Happy Halloween

Wow, I posted 10 times in October - a new record for me. :)

Musings and an Earthquake

I’ve come to realize that art stuff is never wasted. Over the years I have collected a lot of art and craft supplies. I have drawers full of crayons, colored pencils, charcoal, yarn, beads… You can see some (and I stress the word some) of my accumulated supplies below.



Ironically, enough I primarily work in watercolor now. Still, this idea was brought home the other day while putting together some greeting cards. A calligraphy marker given to me by an aunt some years ago (and which I haven’t used since), turned out to be the perfect color and shape with which to apply a border around my cards. Like I said nothing is ever wasted.

In other news we had an earthquake here this evening, 5.6. To learn more go here. The bay area gets about 40 earthquakes a week but you don't often feel them, at least I don't. This one you FELT. Still everyone is ok and nothing was broken.

Distractions, Distractions, Distractions

Lots of distractions lately - it seems like I'm surrounded by them. TV and the Internet being the chief two. It just seems like all I do when I get home is watch TV or surf the Net. And of course, as a result I'm not getting any art or writing done.

The worse thing about the whole thing is, that there isn't even anything really worth watching on. I think it's habit more than anything else - one I need to break. I also think it's a habit that a lot of people share with me. It's kinda of sad when you think about. Millions of people coming home each night and watching television when there is so many more interesting and productive things to do.

Finding Momentum

Hello again, sorry I'm a day late with this post, but you did get two extra last week. In case you didn't notice I've been trying to have a post up every Tuesday and Thursday, I've been very successful doing it too, except of course for yesterday.

At the beginning of September I made a list of (mostly) art and writing goals that I wanted to have finished by January 1st. One of them was to complete 20 pictures. I started strong and completed 5 in September, but have only created one since then. It's terrible, I've hardly done any painting this month - or writing for that matter. I'm determined to meet my goal though, so expect at least 10 pieces of art finished by the end of November.

In related news, I've discovered that I don't really have any illustration portfolio pieces. This is bad - especially since I want to become an illustrator. To that end at least some of my 20 pieces of art will be created specifically with my portfolio in mind. Isn't it nice when you can kill two birds with one stone.

Finally, my personal deadline for sending Becky out is fast approaching (November 1st, thats in 7 days). I did some rewrites of the text a while back, but still need to type them in, plus I'm not sure that I'm completely happy with the new direction I'm taking with them. I may end up sending out the original version of the book. I don't know, but I do plan to send out something no matter what. I think that if I don't send Becky out now, I never will. I like the orginial version of the story, but I'm worried that it's too short, mostly I think I need a second opinion. Any one interested in providing one?

New New Header

Look another header, more happy with this one, but it's still not perfect. for those of you who missed out on seeing the old header here it is.

I hope you can see it ok, it looks fuzzy on my browser, though I've discovered if you click on it it gets clear.

New Header and Other Things

So you might have noticed, I have a new header. You also might have noticed that it doesn't quite fit, that is because I drew it first and then tried to make it fit. I'll probably replace it soon, but it seemed a waste to just trash it after it don't fit properly, especially since I'm really happy with how it came out. I'll probably try to resize it, before I give up on it completely.

As for this picture it's watercolor on Fredrix Archival Pre-Streched Watercolor Canvas. I've never tried it before. I probably won't try it again. It was really hard to work with and made a lot of what I like about painting with watercolor null-in-void. About the only thing that I did like about it was the fact that I can hang it without first framing, plus it's expensive when compared to regular watercolor paper. All in all, I doubt I'll use it again.

I am going to try another night scene though - it is a lot of fun painting stars.

New Header Problems

So I’ve been working on a new logo for the blog and it’s mostly done, unfortunately to finish it I need to use my new Photoshop program, only I can’t seem to get it to work right. I guess I should learn how to use it first, but I thought I would be able to figure it out just by fooling around. I was wrong.

On the down side – no new logo. On the plus side, when it’s finished I think it will look really good.

To compensate here's a doodle I did a little while ago.

Meet Pierre, I think he might deserve some kind of story. What do you think?

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

pen and colored pencil

It's my birthday today. I had orignially though I was turning 28, but I know realize that in fact I am in turning 27. What can I say, I don't think about my age much. I did this little cake in Halloween colors in celebration.

There's been a lot going on lately. I've been working on the blog, including a new logo which I hope to have up sometime this weekend. It's gone through several versions, which I'll probably post too. I am also hoping to get WIP bars for all my different projects up in the sidebar. If anyone knows of an easy way to do this feel free to let me know.

Made an unscheduled stop at Recycled Books yesterday, I love that store. I need to develop my figure drawing skills, especially my children drawing skills. I don't know how to draw children - they usually end up looking like short adults - and since I want to illustrate children's books this is a pretty important skill to have. What is even more frustrating is that their doesn't seem to be much written on the Internet or in books about how to draw children. It's very annoying. But yesterday I came across two books that should help, not just with those skills but with my people drawing skills in general. They are:
Cartooning the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm

and

Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm

I can't wait to try them out.

And just in case you don't believe me about my kid drawing skills, here are some sketches I did a little while ago. I was attempting to figure out what my main character, Becky, in my children's book would look like.

Updates and Musings

This blog is suppose to be about both my writing and my art, unfortunately I’ve been talking more about the art than the writing – mostly because I haven’t been doing any writing, until recently that is. This past week I’ve worked on both SMT (my novel) and Becky (my children’s book). I even got a new idea for a YA novel. I have finally finished all the character stuff for SMT and am now doing scene notes and plotting in preparation for writing the first draft (due January 1^st 2008). As for Becky (due November 1^st) I’ve fleshed out some things and fooled around with some other avenues of thought. Soon I am going to need a beta reader for it. Anyone interested?

As for art I’ve done some sketching but not much else. We’ll see if I have anything to post on Thursday.

I’ve also been thinking a lot lately about what stops us from achieving our dreams and goals in life and have come to the conclusion that more than anything or anyone else it is your own self who most prevents you from achieving went you set out to do. It’s just like they say, you are both your own worst enemy and best friend – at least I think someone said that…

See you Thursday.

New Art & Writing Update

Done with Derwent Watercolor Pencils and a black Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen.


In other news, I've actually been working on both my books. I hope to have Becky, my children's book sent out soon and plan to start the first draft of SMT soon.