Always Be Creating

Behaving Momentarily

2011-09-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to paint a picture of my favorite dogs for a long time. Here Piper and George are sitting very prettily for a snapshot. I used acrylic paint on a smooth paint board, which was a new thing for me. I like the streaky effect it took. I think this is the first time I ever painted a dog, I really had fun with it.

University of Utah Museum

2011-04-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we were trying to figure something to do, since it started snowing the zoo became out of the question. So instead we went to the University of Utah Art Museum. I had been there once before a few years ago and was impressed by the quality of art, it was French impressionist artwork then.

This time some abstract modern art, which i usually like but this time didn't thrill me. Fortunately though this time I was able to explore the upstairs area with lots of artwork from different cultures.

Sushi Restaurant Website

2011-04-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I created this website for Midori Sushi, a restaurant in Roy, UT. The people that own it just happen to be the people that a rent a room from, and they also just happen to be my sister-in-laws' sister and husband, their baby, his sister. Yeah it's complicated...So, they weren't happy with their current site so here is what I did using my very rusty skills from last summer's web design class. Dang those divs.
Here is the url: www.sushimidori.net

Here is a business card I did for them, which goes with the website design. They wanted sushi on the card. Getting paid in sushi is awesome!
Yumm!

Catchup Time! Email Headers

2011-03-31T15:30:00.000-07:00

Thought I should catch up with this blog since it's been awhile. After the new year I began working from home which has been nice. No waking up to the alarm clock to rush and get ready and speed to work. I just have to rollover to my laptop and I'm, set! I have also seperated with my husband, again and moved to Clinton, UT which has been an adjustment. Clinton is 30 minutes north of Salt Lake and I miss my shopping. But I have come to realize Layton is just a couple miles and there is some shopping there. I do miss California though and would have moved back except I found a new boyfriend who is pretty terrific. Here is a pic, he is a big fan of taking pics to record our relationship. This is at a wedding reception, the day he asked if he could introduce me as 'girlfriend'. Awww.

Here is a header I made for an email for our company back in December. 'Magical'.

Did this for a Christmas email, but we didn't use it. I like the frosty feel. The little angel photo is so cute.

Sweet 16 Princess Cake

2010-12-20T20:01:00.000-08:00

I had been wanting to get these pillow pans from Wilton for awhile. So I finally took my 50% down to Michaels and got them! Had some spare hot pink and black fondant which I haven't really used on anything so I thought I'd try them out and experiment. At sure I wasn't too sure about the color combo but I think it turned out very teenager. I got the little crown from the dollar section at Target.

Holy Sugar Load

2010-12-14T13:04:00.001-08:00

Ah, the holidays. Some people dream of cars. money, fame. This is what I dream about, chocolate, ooh and my Mom's toffee brittle she makes just once a year. This year I finally tried making it on my own. And can I say it turned out delish. Tried making her fudge too, that stuff is sweet. This year I even decorated some gingermen using the Wilton cookie icing to create a lovely flood. Now that's the kind of flood I want to get stuck in! Lol. Merry Christmas to all and many sweet returns. (I guess that can be taken a few ways. Ha!)

O Christmas Tree!

2010-12-13T13:03:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I finally got my Christmas tree up this weekend! Woo hoo! Holla! I felt a bit lazy about putting it up and didn't want to put up all the ornaments, so I didn't. My husband was busy with friends all weekend playing World of Warcraft, so I knew I was gonna have to take on this projet myself. At least he brought up the tree in it's box though upstairs! Didn't think I'd like the teal paint with the tree but it's ok, and I have put off repainting it for yet another season! When I was all done my husband came up and said, "I can feel the Christmas spirit!" This is quite a feat for him, who recently went from Atheist to Agnostic.

I visited the Festival of Trees in Sandy, UT recently. Thankfully I coerced someone into taking me the last day. This is a charity event where local businesses donated a decorated tree and it is auctioned for worthwhile causes. Here are some of my favs. And there I am stricking a very strange pose. Mwah!

Nummy num num

2010-12-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

California rolls I made, I thought they turned out looking rather decent. I found the trick is to have your sushi rice be DRY! Otherwise you have a big wet mess on your hands, literally and all over your sushi mat! This can take patience especially when you are ready to roll! So try buying pre-made rice and adding the dry powder vinegar add in from your local asian store.
Here are some yummy rolls I made. I actually indulged and took a sushi making class at the super cool Orson Gygi store in Salt Lake. It was expensive, but at least I got dinner out of it! And I did learn a few new tricks plus a list of names and numbers to get fresh fish from which is a God send being here in Utah!

Below I found these super cute bento boxs, prepared lunches popular in Japan, online. Somebody got some time on their hands! Lol. I so want to attempt making one of these with the bento box I bought in SF, but have yet to even make a rice ball!

Live figure drawing session

2010-11-23T09:58:00.000-08:00

Latest Obsessions

2010-11-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

Ok, ever since my trip to SF, I can't get the Japanese good stuff outta my mind! I am going crazy, and my pocket book well, I keep trying NOT to think about that. Ahh!

So here are a list of my latest obsessions:(I'll try not to think about them too much, so hard)

Designer toys – KidRobot.com, Got a blank dunny at UrbanOutfitters for $10, which I can customized. Here are some awesome designs i found online.

Hello Kitty, she’s got everything.

Edemame – got a box at CostCo, love it

Tokidoki characters, collecting zipper pulls I have three or so

Classical music - Debussy, Chopin

Anime characters - found this sick site for inspiration, www.freshcharacters.com

Vargas Pinup drawings

Hair extensions, the clip in kind. Getting bangs, daring I know, I'm loving the retro look right now!

Dashing Logo Design

2010-11-08T11:59:00.001-08:00

At work we held a huge event last week in in Lewisville, Texas. Unfortunetly, I wasn't invited but I saw the pictures and it looks like everything turned out awesome! Here is a logo I made for a
new promotion that was introduced. Thanks to my boss, who gave me clear direction after struggling at first. I like how this logo subtly hints at moving ahead with the italic type font, then it has the contrasting cursive font. Both of these I downloaded free at www.dafont.com, a great site! I lastly added that checked board pattern to a curved shape to further emphasis the racing idea, sort of like a racing flag.
Here is the flyer I did for passing out at the event. Who new having so little text could be so hard to arrange nicely?! Welp, here's what I came up with, love the photo found from www.istock.com to add a little movement to the layout.

Hallo-weenie

2010-10-30T13:19:00.001-07:00

So I was drawing the other day. I have a stock of online photos I have downloaded at random, things I've wanted to draw. So here is my version of Miss Sarah Brightman, I know it doesn't look just like her, but it is a sketch! Love the wild curls here with the ethereal beaded halo she is wearing. So I decided to be Christine Daae for Halloween! Figured all I would need is a cape to recreate the graveyard outfit, and then I found a cheap phantom mask at the Halloween shop so I got that too! Had the dark colored rose and added some black ribbon. I love this musical! So romantical, so creepy, I have seen several movie versions. To add to the look I got some sheer material at the fabric shop for a scarf, and some black lace which I safety pinned to my shirt. Added some false lashes for that theatrical look. Ha!

The last picture on here is me visiting Nor Cal, at Apple Hill near Placerville with my dog and a huge pumpkin. Apple Hill had lots of apple goodness, if you were wondering. Ok, well I'm off to carve my pumpkin! Happy Hallo-weenie!

San Fran Adventure

2010-10-28T10:37:00.001-07:00

I recently went to San Fran while on a visit to see friends back home in Sactown. Well, I absolutely loved visitng SF, the piers, the smell, the Asian people, it was great! We visited China town, such a blast and Japan Town. Love, love this place, especially with good company :> Such cute stuff everywhere my brain nearly exploded into cute pieces of mush! Ok, I love hello kitty, and there was kawaii goodness abounding! Also saw this new character, that I can SO relate to, the little Angry Asian girl. Girlfriend is on wallets, shirts, just about everywhere. Here is a funny comic and wallet I saw when I was online afterward.

Wedding Cake for Tiffany

2010-10-24T23:22:00.000-07:00

My friend Tiffany is such a hoot! she up and married a guy she met after just a couple months while on vacation in Wisconsin to visit her family! And the plan was for January. Her grandparents decided to throw her a wedding reception which took place last Friday. I made the cake as a gift and it was the first time I made one for a real event. She wanted daisies and violet. I am happy with the result. But I think next time I will def not procrastinate and make things as early as I can along with a detailed list! Well, it was a good learning experience!

emails out my ears!

2010-10-02T22:37:00.000-07:00

So here is a cool way to invite people to events, paperlesspress.com offers many templates to customize for events and then send out to friends via email. The cards are flash so when the envelope front is clicked on it turns over and the card rises out, you see the front, then the back, People can then RSVP to the event and all this is tracked in your account. Sweet! For this invite I used a photo card template. i designed the image in Photoshop and uploaded it. Our invite was linked directly to our registration page to the event. You can also see the Up Logo in all its final glory.

Up, up and away!

2010-09-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Some logo designs for an upcoming event. The theme is 'up' so I was playing around with the idea of that using different methods, like the propeller. Maybe it isn't as obvious as an arrow but I like it!

Grandma's Chocolate Cake

2010-09-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

Grandma sure musta been a choco-holic, cause that's exactly what this cake is! This recipe is from a book called 'Birthday Cakes'. I had to try it out cause I need a good chocolate cake recipe for the first real official wedding cake I will be making next month for a friend's reception. I also made the chocolate frosting myself, using semi-sweet chips and baker's chocolate along with milk, powdered sugar and vanilla. The texture of the cake is different then I'm used to, denser and less sweet, maybe that's the way Grandmas like it? Well, off to the next recipe and then to the gym!!!

Oil painting number 2!

2010-09-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

Oil painting number 2 in the works! Still working on this, yes after my husband laid his bag on it while it was still wet I guess I lost interest in fixing it. But, alas, it is coming to fruition! This is a copy of a really old painting so I can work on color and form. Its a really small canvas, which can be tricky, can't wait till it drys a bit so I can add some more detail. I think I already know who this one is going to...

What I've been up to lately

2010-09-15T22:08:00.001-07:00

Here's what I've been up to lately- lots and lots of banners for the web! Here are a few favs. These are all for articles posted on SoZo Suite for SoZo distributors. SoZo is a functional beverage with lots of antioxidants and good stuff, its made mostly from the coffee berry. For more info here is the site: http://sozolife.com

More cookie Madness! Dogs

2010-09-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

I love dogs from their furry soft coats to their wet noses and waggly tails! I did these cookies the same time I did the dress cookies. I don't make cookies everyday - but wouldn't it be fabulous if I did? They would have to roll me to the gym - sigh. Always a price to pay. Anyway, I tried a grass tip for the first time to do some of the hair and it was cute. The pink girl is my favorite - she's prissy. Here also are some pictures of my real live dogs, so cute! the black lab mix is Angel, she is 13 years old, and a sweetie. The other is a King Charles Spaniel Mix which I renamed Piper, he is a boy so my friends make fun of me! Well, its better than his original name, Sniper. Here he is obviously entranced by some birds flying out the window.

COOKIESSSS!

2010-09-01T20:43:00.001-07:00

I bought this book called Simply Spectacular Cakes a couple weeks ago when a coupon for Borders in my email was calling out to me. Not only do they have cute cake designs, but really cute cookies too! I went to Sur La Table in downtown Salt Lake, this is so my new favorite store, and got some spiffy new cookie cutters. I have quite the collection now! I was trying to replicate a little black dress design, but it came out a bit wider than I expected so I made em into wedding dresses! Wouldn't this be cute at a wedding reception or bridal shower! They would look cute with some tux cookies, right? Kinda reminds me of those chocolate dipped strawberries that look like little brides and grooms. Check these ones out on Shari's Berries - so beautiful! Yum, yum, I want some!

Empty Pockets Movie Photo Montage

2010-08-31T18:50:00.001-07:00

I absolutely love those picture strips that come from photo booths. Admittedly, I have only tried to get pictures from a photo booth once and it was an epic FAIL! The images never printed out!(Grrrr!) We called the attendant over and well after waiting and waiting we just up and left. There goes my $3.50, or I dunno how much! So here I decided to make my own! Ha ha! I used these shots I took of myself in the bathroom (classic), and placed them in a film strip style frame. Changed em black and white, then I added popcorn, candy and ticket images I found on the net. Added some differing drop shadows for realism and voila - the look of my empty pockets after a movie or some such. Hope you enjoy and have a great day/night!

I'm a hand model, not really.

2010-08-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

Here are the before and after I did for a promotional item recently. I suggested the idea of superimposing the key chain design on a key chain tag to better show the potential client. I thought I would just look for an istock image, but lucky me I was the hand model instead! I had some major doubts about how this would look. Well at least they had a decent camera, a Canon SLR, I needa get me one of those. This was the best image, he kept cutting off my hand or the keys with the viewfinder. I was able to clean out the background nicely since he took this one against my black shirt. This wasn't the isolated image against white background I imagined, but good enough and I the result.

T-shirt design

2010-08-27T23:04:00.001-07:00

I did this t-shirt design recently for a hispanic marketing group. They were promoting their digital signage so they had an idea of what they wanted. I illustrated in Illustrator first but I guess the look was too clean and they decided they wanted something more sketchy so I drew out the image using different materials like, pencil, pen, charcoal, eye liner then scanned in the pictures. This is the design they chose.

Sketch for a friend

2010-08-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

This sketch is for my old missionary friend that lives thousands of miles away in the Philippines. I haven't seen her in awhile, about 8 years or so. Hope you like it, girl!

Pretty Pink Super Girle Cake!

2010-08-20T20:46:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's pink! And super girlie girl! Got some pink fondant, turned out it was HOT pink and mixed it with lots of white fondant to tone it down. Tried to do equal spacing for my editable pearl swags, not perfected this yet! Added my white candy cameos and tiny bows I made. Tried a few different flower arrangements on the top along with my Marie Antoinette figurine. Hope ya'll like the pictures. Peace.

Samurai Jack

2010-08-15T21:18:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to avoid all girlie images so I chose to do this samurai armor image drawing with pencil.
This first photo is after some Photoshop magic. I found this awesome parchment background on google and put it in my background layer. Then I adjusted the contrast on my drawing and ran a couple of filters. I think it gives it that aged look.

David Sketch in Color

2010-08-11T00:22:00.001-07:00

So here is another drawing featuring a male! It's David! I did this one in colored pencil and it was a bit tricky working with the color, because I realized I didn't really have the right shades to recreate the colors of the statue. But I made due and I think he is handsome!

Romeo + Juliet Sketch

2010-08-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

So I busted out the 90s version of Romeo & Juliet the other day and discovered this really nice picture they had in the booklet inside. So here is my version all drawn up. I wanted to do something that featured more than just a female face! Although his features are a bit 'soft'. That movie sure brings back high school memories, I think Leo was one of the biggest celebrity crushes for girls back then especially around Titanic, I was 17 then! Wow, he's come along way since Teen Beat Magazine.

Miss Alice's Tea Party Mini Cake

2010-08-06T12:44:00.001-07:00

I was inspired to do a mini-cake, small is always good for practice with fondant. I started by making the white chocolate cameo candies a day in advance. I was going for a Marie Antoinette French look first. But after covering the spice cake with buttercream and white fondant, I added blue fondant cutouts of hearts and spades and the cake instantly felt 'Alice'. Then I added some fancy piping work, a little messier than planned because my frosting was too runny. I happened to get this cute paper doily the other day with some truffles I had got at a boutique/bakery called 'Dear Lizzie' in Highland, UT. And the dish is from Anthropology, it has two hummingbirds on it. Tres cute.

Spring/Summer Hydrangea Petal Purse

2010-08-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

Spring/Summer Hydrangea Petal Purse - I made this a few days ago. Its a really pretty beige purse with a silver look clasp which I affixed silk flowers to. It also had a handle which I made from oval shaped crystal look beads. The flowers are shades of off-white and light pink, very subtle. I was inspired by some old handbags and hats covered with flowers from the 50s. I am selling this purse for only $20 on etsy.com
http://www.etsy.com/listing/52859478/cute-white-pink-flower-hydrangea-purse

Hope you like it! I plan to making a few more with different colors and purse styles in the near future. If you have a special request let me know! Thanks for looking!

Custom Portrait Illustration

2010-08-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

I got a request to a portrait by a new blog friend, Amber Rose.
I had a lot of fun doing this picture and I think it turned out nice. I love the detail I added to the hair, curly hair is the best to draw! Can't wait to do another portrait soon!

This portrait is Pen and Ink on Bristol 9" x 13". I will do your portrait too for $50 and up depending complexity. If you have special requests as to the style just let me know! I will provide you with a high res jpeg which you can use on your blog, facebook, whatever! Just please give me credit via link to my blog at least once. I can also send you the original if you would like to provide postage.

You can check out Amber Rose's blog at: http://modestjune.blogspace.com

Nefertiti Illustration

2010-08-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

So I got bored today seeing as my husband decided to cancel our Direct TV. I had been wanting to do an illustration of the famous Nefertiti bust for over a year now but kept putting it off. So finally I printed off my picture and got to work!
The smaller image I did first as a preliminary with scribbles, I think I got carried away. With the larger one I wanted to use some hieroglyphics, and ended up using the anch symbol over and over. I think it turned out quite nice.

I made a wedding cake

2010-07-29T20:54:00.001-07:00

My first wedding cake I made myself! Ok, so I finally got the nerve to do it. These are cake dummies, made of Styrofoam, I was not having that much cake so close to me knowing i would probably get sick eating it. I covered the cake dummies with frosting and fondant. Separating the tiers are smaller Styrofoam rounds which the roses have been attached to by wires. I also attached green ribbon to each cake. These shots were taken in my dining room.

hey dolly

2010-07-16T18:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, another hobby. Well I found this new sculpting clay at the store that claims never to dry out, and it is true. After using Fimo and Sculpty before, I wanted to try something that wouldn't become rock hard after a few days. So I tried to make a face, but because thae clay was so squishy I had a hard time holding and working on it with out leaving imprints and distorting it. Luckily, I found this head I apparently did, hiding in one of my craft drawers. So added the new soft clay to this pre-baked head and was able to work on fashioning a lovely Marie Antoinette-esque wig. I love how it turned out with the curls and beehive. Then when I tried to put it on a cookie sheet to bake I realized it wouldn't stand so I put some shoulders on her. Later I painted it with craft paint and did some accents with brushing on colored pastels.

Super Nintendo Cake

2010-07-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to try my hand at sculpted cakes for awhile now so when my husband's birthday was coming up I knew I had a good reason to try one. At first I was going to do an old school computer, but then I changed my mind and I asked him what his favorite video game station of all time was. I got my answer and did my image research. We totally had one of those, we probably had every game station that ever came out considering I had three brothers. Anyways, the cake is red velvet with cream cheese frosting. I am still using cake mixes, I should probably try doing one from scratch, but I haven't worked up the motivation yet. The cake sorta cracked when I was moving it before it was frosted and that's why it's not exactly perfect. Well, my husband loved it anyways.

purse cake

2010-07-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

Here is my first 'sculpted' cake. I watched some tutorials online and figured this would be the easiest way to make a purse. Just a round cake with the bottom sliced off. Then I traced the cake pan to make templates for the fondant pieces I adhered to it. I made the tassel out of gum paste. The makeup is fondant, but I think I will try gum paste next time to hold its shape better.

I wanted to try making a gum paste pump. Since I was a bit low on the gum paste I tried using fondant instead. Probably a big mistake cause it is already cracking a bit. I like the sole cause i mixed brown and white fondant to make that wood effect.

Next I tried to make a fortune cookie. Just cut a round shape from the fondant and fold it a bit. Cute! Now I just need to make a cake to go with it!

International Delights

2010-07-09T15:47:00.001-07:00

I went to the Mabuhay Philipinno Mini-Mart in Taylorsville for the first time today with my former mission companion, Lara. it was great seeing all that Philippino food. Brings back memories from when I used to live there! So I got some frozen lumpia, banana ketchup, halo-halo mix, filipino hot dogs, ube (purple yam) ice cream, champ-o-rado (chocolate rice), dried stinky fish and a few other things. Can't wait to have that lumpia for dinner!

Got some Mexican Cookies from the Mexican Bakery next door to Mabuhay. Hey, the guy talked me into it! It was a good deal anyways. They are sort of starchy little things. First time i think I have tried something like that. The Mexican Wedding cookies, the white powdery ones, were my fav. The pig is a molasses cookie. Lets pig out, oi!

A few days ago we went to Kneaders bakery - yum- and had this Napoleon. it had strawberry whipped creme type filling and layers of flaky phylo - heavenly.

K, had to try this strange looking drink from Harmon's. it's Ooba Sparkling Hibiscus Drink. i've tried rose chocolate before so i figured why not! Well, it was, um, interesting. Tasted a bit like prune juice or at least what I imagine that would be like. Anyways, cute packaging.

Cool Home Decor

2010-07-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've been shopping. bad- I know. Well, at least I've been taking some pictures instead of buying. Just thought these were super cute. I did buy the branch jewelry holder though at Urban Outfitters. What a fun store!

Room for change

2010-07-03T00:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some before and afters, actually afters and then before, of my living room which I painted to this bright shade of turquoise. It took me forever to decide on this shade but I went for it. It seems to be a pretty popular color right now on tv and such. My old office used to be painted this color and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I used a flat paint and it is kinda nice because you don't see any of the stucco texture on the wall. Before my fireplace stones were beige but had some dark streaks showing through, while I liked this before I decided the whole thing looked a little dark next to the turquoise so I brightened it up with a shade that turned out to be nearly the same. Oh well, at least no more dark streaks or dingy browns there! Before all of this turqoise madness I had painted the wall there dark brown, which is almost the exact same color as my wood furniture so there was not enough contrast and was a bit dreary for spring/summer. I have to say the turqouise is growing on me after the initial shock of the color. I am still deciding on what color to do my kitchen which opens into the living room. Maybe brick red or a yellow with some nice faux finish?

Delicious Desserts!

2010-07-03T00:29:00.000-07:00

My husband challenged me to make a souffle. I always heard they were hard to make. I found a recipe on epicurious.com that used semi sweet chocolate chips which I had so I went for it. Surprisingly I had all the ingredients, nothing fancy here. I think it ended up tasting more like a fudgy brownie but it was good. My egg whites didn't peak when mixing with sugar so I think I need to work on that part. Also a few days back I tried to make creme brulee, I think this was my second or third attempt. I had gone to Sur La Table downtown for the first time and picked up some pure ground vanilla extract, which is much cheaper than buying the vanilla beans and scraping the seeds out. This time I tried using my larger ramikens after filling up my smaller ones. I think they turned out great especially with the fresh fruit added on top and my husband absolutely went bonkers over them!

Fondant and Gumpaste!

2010-06-22T20:51:00.001-07:00

Cupcakes!

2010-06-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

Got this super cute mini-cupcake (the turquoise one) at Mini's in Salt Lake. It was called Breakfast at Tiffany's. I am loving that turquoise color right now. Even considered painting my living room a slightly darker shade of it, now if they would just stop ignoring me at the painting counter at Wal-Mart!

A new book called "What's New, Cupcake?" recently came out. It is a follow up to "What's Up, Cupcake?" So instead of buying it at the bookstore I waited to borrow it at the library, it came sooner than expected! I love the modern library system! Anyways, these are a few re-creations from the book. Those duckies were hard to do!

Mosaic Tiles

2010-06-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, a new hobby- mosaics. I had this frame lying around that I wanted to do something with after I painted it pink. I found these cute tiles at the craft store of moons and stars and had to get them. Later I added those glass pieces that usually do in the bottom of a floral arrangement. I hot glued all the tiles on and then got some grout. The grout was a bit dry, maybe I should have added water. Once it was semi dry, I wiped off the excess to reveal the tiles. I think it turned out pretty cute, definitely nice for a nursery. Some day I will have a niece! Ha.

2010-05-12T23:07:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at oil painting. I think it turned out pretty nice. I decided to take an oil painting class at Roberts and since I have only used acrylic paint I had to buy a set of oil paints which are much more pricey. My instructor says oils are superior to acrylics because they stay wet so long blending is much easier, which I think is true. I was able to get some really great effects with the slow drying paint. I had to wait almost a week before the first of the painting dried so I could add more detail with out it completely blending out. I am really happy with this painting because it is my first landscape that looks realistic.

2010-05-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

My second attempt with fondant. Since they messed up on the schedualing of the Wilton 3 class at my local craft store I decided to just do some experimenting on my own. My Wilton fondant was all dried up and crumbly so I found a local bakery supply store in Murray. I was so excited to know we had one not too far away. So before I ran out of steam I went over and picked up some new professional fondant, Choco-Pan. Its white chocolate flavored so it is really pretty good. I still had some trouble working with it because the sides of it were all dried up and not pliable. Luckily my order of Satin Ice fondant just arrived, and I've heard it is the best. So far it looks pretty soft so I'm excited to try working with it. Overall I think this cake turned out alright, I had a lot of problems with the fondant sticking to the table and tearing. Also the laying of the fondant was a little lumpy, probably because I did not use enough icing underneath and it was dry. I like the strawberries on the cake though.

Sushi Series

2010-05-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

what i've been up to lately

2009-08-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

For anyone who even sees this and hasn't seen my cake pics on facebook, that's what I've been up to. I took a Wilton cake decorating class and loved it. I wanted to take the Fondant class afterward, but it was canceled. Maybe someday soon I can.

textures

2009-06-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Downloaded some brushes and tried em out in Photoshop. There are a lot of downloads out there!

2009-06-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

My teacher told me to try drawing on dark paper. Here is my first attempt. I had to use a textured paper so it was a little harder I think than a smooth surface would be. So I ended up with a moonlight scene to make use of the blue background. The texture worked on the hat and scarf I think.

witchy woman

2009-06-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Just a drawing I did in our last class during critiques. Blue and tan pencils, cool and warm cools. She sort of looks like a witch to me, but a cute one. I think the eyes look kind of fake though, maybe I put them too high up or they are too big.

big ol' painting

2009-06-22T23:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a painting i've been working on sporatically. It is quite large , I think 4' by 3', you can see the scale by the light switch in the picture. so this canvas has been black for many years since I covered up the original image of large eyeball, mouth and ear which was for an assignment back in college. I also made the canvas myself in the class which can be a bit tricky. I had to purchase the beams, had to size and cut the wood with a power saw including support beams, glue and nail it, wait, stretch the canvas, staple it, prime it and then it was ready. This is a less expensive way to get a big canvas but it takes time and patience. Well, everybody who came into my place always saw this large blackpainting, which I didn't mind so much. But after my parents constant complainging about it I decided I better paint it to show my cheery side. I still need to work on it a bit more but I like how it is going now.

Children's illustration

2009-06-10T19:15:00.001-07:00

My final project for illustration class. I did it all in one evening. Sometimes I just get carried away! So I wanted to do an illustration on Alice in wonderland, but really loved the side characters. when I found out the illustration needed to be cover art I decided to make Alice the center focus and put the characters all around. She is sort of Disney-esque (It's the big eyes) but I tried to colorize her to be more unique. She has green eyes, darker blonde hair and a curious expression. I also tried to make most of the other characters more unique and from my imagination rather than working from anything Disney. This done in watercolors on Bristol paper with touches of black ink.

sushi!

2009-06-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

Anybody who knows me knows that I LOVE SUSHI! So for my senior project back in, er, 2005ish I did a series of sushi paintings for my last class. I did some larger ones and ones that were tiny on gray backgrounds. I could only find one of the small ones for now. Maybe the dog ate them?

details make the difference!

2009-06-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

I added more detail to my sea queen inked project. The octopus legs turned out quite nice I think. I like the shading. I heightened the contrast in Photoshop.

doodle board!

2009-06-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

I've been adding a little bit each day to the board. Today in class i added extra washes to the characters and tried to heighten contrast. I still have a few more things i want to do to it before it is due next week.

my mom says i'm special

2009-06-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

Check out my first week's work at my temp job. This is only preliminary stuff, but they wouldn't give me my files so far so these are scans of printouts I had taken home previous. So the rainbowy effect is just because of the scanning, not intentional. All artwork and text used in these is original, made by me!

Children's illustration

2009-06-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

My next project is a children's illustration. I barrowed the Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass books from the library. Searching the kids section was fun! I think I want to do something based off Alice in Wonderland or some other fairy tale. Here is a sketch.

Ker Splat!

2009-06-01T17:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some watercolor and acrylic splashes I did for illustration class. Practiced flinging paint, using a toothbrush to flick it on, letting it run, mix, light washes.

old stuff

2009-05-06T21:29:00.001-07:00

I thought I would post up some old drawings that I just scanned in from years ago. Some of these are from high school. You can probably tell which ones! Can you tell I like portraits?

Project 2 - Ink!

2009-05-06T18:06:00.000-07:00

Here is my second illustration project. I made it last night. It is using black ink. I still have some shading to do on the octopus legs. Ink is tricky because you feel a lot more committed to the lines which you make, this can be a bit stressful. For example, I put down the outlines of the lady's face first, only later to hate the shape, I tried to cover bits with hair. I would probably not do the jaw line so solid if i could do it over. Oh well, I can always take it into photoshop or add some white paint to erase it.
I also added some hidden creatures in this drawing, can you find the puffer fish, the seahorses, the sea turtle, sea snail, two dolphins, ray or octopus eye? They are there!

it's done!

2009-05-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

Here is my final for my first illustration project. Colored pencils (prismacolor) with a little black ink for definition.
This is done on rough sketchbook paper, I have learned my lesson, smooth paper is better. My inspiration image is noted above.

scrapbook paper

2009-04-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

I just created my first scrapbook paper designs for a job i am applying for. it was frustrating at first but I really love how they turned out.

2009-04-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

This is what we worked on in class today. The masked lady and skeleton is the project I am working on due next week.

working with colored pencils

2009-04-23T20:28:00.001-07:00

So last class we started using colored pencils, I have used them before but I learned so much! Color blending by layering is awesome! Check out my eyeball done in graphite versus my eye done in color. Love it!

new project studies

2009-04-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

manga madness

2009-04-23T11:19:00.001-07:00

these are from practices from a Manga drawing book I borrowed from the library. I am also reading my first Manga series.

I can scan, I can.

2009-04-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

So here is a cute kitty i drew along with some attempts at drawing horses. I finally got my scanner to work so i'm excited i can start posting some drawings.

animals

2009-04-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

Today I decided i had better start using my library books before I have to return them. i guess I got too many. Well, I have been reading the Mermaid Chair, so far it has not been my favorite because it is about a middle-aged woman who goes through a mid-life crisis, i haven't got to that part yet in either sense. So i whipped out my how to draw animals book, drew a ton of cats in different poses and now am on to horses. So far the horses are a challenge, probably because i never draw them! i think with the illustration class I will learn to draw lots of new things and I'm excited to see the result. Now i have to learn to use my scanner to upload some drawings. Well its new so i need to figure it out. Right now, I am watching the Creature from the Black Lagoon, maybe I will draw him next.

fun stuff

2009-04-14T22:09:00.001-07:00

Today I started off by walking my dog, Piper. He was jumping up and down biting my hands, so even though it was cold and wet out we went over to the park. This seemed to tid him over for a bit. Then I was off to the gym for a good weight resistant and cardio workout. I was almost about to go home when i remember to return my laptop case to the unofficial Mac store in union park. So I went in and they wouldn't let me return it since I didn't have the credit card - my mom bought it. Yes, I am that spoiled. So I decided to exchange it for my first pen tablet! This of course cost a bit more, but I have been wanting to buy one but just kept putting it off or forgetting about it. Now I can illustrate much easier and even write in my own handwriting. I just have to get down the details about how to control line weight with pressure and all that. Okay, so next i went to the World Market store, technically I guess they call it Cost Plus now. Anyways, I absolutely love this store! Mostly in the past I just looked at the home decor stuff - cool posters, rugs, curtains, frames, candles, and other ethnic stuff. Today I actually looked through all of the food section and found some really cool stuff! Cost Plus has their own line of spices! Very exciting for someone like me who likes trying crazy ethnic recipes but can't always find the called for spices. I was tempted to buy the saffron, that stuff is expensive, but considering I didn't remotely know a recipe for that I skipped it for now. I did find some dried Thai chilies to go along with the peanut sauce I got. That should be a lot easier than trying to make the sauce from scratch like I did before. Also I found polenta, I have never tried this before but think I heard of it maybe on the Martha Stewart show. Its a paste that is used instead of pasta so it is to be mixed in with sauces and meats as the carb-alicious part. Anyway, we will see if I like it. I also found a variety of jarred marinated olives mixed with other veggies. Have to get that next time. I also tried their chocolate with chili. Caliente!

back to the drawing board

2009-04-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

Today was my second day of Illustration class. The first one technically doesn't count because the teacher wasn't there and we only stayed for about 30 minutes. We learned some really cool things, i may have know some of these techniques but had totally forgotten. We learned about blind contour drawing - when you look only at the object and not what you are drawing. What you come up with is totally distorted and child-like. Then 80 - 20 contour drawing where you are allowed to look at your drawing but only 20% of the time. Then we did gestural drawing- capturing the essence of the thing. I never realized you could do this with still life as well as figure. We did most of these practices with an iris picture. It was really interesting to start a drawing with a new approach, and change the way you looked at it. We also did some gradients on shapes. And then practices things we learned working off bug pictures. I am excited for the doodle board we will be doing which will be a collaboration of different techniques we will learn.