Night Dancer

“The Universe Is Inside All Of Us”.

I’ve been interested in the universe i.e. outer space ever since I was a kid looking through telescopes with my dad, going to the science museum, watching science and space related shows. The universe and space has been on my mind lately and I decided to incorporate it into my work. I wish the scanned piece [above] showed the full ombre effect transitions of purples to blues to green like the photo [below] but alas technology does at times have its drawbacks. Even when I tried to change the levels, brightness, contrast, saturation etc.. I just could not get the effect to come through in the on screen vs the physical item. There were several steps involved for this piece, the hardest part was waiting during the drying processes in between each new layer or element being added.

I discovered a new [to me] album that I’ve had on repeat, My Fear and Me  by [the now defunct group] BIRD. I was all set to start looking up more of their work when I found out they are no longer together. Oh well, at least this one disc is pretty epic. Especially if you are into indie/gothy rock from the UK. Think dark ethereal music with hauntingly beautiful vocals. My favorite track is “A war”.

And on the theme of recommendations… currently I am reading The Faerie Guardian [Book 1 of The Creepy Hollow Series] by Rachel Morgan, and Night Study from the [Study Series] by Maria V. Snyder. I finished reading Staked  [Iron Druid Chronicles] by Kevin Hearne and Dark Heart of Magic [Black Blade Series] by Jennifer Estep. I’m glad that the Game of Thrones season is back. I won’t give away any spoilers, but I can’t wait for the next episode and I’ll let it at that.

This item can be purchased in my etsy shop
https://www.etsy.com/listing/285762599/night-dancer-original-watercolor?ref=shop_home_active_3

Elephant and howdah Paper Cut Art / paper cut out

This was the first paper-cut art piece I created. At the time I was so eager to craft the piece, I went as far as coloring the paper black. Yes you read that correctly. So how sad is this? I didn’t have any black paper, so I took a sharpie and colored my white cardstock paper black. It took quite a while, and I had to use up a few pens to achieve the level of blackness I required.

I really wanted to ensure the white paper would not show through so I colored both side of the paper. I hand cut the paper, then hand painted the background in heavily pigmented watercolors. I love the ombre effect achieved and the contrast of the black cut out against the vivid color. The downside I have found  with these pigmented watercolors is unfortunately I can not get them to scan well. They always look better in real life as opposed to the digital world, at least in my opinion :). They just look to blown out to me, as if the levels need to be adjusted in photoshop. So I still need to play with that issue… or maybe it’s just my eyes, or the screen or the…ugh so  many variables if I go down that path.

Anywhoo,  this piece is now a welcome addition to my flat. After I completed the piece I framed it and hung it up in our hall. So I guess you could say it’s a part of a private collection now and not for sale if you were to really stretch that far….

Until next time…

Live well, laugh often, and love much!
Andy.

Paisley Peacock Paper Cut Art / paper cut out

I sat down with an xacto knife and started hacking away, eventually my paper turned into this royal peacock. This is the second paper cut out art that I’ve made in life. I’ll post the first in another post later. It’s amazing how long it can take to do the monotonous cuts. At times parts of the paper became very fragile so I had to treat it with great care and love. Even then some ripping/tearing/bending can occur.  I have a great respect and awe for the more talented paper cut artists whose very intricate detailed cuts look as if done by laser.

The finished pieces are a sight to behold and feel like an accomplishment. During the whole process my fingers were killing me, holding the exacto knife for so long and my fingers in the same position for such long periods of time made them ache and cramp. It took  hours of cutting to finish this piece. The piece was made with upcycled paper that was scraps from other projects.

ION It’s been brutally cold lately! I kid you not it’s been minus -9F with real feel of minus -35F due to frostbite inducing heavy winds. I am glad my heater is working and my power isn’t out.

This item can be purchased in my etsy shop
https://www.etsy.com/listing/261227471/paisley-peacock-paper-cut-art-paper-cut?ref=shop_home_feat_4

Feel Inspired

“As long as you feel inspired, your life is being well spent”.

When taking stock of our lives, looking at how we spend [or have spent]our time comes up. Sometimes it’s by our own choosing, other times it’s because we are being questioned by those around us. Questions like “What have you been up to? What do you do with your time? Do you feel inspired? Are you inspiring others?”.

In my own case, I am trying to live a life where I can inspire and uplift others. Either from my words, through my art, or by my actions. To put a smile on someone’s face, and brighten their day if they are feeling down. Some day’s are easier to get through than others. I know this better than most…and that sometimes just surviving “a day” can be my greatest accomplishment that day/week/month…

My latest “accomplishment” is that I’ve been working on a project of scanning in a TON of old family photographs. There’s HUNDREDS of them literally! I’ve scanned and repaired nearly 700 and still not at the end of the stack. It’s fun seeing the antique photos and reliving my own childhood memories but I will be glad when this project is done. After scanning so many it feels like there is no end in sight for this suitcase full of photos I inherited.

Snow storm lexi is gone, and now we are onto snow storm mars…we had less than 2 days between storms. 0.o I got sucked into watching the hand eggball game aka SuperBowl50 last night…ugh absolutely hate american football…or watching/listening to any sports on the telly for that matter. [Politics too while we are at it] so I ignored 99% of it and paid more attention to instagram and other social media.

Anyway I hope you are living an Inspired Life and living life to the fullest that your heart desires.

This item can be purchased in my etsy shop
https://www.etsy.com/listing/265844534/live-an-inspired-life-original?ref=shop_home_active_11

Free Spirits Must Forge Ahead

Some inspiration to keep us moving forward…

In my part of the world we slowly move towards spring. Some are digging out of the snow, while others are experiencing a deluge of rain.

Meditation through art can guide us to a better place. The inspiration for this couldn’t have come at a better time. I funneled some feelings I have been working through and turned them into something positive. 🙂

Take care, look after each other, and be well. I am grateful for each and everyone of you everyday.

~A

A rooftop garden in India

This was a sketch/doodlewash I drew from memory of a rooftop garden at the Taj Vivanta hotel in India. I used a field kit to sketch and paint this, however I was drawing this from our family’s house in India…which in a way it was like being in the field since this was only the 2nd time I’ve been to the family compound, and isn’t my normal day to day life home in America.

I know it’s been a while… and such a long absence was not intended. My devoted followers are probably wondering where have I been? What have I been up to? Why was I gone so long?? Life took over is the short answer. The long version is that I have been away on travel. The longest trip took took me overseas to India [where I did not have internet access], and the shorter trips took me around North America. I’ve had two deaths in the family, was sick for a while, and dealing with some depression issues [le sigh]. Then the holidays fell upon us and that became the main focus.

I am pleased to say in this absence as time [and motivation] permit, I have been drawing, painting and creating so I do have things to start sharing. 🙂 I hope this new year of 2016 is bringing you and your loved ones renewed hope, prosperity, and good health.

Translating Gratitude

Mum’s the word

 

Hurt

 

Planting Day

“I plant joy, peace, and love everywhere!”

This is the second version of this, the first [completely different design] wasn’t “very good” according to my other half, alls well I guess because then it encountered a mishap when some India ink blobs fell onto it..sigh.  Speaking of India ink, I’ve been testing different media recently… I dislike this particular batch of pre-cut greeting card paper I used for this drawing. It’s basically only good for plain inked illustration and line work, calligraphy, and very light washes.

Then there’s the “tooth” issue as well, it makes blending a challenge and prevents scanned images from scanning well…too many shadows and the quality isn’t as good.  I hate the thought of wasting resources and money, so I’ll continue to use them up, and repurpose the paper for other ideas.

I’m loving the new drawing mediums I picked up a few weeks ago…soft lead core colored pencils and water soluble pastel crayons, I can’t wait to try them out on better paper. My old tombow colored pencils had a hard lead core and would not blend well and it drove me batty.

I learned recently about the “Drawlloween” and “InkTober” drawing challenges, since we are already a few days in I’ll have to make a note in my calendar to perhaps try next year as its sounds pretty cool. Completely out of my normal style so it would definitely be a challenge.  On that note I’ve been challenging myself to try to improve my work. I feel like I can keep doing better and I’m not giving up. I’ve been hunkering down and learning new techniques to apply. For all the likes I know there’s going to be haters and rejection. I was invited to show at a local craft faire unfortunately the cost and the timing aren’t great.

I’ve been dealing with some things on the personal front and working through those challenges, frustrations, and losses [of death and jobs].  Pumpkin spice latte’s help ;), beautiful sunsets, drawing, and writing. I feel like I am at a crossroads…what I want to do and what currently pays the bills are two different things. One makes me miserable but at least I would have a roof over my head, the other brings me great joy but at this juncture doesn’t pay well enough to even buy a consistent tank of petrol…so I’m looking into what my options are…trying ever so desperately to avoid having to go back to work for the vampire’s [soul sucking corporations who don’t care about me] again. I want to be able to do something creative and work for myself, so we’ll see where life’s path takes me.