Thursday, December 15, 2011

Biscuit Cutters Have Scalloped Edges... and other musings

Okay, so I know I've been MIA for a while... life happens.

I'm teaching and co-teaching at Scotsgrove more due to unhappier things (instructor broke her ribs a month ago and co-instructor went back to finish up her PhD- we miss her already!) and so I've been called in more and more. Not that I don't like the work! I just don't have the computer time that I used to. So updates all over have been lacking. :P

As far as what I'm planning to do, Christmas present making! Christmas baking! Soooo excited. ^.^ Emma and I were going through the store when we came across cookie cutters. Apparently, a biscuit cutter has scalloped edges. I mean, I knew that, but I didn't know it was official. Too bad the only one we could find was in a holiday collection of 12 to 15! (sigh)

So Art Update: Here's a new horse, the most extensive headshot I've done so far!



I also have been back in action over at Desert Breeze Publishing. Several books are now for sale!



 

So, I'm pretty excited about them and the ones to come next year!

Since I probably won't update for a while: Happy Holidays to all!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Updates!


Hello, I've got updated ponies and news!

First up, the newest headshot, a gray colt named Tricky Business. I'm just in love with that stripe. ^.^ If you want to see ALL the new additions check out my links on the right to go to a public FB gallery. 



In other exciting news, my cover won the September 2011 cover contest over at Books in Sync! I had some stiff competition so this is AWESOME! ^.^ Buy the book here, if you'd like.

http://www.booksinsync.com/bookcovercontest.html

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Horse Spotlight


Well, this is my second attempt at a pure white horse. I think he's absolutely spectral. A while horse on a white background is pretty hard. You have to make sure there is a dark outline even if it's tiny so that it doesn't fade into the background. Different reference pose too, by the owners request. I went in cursing this guy... and now I'm pretty happy with it. Who knew? ^.^ 


Go HERE to see ALL my headshots!

Friday, September 9, 2011

6 of cups: color

Well, it has certainly been a while since I've put anything artistic up and this is supposed to be an art blog! For shame...

Anyway, that sketch so long ago now has some color on it. Mind you, I LOATH these jpgs if only because the colors look muddy and dull. The green is supposed to be a vibrant sap green and the blue is ultramarine. Apparently, I still need to work with my new scanner.

So, to go along with my tutorial a while back, this is the first stages of my watercolor layers. Get washes down, think about values and basic colors, a bit of shading taking form, very loose and transparent.


Next, start building up your layers. Preserve your whites, put in your darkest darks (yay Payne's Gray!), develop texture and form, mix in colored pencils to get your sharp edges and fine lines. Then step back and look at the over all composition, values, and the way it "fits" together.


So, I noted here that the boy isn't standing out to his best advantage and the top left corner isn't falling back like it should. Still, pushing it back into shadow hasn't helped much. Also at this stage you are just "working the surface" putting in details, texture, interesting little pockets of stuff. 


And here's a version that's closer to the actual painting... still not quite right, but closer than straight out of the scanner! So, I've added a green layer behind the boy to push him up in space and developed a lot of the surrounding plants and animals. This basically putting on the final watercolor touches before it is sealed and then worked in acrylic glazes.



Thursday, September 1, 2011

Horse Spotlight

A chestnut beauty for this update, Milaia, in honor of my best friend (also a red head) since it was her birthday this past week. Milia is a standardbred trotter. Hmm, I seem to pull out really good STBs. Maybe it's because I give myself time to work on these or maybe the tack just makes me want to strive for everything to look right. Also that fluffy noseband... I want to squish it.


If you check my FB you can see ALL my horse headshots for SIMhorseracing.com. I did a lot of chestnuts these past weeks and the greatest thing was figuring out different colors for them all. Some were more red or more orange, darker mane or more golden... it was very fun!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Weekly Round-up

Two favorites this week! Both of them are "unique" colors that don't get represented a lot.

First up, cremello boy Larimer. So shiny and pink... usually when I start the pink ones they look like the Easter bunny at first.


The other one is another dude horse named Valpolicella. I have no idea what that means, but he's just a plain roan. So I did a blue-ish body with a red-ish head. I love how he turned out. So handsome!



Monday, August 1, 2011

Weekly Round-up

Two favorites this week!

First up, Boomin Knight, black colt. Eiii, I love his nifty lookin' stripe. I made that up, guys! Plus his mohawk-like hair was pretty fun and new too. So many black horses this week. O.O It was kinda intense.



Next up is Dreams of Cash, bay standardbred. I keep getting these guys and while they are covered in tack, for some reason I'm starting to really like them. This guy was my absolute best for the week in my opinion.


Check out my website to see all the others!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Weekly Round-up

Well, here's something new, I'm updating more than once a week and with ponies! Sorta. Starting this week I'm just going to update my favorites and then direct you to my website to see the rest.

So for this week: Euclase, gray filly. I chose her because she is so drastically different from the normal headshot. A frontal view is hard to pull off (and I cursed over this one quite a lot too), but it does showcase facial markings really well. The chain over the nose was a challenge as well. I think this is my first chain (I know I've done a covered chain before...). Grays are especially fun for me though. Not only are they my favorite coat color in the real world, but to get the speckled gray look I get to go crazy with some textured brushes and filters.


The rest are on my site HERE and it's worth the trip over. It was a tough choice to only pick one. ^.^

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Book List! Yay!

Soooo I haven't updated this in a while. This should be FUN!

91.              Wait Until Midnight by Amanda Quick
92.              Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
93.              The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon
94.              The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn
95.              Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn
96.              The Horsemaster’s Daughter by Susan Wiggs
97.              The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne
98.              A Secret Affair by Mary Balogh
99.              Rule’s Bride by Kat Martin
100.           The Sharing Knife: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold
101.           Mortal Danger by Eileen Wilks
102.           The Alleluia Files by Sharron Shinn
103.           A Taste of Magic by Andre Norton and Jean Rabe
104.           Silver Born by Patrica Briggs
105.           Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede
106.           Searching for Dragons by Patricia Wrede
107.           Wicked Delights of a Bridal Bed by Tracy Anne Warren
108.           The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
109.           Wicked Widow by Amanda Quick
100.           Fortune’s Fool by Mercedes Lackey
111.           The Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey
112.           Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey
113.           Take a Thief by Mercedes Lackey


Hmmm. I'm gonna have to speed up if I want to reach 300 by November 2012. I'm not even at the halfway mark! 187 more books in 16 months. ... I think I need an e-reader. ^.^

Friday, July 15, 2011

Weekly Round-up: 14 total

Well, the breaks keep getting longer in between updates... maybe I should only do a select few and direct the rest towards my website? Hmm... it's worth a thought. It would cut down on the double updates.

Anyways, on to ponies! Not in chronological order.

This is Black Hawk, black colt, obviously. Sigh, I only got a couple of fillies/mares this week.

Buckeye, buckskin paint colt. Love this reference for the eye and the name reference and just the pose.

Gin on the Rocks is a black standardbred colt. I swear this breed is just weird lookin'.

Hinzi is a red-dun leopard appaloosa colt. Sooo many spots. Still unsure about how to represent red-dun in just a headshot.

Midnihte Special, black stallion. <3 his snip and his adorable-ness.

Moral Paradox, black Arabian filly I believe. I think those are eyelashes. ^.^

Neverinthemiddle, buckskin Paint filly. Went a little crazy on the girliness, because there were so few these past weeks.

Northern Hero, bay colt with the most adorable snip EVER. <3

Ogunquit, dark bay colt. I love his name.

 Simulacro, chestnut arabian colt. Their foreheads look so dishy now.

 Snowdancer, chestnut colt with the epic blaze.

Thundering, bay colt. I'm really proud of that mouth. ^.^

Winter Olympics, gray colt done for a guy who's daughters are going to train for the Olympic team in Australia!

Yes, dark bay colt with a cute blaze and conveniently the most current horse to date!

So I probably will have a new way of updating next time around. Until then!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Two Week Round-up: 10 horses

What can I say... I can't update things in a regular fashion. I'm surprised I'm keeping this up. ^.^

Okay, ten horses. Here we go! Not in order but at least I can talk about them.

First up is Cash Money Honey, a black Standardbred. The tack still kills me, but I'm getting the hang of it. I loooove her mouth. Lookit those teeth!

Next is Consolation Prize, dark bay with and awesome blaze.

 Next is a gray stud Dreams in Flames. He's the most resent of the horses and I had a super fun time doing his blaze. ^.^

 Fireman is a blood bay colt. I loooove his coat color. He's just too cute.

Next is Look Beautiful, a pretty light chestnut filly. Her reference had a lovely interesting blaze/almost bald face marking, but alas I could only do a stripe. Still pretty cool though.

 Parades is a GORGEOUS grulla/o? filly with a bald face. Seriously fun. ^.^

Stars of Tomorrow is a black colt with a star. The name makes me think of LBP2... <3

 Storm of Applause is a dark bay (stud, I think) with a snip and a figure-8 nose band. Gah, the tack busted my butt, so I limited the mane to a braid.

 Tuner. Oh Tuner. See, his nose was really off in the reference... so I had to improvise just a bit. Turns out his nostrils were all wonky and I didn't catch it. This is the revised one. ^.^ LOVE his stripe/star thing.

 Last, but not least, Zimm's Free Beer, an Appy stud. The color is supposed to be "sorrel" turns out no one really knows the difference between sorrel and chestnut. My boss wanted it to be a "copper red" chestnut color with the mane a similar color to the coat. (Me, I see sorrel as sorta brown... ish... ) It's an East/West coast difference. ~.^

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Two Week Round-up: 15 horses!

Way, way overdue. Whoops! Had a great week off, went to Heroes Con! with my old college roomie and spent some quality time with L. My puppy has not forgiven me for leaving her with L for THREE whole days! I'm a horrible person. Now she's not letting me out of her sight. I love my Ginger-pup. ^.^

In other news, the Scotsgrove website has new photos in the gallery and I'm working on updating it to include Horse Profile pages, rather than one long list. It's going to rock.

Okay, on to horses! Sorry, they are in alphabetical order, rather than the order completed, because Lord, fifteen horses is a lot. O.O