New painting - work in progress

I've been working on a painting of my little Morrigan le Fae, and I'm really diggin on the results. The idea began as just practice in creating lineart in Photoshop, but I liked the composition so much that I hastily finished sketching it out, printed it, then transferred it to watercolor paper. This is pretty much the same way I do all of my paintings, sketch them out, then use my lightbox to transfer the finished composition onto my watercolor paper, since it prevents me from tearing up an expensive piece of watercolor paper with lots of erasing and redrawing. The only difference is I did my sketch in Photoshop.



This is the reference photo I used, from a trip to Hobby Lobby when I had to use my camera as a pacifier. Morrigan is such a camera ham. The lighting is rotten, but the photo is super cute. I used this as reference for the lineart



This is the lineart in Photoshop. As you can probably tell, I started with the face, then somewhere around the flowers I got excited and quickly finished the sketch so I could paint it.



And here's the painting so far. Her face and her hair are finished. Everything else gets a lot more work. Usually once I've finished everything else I go back to the skin tones for awhile as they tend to look very pale, but since Morrigan is very pale that may not be necessary.

I won't be making prints or anything of this painting, it's all for me! However, after my show next month I plan to start opening slots for custom portraits. If you'd like to have your little one painted as a fairy, elf, mermaid, or maybe you'd like yourself painted as your Role Playing character, or whatever your mind can imagine, let me know so I can update you on the details. Post your E-mail address here, or feel free to send it to me at battlemaidenart (at) yahoo.com. I will only E-mail you once, so no worries about spam!

Oh the things I do...

So, I was working on a really large painting last night, and I have absolutely loathed working on this painting, so I was seething while I painted. It was a good idea when I started, a really large scene with a pretty Celtic woman and a pack of wolves, but I didn't lay the painting out very well. I didn't realize when I did my first sketch, and it didn't become evident until I put the painting down for a month and picked it back up to finish it. There is one really beautifully composed section, with the woman holding a wolf cub, and a wolfy companion. The other half of the painting just looked tacked on, and I kept working on it hoping that it would come around and start feeling like a valid addition to the painting, but to put it crudely it just felt like I was polishing a turd. So, I called up the guy that expressed an interest in buying the painting, and told him what I was thinking. "You're the artist!" he replied, and I jumped up and attacked it with an Exacto knife. Cut the 22x28 into a 16x20, and I absolutely love it. I began to work on it again with returned vigor, and it felt so good! It turned from something I was dreading handing to someone to something I'm going to be really proud of. I had to cut out one of my favorite parts of the painting, but the overall image is so much better.

In other news, I've been featured in another Etsyans blog! You can read my feature and check out her other writing here: http://www.silverriverjewelry.blogspot.com/

My other projects

I'm going to make an effort to blog here more often, and not just when I've got new artwork to share.

I've got a few other blog projects that I'm always working on. You can find links to all of them under my icon to the left. Almost all of my other blogs depend on the input of folks just like you!

Postcard Poetry
Postcard Poetry is my newest baby. At this point, there are no submissions posted (because it's brand new!) but the idea is to have anonymous artists, photographers and writers submit postcard sized artwork with poetry incorporated in the art. I'm really excited about this idea, and hope to have some new submissions to include.

Dark DIY
Dark DIY is where I compile gothy or alternative themed DIY tutorials that I find from around the web. All tutorials are used with permission from the original authors, and link to the original author's personal website when it's available. Right now there are lots of clothing and hair tutorials, but I'd love to include accessories, home decor, and other things like that.

Etsy Reviews
Etsy Reviews features an Etsy store every few days. I do an interview with the store owner, and write and article that gives a more in depth look at the artists behind their beautiful creations.

Now, on top of all four of these blogs I have to make sure to keep time to paint! I'm working on four small paintings right now that I fall more and more in love with every day I work on them. I hope to be able to share them with everyone soon!