Busy busy Art makin season....

Well I know updating the past few months have been few and far between but I have been busy making things for customers...yes CUSTOMERS! ....and I couldn't be more elated! Its been a unique experience so far....pet portraits are the go to for my main customers, but I have been asked to draw a plane belonging to a beloved father who restored it and had to sell it....I have also done some interesting combination illustrations of pets...also I have been BUSY making presents for my own family and friends...drawings, plush animals...etc...it goes on and on...and I hope everyone loves all the things I have made.

 I have also kept up with making fashion illustrations for Alessandra Aghilar and her website Almalu's Place. Again I cant say enough about this fine ladies taste in fashion and design. She posts amazing party recipes too! She is simply brilliant! So just to keep you all up to par as to what I have been drawing...here is a pet portrait, and some of the fashion illustrations I have done thus far....this however is only a tiny fraction of what I have been up to.  So I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season! And you know create something instead of buying....it means so much more to the receiver! 

Fashion smashion and furry mugs....

Gosh...where to begin? Still working on the things in my etsy shop...and added a few items to the list of services/products I sell, and they are pet portraiture...something I have always been good at and always enjoyed...I love offering this to people for my passion for animals and well, its just nice to see how much people adore and want keep sakes of their furry children. So check out my page if you are interested in wanting such services done for either yourself or as a present for the up coming Holiday season. Great gift for someone who is a animal fanatic or obsessed with their own pets. Here are my wares...  http://www.etsy.com/shop/Rabbitinthewindow


Also still continuing doing fashion illustrations for that Amazing Italian Design Blogger Alessandra Aghilar at her page here .... http://almalusplaceblog.com/

Her design, party, food, wedding and fashion ideas floor me every day! She has such a knack for color and design its amazing. Not like any American designers I know. Its fresh, colorful, modern and oh so classy! Just even down to the details of decor on the straws and the little touches of personal style on things is so interesting and dare I say it again...CLASSY! So if you ever want ideas on throwing a truly fashionable and fun party, or just want ideas on favors or clothes for a fun day with friends certainly check her out.


 Below are a sample of one of my animal portraits, one with the photo I used as reference and the actual finished illustration. Also are a few of the fashion illustrations I have done for Almalus Place. Enjoy!

Busy busy...and then some...

I know it has been some time...I have been busy with selling things in my shop...I made a few more masks, and sold a few more other Halloween-esque things....so on that front things are going really well.

 Moving forward I have encountered a new endeavor starting at the end of this month. I will be collaborating with a brilliant Designer out of Bologna, Italy on her blog page. Her name is Alessandra Aghilar, and she is so talented I am very honored to be working with her and doing illustrations for her page. Here is the link to her page below.

http://almalusplaceblog.com/

I am very excited for this, and I also designed a logo for this occasion so I can be linked from her page and I believe it is very fitting. So be on the look out for those developments at the end of October. I am looking forward to it! 

 

Fall brings on the masks...

So I have been busy in the studio...though selling some things in my store for the first time! Very exciting...so I am adding to my inventory...I am making some Halloween masks....some paper mache ones for some added adult items in my offerings....trying to make them look somewhat old fashioned and fun...still working in the studio on my painting though....I just need to update the photos on that ongoing work as well....I also received some good news this weekend...two of my pieces will be featured in our local Wine Festival art show...which will be some GREAT exposure for me...hopefully that generates some custom work...finally someone has deemed my art worthy of being viewed publicly which is nice...considering this is an UBER conservative area and most people only like paintings/photos of landscapes, grape fields and the lighthouses on Lake Erie....so its nice to see that I can find a venue for it locally....pretty stoked about that....so here are some images of my new masks that I will be selling in my Etsy shop.....oh..and here is the shop itself...http://www.etsy.com/shop/Rabbitinthewindow

Frames and projects...

So since the finish of my doll I have been quite busy with a myraid of projects....I made a frame for my little bunny painting...now I just have to find some thin clear acrylic for it to make a "glass" like protective covering....I started a new bunny painting..only slightly bigger than the last...and I am working on a paper mache mask project for a possible customer....we shall see how the prototype turns out. I just wanted to update the few of you that actually follow this blog...also to tell you my ideas behind the new mini paintings I am doing....I figured since I suck so much at large paintings...and on painting people aparently...I should downsize and do some smaller paintings...and focus on animals, also work on a theme which I am passionate about...and one thing that I am passionate about is animal abuse...I loathe it and the people that do it...so I decided that I would do some paintings inspired by it...a few of the ideas were to simple...making portraits of abused animals...a lot of people can do animal portraits...I thought about the animals that have passed...and if I were a believer in an afterlife where would they go...or where would I like to see them go...how would they look after they got there? Would they go back to their beautiful "normal" looking selves?

Thinking on that...I decided...no...the afterlife/imaginary world would be much different...much more haunting in its appearance and in how the animals ended up....

In this world...it would be covered in woods...old dirt roads and run down forgotten houses...some things would be in color...other things (like buildings or old trees) would not, they would just be in black and white. The animals would have "adjustments" to their appearance when they came to this world...like the bunny with the wheels..he lost his back two legs to someone who wanted them as lucky rabbits feet...and then they ate the rest of him...which is why he has his modified wheels..and many different series to choose from....he was also chosen as the messenger of this world...he has been one of the first animals killed in such a crewel way....wild birds and other wild animals...they would come to that world completely normal...cause they are wild....only domesticated animals ended up with modifications only because they were exposed to the human way of things, it is how they were forced to perceive things....so...like in this new painting...their is a kitten who is held up by a balloon...this little guy comes from a story that is local to where I live...several adolescent boys were scene (and not yet identified apparently) kicking and tossing a kitten up in the air till they killed it...they broke her back among other things....so I wanted to envision her getting around in the afterlife by way of a balloon that she controlled....she can move her limbs and "walk" in the air, but her limbs cant hold her weight so the balloon helps....and the painting is of when she first got to the after-world and the bunny is explaining how it works for her....and she is just sort of disgusted and hanging there....

Now I know its a sad story...but I wanted to put a unique twist and a more pleasant picture in my head of where they are now....free from pain....in a happy but odd place...because even if their was an afterlife, and I believed in it existing...I dont think it would be all rainbows and pixie dust...I think it would be a very convoluted distorted reality....So anyway...here are said paintings/frame in the works...

Doll FINISHED!

So I finally finished my doll.....and I think overall for my first one I did alright. There is a lot of detail I tried to capture in the photos...hopefully they translate but I doubt they will....describing her is as follows....the base is an antique turn of the century cast metal base, it was originally a flag stand so it is very sturdy and heavy. The dress itself is fake embossed leather bodice, with feather like cutouts that lead down to a detailed lace finish....the sleeves are a sheer shimmering blue translucent fabric over some blue detailed cotton fabric with a flower motif. The top of the bodice is finished with lace and crystal and glass bead detailing...the headpiece is a polymer clay base with crystal and glass bead details as well, and the back has long tentacle like feathers sticking out the back. Her wings are totally made of real feathers on a wire base...so they do move around a bit. The scale she is holding has a detailed hand sculpted/painted heart and on the other side a real feather. There also is a silver belt with mother of pearl and silver accents....the doll itself is a polymer clay as well and all hand painted by me. Tons of details to this little lady....I have a lot of different influences with this piece from Egypt. The first influence is Anubis who weighed the heart of a person after they came to the underworld, he would weigh the heart of a person against Ma'at, the goddess of truth, who was sometimes depicted symbolically as an ostrich feather....so I combined the female with the male in this instance and not to loose the connection with the feather I gave her wings. In the story of the scales if the heart was judged not to be pure the heart would be devoured by Ammit, a female demon with a body that was part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile. If the persons heart was devoured they were not allowed to continue their voyage towards Osiris and immortality. So basically the more evil you were, the more heavy the heart. Once Ammit swallowed the heart, the soul was believed to become restless forever; this was called "to die a second time".

I am so fascinated with all this story telling and intricacies of the Ancient Egyptians its easy to become inspired by them. The dress itself I wanted to be more feminine and structured. So I referred to the Tudor period of clothing. The time period of Queen Elizabeth the first, and this time period goes from before her influence as well typically the dates are 1485 and 1603. Yet I concentrated more on the end of that time span which was when she ruled. She was such a strong female figure, and a take no guff kind of woman I thought that costuming would fit my doll/goddess perfectly. 

So yes, it is a wide combination of things with my interpretation, but I enjoyed it...I hope you like the photos and appreciate the time that went into this...for my first attempt at a doll...I am pleased with the result. BUT I want to hone in on my sculpting, dressing and painting skills and that takes time...so there will be more dolls to come....

New Shop....new endeavor...

So I have officially opened my shop....I have been making things for about a year as I have previously mentioned...just to keep my creative juices flowing...so I make some crafty/cutesy stuff....but it has all gotten me motivated to do some real involved deeply inspired work, and that cant be a bad thing....I am however working on another mini painting...considering the last one I did in the last post was so well received it inspired me to keep going....gut without further adieu....here is the link for my store...please visit.....http://www.etsy.com/shop/Rabbitinthewindow

Finished....

So here is the final product of the mini painting/drawing....its a combination of an ink drawing, acrylic painting and watercolor...I had a lot of fun doing this one too....I am just producing lots of little works...just keeping the artistc energy flowing....not trying to come up with any masterpieces whatsoever...not trying to put that sort of pressure on myself just now...just trying to keep producing work...any work...any form...anything really...I have learned by talking to a lot of successful artists to just produce work, no matter what it is...and your path as to what you are good at, or what you find inspiring will rear its head in your work, make itself known and develop into your own style...so taking that advice to heart, trying not to take myself to seriously, or be to harsh on myself I am just simply producing work...any work really.

Also launching my Etsy shop tonight. Don't expect any genius work out of this endeavor....I just enjoy making little cutesy things and making things for my nieces and such...so nothing too amazing...just some ideas/projects from gifts I have made people and such...and I have always gotten the token...."hey, you should make this stuff and sell it"...OK, fair enough...I will and see how it goes...so I will post that link later and you can check it out for yourself and see what  you think...I dono...its just something I am having fun with...I may add a section of actual work I want to sell..I mean work that I take serious as my own, but for now...its all in the name of creating for creating sake....and simply enjoying it...

Final mini painting/drawing below....

Keeping busy....REALLY busy!

So I have actually been busy as of late working on things....also setting up my Etsy shop. Oh yes, believe it or not...an Etsy shop. Over a year ago I started on small craft like projects to get me motivated to do art once again. So I sewed, painted and crafted my way to getting to the meat of doing real work again....so I have bins of things I have made, from plush toys, jewelry, masks and other things just to get my creative juices flowing. It has been a long hard process for me after my fire I lost my way in life a bit....I think when I lost all my work, equipment and everything I owned I lost a big part of how I identified myself as an artist..and something in me sort of died in that fire. Yet in a good way too, a lot of baggage was left behind with that fire, and it also gave a new rebirth on how I see and interpret things...although its taken almost five years to get to this point, I honestly wouldn't change it for anything. I was able to shed a lot of inhibitions that prevented me from growing as a person and an artist...I have just had to find my way back to core of me that makes me a creative person. The part of me that has been there all along, since I was a young child drawing at a very young age....the passion is back, and oh how I have missed it, and am so pleased to find it once again. Its like peace has been restored to my soul.

OK all that being said, I am still working on the painting with the girl and the birds...but I am really enjoying these small drawing/paintings I am doing....I have a story behind them from where I got the ideas from, but I will let that reveal itself as time goes by, so just for now, enjoy what I am starting to create as I am....

And as its finished, I promise I will take a better photo, than an instigram photo...although, I am so addicted to instigram now!!

Update on the bird girl....ok thats it for now...

Just a little something...

http://statigr.am/viewer.php#/detail/252225529081950469_181243515

So yea...its been a little bit...still working on my doll....though the heat this summer has been so oppressive and gross....getting inspired is slowing to a harder crawl than usual....trying to keep the momentum going I decided to start another painting...and since the larger ones are proving to be problematic for me...due to mostly my lack of confidence...I decided to go much MUCH smaller...and this way I can produce more work (hopefully)..and have more control over the space I am working on....trying to become inspired I always have in my head I never want to be over influenced by someone elses work it ends up in my own...so I went back to the basics and started with a photo I did in college and go from there....so far I am somewhat happy with the results....although I have always been better at doing animals than people...its proving to be a little struggle...but I am trudging through it determined to become better at this craft...again...I just started so view with gentle criticism....

Well, as you can see below I haven't been painting...I needed a break and try and work out some kinks in personal taste, technique and substance as far as what I paint and how I attack it. I decided to return to my art doll to finish it to keep the creative juices flowing and keep me on track as far as having pieces to shoot and show for my portfolio for grad school. So this is my first doll, please keep that in mind...I do need to study some techniques in fabric work, and sculpting...as well as, of course...painting...but for my first endeavor in this pursuit I am definitely more pleased with it than I am my last painting...I do think this is turning out better....although not technically adept...still a good try. I have to finish the bottom half of the piece and work out how to finish the bottom of this bust doll...the base I did buy and it is an antique base from about the turn of the century...so it has some lovely elements to it that I believe add to this work....photos of that will come as I finish this piece....

Did the last of the prep work on the next two canvases....sanded and ready to go...going to get some new work done....excited!!

My new obsession....

Starting to gesso some new canvases....getting my motivation ramped up to work on some truly personally expressive pieces that represent what I want to see in my body of work....really trying to concentrate on what I love in others works, or what excites me or moves me...and try to look internally and adapt that to my own specific individual composition and style...in my earlier work/photography from school I was really moved by portraiture of women and I found a lot of influence from death photography, I loved the textures of the material used on the garments, or lining of coffins, a lot of young women that had passed were buried in their wedding dresses which I found so morbidly beautiful....I still tend to gravitate towards the macabre and dark, but I really love it when beauty is revealed through it...so that is the direction I am headed in now....I intend to really explore deeply into that aspect of my work and try to make some pieces I can really be proud of...

I just want to finish this painting...and move on....also I refuse to make this a bash-fest on myself....just chalking this up to practice....moving on...

Moving on with this piece....I am not entirely happy with it at all really. My technique seems a bit sophomoric and unresolved....so I decided either way I am finishing it and chalking this up to practice...considering it has been over 8 years since I seriously painted...I am getting more confident with my "getting back on the bike" feeling,meaning in you never forget how...its just the ability and concrete material that one comes up with....I have herd of other artists using Photoshop to come up with layouts of ideas as opposed to drawing, and sketching which is the typical standby of formulating an idea....I know that developing my own technique and other processes that come with truly producing work that is of a serious nature...I really have to meditate on what I find fascinating or what moves me when I look at other peoples work and of the world around me...find out what creatively makes me tick on a deep level...that comes with time, and again practice I am sure...to bad I dont have to much of an academic, environment/intellectual environment to grow on like I did when I was in art school. Yet I am hoping that will change by this time next year...

So still working on the first of several portrait paintings...these will take some time...although...in person the painting looks good but on film its another thing...why is that? I dont know if I am happy with it just yet...but I will venture on in hopes that what I hope for develops as I go....the detail in the shirt will take some time and then onto the background...I at least have to block that in before I add detail to the hair...*MEH*...I am anticipating as time goes on and as I do more of these that my skills will come back and make these more into what I envision...one can hope eh? As I have said before...there is so much more that is going to go into this...so bare with me as I slowly but painstakingly add detail and time to the work...any comments and feedback would be helpful...I like some good creative criticism...it makes me work harder and meditate more on how I should proceed on this process....

Started the new work I intend to do for my portfolio....here is the beginning of the first painting...I purposely made the eyes HUGE...and there is much work to be done to this...

So....finished framed and going to deliver the first piece for the client this week. Was going to do that today, but the appointment was canceled due to her schedule....cant wait for her to see the final product. I am quite happy with my framer...very good and very fast work...nice to get a piece back and framed in less than 4 days! I did finish the second piece yesterday...I am not as happy with this piece as I am with the first..but I strictly kept to what my client wanted....just the guitar player...and then she wanted me to put my own touches on it...I wanted to add more figures from the painter she likes, Ernie Barnes but she was pretty steadfast on what she wanted..and the customer is always right eh? I hope she commissions a third piece...that would be great. She would be help paying for my oldest Pug Puka's surgery, but eh...we shall see how things work out. Maybe down the road she will order more....she will have paid almost ....well...probably not polite to mention the price...anywho...I also have been starting some more work. I have decided I will be going to apply to Grad school here locally to get my Masters in Art. I do believe I can get in, but due to the fact I dont have a proper portfolio due to my fire and losing all of my work, save for one small portfolio and that is all photography, that is work that is 15 years old, I cant simply use that work anyway. Therefore, I am on a mission to make a large body of work within the next 4-6 months so that I can submit that for my work to get into grad school. I got inspired this weekend by watching a great documentary about a lot of artists in NYC, and some of the collectors...I am trying to utilize my new found ability for drawing and add it to my painting passion. That will now be the focus of my work. I want a solid body of paintings to submit along with some of my drawings. Perhaps I shall finish the art doll I am working on and submit that as well. I am not to entirely sure. Don't know how that would add to the body of work overall, unless I did several art dolls. Or perhaps give a new dimension to my work/abilities? For now...I shall focus on the paintings and post as I work on those....as for now...here is the second commission piece I finished...I will be taking it today to get the estimate on the framing....hope you like it better than I do...

So its been a little bit...and I have been busy drawing as per usual....I have put aside my art doll and painting and focusing on some more commission work that has come in as of the last two weeks...as I have previously showed I was commissioned to do my signature line work drawing incorporating the painting figures from Ernie Barnes, a favorite cultural painter of the said client....so I finished the first piece and it took an estimated 16 hours to draw...my intricate and tedious line work adds on hours but the final result I believe was good and my client so agreed and immediately commissioned two additional pieces to go with it. With that happy addition to my work load (that pays) I have been studying more of Ernie Barnes work and came up with two more sketches for the client, and one of which has been approved and got the go ahead to begin....so with out further adieu I give you the finished piece and the now beginning of the second of three pieces....hope you like them...

New work...and a comission...

Currently working more and more on my drawings trying to have a nice rounded amount framed and done for a local showing of my own soon....so I have gotten more work done on the piece with the hanging girl and devils...I will do ink washes to finish the piece I believe...I am trying to go in new directions with my work soon and evolve through each piece....the commission piece is for a client that wanted me to use my ink line style with some figures of her favorite painter Ernie Barnes...so I am incorporating elements of the figures he stylizes so well...this is a fun commission so far considering the client had a very clear idea of what they wanted and were able to express it well to me, yet give me the leeway to creatively execute the drawing how I saw fit...so far its melding lovely...better than I had first imagined....

Hanging girl & Bat Wings....

This weekend was productive in the ink drawing area yet again....I started this print with a girl hanging from a rope and pulley being hoisted up by demons.....I came up with the sketch slowly starting with the girl hanging by her arm...then added the demons later....I think in my head its a visual metaphor to how our own demons haunt us and are constantly pulling at us, whether its our past demons, or our current ones...I struggle with both a lot in a myriad of ways....the feel is very art nouveau in feel of the old book plates and such...I am struggling with how to move on with either doing black washes or add actual color...although adding color doesn't seem appropriate? Maybe I will add minimal color in just certain spots? I dono...we shall see how it develops...

Finally Finished....

So I finally finished a drawing that I have been working at off and on for about 4-5 months....due to slowly being weaned off medication that has all but numbed my creative endeavors...I was finally able to focus this weekend and get this accomplished.....now it will be entered into a local art contest.....last year there were over 2,500 entries into this contest...I would just like to get an honorable mention if anything, that would be nice....but anywho...now that its done I have immediately started a new drawing that I have sketched out months ago...now that I have my creative juices flowing in a somewhat collective direction I am going to try and get a number of pieces drawn done and framed so that I can have a show that a local gallery has been asking me to do on and off for several years now....although I do have to get a more rounded number of pieces framed...10 would be good....12-14 would be even better though...so as I continue down that road my work is evolving somewhat quite quickly...I dont know if its my new mindset after 10 years of being mute in my creative staleness....but I am seeing that I am breaking out of a somewhat daunting and crippling fear of "not being good enough" although that may be in my own head, but critically that remains to be scene....so...with that...here are the photos of the latest "finished" piece and I will publish photos of my newest drawing as they develop....although I must say...that my painting is being severely neglected and my half finished doll torso is staring at me with contempt from my studio bookcase....I just feel the need and pull to draw for now....such is the creative process....

Blogs namesake....

For those of you that didn't know or are not aware...the namesake for this blog is of real circumstance.....my rabbit, a very large Flemish Giant Rabbit named Rupert....loves to sun/and or just sit in a particular front window in my sun-room off of the front of our house...he is always perched there if left to his own devices....I thought it a clever name for my blog, kind of like how I see myself looking out being a bit intimidated/un-trusting by people in the world at large ...I did have the photo of him sitting in said place as the background of this blog but it seemed to distracting....so here is the photo just to enjoy by itself...

...I had three projects...now...um....many..

So it has been a bit since I have been on here....I have been working on the painting...a little...and by a little I mean hardly at all....I get distracted and want to endeavor to work on other pieces...I do have two spring art shows I want to enter some drawings in...they are my ink drawings that I work on frequently between projects or as the mood strikes me...one is done and the other is on its way....I have also been working on an art doll...those of you that are not familiar with that can look it up...you will find a myriad of results and examples...I have the head shoulders and torso done for the most part...I am working on the base so that I can finish the rest, although I do have a lot of little details finished and waiting to be placed such as the wings and a scale with a heart on one side and a feather on the other..yes I am making a play on the Egyptian mythology of the afterlife and the god Anubis who was part man part jackal, but the figure itself has a harking back to the god Horus and has physical aspects of that god as it is part man and part falcon...I am playing with the ideas of ancient Egyptians being in contact with aliens, giving them god like attributes and tossing in some western aspects that harken back to angels and images of holy saints...its a play on a mixture of things as you see, and what comes out in the end is something well....different...did I mention that the figure is a woman as well? Well here are some progress photos of that piece and soon I will add the photos of the drawings I will have finished for the art shows I am entering....wish me luck..