Eccentric Escapade

New Home!

2011-04-19T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hey hey!
I finally decided to get my own webspace. Finally.
http://www.marandart.com Yeah! My blog, this blog, will go to there as of now. It will hold my art, updates, a little bit o' everything.
This place won't update any longer! So go bookmark my new site, sillies!

(Photo is unrelated. This post just felt so empty without one... But isn't Zelda cute? She sits right on my lap.)

Virgil

2011-04-17T12:23:00.001-07:00

In my last post, I promised I'd show you the new member of Maranda's zoo... Here he is!
This is Virgil. He is approximately 5 months old, half an inch thick, and about 2 feet long. He is a light grey and slightly pink corn snake. Don't go thinking that I went out and bought a snake, because I didn't. I have come to be Virgil's caretaker through some sad and odd circumstances.
My good friend lives with her parents while she tries to find a job. She also has a... pet problem. She tried to move out once and promptly got a little orange kitten, and only about a week later was forced to move back in with her parents. Her dad is EXTREMELY allergic to cats, so she could not keep the kitten. After he was rehomed and she was at home for a while, she, you know, bought another pet that her parents did not want in the house.
So one day she contacts me and asks, "Will you take care of my snake for me?" Of course I was stoked and totally cool with it. When I asked how long I would be the snake's caretaker, she basically said, "well, until I can move out", or something along those lines. Very vague.
I'm really grateful to take care of Virgil. He's a great little critter, totally cute. But I can't help but feel sorry for him. When I got him, he was in the grubbiest tank in the world. It was dirty and foggy and had worn-out duct tape stains. The old under-tank heater had what felt like sticky soda stains on it and I'm fairly sure it was the culprit of an electrical fire some time in its life. The tank was filled with sand. According to snake enthusiasts, keeping a corn snake in sand is the equivalent of keeping fish in a tank of root beer.
I did some research and changed his tank around.
I work at a major pet store chain, and sadly, I see a lot of irresponsible pet owners. People will come in and see the snakes or lizards and say, "Wow! What a cool animal! I know nothing about it but it's cute so I will buy it." And then they come in two months later and whine about how their pet was "unhealthy" or "sick", when they really were just slowly killing their animal by not doing research and not taking care of their pet properly. I once even got a phone call where someone asked if "we did de-clawing for dogs". Why yes, and while I'm at it, I'll rip out YOUR fingernails, too! Sound ok?
Ok, ok, I'll step off my soapbox.
All in all, Virgil is now in a happy, healthy home. He's a bit jumpy and is easily startled, but he's warming up to me. He also does this very cute thing...

The moss hut* I got for him has a hole in the top, and he uses it as a little peep-hole quite often. It's often too cute for me to handle and many gooshy oogly-goo noises seep out of my mouth.

*Moss hut= half coconut shell + clump of moss. Very difficult, I know.

The Owl and the... Pussycat

2011-04-13T21:20:00.001-07:00

Funny animal companions always tickle me. How cute are these two?!
This article completely made my NIGHT! I love how the lion just... gives no crap. None at all. Apathetic lion is apathetic.

Next post: I'll share our new family member... ;)

Critters... Critters Everywhere

2011-04-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Obligatory "I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while" message goes here!
Aside from that, I have some cute photos of my animals to share. :)

A couple days ago we had a break in the dreary pseudo-spring weather. The sun was out, birds were chirping, the wind was cool but not cold. Dad and I sat in the backyard with our coffees, feeding stale bread to the chickens.

Timber is the one being fed, Skittle is the small black one, and Zelda is the poofy cloud.

The thing I find interesting about chickens is that they have a very strict pecking order. Usually the strongest, bravest, and oldest will assume "top chicken". In our flock of three, Skittle is the boss lady. Timber, being close to eight years old (!!!) has taken second, and since Zelda is a pansy, she's last.

As you can see, Skittle needed to remind Zelda of her place. Timber blissfully chows on bread while the youngsters duke it out. (They don't really fight, really, Skittle just kind of jumps at Zelda, as if she's shouting "BOO!" and chases her around a bit.)

My pretty girls!! ♥
They're totally sweet. Skittle, even though she's Ms. Bossy-Britches, is a total love. She'll sit on my lap for hours, being calm and still. Perfectly relaxed and peaceful.

Love these chickens.
Spending time watching them forage, drink, dust-bathe... it's like meditation for me. I love watching animals because they're only existing in that moment with perfect efficiency. I can get lost thinking (and simultaneously NOT thinking). My world is beautified by the life within it.

Life is a Collage

2011-03-21T23:30:00.000-07:00

Pick out all of your favorite experiences, memories, colors, items, images, and feelings. Adhere them all in a pretty fashion on a stiff piece of, well, anything. That's collage for you. The freest type of art form there is!
Here are some excellent collages I've found.

1: unstrung65.deviantart.com | 2-3: doyveyant.deviantart.com

This one was done by my old drawing instructor, Sarah Dillon. On the older version of her portfolio website (http://www.sarahdillonstudio.com/) she mentioned me in the description of this piece. This is because I brought in a HUGE box of antique photos, newspaper clippings, papers, notes, and letters. ($10 at an antique store-- SCORE!) I shared the materials with the art class for our warm-up activity. Everyone was pretty jazzed about the whole thing, and even Sarah was pretty excited about it! Then, to my surprise, years later, I find this piece on her website. I'd remember that silly baby with the widow's peak anywhere. It warms my heart to see that a great artist such as Sarah Dillon would be so inspired by my gift to the class. :)

Here's one of my newest collages as well.

White bats are one of those critters that seem to follow me around. One of my oldest pieces that I still treasure is my albino bat, done in about 2007. Then, at Emerald City ComiCon (amazing as usual) I bought a handmade Honduran white bat figure!I was so captivated by the artist's skill and appreciation for such an obscure species of animal. (More of her cute dolls here: skinhorsedolls.deviantart.com) And then Pokemon Black/White came out, and the new pokemon Woobat and Swoobat are totally Honduran white bats and I don't care what you say.
So, I couldn't ignore the white bat's encroachment on my life. I needed to paint him. And thus it was.

It feels so good to be doing art again. For a while, my art block was miserable. I feel like I'm slowly picking my way out of it. :)

Hey, Cricket

2011-02-28T17:53:00.000-08:00

So I was eating dinner one night, ok? Home made salmon burgers and broccoli. Delicious. I set my burger down for 30 seconds, look back, and this is what I find.

Cricket eating my sandwich! How rude!

Ever since we got Jomo, crickets have invaded our life. I find them everywhere: next to the tank, on the floor, on the cushions of our couch, even on the wall near the ceiling. They get everywhere! Mom and dad have even walked in with cupped hands bearing half annoyed and half amused faces. "Maranda, we got another. It was in our bathroom." They seem to like bathrooms.

That's all for now. I mostly just wanted to share the funny photo. :)

Birthday Fish

2011-02-23T21:33:00.000-08:00

Well, as of February 18th, I've been on this Earth for 20 years! Neat. To celebrate with friends, I took them to the Seattle Aquarium. Fortunately, it was Octopus Week! Unfortunately, it was a Sunday and packed with screaming, smelly patrons (and their children: equally as ill behaved). Despite this, however, I still got some good fish time in.
One fish in particular was excellent. We all associate fish with pretty unresponsive, boring animals. They just swim around and, well, swim around some more. But this guy was tons of fun.

I whipped out my pencil to start sketching him, but when I noticed he was watching me, I stopped.

I wiggled my pencil in front of the tank to see what he would do. I turned my pencil to the right, he leaned to the right. I shifted it to the left, he leaned left. Back and forth, back and forth-- he just kept staring at the pencil, mimicking it!

Stark took over the fish conducting so I could get a good sketch in (with my pen, of course). All the while Stark was moving the pencil uuuuup and dooooown and side to side. The fish was almost hypnotized by it. We even got him to turn upside down once or twice.

I've never had a fish at the aquarium be so... interactive! It was quite a treat. He is without a doubt my new favorite.

The sketches I did aren't anything special, but once I paint them (if I paint them) then I'll post them. In the meantime, have some more fish! (Ok, well, more fish and a sea anemone. And a wolf eel. Mostly fish though, I promise.)

I'm Forgetting

2011-02-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

You know how when life gets labyrinthine, so grainy and messy and confusing... that you just want to hide? And then you forget yourself, what it means to BE yourself, and you just act on instinct. This is the story of me lately. My future is uncertain, as it always has been. This does present a lovely way to appreciate the paths that life takes us down. As Shreve Stockton put it in her book The Daily Coyote, "The jewels in this life are the events we do not plan". To an extent, I love this idea. Last April, I would never have guessed that one of my best friends would become even more dear to me. I would never have guessed that I'd be working at a pet store surrounded by animals and animal lovers, which led to my buying of a mountain horned dragon. (more on this later) Life is unexpected, and our willingness to accept changes and roll with the punches, to me, is a great way to judge one's character.
Lately, my character has gone to "optimistic adventurous" to "fearful pathetic". Being strong and confident for those around me is just a front. Inside, I fear the future. When I move to a college, how will I survive? Sure, tuition and my savings will pay for college itself, but what of living? Food, rent, insurance, gas, pets, medicine...

When I get this way, my art takes a strange turn. I've noticed that the less stable my life is, the lazier and more emotional my art is. I no longer have the patience to do pieces like "Banishment" or "The Hath'Kann Moth Rider". Now my art is sporadic, emotional, and frankly, not as good. It is more confusing and more spur-of-the-moment, and results in that odd situation when I have to fudge an explanation for confused viewers, because I don't even know why I do the paintings I do. My art is as confused as I am.

On a more positive note, I've been able to cope with much of this because of Jomo.

He's already proving to be a perfect little addition to my life. He's easygoing enough to not need constant supervision, but active and interesting enough to be a great pet. He's gotten used to taking crickets from me (with tongs or from my fingers), and he's fond of perching on heads. He's decided that his favorite spot to hang out at in my room is a lanyard hanging from my lamp. He clings to it with his uber-sharp nails and has even fallen asleep on it-- hanging completely vertically. When I talk to him, he looks me in the eye and tilts his head, trying to understand. He's exactly what I needed at this stage in my life. A personal little friend to relate to.

That being said, Jomo is a distraction. He can't solve financial issues or decide what sort of living arrangement I should get when I move. But he helps me cope just by being a complex little being who I can hold and admire. I'll get through this with personal dedication. I have to, therefore, I will.

Civil Rights

2011-01-17T10:18:00.000-08:00

Thanks MLK, Malcolm X, and all the other courageous people who fought the odds. You're cool.

That aside, my life has been NUTS.
Stark moved in. Let's just say that his old house was unfit for living and he moved in with me and my folks. Not only am I amazingly happy to have him around all the time (more happy that we're not sick of each other!) but I think he's a lot happier not living in that old memory-prison. My tiny room is more cramped than ever, but I don't mind it really. Stark is my other half. I'm willing to compromise some of my "precious" space previously occupied by my "precious" things. (My "Donate to Value Village" bag is overflowing...)
Next year I'm leaving for college. Probably at Western Washington University. Small, cute, liberal, artsy, (hopefully) cheap rent. Tuition shouldn't be an issue, books I can find cheap, it's just the cost of living that is worrying me. Also, more heart-wrenching, Stark. Can't afford school and the job market isn't his friend. I'm worried he cannot come with me and we'd be separated by 2 hours of highway driving... One night, though, at a moment of strain, he reassured me that he will follow me anywhere. I believe he will.

On a more fun note, I have bought myself a mountain horned dragon. Because of the guys at my petstore calling him "Joe Montana", we have called him Jomo. It's punchy, cute, and perfect for him! I am coming to find that animals have a more spiritual effect on me than ever before. An example... last night I spilled hot beeswax all over my sketchbook and rug, ruining the better part of both. I was upset. But holding Jomo and seeing his beautiful little mug, his skinny legs, the undeniable life that ran through him, the un-human qualities of a different sort of living being... I couldn't be upset. Especially after he jumped from my hand and onto my shoulder. Feeling, holding another creature has a meditative effect. I can't focus on anything but them, they're my responsibility and I have to keep them safe. "That which you tame you owe your life." Animals are always going to be a major part of my life. Always.

That is all at the moment, work is soon.

Thought Vomit

2010-12-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

"I haven't been HERE in a while...!" the blogger said with the joyful awe you can only get by visiting an old, familiar place. She decided to dust the shelves and start writing.

Lately all I've been drawing are Neopets. It is silly how much these made-up creatures mean to me. I love them.
Phinble and Saaburu. The effortless painted-no-shading-black-outline style is wonderful.

My boyfriend and I's small business is now a legitimate business with a legitimate website. Much work is ahead for us.

Speaking of Stark, things are hard for him. Somehow I feel that my easy-ass life thus far has put me in a great position to help him. What I mean to say is that I feel like this moment, this beautiful human being, is my reason for being here. His hard life balances my one that I've coasted through. I, being the stronger person (in some aspects), will support him. I see his potential. I see the fire in his eyes. I love him and will help him always. Feeling this way feels like being alive.

Here are some random tidbits from my new "Random Poetic Thoughts Journal". I often have little poetic rantings or bouts of colorful language. I decided to buy a journal to write them down in.
"It's one of those futile feelings. When you're searching for something, even though your rational brain knows where you left it and that is isn't there. Your hands still sift through your pockets, purse, backpack. Maybe it's just the principal of the thing. You feel like you need to look for it anyway due to its importance. Such is the stubbornness of the human habit. "

"Someone honked at me while I was driving today. It was dark, raining, the light was red, I stopped to look to turn right. There it was: a car's horn behind me. Distant and cruel, something that demands angry attention. Car horns were designed for letting other cars know about potentially dangerous things... 'Don't back into me,' 'stop', 'watch out'. But we have turned them into on-road, language-less curses... Angry and anonymous yelling. Whenever I hear a car's horn, my mind snaps into frantic and guilty thoughts. What did I do wrong? Am I not doing what I'm supposed to? Even if the noise wasn't meant for me, it gets me on edge. That person had an ISSUE with me. After that, my mind tricks me into thinking everyone's got a bone to pick with me. The man sitting in the parking lot booth is displeased with the speed I'm going. The person parked next to me thinks I am too close. Right here: the embodiment of a common paranoia. I hate driving. "

"The sound of rain is absolutely different every moment you hear it. Technically, every drop is different and hits a different spot on the ground, the plants, the umbrellas, the cars... So it should logically make its own special sound. The really beautiful thing about it is that it doesn't."

I hope you got something out of them. :)
Be safe everyone.

Some Happy Things

2010-12-02T11:08:00.000-08:00

This song makes me cry every time I hear it.
My mother used to sing the first verse to me as a lullaby. On one hand I think it is funny, because the character thinks about women and drinking, and it amuses me that my mother would find this suitable for a lullaby. But on the other hand, I find this song irresistably beautiful. Every time I hear it, sing it, or even read the lyrics: I tear up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EoNd_maBbY

Here is another warm-fuzzy.
Cast aside all previous bias, all rational thought, and embrace the child-like and simply charming writing of Edward Lear.
(Poem and image credit: http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear )

I
Said the Duck to the Kangaroo,
'Good gracious! how you hop!
Over the fields and the water too,
As if you never would stop!
My life is a bore in this nasty pond,
And I long to go out in the world beyond!
I wish I could hop like you!'
Said the duck to the Kangaroo.

II
'Please give me a ride on your back!'
Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.
'I would sit quite still, and say nothing but "Quack,"
The whole of the long day through!
And we'd go to the Dee, and the Jelly Bo Lee,
Over the land and over the sea;--
Please take me a ride! O do!'
Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.

III
Said the Kangaroo to the Duck,
'This requires some little reflection;
Perhaps on the whole it might bring me luck,
And there seems but one objection,
Which is, if you'll let me speak so bold,
Your feet are unpleasantly wet and cold,
And would probably give me the roo-
Matiz!' said the Kangaroo.

IV
Said the Duck ,'As I sate on the rocks,
I have thought over that completely,
And I bought four pairs of worsted socks
Which fit my web-feet neatly.
And to keep out the cold I've bought a cloak,
And every day a cigar I'll smoke,
All to follow my own dear true
Love of a Kangaroo!'

V
Said the Kangaroo,'I'm ready!
All in the moonlight pale;
But to balance me well, dear Duck, sit steady!
And quite at the end of my tail!'
So away they went with a hop and a bound,
And they hopped the whole world three times round;
And who so happy, -- O who,
As the duck and the Kangaroo?

It really is the little things that help me get through the day. (And by "day" I mean "my 4-hour gap between classes at school".)

Episode III: An Update

2010-11-15T09:54:00.000-08:00

Stanley. He's my muse.
Seriously, though, how could a stuffed animal turkey vulture with a fake moustache NOT be inspiring? Just look at this mug! That fashionable neck ruff, his cute little beady eyes... ahh. What a fine figure of a stuffed animal.

It is also crucial to rememer that You Can Always Trust a Snake. Especially yellow eyelash vipers, which may me the cutest venomous animal ever. I have decided this and thus it shall be. (I mean, really... eyelashes. Need I say more?)

These two are painted on a wonderful (albeit odd) surface called aquaboard. It's a super-absorbant, stiff, sort of toothy board that is all sorts of wonderful. The paints soak in quickly, but I find that you can almost always go back over it with a stiff brush and water to blend. I'm a fan.
AQUABOARD! Check it out if you like watercolors or goache.

And now, for a new episode of Maranda's life.

My New Job
I am now a dog grooming assistant! No more fried food, grease spills, incompetant managers, or unhappy shifts. I basically get paid to hang out with dogs all day and I earn a 40% commission from all my sales. I am blissing out about this, for sure. I must have racked up some excellent karma to get this gig. All six months of my suffering at the deli led to this! The world can be a fair place to be, after all. Between the puppies, people, and clean atmosphere... this new job is wonderous. Plain and simple. Life is looking up. I have also learned that English bulldog puppies are sleepiness incarnate. They get nap attacks like nobody's business. That kind of cuteness is unfair. It really is.

My Skin
Ever heard of burrows solution? Smells like: vinegar. Feels like: pond water! Makes my skin feel like: a goddess's.
Soaking cotton material in the solution and wearing it (cold, wet, jumping into a mountain lake at 3am) at first was not fun. Miserable, even. I have to do this odd treatment because of my dermatologist. Upon visiting him, I was told that I was to a) avoid Stark's house because of the cats and b) chill out! Because the stress was making my skin worse. So every day since then, I woke up early and jumped into a black garbage bag sandwich: burrows-solution-soaked cotton pajamas and me being the meaty bits. Cold! Cold! But half an hour later I was leaping out and moisturizing like a madwoman. The morning and evening ritual gives me time to reflect (and watch the best anime ever: Mushi-Shi). I find that waking up at 5:30am, slipping into icy clothes, and sitting still for half an hour gives me time to wake up and clear my mind. When I rush out of the door in the morning due to waking up 20 minutes before I have to be out the door, I find it hard to finalize thoughts or regard events with any significance. I float through my day in a haze and end up quite grumpy because of it. As odd as it sounds, freezing my butt off every morning really gets the juices flowing! (And wow, did that sound odd.)

That is all for now, friends.
Oh, and also, you should buy Dice Sprites for your friends for Christmas. Or whatever winter gift-giving holiday you celebrate.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/claymancers

Necessary Evil

2010-11-04T21:26:00.001-07:00

Lately, on Facebook, some friends (and others) have been involved in heated debates. This is my response to it.

Making a tough decision-- to change your mind, to prevent a travesty, to save yourself-- does not make you a monster. It does not make you a beast, unholy, or immoral. Sometimes life calls for hard decisions. Understanding that some evils are necessary is fundamental to understanding each other as human beings. Life is hard, and we often make decisions we do not want to make.

It makes me SO sad that we continue to argue about certain topics (abortion) as if the issue is black and white. It is really not black, white, or red. It is grey. Grey. No one can be correct and there is no right answer. I don't care if your science says you're right or your religion says you're right. I don't care.
I just want us to understand each other.

But I guess that just isn't going to happen, is it?

Another Art Dump

2010-10-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Doing these bone creatures with spikes and malicious teeth really helps me take the edge off of the day. I can forget everything when my pencil brushes the paper, stabs the paper, flicks the paper, darkens the paper, whispers to the paper "everything is alright".

Skull #1 is a badger's skull. I bought it on a family vacation and has since lived on my shelf and on my desk at home.
Skull #2 is a muskrat's skull. I bought it on my boyfriend and mine's adventures to Seattle. It, too, has lived at home, but hasn't ever felt at home.
The bumblebee doesn't know which skull to build its nest in and has given up.

Fast food. We all eat it. At first it is a wonderful taste, hearty and delightfully textured. A soft tortilla, crisp lettuce, juicy burger, crunchy fried chicken... it is only after the food has been eaten that one truly regrets their meal. Sitting in an angry lump in your stomach, it excretes a terrible feeling of sickness and lethargy. The food that you've just eaten is dishonest. It was unwrapped from a package, which was taken out of a box, which was unloaded from a truck... before that, the "food" was unceremoniously pressed by a machine, flash frozen, and shoved into boxes so that disgruntled workers who are paid minimum wage could deep fry it, assemble it, and stuff it in a bag (along with paper napkins, single-serving condiments, and individually wrapped straws a-plenty). All so that you could eat it and feel like trash.
Vultures have a prettier diet.

New Art, New Game, New Outlook

2010-09-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

Hello, all, and once again I welcome you to another thrilling installation of Maranda mopes about life!
...
No, I'm totally kidding. I had you going though, didn't I?
Truth is, things are again looking up. I experienced a lull in creativity and zest for life. As of now, however, I cannot find a reason to be sad. My classes are going well, I've finally got a nice computer setup, Stark is amazing as always, and my new job at the pet store is becoming more and more thrilling by the moment. (Well, the idea of it, anyway. I have until the 10th!)
I've also started to play Final Fantasy XIV online. A while ago when a lot of my friends mentioned the game, talked about its reviews and new features, I just shrugged it off. At that time it was another one of those things that I would never play or get into. But as time went by, I decided that I wanted to be involved, and by golly, I am. My character is a tall and mysterious-looking elf woman named Peregrinne Listair. At this point I am thoroughly enjoying myself. Even if the game is a bit slow at times, I still find the game's world captivating. Even if I run out of monsters to slay or quests to take, Peregrinne will sit down with Ardel (Stark's character) and watch the sun rise over the plateaus. As odd as it sounds, this game lets me feel closer to Stark when we're apart. (It helps that Ardel looks a lot like him, too. Haha.)

FFXIV aside, I have also been neglecting to show you guys some of my new art. This cannot BE! So here are a couple of my newer pieces worthy of display. I hope you enjoy them.

I'll let you enjoy them with no explanation. :3
I've come to realize, slowly, that I am an odd creature when it comes to my moods. Often, one bad event will put me in a sour mood for the rest of the day. Then, of course, even the best of days are coated with that sour film. I've come to realize that this nature of mine is toxic to my well-being. It stiffens my sense of humor, tires out my body, and stresses my mind. One day I thought to myself, this is no way to live. This must stop. And almost as soon as I thought that, I felt better. I found myself more flexible and able to shrug off mild displeasures. I'm recovering from pessimism. It is a poisonous place to be in when you're a pessimist. I know that I don't want to be one... and even if it is a conscious effort to remain free of self-instilled-negativity, I won't become one.
That is not how I am going to choose how to live.
As Gandalf said to Frodo when he wished the Ring had never come to him, "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." I don't think any words have impacted me as much as these have. To me, they remind me to choose the life you want to live. Make the best with what you are given, because it's all you've got. Decisions are what make us us.

Thanks again for reading. I leave you with a quote.

"Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door." --Emily Dickinson

What I'm Doing

2010-09-12T14:40:00.001-07:00

Hello, all!
In the life of Maranda, things are looking up at last. I've told my parents of my plans to finish my first half of college and then move into my boyfriend's house in order to take a year off and build a portfolio for an art school. (I'm thinking Digipen now, sound cool? yeah!) They don't seem keen on it, but I feel better with them knowing the truth. If it's anything I hate it's keeping things that are important in my life from the ones I love. It drives me insane!
That aside, I'm also very excited about school. My classes are about as liberal-artsy as you can get. Yoga, poetry, design, and French. Whooo, man, you definitely can't tell what I'M majoring in, eh?
In my world of art, things are going as usual. I'm working on some new stuff for an art show on the 25th. Here's one! Left my camera at Stark's, so here's a really disappointing webcam shot. Oh well, it's not even done. Here ya go anyway!

It started as "I have nothing to do while Stark plays a card game, so um... here's a bird I guess. Whoah yeah let's paint it!" Most of my best pieces start out with little to no planning and evolve as they're done. Hopefully this one's no exception.
I'm also working on another crazy collage dead animal sculpture. People seem to like them for some reason. :D The link is Tally, my first one. I still need to upload Furlough and Agatha. For another day!
Best of all, this news comes to you with great joy.
...
...
pause for dramatic effect...
...

I QUIT THE DELI JOB!
Yes indeed! I worked my little tail off and got two interviews: one at a pet store and one at a craft store: two places I adore to be. The pet store gave me a job first so that is where I am headed to. I'm a dog bather. =D Well, starting in October anyway. The location is perfect, the hours work, and I get to spend all day with dogs. It's a win, win, win, win, and possibly win situation.

So that is where I stand and I promise to have some new art updates up soon. Thanks a bunch for reading. :3

It's Been a While

2010-08-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

Hello, what readers I still may (or may not) have.
I hate to keep posting these "I'm too busy lately to blog", but I'm afraid that's what this is. :( Stark and I have been working overtime on our large order of Dice Sprites, school is starting on the 20th, and on the 25th I still have that art festival (which I am very excited for). I've got my work cut out for me this coming month. Not to mention actual work! My deli job is still crap, but at least I'm growing calluses. After a slight emotional breakdown one day, ever since then I've been harder to bother and my hide's grown in thickness (not including that incident with cold, smelly chicken grease... almost barfed, lol).
That aside, I'm hanging in there. I'm living in the moment and getting through each day trying to stay stress-free. In a year, I have no idea where I'll be. In a week, I don't know. Heck, I don't even know the plan for tomorrow. It's a bit disheartening, in a way, but I must keep reminding myself that I'll always have the three things that are most important to me. The people I surround myself with (Stark, parents, friends), my art, and the company of animals. As long as I have those (and the living necessities, of course) I'll be fine no matter what I'm doing or where I'm living. It's a constant effort to remind myself of this fact. I'm going to believe Stark when he tells me that I am strong and capable, and I'll overcome everything that comes in my way.
That's basically all I have to say at this point, but even if you didn't read it, here's a screenshot of something I'm working on on-and-off.

There Will Come a Day When We Transcend Our Pain

2010-08-15T21:16:00.001-07:00

...until that day, take it easy on yourself.
--Weezer

Hello, readers!
Many things to tell you and little time to do it. To make things short I shall count the ways. (Somehow I am reminded of Rodger Rabbit at this moment. One one thousand, two one thousand...) Anyway.

•My partner in crime Stark and I have turned Dice Sprites from a cute hobby to a serious money-maker. Conventions, super-intense crafting sessions, and a fridge full of food are in our future. But best of all I get to see him giddy with artistic inspiration because of his newfound passion: sculpting. Art is meant to be shared and I am happiest when I see his eyes light up with a new idea or when he hugs me tight exclaiming his excitement for our future.
•I still don't have my own computer. I'm coping well borrowing Stark's laptop and mom and dad's super-fancy desktop.
•I went to DragonFlight convention in Bellevue this past weekend and made a lot of new Sprites, which I shall share presently. Many thanks to my good friends Jean and Rob for the table space.
•Lastly: I will no longer be known as Kirai. Kirai was the name I used when I drew Anime fanart. Now I am just Maranda Cromwell, comfortable with my true identity. To be completely honest, the name Kirai never sat right with me. I always assumed it because I was "stuck" with it when I decided to sign my art with it when I was 14. It means "hate" in Japanese. At this stage in my life I am over hate and I am over trying to fit into a niche that I don't fit into. I'm giving up my facade and using my real name: my real self.

And now, Sprites!

See? We've been busy. If you want to learn the stories of all the Sprites seen here and a sad incident with a Fumble Monster, click here to visit the Facebook album.

There is other news, but for now I will keep it at this. I will be busy changing everything from Maranda "Kirai" Cromwell to just Maranda Cromwell.
Thank you again for reading. :3

Meditations

2010-07-29T00:31:00.000-07:00

Everyone's got their own way of eliminating, ignoring, and confronting stress. Some people go for a long drive with the windows down and music blaring, some people watch their favorite movie over and over, and others (like me) meditate.
I haven't done much meditations in my life. To deal with stress and hardships I normally just dealt with it in a usual way. But lately, I've wanted something more. So this is what I did.
I laid out some pretty silk handkerchiefs and a scarf I bought in France. I set up a diorama of sorts which included a few of my favorite objects to look at. A skeleton key, a couple animal skulls, beads, stones, feathers, bones, candles, a goblet full of water. I set a bundle of sage on fire and let it smolder as I leaned back, closed my eyes, and focused on my breathing.
It's not often I can not think about anything. It's the hardest thing to not think. Having a blank mind almost never happens for me. But I came close tonight. Breathing in and out deeply, noticing how my body moved as I relaxed, smelling the sage...
Needless to say, I overcame my bad day at work very well. Afterwards, stage two of my meditation began: painting and tea. Here's what I painted.

A simple portrait of my favorite animal in my favorite color scheme. Perfect for unwinding and loosing my pent-up negative feelings.
In my quest to become a freelance artist, I've discovered that at this point in my life that's not a very realistic career path. But I can still retreat into my art Zen mode to escape the world. That shall always remain.

Long Awaited

2010-07-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been struggling with attempting to work on my art so I might be able to quit my terrible job. Recent events have led me to instead resolve to basically tough it out and stop being such a whiner.
That aside, Stark and I have been making boo-koo Dice Sprites and even have a spot in a nearby town's art festival in September. We've got our work cut out for us, but I am quite excited for it. An art career while working AND attending college is going to be quite an undertaking, but I have to make myself believe that I can do it.

And with that, I leave you with a crazy monster drawn on the back of my paycheck with a ballpoint pen.

Good News Bears

2010-07-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

It's always a delightful feeling when
A) your fingers smell like fresh lavender
B) your boyfriend is coming home soon from a long trip
C) you got some new awesome things at the thrift store
and D) you earned 3x as much money selling art and manning a booth than one week's work at your crappy real job.
This is what I am going through now and I couldn't be happier. (Ok, well, it would be nice if my boyfriend was home NOW, but he's having fun and coming home soon anyway. <3)

Cornucopia Days was a huge success, if you hadn't gathered that already!
I had a lot of fun hanging out with Sandy and my friends who popped by to visit. Also, Chubby Kitten was my wingman the whole weekend. Here he is watching my purse while I grub out on ice cream. He fits perfectly inside my folding chair's cup holder.

Something else happened this weekend, too: and by "something" I do not mean "watching Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas twice in 3 days", but it is rather along the lines of "a gift that made me feel more amazing than any gift has".
An old scraggly looking guy with missing front teeth bought one of my prints. He was cordial and polite and I liked him, even though he looked like a drugged-out ex-hippie who played wild-stringed guitars on the sidewalk. After he bought my print he left and came back a short while later with a little plastic bag.
"Here, a gift for you. Some of my art."
Inside was a black leather belt. Simple, stiff, with an unassuming silver buckle. But on the other side...
I nearly cried. This guy, a perfect stranger, went out of his way to not only support my art but also gift me this wonderful, touching message. It's people like him that reassure me that there are good people left in the world.

I'm extremely grateful to be surrounded by such interesting, kind, generous, fun, and loving people. This weekend also marks a huge step in my quest to become free from my job at the deli and another step towards my budding art business. I'm excited for the rest of my life.

Gumball Machine

2010-07-08T22:43:00.000-07:00

Or should I say DICE MACHINE. AWW YEAH
My friend Jessie is super cool and is collecting dice to fill her cute little antique gumball machine with. She then commissioned me to do three Dice Sprites to be playing on it. I think the little triplets came out good! They're very silly.

In other news, I'm going to be selling a bunch of my art (and Sprites!) at a local street fair this weekend! Man, I am excited as all heck. I took some of my new art to the printing place and got some small prints made. I love hanging out with the print guys, too, they're just very personable and honest people. I packaged the prints at Browser's, my favorite shop, and I finally got to see Greg again. He's kind of like the grandfather or really cool uncle I never had. Growing up with no grandpas, that's kind of a big deal for me. Greg is awesome. Sadly I am not working in his booth this year, but I am going to be working for a nice lady named Sandy at her new little gift shop that moved in next door. Her store was quaint and cute, and she was very nice and excited to have some help for the fair. Not only am I going to be hanging out with fun people in beautiful weather, but I'm also getting eight dollars an hour PLUS anything I earn from my art. Cornucopia Days is probably my favorite thing about the summer!
If you live around the Kent, Washington area, be sure to stop by and say hi. :)

It's Only 5 Days

2010-07-07T09:04:00.001-07:00

That's what I have to keep telling myself, lately. Only 5 days. My boyfriend's gone to a faraway place called California for a few days and I was unable to go with him. Sometimes I wish I had never gotten that job at that grocery store. Money is nice to have, but I miss my freedom. Then again, I am saving money to be able to move out in a year... Sigh. I am very torn. I'm giving up my freedom in order to have it later. I need to push aside my impatience and keep reminding myself how lucky I am to have a job and how much easier life will be if I have a nice fluffy money-cushion to fall back on. I'm just going to tough it out working all the time and selling art. Maybe at the moment I'm just bitter and resentful and sad. I need someone to blame for my not being able to leave with him: my job will make a lovely scapegoat. Sigh, again.
I imagine him driving in his truck, the windows down, the sun shining, the traffic (hopefully) light and fast. He is listening to the mix CD I made for him, he is thinking of me, he isn't worried and he is very much in love.

I think I need to watch a really sad/touching movie. Sometimes all you need is a good cry.

---

That aside, I've been working on a new website. It's got some typos and I need to include a new page or two, but that aside, it's coming along nicely. Wix has some cool website customization tools once you get over the fact that Flash is garbage. Maybe soon I can start paying for my own domain name, or transfer the website to my old one, www.colorsmith.com/kirai. Either would be fine with me. In the end, this is a major work-in-progress.

Also new: more Sprites. Are you surprised?

If I weren't feeling very lazy at the moment I would resize those photos...
The top Sprite is going to his new home soon: my good friend Jennise. His rainbow markings were all sorts of fun to paint, but my personal favorite is the sleeping one. I can imagine him sleeping on someone's computer screen, work desk, or dashboard. Once I get my boxes to ship them, the Sprites are going on my Etsy for sure.

Sprite Update

2010-07-03T23:35:00.000-07:00

Hello, followers and anonymous readers! I bring you good tidings regarding my Dice Sprites.
But first, let me say that my boyfriend is amazing. Not only is he amazing for just being an amazing person, being fun to be around, and all that-- but he's adopted the title of my art business manager as well. He really believes in me (and especially my Dice Sprites) and he really believes that my art business can be successful if we really get the Sprites out there.
So we took the Sprites down to our local Uncle's Games store at the mall. We met the regional manager there, and he agreed to let us sell the Sprites there for $6.99. I get $3.50 for each Sprite that sells. I'm super excited about this, because a) Uncle's is in the mall and the mall is very popular and b) them being at the store is hopefully going to get me a lot of publicity! Not like I need any more orders at this point (ok who am I kidding, let the custom requests pour in!).
So far I have at least seven potential AND legitimate requests for custom Dice Sprites from my friends. Also (thanks to my wonderful boyfriend <3) a guy in New York (!!!) wants a WHOLE SET of them. A whole set! There is also rumor of the Sprites being taken to a gaming convention and being sold at a street fair next weekend.
Am I excited? You bet your lucky dice I am!

That aside, here are some new (and mostly unfinished) members to my Sprite family.

The first one (sleepy brown guy) has already sold out of Uncle's. He came out the best and was definitely my favorite, but I'm happy he's being enjoyed by someone. I love it when my art makes people happy. <3
That is all I have to report for now.
If you'd like a custom Sprite, be sure to email me your request and as soon as I have boxes and shipping materials, I'll make you a Sprite. =D
majestic_kirai@hotmail.com

Etsy, More Sprites, and a Fox

2010-06-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Kirai here. But of course.
A few things to update here!
Been working on some more Dice Sprites (which always has to be capitalized, btw). Here they are. The two little ones are completely done, but the bigger mean-looking guy needs a healthy coat of paint. Introducing the newest additions to my ever-growing family of Sprites!

I've recieved a lot of requests for a black and red Sprite. I think this guy will fit the color scheme nicely, don't you? He's downright nasty! It's almost sad to see such a normally cute little creature turn so evil. Oh well, he'll sell well, I think. Haha.

Also, big news!! I uploaded my first item to my Etsy Shop! The ACEO Green Cheetah is up for sale. Remember?
He's only $5 USD. He seemed to be the most popular of my ACEOs on Deviant Art, so I put him up for sale first. Let's hope this is the beginning to a fond and beautiful relationship with online selling. Soon the Dice Sprites will be on sale as well, but I have to locate Sprite-sized boxes, first.

Oh, also, have a fox.

ACEO Cards

2010-06-25T16:16:00.000-07:00

Artist Trading Cards and ACEOs are so much fun. They're paintings, drawings, or collages done on 2.5"x3.5" surfaces. Originally the trading card movement started to help artists get their names out into the art community by trading the cards with other artists. Now, most artists just make them to sell for cheap on their Etsy shops. They're fun, in any case! I adore working small. It keeps my attention and makes me pay attention to details more.
Here are some I've done.

Hope you enjoy them. :) They, along with the Dice Sprites, will be available for sale on my Etsy very soon. Stay tuned!

Dice Sprites

2010-06-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

An update on my newest set of critters: Dice Sprites!
Here is a little blurb about them.

Since the Dawn of Time (or at least the Dawn of Dice-Based Role Playing Games) people have had their own personal type of luck. Some people have rotten luck, some people have awesome luck, and some people swear that their luck has attention deficit disorder. Only recently have we discovered that luck actually has a physical form: Dice Sprites. When you roll a dice for the first time, your Dice Sprite is sprung into existence. From then on he/she develops their own personality, colors, body shape, and attitude. They stay with you and govern your dice rolls as they see fit. Some Dice Sprites even adopt their humans's attitudes toward gaming itself. It is not uncommon that Dice Sprites start becoming little embodiments of their humans's gaming essence. Like humans, every Dice Sprite is different. They will forever remain our cute little imps of luck for as long as there is a game which involves dice rolling.

And here they are, all four of them thus far.

They will be for sale soon! Stay tuned. My Etsy shop will be my next major endeavor. I plan to fill it with all sorts of fun things, like the Dice Sprites, artist trading cards, prints, dyed bandannas, jewelry... ah. I often daydream about being an entirely self-sufficient artist. Someday that day will come. Unitl then, I'll keep making Dice Sprites!

Super Sculpey is SUPER

2010-06-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

Yes! In my epic quest to be more artsy, I have bought myself some Super Sculpey. Which is actually, in fact, quite a deal more super than it's predecessor, Sculpey II. I have made this creature just by starting out with the thought process of "hey wow this clay is smooth, what can I make? Ok, cone shape, round at the bottom, curly bit, ok, yeah! Awesome! GIVE IT A FACE! And a d20! This is awesome!" Art is cool, guys.
I've decided that I'm going to make a whole host of these little buggers. They're Dice Sprites, the embodiment of luck concerning dice rolling in Dungeons & Dragons. I'll have to make some bad luck ones, some evil ones, some decrepit ones, some really super elite ones, you know. The works.

Anyway, here he is again!

More to come! Soon: some tiny watercolor paintings and a clay teapotmoth!

New Design, New Purpose

2010-06-15T17:48:00.001-07:00

Hello all! These new blog designs are quite stylish, don't you agree? But that is not all I have to say!

As you may or may not know, I work in a deli. A corporate grocery store chain's deli. I fry food, mix salads, toss garbage, sweep, mop, wipe up meat juice, deal with my intolerable manager, and up-sell crappy food to customers (among other unsavory things). I have to have this job to save money for when I move out of the house to live on my own and go to a four-year university. I appreciate the fact that I am paid and have a job, all the same, but in the end this job is grating on my sanity. Every day I dread going in to work, and that sort of negativity is never healthy for any mind. At this point it's not hard to admit I'm complaining: I really do not like my job and I miss the freedom that came with being unemployed. I feel that any other sort of retail or grunt-work job would be better (what could be worse than hot oil burns and waste-food-dishwater-soup?). But why settle for that when I have artistic gifts at my fingertips? I can paint, draw, sew, sculpt, and design! Therefore, I am seeking alternative employment to replace my current, disgusting job. And by alternative employment, I mean Etsy craft selling and art galleries.
So far I have written my plans in a well organized list. Materials shopping list, action plans, costs, product ideas, etc. Doing this will hopefully do a few things.
A) Earn money
B) Improve my self-promotion drive (ya gotta have it in order to be a freelance anything)
C) Give me more to blog about!

So, wish me luck. This will take all of my determination. I want this very badly, though, and it will be good for me as well! Good for my future, my present, and most of all: good for my mental health. I can do this. I need this!

When I Photograph My Art, I Hold My Breath

2010-06-06T23:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the slow updates! I'd like to pull a classic college student move and blame finals for my inactivity. Thank you, thank you.
Here are my final art pieces. They're badly photo'd, cropped terribly, and the colors are a bit yellowed: but it's better than nothing and it's all I have to share at the moment. Well, unless you'd like to read my book review of Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh, but I highly doubt that. So on to the art!

Here we have a weasel woman and a snake man. That is all I shall say on this piece.

This piece is actually my final-final. However, I like my other piece better...

This piece: Ant-Woman and Teapot-Head Moth! I do enjoy psychedelic garbage like this every once in a while. That and pastels + smooth paper + layers of colors = epic love.

I do believe this calls for more Teapotmoths and Antwomen. They're too much fun to draw! With every piece I do I fall more and more in love with soft chalk pastels.

I shall update again close to Friday: when I am FREE! Free from finals. Won't that be lovely. *mind wanders, daydreams*

The Avanti and the Tha'ram

2010-05-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

Because we're awesome, my boyfriend and I are working on a campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons. I am certain that you are jealous.
Anyway, we've been designing races to fill this realm, and here are a couple concept paintings I came up with for two of them.

The first one is the Avanti, the garishly-garbed iguana man. They inhabit the massive floating islands in this world, and they're quite elitist. They look down on others (haha get it, they live on a floating island?! Looking "down"? I slay me.) And they take great pride in their dress and appearance.

This little guy is a Tha'ram. Loosely based on an aardwolf, these guys are very traditional and superstitious. They live in desert caves and cliff-side villages. They're about the size of a Halfling, roughly 4'-5' tall.

Our realm is slowly coming together, and it's all sorts of fun to collaborate creatively on a project like this. Thinking about the history of the world, where the continents lay, what sorts of religions prevail, designing creatures... I can't get enough of this stuff. I feel like it's what I was meant to do: designing fantastical worlds. One of these days I'll get paid for doing this stuff, haha. Until then, I'll keep creating.

A Snippet of a Story

2010-05-26T23:21:00.000-07:00

“Yes, young sir?” The first older man said, adjusting his rickety glasses.
“Hello, yes, my name is Geire Lockart,” Geire began, using his best diplomatic I’m-a-responsible-young-person voice, “I was a passenger on a ship that docked in Summer Port not two nights ago. Under the leadership of Valian Proce, I was to be the personal assistant to Prince Kalratt. However, I was… delayed, somewhat, but I return now in hopes I may reclaim that position. I apologize for my tardiness.” Geire chose not to say anything about being kidnapped or losing Sekall. They would think he was lying, or making wild excuses. Better to just give vague details and feign apologies.
While he had been talking, the man he recognized came to listen. The man was dark-featured and stern, and listened with his arms crossed, though he seemed to be considering all Geire said. After a moment the older man said a bit sadly, “The prince has chosen a new assistant in your delay, I’m afraid.”
“A young man named Sekall Alkarium, if I’m correct,” the dark man added.
Geire froze in mid-thought. Sekall. Sekall stole his job. He couldn’t believe it. Not only had Sekall managed to get back to the Middle Building before him, but he also moved up in rank somehow… how he managed such a feat was beyond Geire’s comprehension.
“But, that—that’s impossible, he was going to be calendar boy, he wasn’t even on the list, I…” Geire stammered, losing hope with every word he said. His eyes drifted to the floor in horror.
“I’m sorry, son, Sekall had shown a spectacular effort to make something of himself and was rightly rewarded,” the dark-featured man stated.
“Are there any positions to fill? I can do it, I can learn! Anything at all, please,” Geire pleaded, leaning on the desk heavily, eyes wide with a deep-set panic. He was grasping for a lifeline in a storm, be it a thread or even a hair.
The older man sighed and leaned back in his chair, taking off his glasses to rub the lenses on his sleeve absently. “You said your name was Lockart, correct?”
“Yes, Geire Lockart, son of Alberhim Lockart.”
The old man thumbed through a pile of papers at hand. Shaking his head and pursing his lips he said finally, “it says here you’ve been dismissed.”
For a moment, silence prevailed. Then Geire spoke: “Permanently?” His voice was tiny.
“I’m afraid so, son. Valian Proce has deemed you neglectful of your role, and you’ve been dismissed indefinitely. You may catch the next ship back to the homelands setting sail in two months,” the old man said, nodding and speaking as if Geire had simply taken a wrong turn on a street. He didn’t realize the volume of this tragedy.
Geire looked down, cringed, tensed his hand into a fist, sighed, but looked up and said as calm as he could, “Thank you,” and he hurriedly left the building. Once outside the sun made his eyes throb, and he groaned. That groan turned into angry mutterings, and then to held-back violent body language. He wanted to scream, he wanted to throw and break things, he wanted to let off the steam—but in such a strange, public place, all he could do was make frustrated, stifled noises and plant himself on the corner of the stairs, staring at cracks in the stone. He pulled at his hair, gritted his teeth, shut his eyes as tight as he could.

It's not often I have time to work on my novel anymore. But as my boyfriend lays sleeping in my tiny bed beside me, I can't find it in me to wake him up so I might go to bed in his place. So I opened Word, pumped out a couple essays for school, and then pulled up my book. I greeted the characters and apologized for my unkind absence, then got to work. A little bit of work at a time, here and there, and I'll have this book done by the time I'm 30. Haha.
I hope this little snippet has whet your appetite for more. ;)

Now goodnight. Goodnight bed-claiming boyfriend, goodnight yellow full moon, goodnight bubbly bottle of water, goodnight pile of finished math homework. See you all in the morrow.

A Brief Update

2010-05-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

Hello, 3 followers and X anonymous viewers!
Lately I've come down with a stomach bug, or something. Either way I am feeling pretty achy and not-wanting-to-stare-at-a-computer-screen-for-too-long, but it felt right to dust off my blog and say something.
School is piling on the work all of a sudden, work's massively understaffed so I've been getting more hours, and the only thing that's keeping me going is the promise of a beautiful relationship with my wonderful boyfriend and the boundless compassion and love of my parents.
Now I shall drown my sorrows in ginger ale and soda crackers. Hoorah!
Hopefully your life's not in a rough patch as mine is.

A Collection of Enrichments

2010-05-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." - Gandalf the Grey
"Without you, today's emotions would be the scurf of yesterday's." - Amélie
"Absence makes the heart grow fonder."
"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." - Confucius

"Everything will be fine. I promise."

It's days like this one that I need to pamper myself with good movies, inspirational imagery, light sweet foods, and the support of my loved ones. Maybe you'll take something from these quotes as well. I wish you a beautiful day of comfort: may you catch glimpses of uncommon beauty and cultivate an appreciation for the little things that make living worthwhile.

Another Day, Another Art Dump

2010-05-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

And by "art dump" I mean "hey let me talk at you about some of my drawings lol".

First on my list is this piece. You must know by now that I often dive into art without a preconceived thought or plan, so things turn out like this.
See, there's a maned wolf, a Japanese woodblock print of waves, street signs, and a cat with records. Make sense of it. I dare you.
The whole reason for this collage was a) I found some cool images in a newspaper and cut them out and b) I hadn't done a collage in a long time. It sort of evolved into this odd conglomeration of imagery. It is totally open for interpretation: when I thought about it more in depth, I decided to name it "California". The waves, bright colors, street signs, street-art inspired cat, and playful sunny disposition of the maned wolf made me think of that carefree, summery atmosphere associated with California.

Here's the story behind this guy.
Every day when I arrive at my college campus, I pass the ceramics department building. The campus is very green and woodsy, so the ceramics building is crawling with trees and little patches of leaves. There's a pile of these beautiful, very rustic and old-looking bricks out back, which I am strangely drawn to. (Haha get it, "drawn"?) I always pass the bricks, all nestled underneath tree branches and white speckled leaves, and I think to myself, man I'd love to paint that sometime. Well today, our model for class didn't show up, so we went outside to draw. It was good fun, I always love a change of scenery, especially when the weather is sunny and warm.
I'm normally all sorts of terrified drawing anything vaguely square-shaped and three dimensional, so at first I was a bit hesitant with my pastel drawing of bricks. But the thing with pastels is that you just have to keep going. When you think that all is lost and your drawing is terrible and you'll never be an artist and you'll retire to the mountains to herd goats for the rest of your life because you can't draw... just KEEP. GOING. (And cancel your rush-order of goats.) Pastels are very forgiving. The more you do, the better it gets.
That aside, I came up with this drawing out of a pile of bricks. Because of the half-finished clay sculpture of a demon head on the pile of bricks, I included it, too: only I added some crazy hands and a tail. God forbid I draw something normal. Honestly.

It is a well-known fact among my friends and family that I am never farther than 10 feet away from my sketchbook. I draw all the time. This habit is especially handy when you're stuck at Les Schwab waiting to have your car's tires rotated. I sketched myself a quick little slindragon, then wondered what I was to do after that. I had no colors, no pens, no nothing-- save for my pencil. And by then I was too art-ADD to keep sketching. So I got up, poured a cup of complementary coffee, took a sip, gagged, grabbed a stir straw, and sat back down. Using the straw I placed the coffee on the paper like I would with watercolor paints. I attracted the attention of a woman passing by; she thought it was the coolest thing that I was painting with a straw and cheap coffee. We chatted a while (turns out she knew Rob, my old art teacher) and I ended up giving her one of my business cards. Cha-ching!

I suppose that is all, for now.
Thanks for reading, hopefully your eyes aren't bleeding at this point. Thumbs up!

Blow Out the Candles

2010-05-11T14:28:00.001-07:00

When canines get scared, they appear angry and defensive. They're just trying to protect themselves and fend off potential danger.

I fear certain changes in my life, currently. This painting was basically me telling myself "It's alright to be scared, but things will be fine. Patience."

I always turn to maned wolves when I need to do inward reflections. They're the easiest and the most stress-free thing I can draw or paint, and when I draw/paint, I am focused.
So thanks, maned wolves.

Random Acts of Kindness...

2010-05-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

...selfless acts of beauty.

Today I came home from a particularly frustrating day at school. I made myself some microwave Mexican food and chai tea, only to catch a glimpse of this little sloppy magnet poetry on my freezer door.

It reads:
slow walk the winter
kiss inside morning rain
sing high and turn me through summer
answer to grown-up together
we're always here

I do not know who constructed it. It could have been my mom, dad, boyfriend, or any of my friends. But whoever did it had every intention of creating something beautiful and surprising. It caught me off guard and warmed my soul: made me smile.

I leave you with this task: do something beautiful today.

Giving a Big "Screw You" to Art-Hating Taggers

2010-05-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

For the past, oh, five years or so, I have been paying frequent visits to a neighborhood book store called Browser's Books. They're a used book store that also specializes in fantasy art like Amy Brown, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, and my old art teacher Rob Carlos. If it weren't for the awesome people at Browser's (Greg, Kathi, and Rob) I would likely be only half the artist (and human being) I am now. Those guys are such an awesome part of my life. I love going to hang out there, chatting with Kathi and listening to one of Greg's many zany stories about his life.
On the back wall of the building, Rob did a really cool mural of a dragon and some fairies reading books and just recently, this happened to the mural.

When I first saw this photo on Facebook my mouth dropped open in shock. How anyone could have the nerve and destructive mind to destroy such a cool piece of art is beyond me. I practically grew up looking at that mural, and now this!
Immediately, Rob, his wife, Kathi, and Greg organized a giant re-painting get together, sort of a community event. All sorts of people showed up: friends, fans of Rob's art, patrons from the store, and me! I had to be a part of the re-painting, being an artist and devoted fan of Browser's.
Instead of re-painting the old mural, though, Rob pumped out a whole new idea almost immediately after the unfortunate tagging! Here's his original sketch of the mural:

He did this so fast, and set to work on it early on Saturday. Since Rob is a painting machine, he pretty much got most of it done before I got there at 11-ish.
But I had a different job to do!

Greg gave me a small space to paint a little dragon next to the back door. I was extremely excited about it and after a short preliminary sketch I set to work on a little dragon. Everyone seemed to enjoy how smiley and happy he was. He's been fondly dubbed the "Guardian Puppy Dragon", though I think "Dandelion" is a cute name. Everyone was saying how he's guarding the building from being defaced and acting as a really cute "graffiti deterrent".
Here he is!

I started with a black outline and some lighter shadows, then went over it with a really thick and awesome yellow color. Purple accents were a must, as well. I am very happy to have contributed to this big slap-in-the-face to the taggers who defaced Rob's mural.

Here is a photo of the mural, all completed and wonderful!

Everyone who worked on the main wall got to paint their own butterfly, too. How poetic, am I right?
Also, my friend Bri painted a dragon along with mine! They're BFFs, totally.

CUTE, RIGHT, OH MY GOSH.
Anyway!
I am glad that I could share this wonderful artistic community event with the world. Thanks to everyone who helped on it, and especially thanks to Rob, who is an amazing, dedicated painting machine who took the whole thing very graciously and even-tempered.

Look Left, Look Right

2010-04-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, here we have your typical college art class assignment: drapery.
Aaauuurrrrgh drapery. I have never ever drawn anything that I get lost in so completely.
"Wait, ok, so there's this fold, and that fold, which turns into this crease, and wiggles around down there... wait, where am I? What did I just draw? WHAT AM I DOING HERE *PANIC*"
Yeah, not so fun. ... Except when my teacher is awesome and includes a deer skull! So of course I had to make that the focal point of our two projects on drapery. There is now a well-established running joke about my extreme adoration for animal skulls. I am so fine with that.
And here they are, done on 18"x24" black paper.

Also in the still life were two fashion mannequins and a skeleton, all three of them wrapped in fabrics. We had looked at some past student examples of pieces done of the mannequins and skeleton before that. In the drawings, Skeleton always seemed to be draping his arm over the very feminine Mannequin, sporting that signature skeletal grin. One of the other students and I made up stories about how Skeleton and Mannequin got together, got in fights, broke up, and later about how Skeleton was a stalker and always tried to woo Mannequin by singing lounge music to her... all based on the drawings of past students.
Art class is good fun, I am always, always happy to go. I think everyone needs to have an "art class" in their life: something they can always look forward to, something they enjoy regardless. It makes life much easier to live.
What's your "art class"?

Panoramaramaramarama...

2010-04-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

While checking my updates on Deviant Art, I discovered this piece of artwork done by Marian Kretschmer. And by "piece of artwork" I actually mean "24 framed areas combined to have a circumference of 44 meters and a total height of 2.5 meters joined together in an infinite panorama". Seriously.
The piece(s) are meant to describe "24 hours and one minute in a life", so it has some very major themes such as love, loss, light, darkness, and death. The style of artwork is very surreal and dreamlike, much like Salvador Dali, except containing less giraffes on fire or melting clocks. Each of the 24 panels shift into each other nearly seamlessly, lending the piece(s) an infinite loop.

Click here to see it.
Also, click here to see the pieces on display.

I have probably watched this artwork slide by for about an hour now. It's hypnotizing. And think of all the work that's been put into it! For those of you who don't believe in the Metric system, there are approximately 144.3569556 feet in 44 meters. This painting is one-hundred and fourty-four feet long, guys. And six feet tall. I am humbled. The largest painting I've ever done has been able to fit under my arm. And I have little tiny arms.

Hopefully you enjoyed this tidbit of artistic achievement.

Painting with Kirai ("Shirtless Men and Dragons" edition)

2010-04-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

A while ago I painted this:

While I was painting it, I took screenshots of my progress on it. You might think it's interesting to see how I work, so here we go!

First, I started with a sketch. I freehanded it with little to no reference originally as a doodle, but I liked it so much that I decided to paint it. So I scanned it in to Painter X at 300dpi. Drew it with a mechanical pencil.

After that I began painting the background, which is seen almost completed in this shot. I used a reference photo for the canyons in the background, but the stone wall and dirt I just made up. Because really, how hard could drawing a brick wall be? (Haha, get it, "hard"?) It's actually more difficult than you'd think if you have art ADD like me. I had to work on that wall in tiny little bursts or else I'd get immensely bored. Painting DIRT, on the other hand... oh man, don't get me started.

After the background, I started painting Jerreith! (The hardly-clothed elven man with the perma-grimace.) Also: CRAZY PLANTS. I figure they're some sort of succulent, like a cactus. They were probably the most fun thing to paint out of this whole painting. I don't get it either.

Oh hey look, I fixed his torso! Now it looks remotely accurate, thanks to that (thankfully censored) reference photo. (See the layer named "scary"? Yeah, that reference picture was that frightening.) Anyway, Jerreith looks much more anatomically correct at this point. (Not like that! Get your mind out of the proverbial gutter.)

Here we see Jerreith's hair and eyes and stuff. I also scrapped that stupid-looking dagger and replaced it with, um, a stupid-looking punching blade thing. Weapons aren't my forte, alright?

In this shot the color red makes a guest appearance. I just mapped out the shadows and markings in this stage. Also, Jerreith sports a totally adorable necklace. D'aww.

See you later, sketch layer! Still working on Alcora, the snake-dog-dragon-dinosaur. Ok, she's a slindragon, but you wouldn't know that, since I made them up. Anyway, still plugging away. Here I've added some more dusty effects to make the pair look kind of ragged and traveled. Oh yeah, and somewhere along the lines of this, Jerreith got a loin cloth. OH BOY!

Holy jeez that sun is bright! I think this is where I finished it. I rather like this painting, and I hope you enjoyed watching me paint it, in a way.

Thanks for reading, and have a super spiffy day. :D

Art-Time at the Zoo

2010-04-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

Yes indeed!
My good, good friend and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo yesterday. I've been going to that zoo ever since I was about 4. The zoo is like a second home to me, it's one of the only public places where I can whole-heartedly myself and not worry about anything. It's almost like a stress reliever: meditation, even. When I bring my sketchbook, I can lose all of my thoughts just for a moment and become absorbed in the animals's beauty and complexity while I sketch or paint their likeness.
Another delightful part of the zoo is that every time I go, there seems to be something new on exhibit! This time around there was a exotic ground-bird exhibit (fowl, peafowl, pheasants, etc.) I had never seen this exhibit before, so I sat down and painted the most beautiful pheasant I have ever seen:

He (the golden pheasant) had free roam of the enclosure's path. And boy did he roam! I felt a little silly when I picked up my chair and had to scoot all around to get a good view of him so I could paint (at least a little) accurately. I'm still not satisfied with the gold color in my painting, but it does look better in real life, of course. My friend was drawing the other pheasant, who I thought ran just like a velociraptor from Jurassic Park.

We also went to see the Chilean flamingos!

Sleeping flamingos = easiest thing to draw ever.

Then, the birds and reptiles:

I'm pretty sure eyelash vipers are my favorite kind of snake. They have those adorable spiky eye crests and are the prettiest color yellow!

We also got to see a tiny little vine snake eat a live goldfish. He swallowed it whole and had a huge lump in his body-- SO cute. (Yes, cute!) I should have snapped a photo of it.

When we were at the wallaby exhibit, a little boy came running in, pressed his face to the glass, and shouted, "OH MOMMY, there are deer in here! Dead deer!"
To which his mother replied, "No, honey, they're not deer. Try again."
"...Buffalo?"
My friend and I busted out laughing. Children are hilarious, often without meaning to be. And that's saying a lot, since I'm really not fond of children in general.

But yeah, the zoo was amazing. I'm glad I was finally able to get paintings done of the animals, normally all I ever get are quick, sloppy pencil sketches.
I do declare another "zoo art" outing is in order for me.

Meet Tyke

2010-04-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

My college is doing an Earth Day tree-planting fundraiser today. I bought a baby douglas fir, whom I have fondly named Tyke. Here's a photo of him, isn't he cute?

Baby tree! *gush gush*
Today after I finish my homework (if I finish my homework) I'll find a nice spot to plant him. My back yard is way too small, and since we have 3 massive doug firs already, I'm going to have to find a nice place for him. Perhaps up by the elementary school, or in the green belt.
I don't normally do anything for Earth day, so this will be fun! What do you guys do for it? Or is it just like Administrative Professional's Day, where no one does anything ever, because it's a greedy ploy to guilt money out of consumers? Ok that might be a bit harsh...

If I didn't have homework, I'm sure I'd be out doing something like this:

I painted this on-site when I was camping in Idaho along the Salmon river. Every year my family and I go river-rafting (on a private tour, since my dad and his buddy were river guides for 20+ years). Last year I did a lot of painting, which was all sorts of fun! There's something incredibly charming and innocent about painting natural like this. It's not a photo, it's not a still life in a studio, it's real life. I painted until the sun set, completely in time with the rhythm of our world, at her mercy.
*ahem* My apologies, I got a little too cosmic for my own taste, there.
But that aside, happy Earth Day. I hope you can take time to appreciate our kickass planet.

Crazy Mane

2010-04-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

Finished my maned wolf painting!

It came out alright. I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to the salt-on-watercolor technique. Because just a plain old watercolor wash ISN'T ENOUGH! See, even Amy Brown knows this. Amy is an amazing watercolorist, and it's always fun to see her every summer at Browser's Books during the annual street fair.

Anyway, that is all I have to share at the moment. Thanks for reading. ;)

The Truth about Artistic Improvement

2010-04-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

It's all too often that I hear "I'll never be a good artist" or "my art is so lame compared to ____'s art" and "why can't I get better".
Stuff like that is garbage. Artists: you all have your own way of living, and therefore you all have your own way of creating art. Some people improve fast, some people take ten years to get to where they'd like to be in terms of skill level, and some people will never ever get to where they want to be. It's what I've come to know over the past 5 years of being a serious artist. It's the facts of life, and it's all we can do to just roll with the figurative punches. Art is an extension of ourselves: it's part of our identities. Accept who you are and learn to love it. Even though you might not be the next Michelangelo or Van Gogh, you're you, and that is something no one else can say. (Unless you have an evil twin who tries to take your place and elope with your lover. I have no advice for you, in that case.)
So, budding artists, do not despair. You will get better as long as you enjoy what you do and do it often.
Here, let me show you. Proof of artistic improvement!
These are pieces of my character Jerreith as he's evolved over the years. Click to full-view.

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

So next time you think you'll never get better, remember: as long as you enjoy the art you make, that is all that matters. Skill level is relative (and often trivial). But that's not to say don't try hard. If you want to be an amazing artist, go for it!

((UNRELATED!))
Here are some hilariously bad sketches I uncovered while tunneling through Mt. Oldart. Mt. Oldart is a relatively small mountain, receiving little snowfall and barely reaching Mt. Rainier's "butt". Some people have even called it just a really big hill. Either way, this is what I uncovered during my excavations.

Here we see naked dancing furries, terrible handwriting coupled with neopets fanart, and terrible terrible anime (can you believe I used 'kawaii'? If I could go back in time I would punch myself in the face for using 'kawaii').

My childhood and young adolescence were AWESOME, YOU GUYS.

Oh, and then there's this.

No comment.

I like chickens, Eddy!!

2010-04-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

Today's post brought to you by my friend Stark's computer! It's super cute and tiny, I feel like I could put it in my pocket and go jogging with it and not notice. But then again, my laptop is a monster (17"), so, there's that.

Anyway, I said I'd have a dragon drawing this time, but instead I bring you this.

Ah, art class. Our model ditched on us last minute, so our beginning sketchbook theme was "the invisible model". My teacher is pretty funny like that.
I also brought a massive bag of random collage supplies that I have obsessively hoarded over the past few months. (Collaging is addictive, if you don't like to collect and hoard, I'd recommend not doing it. ... Aw who am I kidding. Collage, you fools!) Anyway, everyone was really glad to have had the chance to use antique paper and photographs instead of dated fashion and gossip magazines. So I found a couple chicken-related things out of the piles and piles of stuff. Ribbons, photos, newspaper clippings, old drawings, thread, buttons, textured paper... it was a treasure trove of AWESOME. To me, anyway.
I came up with this. It might have a meaning or some deeper explanation, but to me, it's just because I think chickens are quite awesome animals. (I've got three of them, they are near and dear to my heart!) And if I were at my own computer, I would share photos of them.
But I have overstayed my welcome on Stark's adorable little baby laptop.
Toodles!

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter."

2010-04-18T23:32:00.000-07:00

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." E. E. Cummings

A while ago, I taped a fortune cookie fortune to my desk. It reads, "Never let an opportunity pass you by." That is very vague and cheesy-go-get-em-tiger, but it has reminded me to be more impulsive and less play-it-safe. Too often people have called me up asking to hang out and I have withdrawn into my cave (read: room).
Tonight, my friends M and J (haha, MJ, get it, like Spiderman's girlfriend? eh? no? ok, sorry...) called me up and we went on a magical journey to Wal Mart.
Now I really don't like Wal Mart, BUT, we had fun adventures romping around the craft section, playing with fake bananas, and throwing yarn. Wal Mart is big enough to do stuff like that and not get in trouble.
After that we went to Ihop, again, on a whim. We ate delicious junk food and laughed at practically nothing. The atmosphere was 80% laughing and 20% frivolous idea-formulating.
"What if we all bought fake bananas and randomly picked them up throughout the day and started talking into them?"
Sigh.
It's nights like this that I am very glad to be able to stay out late on school nights and (theoretically) not regret it in the morning.

Speaking of the morning! We are doing collages in art class. I'm excited to share all of my beautiful collaging materials with my classmates. Or, rather, the 4 Art 107 students. Tiniest class EVER, gosh I love college. <3

Sorry for the image-less update. Tomorrow I will likely have some dragons for you.

Charlies

2010-04-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have so much to share! But I promise this is my last post for today.
Thanks to The Dainty Squid, I found this odd drawing application: play with it. According to The Dainty Squid, this program is a drawing tool that "makes you look like you have mad skills, even if you don't". I feel that it's a good description.
At first the application was fun to play with and I was impressed at its abilities to accurately and effectively fill spaces and such. A lot can be achieved by one simple stroke of the mouse (or tablet).
Here's what I came up with.

See, I have a trio of animal skulls that I adore.
A spotted skunk, a badger, and a coyote (seen above).
Skulls (particularly animals) hold my artistic attention more than anything I've ever drawn. It all started with designing gothic cartoon characters wearing skull masks, then copying pictures out of science books. Then I bought skulls of my own. They've appeared in several of my pieces since then. Come to think of it, let's compile a timeline of my skull buddies right now!

Skull 1: Coyote.

Coyote was my first. He is special because of his missing tooth in the front left, just after the canine. I love him terribly!

Skull 2: Skunk.

Skunk was, of course, second. He is often pictured in more lighthearted and cute pictures. (I use "cute" very lightly.)

Skull 3: Badger.

Badger is my newest and turning out to be my favorite. The proportions of badger skulls are so beautiful.

Animal skulls, at first, may seem creepy. And I get a lot of weird looks when I tell people that I collect them. People associate dead animal parts as creepy, cruel, and gross.
To me, I am immortalizing these particular animals with art. They will be remembered and honored as beautiful beings long after they were trapped or hunted. And to me, that's doing them a great service.
Perhaps that's why I enjoy drawing and painting animal skulls so much-- or maybe it's just because they're so gosh darn fun to illustrate. It is likely both. :)

The d10 of Fate

2010-04-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

Today I shall set my plan into motion: The d10 of Fate. (d10 = ten-sided dice) I have a list of 10 artistic, constructive, enriching activities. When I find myself done with a day's work, I shall roll my d10, and it shall tell me what number on the list I should occupy my time with.

My list consists of this:
1. Paint/draw something
2. Write (my book)
3. Bake
4. Read a book
5. Sculpt
6. Walk, hike, or explore
7. Sew
8. Clean
9. Play with an animal
10. (free space for any short-term endeavor)

I'm starting this plan so that instead of bumming around on silly websites, I'll actually get something done! I'll force myself to obey the dice's every whim.
I am on my quest for productivity! Hoo-hah!

Aloe Vera is my Best Friend

2010-04-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

Burns are healing nicely, but I have to go to work again today. I'll volunteer to do all of the cleaning instead of frying, this time around!

That aside, here are some art things.

You can tell a lot about an artist by the way they paint.
Me... I'm an impulsive, impatient, messy painter who likes to let the paint wanter and do as it pleases across my little plastic folding palette. (I adore this palette, no joke. Some of these watercolor blobs are 3 years old. Watercolors last forever!)

I once heard of a painter who used acrylics. He would put each shade, tint, and hue of every single color he could imagine in little cups, perfectly measured and ready for him to dip into whenever he needed an incredibly accurate painting. That's the closest, I think, that traditional painting gets to digital painting. That artist is Michael Whelan, the fantasy artists who did most of the paintings for the Dragonriders of Pern series.

And here's my latest painting I'm working on:

I'm a huge fan of maned wolves (or kalaks). They're incredibly fun to draw, but most of all: exaggerate. Those long legs and scruffy black manes are too irresistible for me to not play with visually.
Every artist has their common subjects. Mine happen to be maned wolves, animal skulls, and skeleton keys.

Already, A New Post

2010-04-16T21:33:00.001-07:00

Yes! I was checking my updates on DA the other night and came across this magical photograph.

Her name is Peggy, and she is a caracal living at the Oregon Zoo. Caracals are a wild species of cat who live around Western Asia and Africa. Something interesting about caracals are that their pupils are round, not slits (like other cats).
And check out those ears!
When I first saw this photo, I immediately thought of an Egyptian hieroglyph. The ears curved to make a shape like those headdresses Egyptian gods wear. Like this (figure on right):

The lady who took Peggy's photo above is a really awesome animal photographer. She hangs about the Oregon Zoo and documents the lives of the animals there, it's really quite fun to get to know all of the animals through her beautiful photography. Check her gallery out here!

Well...

2010-04-16T19:36:00.001-07:00

My first post on this blog is under slightly hilarious circumstances. Today at work, a piece of fried chicken fell into the fryer oil and splashed my face. Got some pretty epic burns. But it's cool, I get to rub this crazy green jelly stuff all over my face and it takes the pain away. Woot!

That aside, I think I'll start the blog with something more like that of a high school essay's first paragraph. A very awesome teacher once told me how to formulate an essay: "Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them". This is clearly the tell them what you're going to tell them phase.

I made this blog for a few reasons.
A) I thought it would be a way more fun alternative to keeping up to date with my DeviantArt account. DA is such a large website, anyhow, I have as many pageviews as a 13-year-old Sonic the Hedgehog fan-fiction writer. No joke. And that is sad.
B) I've always wanted to blog. I'm an artist and a writer, so I feel like I could bring something fairly interesting to the table.
C) Blogs are distinguished, easy to update, and more professional looking. And it's more user-friendly for people who don't want to thumb through DA or my barely-updated gallery.

So, as things happen in my life, I'll update more. If I do some writing, I'll post snippets of it. If I finish a piece of art, I'll post it. If I find a cool artist or article or anything, I'll post it.
Feel free to comment and criticize. If you're mean, though, I'll probably make fun of you and delete your comment. (I don't expect much attention, though.)
Anyway, thanks for reading!