If I've learned anything at all...time marches on, whether you like it or not. It doesn't wait for you. This September found all 3 of my kids in school now...the only running I have to do is pick them up after school. I now have nothing but time. I can look back now at the last 10 years, and go, Holy Cow...where did all that time go? Sure, I spent at least half of it either pregnant or in that post-partum time, but I also spent a good chunk in therapy, in a depression, or just managing to get from one day to another. Natural way of things I guess, no mother of young children really has much time for themselves, so much attention needs to be on your kids when you are a parent. And it's been less than idyllic, there have definitely been some challenges along the way.
Anyway, the point is, I don't want to look back in another 10 years, when my kids are all grown and out of the house, and go...you know, I should have tried harder...I should have done this or that. I don't want to just make it from day to day, I want to live a life I can look back on and say, I tried. Maybe things didn't go the way I planned, maybe they did, but at least I tried. I'm happy with my life and myself.
Well...on to some new art. I don't want to blow my own horn here but I am supremely happy with all of it. I feel like something's different than when I started this blog. I think I was grieving in a way, over the past that's gone. I don't think I believed I could ever draw as well as I had, that my best work was behind me...that I was an artist no longer. Something changed in that time and now, I have all my new drawings up on my wall beside my computer so that I can look at them every day and say to myself....SEE?? You can so still draw, silly...it never left you. This is what you do, this is what you are good at...this is your gift, so use it!! (Yes, I realise that probably sounds kinda corny or whatever but I don't give a crap, cause for whatever reason, I feel like it's come back to me.)
Here is that one drawing I was talking about in my previous post..the really huge one I did for my daughter. I thought at one point I might add a castle or something in the background but I think I will just leave it alone. I like it, really. It's not a perfect likeness of Cinderella but you can tell who it's supposed to be, and that's good enough for me. And Rae loves it, so that's even better. Now, the challenge is finding a frame large enough for something like this... The local art gallery/store charges $250 to start to frame things. No wonder I can't afford anything in there. They suck anyway, I applied to work there and never got a call back. *pout* It's pencil crayons on Drawing paper, about 13"x 17".I went "home" over spring break this year, spent a week in the house I grew up in. In a way I did a lot of personal therapy, let's call it...read some self help type books, I knew it would be a difficult trip before I ever left. And, it was in some ways. But you know what they say, no pain no gain, right? Well this is what I gained:
I worked on my door again finally. The Little Mermaid characters are all finished up and I started on the Lion King. I'm going back for Thanksgiving (Oct 12 I think it is) and I'm going to try and finish a few more.
The pencil work is all done on them, and some painting...I think Mufasa is the only one that is actually finished at this point. All done in acrylic, of course.
This one is a bad quality pic, but that's ok...this one I'm kind of iffy on posting anywhere for the simple reason that I am getting this tattoo someday (read: when I can afford it) and I will rage helplessly at the screen if anyone else uses it for that reason!!!! Seriously, it would really tick me off if that happened. I have a parlor in mind, but I figure this is going to cost in the neighborhood of $300-$500 to do...three kids, one adult working, and all that boring life stuff...well, you get the picture. Anyway...this came to me late one night, while at "home" on spring break. If you're at all familiar with Three Days Grace, you'll know where this is from. If not well...Three Days Grace is an absolutely amazing Canadian band that my oldest son is nuts about, and the imagery here is taken from the video for their song, "Never Too Late". It's significant to me, which would be why I want to permanantly embed this drawing on my body. Ink on 60 lb Sketch paper, 11"x 14".
This is a rough sketch of a logo that I'm working on for my parents' and uncle's new buisness they have in the works...an RV storage type thing. It's cutesy, so I'm not sure if it's what they're going for or not...I have to send off the sketch and get feedback on it. Pencil on the same paper as the one above.
This one was drawn for my oldest son. It is Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace, based on my favorite picture. Yep, I am a fan too...went to see them in January here in the city and they are amazing to see live. We are impatiently awaiting the release of their live DVD in Canada! I asked my son what he thought of his parents liking his favorite band, and he told me it was great, as he's guranteed to go to the shows and get the cool merchandise that way. Smart kid...:PAnyway, he was thrilled with this picture, as am I...I felt like something really clicked when I was drawing it and it just turned out right somehow. I have to track down a frame and mat for it before I'll let him have it. Pencil on same paper as the last couple.
This was the "rough" sketch for a picture for my youngest son. He requested a picture of the new Bumblebee...let me tell you, the new Transformers are a lot harder to draw than the old ones!!! This took me about 4 and a half days to first sketch roughly, then add detail and finally add color. I used a whole bunch of different reference pictures for the various parts, mostly the face gave me grief at first. I like the sketch but he wanted color so...I colored over it. Ok, so the colored version's not half bad...I'm glad to be done this one though...it'll be awhile before I tackle any more of these guys!! Pencil, then Ink on same paper as the last bunch.
So, that's it for now...I have a few ideas in my head for some paintings I'd like to attempt at some point, and also a new round of requests from the kids, as well as a logo for a hockey jersey for the hubby. Who knows what will end up here next time...
