On The Burner: Sleeping Beauty

Just like most right-brained people, I love to start projects. Finishing is a little more challenging. I decided I wanted something to go along with my Red Riding Hood paintings. So, I started my version of Sleeping Beauty.

That's just a preview of the face. It's going to be almost a full body shot. Right now she looks like she popped out of the 1960's. I'll fix that later. 

Her skin colors were inspired by this:

No, I am not a Twihard. But I have to admit they did a good job making Kristen Stewart look striking.

And in other sparkly news, since Bambi tried to take out my car, I am now test driving a sparkly crimson minivan. Yes, the dealer actually told me to take it home and drive it for a couple days. As my oldest son said, "I love this car! (pause) And Jesus!" Amen.

Friends in High Places

Remember Mousiekins?

Well, apparently he had friends in high places. *cough*Bambi*cough* One of them tried to take out Daddy the Destroyer today while he was on his way to work.

My car now looks a bit like this:

No, this is not actually my car. It's too dark out for a decent picture, but this is pretty much what my car looks like right now. Le sigh. 

Even in death, Mousiekins taunts me...

Here's Yer Sign!

TA DA! Recognize this? Oh yeah, that's right! That's my art on a glowing sign! I'm so proud. Felt kind of like having a baby, "He's so beautiful..." *sniffle*

For those who don't recognize my little farmer boy, here's a recap: I was commissioned by a friend to color some line art for his restaurant. I came up with this:

They did end up tweaking it a bit. They changed the wheel a little, colored the shirt red, and let the poor boy eat chicken instead of a burger. (Hey, chicken is healthier, right?) 

I am definitely one proud parent! ;)

On the Burner...

Here's what's cookin' on the burner this week:

I worked on it for about an hour last night. It's the companion piece to this:

It was really fun to paint and coming together quickly. I made this little square brush with rounded corners and slightly softened edges. It paints really nicely and reminds me more of oil painting. And thank goodness, because I'm having some oil painting withdrawals! 

I don't oil paint much (okay, like almost never) because it's such a pain in the rear to get all of my supplies out and then put them back away again. I mean, set up and clean up time are at least 30 to 45 minutes, whereas it takes me 2 min to paint digitally!

Still, I miss the way that oils blend and the beautiful look they give a painting. I'm going to have to take time to do some more oil painting I guess. :)

Farewell Mousiekins

Let's have a moment of silence for Mousiekins the Bold.

Poor Mousiekins met his untimely end not in a mouse trap, but by the hands of Daddy the Destroyer. You see, when Daddy went to open the shed, Mousiekins popped out and ran down Daddy's arm in a scene that looked a lot like this:

I'll spare you the details of Mousiekin's death, but let me just say I'm glad to be mouse free. For now. 

More pictures, less talk

Before I share my latest art piece, let me say that I accomplished much today. The house got a thorough cleaning-- not because I'm super wife, but because I couldn't find my favorite shoes. Yeah, that's sad, I know. But I picked up toys, moved furniture, vacuumed, and scrubbed dusty walls until I found them underneath my husband's laptop case...

...in the living room. Sometimes I amaze myself.

I'm kind of addicted to painting these paper cut out pieces: 

Today I started wondering if I could make something in this style that adults would like, too. So, in the Halloween spirit, I did this:

I really like it. I want to make a companion painting for it-- maybe a dapper dude in a tux with a top hat or Phantom-of-the-Opera kind of mask. What do you think?

Russia!

The coolest thing about this blog is my stats. Seriously.

Blogger breaks it down. Not only do I see how many views I get per day (drawn on a cool graph), but I can see what countries they're from. I have people from Russia reading my blog!

RUSSIA!

International stardom, anyone? Okay, just kidding! Please don't curse me and stop reading!

In other news... We have a guest in our house. I call him Mousiekins the Bold. He's a lovely light brown mouse who has made himself quite comfortable in our kitchen, even darting across the room in the middle of the day. I suppose he wouldn't be quite so bold if he new who he was staying with. 

That's right, Mousiekins. Meet your nemesis--Mama the Murderer and her henchman, Daddy the Destroyer. There's a reason you're the only mouse guest here.