As I don't plan on working tomorrow or doing anything but go Halloween crazy with my husband, I wanted to take the opportunity today to wish you all a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I hope this halloween is the coolest, craziest, most outrageous and fun Halloween you've ever had. And may the creepy crawly sensation you feel on the back of your neck tomorrow night really be JUST the wind! HAAHAHAAAAABOOOOOO!
PS. If you're looking for something awesome to watch tomorrow night, my husband has put up a handy dandy movie review/list of the movies we've watched so far this Halloween season. They're mighty fine flicks! CLICK THIS to see the list.
Because my last post was not artwork related, I wanted to put up one that is -- since that's what this blog is supposed to be about. I worked on the drawing you see here for a couple of days; then, yesterday I duplicated it and made the subject's face more Halloween feeling. I like the dark coloring of these. I like the patterning and little bits of surprise scattered throughout, like the skulls and flowery wing type shapes. Halloween is so great because as an artist I have an excuse to draw things that are dark, strange, or wierd; and no one thinks twice about it, gets scared, or worries about the state of my mind. Nice!
Halloween is the coolest, hands down, most excellent holiday in my book. So, I thought I'd do something different and put up a post of my favorite halloween movie and book. The movie is "Constantine" and the novel is "The Stand" by Stephen King. I found a quote by Stephen King "The Stand":
"I love to burn things up," King says. "It's the werewolf in me, I guess.... The Stand was particularly fulfilling, because there I got a chance to scrub the whole human race, and man, it was fun! ... Much of the compulsive, driven feeling I had while I worked on The Stand came from the vicarious thrill of imagining an entire entrenched social order destroyed in one stroke."
How cool is that?! This book is a long one but really really worth the effort. To get lost in this one is a treat, it's one that as soon as I get to the last page, I think long and hard about just turning back to page one and giving it another go. And to be truthful, some days the mini series based on this book knocks "Constantine" back to second place. It's amazingly fun.
"Constantine" appeals to me because I'm fascinated by hell. I admit it. The idea proposed by the often great writer Edward Lee (he wrote two books on this theme that I adore called "City Infernal" and "Infernal Angel" of hell being a large thriving city is really interesting to me and Constantine portrays hell similarly. Exploring old places fascinates me no end and I think this is partly why I find this idea so intriguing. So, here's the trailer, I hope you enjoy. And once again, Happy October, Halloween and Haunting.
Since it is Halloween, a season of chills and thrills, I thought I'd draw Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock is awesome at telling a scary story. For many, many years now his stories have thrilling and chilling millions of people on the big screen, so I thought he'd be fitting for a halloween picture. Halloween isn't like many other holidays. There's really nothing you have to buy or do, it's just pure fun, watching scary movies, putting up little silly decorations; it's equally fun for kids and adults alike. Which is why I think so many of us like it so darn much. So, Happy Halloween to all of you, I hope you're having a great time so far this October!
Of the people I think is amazingly pretty is the actress Rachel Weisz; so, I thought I'd draw her. I don't know if this looks like her in the end but I had a grand time drawing this. It took longer than normal to finish this but was it a joy to draw. It was one of those drawings that you fall in love with as you draw it. I just kept thinking, oh, this is so pretty. Sometimes I begin to feel like I'm just a spectator when I'm drawing something, this was the case at times here. I like the way her eyes shine. I like the subtle colors mixed with flashes of green and pink. I like the sweeping feeling of the black cape. I love drawing when I really like the picture, when it goes well, smoothly. It's so exhilarating when that's the case.
This was drawn for a friend of her boys and father-in-law walking in the woods. She took the picture this is based on and I really loved it, so, as is par the course for me, I wanted to draw it. That's funny when I think about it, any picture I really like I want to draw it. I thought this style, lines and washes of color was fitting to the scene. Nature makes me feel alive and reminds me of all that is good about being alive; so, a labored process just didn't seem the way to approach drawing this sort of an image.
Cristina, you're awesome! Thanks for letting me draw your picture.
It's finished. Due to continuing feelings of sickness, I find I need something to keep my mind occupied; hence, the completion of my drawing of Michelle. She is so awesome and emailed to say that she didn't mind at all my putting this up here, thanks Michelle! I'm glad you like it too! Funny, I like this drawing but liked the previous one as well. I am glad that I continued to work on this drawing, that I didn't leave it undone. I think the final product was worth the effort and was fun to draw/paint. It was so nice smooshing around paint this morning on my computer. I like the smears of paint and the dark places throughout add a continuity that I like as well. I love studying my pictures when I finish with them because I always find spots, surprises, and painted bits that I didn't intend and that's really fun to me.
Note: Michelle is an awesome artist. To see her work CLICK THIS.
This is a drawing that is about 2/3rds the way finished, I think anyway. I thought it might be fun to show something unfinished and then later the final product. This picture is friend of mine, who hopefully doesn't mind this. I really like how this looks so far. I really enjoy how there are lots of details in some places mixed with big splotches of color in others. And once again, it's largly pink and that is always awesome in my book. I may make the outfit smooth black, that might be fun. I'll add more detail to certain areas, such as the hands; but, I don't want to put in so many details that focus is moved away from the face. And who knows, maybe next time I get back to this, I may decide it's perfect the way it is. We'll have to see.
I was having a difficult time getting through the work day yesterday, as I was feeling really rotten. So, I stopped to look at the internet for a minute in an effort to refresh myself. I saw a picture of a woman with big sunglasses and a long scarf and thought it looked like it'd make a great sketch. Here it is! It really helped me feel better, for a minute anyway. Yes. I like the way the quick lines make the picture seem alive.
There is a little animal in Utah commonly called a "potgut." Recently I learned that these little creatures are really prairie dogs and that they are on the endangered species list. Geez. Right now there is a group of prairie dogs in the four corners area that is being decimated by the bubonic plague which is horrible; this case aside, there are people that think killing these little creatures is ok, they are after all, just potguts, they don't matter. They do. Whether you are religious or not, vegetarian or not, a hunter or not, this is something that I think should bother us all. Killing for killings sake. Human beings by far have the biggest impact on Earth and we have a responsibility to protect small creatures going about their business not bothering anyone, small creatures that are incapable of defending themselves against us. They have enough danger in just existing without us adding to the problem. Come on, this is easy, give every animal, creature, being, plant, etc. the respect it deserves. Life matters. Respecting life matters.
I saw an image that was really interesting today. I used it as inspiration for this drawing. This was fairly fun to draw and helped me stop thinking about a frustrating client at work. Nice!
A little update. A month or so I put up a post regarding some artwork that I donated to Children International to be part of a silent auction for an event they were having on September 26th. Well, that was last Friday and I've been having a very difficult time being patient, I wanted to email my contact there the 27th to see if my artwork sold, if it did - for how much, how the event did in general. Well, I finally got word. The event was a success! They were able to raise a little over $100,000.00. The raised about $6000.00 in the silent auction, which is where my artwork fit in. I'm so exited that I was able to be a part of this, that my donations sold! I was forwarded a link about the event. If you're interested click HERE.
As for this blog, I've been crazy busy lately but hope to have a drawing to put up soon!
