It’s the beginning of solstice, the real, actual, determined-by-math halfway point of winter. I begin my solstice now, and until the 21st. I wish you all warm and happy days with people you love. And a happy holiday, whichever one you pick.
http://earthsky.org/earth/everything-you-need-to-know-december-solstice
I miss watching Female Trouble a few times a week.
It was the first movie I had ever seen that completely acknowledged how I felt about life, that made perfect sense to me. It was reassuring in all the right ways and it influenced my speech, my life in fact. It made me feel all right about being a xenophile, and being unable to fit in. We were strange people and the world shit on us regularly- and somehow this movie made it all ok, because it meant there was a whole world of other strange people out there, and they all had been through it and survived.
And yes, it came out in 1974- around when I was born(ish). But I saw it in 1989 and that for me is the era I associate it with, being that I was only a toddler when it was made.
The Horrors is a frightening collection of cryptids, monsters, and ghosts from around the world, drawn in crisp black ink, ready for you to color! I started collecting ideas for creatures to draw about a year ago, and thanks to a large group of people who enjoy the paranormal and the weird, I had a long list of possible monsters to whittle down! After finishing ten of the sketches in pen and ink, I decided to expand the horror art into a book. For each of the 30 nightmares, there is a short story explaining their origins and history.
I may be a strong skeptic, but there is something I love about these monsters. Anything horrifying, that goes bump in the night, intrigues me and makes me happy.
There are no franchised TV or movie monsters in this book; only myth, folklore, ghosts, and cryptids that exist outside the universe of fiction.
Here’s the link to the project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1390602110/the-horrors-coloring-book-of-cryptids-ghosts-and-m
And here are a few of the illustrations included in the book (there are thirty.)
I’ll post a full list of the monsters for backers on the ks site as we get closer to print!
Mixing your own browns is actually really fun. (more…)
![CAM03293[1]](http://resonanteye.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/cam032931.jpg?w=225)
Starting my sketches and tinting some paper for him. He’s going to be a ginger cutie.
I think this is number 18, in the animal series.
I know, you’re shy! It’s ok, so am I.
Posting your art online can feel very exposing, much like a gallery show. Posting it to social media or other sites can feel scary; and a lot of the time the fear of negative response keeps people from presenting their work online. You don’t have to be afraid, though. Yes, you may get negative responses to your work. You may get criticisms, or even personal jabs at you. But there are benefits to posting online that definitely outweigh the emotional turmoil these things can cause.
I’m still not quite sure how I feel about working so small. I do like the idea of people without a lot of spare cash being able to own my art, though. So with a little nudge from some friends, I decided to paint a few.
I had done a few mini deer paintings before. I’m thinking of doing more- does anyone collect tiny art? What sizes do you like? I don’t even know how much to price things at, that are this small.
Do you paint mini-size, or ACEOs? What’s been your experience with them? I find it really hard, because for things like this I usually use a round nib on an ink-dip pen, and had to use such a tiny nib- also I am accustomed to doing BIG soft washes, so switching down to tiny-brush-size felt a bit odd too.
I suppose I will wait and see how much people want them too, before I make up my mind!
Let me know in the comments, if you have any thoughts about small media. I have a few more tiny frames for new ones.
Originally Published on: Mar 19, 2012
St. Roch is the patron saint of dogs.
He is also a preventer of the plague.
he remained behind during the plague to treat people; he himself became ill. he went into the forest to die, but a dog (who is not named in any story) brought him bread and licked his wounds, saving him.
This is made from a grey fox skull, sea urchins, rockdove wings, and quilling done with paper I made myself. the tattered roses are preserved in glycerin and poly so they will stay just as they are. All mounted in a gilded frame.
I’ve got another quilling project in the works, I’ll post some progress shots this week.
For those of you who prefer actual ink on paper.
The book of essays goes to print tomorrow, there’ll be a kindle edition of that one as well. Pick one up! Or get both, that’d be awesome too. Or share the link with people who like poetry, the kooky bastards.
I’m pretty excited about all this. I’d never have done it without prodding, but now that it’s done and published I feel good about it. I’ll post links to the second book tomorrow once it goes live, and probably put a few new paintings up later tonight too (I have one or two things almost finished)
The third book in the series will be mostly images: that one won’t be out til nearer the end of the month. And I am planning a kickstarter this month, for the horror coloring book, I’ll update when both of those projects begin!
Originally Published on: Oct 4, 2013
just another negative asshole on the internet
I was reading someone’s site earlier, an artist someone pointed me to for ‘ideas about selling more art’. The artist makes good stuff, illustrative art made from collage, very design-y, very positive and girly. It’s good art. Their art is on all kinds of stuff.
So I started reading their posts, and reading through their archives, and looking at the stuff they’re doing. And holy hell, talk about happy positivity and sugar smiles. Not a single negative thought, or statement. Not a droplet of anger, or unhappiness. I mean this girl is sweet as pie. Her life is made of rainbows and cupcakes. She’s never posted about being poor, or being sick, or being lonely. Not once. She’s pretty, she’s only a bit younger than me, she’s always encouraging, she has not a single personality flaw. And she’s nice about it too. She has her stuff licensed for home decor things, and has other companies wholesaling it or retailing it, and sells only originals here and there if the whim comes.
Listen, you guys. I see people like this, and I start to feel so shitty on myself. Like- I watch horror movies, and I curse, and I get negative. I’m often poor and sometimes sick and always a little off-kilter. I have done things wrong in my life and will likely continue to be fucked up in new and surprising ways on a regular basis. Sometimes I get in arguments, or drunk, or say things that are crass or offensive. I’m extremely imperfect and not always a good person.
And so, if I am not sweetness and light, how the fuck can I ever succeed? Success seems to require this…this peachy keen persona, this happy-up vibe and I just cannot do it, can’t fake it. Even if I could there’s decades of evidence for all my failures and bad behaviors! I mean…I don’t even know how one lives without troubles and fuckups and bad times. I couldn’t even write this post without cursing. I don’t even know if that can be real. But apparently it is real, and there are people like that, and they make GOBS of money on their works, without even doing much actual work.
Cupcakes-and-sunshine people discourage me. I don’t know what to do now. This should be an inspiring post, but the more I read there the more I realized I will NEVER have that kind of following, that kind of draw. I’ll NEVER be a nice happy positive person that nice old ladies want to chat about at some frilly gift shop, it will just NOT happen. There are no major contracts for wholesaling in my future, there will be no fluffy bunny pillows at your local department store with my name on them, you can exit through the gift shop but my work isn’t for sale there.
I can try as hard as I want, encourage others to try, but in the long run, I’m still a negative asshole, and I still get depressed, go broke, have toothaches, and offend people. I love what I do but I also love to read true crime, look at gross and gory pictures, watch shitty horror movies and make fun of stuff. Do we have to be perfect to succeed? Do we have to grovel?
This life, how do people live it?
So then I go look elsewhere for something else to read. I hit on an article talking about Van Gogh and how great it is that his work has so much recognition, how high the prices are at auction. Man, he’s dead. He died broke and miserable. And wasn’t some of his work “cultural appropriation”? All those japanese masks and flowers… also, dude was negative, unhappy, self-destructive, and all the rest.
Since reading and thinking about art didn’t cheer me up any, I’m going to watch Body Bags- and maybe a couple other shitty horror movies- and snuggle the dog.
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