getting my crafty on...

WELL.

Summer finally arrived in Toronto and I was trying to get my fill of the sun all last week - it's been a crazy week (and I imagine it will get crazier in the upcoming months) but, I didn't forget to indulge in some art/craft time.  First though, I got myself a 2nd cat - my one cat seemed lonely and I was feeling pretty guilty that I never replaced his friend that he grew up with -and I was able to find a cat that was sweet and cuddly and playful.  So much of past two weeks were consumed in trying to get them to at least tolerate each other (my dreams that they would start snuggling right away didn't happen).  We are finally all getting along somewhat and the new cat was adjusting super well by week 2.  I finally caught up on some missed sleep and had some time to myself to start a couple of small projects - mostly crafty ones this time (which is good because I haven't done any in a while).

Usually I engage with my "crafty" side during the winter/fall season (which just means I'll knit endless amount of scarves) - this year it had started a little early, thanks to a coworker who posted pictures of little elephants she crocheted over the weekend.
Crochet is something I had always wanted to try but it never really made sense to me - but I was encouraged by my friend's post and decided to give it a shot at making a cat cave - I had a cat cave pattern saved for eons and had enough yarn to give it a shot. I had plenty of yarn left over from a previous un-started project and hook to go along with it.

While I was making this (I had to undo and redo a few times because it was ruffling) I realized because I didn't use a big thick yarn like the pattern said to, my project needed much improvising.

I can't even tell you how many times I've un-stitched this project due to ruffling and curing; I probably could have started and finished another cat cave with the amount of times I spent in redoing the thing. I just couldn't let either of ruffling and curling just pass me by though....-_-  The good thing of course, is I REALLY LEARNED how crocheting works and it allowed me to get a little creative and I added a band of colour using pink and red yarn I had lying around....which gave it the pop of color I wanted, not that my cat is going to ever notice :)
Hopefully I will be able to make two cat caves before winter comes...!!

Another little thing I wanted to get back into was sculpting.
Playing with clay had always been a favourite of mine except the giant mess- not that it ever stopped me. I stopped because there wasn't a kiln facility available and to get one was painfully expensive,especially for a hobby I wasn't particularly talented in.  I remember long long time ago I bought a bunch of Fimo but I never got around to play with them.  Not long after, I had been "forced" to give art as a way of life and entered the business world...I was super bitter then, and threw out everything I owned (I am kicking myself right now).

Anyway.
Awhile ago, a friend of mine from work made me a little chibi figure of Tootless from How to Train Your Dragon (excellent movie btw) while I was on vacation - we had agreed to make each other a little something - and it was a wonderful surprise to come back to.
He recently had gone on vacation ,I wanted to make him a little gift to come back to-- but then Mello & Mamba (my cats) situation took over all things...and I couldn't find the time. However, I was all prepared: I had bought some "Sculpt -it " by Sargent which was air hardening clay (I wasn't sure if my oven worked) and had reference pics of what I wanted to make. Of course, i found that air-hardening was not as easy to work with and hardened while you were rolling :S So I finally got some Sculpey - and popped out a little kawaii lion (he's a Leo) for him to find on a Friday morning.  That was also too much fun that I have little plans for more projects percolating...

That's all I think...Oh, I took up belly dancing but that's another story.

Hope you liked,


Love Always,
Shines.

Trust in magic....

It's been a wild little week~ I really wasn't sure that I would find the time to make a post at all but somehow I managed to find the time in the week to make a few spreads.

The week started with me getting a 2nd cat.
I originally had two cats but one had passed away and the other was left alone. The one that's left, Mamba (whom I named after the black jaguar from The JungleBook only to find out that it was not the name), always had a friend as long as he's been breathing so I thought it was finally time to get him another buddy.

I came by a cat who had just been rescued and was lovable and cuddly as can be; in my mind, they started snuggling immediately and life was rosy. So I was rather distraught to see that my cat was not at all happy to see the new cat; in fact, he made noises I didn't know he could make. I lost so many hours of sleep that my cuddly princeling was being a jackdonkey.
After a few days though , they've exchanged sniffles and the hissing subsided a little and I was finally able to get uninterrupted sleep.

Had a busy weekend with a couple of girl friends - which is a pleasant surprise - since I can't seem to keep good girl friends around :D my little hopes of having girls night out was...possibly on the horizon.

I even went on a date with a couple of guys and found one with possibilities....

So much is happening rather fast and while I've committed myself to being okay with not having control over everything that's happening, this was just hard to wrap my head around.

This was a super easy and super quick spread. I already had some blotches of ink sprays on the page -I gessoed over that. I have some fantastic acrylic paint from the dollar store - you know the kind that comes in tiny containers with all sorts of colors? It's for kids yes, and the paint is not very pigmented - which is horrible for anything else but for soft backgrounds like this. They are so diluted that blending them is super easy.   The main art work is by Karina Skalin - I really enjoy her big hairs and mythical settings. I had colored this one in Photoshop once upon a time and  thought it a perfect piece for something (its been sitting on my desk for a while) - slightly modified but I mean the artwork is gorgeous. There IS a link to the artwork on my digital version.

I really like the flow of the letters....it was just a great piece to put together <3  It felt great to pick up a pencil crayon too - I think I'll do some more of that.

I hope you liked,

Love Always,

Shines.

What a weekend!

Never mind, what a week!
It started with me flying off my bicycle on my way to work  -same route I've been using everyday - I got caught between streetcar tracks and by the time I realized what was happening, I was already on the ground.  Thankfully I got away with some serious bruisings and one wonky wrist and nothing was broken.
Over the weekend - my friends and I decided to take a short trip for a nice picnic and light hiking - which turned into some serious hiking and climbing down rocks to get to the bottom of a water fall. The next day I biked across town with an avid cyclist and I can't believe I made it alive.

These things made me realize what I was taking for granted - good working limbs and general good health and luck - that I avoided some serious set backs. Thank myself for always keeping active in case I have to climb down rocks at least few feet to get to the bottom of a refreshing waterfall.
It reminded me that I had good friends that I could have fun with - and good company makes all the difference in the world. Life was not still going the sour route, as the days like to let us think that it is.
I just needed to be more patient with myself, as I am with so many others.

I really wanted to write some of this down and I was so glad that I had started a Book of days where some journaling can be incorporated.
This page in particular, I am super happy with.
I did some collaging, some doodling and journaling - all three things I always  want to incorporate in a spread. I love the colors and the imagery- I really felt like I was springly and limber - and that I could do anything with the people I was with. I appreciated being alive and well enough mind and body, that I could enjoy such moments.

I hope more of these moments happen....

Hope you liked,

Love always,
Shines

Good things happen....

It feels like forever and a third since I've done anything in my art journals and nothing feels more creative to me then smashing some junk, paint and making something nice to look at.
I have a few projects in mind as you may know if you've been reading my previous ramblings - but I had to put them aside for a second (which is really hard for me to do because I'm very much about finishing what I started before moving onto new projects -but I'm getting better) and let some creative juice OUT.

Unlike most other times I had an idea of what I wanted to incorporate - I wanted to colour someone's lineart and incorporate it somehow. Drawing is not my strongest suite but I have a GREAT collection of line art by others who generously share their talents on my Pinterest page and in my DeviantArt folder (I have hoarding issues but that's another story)....another element that I wanted to have FOR SURE was some doodling. I really miss marking random shapes on paper that look good together.

I had a quote in mind but I didn't know what image I wanted to use; I wanted to use an empowering image JadeDragonne called Vail for this quote:

for this quote as it's something I strongly believe in even though life has tried to prove otherwise to me.  I chose this lineart by

Good things come to those who wait... or those willing to get up and get shit done!

For a long time, I was part of the group believing that good things come to those who wait and while I waited nothing happened but good things were happening to those getting out there and trying something.  So went and tried a few things and while it got me somewhere it didn't get me anywhere quick.  

It finally dawned on my infinite wisdom that, maybe good things happen to those who are willing to put in some work-and have the patience to wait for that perfect opportunity.  You have to be in practice of willing to work otherwise the opportunity will pass to another who is; and if you are willing to work, even if the opportunity you wanted doesn't happen, another will knock and you have to be ready to work for it.   Everything, I tell you EVERYTHING is an excuse; time is something we can all manage, its a man-made concept and the will of a human being is stronger than anything. When and if you really wanted to do something, you will find time in all sorts of places to get it in your schedule. Just change in perspective and mindset.  All this really were in my head as a jumble but the doodling I got done made it into a communicatable sentence.

What you see in the picture BTW, is a tissue paper with this beautiful doodle that I've been hanging onto for quite some time now -it had fallen apart so I am glad it found itself a good home and it certainly kick started my doodling.


Life, God, Divine Force or The Universe - whatever it is that you believe in - truly works in mysterious ways.... in my case so many have passed by that I could have taken advantage of but I wasn't really willing to work and I was to scared to try.  I went through a hiatus where I was sick of what I was doing to make a living and jumped into something utterly different - and came up top - but that probably only happened because I was willing to try something and put forth an effort.  Still, there are some  things I did right and now that I am ready to finally put forth some effort, things are rolling along rather well * knock on wood*.

Hope you liked my bit of wisdom-sharing there, LOL

Love Always,

Shines.

Work it baby!

I have been a long time fan of the quote, "good things come to those who wait" and supported it using my life as an example. I must say it was a long wait and nothing particular amazing seem to happen; in fact, things seem to head to the extreme wrong direction of where I wanted to go...and my dream of making a living from being a creative person seem to drift further and further away from me.

Years after - I finally met someone whose life brought an interesting insight to this quote - that it's not about sitting and waiting for something good to happen to you (although, I will confess this seemed like the case for some people) - its being prepared in every way you can be prepared - so that when an opportunity presents itself you are ready to jump on it and take it for a wild ride.
Unfortunately he eventually got lost in his mind and wrapped up in little things....but that's another story.

The key difference is that you have to work for your dreams to make it happen - preparation, or practice is still work. It must be done before you can reach a level where you CAN make a living from it without spending all day to do it. More you practice, more realistic the dream becomes and the dream doesn't seem like a dream anymore but a very realistic goal.
And you get pumped and excited at the possibilities of achieving what you thought was, impossible.

Not having time to do it - is an excuse -reflection of fear- maybe because it may seem like a waste of precious time on fruitless endeavor.
Maybe it's true.
But you won't know until you try...and in retrospect you can only blame yourself for never trying.
TIME is something you control; believe me, you will ALWAYS find time for whatever you want to do.

I had forgotten about this bit - until now as I was starting to get caught up in life and not finding time to make even the smallest thing (like those mini pieces?) and go weeks without creating a single thing ; well, besides create a lot of stress for myself - and thought this was a good reminder specially because I KNOW it will happen again...just gotta keep on truckin'.

OH BTW.
IS THIS NOT SUCH AN AWESOME COPIC MARKER PAINTING OF PRINCESS LEAH?!
just sayin'.

Hope you like,

Love Always,

Shines.

Great Expectations

The pressure one puts on oneself is second to none.
I don't know why we grow up to expect so much of ourselves? Then we beat ourselves for it when really nobody else but ourselves set us up for fail, and the impossible goal.

I spent so much of my life planning out every bit of my life.
I remember having short term, interim and long term goals and I had a clear vision of the things I was going to have achieved by the time I reached a certain age and when that didn't pan out I was devastated. But because I am bull-headed and stubborn, I tried again and again only to fall flat on my face and reach the lowest of the lows. Being from a family of overachievers , this was really a hard pill to swallow.

Recently, chatting with a friend over glasses of wine and smokes - listening to her wallow and remembering my own bitter sweet memories...I realized if we didn't set such high goals and expectations of ourselves, we may not only be happier but more successful.

Its a common storyline -people who became a great success, they really were not thinking of becoming successful in their chosen, they just wanted to do what they loved and be happy in their lives.

Not saying that we need to be all laid back and flow with the wind- but we need to loosen up on the expectations a little bit....maybe it will lessen the heartbreak.

This spread was created in the natural light and dark (I had power outage on Friday the 13th - in the slideshow you can see one photo by candle light which was quite nice).

I covered the page with paper napkins... painted it brown with some splatters of white.
While that was drying, I drew the girl and heart on the glued pages of my 1st art journal (which didn't pan out- but I love the thick pages in them and use them) painted them with dollar store acrylic paint. In the case of the girl I did some prisma colour penciling as well...The tear is in Sharpie believe it or not!
I  then tore the heart apart and stuck'em with some dollar store white glue.
Stenciled some words with dollarbin stamps from Michael's (I'm such a dollar girl lol).
Here is a picture of the final:

here is a slideshow of the process:

Book 1, signature 1 - slide show

Argh...

I have never felt so technically challenged....maybe that is the wrong word.
I have been trying to create a journal flip of my Copic catalog book - which turned out to be much more challenging then I thought. First, my camera had some feature on it that shuts it off if it deems nothing worth filming was happening (like really, who the heck is it to judge THAT!? just film dammit). Then when I watched it , it was not only super long but totally not what I wanted to share. After trying out many vices and many...tapings, I just got so FRUSTRATED that I gave up on it entirely for weeks (or what seems like weeks). After lots of ice cream and smoothies, I calmed down and realized I still wanted to share what I'd done because I am so darn proud of it and happy with the outcome, I resolved to the slideshows.
Hopefully, soon I will have all this sorted and have a proper video for the part 2 section.

I have to extend a great big thank you to 2 very special people who's Youtube channel I watch with my lids peeled for new videos and when I have the chance to, read their blog post; Jennibellie and Vicky P.

I have NO idea when I came across Jennibellie- it's been a couple of years now -what I do remember is watching all 40 of her tutorial videos in one sitting. It was so nice to know that someone else also thought that art can be created using what you have lying around and who firmly believed in repurposing and had a larger stash of STUFF that she was going to use to MAKE STUFF.
I must confess I made a couple of albums and bound some books  during that time of tutorial binging, although I haven't a clue what to do with them- or where they are right now.

ANYWAY.
There was a time and a place for everything and , I guess that just wasn't my time to start being artsy; but, it was a great thing to have binged on tutorials because, when I was ready, I knew exactly where to go to for an awesome tutorial on making journals with boxes and such. She really makes EVERYTHING she possibly could, which is fabulous resource for me, because I like to make everything if I can :D

But, I wasn't really convinced that I could do what they did - they being, these incredible people who just seem to poop out an idea LIVE on camera without any hesitation and with all sorts of supplies I didn't know existed. I wanted to make pretty spreads and stuff but I didn't have all the fancy tools to die-cut or blend or emboss; quite frankly, I wasn't sure if I was ready to make that kind of investment and buy these things yet.

However, I guess because it was my time to finally be artsy, I did make a couple of spreads before I was completely stuck. I am very happy with them - they incorporated the beautiful illustrations people did with Copic Markers into my journal and I was happy with the outcome, even if the camera kept failing to record.
But I really was just not sure if I can squeeze out an idea for a spread every time; then I bumped into this video , recommended by Youtube, of Vicky making her  Life video. She seems to have so much fun and it was one which used the least amount of tools, and I seemed to have some of them and I wanted to see if I can indeed, make a similar spread using only what I have. And I did! obviously, hers look so much better but, I'm surprised at how mine came out.

Shortly after, I made another spread which was based on I don't know who - I have NO idea where I saw it but I felt like the spread to do that day (And I really just wanted to keep the momentum going), and really wanted to see if I can get in the habit of doing this, or enjoy doing this...and honestly, it was pretty fun trying to figure out how I can make what I see without having to buy anything, but just with what I have... :) I made this one from this example I took a picture of with my then super outdated slider phone :P

I guess that is when I more or less became sold on the idea that I CAN  make spreads without a ton of supplies- with a little imagination you can use whatever you have on hand and make your very own masterpiece....what every one of these people have been saying, is really true :D
Here is a slideshow proving that (hopefully I will figure out how to get fancy on these soon, or try recording again). Hope you enjoy,

Love Always,
Shines.

Inner peace

ARRRRGH

There are times I find myself sounding like Shi-fu from Kung-Fu Panda constantly repeating,
Ommmmmm...innner peeaaace... innnner, inner peeeeeeeeeeeeeeace...!

which inevitably gets me more irritated as I can't seem to get my mind clear , focused and regain that cool, calm stillness that was CLEARLY there not too long ago and now cannot be found.
I find myself in this circumstance most often when I am doing to duties of a good friend/coworker/new friend at a party/bar role and lending my sympathetic ear only to find that the person talking to me is happy to simply WALLOW and really doesn't care to fix the problem, or have a conversation even. They just want someone standing there to talk at so that they don't feel/seem all that insane talking to themselves. And because they are wallowing over a magnified nothing, they can't find anything to be grateful for even if they were one of the luckiest people I've come across.

Truly, I enjoy being there for my friends and lending an ear or two , or three to help vent out some steam over some sort of beverage because we all need that sometimes. I'm even willing to wallow with you and cry it out and throw things together if need be; but don't bring back the horse from the dead just so that you can beat at it a little more and don't lose reason altogether?

This piece was inspired by an acquaintance/friend I've only been hanging out with for a few months. She was super lonely and was having a lot of confidence problems because guys were just not that interested and she had too much pride to let them go and accept that he may have not been the one. Months of "how dare he"s and plotting schemes to make the guys feel horrible and regain their interests so she can reject them.
Never you mind that you're working a minimum wage job but can afford to live in a condo and party daily because your devote family would not let the youngest on the street or go without something she wants, including your rich and protective brother. First world problems, let me tell you!

Either way, she was invading my mind and I couldn't get a string of productivity out even if the world depended on it. So I decided to play in my art journal and let my emotions rule over the pages.

I glued on some bright red tissue paper left over from I don't know what, using...regular dollar store white glue to get some folds to add texture. The I took some paint out (again, from the dollar store) and just painted the thing black. Then brown. The I splattered them using the brush - which turned out to be super therapeutic and there were layers and layers of that until i was done.


As I was starting to feel better, I wanted to do make something on this paper. I am really thrilled about this page because it finally allowed me to use a magazine cut out I've been holding on to for EVER. it's a beautiful vector art and I thought she was fitting to demonstrate inner peace.
I Outlined her with this "PUFFY PAINT" (guess where I got it? the Dollar store) to outline her and accentuate her and smudged Glitter Glue all over her body (that's right, from the dollar store -trend?).

I cut a piece of paper and painted it bright yellow - regular printer paper - and painted the quote on.

It's such a great quote. Truth be told I am sure I drove a few of my friends insane with my wallowing and disturbed their inner peace; but, what can you do but be a friend? Its tricky to learn to be sympathetic but not get so emotionally invested that you lose your balance and ability to do what YOU need to do.
There will also be the cases when behaviours of people you don't care to acquaint yourself with disturbs your inner peace...because it affects you in some way.

Conclusion: art is so much more therapeutic and effective than meditation (for me anyway).

Hope you liked <3

Love always,
Shines

Listen

OOOOH MYYYYY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH.

I love this piece. 
I love modelling paste.

This piece took me waaay longer than I expected it to take and was sooo much easier to put together than I thought it was going to be, which makes it a pleasant surprise and a great reminder that I really should stop worrying about things too much as they will come together as it should. It was worth every worry though, and is my current favourite spread.

This started with my trying out modelling paste and getting rid of itty bitty left over paints in shades of blue.
I painted the spread without any intentions to  make anything but just to use up this dollops of paint left in tubes, taking up room and figured something will come of it one day. *groan*

Anyhoo,

This really was fun. I was determined to use and try out all the little stencils and material I kept buying but was too chicken to try out and I thought well. Gotta do it one day; and did pop open my light modelling paste and spread it over a stencil...and it was GLORIOUS. They were the most PERFECT little dots ever.
When it was dried I tried some more on a Damask pattern I love and it was even better. Couple of days later when it was fully dried I painted it with some watery acrylic paint and it was just gorgeous.

I still didn't know what to do with this. I didn't have a sentiment in mind or anything and I wasn't sure I was going to do anything to it in fear of ruining it because it was just so perfect and it was not going to get better.

Then I came across this quote which was just perfect. It pulled what I was learning the past 2 weeks and put in a succinct sentence.  I feel that this is probably the truest thing ever and most frequently forgotten.
I firmly believe that humans are incredible beings with great powers - the power of the mind is second to none - but we forget what miracles we are caught in the rush of the day. We forget, that we are wiser than we believe because of all those around us telling us that we are not.

I drew the girl on a piece of thick card stock that used to be a certificate of appreciation for some volunteer work I did and gave her some colour with acrylics and pencil crayons. Found the prettiest eye I could find in the stash of magazine clippings. The glow is actually a painted tissue paper -2 layers of watercolors... To much surprise this gives the tissue paper heavier matted texture which is quite nice.

And all that glitter? Dollar store glitter glue - that is an amazing invention - probably by someone who uses glitter a lot and wanted to streamline the process. Or a very keen observer. ANYWAY.
Here is a quick slideshow of the spread:

And a quick photo of course:

EEk.
You can't really see the quote:

" At the center of your being you have the answer. You know who you are and you know what you want. You just need to listen. The quieter you become the more you can hear."

Hope you like,

Love always,
Shines

Bent

Well.
You know that song by Pink, Just Give me a Reason?
When I first heard this song, I didn't really listen to the lyrics but I heard the chorus and it moved me. I thought it was another song about a girl who's heart was broken.
When I REALLY heard the song for the first time and watched the music video I cried.
It echoed what my heart couldn't express....and of course, I had to make this moment - that it happened and I am in admission of it - they do say that the first step to recovery  IS, admission.


I wasn't really sure how this would turn out.
I played with some paint and light modelling paste(which is just the most fantastic thing EVER, I love it).
I didn't realize this but water on modelling paste will cause the paste to desolve and lose its shape...which was cause for panic at the time but it grew on me and added a nice incomplete effect.

I wanted to go for some sort of...well, I don't know what...I think I was more interested to try out different materials. The heart is actually the LCBO paper bag with layers of acrylic paint. I thought if I wrinkled it after, it would give some texture - it didn't really but I like it.

Hope you like,

Love always.
Shines.

Dance in the rain

I love hand-lettering.
I have great penmanship, but I admire those who can take ordinary,good "penmanship" and turn it into thought/emotion provoking works of art.I haven't the patience to learn such art but I try to show my appreciation for it whenever I can, like my little Moleskine book o'Doodles and in spreads like this one.

I am sure we've all been handed our fair share of lemons in life.
When it rains, it pours...you know it, felt and but lived through it and gave yourself a good pat on the back for making it through another pail of lemons with gritted teeth, making various flavours of lemonade.
At least that was me.
Now I think that its not just what you do that matters in these dire situations...its also your attitude.
If you keep going through life with the survival mentality you miss all the little joys along the way because you're always thinking what's next? Instead, if you waltz through it - with the attitude that you will try to enjoy even this sack of nutjobs, it doesn't seem as bad.

I had been wondering about the imagery for this quote for quite some time - my technical ability wasn't going to be able to portray what I needed . I tried to not think about it (but I couldn't help it cuz it was THE quote I wanted to use as this was the one that summed up the week's "enlightenment") too too much. I had this weird idea that, what I need will be taken care of when I need it.

Of course, weekend rolls around and I'm starting to feel a little more panicky about this.
Then I saw a newspaper left on the bus - Cartoon section, my favourite - and my eyes just about popped right out when I saw Mutts -which is my favourite cartoon strip and it was EXACTLY what I needed.

NOT saying that you should go through life with the attitude and expectation that all you need will be taken care of, but just to not over-worry about everything because as we all know, it almost always works out as it should.

Love always,
Shines

Last one I promise; The Fallen.

more of her awesome stuff here

 I am going through some of my work last year trying to tie-up lose ends (by which I mean finally finish whatever it is I started so I can move along) I am finding things I am particularly fond of that I CAN'T BELIEVE wasn't shared here -one of which are these drawings from that book I keep mentioning, "How to draw fantasy characters."

This one, I am PARTICULARLY  fond of because it HAD no instructions. and while mine doesn't measure up quite up to her amazing works (like - I love everything  about this piece - the pose, the colours, the expression and obviously, the background).

Of course, because I love it so much, it came with NO instructions and I cannot tell you how many photocopies were made trying to apply what I had learned in the previous pages (I think I drew every single character in this book) and really DIGEST what I had learned. I used up an entire Steadler eraser before I was finally able to produce something half way decent.

This is a 4" x 6" no named cardstock I got at the dollarstore a loooooong time ago when I was obsessively making albums with( I still have them, I have no idea what to do with them but eventually I am sure I will use them).

 It was the first thing I grabbed when the light bulb went off in my head and it is certainly the only one that turned out much better than I expected.

I used a "skin tone" Copic Marker set for the skin and the the rest is in crayola markers. Completely amazed at my own work and that this was doable with good ol' crayola markers. The only bummer is that with each layer of Crayola, the paper became visibly furry and damaged due to the water-soluable nature of Crayola markers.

Mine has no wings. WHY? because I just could NOT get them in perspective. To be honest, I'm not entirely happy with the way the back look but I dared not touch it, it is as good as it is every going to get. I wish mine had wings, although I have NO IDEA how I would have coloured them with markers and I think that may have been a twinkle of a thought in my mind, which made the 'no wing' idea easier to accept.

As the fairy had no wings though, I felt like mine lost a bit of magic - like she did wrong and was banned from the fairy world - the "fallen" fairy - so I called this piece, "FALLEN" (dramatic, no?).


Quite some time after, I found an old version of Grimms' tales I never knew I owned and I tried to redo this piece again, this time with a bit more context. Some of the lyrics from the song "Happy ending" by Mika and a quote from the movie, "EVER AFTER."

Clearly, I lost some technique or at very least, sense of proportion...super long arms, super short legs....it looks to me, and part of one leg disappears into the void.

I can't even explain what happened to her face.

I love the gradiation of colours - Promarkers and Copic Markers are incredible and definitely worth the investment if this is something you enjoy- but are good at. Although I think the stem that she's sitting on is, Crayola markers. :D

Anyhoo.
I hope you liked :)

Love Always,
Shyni

Freebies - Dooberrie

This is another little piece I found that I had coloured when I was following along the book by J "Neondragon"Peffer called "How to draw fantasy charecters" . I love this little pixie - the way she stands and the drapery and the colour. I wasn't a big fan of the smile showing the teeth and the wings were a bit smaller than I 'd like so I made some alterations - which again, makes me feel that I can distribute these as I see fit - and is now available for you.

There is a little story behind this which you may find either offensive or funny - but I found it to be hilarious.
When I was practicing drawing this lil lady on a 5" x 7" card (I tell you there were many a cards wasted, she's a trixy lil' thing), I wanted her to have the beautiful, vibrant blues, pinks and greens...and just SCREAM vibrant in your face; I was having hard time finding a good reference photo until my friend showed me THIS photo of what I understand to be an incredibly desirable state of weed. With all reservations aside ,I have to agree that the  colour combination here is EXACTLY what I was looking for - I would love to live in a space with these colours!!!





  Armed with this....unexpected source of inspiration for colour, I banged out this final verion which you can download.

There are a couple of other line art available for download as well  - feel free to use them :)
http://shynimoonstar.deviantart.com/gallery/35023426

This is what I ended up with.
I was bend on creating beautiful works using inexpensive materials. While I was making this, a friend of mine suggested that this be a fairy for doobs - bare with me , I promise this is kinda funny - she would be like a toothfairy but for doobies (for those who aren't familar, because I wasn't when I first heard this term - this is a small spliff or a joint or a roll of weed). So, how she would work is whenever someone is getting low on their joint, they would butt it out and then put it under their pillow and BAM! a second later, a whole new joint would be there in place of the tiny one.

*shrug* I don't know I thought it was funny, thus named her "Dooberrie." I hope enjoy,  and let me know how your fairy turns out.

Freebies - mermaid

Okay.
I cannot beeeeeliiieve this isn't on here... I came about this mishap when I told a friend of mine to check out the blog for a line art I made a whilllle back following and incredibly well written and WONDERFUL BOOK by J "Neondragon"Peffer called "How to draw fantasy charecters" which I borrowed from the library;my  drawings are all a modified version of her pieces which makes me feel that I can distribute my version as I see fit. In general, I like to give my characters unrealistic amounts of hair because I like working on them and because I, personally, have unrealistic amount of hair according to my hairdresser.

This book was such an inspiration for me to start drawing again, that I would highly recommend it to anyone who  is pondering about picking up that old art kit your parents got you for art class way back when.  Just look at it - it's so pretty I love the colours, the background and the composition.

Although I made a few of the linearts I only ever got enough gull to try to color the mermaid - I coloured it in markers (crayola mostly - the one to the right), water colors and pencil crayons(one to the left). You are welcome to use the line art and have a ball with it as you see fit , like Lynda did here .

Just click on the picture for the lineart:)

Let go

A confession: I have a hard time letting people go.

Even when I realized that it was a problem, I couldn't help myself. I believe people are good inside(don't they say we're made in the likeness of The Creator? and I've never heard of an evil Creator) and I hung on to the good that I saw in these people waiting for it to come up to the surface like mine did, but it didn't happen.

Once I even took dramatic measures and cut people out of my life that were simply sucking the vitality out of me( I call them energy vampires lol); and I have a LOT of energy yo spare, so for me to say that  it holds some weight- in retrospect I don't know how I survived them - and simply carved them out of my life. It was easier to do then I thought because they simply didn't care to keep in touch if there was nothing being given.

Until recently I had been cautious and fortunate enough to acquire a handful of great friends who not only inspire but encourage my being. I became so euphoric on this positive energy that I didn't practice caution and gave myself away to a rather deadly "vampire" who affected me financially, emotionally and of course, physically.

Apparently this was a bad seed but I was so happy that my friends couldn't find a way to tell me -but the cosmos had NO problem doing so. First, I got bitten by my otherwise uber affectionate, timid yet outgoing black cat , so hard that it drew blood as if to say "wake up" and the next 12 hours came filled with shock filled series of events and ended with me bumping into THIS quote 4 times during that time. I don't consider myself as a particularly religious or a spiritual being but I do heed to the signs that click together, and to my gut feeling  because they have never lied to me.

Once again I am reminded to keep my guard on and keep an arms length away until I can be certain that they can be trusted; to realize that sometimes, its not giving up but letting go.

The friendship/relationship you thought existed was only real in your mind and the reality is much different; and you must do all you can to protect yourself by not giving yourself away, or at least, find the strength LET GO and move on as soon as you realize the truth- and remember that you're not giving up, you're  letting go.

IT HURTS and your heart bleeds and pours out of everywhere; it's hard even when you have carefully kept your distance - or tried to - to let go of something that was so dear is hard.

I believe that life throws lemons for you to learn a lesson from ,maybe in different situations until you LEARNED the lesson; I was CERTAIN that I had learned it the last time but I guess I was just lying to myself; the heart does not learn well and its too stubborn to listen to the brain....

This was done recently in my first art journal that I had thought I'd lost - its quite serendipitous how all these things just HAPPENED - its such a painful page for me, because it reminds me of the pain I was in when I made it and the heart never really forgets....and it aches at the slightest reminder...

Anyway.
Sorry to be such a sap.

Love always,
Shyni

Paper bead Madness

 *SIGH*
Once up on a time, long long ago when I was a wee lass, I remember spending too much effort buying magazines only so that I can slice'em up into strips to make beads out of them. I wasn't ever really successful and I had little to no patience to make it nice and when I did manage to make a nice bunch, I had no idea what to do with it. I wasn't sure if I liked it but I never gave it a fair chance because my next craft adventure - dried flower arrangement - consumed my brain space.

Recently, my 6 year old fan (who belongs to my craft buddy) became a crafter and went nosediving into paper beading and was all puffed up and frowning because her attention span was as short as mine had been and her beads were...not beady looking, as she so delicately put it. So in my total lapse of logic, so euphoric was I that she turned into a crafter(which meant another craft buddy for me!) I agreed to make her some and send it her way...she asked for the highest number she can count to (200) and I promised double, which was 400. Ridiculous, right? well, I should have known better because her brain soon became occupied with another crafting passion (knitting - which her mama is into now).

 Anyway I gingerly picked up where I left off - I wanted her to have some stars and triangular beads - which I had made hundreds of (because Asian girls love to make stars, crane eggs and cranes lol) but no amount of varnish hardened it enough for it to qualify as beads.
I used whatever paper I had lying around - lots of origami papers I glued together, random scraps, and even transit pamplets and transfers. I found that I particularly enjoyed the transit pamphlets because they were slightly thicker and gave interesting patterns-even the pen marks added a pattern which I enjoyed.

I enjoyed this activity so much that I put nail polish colour on them and goodness knows how many layers of varnish. I sent the first 2 batches of 100 beads away -which she made endless amounts of necklaces with (Apparently that was all that was considered jewelery)- which sent a jolt of excitement and prompted me to make more, better versions. THEN I fell off the crafting bandwagon for a week and during those 7 days her interest had moved on to knitting and I am left with 200 beads. These are them. Oh well. At least this time around I can understand why people love making'em!

Cinderella - Major project #2 - Grimms brothers

Whoa!
This was a tough little project - mainly because I had to work with little or no colour and that is just not something I've done before.
This is the 2nd piece of a three part series I am making for an illustration class I am taking - the first explored the Cinderella story by Disney and this one was based on the Grimm brother's version = they really are a set of grim dudes, let me tell ya! While reading this story it came to me that this is probably one of the few versions of the fairytale which deals with the idea of being punishment and I really wanted to show that through. I wanted to create a grim piece of black and white with a shocking statement of punishment by blood; where a dove is the deliverer of punishment and a bush is the source of magic - and this is what came out.

the writing says "As you sow, shall you reap" in Hindi.
You can see the working process here: http://youtu.be/20S1yYyTaHo

Major project :Cinderella - Disney

I am SUPER excited to post this here... it feels like the very first well thought out and completed piece straight out of my brain even though I have made a few other pieces in the recent. This one is definitely the biggest size I've worked on so far.

I enrolled in an illustration class recently to keep myself sane and busy during the chaos of my life. We have to pick a theme of sorts and make 3 illustrations of it - after pulling my hair out and driving my instructor insane I settled on the theme of Cinderella. One, because to me, the story demonstrates the all-so-easily-forgotten lesson of "good things happen to good people." I feel that this is particularly easy to forget in today's society where we see all around us someone who cuts corners and yet gets to the top while you try to stand by your morals.

We were given free reign except that there should be a reason for any colour used...

Because I am a greedy and tend to bite off more than I chew I envisioned this grandose series which  incorporated Art Nouveau, stained glass colours and still telling you the story of Cinderella in to a tiny 15 x 20" board...which was not quite possible from where I stood. Either way I managed to poop this out:

Unfortunately you can't REALLY see the glitter or the metallic paint but it's there... :(

This is about 15x20" with pencil crayons and watercolours. Thank goodness the watercolour paint came from the dollar store because it has about 7 layers of paint on this thing. I didn't plan out the media as carefully as I had planned the line art and with each layer I made an error which could only be saved by painting the whole thing again.

I wanted the shape to look like a grandfather's clock from afar, with the  each circle depicting a scene from the movie and the characters. There is a light border around the piece done in pencil crayon which gives it a nice frame without being intrusive.

The whole thing - I'm not going to go through each element - leads to that if you keep your chin up, keep your eye on the goal and work towards it honestly, miracles can happen.

I may do a little vid to shoe the glitter. XD OR maybe, the video will have all 3 pieces...?

Due to the many layers of paint the poor illustration board became severely warped, so I decided to paint the back with leftover acrylic paint to compensate or cancle out the warping -which failed. I learned later that if you put a huge "X" and a "+" on the back with gesso, it helps with the warping (actually I hate to mention it but my teacher had mentioned this helpful tip, and like a good student I wrote it down, but like the genius I am forgot all about reviewing my notes filled with tips from my instructor when I was working on this pieces)


Hope you like! there are two more to come so stay tuned!

XO

What's on my mind -?

I am a pretty organized person and I always have imagined that there was a little birdie  in my head who neatly keeps all my lists, loves and things I should forget in a tiny filing cabinet. She keeps me organized and cleans my mind. I don't count sheeps when I can't sleep...I watch her sweep and tiny my brain and pass out.

I think at one time or another, everyone has a go at doodling out what they are thinking onto paper at least once - I seem to do this fairly often  with at least TWO drawings under my belt. 

It's really relaxing to do - all you have to do is draw what you think is you. Then you start attaching things to your head as they come to mind. You don't have to know a skill or technique - just grab the nearest thing that writes and GO! And because your mind is always thinking and always listing (in my case) things, there isn't a chance that you will run out of things. You can do it by theme ( favourite things, foods movies etc) or just randomly drawing.

This one I did of my favourite things...at the moment, which I did for my Moleskine book O'Doodles... and it's not all of my favourite things EITHER...it's just some that I popped into my mind at the time- basically whatever my little birdie read from a long list of what I love. I am sure if I were to draw another one RIGHT NOW, it would probably come out completely different.

What would be a really interesting theme to doodle out would be, things I hate. However, there are so many that I would probably need a whole wall or even a building XD

 This one below I am uber proud of.

Originally it was a commission piece - but she didn't like the random doodle idea and wanted specific Disney related images in the ..."cubbies" of the circles which I didn't mind. I drew one out for myself after the commssion was done but I never really knew what to fill it with so it remained blank in my sketchbook for a long long time (the sketch on the left was done like, in 2010 I think). I stopped doing art for a little bit after because I felt maybe I was wasting time doing art and there were other pressing matters.

Then I just decided WELL, I'm going to pursue art a little harder. I enjoy working on pieces for others and myself and its not like pursuing it will harm me. In fact it would probably give more purpose to my life.

So I started to complete all the pieces I started in my sketchbook but never got to develop.

I think I spent 3 days trying to figure out WHAT TO DO with this space. I wanted to represent me in some way and make me happy to look at it before anything else.  On my 3rd day I was moooooved to doodle -and not just doodle but in COLOUR! In my weird little mind, doodling should always be black and white so this urge was odd for me. But I let it flow and this is what came out.

It was completely impromtu  - I had no plans of what to put on this page except for the girl.Every inch was sort of a happy accident and decided as I went along. The patterns just FLEW(is this the past tense of flowed?) out of my mind through the Sharpies and onto paper- the way creative juices should. It makes me happy to look at it because it's oh-so-colourful.

If you enjoy doodling....this is definitely something to try out.