"Ian McShane as Blackbeard!" a sketch.

I suddenly had the urge to draw again late, the other night. I seem to always to my best just before I go to sleep. 

 And for the Harry Potter Fans!

Art as a Hobby

I am super passionate about anything Art-related. There is just something about mimicking shapes and colors into any creative medium that just gets me going! I love the time that I spend painting and drawing and I love even more the feeling that comes when I am finished! It's always been fun for me so I have a lot to show for it.

Also being a movie fanatic, I took to drawing famous actors and actresses for a while. I still draw them occasionally.

Catherine Zeta Jones

Emmy Rossum

Sean Connery (Computer Edited)

Jude Law

A still from the film "The Count of Monte Cristo" (Acryllic)

Emmy Rossum (Computer Edited)

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine from "X-men"

Penelope Cruz (Computer Edited)

In-School Class Projects...

This one was in college, I was assigned to create a painting in the style of an assigned artist. I was assigned Salvador Dali, and compiled a bunch of his paintings into one, and thought it would be funny to include him in it. It was also part of the assignment to include (hidden in the painting) a cat or a cow. hint: the cat is behind his head, in the clouds! 

This was before that, back in high school. I took a painting class, and half way through the year there was a fund raiser. (I don't remember what the money went to. lol) I was assigned to paint a famous artist's masterpiece into a bowl. I was told that once it was fired and put in the auction, that mine was one of the first to be sold. :) I felt my head grow another millimeter in width that day. 

A couple of portraits I made for my good friend, Jenni. I loved drawing these for her.

 Inspired by Henna tattoos and whatever muse was following me around that day! 

Although the Vegas weather seemed pretty extreme this day, I'll say the sunburn was worth it. There is nothing like having your own square in an art festival and tons of spectators walking by, complimenting your work. It was also great connecting with the other artists and seeing all the great talent around the fair.

And the strawberry was a much cleaner representation from the movie "Across the Universe". Such a mind trip, that film, but it did inspire me to paint. Looks good enough to eat! lol.

I made this painting in acrylics for Mother's Day. Roses are incredibly easy btw.

Window Artist for Hire! :D

Since Girl's camp (explained in my previous post), I have been itching for more projects! I have had suggestions of what to do next, and I have really taken to the idea of painting windows on holidays.. or just any day for that matter. It sounds like a lot of fun to me, and I cannot wait to start! Only problem is.. who do I ask? How do I get myself noticed?

If anyone is interested, for a while I would love to try it out at no charge.. I just may need help buying new supplies (which are really cheap). I have been practicing on some sheets of glass that my mother-in-law has given me. So far I have found that my acrylic craft paints come off easily with a little Windex and water. I have done two fabulous paintings which have left my glass sheets unharmed, and like-new!

 This was my first piece. 

As you can see, I have painted it like I would from the outside of the window.  I probably spent half an hour - 45 minutes on this one.

And with my Windex and some paper towels, it came clean off! 

Following the first I did a second as if I were painting the inside of the window.

I realized that I had to first paint in black for the foreground and then I would later paint my background. I will admit that doing it this way was a challenge in the sense that everything needed to be done backwards (especially with the words. lol.). I am however very pleased with the results. :)

Here shows what it looked like once I painted the back. To get an idea of the size and lighting, I had my husband hold it up to the light for me while I snapped a picture. He was very pleased to help me.  

Dr. Seuss for Faces!

As a church volunteer project, I offered to create a face-in-hole board for the youth's summer Girl's Camp. Once I had finished painting it, the faces were cut out and it spent 4 days at a camp near Zion's National Park. I don't have many photographs of it once it left my house, but I have been informed that the whole time it was there, young girls were taking pictures with it. I do however have one photograph of all the women who volunteered to cook...

The supplies that were given to me were an 8' x 4' piece of wood, permanent wall paint (white), and tempera paints. For a volunteer project, I can understand why these would have been chosen. The wood they chose is very easily attainable and cheap. Also, the paints for this were not purchased, but donated. 

Had I gone out and purchased these items myself, I would have personally chosen different materials. For example, the wood was rather light and thin, however it would splinter and some spots that I had painted would fall off. If I were to do this again, I would get a smooth plywood with smaller grains. it would have cut a little nicer as well. 

As for paints, tempera is a very common type and again, very cheap. I found that as I painted some of the characters however, my lines would show through, and you could see my grid underneath. Once I started using my acrylic craft paints, the paint was thickened and covered everything nicely. Now I put emphasis on them being "craft" paint, because that could easily be confused with an artists acrylic paint, which is much more expensive and you need more of it to fill the space. Most craft paints can be purchased at 1 to 2 dollars a bottle. 

And a few more photos...