#Also-the oil pastels I used are the ones I had when I was in elementary

[paralysleeps]

Screw you *Yassified your snake eyes with oil pastels*

vv Extra art content vv

Process:

Close-ups:

Random doodles:

[stevethefishdotnet]

Argo Nauts 1:72 Y-Wing sofubi build update August 7th, 2024

I had posted a scan of this kit's box a few months ago. This is a sofubi (soft vinyl) kit with some brass, pewter, and resin pieces. The main body is vinyl, the disk ventrals at the tail ends of the nacelles are resin, the nacelle beams are brass, and the guns and landing gears are pewter (I think).

This picture above is a quick dry fit of what it looks like so far. I didn't tape the pieces together or anything, but just quickly assembled it for this picture. I later realized that I had hastily attached the nacelles upside-down. I just threw this quickly together to take a photo.

The kit does not come with any decals, so I gave it my own, unique paint scheme. This is a Blue Squadron Y-Wing and I am happy with the stripes I fashioned on my own with masking tape. I painted the vinyl parts with V-Color paints, which are made specifically for painting sofubi kits and toys. This paint is great because when applied properly to vinyl, you cannot scratch it off. It's extremely durable and flexible paint.

I first mixed Light Gray in with Black to make my own German Gray color which I used as an undercoat. I splotched Mr. Masking Neo in areas with a sponge for paint chipping, then went over it with Light Gray. I used Blue and Pastel Blue for the trim, and Orange Yellow to have one panel be a replacement. For the non-sofubi parts, I used Mr. Color 325 (JASDF Gray, IIRC) which is a good match for the V-Color Light Gray. The engine cans were painted a mixture of V-Color Gloss Black and Silver, resulting in a nice gunmetal color.

I later decided to not go with the pastel blue trim for the nacelle tips and re-masked and re-painted them with the matching medium blue I'd used on the cockpit fuselage, which you can see in the photo below. It was a bit tricky, but I also added a small ring of Flesh 1 color on the sensor domes. V-Color has its own clear Smoke color. I made sure to use the Smoke to stain the area around the proton torpedo launchers on the underside. After applying that and a clear gloss top coat, I applied a wash. You cannot use enamel paints on vinyl since they do not react well to each other. Instead I used some Turner Acryl Goache paints, some black with a bit of gray mixed in. Turner paints can be found at any stationery store here in Japan and elementary students use these paints for their classroom art projects. (The jibungous Tsutaya mega bookstore in Maebashi has a great hobby section that has a wide selection of these paints as well as artist oils, pastel chalks, and plenty of other hobby supplies.) I thinned it with Mr. Hobby's Weathering Paint Goache Solvent. (I don't know what "goache" means because I forget... Go look it up if you care.) This is made for making a wash out of acrylic paints. Simple water or acrylic thinner can cause the paint to dry in splotches, but this solvent is made to help the paint run into contours and stay still instead of spreading into splotches.

There is no flat clear V-Color paint, so I had to create my own with Clear and Flat Base and tested it out on some spare vinyl until it looked right. I think maybe it might be a bit too flat, but I'm alright. After this flat coat, the blue looks considerably subdued and blends in better with the light gray.

The photo above is just another sloppy dry fit. Thus, it doesn't look straight. So far I have only glued the nose cannons to the cockpit pod, the sensor array domes to the nacelle tips, the engine cans and the exhaust shrouds that cover them to the engine pods, and I have glued the disk vectrals to the support pylons at the ends of the nacelles. I have yet to secure these beams to the engine pods, which are also not glued to the engine pylons. Nor have I glued the fuselage, cockpit, canopy, and such.

To quote Han Solo, "Here's where the fun begins." While this kit provides brass rods for the support pylons, you have to provide your own wires for the piping and bend them all into shape. If I don't get this part right, the model won't look good. So, I am a bit nervous. I am using Wave's C-Line brass rods. Since I have seen some Y-Wing builds in which the pipes were painted a metallic color, I think I might just leave mine unpainted. A viewer on YouTube suggested to me to paint the wires a metallic color for scale, but I think it looks fine as it is. What do you think? They look a bit too shiny since the fluorescent light is shining directly onto them in this picture. I will apply a wash on the brass rods and I was thinking that I will hand-brush Mr. Metal Primer since it is clear and the enamel or whatever should stick to it better after that. Maybe I'll use that Games Workshop Nuln Oil as a wash over the pipes. The pipes should add the bonus value of acting like pins to keep the pieces together. 

So far, my only complaint is the cockpit canopy. It was difficult to cut out the windows and I think it really should have been molded in resin. The Astromech was painted V-Color Gloss Black and masked off. I will paint its trim with Mr. Hobby Aqueous Gloss White. I also need to paint the cockpit instrumentation with various colors too.

I'm really enjoying this build and as a result I'm getting back into the three Nadia sofubi kits by Tsukuda that have been languishing for years as shelf queens. I've made good progress with those and I will post an update on those soon. I've also begun working on a Deedlit sofubi kit by Kaiyodo.

[digiblueslush]

Hi yall here’s some more art lolz (not me forgetting that my name is Rory’s ART and stuff… and then only posting “stuff” lmao)

This is another one I did with crayons, I went to the aquarium (that I used to volunteer at) with a friend, and if you didn’t know STINGRAYS ARE MY LIFE so I was just inspired by that, I used to draw stingrays all the time and it had been a while. I tried experimenting more with the textures in the background and I really like I it turned out :3

And I did these ones yesterday! These are with oil pastels and they get a backstory yippee! So a while ago I was in this online IOP program (I left it after 2 weeks cuz it was awful and did nothing for me) and they have a 3 month and a 6 month discharge survey, so after 3 months I did the survey because it said if you did it you got a $10 gift card, and then I didn’t get a gift card -___- so when they sent me the 6 month one I was like well if I don’t get a gift card I don’t wanna do it lolz, but then they sent it again so I was like ok fine I don’t have anything better to do anyways and then I got the gift card! Apparently the gift card was for both surveys, not just the one. And since I had been messing around with crayons, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to look at oil pastels, and the ones we used in elementary school were only 6 dollars so I got them!! Very long way to say I have oil pastels but whatever.

These were both me just messing around re-learning the medium. The rat is based off of someone else’s art I saw on Pinterest (I wish I could credit but there wasn’t anybody credited on the picture T^T, if it was you THANK YOU FOR THE INSPO) and then the portrait is based off of a photo of a person. I initially didn’t like how it turned out since it didn’t look like the photo/realistic, but looking at it now I think the less realistic version I made looks cool, especially with the color scheme it’s got going on

I also started on a digital on that one “I’m not calling you good boy *insert name* this meeting was SHIT” with my OC’s Royal and Karla, but after I spent like 30 mins trying to get Karla’s side profile right I just gave up. I’d really like to get it done sometime cuz it’s SO funny but Im really unmotivated to do digital stuff for some reason. I think it’s just I have a more perfectionist mind when it comes to digital and it’s just not as fun sensory wise.

New art supplies always make me more motivated to ✨do the art stuff✨, so hopefully I’ll be more active in that sense, especially since I’m back to not being able to walk properly. Toodles :3

[lovemesomesurveys]

So the 90's were a crazy time for us growing up! Lets start with Music.. Were You A Fan Of? The Backstreet Boys The Spice Girls STEPS No Doubt N*Sync Oasis Weezer The Vengaboys TLC Destiny's Child Hanson FIVE Madonna B*Witched S Club 7 M2M 98 Degrees Ricky Martin Sonique Sugar Ray Billie Piper Vitamin C Play

What about 90's Movies.. Were you a Fan of...

Clueless Jurassic Park Pulp Fiction Titanic Home Alone The Lion King Pretty Woman 10 Things I Hate About You Empire Records Space Jam Dumb and Dumber Aladdin Wayne's World Ace Ventura American Pie Hocus Pocus Matilda She's All That Bring It On The Craft Cruel Intentions Never Been Kissed Jawbreaker Spice World Can'y Hardly Wait I Know What You Did Last Summer Romy and Michele's High School Reunion Drive Me Crazy

90's TOYS, Did you have or want these?

YoYo Play-Doh Super Soaker Betty Spaghetty Gameboy Colour Tamogotchi Bop It Furby Moon Shoes Hit Clips Mouse Trap Koosh Balls Sky Dancers Slammer Whammers Spice Girls Dolls Slime Etch a Sketch Easy Bake Oven Pokemon Trading Card Game Littlest Pet Shop Street Sharks Mighty Max Sylvian Families Beanie Babies Silly Putty Brain Warp Atari Jaguar Groovy Girls Nintendo 64 Magic Mitt Slinkies Polly Pocket Poo-Chi Rainbow Brite GakSplat Doodle Bear Skip It Trolls

How About 90's Fashion.. What did you think of...

Crop Tops I was just a kid in the 90s, that wasn’t my style. I also remember thinking I didn’t want to show my stomach. Studded Belts I had one in the 2000s. Scrunchies Loved ‘em. Still do. Butterfly Clips Loved those as well and still do. Chokers I don’t like things around my neck like that. Plaid, Pleated Mini Skirts Not my style, personally, but I liked some of the looks. Slip Dresses I didn’t wear stuff like that. Long, Leather Jacket Blazers Didn’t wear ‘em, but they’re cool. You look badass in a leather jacket haha. Chain Belts Not my thing. Boob Tubes Is that the same as a tube top? Not a fan. Hip Hugger Jeans Again, I didn’t wear that stuff as a kid but that was the popular style and I probably liked it when seeing celebrities wear them and whatnot. Camo Pants Nah. Mood Rings Those were cool. Scarf Tops Definitely not my style. Bandanas I didn’t wear them. Crushed Velvet Nah. Platform Sneakers I thought they were kinda cool. Spaghetti Straps Cute. Corsets Not my thing. Pedal Pushers I wore ‘em. Were you a fan of these 90's Television Shows Spongebob Square Pants Animaniacs Dexters Laboratory Hey Arnold Power Puff Girls Barbie Rocko's Modern Life Batman Ren and Stimpy Ed, Edd and Eddy Johnny Bravo Sesame Street Arthur Ducktales Doug Catdog Angry Beavers As Told By Ginger Tiny Toon Adventures Looney Tunes Aaahhh! Real Monsters Talespin Daria Beavis and Butthead The Wild Thornberrys King Of The Hill Futurama Digimon Pokemon Captain Planet The Simpsons Cow and Chicken Blinky Bill Rugrats Sylvester and Tweety Sonic The Hedgehog Dragontales Clifford The Dog Random 90's things. Thoughts on... Checkered Kitchenware Nostalgic Every restaurant had that it seemed. Cartoon Character Coffee Mugs and Cookie Jars Cute, I like stuff like that. Celestial Prints around the house Nah. Lava Lamps I had one; I thought they were cool. Candle Holders I don’t really have any thoughts on that. Coca Cola Tins Or that. Blonde Wood Furniture I don’t know what that is. Tape Decks Discmans to play music It was the cool thing at the time. Oversized Headphones They hurt my ears. Cd's (Singles) I loved CDs back in the day. Pastel coloured plates Cute. A fancy dish for the butter Nice. A Miracle Mop Elizabeth Taylors 'White Diamonds' in your mothers room I don’t think she wore that. Picture frames that were also photo albums Cool. a fancy decorative plate that sat in the kitchen and no one was to use it We didn’t have one. topiaries It’s pretty cool what you can make out of shrubs and trees. a basket for the mail Useful? crazy patterned bed sheets Fun. an ab isolater your parents kept in a spare room or the shed Didn’t have one. McDonalds collector cups and disney figurines Loved those. We still have a lot of ours. slime time on nickelodeon I always wanted to get slimed as a kid. MTV actually had music The good ol’ days. I loved watching TRL.

video hits on television Good times. bath oil beads Didn’t use ‘em. overalls and doc martens I liked overalls. super mario Loved Super Mario. Still do. bubble beeper I didn’t have one. nokia brick mobile phones Didn’t have one either. Man, we’ve come a long way with cellphones. pogos bangles I liked those. mary kate and ashley olsen I was a huge fan, I watched all their stuff and had all their movies on VHS. glow worms hair crimper machine It was cool at the time. I styled my hair for picture day in elementary school one year. hair straighteners Liked those as well. clarissa explains it all I liked it. barbie happy meal toys Those were fun to get. I was obsessed with Barbies. gel and glitter pens Loved those. animal shaped erasers Those and scented ones were fun to have. echo microphones puppy surprise (the dog toys that had puppies in its belly) I had one, such a freaky thing. Goosebumps novels I was obsessed with Goosebumps. My Little Pony Wasn’t into that. 

Baby Born Dolls I don’t think I had one. Barbie Dolls ObSESSED. I had to have everything and would play for hours and hours everyday. Crayola Mini Stampers Cool. Snake on mobile Nokias I think I might have played before. Carebears Cute, I liked Carebears. Still do. I find myself relating to Grumpy Bear nowadays, ha.

[travelingbytastebuds]

PUERTO RICO WHERE: Puerto Rican Bakery & Café (1410 Boulevard, Colonial Heights, VA 23834) and... 2018 Latin Jazz and Salsa Festival here in (@ Richmond at the Dogwood Amphitheater) I accidentally did this territory twice, but considering they need all the goodwill they can get ever since the hurricane last year, I'm okay with that. They have some really oily food though, I'm less okay with that. The first dish I tried was from the Puerto Rican Bakery and Cafe down in Colonial Heights. I was between gigs at work and had juuuuust about enough time to check this place out but I walked into this place to see there was a sign on the wall that said they ran on Puerto Rico time. Uh oh... they thankfully didn't make me wait TOO long. I got some mofongo, ginger chicken and plantain chips (ahhh... the plantains are haunting me again). The ginger chicken was delicious, the plantain chips were like yummy healthy potato chips but obviously made from plantains, but the mofongo (also made from plantains) was like this oily mush. Apparently it came from African fufu though, which I'm still pretty eager to try so there was that. It dripped oil all over me though... The second place I tried was a little Puerto Rican food booth at the Latin Jazz and Salsa Festival here in Richmond held at the Dogwood Amphitheater during the Summer. They were selling banana and yucca pasteles. Basically banana leaf wrapped pockets are typically filled with rich, savory stewed pork or chicken, or in this case banana or yucca. When I got to the front of the line though, I found out I was about 50 cents short to buy one (they only took cash, I don't carry cash, meh), but everyone was having such a good time at the festival that several people behind me wanted to pitch in (after saying "you HAVE to try these! Trust us! We'll pay for the rest!") but the guy selling them gave one to me for the $3 that I had on me. Then I had to ask if I was supposed to eat the wrapper, and everyone said no and that I shouldn't eat the banana leaf either. Much laughing at my naivety ensued. It was pretty good, but again, very oily and mushy. And then we got to listen to some mixed Latin American live music and dance some salsa. It was a really good Summer 2018 memory.

Incidentally, my best friend in elementary school who lived right next to me was Puerto Rican. Millie was my first realization that other people came from other places (I lived such a sheltered life as a 8 year old...). I remember many times when my father had to come up with compromises with the neighbors he would ask me to ask Millie to ask her father (who only spoke Spanish) if such-and-such idea was okay for the shared property line. I felt like such an ambassador/translator back then. Then Millie moved away when I was in middle school and we lost track of each other... meh.

[art-thropologist]

Portfolio of Recovery Part 3

If you’ve been following my entries, you’ll know that I recently had to go through some medical treatment. I am at a point now where I am willing to share some of the products of the art therapy that went along with that process. With each piece I’ll explain the prompt or the intention behind it and how I interpret the visual cues.

Please note that I will be talking about eating disorder behaviors, body image, and trauma. I use vague terms, but if these are triggering topics, then do not read. If you are in need of help with an ED, NEDA can get you support.

“Living Room Table” (2020). Poster-board, string, sequins, ripped magazine, yarn, tissue paper, glue, and oil pastel. Prompted.

“What is creativity?”

I usually take a while to wrap my head around prompts. But this one I went ‘I got this’ with zero hesitation. At the house I grew up in we had a low wood table in the living room. It was where we had to do any and all crafts in the house because that was a way to contain the chaos that was my sister and I. We left our marks on that table: glitter, yarn, burn marks. This is that table. This is where creativity happened.

“Untitled” (2020). Ripped magazine, glue, on canvas board. Prompted.

“Make a rip collage.”

I decided to try a different type of collage by weaving the pieces together. I think it worked.

“Shell study” (2019). Watercolor and crayon on paper. Prompted.

“Choose an object from the basket and create something from being mindful of your interaction with it.”

I chose a shell and spent 40 minutes trying to recreate the coloring on the inner lip.

“Strong Enough” (2019). Colored pencil on paper. Unprompted.

I was told by the art therapist that I should try experimenting outside of my usual style (Which you can see the first sketches of still). So I tried a more figural style. The title references the lyrics from “Eight” by Sleeping At Last; I was just a kid who grew up strong enough to pick this armor up and suddenly it fit. It resonated with me because that was what my childhood felt like. I tried to represent that with the figures surrounding the hollow form that is me in the present. Like the Timeline, the colors correspond to emotional stages. Blue is hopeful as an open sky, elementary school. Grey seeped into my chest as I start building up armor to protect myself from that hurt. Green is middle school when I started using clothing to make myself pretty. I thought that if I was pretty then the bullying and torment would stop. Given that this figure is crying, clearly that wasn’t the case. Red is anger, and I used lacrosse as a way to make myself more intimidating, tell of a target, less vulnerable. But I wasn’t confident at all, that’s why the posture is closed off, hesitant. Finally is the stage where my ED was in full control. It was the armor I was conditioned into believing would help, would make me perfect, better. But it was just protecting the trauma, not healing it.

I’m all in, arms out. I’m at your mercy now and I’m ready to begin. Show me how to lay my soul down long enough to let you IN. is another (misquoted) lyric from “Eight” and is representative of the present moment. I am deconstructing all the armors I’ve put on and get better.

“Promises” & “Reality” (2020). Oil pastel on canvas board. Prompted.

“What did your ED promise you and What did it actually give you?”

I was that girl in health class that thought ‘That would never be me’ when it came to an eating disorder. Well...I was wrong. Ana (what I call my ED) is deceptively kind. She lures you in with promises of control and exceptionalism. ‘If you can control your hunger then you are better than other people’ and other promises just like it. I thought if I was thinner that I would be prettier and it would be easier to like myself. Ana promised a brighter future, she promised fulfillment.

Ana lies. I became a ghost of myself. Frail. Weak. Breaking down. The white figure is my own body collapsing; arms thrown forward in submission, hair covering my face. I had nothing more to give other than tears and sadness. i was still alone. I was still hurting. On top of the emotional distress was physical distress. My body was, essentially, eating itself to survive. I had headaches that lasted for days, dizzy spells that left me on the floor (see the radiating red halo), a body that had one foot in the grave (which I represent with the brown-black background). 

“Shattered Glass” (2020). Tissue paper, oil pastel, and pencil on paper. Unprompted.

I often feel like I’m nothing but pieces of jagged glass. Broken. Sharp edges. There is still color and beauty in that. It’s how we make stained glass and mosaics after all. But I also carry a lot of hurt and trauma to get that way. I went with the obvious Atlas metaphor. Braids being pulled. Tears. People constantly watching. People constantly leaving, again and again. Being shunned for things out of my control. Struggles with faith. Bearing the name ‘Bitter Little Bird’. I’m learning how to lay those burdens to rest. It is a process.

“Outline Self Portrait” (2020). Colored pencil on paper. Prompted.

We were given the outline of a person and told to fill it in how we wanted about body image.

The colors are familiar by now. Purple for justice and hope. Orange for creativity. Red for anger. Blue and Green for growth. My head is always a mess of all these feelings, that’s why it looks like that. the stronger lines indicate where I feel the emotions. It’s usually a tightness or an ache.

I remember being that kid - who was small. Who wanted to run before I could crawl. That changed with the start of an education in Shame. It started with my name. I was always caught between being seen and hiding Away. Maybe it was just easier to be nothing than to be something wrong. I was just a kid who had to wear this Armor too long. So I kept these shattered pieces inside a thick skin. It can tear me up inside but, no, I wont let you In. I’ll keep these bits of broken Hopes Inside of this chaotic body. I’ll rage inside my Skull if this is the way to cope. I sill sing the songs when I am ready to be. And shine myself not for you to see. This Lux Aurora in lead lines.

“Untitled 1″ (2020). Colored pencil and pencil on paper. Unprompted.

I tried to reduce myself down to schematic pieces. Red lines to convey gestural forms, blue ribs. This was me when Ana was in control. I was blind. I was hollow. I was barely able to feel my heart beat. Most of all, I was exposed.

I added the lyrics of Words Fail from Dear Evan Hansen because they felt like they fit. “'Cause if I just believe/ Then I don't have to see what's really there/ Yes, I'd rather pretend I'm something better than these broken parts/ Pretend I'm something other than this mess that I am/ Because then no one gets to look at it/ And I don't have to look at it”

“Untitled 2″ (2020). Colored pencil and pencil on paper. Unprompted.

The pieces are a diptych. This side is recovery. The stance is open, embracing. But the back is turned; rejecting Ana. I used the same colors but attributed them to new facets. Instead of being blind I am now covered. My hair is growing again. The fundamental building blocks are still there, but I am no longer standing rigidly. I wanted to mirror Rebecca Belmore’s sister.

The poem “Ascending” is my own creation. “With arms outstretched/ Wide like wings, like a martyr/ I will fly beyond the confines of/ my Nature./ I can touch eternity with my fingertips”

Part 4 coming soon

[mysticsparklewings]

Powder Glass‪

Hu boy it's been busy around here lately, trying to get everything done by this or that deadline :P Even so, some of you may remember the Status Update I posted at the end of January showing off my prize pack from the Sketchiest Sketchbook contest I entered last year. It took a little bit, but I finally got around to playing with the Powder Pack and bio-degradable glitter, and this was pretty fun.   The main focus was, of course, the powders: Pinkest Pink, Loveliest Blue, Greenest Green, and Yellowest Yellow. Which are more or less CultureHustle's claim to fame. Per the (very simple) instructions on the packaging, you can mix the powers with your choice of water, an acrylic base, or linseed oil depending on if you want to use them as watercolors, acrylic paints, or oil paints. (I'm also assuming for watercolors that if you wanted to you could also mix them with some gum arabic, glycerin or honey, and add a white base/pigment if you wanted to try making gouache.) I've actually been wanting to make my own paint in some capacity for a while, but the steps involved in making proper watercolor paints (requiring mixing up bases and milling on a glass surface, among other things) is a little too intimidating and expensive to start for me, so being able to just mix some powder with water sounded like a much more convenient way to get a similar experience. And it was actually as simple as it sounds. I just scooped out a little of each powder onto a palette, added a few drops of water, then mixed the two using a brush. Once I had the four pure colors mixed up, I got a little wild and decided to use a little of the pink and yellow powder to mix up an orange, and a little of the pink and blue to mix up a purple. Then, of course, I swatched each of them out to see what they actually look like on paper. For the most part, they live up to their titles. The main thing of note is that a large part of their titles come from them being bright, neon/fluorescent colors. Likewise, they will never scan or photograph as quite the same colors that you see in person. Technology just hasn't managed to make screens that can display those colors properly yet. But let me assure you that, in-person, the yellow, orange, and pink are so intense they almost hurt to look at.   The green isn't as intense, but there's a chance I got a little more water in it than the others and that's part of why. The blue is nice, but it doesn't have the same wow-factor as the others. And, if I'm being totally honest, it's not really what I picture when I think of the "loveliest blue." I think of more of a deep, saturated sapphire color. This is more of a cyan or electric blue. I do have to say I absolutely love the purple the blue and the pink make together, though. It's a pretty unique shade that you don't really see in watercolors (and to a certain extent, art supplies as a whole) very often. And honestly, I'm kinda surprised that CultureHustle doesn't sell a pre-mixed purple powder for it. Unless I just missed a special edition one at some point. (I know they did a special edition orange one for Halloween, hence why I'm not saying the same thing about the orange.) They also make really, really pretty pastels when you water them down. They have almost a glowing quality to them, especially the yellow. And I did specifically use some neon/fluorescent watercolors I have on hand in my Master's Touch set, just to compare and make sure they were indeed unique and you can't get identical results from just any neon paints. To be fair, the results were similar, but these powder paints do have just a little bit more brightness and intensity to them. They're just more vibrant, somehow. That said, I don't think it's enough of a difference to be massively disappointed if you can't get your hands on the powders. At least as far as watercolors go. I don't have specific plans for more testing just yet, but I would like to play with these some more and see what else they can be used for or might be capable of. But as for this artwork, once I was done with my swatching and a couple blending tests, I went to work on a sketch so I could just play with the colorings and blending. This ended up being, as you can see, an hourglass. It's fairly simple and I thought it would be fairly nice to just kind of let the paints flow to color the sand inside. And it also kind works out since the paints are originally in the form of a powder, similar to sand. (Hence where the lame title came from ) Once that was done, I inked the sketch with my navy Gelly Roll, since they're waterproof and I was hoping for a blue-purple look, similar to a blacklight. I knew I had a Mermaid Marker that was the exact color I wanted, but I couldn't use it for the lines because 1. The ink is basically watercolor and would definitely not stay in place if I got close to my lines and 2. They bristle brush tips. I have a hard time doing clean/consistent lines with a fiber brush nib as it is, forget an actual brush. So I did the initial lines with the gel pen and then after I had the sand painted and dried, I filled in the hourglass rims to my liking, using a paintbrush and water to blend it out to look shaded, and then went back in with a fountain pen I put some of the mermaid marker ink into to thicker the lines in certain places. Then topped it off with some white gel pen for shine. For the powder paints, I did do a couple of test runs on a couple of copies of the lines I made while trying to make sure my inking muscles were warmed up before diving right into the final version. (A habit I'm trying to get myself more in to instead of just diving right in and then getting frustrated when I can't seem to ink anything to save my life.) So when I moved on to the final I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted certain colors to be and I could focus more on just getting them down and letting them flow and blend nicely. I also added in a couple of butterflies for ambiance and treated them the same way I did the hourglass Then I went in with the glitter, which I had somehow forgotten about until I was finishing up the hourglass. Since it is little tiny silver star shapes, I didn't want to treat it like normal glitter or my memories of how we did glitter in elementary school: Put glue down, dump glitter on glue, shake off excess. I carefully would pull out a few pieces of glitter at a time, let them fall somewhere inside the hourglass shape, and then once I had what seemed like enough glitter placed how I wanted it, I very carefully picked up each piece and dabbed the teeniest, tiniest bit of glue on the back of each and then placed them back down roughly where I had picked them up from. It was not a fast process, but it worked. Then, just to top it all off because I couldn't resist, I added a touch of blue pastel around the hourglass. Oh, and it really doesn't show up on the scan at all, but there is some white shine on the hourglass that was done with a white gel pen. It shows up more in-person since the watercolor paper is off-white. It's not the most elaborate or detailed artwork I've ever done, but I genuinely had fun with it and I do think it made for a fun experiment for the paints. And that's all I really wanted anyway. On to the next project! :D ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

[essentiallychaotic]

I was tagged by @inktaire ^-^ thank you for the tag and soz for the veeery delayed response, I save them to do later and then forget 😂

1. Do you make your Bed?

I do some days, in winter I have enough blankets they kind of hold their shape so I just kick em back into place before getting out of bed tbh 😂

2. What’s your favourite number?

5, bc it’s my birthday and kids in elementary school told me I had to have a fave number when I said I didn’t have one

3. What’s your job?

Currently attempting to find one in my small town, bc I’m underqualified for everything that would make driving an hour into the nearest city worth it

4. If you could, would you go back to school?

Nope. I have my masters, I’m done. Academics in my field don’t like the questions I ask and I’m just not willing to spend my life struggling to be heard

5. Can you parallel park?

I can! My mom used to be a nanny in DC so she can parallel park like a FIEND and I learned from her ^-^

6. A job you had which would surprise people?

Ummm, maybe building trails? I was a trail crew worker for like 3 summers. Also I had a job fixing wellhouse foundations in the oil fields up here.

7. Do you think aliens are real?

Oh hella

8. Can you drive a manual car?

Nope! We didn’t have one when I was learning to drive initially and I haven’t learned how since ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

9. What’s your guilty pleasure?

Tbh I don’t really believe in guilty pleasure as a concept??? I just enjoy things I enjoy. Things that I get that feel indulgent tho are huge iced lattes and boba tea ^-^

10. Tattoos?

I have like,,,, 8 rn? Three are small hand ones I did myself, one on each shoulderblade, and I have three between my two forearms. I also have a tooon more planned but that takes time and money lmaoo

11. Favourite Colour?

Green, fave shades are deep inkbottle green, and soft springy pastel greens

12. Things people do that drive you crazy?

Being dismissive and inconsiderate of others. Like it is literally so easy to just be polite and decent to others and so many people Don’t Do That, it’s frustrating.

13. Any phobias?

Spiders and sharks. Love what they do for the ecosystem, want them to stay tf away from me. (See reasons it is difficult to find mckenzi in nature or the ocean)

14. Favourite childhood sport?

Dodgeball :D I couldn’t throw for shit but I was super good at the dodging and catching bit

15. Do you talk to yourself?

Yeah, it helps me to hear myself out loud when I’m working through a problem

16. What movie do you adore?

Adore would probably be Pride and Prejudice (2005), Little Women (1994), Reality Bites and A Little Princess

They’re like, my go to everything movies. Illang is also a go to anything movie but adore sounds like the wrong word for it lmao

17. Do you like doing puzzles?

Eh. I think they’re fun to do with others but I wouldn’t pick it as an activity

18. Favourite kind of music?

Depends on my mood, I literally have music I listen to in most genres I know of. Lately it’s been a lot of kpop, halsey, and the sountrack to the untamed tho

19. Tea or coffee?

BOTH I refuse to choose, cannot choose, will not choose. A life without either is unfathomable

20. The first thing you remember you wanted to be when you grew up?

A vet, back when I was like 7-8

I’m tagging @leechaiyapornkult @skittles-pixie @butts-of-the-barricade @the-philosophical-ghost and @hosnack if you guys want to, zero pressure ^-^

[selinaartblog-blog]

Day 1: Hi, this is my first day of blogging about my studio art practice. Let me tell you about how I got this studio. My husband, Sutton and I bought a multi-family house last year in Baltimore City. We each have a studio in back of our home, inside some old horse stables. Mine has been converted into a finished room. The room has been used as a massage studio in the past. It has a skylight and three small windows.

During this year, I was not using this space as a studio. I teach art at elementary/middle schools in the city and county. One school generously let me use an unused classroom as a studio. We were using the finished room as a storage space. We have since cleared it and I have brought home all my materials. Now I am ready to start working in my own backyard. Today I sorted some IKEA wooden art storage boxes that I have had since I was a teenager. They hold my basic materials such as chalk pastels, oil pastels, coloring pencils, markers, inks, watercolors and charcoals. I got rid of anything I haven’t used in a while or doesn’t work anymore. When I was younger, I spray-painted some of the drawers with chalk paint. I re-labelled each drawer with chalk pastel today. It was really satisfying.

Speaking of storage, I have been trying to figure out how to store my oil paints so I can see everything neatly. I have done some online research and found out that it is best to store oil paints cap down to help the pigment stick to the oil. Oil paints can last for up to fifteen years, which is quite impressive! On Pinterest, I found some artists storing their oil paints with bulldog clips and nails. I have gotten started today by clipping on some bulldog clips I found during my studio clean out and finding a board to which I will nail hooks or nails to hang the oil paints from.

I also made two drawings while testing out my markers. I find that it is fun to check in with myself by doing a self-portrait. The other drawing is a mountain range that I sketched in pen and marker many months ago and revisited today. I like having a loose initial structure and then filling in based on the previous pattern.

[fanfics4all]

Let’s get more Personal!

are you under 18? Nope

do you have siblings?, if yes how many? Yep, one!

can you art? I think I can (I can post something I’ve done if you guys want to see)

can you sing? Nah

can you act? I guess so?

turn ons? Funny, Dom, Not really sure what else to say tbh lol

turn offs? People that are dicks!

top 5 favorite bands? Oof this is hard, right now I guess Set It Off, 3OH!3, Get Scared, My Chemical Romance, and Gorillaz

top five favorite singers? Sabrina Carpenter, Machine Gun Kelly, Jonathan Young, Todrick Hall, and Avril Lavigne

least favorite singers? Meghan Trainor, Sia, Taylor Swift, and Demi Lavato. Those are only a few I could think of.

fave artists? Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo Da Vinci, Tim Burton, I honestly can’t think of that many right now.  

favorite actors? Again I have a few but number one is and always will be Matthew Gray Gubler. Others are Jordan Connor, Richard Harmon, Colton Haynes, Corey Fogelmanis, Rob Raco, Skeet Ulrich, Chandler Riggs, Ross Lynch, Grant Gustin, Mark Sheppard, Cassey Cott, Tom Felton, Evan Peters, Christian Kane, and that’s all I can think of right now.

favorite actresses? Emily Bett Rickards, Ruby Rose, Vanessa Morgan, Dove Cameron, Lilli Reinhart, Kat Dennings, Madelaine Petsch, Madchen Amick,  Um I know there’s more but I can’t think of them :(

how may fandoms are you in? Oof too many probably lol

top 5 fandoms? Riverdale, The 100, Criminal Minds, Harry Potter, and Batman I guess lol

on a scale from 1 to 10, how dramatic are you? Depends on the situation but normally like a 3 probably

can you cook? Oh my god! I love cooking! So yes

a random fact about about you? Um I can sculpt and do SFX makeup!

how many places have you been? Not many, like 7 or 8 states and never out of the country

top 6 shows? The 100, Riverdale, Criminal Minds, Arrow, American Horror Story, and White Collar (I watch way more though)

fave movie franchises? Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars, Batman (Mainly 1966), Thor, Captain America, DeadPool, Um that’s all I can think of

Disney or Dreamworks? Both but mainly Disney

top 3 childhood shows? Cyberchase, Zoboomafoo, and Bear in the Big Blue House (Going really little childhood shows)

how many schools have you been to? Four so far

somewhere you want to go one day? England, France, Ireland, Russia, and Canada. Probably more but those are the main ones.

straight or nah? Nah

LGBTQ+ supporter? Well I’m Bi so yeah

favorite school subject? Math and Art

least favorite school subject? Gym, is that a subject?

Food? Yes?

books or Tv? T.V. but I do like reading it just takes me awhile because I have astigmatism and they unfocus a lot so it makes it hard to focus on reading.

Spotify or Pandora? Spotify

what are you listening to right now? Youtube videos!

whats the weather like rn? Hot and a little cloudy

are you reading anything at the moment? After You by JoJo Moyes (The second book to Me Before You)

any family problems you feel comfortable talking about? Oh god, my family is a mess. My dad was an abusive asshole and my mom is an alcoholic (My parents are divorced and my little brother lives with my dad while I live with my mom, I still see my dad and brother but very rarely)

how do you feel right now? Pretty depressed tbh lol

thoughts on trees? Trees are rad, I live climbing them but I’m scared of heights so it’s a fun time lol

something stupid you did once? Smoked too much weed and got stupid high

something random in your backyard? We rent so don’t really have a backyard anymore :(

funny childhood story? One time my brother when he was little he decided to take a nap somewhere and we couldn’t find him ANYWHERE, we were yelling and looking everywhere but we couldn’t find him. We tried to lure him out with marshmallows but that didn’t work and this was going on hours. So we called the cops they came they couldn’t find him anywhere and we were freaking out but then he just walked out and took the bag of marshmallows and to this day we have no idea where he was because he wouldn’t tell us. It was kinda freaky at the time but now we look back at it and laugh.

3 random stories about stuff that you’ve done in your neighborhood? I’ve moved a few times so we’ll go with 3 different neighborhoods. 1. We were living with my grandparents (Mom’s side) and there’s a lot of ducks and we were feeding them so I went to feed one by hand and that’s how I learned ducks have teeth. 2. We were living with my other grandparents (Dad’s side) and they had a frog garden thing that made noise, we were walking up the driveway, they didn’t tell us they got a new one and that it made noise. Me and my dad walked past it and it croaked at us, scared the fuck out of me and I ran away. There were potholes in the driveway and I tripped and cut my knee up so bad. 3. Um my friend lived on a dead end around my block and I would walk over to his place a lot (I was like 8 maybe older) and we road scooters a lot, he could do tricks and he wanted to teach me, I failed horrible cut up my knees and hands and face and scratched up my glasses so bad I couldn’t use them.

top 5 musicals? Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Peter Pan (1960), Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hairspray, and Anastasia

musical fandoms you want to know more about? Any really

any instruments you play? No, I played the clarinet in elementary school and broke it haha

do you and your friends ever roleplay or have given each other character names? Does playing a dating sim with a friend count?

favorite comeback? No you

do you have a phone? Yes

have you ever written a story? Oh yeah

O.c.’s? I have a few

S.O.? Ummm it’s complicated

favorite stores? Hot topic, Spencers, um I don’t know, I don’t go shopping much.

are you still in school? No but I’m going back soon (hopefully)

markers or colored pencils? Both but mainly colored pencils!

memes or gifs? Um both!

oil or chalk pastels? Both!

Height? 5’2

Painting? Omg yes, I’ve done some myself, I’m working on one rn and I have one finished (I can post it if you guys want!)

can you give a description of yourself? Short, kinda overweight, colorful hair (changes a lot), kinda big black glasses, hazel eyes, um that’s all I can think of.

description of your personality? A child mixed with a grandma

will you ever reveal your face( if you haven’t yet)? Sure

Anime? Oh heck yes

favorite animes? Owari No Seraph, Future Diary, Diabolik Lovers, Death Note, Tokyo Ghoul, Your Lie in April, Black Butler, Guilty Crown, Shiki, Death Parade, and more but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

K-pop? Yeah!

Ships??? Falice 100%, Bellarke, idk I can’t think of any others right now

ships you dislike? None really unless it’s weird and underage.

Children? I want children so bad!

do you have a library? I personally don’t

winter or summer? Winter

spring or fall? Fall

sun or snow? Snow

long or short hair? Short

ice cream or sherbert? Both

rain or bright sunlight? Rain

clouds & wind or heat & humidity? Clouds and Wind

pool or beach? Pool

how innocent are you? Not very tbh

cake or cupcakes? Both

chocolate or vanilla? Both, but depends

something sneaky you’ve done with your friends lately? Smoke weed I guess?

favorite colors? Black and Red

favorite animal(s)? Red panda, Panda, Husky, Pigs (I had one as a pet) Hedgehogs (Also had one as a pet)  

skiing or sledding? Sledding

have you ever ridden a horse? Yeah, my cousin owns two horses so I’ve gone riding with her before

have you ever ridden a train? Yeah but I have a fear of them

have you ever been on an airplane? Yes (Not scared of flying like at all)

Nature? Nature is rad

inside or outside? Inside in the summer/spring but outside in fall/winter

introvert or extrovert? Introvert, I’m so shy

rules/ laws? Um both I guess?

how many friends do you have? A bunch but a small close circle

pants/ shorts or skirts? All three but mainly pants and shorts

Dresses? If they’re weird

video games? Oh yes, I love video games

fave holiday? Halloween

least favorite holiday? Christmas and 4th of July

[roanidontknowher]

11 Questions & Answers

I’ve been tagged by @princesse-quartz to answer some questions! Here we go:

1) What are your comfort foods?

There is this thing we have here in the Netherlands called “truffelkruidnoten” and it’s basically these little chocolate and cacao powder covered ginger cookies and they’re sO GOOD. We can only buy them during the holiday season, because they’re associated with ‘Sinterklaas’ (which is a dutch holiday similar to Christmas (which most of us also celebrate)). 

2) Which language would you most like to study?

Norwegian and Japanese. Norwegian because I have family living in Norway, and Japanese because I think it's such a beautiful language.

3) What’s your dominant archetype?

Creative! :D (63%)

4) Were you lonely as a child? Are you lonely now?

At elementary school I did feel lonely, because I was bullied. In high school I made real friends (they’re still my friends to this day and I love them!!), but they were all in different classes and I eventually got homeschooled so I did not see them often. On top of that, my brother (who is one of my best friends) moved to a different country. So I did feel very lonely in my late teens. I still kinda do. 

5) How can you best help the world using your unique talents, skills and beliefs?

For me, it’s by creating music and lyrics about my feelings and experiences. If I can make people with similar feelings/experiences feel less alone in what they’re going through, then that’s awesome! Feeling understood is a healing experience. I also try to spread positivity whenever and wherever I can. 

6) If you were to paint an abstract self-portrait, what three colors would you use?

It’s so difficult to choose! I’m gonna go with orange (but like a carnelian stone orange), purple (any rich, deep purple hue will do), and a pastel pink (like the colour of clouds during sunset).

7) What’s your favorite crystal? Your favorite vegetable? and your favorite bird species?

My favorite crystal is carnelian stone, because mine has helped me get back in touch with my creative energy. 

My favorite vegetable is sweet potato, because it’s so good and you can make healthy oven fries with it! (Just chop them up into fries and put them in a bowl, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and some salt and spices. Then put the oil and spices covered fries on an oven plate thingy and pop them into the oven for 30-45 mins on 220 degrees Celsius) (You’re welcome!)

My favorite bird species is the blackbird. I am biased, because my name (Merel) is the dutch word for blackbird. 

8) Are you happy with your name? If you got the opportunity to change it now, what name would you choose?

I am extremely happy with my name! From the symbolic nature of the name (blackbirds are singing birds) to the way it sounds... I feel like it suits me perfectly. If I had the opportunity to change it now, I wouldn’t want to. My second name, however, I would love to change into something like Florence or Maura or Lily.

9) Which Ghibli female character do you most identify with?

Kiki, because she is so strong-willed. (And also because she talks to her cat and I talk to every cat I come across... they don’t talk back like Jiji does, which is sad, but that doesn’t stop me) (and also because I’m learning about Wicca and Kiki is a witch, so there’s that).

10) What is your favorite way to celebrate your birthday?

I love to spend the day with my friends, going out to dinner or having a sleepover at my house and having a movie marathon and those deep conversations you can only have at 3 AM when it feels like you’re the only ones in the world to be awake. But, I’ve never had a big birthday party before, with music and dancing and a theme and fancy clothes... I’d love to do that sometime in the future.

11) Did you have a nice day? Please share five things you’re grateful for today

I’ve had a quiet day today, it was nice.

Five things I’m grateful for today:

- The IT Crowd, for making me laugh.

- My sister, for texting me and giving me little delightful updates about her travels in Japan.

- My friends, for turning the ridiculous dream I had last night into a possible, equally ridiculous idea for a movie script (and for making me laugh in the process)

- Truffelkruidnoten, for being the best snack in the world

- @princesse-quartz for tagging me in this and for asking really thoughtful and amazing questions 

My questions

1) What is your biggest, most treasured dream? (don’t be shy, I won’t judge) (I will most likely encourage you to pursue it) (no dream is too big)

2) Do you have a song that is really important to you? If so, which one is it and why?

3) Tell me five things you admire about yourself

4) What fictional character(s) do you relate to the most and why?

5) What do you love to do in your free time?

6) Have you ever had a recurring dream? If so, could you tell me about it, please? If not, could you tell me about the most ridiculous dream you can remember you’ve had?

7) Have you recently had a proper crush on someone? If so and if you want to, please tell me about it (don’t feel pressured if you don’t want to).

8) Can you recommend me some shows you love?

9) Do you have any holiday traditions? and any favorite holiday memories?

10) Any adventures you wish to embark on in the future?

11) Please write down a loving, encouraging and positive message to yourself. 

I am tagging:

@thegloriouslordofthesassyfetuses @hetisjeboiluuk @arualenna @princesse-quartz (I’m gonna tag you right back, because I’d love to know your answers) and @taylorswift (because I love you and would love to know your answers as well)

[carterashofficial]

10 (semi-personal and deep-ish) facts about me

I was tagged by @aearyn so thanks fam

1. I am currently going to school to become a construction manager. I’m on a five year plan and am about to finish my 3rd year. I am not ready to become a functioning adult in the world within 2 years with a car payment and rent and a full-time job. It sounds terrifying. Very terrifying. I don’t even want to be a construction manager anymore but I’m 3 years in so why waste all this college learning? If I could be anything, I want to be an author. But american society values monetary success above happiness and I also want to be able to afford food in the future. So construction it is. It’s the fact that having a full time job and responsibilities is going to leave me spending every free minute writing cooped up in my home and I’ll never have a social life. Which society also thinks every should have. I’m just very very anxious about my future and what I’m going to do because I am not a social butterfly. I am a hermit crab.

2. I have a small obsession with dalmatians because my family’s had them since i was a few months old. That’d be my dog Domino. He was a lean, mean, tough old dog and definitely loved me more than everyone else. I was his human. We’ve always had 2 dogs at a time since we got Jewel (Bug’s dog). Currently my family has Scout the Lard Lad (he thicc) and Abbey aka The Puppy. Scout is almost nine and drools. Abbey just turned seven and her energy is still endless. Sometimes she even dreams about running because her lil’ paws twitch.

3. I love my family to pieces. My parents are married, we’ve got a decent house, I got my dad’s old work car that’s older than Bug when I got my license. Bug and I have our own rooms (once we did share my room for a week while my dad was repainting her room and she slept on my top bunk. Bug talks in her sleep. It was a very long week). However I have this inability to have a spine around my parents because of this intense fear of ever letting them down. Ever. You read number one above? yeah, another main reason I’m sticking with construction is because they approve. They don’t particularly approve of me being an author full-time.

4. I played softball for eleven years and I was never the best and sometimes the worst on the team but I had fun and that was the important part. I played right field and first base on account of me being left-handed. Sometimes I also would catch for the back-up pitchers when they warmed up behind the dugout (I used to catch back in the day but then I hit a level where catchers had to do things I couldn’t, and instead of the coach teaching me, he moved me). I have some great softball stories if anyone wants to hear them.

5. I love kids. Like, I love kids. I want a ton of my own one day (however that’s going to involve going out and talking to guys to get a boyfriend... and that means socializing and I am a hermit crab). I was my neighbor’s go-to babysitter and apparently their daughter would beg to have me babysit her instead of her brothers. My grandma has neighbors that are identical triplets and they love me. And I love visiting them. They say I have ‘Elsa’ hair because its really long and I can pull out my bun like in the ‘Let It Go’ video. I see babies in stores and I’m that person who waves at them and plays peek-a-boo in line. Kids are great.

6. Once I lived in Chicago for a grand total of 10 months. I was four when we moved out (this is long before Bug) in late winter. I distinctly recall playing in the snow while the movers were unloading the van. And I stuck my bare hand into the snow. It was cold. It stung. I ended up sitting in what would become the play room, all wrapped up in blankets and sniffling as my hand warmed up. A few weeks later my dad and Domino joined my mom and I. They flew. Domino was in a giant crate and had been down in the cargo area (note: NEVER travel like that with pets. terrible idea). My mom says I was running a fever and was sick, and when we went to pick up Domino and Dad, Domino was covered in dog poop and vomit and was a mess. Instead of taking him home, my mom drove me and Domino all the way to my grandparent’s house in Michigan to clean up Domino. The house we lived in was weird and Domino would get stuck upstairs because of how the rooms were set up.

7. I’ve known my best friend my whole life. We don’t talk that often (see above, I am a hermit), but we always end up talking about the deep stuff and talking our parents (we’re both 21) into letting us have sleepovers. She’s the one who got me into swtor and probably regrets it five years later. I am the nerdy weird one and she’s the business professional one. no matter how bad the idea is, she can easily talk me into it.

8. I want to fall in love and all that shit but once again I AM A HERMIT and I don’t know how to flirt without being given advance warning. And I am also pudgy and pale and wear t-shirts. It’s not that I’m not attractive, it’s just that I’m not attractive when compared to other girls. Also, make-up is a hassle (however I might do the full make-up thing and wear something that’s not a t-shirt to my surveying class to see if the guys in my group notice. that’d be hilarious). I want to fall in love. I want someone I can be intimate with, body and soul. Where I can lean against them on the couch while marathoning Harry Potter or babble about my book to when I do the dishes in a talkative mood. Someone that sleeps on the pillow next to me, someone who teases me about the music on my phone, groans at my puns. Someone to trust with my fragile heart.

9. I started art way back in elementary school. We had this program where once a month we had an art teacher come in and do art-stuff with us. In middle school I took the art elective in 7th grade, but I didn’t care for the teacher. By that point, i’d started drawing on my own at home, freshman year high school, I took Art and loved it. I took Art 2 Junior year and endued having 7 classes where I got up at 5 am and got home at 6 (started classes at 7 and then had softball practice until late). Senior year I did AP art. It wasn’t until college that I got into digital art. I still do tangible/physical art, mostly watercolor or pencil sketches, but there’s a wide variety of things I can do (like oil pastels. I love drawing the ocean with pastels). 

10. I like to believe that I have a poet’s heat; where I can see the best in the world and be in amazement from it, basking in the glory in all that is happy and joyful and right. Yet I’m not blind to the hardships, the hypocrisies, and I will not hesitate to call bullshit on it. Perhaps this is simply what is is to be an adult, picking and choosing what we view with rose-colored glasses, what we see as we think it is, and what we see as it truly is. But it is still words that I will weave into sentences to portray the emotions that I feel, because there is no magic greater than that of writing. And it calls to me.

[psitrend]

Ming You Xu was born in Tianjin, China in April 1963 to a family of 8 – living with his parents as well as 4 brothers (including himself) and 2 sisters.

By the age of 4, Xu developed a strong passion for drawing and with the support of neighbors and his siblings, Xu was often found drawing with chalk on pavement grounds. In 1985, Xu participated in the National Youth Art Exhibition and came in third with the lithograph work “归” (Gui) which means “return” in Chinese. This winning artwork was collected by the National Art Gallery of China. During his final year at the academy, Xu made a trip to Mongolia for ideas and came back inspired by the motivation to capture the Mongolian culture, lifestyle and their traditional ways of living. This became a series of paintings which Xu became very known for. After graduation, Xu found a job as an art editor at the Tianjin Yang Liu Qing Art Press and worked there till 1995. By then he already had a one-year-old daughter.

Official site | Facebook | DeviantArt | Instagram

Interview by Dominique Musorrafiti

How did you discover your painter’s vocation?

I developed a strong passion for drawing at a young age and so I naturally pursued art throughout childhood. At the time, I received a lot of support from my siblings and people around me acknowledged my talent so I continued drawing till this day. Looking back, even though there were no artists in the family, my mom used to do embroidery and carried many artistic talents and traits. For example, she would create embroideries freestyle by hand without doing any rough sketch or drafts.

Young and Old Creature Connection

Xu decided to go to Singapore to advance his art career and gain experience abroad between 1995-1998. He worked at Top Fresh Art Gallery while painting commissions on the spot outside amongst tourists and residents alike. Shortly after, Xu emigrated to Canada with his family to Toronto and participated annually in the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition.

Where did you study and develop your skills?

Aside from being self-taught, I was able to learn art through the education system and developed my skills through competitions as well. During elementary school, I started going to Shao Nian Gong (school of extracurricular art programs for youth) after school and during grade 4-5, I began participating national art competitions and exhibitions. By high school, I was able to take art classes and continued attending Shao Nian Gong. I attended Tianjin Mei Shu Xue Yuan (Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts) and graduated with a degree in lithography.

Warm Greetings

What does painting mean to you?

Painting, in essence, is a part of me, part of my life, and a means of living. It’s a way of capturing the beauty and inspiration for others to admire and see.

Sunrise

How long does it take to make a painting?

Depending on the medium and size of the painting, it can vary from a few hours to 3 months. For my larger and detailed oil paintings with people’s faces such as my Mongolian series, it can take around 3 months to complete. Pastel portraits usually take a week or two to complete and smaller paintings as well. Occasionally, I also enjoy painting live outdoors and usually spend a few hours on landscapes.

Rainbow

There is an art movement from the past or an artist that you love in particular?

One of my favorite artists is Andrew Wyeth and I also admire the impressionists such as Van Gogh. I’ve always enjoyed buying art books and studying the works of other masters that paints people figures and portraits. It’s a source of inspiration and a way to seek improvements in my own paintings.

Xu is renowned and has frequent commission requests by famous Canadian people and businessman for portraits. Clients include the former Foreign Minister of Canada, Barbara Jean McDougall

Quiet Winter Morning

Why did you decide to make the series dedicated to Mongolia?

For my graduation project at Tianjin Mei Shu Xue Yuan, I decided to go to Mongolia for inspiration and when I arrived, I was in awe at the vast green pastures and bright clear blue sky. More so, watching the Mongolian people attend to their daily chores and their traditional way of living inspired me to capture those images in paintings. Their culture and traditions such as their clothing are simply beautiful.

Mushroom Gathering

What does it mean to be a painter today in the age of social networks?

For me, it is an opportunity for recognition growth and building networks without physical boundaries. I can now be connected to art galleries not just within my territory but across countries and prior to the use of social media, artists are heavily reliant on word-of-mouth and art galleries to spread your works and name. Everything is easier from sharing my artworks to gaining more exposure, and now there’s even a lot of online exhibition.

Morning Breeze

Embroidery Girl

Chatting

A New Day

Photos Courtesy of Ming You Xu

Interview with artist Ming You Xu Ming You Xu was born in Tianjin, China in April 1963 to a family of 8 – living with his parents as well as 4 brothers (including himself) and 2 sisters.

[insertvisualinput]

Artist Asks Meme (Long Post Alert)

I took the questions from this post, and decided to just answer all of them without waiting for prompts, because... why not?

Also, apologies for the long post. I could have put all this under a cut, but I want it to show in its entirety on my blog page. I will tag from now on all posts like this under “long post”, if that is something you would like to blacklist from your dashboard.

1. When did you get into art? As soon as I could hold a pencil. Sure, I may have held it like Beast initially held his spoon in Disney’s The Beauty and the Beast feature film, lacking the finer motor skills due to me being barely out of diapers. That didn’t stop me from drawing thousand legged potatoes and trying to pass them as horses. However, I suppose art became to hold a deeper meaning to me during my last years of elementary school, and all the way through junior high. I had finally become deeply depressed due to bullying and being ostracized by my fellow children. My family was having a difficult time as a whole, and I decided to bottle everything in, thinking I’d only cause more worry otherwise. I would eventually come to harbor suicidal intentions. During that time drawing became an outlet for me to both express and process my emotions, so it naturally became an important necessity in my daily life. It may very well be that was something that ultimately gave me just about enough strength to keep moving forward. Unfortunately, l would later lose my passion to do art. I didn’t really see eye to eye with my high school art teacher, and that really ate at my love for doing art, seeing as it had always been something very closely linked to myself and my enjoyment rather than that of other people. I got tired going about my art as I was expected to. It would take years for that passion to rear its head again. So here I am now, learning everything all over again! 2. What art-related sites have you ever signed up for? I started out on Elfwood in my teens, then also signed up for deviantART. I eventually deleted both of these galleries, once I stopped making more art and checking the activity on these sites started to feel like a chore rather than something fun. Now I have a gallery on deviantART once again, which I update pretty much whenever I have the intention to put something up on Tumblr as well. But I definitely consider my dA account more of a means to keep in touch with a couple of cool people and their artistic endeavors. This Tumblr gallery I consider more my “real gallery”... for no particular reason really. 3. Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand. FEAST THINE EYES.

This is not the oldest one I have on hand, though. That one has already been posted separately on my blog. 4. What defines your artistic style? That is ridiculously hard to answer to be honest. I experiment so much it becomes difficult even for myself to pinpoint what exactly it is that defines my style. There are certainly some recurring elements, like how my humans tend to have elongated, exaggerated bodies (which is something you can already see in that older drawing above). I suppose that’s one thing that defines my style - a type of exaggeration of proportions and lines. I don’t really give a shit about the dos and don’ts regarding how to make art. Legs for example bend in ways they shouldn’t, and it’s a purely artistic choice from my part. I think it adds a layer of expression to my work, without which the piece would be a lot more boring to look at. I suppose the fuckton of experimentation I do is also something of a defining feature in my art, but it’s more of a personal element than something others can recognize my art by. 5. Do you practice other styles/have you tried other styles in the past? Welp, I think I pretty much brushed on this already above there on question four. Yes, I do, and yes, I have. 6. What levels of artistic education have you had? I have no formal education whatsoever. Though, I did take one course at my local adult education centre. It assembled only about once a month for half a year. It was an alright course, but the teacher’s tips felt very blatantly influenced by her own personal tastes in art. I felt like I was being pushed to express myself in ways that didn’t really feel like me at all, so in the end I never showed up for the last gathering. 7. Show us at least one picture you drew or sketched recently that you did not put on a public site. This practice picture drawn with ink didn’t make the cut mostly because I used the exact same perspective and general composition as for my Cheap Art Supply Challenge piece. But also because I am not that fond of it.

8. What is your favourite piece that you have done? A lot of times I just like the newest piece I’ve made the most, but there are certain works that hold additional value to me even when time passes. It’s been four years since I made it, but I’m still fond of this painting. It was the first time in years that I took up watercolours again, so the piece holds certain personal value to me. For that reason, I could even go as far as calling it my favourite. 9. What is your least favourite piece that you have done? I’m not sure I can decide. Not because I’d have so many not-faves, mind you! I can look back to the pieces I’ve made and think the ideas weren’t as cool as I thought back then, or that the techniques are horrible in comparison to what I’m capable of now. But I still do not really dislike them, because they remind me of how far I’ve come, where my foundations are, and which elements I decided to stick with. They remind me of the steps I’ve taken, and so I can’t really dislike them. 10. What do you like most about your art? Hmm, I think my favourite element in my art is just how unpolished a lot of it is. Like I have no qualms about leaving details vague. For example, a lot of times I draw less details on hands if the body shape is my primary interest in a piece I’m working on. Detailed works are very cool to look at, but there is also nothing wrong with leaving things to the viewer’s imagination, or leaving certain parts simple in order to encourage the viewer’s gaze to move where you want it to. 11. What do you like least about your art? I can’t really say. Despite all my artistic shortcomings, I am rather fond of it overall... Maybe just my lack of readiness to draw more diverse body types? Which is more of an occasional “Should I be doing that?” type of thought, rather than something I perspire over every time I draw and see I have once again created something of the lean and mean variety. 12. Have you ever considered taking commissions? Yes, and I have done some commission work in the past. Currently I have no particular drive to take new ones, however, as I’m more interested in experimenting different things as I see fit. 13. Are you looking to pursue a career in art? Not really. There was a time when I entertained that thought, but realistically speaking, I don’t think I’d work too well under the constant pressure of having to be as productive as possible at all times. I would quickly lose what art means to me, and with that, the joy it gives me. It’d just become another thing I must do to make ends meet. That, I do not want. 14. What do you like drawing the most? Human faces and animals are the most relaxing thing for me to draw, and looking at my sketchbooks, drawing them seems to be bordering on obsession. Other things I enjoy drawing, though less often, are unnecessarily long legs, skeletal figures, and armour.

15. What do you like drawing the least? Backgrounds. I have yet to figure out how to get them to look like they are actually part of the picture and not just their separate thing that is there. Environments overall are rather tricky for me, though I have made some brave attempts. Buildings are hard. Drawing lush vegetation is hard. Having very little patience a lot of times doesn’t encourage learning either. 16. Do you draw more fanart or original art? If fanart, what fandom do you draw the most of? Original art, which you might not guess looking at my blog here, since I started it just when I was about to go on a fanart loop for quite a few months. Wanting to draw fanart comes to me in certain intervals. Overall, however, I find it way more fun to draw whatever comes out of my head and hand, rather than following an already existing example. 17. What would you absolutely refuse to draw? Smut. It’s just not something I feel compelled to create. 18. What is your purpose for drawing? It makes me happier. I was going to go on a tangent about how it calms me and how meditative drawing is, how it gives me that feeling of having accomplished something, etc. - but what all that really boils down to is that simple statement. Drawing makes me happier. 19. What medium/program do you use the most in your art? Ink and watercolour are what I use the most by far. There’s something lovely about watching them spread and mix uncontrollably on a wet surface. Every now and then I get into the mood of trying other types of traditional media, though, like acrylic paint and oil pastels. Right now I’d really like to try my hand at encaustic painting... but getting the necessary equipment is an investment of over a hundred euros. That’s far too much for me in my current situation.

20. How would you rank your art? (poor, mediocre, good, etc.) I am sorry, but I will flat out refuse to answer this one. Ranking one’s art encourages comparison to people you admire. I am really hard pressed to see how this could be anything but toxic. 21. Do you believe there is such thing as “bad art?” Maybe. Art that never evolves anywhere, in any way, but remains absolutely stagnant? Be it on a personal level, or on a more encompassing level that challenges already existing traditions of art. On a personal level it doesn’t need to be very visible evolving either. In my mind, it’s enough if it’s something as small as “I have come to use this one colour I never before felt I could use with success.” If the question comes down to something as mundane as “Do you enjoy the art you see or do you not” being the defining element that discerns good art from the bad... Then my answer would be no, there is no such thing as bad art. I could never claim there is with good conscience, based only on my subjective likes and dislikes. 22. List at least one of your “artspirations.” Oh, I have so so many! And not all of them related to visual arts, even. But there is no point in making such a long list, so here are but a few of them: Gustave Doré and his many illustrations. I am particularly fond of the ones he made for Don Quixote and Orlando Furioso. Yoshitaka Amano. I find myself rather drawn to the elegance displayed in many of his paintings and drawings. Albrecht Dürer and his highly detailed woodcuts. Ayami Kojima and her masterful use of traditional means. She is self-taught too, which in and of itself is inspiring. Lian Quan Zhen and the beautifully lush colours in all his watercolour works. Paul Koudounaris and his absolutely gorgeous photographs of the lovingly decorated catacomb saints. (Picture below from his publication Heavenly Bodies, Thames Hudson Ltd, 2013.)

23. What do you think you could stand to improve on? Everything. I’m not really the type to stop and think I shouldn’t strive to improve more on a certain area just because I happen to like whatever I’m already doing. There are always elements I can refine, new methods of expression to test, and just plain something I could do better or at least differently enough to keep things interesting for myself. 24. Do you have a shameful art past? (recolour sprite comics, tracing art, etc.? Oh no, why end on such an embarrassing note! Cruel, cruel person, that came up with these questions. The short answer is yes. The long answer is, well, I would copy other people’s artwork, making only about just enough changes to replace the characters they drew with my own ones. Just thinking about it now makes me cringe! In case you were left wondering: None of those pictures were ever published anywhere, and have long since been burned with fire. And that’s an accurate description of what happened to them. All of them.

--- Turns out some versions of this meme also include: 25. Draw a picture! So here’s a quick pooch. Thanks for reading!

[doodlewash]

Hello from Texas! I’m delighted to share some thoughts (and works) with you. My name is Shirley Bland, but I sign my work S. E. Bland, because when I started showing art, I didn’t want to be identified as anything other than “artist.” I am a mother, grandma, and great grandmother, and I live in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio, Texas. I was born in Oklahoma but have lived here much longer than there, so guess I am now a Texan.

I have always loved needle art and spent some time weaving and spinning before taking some art classes at a community college. Although intimidated at first, I soon found what I had wanted to do all my life. So much for starting young – I was in my 60’s when I did my first painting. Twenty years later, I am still passionate about art in all its amazing forms.

My husband and I retired a while back (actually sixteen years ago) and moved from Houston to be near our grandchildren. We did some traveling (Alaska, Maine, the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the East Coast) and I can say there is nothing I enjoy more than sitting on a beach or in the mountains painting plein air.

Sometimes the wind blows my easel down the hill and I bring home Arizona sand embedded in my work. I’ve even seen my easel sinking into the sand at the beach and washed by brushes in the ocean!

One of the great joys in my life is my School of Joyful Art. I began teaching shortly after we retired. My studio looks out over a greenbelt, and our little home is full of laughter and color. This fall I taught seven classes a week! We studied Art “Happreciation” (my combination of art history and appreciation rolled together), Beginning Acrylics, Making Faces (painting portraits in watercolor and gouache) and Special Projects. If we feel hesitant to try something new, we look up elementary classes on YouTube and learn along with the children.

I call my students the “ARTCHIX and the DUDES.”  We party together, celebrate our triumphs and share our struggles. A year ago, eight women and a dude went to Oregon to paint together, and believe me, wheelchairs did not slow these folks down.

We did lots of watercolor sketches to bring back for reference.

Bandon, Oregon from our beach house.

In September this year, several of us went to Maine to escape our August heat.  From the Canada border, we painted and enjoyed the cool air on the Bay of Fundy.

Sunrise in Prospect Harbor, ME

Lighthouse at Wilson Beach, Campobello Island, New Brunswick

and my favorite…

Schoodic Peninsula, Maine.

We have only one rule in my classroom: “You MUST have fun.”

I paint in oils, acrylics, pastels, gouache and watercolor and really enjoy the travel watercolors. My husband is mobility impaired so I do a lot of painting in my recliner next to him, watching television.

I published a book last year which features a number of my paintings. Please feel free to check it out on Amazon. I enjoy blogging, and in addition to classes, I hold several workshops every year. You can find me at the links below.

Thanks to Doodlewash challenges, I participated in the Painting a Day last year and sold nineteen paintings! What a thrill, and boy did I grow – doing something every day is a real challenge, but I highly recommend it if you want to grow your work.

I’m inclined to spend a lot of time lying down or reclining. For that reason I very much enjoy my travel sets of watercolors. With a pill bottle full of clean water, I can work in a car or plane, sitting or lying down, even with a cat in my lap!

I began years ago with my Winsor & Newton Cotman set. I love that I can buy individual half pans to replace the empties. The precious tiny traveling brush from that set currently resides deep down in a sink in Oregon, where I dropped it when cleaning. I’m treating myself to a new travel brush this Christmas, but haven’t chosen one yet. I am currently using water brushes or a tiny Grumbacher brush.

More recently I’m very much enjoying my Nomad watercolor set from Prestigify. These colors are so vivid and wonderfully portable. I’m on my second set! I make my own sketchbooks with Strathmore watercolor paper and also like the Hahnemühle brand for travel.

Thanks for letting me share with you.

S. E. Bland Website Instagram Facebook

GUEST ARTIST: "My Colorful Journey" by S. E. Bland - #doodlewash #WorldWatercolorGroup #watercolor #watercolour Hello from Texas! I’m delighted to share some thoughts (and works) with you. My name is Shirley Bland, but I sign my work S.

[goldfishbymatisse]

CAPE TOWN ART FAIR QUESTIONNAIRE

1.

Goodman:

Much like the actual gallery, the walls of the booth were painted a dark grey. I recognised the gallerist from the previous day. The style of displaying the work at the booth was similar to the actual gallery, however, there was a clear difference in the type of work that was shown at the gallery and in the booth. The work in the gallery on the top floor was solely Nolan Oswald Dennis. The top floor ‘vibe’ matched that of the booth in the sense of clean layout and a stark sense of professionalism.

Stevenson:

The gallery had clear labels and was well curated. The booth had a poor labeling system as the work did not have its titles, it only had rough pencil markings of the artists’ names on the walls of the booth. I did not recognise the gallerists but I did recognise some of the artists such as Zander Blom’s Landscape Lofthus 1911 and Rodent, 2018. The general ‘vibe’ of the booth was not as professional as the gallery.

Blank Projects:

The gallerist at the booth matched that of the gallery visit of the previous day and just as willing to assist. The style of the work was completely different to that of the gallery as I found the work more conceptual and experimental in the gallery which would be difficult to negotiate in a highly populated art fair. The gallery showcased the work of Bronwyn Katz only while the booth showed a wide range of artists’ work.

2.

Works I love:

Votives for the Human Exclusion Zones (series)

Nigel Mullins

Oil on Supawood, frame and found objects

2018

Everard Read Gallery

This series contains various well known landmarks painted in a gestural, expressive style. I loved the concept of how millions of images exist of these landmarks but this style of representation is unique. I am also fascinated by the texture created by a usually flat medium and the way it is traditionally presented in a frame. The way the work was presented in a shrine-like style.

2. Eve Returns to Eden

Kirsten Beets

Glass, Oil on Board

2019

Salon Ninety One Gallery

This work was displayed in a series that was typically aesthetic by the use of pastel colours and fond memories associated with the beach, however, this work specifically is not as clean cut as the rest of them.  It has the pastel aesthetics of the rest of Beets’ works but contains a new type of expressionism which presents a playful mobility.

3. A Seat at the Table (series)

Justin Dingwell

Photography

2018

ARTCO Gallery

This photographic series stood out among the rest of the photographs at the fair as the subject matter was contemporary and showed a model that subtly created awareness for vitiligo while showcasing a softer side of socially typical masculinity. The monochromaticism of each image creates a personal kind of aesthetic appeal when combined together in the series.

Works I dislike or find frustrating:

A02 132/118/19

Andrzej Urbanski

Spray paint and acrylic on shaped canvas

2019

Everard Read Gallery

This work to me was too flat and did not stand out to me. It seemed to be influenced by the Pop Art movement as it seems like something that could be mass-produced.

2. The Phoenix

Benon Lutaaya

Acrylics on Canvas

Date Unknown

This work seemed to tell a too familiar story. The technique used seemed unoriginal and popular in the contemporary art world as this work seemed as if i had already seen it before.

3. Inner Fire: BBHMM

Tabita Rezaire

Diasec-mounted digital print

2016

Goodman Gallery

I found this work challenging as it had a powerful meaning attached to it and one that I was supportive of, however, the format of the work is aesthetically unappealing to me. It seems incredibly ‘superficial’ and ‘materialistic’.  

3.

I found the traditional mediums of oil and acrylics on canvas to dominate the majority of the works at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair.

4.

Most of the booths hang the artworks around the rectangular perimeter of the booth. Some booths display the empirical data below the artwork while others do not and the viewer is forced to ask the assistant at the booth. Different booths make use of different fonts in terms of their signage. A few booths had a sitting area with a few chairs around a coffee table laden with various art books associated with the booth.

5.

Each booth had the name of the gallery or the name of the artist's collection on it. Most artworks had small cards underneath with information on the artist, title, medium and date of creation. Various stickers were used on this card to denote whether the work had been sold or not. A few booths used large letter stickers to denote the artists’ names spanning 1.5m at the entrance of the booth with the names of titles under the works accompanying them.

6.

The fair is set out in a way where each booth runs into the next with thin walls separating each. It seemed as if the fair was created like a maze. I think the maze-like aspect makes it difficult to leave the fair which is ideal for those  selling art as it forces the buyers to spend more time with the work.

7.

The lighting at the fair was excellent. Each artwork had two spotlights on it because there was hundreds of lights suspended from the centre’s ceiling which creates  a general dimly lit area.

8.

The people working at the booths were usually dressed in head-to-toe black. While overhearing various conversations at the fair, buyers and consultants seemed to be dressed formally while members of the public who were there to spectate were dressed casually.

9.

There were primary and secondary markets present at the fair which include the artists, galleries and collectors. The products being sold are the various artworks and the artists who wish to exhibit in the different galleries. The fair is aimed at those individuals who buy art or who work for galleries or art collectors or the incredibly wealthy.

10.

Selenite and Rose Quartz Eroded Bear

Daniel Arsham

Selenite and rose quartz

2017

Perrotin Gallery

This work exemplifies wealth to me because of its use of traditionally expensive materials such as the minerals. The use of the toy bear is an example of wealth in its most elementary form as certain toys can be used to show wealth among children once they understand the significance of class and the role money plays in our society.

11.

Leisure Set

Cameron Platter

Carved Wood and paint

2019

WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery

This piece of art seems more along the lines of a piece of furniture which i view as a piece of functional art. The rest of the fair’s artworks seemed intended for viewing and conveying a message while this artwork conveys a message while it may be used in everyday life for providing a seat.

12.

The two artworks I inquired about were R22 000 and R39 000.

13.

The brands I saw at the fair were Investec and Moroso. Investec is an international specialist banking and asset management group. Statistically speaking art fairs bring a lot of money into a city through tourists and the purchase of art. Moroso is a furniture brand. Furniture and art are closely related. Many art buyers often invest in furniture too.

14.

The CTICC is an accessible landmark in the city and is housed in the centre of everything. It often houses international attractions and is a good size for displaying a lot of objects. The CTICC also houses Comic Con and the Homemakers Expo.

15.

Untitled

Albert Newall

Oil on Board

1953

SMAC Gallery

16.

Talia Ramkilawan (age 23)

17.

I found the solo booths to give more of an explanation of the work and as a viewer I was able to deduce the influences in the artist’s life that led to their unique style.

18.

William Kentridge, Penny Siopis. These are some of the most celebrated South African artists who still create work presently, subsequently, they have large bodies of work so the chances are high for South African galleries to have one of their artworks.

19.

I noticed a lot of Africans portrayed as the subject matter or issues related to the ‘African-experience’. This was a strategic move on the curators’ behalf but the fair exhibits a lot of African art.

20.

Smith Gallery

21.

I would love to work as an assistant to the curator of the Smith Gallery booth. Whomever decided on the work to show at the booth at the fair shares a similar taste to me. I also loved the presence of work from a lot of young, female artists.

22.

Why are contextual passages explaining the work not available?

How do the various galleries become part of the art fair?

Which gallery is the most profitable at this art fair?

Does the Cape Town art fair make a positive economic contribution towards the city’s tourism?

23.

Yes, I would show at the fair. It is an excellent opportunity to find potential clients, create a following for the gallery or art institute and promote the artists that are exhibited in the gallery. I would paint the walls of my booth to add emphasis and show its unique ‘vibe’. I would use labels that i saw at the fair which are large stickers for each letter. These labels consist of artist, title, medium, date and price.