Friday, November 22, 2013

Twinkle lights and sniffles

Stayed home sick today, I guess this cold weather doesn't love me as much as I love it. *cough* But it's not too bad because I've got a glass of hot apple cider, cold medicine, and fuzzy socks along with my box of tissues. My very large, very fat golden retriever Jack fell asleep on the floor with me about an hour ago and I had an AHA moment. The lighting was perfect! I quickly...then slowly...got up and got my camera. BOOM. Christmas card DONE!

 And I couldn't just stop there...



So basically what I am getting at is I'm sick, my dogs are adorable, twinkle lights make great lighting. 
Happy Almost Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Gone but not Forgotten

Gone but not Forgotten
Today I'm going to talk about a very tragic event in history. Last year in World History class we covered WWII and the Holocaust. I always knew that these events occurred  and what they were initially but I had no idea just how horrid they were. I have many Jewish family members and friends and they are some of the nicest, most giving people I have ever met; to think that innocent people just like them were gassed, buried alive, and burned terrifies me to my very soul. After three weeks of  studying my teacher, the biggest history buff I've ever met, had us stand witness to Schindler's List  ... My eyes burned so badly from holding in tears that they looked as though they had actually been burned. Everyone's eyes were red and puffy leaving the classroom in a heavy, uniform, solemn state. The whole sophomore class one period at a time had their eyes opened to the horrors that were the Holocaust. I reflected on that video for a few days before discussing an idea I had with my history teacher. I felt as though these people needed to be honored. My teacher agreed and told me that if I could truly capture and honor the victims of the Holocaust that he would allow me some extra credit as long as he got to keep the picture. The image above hangs proudly in his classroom today along side another painting I had completed for WWI. I am extraordinarily proud of these piece, not only because it was my first real colored pencil piece and portrait but because it means something. I dedicate this picture to all the victims that passed in the horror that was the Holocaust. You may be gone but you are definitely not forgotten.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Friday night date with Watercolors

Livin' up the single life hard tonight! Got my slices of rosemary bread toasted, fresh bruschetta, and sparkling lemonade all plated and ready for a night full of Netflix and watercolors. Unfortunately...this image was not an original idea...I found a similar one on Pintrest...however I think it came out pretty swell! I usually dread using watercolors because they are so unpredictable and given my recent obsession with colored pencils I've become a bit of a control freak. Ha I wonder why I'm single??
Diggin' the creepy elephant vibe 
TGIF nerds!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Climbing Sabotage

She Bends over backwards to mend the rope she's climbing. Sabotage. 
I'm fairly certain that every teenager feels like all you do is inch farther in life; slowly and tediously climbing that rope to adulthood. And sometimes it can feel like that rope is unraveling right beneath you. Maybe your grades take a dive after bombing  test or your "love of your life" dumped you for the homecoming queen/king or your parents are riding you about your duties at home or maybe it's all that at once. Either or we all know the feeling of sheer helplessness, anxiety,  and insecurity. And if that isn't enough to deal with someone/something has to come along and just snip that rope your trying so desperately to mend.  I have a dear friend of mine who lost her dad recently, out of the blue he was just gone. There she was chugging up that rope we call high school and all of a sudden she was almost literally hanging by a thread. Never have I witnessed such strength and fortitude as she literally rebuilt herself from the ground up. Long story short, life is constantly trying to sabotage you. Keep climbing my friends.

Pre-coloring

My attempt at trying to draw scissors from memory turned out pretty good!

Over view before coloring, sketch pad @18x24in. 

Thursday, November 7, 2013

A Product of Teenage Hormones

A little over a year ago I was having a bit of a "downer day". I remember just slumping into my chair in chemistry, tossing open my binder and then just putting my head in my hands and just breathing outward. It was one of those days...the teacher started the class and I (probably not being a very great student) put my headphones in. I put my head down on my desk and zoned out. While I was zoning I started to picture an image in my head, I picked up my pencil and started to scribble in my science notebook. Later that night I went home and just hulled up in my room with my sketch pad like any typical art freak.
 Well long story short...this was created. Sorry for lack of a better picture but I'm still figuring out this whole blog thing.

Connect and bisect it as you will! 

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Physically on the Inside, Superficially on the Outside

So I don't really know if it's just our generation and its new found fasination with death and the acult or we all are closet serial killers or what but skulls an skeletons are definately a popular art topic currently. Last March I was assigned a "Fashion Project" in my phtotgraphy elective. The idea behind the project was to make a statement with colors and to inccorperate the "model" into the art with the image, or in other words the image was supposed to be very superfical and not portray the person but the clothes, make up etc. I ran with this idea and  immedately contacted my two "models" Johnathan Carriger and Aimee Martin. I love these two to the extreme and knew that they would be the perfect candidates for my little creative experiment.
I wanted to express the idea of making what is physically inside the model superficially outside.  I went about  creating my image by using my models (vicims) as canvases. 



The process of painting them took longer than expected (note-to-self: when painting friends have them arrive hours early). Being teenagers and unemployed we decided not to spring for body paint and used my acrylic paint...bad idea we discovered later...I began with covering them  with a base coat of white paint. Atop that I went in and drew on the bones with a thick liquid eyeliner pen.The shading and filling was powered eye shadow from the drugstore. Cheap, easy, and effective. 
So...after the 2 1/2 hour  paint job we started shooting. I hung an ironed white sheet over my garage door to use as a back drop and set up my tripod. 

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

It's Nice To Meet You

If you are reading this...no matter what age you are I'm sure you have an idea of what it is like to be a high school student. If you're in 8th grade or below you most likely look up to high school students like giants (unless they're like me and have only reached the towering height of 5'2"). If you are in high school then you're currently very aware of your hair, mascara, and cellphone and the texts you are waiting for a reply for. If you are out of high school then you're probably very nostalgic about the whole experience. Either way you know what I'm talking about when I say that teenagers are crazy. We are; we are awkward and insecure and over-dramatic, a ticking time bomb of hormones and all we want is to be noticed. I'm 16 going on 17 and cannot get it through my head that college is just a little over a year away...holy crap. If it wasn't for the invention of paper and pencil I think my head would've already exploded....BOOM! My teachers call me an artist, my parents call me their "talented" oldest daughter, but my friends call me Lucy...It's nice to meet you.