Happy Holidays!

Love Is Forever

This piece was created for family as a Christmas gift since my  hours have been drastically cut at work and I have not been making as much money.  Unfortunately.. I had to help out around the house and still work to pay tuition, so I didn't get time to finish it before Christmas.  It's been a difficult year financially for my family.. but we're together and we're ok, and thats what matter.  Thats what i wanted to show in this piece.  Everyone is talking about how bad the economy is and that money is tight.. but there are other important things in life.  Money shouldn't be everything.


Anyways, Happy Holidays and I hope things get better for the world.  

     This was done for my Drawing for Illustrators Class (as all of my work is nowadays...) so as always, black and white.. Pen and Watercolor.  And I need a new pen, badly...

The goal of this project was to create a black and white historical piece, and I chose 1850-1870s French Can Can Dancing.  The dress was a nightmare, not a good enough reference.. I really wish I had a dress like that so I could shoot an accurate reference photo.. maybe someday...

I'm pretty excited for Christmas break, I have a lot of family coming over, I'll finally have a break, I'm not getting hours at work .. hopefully it'll be nice and stress-free.  Sadly my boyfriend and a few of my good friends are going to be gone =(... I guess I'll have time to do artwork now

Pee Wee Football Game

This was my six figure piece, black and white... Pee Wee football game.  Any little kid game I've been to, the parents are loud, supportive, sometimes critical, but there is always that one parent who sits at the side or in their car yelling at someone on their cell about something work related. Leave your work at home and pay attention to your child!

Anyways, I plan to do a lot more "me" work during the Christmas break. Or at least I hope.....

Polar Swim

 

References were taken at the Lincolnwood and Brookfield Zoo.  Watercolor on Cold Press.  I actually did this way back in the summer, but I haven't had time to scan it.  I don't have time for anything anymore.  -_-

In other news... I'm stressed

Jim Henson: My Hero

Jim Henson and Kermit the frog in Watercolor and ink pen. This was done for my Drawing for Illustrators Class.. we had to choose someone who has been in the news recently and I chose my hero, Jim Henson.  There's and exhibition going on at the museum of Science and Industry containing a bunch of his work, but I heard it was just ok. I still want to see it.  I've been trying to go.. time and work has just not been on my side.

I've loved just about anything he's done.  I've seen all of the Muppet Show and I hate it when people give out wrong information about the muppets.   There were more than three seasons!!!!! -_-

Anyways.. I hope to start some of my own artwork again.. it's been a while since I've done anything I liked and it's killing me.

Internet FInally!!!!

So my family finally got internet.. it's really a blessing. I'm able to check any art websites I have.. which most of them I may be discontinuing.  Theres really no point to using them if no one really looks at them. Right now I'm just trying to find an artistic style that suits me. I know that's supposed to come naturally, but everything I've done in school doesn't seem like me or I just don't like the finished product.  I have no time to do artwork outside of class due to the hectic homework load and my work schedule.  I can't wait till I have time to do my own thing (as if that's going to happen).  But yeah, so basically I'm not happy with my art and I want to change that. Any suggestions? Anyone who cares to read this want to tell me whats my style?

Anyways.. here's a portrait I did in my Digital Graphics class made out of only letters in the Illustrator program. It was pretty easy.. I like easy work ....

Long Neck

Watercolor Painting of a giraffe from the Lincolnwood Zoo in Chicago.  Still dial-up -_-... I will hopefully upload more when school starts.

Lack of Dial-up

I've been having problems scanning and loading artwork ... and with dial-up you can't use art websites. SO thats why it may seem that I've abandoned this blog. I will have new artwork up soon and hopefully an official website once I get real internet.

Red Balloon Dress and Island House

Sorry for the lack of uploads.. no school means no internet.  But heres two paintings I've been doing lately.  The first was for fun, but the quality is terrible because it was too big for a scanner and my camera isn't that great. The second one was a painting for mothers day.  Its an image of this island in the Florida Keys where this man lived in this crazy house until the last big hurricane really messed it up. Now it's abandoned but visited by any tourists who know the waters and can use a boat.  It was an awesome place to visit, but I'm not sure about living there.  He had electricity, but no stores or anything.

But I may be getting internet this summer.. so I can upload things right away!

Sorry

I'll hopefully be doing a lot of art and atempt  this summer, but it wont be uploaded for a while, thanks to the lack of internet at my house. My apologies ...

Multi-use boat

I haven't done a Balloonman piece in a while... so here it is. done in about half an hour.

I'm really excited for this summer.. cuz  have I have plans... I need to go to shopping for supplies soon.  I also need motivation.

By the way, I got the Fraggle Rock DVD Set. =)

Broken Souls

This was a project for my Illustration Class... it was based on an article about domestic abuse.  Done with Watercolor.

I realized that I have about 6 websites where I post images... This is getting ridiculous. I have this blog, which I like cuz I can customize, but I don't know how to make a gallery link.  I have an artbistro.. which I keep forgetting the password for, and theres this point system that makes things 1000 times more confusing and I feel pressured to make videos and comment on horrible watercolor paintings of flowers done by old women.  And no one I know has one, but strangely, I have alot of "friends" on that site and people love to comment on my stuff. But I rarely check on my messages there.  I also use Facebook just to show off to non-friend artists from my highschool, or rather embarrass myself.  Deviantart is fun, but not professional. and I always have so many useless messages.  And I have so much horrible artwork on there.  I just started using Flickr.. that seems the most simple.. I like it.  And then theres also this ugallery.. which I never go on.. cuz they have to approve you and then make you pay for things you don't need... and to sell your work, its a rip-off.  I'm not going to even count that one...

Mona the Manikin

So this is the actual watercolor still life of Mona the Manikin.  My teacher gave her a different name.. yeah......

If I could go back I'd give it more highlights and work with lighting better.... but after the thousands of layers... it's difficult to go back.

This was alot of fun to do... I miss painting people.  I'm not amazing at it.. but I feel comfortable painting faces.

In a few days, I'm going away and I'll be on a plane.... is it possible to draw on a plane?  I haven't been on one forever and I don't know how bumpy it's going to be.

Animals

Watercolor... Illustration project for an article.. I just spent 5 hours matting a piece.. I'm tired.....

Dead and Lovely

I love Tom Waits.


This was inspired by his song, Dead and Lovely, which was in Wristcutters: A Love Story.  Awesome song... awesome musician, awesome movie. Despite the morbid pen drawing.. I'm quite happy right now.

My next piece is something for my boyfriend's birthday tomorrow. I'll load it as soon as I can...

Mona Distorted

Art can be therapy, and it can also cause distress.  Lately, I’ve been creating a lot of work that I’ve been unhappy with because it’s been overworked in a style that’s not even my own.  I’m trying to impress the teacher and the “invisible client” ... but I’m not impressing myself or creating anything that’s “me”.  I need to find my own style before I can start creating pieces that I’ll like and that people will like. 

     The fact is, I like working loose, not completely realistic, yet not abstract.  I like interesting, vibrant, dull, and monochromatic color schemes, penwork, lots of messy lines… and I love figures/ people - that aren’t completely realistic. From now on... I’m going to try to create things in school that are MY style... whatever that is. I know I’m not the only artist trying to find his or her unique style... we all deal with this inner struggle.                                            It’s quite a pain.   You go through this melodramatic artist in a crisis phase where you begin to doubt your own work and wonder if you should really be in art school.  I would consider this my style... and this made me happy.  I think the solution is pretty simple….

Anyways, this is based off of my watercolor still life of Mona, an armless manikin. 

MISSING!!!!

   So the Great Burgerelli appears to be missing.  He used to be in the Red Eye (A free Chicago newspaper) every last Thursday of the month, but it's been two months since I've seen his wonderful descriptions of hamburgers.  It's possible I could have missed him but the last time I saw him was on a Tuesday.. so that worries me. I'm not a huge fan of hamburgers.. but his way of describing food could make me drool over baby food.  After reading one of his articles I start craving hamburgers and fries... and as I said before. i don't even them that much.  I always looked forward to  his articles, and if he's gone, dead, or if the mafia got him, I'd be pretty upset.  He is the greatest hamburger critic known to man, and he will be dearly missed (if he really is gone).

The Great Burgerelli is owned by the Red Eye or Metromix people ( I honestly don't know.. he is a mysterious figure).  The above drawing was done by me.. but i do not own the artwork.

Unfortunately I haven't gotten any artwork back that I can post up.. so it's probably all going to come at once.. I apoligize.  this entry was just an excuse to say that.

http://chicago.metromix.com/restaurants/bar_review/burger-time-cortlands-garage/650259/content

New Balloonman Character: Hint, he likes time

I'm trying to create more characters for my balloonman series, and this one a an elderly man who is obsessed with time... he carries several amounts of watches, sundials, pocket watches, and he lives inside of a building similar to Big Ben, but not Big Ben.  He's always on time, he's extremely exact with every second... he evens times his 2 minutes and 34 seconds to smell the flowers every thursday.

This was a quick pen drawing I did.. Enjoy!!!!

Star Gazing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crXjfHls3fU

     A quick pen drawing of the ballonman and his girlfriend!

     My boyfriend are celebrating 20 months this week and on really clear nights, we like to watch the stars.  Unfortunately, clear nights are rare, and most of the time we only get to see a few stars.  But once in a while the sky looks like it's been photoshopped and clarified to the max.  It's amazing how something so still could be so entertaining to watch.
    The best place to watch the stars from is on a slanted roof with blankets.. and you basically just nest up there........... someday we should make a fort up there.
     It's an amazing feeling to have been with someone you're so comfortable with and that you share so much with.  He really is a lot of inspiration for me.
     Anyways, hes majoring in film and wants to be an editor/ director... here's a video he recently did for school!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crXjfHls3fU

Fly Away

This was a quick pen drawing I did to get back in a "flow" .. whatever that means.  But i plan on doing alot more of these that are going to be Balloonman themed.  The extremely messy cross-hatching was done on purpose.. but I'm not entirely sure it was successful. but this was fun to do... and super easy and fast.
Enjoy!


P.S. The great Burgerelli is back!!!!

Donuts

One of my recent projects was to paint sweets.  I decided donuts would be fun, and so did many other kids in my class.. so it didn't stand out from the crowd at all.  But for realistic donuts, I'm kinda proud of this. Done with watercolor.

Actually, I wanted to start a project really different from what I'm used to.  I'd like to venture into the realm of stop motion animation.  If anyone has good tips, please share. I have some plans.. but I'm going to wait to say anything.  Sorry for the insanely boring entries...

Candyland: Halloween Themed

Another project for Illustration, but I think I'm going to fix this one up.  Our assignment was to take some kind of game and create an ad for it.  My group chose Candyland and decided (or our class decided) to try a Halloween themed version.  But i need to fix the depth of the piece, and fix up colors... something with me and color schemes, I focus so much on them but then forget everything else.. and in the end, I'm still not happy with the colors. Otherwise, not much to do with say for this. Done in watercolor and concentrated watercolor.

I actually have a secret project I want to start for the summer.. more to tell later!

Electric Chair

     Finally, a new image to post... sorry about the wait. 
This was an interesting project, because we basically got a very rough drawing that someone else did and had to redo it in our own style, and finalize it. All mine was a business man in an electric chair.  I'm partial to this painting because it took a lot of setting up and planing to get it right.  And in the end, I'm not sure how to feel about it.  there are things I wish I could fix, but I guess its at it's point in the "pyramid of doneness".  This was done in watercolor, goauche, and concentrated watercolor, which I love and hate.

Heart Chicago Motel

My most recent watercolor project was to paint a sign, and I chose the Heart Chicago Motel sign which I thought was near my house, but I was wrong. It's a nice sign, but the motel looks sleazy.  Anyways.. can't write much because I barely get any time to do anything online.  I have no internet at home (insanely slow dial-up isn't real internet) and that severely what I can do online... not to mention networking.  Anyways... I want to start commissions soon to get some money for school.  More information later....

Guitar Center Catalog

 

     This was for a project in Illustration where we had to redesign a catalog.  I really wanted to do a loose style and I thougt a guitar catalog would be perfect for that.  But it seems like the more you redraw something, the more strict and dull it becomes.  My first drawing was really expressive, and I liked it.  I wish I started straight from that and not deal with all of the comps and sketches.  But tha's not the Illustration process, is it?  That's why stuff outside of school is sometimes easier to work on.. and I end up liking it more.

Anyways, about the piece itself,  it was done in watercolor and touched up digitally (the colored swirls mainly).

More Digital Paintings... "PB and Jelly" and "Creepers"

I'm still getting used to the tablet, I can imagine something amazing in my mind, the only problem is recreating it.   But the tablet is a lot of fun to use.. I just need to practice, and this is what I have been doing the past couple of days.  "PB and Jelly" was originally going to be multicolored.. but then it looked too chaotic, so I chose a limited color palette.  The swirls were unintentional... I messed with the smudge button and decided to go along with it.  I really want to try this one again.. Maybe give it more detail.  The only problem is that my photoshop program can only handle so much.. it's very sensitive.

     "Creepers" is based off a shirt I bought from Threadless.  It's one of my favorite shirts and it has these adorable monsters creeping out from behind buildings.  Mine is nowhere near as good as that.  But it was something quick to do, along with the Jellyfish piece.  Hopefully I'll do some things that take a lot of time.  I just need a lot of practice.. and I'm sorry I'm subjecting you to my test pieces.

Campaign Logo

This was a logo I had done for my boyfriend's friend's dad who is running for Commissioner in his area. He asked me to make a logo for his brochures and his website. I've only done a logo once before for my astronomy club in high school which was supposed to be used on the sweatshirt, but unfortunately never got made due to the lack of funds and participation from others. It's very simple, but I think that's what I was supposed to do. I'm not a graphics major, but some experience would be good, especially for a resume. If you want to know why I used a tree, his idea is to for his district to go "green", so therefore; a tree. I really wish I knew how to use Illustrator, I'm sure it would have looked a lot better and would have been done faster.

By the way, I would love comments lol.. I haven't gotten a single one yet -_-

Sunny Side Up

Image I forgot to scan until this weekend... In my Illustration class we needed a black and white portrait including our hands that had a breakfast theme. So here I am wearing my egg sunglasses. Oh the grease......

First Digital Painting

This was my first digital painting with the Wacom Bamboo tablet my boyfriend got me for my birthday. Up until now.. I've been doing mostly doodles, but I decided to try a portrait. I definitely want to do a lot more, but maybe less generic poses and more "illustration-like" images. But I still have a lot of work to do...

Wacom Bamboo tablet
Corel Photoshop X

Estimated Time: 5 hours

In Watercolor class we had to choose a city from the book Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. I chose the City Bauci; the city on stilts. I'm not incredibly happy with this, I wish I could have done alot more with color or a completely different style. The book, Invisible Cities, is actually like nothing I've read before. I said that to the teacher and he got all excited and repeated it to the class; "This is like no other book she has read before.." That statement was true but that didn't mean that I thought it was the most amazing book I've ever read. It's certainly interesting, not much of a plot, but has beautiful visual landscape imagery. I'd only suggest reading it if you were an artist or like to read literature with alot of visuals.

Monet Copy

In my watercolor class... we needed to choose a masterpiece that was not originally done in watercolor and recreate it in watercolor. I thought this was a fun project, my teacher was worried I would mess it up in the beginning (using white watercolor paint can be fatal), but it turned out pretty accurate. I chose Monet's Woman with a Parasol which was done with oil. I loved this application of paint, and I think using stretched cold press paper was a new (but amazingly good) experience. From now on I think I'm going to work with more cold press. But the next out-of-school projects I want to work on are going to be digital, unless I get frustrated with them (I need to get used to the tablet).

This piece I titled "Underwater Chaos". And it definitely was chaos trying to make it look good. If I could go back, I'd fix her hair and make it look more like it was underwater. This was just a practice portrait with watercolors but I have no experince doing hair with watercolor. Mayeb that should be my next step.

Indiana Jones Poster

The great thing about being an artist is that you don't always have to spend a lot of money to buy presents. Instead of buying the insanely expensive original Indiana Jones poster for my boyfriend, I made him this one using pastels and charcoal marker. It took me about 3 or 4 hours a day for a week but it was a lot of fun to work on. if I would change anything, I would make more of a realistic background and maybe add in more characters.

2010!

First Post of the year.. and while looking at other blogs.. I learned that i really need to customize this blog. It looks like a million other amateur blogs so how would anyone remember mine? The only problem is access to internet.. so that's going to have to wait until my household gets real internet. Meanwhile.. here's a piece I did last year. It's a graphite drawing of a photo [link: http://paranoidalna.deviantart.com/art/water-much-too-shalow-108232545 ] by Bianka Keilbasa. The photo is much better... but I wanted to try a graphite portrait again... because I hadn't done one since high school.