Song of the Sea

I have a very good friend whose birthday is actually today (I should probably wait and post this tomorrow, after I've given this to her...nope, I'm not waiting!). Recently she took me to see the animated movie "Song of the Sea" - we both not only loved the beautiful visuals of the film but also the haunting Irish music. I wanted to involve the soundtrack for the movie with whatever I gave her as a gift, but online I could only find a digital download of the soundtrack for purchase. At first I was disappointed, but then I realized this was PERFECT - I would purchase the music and make my own personalized CD and CD case as her birthday present.

For the CD case I used a sheet of high quality watercolor paper which I measured, folded, and cut to size. The movie has lots of watercolor textures in it so I decided to take the ink and watercolor route with my artwork.

This photo was taken after I had started the inking process. It still needs more inking before I start painting -my friend loves dogs so although the dog isn't the star of the movie, he got a star spot on the front of this CD case!

More inking and I've started painting

More inking and more painting - plus I've unfolded the paper so you can see the start of my painting on the inside cover as well

A view of the inking and and painting on the inside cover - this is the main character who is a selkie, a little girl who turns into a seal

After I've finished inking and painting - the CD case flat and unglued

After spraying the artwork to protect it, adding a ribbon, and gluing everything flat (I got to pull out my old bookbinding tools, it was fun!) - here's the finished CD case!!

Back of finished CD case with song list

Inside CD case with CD in clear plastic pocket (which holds it in place really well)

Inside CD case with CD removed - along the rounded top of the rocks I have written some of the words from the first verse of the movie's main song

I am really happy with how the CD case turned out - I had a lot of fun painting and inking and I think the end result is beautiful and unique, which is exactly what I wanted in a gift for my friend.

~m.d.

Himmeli

Have you ever heard of himmeli? I hadn't until I happened to stumble across some on etsy. I had no idea even really what I was looking at - all I knew is they were beautiful, geometric mobiles.

(a photo of a group of himmeli from HRUSKAA on etsy)

Himmeli is actually a traditional Finnish Christmas craft - a mobile created with hay/straw threaded on strings. You build the lines of your geometric shape using lengths of straw and tension from the string to hold everything taut. Modern himmeli are created substituting plastic drinking straws for the hay. The word "himmeli" comes from the Swedish word "himmel" meaning sky or heaven.

Visually the effect of the clean, minimal aesthetic is very appealing to me. However, the price tag for the himmeli I saw on etsy were NOT so appealing (haha!). So I googled a tutorial and made my own attempt(s).

The tutorial I found actually suggested trying wire instead of string, so the first himmeli I constructed I used wire. I also couldn't find black drinking straws (and I wanted black), so I settled on coffee stirrers (worked just fine, btw).

For my first himmeli, I followed my tutorial to the letter creating the shape of the bottom portion (the tutorial was only for a single himmeli shape) - for the top portion I did more of a "freestyle" geometric shape that evolved as I built it.

(an in-progress shot of me building my himmeli on my bedroom floor)

The result was BIG - and a bit busier than what I wanted. However, it was an experiment and I was just happy that it all came together:

I ended up hanging this creation in my little brother's room - sometimes I make things and randomly hang them from his ceiling. No, really I do. So when he found this was in his room, he had a minimal reaction to it (the life of having an artist as a sister, right?).

Before starting on my next attempt, I took a minute and visualized what I wanted my end result to look like. I knew I didn't want anything too elaborate or complex, since my wall space is pretty busy (in fact that blank white wall that is setting off the himmeli in these pictures usually has a giant oil painting on it)  - something simple and dramatic, with a touch of minimalistic whimsy. I knew I had seem diamond shapes and decided to include one of those in my design (wasn't hard to figure out how to make that shape from the shape I had the tutorial for). Also, knowing that string and not wire is the more traditional way to build a himmeli (and feeling that using string would eliminate the complaints I had about the process when I was using wire), I decided to use string for my next design.

The result was two (much) smaller mobiles I hung next to each other:

I was VERY happy with my end result. I felt it's perfect for the space, and it's so cool to look at. Plus, it was 3am by the time I finished these, so I was too tired to really be anything but satisfied with the night's work and ready to sleep!

I plan to hold on to my tutorial and extra supplies - when I have more space to call my own, I think I could happily share it with a few more himmeli ;-)

~md

Plans.

I prefer to do posts where I can share some sort of visual. After all, this is an art blog - so it feels strange to just type with no image to lead the words. Even when what I want to type about are my plans for future art -  for images that don't yet exist.

So I went digging in my bag to find something visual to share. I'm not at home, so my options are limited to what I have on hand. Luckily, I found a paper I doodled all over yesterday - I know, it's a doodle, but still. . .  it's SOMETHING:

a close-up taken from my doodling with a blue-tinted shadow - a lot of my doodling looks like this

Ahh - a visual. Muuuucccchhhhh better.

Now I've met the requirements for an artistic visual, I can switch subjects back to my originally intended one -  sharing some of my art plans.

I have a confession to make - I'm in a very frustrating stage of life right now. I feel like no matter how hard I push, I'm stuck. Everything seems frozen around me and there doesn't really seem to be a way forward.

On the flipside, I've realized that the static (yet, STABLE) state of my life means there's room for artistic growth!!

It's weird, because I'm so eager for change. I so wish things weren't as they are, and my situation was different. But maybe wishing that is wrong, because I have a unique opportunity with things as they are. I've been sketching, recording ideas, and making lists of things to do with my art. Things that if my life were different I wouldn't be able to pursue and realize.

This weekend I'm planning to start setting some of those plans in motion. My first step is selling more of my artistic creations through Etsy - and doing it more confidently. I've also been doing some painting (props for a convention) and it's made me realize how much I miss, well, painting. So after this weekend, I plan to set up in my garage (as I intended to do over a year ago) to start painting. I have sketches and ideas and I know exactly what I'm going to start working on and what direction I plan to take it in.

I also have piles of self portraits waiting to be scanned (I'm a bit behind again, it's been a busy summer as I keep saying. . . ) - it's already been 3, going on 4 months of portrait drawing! Ca-ray-za-eee.

I'll share some pictures - when those images go from planned to reality :-)

~md

365 Self Portraits (Project)

I love art. But, as with all things I enjoy, there are aspects I find myself easily excelling at - and there are aspects with which I struggle.

And I struggle with self portraits. To be frank, I'm really quite terrible at them.

"People say, and I am willing to believe it, that it is hard to know yourself. But it is not easy to paint yourself, either."
-Vincent Van Gogh

To my credit, a  self portrait is considered one of the more challenging things an artist (even photographers!) can undertake. To truly be a good artist you must learn to let the object teach you the context in which it should be captured. You must learn not to cast context out around you that will skew what you see (as a painter or drawer, if you wish your work to be objective and true to life). I do my best to be an observer, nothing more - and usually I am able to strip away the layers of what I see down to the visual core.

But I can't seem to see myself clearly.

Throughout history, the majority of artists who have created self portraits have relied on a mirror as a reference - sketching form from their inconsitent (but engaged) reflection. This adds an additional layer of difficulty to the challenge of accuracy. It can be hard enough to get a model to sit still when that's all they are focusing on, try getting a model to sit still who is also the artist!

I recently read Jane Eyre and was reminded of my inability at self portraitature. The main character, Jane, was able to artistically replicate her features easily using a mirror (as she was doing so to exhibit her plainness, perhaps she also wasn't unbiased enough to have created anything exact - but that's besides the point). Many artists I admire have also created self-portraits using the mirror method - Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, Albrecht Durer, not to mention all of the classical masters.

So I decided it was time for me to stop shying away from this area of my art that could obviously be strengthened. Acknowledging repeition as the best teacher, I decided to undertake a unique project guaranteed to help me improve.

I have committed to draw a self portrait of myself from a mirror every day for a year.



These self portraits will be small - a little larger than a regular square sticky note (in fact, some may be on sticky notes - I'm not so prepared that I won't have to improvise at times for materials). They will be rough sketches, each one only requiring about 15 minutes to complete. Most of them will probably be ugly, since I'm really not skilled at rendering my own likeness. At all. But when all is said and done, I will have a very interesting series of autobiographical images.

"I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you."
-Frida Kahlo

Although I cringe to do so, I will scan and share each set of 7 (each week's worth) self portraits. Hopefully within a couple of months we'll see some improvement.

~md

PROJECT ARCHIVES:

WEEK ONE - start date 5/17/13
WEEK TWO
WEEK THREE
WEEK FOUR
WEEK FIVE
WEEK SIX
WEEK SEVEN
WEEK EIGHT
WEEK NINE
WEEK TEN
WEEK ELEVEN
WEEK TWELVE
WEEK THIRTEEN
WEEK FOURTEEN
WEEK FIFTEEN
WEEK SIXTEEN
WEEK SEVENTEEN
WEEK EIGHTEEN
WEEK NINETEEN
WEEK TWENTY
WEEK TWENTY-ONE
WEEK TWENTY-TWO
WEEK TWENTY-THREE
WEEK TWENTY-FOUR
WEEK TWENTY-FIVE
WEEK TWENTY-SIX - halfway!
WEEK TWENTY-SEVEN
WEEK TWENTY-EIGHT
WEEK TWENTY-NINE
WEEK THIRTY
WEEK THIRTY-ONE
WEEK THIRTY-TWO
WEEK THIRTY-THREE
WEEK THIRTY-FOUR
WEEK THIRTY-FIVE
WEEK THIRTY-SIX
WEEK THIRTY-SEVEN
WEEK THIRTY-EIGHT
WEEK THIRTY-NINE
WEEK FORTY
WEEK FORTY-ONE
WEEK FORTY-TWO
WEEK FORTY-THREE
WEEK FORTY-FOUR
WEEK FORTY-FIVE
WEEK FORTY-SIX
WEEK FORTY-SEVEN
WEEK FORTY-EIGHT
WEEK FORTY-NINE
WEEK FIFTY
WEEK FIFTY ONE
WEEK FIFTY TWO
MAKE UP DRAWINGS (to reach 365 count) - end date

So much, so little!

Oh I remember the time that I stretched to put something in this blog. When I would dig around to find some kind of art of mine to post. In fact, I created this blog because I thought it'd encourage me to be creative. To have something to show for my love of creating art (and share it with the wwwoooorrrrrllllddd!!!).

But that time has come and gone my friends. And now, I live in a world of artistic INSANITY.

Let me tell you a little story. It begins with my decision to try to sell some of my anime fanart at an anime convention being held next year (Sakura Con) in Seattle.

I've never done anything like that before. I've been doing anime fanart stuff as mindless fun for years and years, and my supportive friends (those special few who I've shared my secret stash of fanart goodness with) have insisted that my work would sell. So when my sister decided to buy booth space and sell some of the earrings that she makes at the convention, I gave it some thought and decided to go in halfsies and sell my artwork alongside her (they allow up to two artists per booth).

(a piece I did inspired by the anime Vampire Knight)

After all, it'd just be fun to say I did it. I don't know if I'll sell anything, but it's one of those things I know I'll look back on later in life and giggle that I did.

I like doing things like that ♥

Well with the date I'd have to have my art ready to sell safely set FAR in the future, I knew I didn't have to worry about starting any art projects soon to prepare. Although I knew I was going to need to do some preparing eventually - all my existing fanart was pretty old (and my skillz are even more awesum now!!). Also, I wanted to expand my work to cover some new anime series (more chances of appealing to potential customers).

I had work to do, but it could wait.

Until of course my sister found a smaller, cheaper anime convention in October (Aki Con) that she decided it'd be a good idea we attend as well - sort of a test to see if we wanted to do SakuraCon in the future. . .

So much for leisurely deadlines.

Since I made the decision to do this, my time has been devoured by art projects (such as the two pieces I have posted with this entry). It's wonderful though. My creative juices are constantly flowing, and I've done more drawing in the last month than I've done in the last year.

I'm also working on a non-drawing art project to sell at the convention as well, but I'll reveal more in a bit after I get some photos taken.

 

(Part of a two-part poster set I designed. I even did the calligraphy myself - forgive me all you beautiful calligraphy artists. . . )

I've been having a blast, but with the art eating up my time I haven't really had a chance to do much else! And with my creativity turned on the CRAAZZYYY setting, I find my artsy to-do list expanding far beyond fanart. . .

There are things I want to knit for Fall!

There are old clothes I want to modify/update and wear!

I have clients who want me to do some photography for them!

OH. THE. MADNESS.

I'm glad things are different now, though. Crazy busy as they are, it's wonderful. I feel so very alive when I am full of ideas :-)

~md

Vampire Knight & Inuyasha © Viz Media