of "MINERAL" for this week! He did add (in private) that I should try to keep this one G-Rated, since I did have that one mineral piece that was... shall we say... "upstanding"?

So this week, instead of choosing a rod-shaped mineral like an Emerald or other beryl, I chose the humble, bubbly Malachite! And to celebrate my 2-in-1 getting its new battery so it charges correctly and doesn't refuse to turn on, I did it digitally!

"Malachite"; digital art; 2023 [MINERAL]

I'm quite pleased with how the shading and highlights on the stone itself turned out. If I was to change one or two things, it'd be to add an underlayer with shading as well, so it looks less like a flat image. That might also be caused by the fact that there's an outline, which also flattens images.

You may have noticed this bears a lot of similarity to my favorite abstract art/geometric design element "bubble art", and I'll admit, I just really, really love the weirdness of concentric circles and ripples. It's probably from my lifelong fascination with water or possibly volcanoes. Why volcanoes? Because they change topography by pushing up on the earth. A volcano is similar to the splash of a drop of water in a puddle. Seismic activity tends to treat the earth more like a liquid.

This has been your brief window into how my mind operates: volcanoes = ripples = water = bubbles = art.

If you would like a say in what I draw (and a surefire way to force me to have something for the art blogs lol) then please shoot me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category you'd like to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word) and I'll do my best to get it up here!

I'm going to try to challenge myself this week, too, so I'm going to roll an 8-sided die. 1) Animal, 2) Vegetable, 3) Mineral, 4) Dedbert, 5) Location, 6) Geometric, 7) Word, 8) roll 2x.

I rolled a 3 so I'll try to have another mineral of some sort here next week!

Anywho, the rest of tonight will be spent drawing and typing so I can get more written down for my manuscript (I wrote 135 words last night!). Hopefully I can hit the next story beat tonight, because it's a good one. Got plans for this Main Character that don't involve just futzing around in a rotted out village.

It's not a post-apocalyptic story, either. Or fantasy. Or Sci-Fi. It's... Fiction. Just Fiction.

And I'm having a blast!

I hope you guys are having as much fun in your creative projects!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

In which I Discover I must change my schedule...

 Don't be alarmed - when I say "change my schedule", I'm not talking about how often/what I blog about. No, I am talking about the order of operations I have throughout the day.

Currently, I wake up, have my coffee, get washed & dressed, and then set about the hard work of... trying to figure out what to do next. I always mean to do more than just crochet a bit and doomscroll, but somehow I always end up just doing that. And then I write in the evenings. I have been intending to also do art at night, which is when I usually feel at my most productive.

But I've never been a spectacular multitasker.

In fact, I'm rather terrible at performing multiple trained skills in the same time blocks.

So I will have to add something to my mornings.

I'm going to try, starting tomorrow, to sketch while I drink my coffee.

Usually, I've been playing armchair for the cat, parsing out random story ideas, or grumbling at wildlife during my morning joe, but that clearly needs to change if I want to ever get a consistent art schedule down.

Besides, the light is so much better during the day, and for the next couple days, I won't be going outside at ALL.

No, sir, I'm not interested in experiencing what a Real Feel of -63℉/-52.8℃ day feels like. Not in the least.

The frigid temperatures are, of course, being caused by the same weather that's icing over the southern US right now. My heart breaks for everyone trapped in that mess. Mainers like me will remember the Ice Storm of 1998 - this disaster to our south is that, but in states that have no infrastructure or citizen preparations for such weather! It's nuts!

Up here, we're just getting wind and bitter cold.

I cringe at 14℉/-10℃.

Anywho, I only managed one measly sketch this week. At least it's a fun one!

"Assemblage"; mechanical pencil on sketch book; 2023
[VEGETABLE, MINERAL, ANIMAL]

This little sketch is of some random, gravity-defying twigs, a cherry, a bottle, a beetle, and a small rock. I started sketching it as kind of a mindless image, just letting shapes form. I kind of like it!

I hope to do more art next week (sound familiar? lol) but we'll see if me changing up what time of day I draw works!

As for tonight, I'm sleeeeeepy as heck. Keep staying up way too late reading dumb stuff, doomscrolling, YouTube bingeing. It's silly. I'm silly.

So what I'll do is get cozy, and actually try to sleep tonight.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which Week 2 Was Much Harder

This week's prompts from Kick In The Creatives' Creeptober were way harder for me than last week's. Mostly because I was busy entertaining a cat and making mediocre nachos and noodles. I gave up on cooking after I overcooked corn chips. Let's be real, this was not my week. I spent most of it busy and tired, which is a killer combo for creativity.

Thankfully, though, between Krita and my dot matrix paper, I have several new pictures for you!

"Facepaint"; Digital Art; 2022

I started off with some digital art, but that skull actually took two days to paint because I suck at working from references, and also because I kept getting the layering wrong.

"Candy"; digital art; 2022

I am one of those weirdos who actually likes candy corn. I know, I know, they're not great, and also I'm pretty sure I keep getting the orange and yellow mixed up, but...I enjoy them. It's not like I'll eat a whole bag of candy corn, though, they're not M&Ms or Peach Rings. I just like to snag a handful when I can and nibble those corns over the course of an evening. Not sure why the background turned fully black, though. It was supposed to be like the skull, on a black blob against a white or clear background. Maybe I have to save as a png for that? I don't know.

Anyway, since those two pieces took forever, I used my dot matrix paper for the rest, which are as follows:

"Cauldron"; graphite & Pigma Micron PN; 2022

Since I've been pretty obsessed with rocks lately, I thought drawing a stone cauldron held up by rocks would be neat, and I was right... I just need to work on it some more. Maybe get some references to cauldrons being heated on tripods...

"Witch"; Pigma Micron PN; 2022

BUNNY! BUNNY BUNNY BUN BUN BUN! okay I'm good now. Whew. I love bunnies, and when this lil floppy loppy started taking shape in the sketch stage, I was smitten. Someday I shall do something with this idea. Also, I sketched the bunwitch out with pencils, but when I finished her, she looked incomplete, so I added the pumpkin after all the lineart was already down!

"Mummy"; pencil sketch under Pigma Micron PN; 2022

Listen, I was a 90s kid, which means I went through an Egypt phase. Between the Brenden Fraser Mummy movie and a glorious quarter during which my middle school class delved into that peculiar demi-whitewashed American view of Egyptian history we were all slurping up in the 1998-August 2001 times, I was smitten with all things Egyptological. Including cat mummies. So I drew one! Complete with jewelry and Death Mask! I would love to make a poseable version of this boyo some day, possibly out of polymer clay or something like that, then overlay it with gauze and such. It seems fun. Also I'm really proud of how the near foot and forepaw look.

"Under The Bed"; Pigma Micron PN; 2022

Not thrilled with how this came out, but I was very distracted by my cat sleeping in my lap and snoring like a freight train, so it's basically just eyes under a very bad footboard... If I were to expand on this, it'd be with paint and I'd make the eyes glowy and put an indistinct appendage reaching towards the viewer. Also I'd figure out how to actually draw the foot of a bed...

"In The Dark"; graphite and Pigma Micron PN; 2022

I'm actually quite pleased with how this one turned out, even if it didn't photograph particularly well.

I have a lot of fears. I'm a coward. But one of the dumbest things I hate doing is going into the bathroom in the dark. Seeing my shadowy form walk towards me in the mirror. I hate it. I don't like walking past reflective surfaces at night. Never have.

So this is something that legitimately creeps me out - my own silhouette.

Because I'm a wimp.

lol

Anyway, that'll do it from me this week. Next week's prompts are:

• Spell
• Monster
• Horror Film
• Festival
• Scary Face
• Graveyard/Cemetery
• Goblin

I'm gonna be real with you.

Goblin might be a self-portrait lol.

I hope you guys are having a good time getting your spooky on, checking out challenges, and being creative!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

In Which The Day's Title is Literal lol

Today's painting was brought to you by Bipedal Ambulation, aka Walking.

Lately, with the weather improving (yesterday it was 67℉/19,4℃), I've been more active. This means I've been going out more, which means that I've been scooping up little goodies to go in my Goblin's Purse I made a few weeks ago.

Generally, I just photograph these little Goblin Hauls and toss them in an empty Stroopwafel box, uploading the photos to my Instagram (which uh... is pretty much all I post there). This week I decided to also paint some of my finds!!!

"Goblin Horde 01"
watercolor, watercolor pen, and Pigma Micron on watercolor paper;
2022

Today is breezy and cool - I'm in my pajama pants and a Jack-o-lantern tee! It's 63℉/17,2℃ and sunny, the wind is blowing, there's 30-40 honeybees sipping water from our bird bath, and I feel fantastically cozy. I'm excited to enjoy the rest of the day.

If you'd like to have a say in what I draw or paint, feel free to throw a donation into my Ko-fi account with a message saying what category you'd like - Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Geometric, Word, Dedbert, Location - and I'll make something based on that!

I hope all of your art dreams come true this week, folks :)

Go Enjoy Something!

FC