Sometimes...

...I suprise myself.  This is a sketch for a larger painting I am working towards getting started on [that's a mouthful!] and it turned out to be a delightful surprise!

This originally was going to be a portrait of Captain Hook as portrayed by Jason Isaacs from the new movie.  I want to do a series of three paintings of Hook as portrayed by different actors that encompass different aspects of Hooks personality.  Mr. Isaacs portrait was going to be lonliness, because after all Hook is "old, alone, and done for"  which would depress me too!

However, in an interesting twist of fate this did not turn out looking anything like Mr. Isaacs.  I'm not very good with likenesses, but I really like my own version of Captain Hook, and it seems better to have my own interpretation instead of doing just a portrait of another actor [that will come later!]

Now the perspective is a little off on the nose and the eyes, but considering I did this while running sound for a spelling bee in a loud smoky bar, I think it is pretty damn good!  We shall see if I can aptly translate this onto canvas with the same emotional content!

And one more thing: I hate, I hate, I hate! Drawing facial hair! Hehe.

Synesthesia...

syn·es·the·sia also syn·aes·the·sia      (sĭn'ĭs-thē'zhə)  Pronunciation Key  
n.  

1. A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.
2. A sensation felt in one part of the body as a result of stimulus applied to another, as in referred pain.
3. The description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another.

Performance Today article

I listened to the segment on Performance Today as I was running around town, and it truly amazes me.  As a non synesthete it fairly blows my mind to be able to see colors as you are listening to a particular piece of music.  However, given my more high strung nature I imagine eventually it would drive me crazy.

I know when I hear certain pieces of classical music I have certain kinds of images that flash through my mind, and that I cannot concentrate on any sort of artistic endeavor if I listen to music with words, but this is completely different...

This post may not make sense as I am still internalizing what it could possibly be like to be a synethete.  I will probably come back and make this more coherent later.  Just wanted to share!

This morning...

...instead of doing what I was supposed to I drew this instead!

You ever have those sudden urges to draw something? That's what this was. He is Finn O'Riann, Ship's Cook under Captain Wintermantel Stormhaven [you can read about her in 'Captain Stormhaven Get's a Beer' one of my ten minute plays I've been working on].

He's the stereotypical Irishman, drinks, is loud, stubborn, but with a strong family tie: namely taking care of his sister who has a bit of a personality problem [in that she has three of them!] He's usually good natured but loves to poke fun at Lucy and her 'morose Frenchness' as he calls it.

That's about as far as I got with his character. I'll actually draw Winter and Lucy soon since technically I created them first, but in typical Irish fashion [no offense!] Finn muscled his way up to the front and let it be known that I needed to draw him.

Movies!

I just found two animated movies that I REALLY want to go see!  The first is The Triplets of Belleville.

Behold a tale of true love (between a boy and a bicycle), of tireless courage (from a bitty grandmother with a clubfoot) and of a shocking new definition of sexy (three wizened matriarchs who ravenously slurp down frogs). Sylvain Chomet's feature debut is an animated extravaganza of Gallic wit and soul that delivers more wild humanity than many of the year's live-action features. The "simple" plot entails a freakish lad who is kidnapped while racing Le Tour de France and must be rescued by his grandma and their obese dog, but go for the atmosphere and music, an orgy of influences including Hayao Miyazaki, gypsy jazz and Jeu

net & Caro. In particular, relish the eponymous trio — it seems safe to say that there haven't been cooler old ladies in cinema in recent tim

es, possibly ever. The movie could well be the finest animated film of 2003, if not one of the best in any category.

— Gregory Weinkauf, SF Weekly

I've watched a few clips of it on YouTube and I believe the dog is my favorite character thus far.  It reminds me heavily of the Russian cartoons I used to watch on IFC. I had forgotten exactly how much I really enjoy foreign animation, and it's nice to see interesting animated movies with stylish animation coming from countries other than Japan.  Don't get me wrong I love a lot of animated movies that come from Japan-it's just nice to see the rest of the world finally catching up!  It was part of the 2003 Cannes Film festival and has a long list of awards AND it's French!! Woot!  Go my French

brethren!!

The second movie that I am very excited about is The Secret of Kells.  It is about a young boy Brenden who must use his new found gift of Illumination in order to defeat Vikings that are closing in on his abbey.  The animation is very reminiscent of Samurai Jack for me, as well as holding it's own flavor.  It looks like the pages of the Book of Kells itself coming to life.  The music is also exquisite.  I can't wait, March 6th!

Beautiful artwork!

Mostly cause...

...I'm tired of my rantiness being up here.  Not much else to report.  I will have pictures from my various art shows, kindly provided by Aicilla aka Just Smooty aka my best friend who allows me to drag her along to these things and merchandises my stuff AND takes pictures!  

There is also a lot of sketchy goodness of Tempest: A Steampunk Romance that I just need to get off my lazy butt and scan!  I'm excited about doing costume designing of sorts!  Woot!  But that exciting adventure garners an entry all to itself!

I have also started on my Captain Hook portrait, and by start I mean I have amassed quite a collection of pictures of said Captain [oh darn!] and done a few preliminary sketches.  More will come after March 8th.  That is the magical date that I am finished stage managing Willy Wonka! Woot!  I wish there wasn't such a need for stage managers, and I wish I wasn't getting such a good reputation as one...I much prefer to paint...we're working on that!  I have a few leads on some painting gigs! Woot!

Grr...

I hate having a bad day...I hate money and how wether or not you need it to be happy [which I don't!]  you have to have it...and I know the economy sucks, and there are a lot of people who are stressed because they DON'T have jobs, but I think it's almost worse to have a job [or three!] and still never have money and go into the negative and be up to your ass in bills all the time when all you want to do is paint....

...sorry I just needed to vent that...

Now back to props making!

More Random Art...

Technalain, the goddess of inspiration.  Each of her seven children watches over a different area of the arts/sciences...more on that later!

Interesting...

Careers for ENFP Personality Types

[Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving]

---

Whether you're a young adult trying to find your place in the world, or a not-so-young adult trying to find out if you're moving along the right path, it's important to understand yourself and the personality traits which will impact your likeliness to succeed or fail at various careers. It's equally important to understand what is really important to you. When armed with an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, and an awareness of what you truly value, you are in an excellent position to pick a career which you will find rewarding.

ENFPs generally have the following traits:

• Project-oriented
• Bright and capable
• Warmly, genuinely interested in people; great people skills
• Extremely intuitive and perceptive about people
• Able to relate to people on their own level
• Service-oriented; likely to put the needs of others above their own
• Future-oriented
• Dislike performing routine tasks
• Need approval and appreciation from others
• Cooperative and friendly
• Creative and energetic
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills
• Natural leaders, but do not like to control people
• Resist being controlled by others
• Can work logically and rationally - use their intuition to understand the goal and work backwards towards it
• Usually able to grasp difficult concepts and theories

ENFPs are lucky in that they're good a quite a lot of different things. An ENFP can generally achieve a good degree of success at anything which has interested them. However, ENFPs get bored rather easily and are not naturally good at following things through to completion. Accordingly, they should avoid jobs which require performing a lot of detailed, routine-oriented tasks. They will do best in professions which allow them to creatively generate new ideas and deal closely with people. They will not be happy in positions which are confining and regimented.

The following list of professions is built on our impressions of careers which would be especially suitable for an ENFP. It is meant to be a starting place, rather than an exhaustive list. There are no guarantees that any or all of the careers listed here would be appropriate for you, or that your best career match is among those listed.

Possible Career Paths for the ENFP:

• Consultant
• Psychologist
• Entrepreneur
• Actor
• Teacher
• Counselor
• Politician / Diplomat
• Writer / Journalist
• Television Reporter
• Computer Programmer, Systems Analyst, or Computer Specialist
• Scientist
• Engineer

This is very interesting considering my role in Aicilla, & Spencer's and I's Sekret Projekt! [and yes, those are code names, muhahaha!!]  The things in bold are things that I feel REALLY apply to me. This is interesting.  I will hopefully have time to scan sketches from Sekret Projekt, and post some of them!  Woot!

Random Art

These are some new pieces that I did for my art show Saturday. The Robot Love piece actually sold! Right at the end of the night! Woot! I'll post some more artwork as I get a chance to. Ciao!

Aww!

Wasn't I cute?

Success!!

I was part of the Avondale-Estates Rail Arts Distric Art Crawl this past Saturday, and it was a lot of fun! Technically since I work for The Academy Theatre I was in charge of the building and Artists Market and everything, but Heather and Stephanie came and helped set up my booth and watched it for me while I had to run around so it all worked out.

The best part of the whole event was that I actually sold some pieces of my artwork, which made me feel very good. I sold two of my children's rocking chairs [pictures coming soon!], got a commission for a third chair, and a commission for a mural. I also sold several bookmarks, and postcards and random things, and overall it was lots of fun! Tiring...but lots of fun!

Now I am working on getting Jared to split a table with me at AWA...I think I might wait on DragonCon. I want to actually go to the Con and see what things are like and what sort products I should put together [that and it's rather expensive to get a table and I want to make sure I will make money if I spend that much on a table!] but we'll see perhaps that will change in the next month or so.

OTHER PROJECTS:
I'm currently creating props for the Greenfield Hebrew Academy's production of Willy Wonka. Pictures will be forthcoming! They are lots of fun!

I am also working on costume and props design, for my friend Stephanie's play Steampunk Tempest [that's just the working title, real title coming soon!] which will be lots of fun, and will be possibly going up in June. Thirteen pairs of goggles...oi! 0_o

Also, have a Captain Hook painting in the works as well! Hooray! I will post sketches as soon as I can find my camera cord.

That's it for now! I have to go soon and pick up the other two rocking chairs from my mom's house and get those base coated. Yay, for making a living from painting!

Oh yeah, and as soon as my old business cards run out. I'm going to make this my art blog again. It's much easier to upload pictures to.

Your Guardian Angel- Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

When I see your smile Tears run down my face I can't replace And now that I'm stronger I've figured out How this world turns cold and breaks through my soul And I know I'll find deep inside me I can be the one

  I will never let you fall I'll stand up with you forever I'll be there for you through it all Even if saving you sends me to heaven 
 
It's ok. It's ok. It's ok. Seasons are changing And waves are crashing And stars are falling all for us Days grow longer and nights grow shorter I can show you I'll be the one

  I will never let you fall I'll stand up with you forever I'll be there for you through it all Even if saving you sends me to heaven 

 Cuz you're my, you're my, my true love, my whole heart Please don't throw that away Cuz I'm here for you Please don't walk away,  Please tell me you'll stay, stay  

Use me as you will Pull my strings just for a thrill And I know I'll be ok Though my skies are turning gray 

 I will never let you fall I'll stand up with you forever I'll be there for you through it all Even if saving you sends me to heaven