Gallery of Shadows and Reflections

More background work on "Ocean Lord."  

The ocean is done.  Now for the stormy sky.

So, I thought I'd gather several pieces that are available as prints on ImageKind and post them here with the links to their sale pages.  Click the images to be taken to the print-on-demand site; there are numerous options for sizing, matting, and framing.  :)


Tears, Blood, Diamonds




Star Diver



Woman of the Mists


Ghostlight
 


Trickster




Soulless Sword of Desire



Vampire



Transcend



Sylph

Today's $5 Sketch Day is now closed.  Thanks for participating!

Good morning friends list, visitors, and lurkers!  It is Tuesday, which means that it is the weekly $5 Sketch Day that I host on this blog. So, come on in, make yourselves comfortable, and leave your one word prompts.

1)  For $5, I will create a sketch for every prompt left.

2)  For $8, I will create two sketches. 

3)  The first three prompts will be free.

4)  Every person who leaves five linkbacks (via LiveJournal, Facebook, Tumblr, etc) will get a free sketch in addition to the one paid for.  And yes, if you are one of the first three to leave a prompt and also give linkbacks, you'll get two sketches for free! 

5)  Paid sketches from US-based prompters will also receive a free mini-print (4x6) of the sketch in the mail.  Be sure to PM me with your contact details if you want the print!  Sorry, this only applies to prompters in the US.  

I'll stop taking requests at 5 p.m. CST; at that point I'll start screening comments for this post. Also, please allow time for me to get to your prompt, especially if there are a lot of prompters. I will make every effort to get to all of the prompts today; barring that, tomorrow. Again, it depends on how many prompts I receive. 

Please, no fan art requests, due to legal concerns.

Previously, I held weekly Free Sketch Days on this blog.  I can no longer afford the time and energy to create a large number of prompted sketches for free on a weekly basis, but that's not to say that I won't periodically hold a Free Sketch event, where I take a handful prompts for a few hours every now and again.  Be sure to stay tuned for those events!  

Don't forget to leave your one-word prompts in the comments of this entry when you pay!

$5 Sketch Day

1 Sketch $5.00 USD2 Sketches $8.00 USD

Some sketches from previous Sketch Days.

After sketching this about a thousand times, I finally broke down and used a web cam to get a pose.

No, this doesn't look like me.  :P

Digital painting in progress:  Diamond Tears.  Click for larger.

New art completed!

"Trickster."  This print is for sale on Imagekind.

Click for larger.  

Just a drive-by posting with another sketch.  This concept is actually one I've explored before several years ago, but my skills have developed some since then and I wanted another go at it.  I might develop this one later.

I think I might be ready to finish up some of those unfinished pieces.

Diamond Tears

So yesterday evening, for the first time since the surgery, I tried some sketching.  Just a bit of line art, and my hand's still very wobbly, but it'll be good to keep practicing and re-build my dexterity.  Here's one piece I did.

Credit goes to Faestock on Deviantart for the reference.



Recovering day by day, bit by bit.  And I chopped off my matted dredlock-mop of hip-length hair because it was driving me insane.  It feels so much better, though I need to get it trimmed and styled.  Here's a pic of yours truly sitting in the bed at the rehab center, earphones in.  I might be a little high on pain meds here.  Also, hospitalization as a weight-loss program-- effective, though not exactly recommended.  I lost a good twenty pounds since my admission date.

 

So, before I say anything else, I must apologize profusely for not being online much at all since getting back to California.  It is in part due to busy-ness at work (we are full-swing into the busy season at the resort), but mostly it's due to the lack of reliable internet.  It was bad the last time I was here.  It's even worse now.

I'm writing this entry in Semagic.  I have no idea when I'll be able to post it, but hopefully it'll be soon.  (Here it is a week after writing it that I am finally posting it!  Better late than never?  Just think of it like snail mail.)

Artwork update!  I've managed to complete a decent amount of art in the last few weeks.  erigeneia, your portrait should be ready very soon.  timelord1, your portrait is finished, and will be uploaded as soon as the internet cooperates.  I also completed two quick paintings, which I may or may not be able to share here, depending on the internet situation.  I hope to be able to.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to stop taking any further commissions while I'm out here, once I complete those still outstanding.  The internet is just far too unreliable.  I have some plans to sell artwork to the tourist crowds out this way when I get a decent body of work to offer, but that will be some time in the future.  My goal is still to shift to creating art full time, with maybe some supplementation at the resort. 


For those who may be wondering, I've been keeping up with my grandmother's condition.  She is evidently still having trouble eating, and is getting most of her calories through Ensure Plus and Boost.  My family has been able to get some limited in-home care for her, and has applied for more aid, though they have yet to hear back about that. 

Out here, it's lovely, with wonderful weather (warm during the day, cool at night most of the time).  I've been working odd shifts these last few weeks, going between mornings and nights, which is rough but I'll survive.  The resort has been packed with guests, and of course, that means a plethora of cabin laundry to do.  We also opened the pool a few weeks ago, and so now we're flooded with large blue pool towels (pun intended). 

The day before yesterday, I spent the day by the pool drinking daquiries and rock slides and reading a book.  I got very sunburned on one side, because the umbrella by the pool chair wasn't quite close enough.  Later, I took a soak in the jacuzzi and then played Marco Polo with some friends in the cold pool, then soaked in the jacuzzi again.  I'm really just a kid in a grownup's body. 

I desperately needed that day of doing absolutely nothing, though.  You wouldn't think so, but laundry is a very physically taxing job, especially when you're repeatedly thrown into your shift until midnight or later with no help and no backup, doing the job of about three people.  Imagine a resort with eighty-nine cabins.  Now imagine the sheets and towels ALONE that are cycled through those cabins on a daily basis.  Now add bath mats, cleaning rags, sofa bed packs, camping packs, pool towels, blankets, and every other miscellaneous thing The Powers That Be can come up with, and you've got an average day in laundry at the Green.


So, anyway, there is my update, whenever the internet decides to come back up so I can post it.  I hope everyone is well!  Drop me a note or comment to let me know how you all are, and I'll try to respond as soon as I can.  :)

My good friend Wolfe-- greyeagle2007 on LJ-- runs a marvelous little curio shop in East Texas with his partner.  They sell a plethora of unique items, candles, antiques, and handmade crafts and jewelry.  This is the sort of shop you always think belongs in a mystical urban fantasy, a little half-hidden building that hovers somewhere between this world and the next, trembling with magic.  And it's about to go out of business.

You see, their air conditioner broke down some time ago, and their landlord refuses to fix it.  They lost over $6000 in merchandise last summer due to the excessive Texas heat.  They're expecting the same this year if they can't get it repaired.  

So, they've been setting up a couple of things to try to help fund a replacement a/c unit, or to fix the old one. 

They're going to hold a gathering and silent auction at their shop on May 26th.  

But Wolfe has also begun a campaign on indiegogo to help pay for the unit.  There are perks-- handmade jewelry.  

So go take a look at the campaign and their shop site, and do help spread the word or contribute if you're so inclined!  Also be aware that they take online orders from their web site.  Feel free to browse; you might find something perfectly suited to yourself or someone you love!

A/C Fundraiser Site

Mammie's Country Candles Home Page

Hello, friends!  

So, I know it's been awhile since I've posted artwork here, so I thought I'd post a few of the character portraits I've completed.

I have two left, but here are the four I've completed so far. You guys know the drill in how to enlarge. :)

timelord1's Maeve Kennock, dulcinbradbury's Aileann, just_the_ash's Moraiwe and Angamarth (a special order), and timelord1's Roghrid.




I also started a new painting to try to coax my muse out of hiding. Well, it's sort of a new painting-- this is actually a redo of an older piece that I never finished.  I call it Masquerade.  I'm using more of a color-sculpting technique for this one, rather than using a tight line drawing and building on that.  Keep in mind that this is VERY rough still, just blocking in basic colors and shapes.  This painting has now gone through three re-works.  It started off similar to this, with her standing in a maze of arches, in the water.  I then moved her into open ocean, with the ruins of an arch in the background.  But I think I like the more claustrophobic feel of having her standing within the architecture.  I also changed the color scheme a little-- she was wearing a purple gown before, but it blended too much into the indigo/violet shades of the background.  And I changed her pose.  She will still be standing in seawater, and the mask will be weeping.  No clue how long this one will take me, as other projects will take priority, but it'll make a good warmup piece to work on at the beginning of art-days.