The witch-mother and the husband-prince had one thing in common--the desire to possess Rapunzel. Rapunzel represents the billions of young women who are treated as property by their families and husbands, and by society as a whole. Rapunzel's life is not her own--she is merely the vessel of her proprietors' demands, their dreams, their desires. They imprison Rapunzel and strip her naked. They fetishize her hair, symbol of her virginity. They clutch at her ripe breasts. They clench the promise of her womb between their prying, possessive palms. She sits still and silent in the darkness of her isolation, but in this darkness the seeds of rage, the spores of rebellion grow--like dank, glossy white mushrooms, they do not need sunlight, they flourish in the wet dirt, lavished with tears. Her repression and confinement is coming to an end. Rapunzel chooses her own path, her own purpose.

She will rise.

"Rampion Rising", oil on canvas, 24" x 34"

This painting began as most of them do--a vision, a blip of an idea, which I then pursued without knowing the full depth of its significance. As I worked on it, though, its meaning became clearer. The name "Rapunzel"  is thought to refer to Campanula rapunculus, an edible plant known as "rampion" in English. Both its leaves and roots may be eaten and its flower is a light blue or violet. Someday I hope to try some!

I still haven't quite gotten the knack of taking pictures of my paintings in our new place--it seems like the ideal light (at least in winter) is between 2:45 and 3:15 PM, and it's often cloudy! At any rate, it's pretty much done. I'm mostly happy with the results, but for next time, I will work on drawing the viewer into the painting as opposed to having the painting leap out at the viewer.

So, here it is. The final of "Leviathan Queen". There's a slight glare, so some of the darks are off. I'll retake the photo once I put a coat of Galkyd on it. I'll do that once I feel truly done...well, correction: I'll never feel truly done with it, but I've moved it down to the dining room so that it's out of my studio. Sometimes seeing a painting in a different environment helps me pick out little things that need to be fixed--and I do mean little, I'm not making anymore big changes to it. I just want to make sure that no edges that need fixing up, that's all...and with a piece this large, it's easy to miss stuff like that.

"Leviathan Queen", oil on canvas, 60" x 40"

Anyway, yeah...it's done. Am I 100% happy with it? No. This was started a year and a half ago, and I've learned a lot since then. Composition-wise, I think it is better than how it started it out, but I wished I had used a more restrained color palette--mostly earth tones with the occasional bright color. I think this piece would be have been more visually coherent that way. I also think it could have benefited from a looser, more "painterly" approach. Ah, well--it's done and I've learned a ton. Best to move on--Rapunzel has been waiting all alone in her tower for months!

As the new job starts to settle down and become a bit more manageable (a bit), I'm getting back to my oils. Leviathan Queen is looooooong overdue, and it was really enjoyable to finally get back to her this past weekend--I literally had to dust her off before I started laying paint down again, though!

"Leviathan Queen"...closing in on the final phase!

It's been so long since I've posted any real updates on her, I'm not sure anyone will be able to see the progress without going all the way back to my posts from last year! It's weird, but it always seems like she's looking at me, no matter where I'm standing in the room. That's called resentment.

In other news, here's a new mini:

"Eye of Butterfly"

"Eye of Butterfly" - partial side view

This is actually a gift for a friend, but I will be adding it to my Etsy shop as a made-to-order item.

And finally, a digital study from today:

"Pumpkin Stem"

'Tis the season, right?! I made some pumpkin, lentil and potato soup and saved this. (I pre-cooked my pumpkin in a crock pot instead of the oven--totally worked! Don't poke it or anything, just put 2 cups of water in with it and cook on high--I honestly don't remember for how long, though...maybe three hours?) I realized one of my big issues with digital painting is that when I'm painting stuff out of my head, I just can't seem to get myself to push and sharpen the values the same way I can with oil--how am I going to overcome this? By doing lots of still-life studies! I think I'll do a buckeye next.

So, last night I had the idea that I should do a warm-up painting this morning, taking just an hour to create a loose rough--a painting "sketch", so to speak. Well, that plan failed--I became completely absorbed and spent the better part of my day working on it. Ah, well--I'll try again and hopefully I'll be more efficient next time!

"Una and the Elephant King"

And here's another new one! This is a little oil on a 6" x 6" panel--a special gift for One&Only's brand new office! :)

"Pair Bonding Ritual of the Dragon Caterpillar Tree"

Last week I had the pleasure of watching Wes Burt demo some concept art--it was very inspiring and prompted me to try out digital painting with a much looser technique at the start.  Here is the result (based on a pencil sketch from a month or so ago):

"Pelagic Hominid"

So, hey...it's me again.  I just started a new job that, unfortunately, has nothing to do with painting, but on the other hand should require less of a time commitment in the long run that my previous one. It's going to be rough over the next few weeks, however, as I try to get settled into it. I am fortunate to have been offered this position and am determined to do my best, but man...I'm really missing making art. Plus, I have my own wee art studio now that I have yet to get to a chance to really work in!

The Leviathan Queen has taken on an air of reproach...

There's actually a second window to the left, so I get lots of light!

Rapunzel is getting tired of waiting on me, too...

A friend posted this to my Facebook not too long ago (click to enlarge):

I grew up on Calvin & Hobbes, Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics; my dad has practically the whole collection of Calvin & Hobbes as well as two vintage hardcover collections of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, and my sister and I share a collection of paperback comics.  I think Calvin & Hobbes might have influenced my personality/outlook on life quite a bit.  As for Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck, well, when I was little, they were all about adventure.  As an adult with a B.A. in anthropology, they are very entertaining examples of ethnocentrism, even racism--it's really interesting to read through them now, especially the older ones.  For starters, whenever they traveled into a magical or foreign kingdom, the way the artists drew the indigenous peoples was...less than flattering shall we say; and of course, women seldom played any role in them at all--Daisy only rarely made an appearance, and the woman I remember most is Magica De Spell, one of Scrooge McDuck's arch-nemeses...

Anyway, not art-related at all...I know.  At the moment, I update my Twitter more often, so follow me!

I sincerely apologize for the lack of updates--some big, exciting life changes are happening right now....I will be back with news and progress pics as soon as I am able! In the meantime, enjoy the beginnings of summer!

Well, I hope you're ready for some more Conundra because I decided the image needed to "pop" way more, and I also figured I would post some process pics (even though I forgot to make JPEG's right in the middle). This piece, like so many others, has been a learning experience. I realized how useless it is to work zoomed in greater in than 100% and how most of the work for a successful piece really should be done at 50%. Another pitfall of digital painting is for everything to look much softer and blurrier than it should be--my tendency is to use soft brushes and blend, which I really need to get away from. I need to learn to apply the bigger, harder brushes, and crisper lines. It's interesting because I don't think I have this problem with oil painting...

I really tried to push the values more and crispen up the lines.

You can see here how I completely forget to make JPEG's right as things were getting interesting!

Woman Made Gallery is shipping out "It's Not a Phase" next week, so I spent some time pondering the piece and made a little drawing to thank the buyers:

The title is "Pas de chaperon, pas de rouge", which translates to "No hood, no red", but "rouge" could also refer to "rouge à lèvres" (lipstick)...  I would have to agree with this new reincarnation of Little Red Riding Hood...never much cared for lipstick myself!  :)

So, "Rapunzel" is coming along--I've got to work in some the detail on the chair before moving on to the figure itself.  I'll post an update just for her soon.

In the meantime, I took a break from oils and did a little digital painting over the weekend. Meet Conundra.  She is not a superhero.  She is not a supervillain.  I imagine her mythology to be similar to Superman's, but not as goody-goody.  She is not actually human, but rather an alien entity that assumes the shape of a female human.  When she arrives upon Earth, she does not like what she finds, and all are subjected to her judgement.

Now, the question is, would Conundra prefer to blue or purple?  :)

I am now on Etsy!  Woohoo!

Also, thanks to my fiancé's hard work and patience, my website is new and improved!

Some pics of various works in progress:

A progress detail of "Leviathan Queen"

First layer of color for Rapunzel

An upcoming addition to my Etsy shop

The lighting was good when I got home from work, so I took a picture of my "Rapunzel" drawing for my portfolio!

So, I was slightly aghast when I realized how small my upcoming piece is going to be--the canvas itself is still on the large side, but the figure is much smaller than those in a lot of my previous work.  Is this an oncoming Adventure and Learning Experience I smell?  :P

Pencil drawing on canvas

Pencil drawing outlined with brown ink

First wash layer of burnt umber

I'll probably add at least one more wash before starting in with the preliminary values.  "Leviathan Queen" is being shy, but you can see there has been some progress, notably the shell on the bottom right.

I must think of a title for my "Rapunzel" piece...it'll probably pop into my head out of the blue like my titles usually do.

In other news, I received a very helpful review of my portfolio website from Awesome Horse Studios.  There are a lot of changes that need to be implemented, and I've been meaning to revamp the website for a while now.  I'm so grateful for their advice and comments--it'll set me in the right direction for the new version!

I had a silly idea and went with it.  The future of fantasy fiction is in "flash fiction memes" (I hope not)!

Just finished the second detailed drawing in preparation for my Rapunzel painting.  I did about 6 or 7 loose pencil sketches, a preliminary detailed drawing in which I discovered several errors, and now this one!  Phew.  Now to transfer what I've learned to the painting...!

 

I'll take a nice close-up shot of this for my portfolio later this weekend if the lighting is good.

Went to the Art Institute this past week to draw my favorite sculpture during my lunch break.  Seriously, I think I'm in love with her. :)

The final sketch after bringing it home

It was just about time for me to head back to work when this kid ran up to me (maybe 12 years old?) and said, "Here!"  He handed me the drawing he had done of me while I was sketching!  Not bad at all no less! Can you imagine how good he's going to be as he gets older?!  He was shy and ran off before I could tell him something rueful like "Keep drawing no matter what! Even if you don't think you want to become an artist...because you could change your mind!"

A kid's portrait of me while sketching

Evening, folks. Here are two progress photos of "Leviathan Queen" from my Sunday morning session:

As I mentioned previously, this piece has been a bit of a trial. Something I think I could have pulled off better a couple years from now...and it would have been wise to try it a bit smaller!

Now, for the "minis":

I think I'm going to shoot for a quintet and then put them up on Etsy when they're done.

And finally, for those of you to whom I've already mentioned it, "Rapunzel" is coming up soon. Canvas has been stretched (under the supervision of Rory) and gessoed, and now I'm forcing myself to do several sketches and a tight drawing before diving into the painting (like I am prone to do).

A very flattering review: http://make-space.net/2012/03/08/review-three-shows-at-woman-made-gallery/.  Too pleased for words! :)

So, if I could find a GIF right now of someone running around in circles screaming with excitement, that's what I would post...because guess what!  "It's Not a Phase" has been sold!  I could not be more flattered and delighted.

That is all.

Two updates!

First off, "It's Not a Phase" is currently being exhibited (through April 26th) at Woman Made Gallery.  It's a lovely exhibit with some really fantastic pieces, and astonishingly enough, I was the recipient of 4th prize (honorable mention)!

Secondly, I am featured on Chicago Contemporary Figurative Art!

Serious woah.

In other news, I keep meaning to take a pic of progress on the "Leviathan Queen", but never remember until late at night when the lighting is no good!  Sorry about that.

Ok, so UPDATE. "Leviathan Queen" is being...extremely difficult.  Basically, if I hadn't taken those couple months off where I did a bunch of digital, this piece would already be done--it would have been ok, not great, but ok.  Now that I've come back to it, though, with new knowledge, I just can't get past the errors and keep seeing things wrong with it.  I need to stop repainting stuff and just finish it already!

On the bright side, I stretched a new canvas and am looking forward to beginning a new oil in one of my favorite themes--fairy tale subversion. This time: Rapunzel.

Also, took some photos a few weeks ago--I want to do a very realist still life.  I figure there's a lot I could learn from that.

To keep me going through my trials with "Leviathan Queen", I've painted two mini paintings--lots of fun!  Thinking I might try to sell them for $15 apiece on Etsy.

Finally, a bit of digital--my next panel of "Origin".  Looking back at the third panel, me thinks it may be a good idea to repaint that with a looser style like this one.  This panel still needs work, though, so I'll have another whack at it in a couple days.

Stay tuned!

So, I heard about the free "Winter Weekdays" at the Art Institute of Chicago a bit late, but once I had, I went during my lunch break everyday!  Here are 5 lunch breaks worth of sketches of my favorite sculpture:

Lunch Break Sketch - Day 1

Lunch Break Sketch - Day 2

Lunch Break Sketch - Day 3

Lunch Break Sketch - Days 4 & 5

I love drawing this sculpture--she is so peaceful-looking.  Is my mind playing tricks on me, or did each sketch get a wee bit better with each attempt?  It did become easier to sketch out more of her body at a quicker pace; with the first sketch, I immediately wanted to draw her face, but the next day I realized that was silly because I need to work on figure drawing more than anything else!

Tried my hand at some fan art for an online challenge/contest.  Learned quite a bit in the process, but it was terribly humbling to see the other submissions! o_O

Final



Thumbnail Sketches

Process

...and now you know what a chinchilla, an owl and a little girl have in common: they all love My Neighbor Totoro!

Worked all day on "Leviathan Queen"!  See below for a detail...I love working in oil after several days of digital.

Finished this last night--(photo) study of my sister as a toddler.  I didn't quite manage to capture her likeness! :\

Upcoming: how a toddler, an owl and a chinchilla all come together!  Hopefully...

And then I really need to get back to the next panel of "Origin" (still working on "Leviathan Queen", too)!

 Chinchilla (photo) study

Great horned owl (photo) study

So...you may be wondering what a chinchilla and a great horned owl have in common.  Well, I can't tell you just yet, but you'll find out soon! ;)