Reds and Gold

This one was a blast to work on! After all this time I got my gold metallic pen to work! Was so excited it didn't crap out on me either ^_^ I probably should have picked a darker red for the second red but I didn't want to risk messing with it too much and then hating it.

Aqua, Yellow, Pink

Because those are the colors I was following :D

I am definitely scanning this tomorrow because the colors aren't showing to well but I am so darn pleased with this first attempt. Three colors but seven markers since the color palette isn't as strict as the last three. ACEO size seems to work quite well so I don't know if I'll try anything larger. Maybe later...like way later :D

So here is something slightly amusing. I am using Prismacolor markers for the main bits, the black outline is actually Prismacolor ink pens, and for the longest time I only used Prismacolor pencils. Yeah just call me the Prismacolor poster child! But seriously, those ink pens are awesome ^_^

Eye See You

So, this is suppose to be a flamingo eye. I wanted to try something real and I really don't care for it. If I was going to do a bird I guess it wasn't the best choice for a close up :D

Another dragon eye, this will make the last eye. I was getting bored on this one and really not trying to put much effort into it. Think I'm going to "zoom out" and do full heads now as I still experiment with the markers. I really should try this out with water color pencils too...

Playing With Markers

Figured it has been awhile since I messed with prisma markers and when I did I never really tried to do anything great with them. So thought it was time to drag them back out and see what I could do. Starting off small, I only used three colors for this, I think I'm going to follow the color schemes for the Summer of Colors deal to play around with.

Tattoo Ideas #1

Title is an indication that there may be more ideas in the future. That is without a doubt.

So the theme for this round of tattoos is Moon and Sun. I started with the hubby's moon first because I wasn't sure how many ideas I was going to have to throw at him before he pounced on one. Imagine my surprise when round one (with four to look at) was all the further I had to go.
These two were turned down because he knew I wouldn't want to match my sun to something like them (thank goodness!) Don't get me wrong, I like skulls but I don't love them like he does.
So I am throwing them out here for others to enjoy or get an idea off of. I won't be showing the one he chose till it is inked onto his skin :)Unfortunately that's going to be awhile :D

Speaking of tattoos on skin here is the one I got last month, I apologize for the blurriness but person with camera doesn't have very steady hands :)

I designed it, the tattooist suggested the detailing as I had the design plain. I liked it so bam here it is on my right shoulder.

Small Cross Stitch

Only took me a little under two weeks as it is a little 6in x 6in. Debating if I want to hang it up or not.

FR Dragon

"Linna"
8.5in x 8.5in
Derwent colorsoft pencils on mat board

One of my Flight Rising dragons, Linna. She is a first generation lucky hatch that I have proudly added Genes to. The background is actually the markings that are on her wings.

There are a lot of mess ups on this and I know what mistakes I made but I left it go as a visual reminder what not to do next time. Think I'm going to be waiting a while before doing another color surfaced piece as the blue was really throwing me off when trying to get my colors right.

Guardian Dragon Cross Stitch

It's finished! I decided I don't care if I can't get the real color of the fabric to show, so long as you can see this beast is done. I think I may have found more of the fabric on Ebay buuut I didn't pursue it; I would probably drive myself crazy trying to find another subject that would look good on it.

Shhhh don't tell anyone but I started a drawing! We shall say no more in fear of jinxing self and not being able to finish it and we want to finish it!! :)

Dragon WIP

I want to say it was about two weeks ago I took my dragon cross stitch outside on a sunny day to get a picture. This did not help bring out the copper fabric at all.

I think it looks horrid there. So the other day I tried lighting in a different room and got this:

Next I am going to stick it in the blasted scanner and see what happens. There is no win with this fabric and this recent photo may be the closest you'll be able to tell it's color.

Dragon Cross Stitch

The lighting in my house is terrible for photos, when it isn't raining out (like it is now) I will have to take the next picture then so you can really see and appreciate the lovely copper color of this fabric. It breaks my heart knowing they don't make them shimmery like this anymore (that I have seen). This is the guy that it will turn into:

It is a 12in x 18in. sooo it might take me a bit :D

FR Dragon

This is Two, my Tundra dragon. He is wearing a scarf because what if they just need that little bit extra to stay warm? Probably shouldn't have used a red mat board for this one but oh well :D
-Finally- used my Derwent coloursoft pencils, I didn't think they were going to be THAT soft.

Finished Pieces

Got a few things done finally and since I have this entire week off (not my choice) maybe I'll get some other things accomplished.

Drew these up for a co-worker. She has the blessed/cursed part on her wrist but the artist messed it up and she wants to have it redone to cover up the crappy job. She told me her idea for the theater masks and I offered to draw it. She was torn on which way she wanted it done :D

I had been working on this little guy when I was getting sick of the bigger piece. Sometimes I just needed a break from the serpent but I still wanted to cross stitch. This Flareon is for sale and will be available once I open my Etsy store :)

The best for last! The Serpent is finally finished!! So glad I got it done within three months. I already know what my next big piece is but I won't be starting it for another month as I need a break and I still need the right color cloth for it.

Right now I am working on a biscornu. It is going to be a small one for myself but it will be an interesting change of pace when I go to put it together.

Don't Know What To Put Here, Sorry

My wrist got really sore this weekend so I am taking a break from cross stitching this week and figured I would do an update on here.

From the looks of it, I will have this done waaay before November! I am hoping to finish it by the end of June so that I can start on the husband's request which he wants done by Christmas.

Some beautiful tulips made it out this spring that we had planted in the fall. We were surprised at some of the colors we got.

We expanded our garden this year to twice as long and had no trouble filling it! The two I really hope come out well are the carrots and the red butter crunch lettuce, yummy!!

Also I recently got my first tattoo! A bit sad what my first had to be but this way my fur baby is with me forever.

I took a copy of his actually paw print with me and that was used for it. I will most likely do this for all my pups when they pass, they are my children :)

Since I won't be cross stitching myself to death this week, I will be working on drawings. I have a tattoo design to make for a co-worker, and I really want to draw a dragon. I'm getting the dragon itch again.

One Down, Three To Go

"Eye of the Stormfly"
3.5 in x 2.5 in
Prisma Colored pencil on mat board

So I finally finished this piece and I couldn't be happier. This is a terrible picture taken of it, I will probably scan it later this week to get a better quality image of it. I am debating whether to spray it was gloss or matte fixative.
I already have the next eye lined up but I still want to finish my three other unfinished pieces of art. I think I am going to work on the dragonfly cat.

Back on Track

I am hoping I am back on track now after teetering the past few months, not being mentally able to work on art. Before spring is my worst; I have to wean off my winter meds, cabin fever is running rampant, and you can't do anything yet cause it is still too damn cold.

Now though I have been working on art a little here and there till I start to get the feel for it. Right now my big deal is that I am disappointed in myself for letting so many decent drawings go unfinished. So my goal at the moment is to finish them and I am surprised which one I went back to first.

Even though it is so small, it is taking me so long because there is so much detail in the piece. I have never done something like it before.

If I loved HTTYD art before, my respect for it has escalated tremendously since working on this piece. Getting closer to the dragon has really shown the attention and love that went into making these dragons and my heart almost aches with envy. The creators are so lucky to be part of something so fantastic.

It was suggested to me to spray my "Eye of Toothless" piece with gloss fixative simply because they thought it would look better glossy.

Glossed

Before Gloss

I was shocked to see the difference it made, I really had no idea the fixative could improve the way it looked.

Of course I am also working on a cross stitch piece which happens to be the largest one I have ever taken on.

15in x 18in and it's going to have somewhere around 36,800 stitches. I have a rough guesstimate that it will take me till the end of the year to finish it :D

Play Time, What a Fun Time

I found this ink in the stuff my Dad had brought with him that had been my Nana's. So for a few months now I have been thinking about using it but the opportunity didn't really present it's self. I got antsy about wanting to use mineral spirits with the bruynzeel pencils but didn't want to work on something in-depth.
After the usual over thinking I do, I just said what the hell and slapped some color on paper and called it a day. Buuut...I have to do something with that don't I?! LIGHT BULB; the ink! Though nothing interesting was produced, I did finally get to play with it all.

I have a very unsteady hand with a brush, which is why I avoid as much as possible. It was nice seeing how the ink applied and I like the way just one lay down looks, I just might play with it more later. I feel kind of bad for using it though, as later I found out this ink is from the 1970's! My Nana only paid $0.90 for it, and now a day it's almost $10!

Now on to more 'serious' things :)

Art Update And New Toy

This is as far as I got with it before I got...bored? Restless? Something. Maybe I'll go back to it, really don't know.

So I have had these urges to do fanart. I think I have been looking at too much of other peoples art and now want to do my own. Contagious I guess but I also look at it as a way from me to explore with drawing as some might present challenges. Of all things I have started with Pokemon, yes I still play the games and no I don't watch the anime. So a few of them are going to show up till I get this all out of my system and move on.
Here is the first one:

"Plusle and Minun"
6in. x 6in.
Colored Pencil on Bristol smooth

I read this interesting article on using mineral spirits on colored pencil. I loved the demonstrations they gave and had to try it myself. I used mineral spirits on the background of this and love how it looks. I think it did a better job of blending the two colors together then if I had done without or used a blender. So I will definitely be exploring more with the spirits in other drawings.

Today I got my new colored pencils I ordered super early. This is the first time since I started using Prisma pencils that I have bought any other brand of colored pencil.

They were on clearance with free shipping so I thought they were calling to me :D I am now going to go use them on my next drawing!

Oh and I have twitter now! *points to right side bar*

Current WIP

I like dragon eyes :)
Hopefully after I finish this one I will want to finish my bird and cat, they are still worth finishing. Then maybe more dragons! Ooo and I got more mat board, different colors; can't wait to play some more!!

Dragon Eye

"Eye of Toothless"
2.5 in. x 3.5 in.
Colored Pencil on Black Cardstock

I couldn't believe how long it took me to get this finished; but with working way more hours, sore hands and twitching eye lids (which is very annoying and makes it hard to see by the way) I was only able to do this is small spurts. I love how different it is working on black paper but this paper in particular was not made for colored pencil and I found it out the hard way. It didn't want to layer the colors right or at all and was a little frustrating. I don't think I will being using it again for pencil so maybe I will bust out the gel pens and play with it that way.

If you haven't see "How To Train Your Dragon" you are missing out on a wonderful movie. This is actually from one scene when the main character meets his future best friend. I absolutely love the detail and attention they put into these characters and dragons and I am so excited that the second season to the show just started.
I am actually hoping to do the eyes of some of the other dragons, which gives me an excuse to go get better black paper for pencils :P

Playing With Metallic Pencils

Over the weekend I had some free time to try my new pencils. I have used metallic pencils in the past, but that was over ten years ago and they weren't water soluble.

So first I made my reference cards, I have this for all my pencils. Though admittedly these are the only ones with three different ones!

Then it was time to play with the black paper, something I have never used before. I was hoping it would bring out the metallic more but I think some of the color I used under them for shading took that away. I tried taking a picture of it with the camera and also scanning it to see the difference. Definitely going to have to play with it some more.

Scanner:

What a silly smile he seems to have.

Camera:

Then I tried something that I have been wanting to do but afraid to, watered the subject and not just the background.

Scanner:

Camera:

First off, I LOVE this guy! I feel for my first attempt, this came out awesome, even if it isn't perfect. I might even frame it. Secondly I used actual water color paper this time. Not sure if most notice this, but a lot of papers have a different tooth on the back side of them. I used the back of the water color paper cause I thought it looked neat (and there was a weird splotch on the front). As you can see when watered, the pencils lose their metallic altogether.

Next I will have to try them on regular white paper, though when I was doing my little reference card I wasn't impressed but that just could have been the paper type. So here is to me crossing my fingers I get some free time again soon!