Life Musings

  • A college of two digital paintings, one of colorful crystals and gems, and the other character art of a female mage. Text on top of the image states Let's be messy
    Digital Painting,  Life Musings

    Let’s be messy

    I say, there is no ideal way to start posting art online when you’ve been on hiatus. Or at least, I’m not aware yet of how to approach it without it feeling extremely uncomfortable and clunky. So here I throw up my hands and say “Whatever will be, let’s just go!” 2024 has been a messy year, so why not just spend the last few months of it scrambling to figure out what I want to do with my art?

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  • Blog post thumbnail showing a collage of five drawings of my original character Ariennha. They are quick sketches showing an elven woman with curly red hair.
    Drawing,  Inspiration,  Life Musings,  Sketchbooks

    Sketchbook Share: Ariennha

    Last post, I mentioned a series of OC sketchbook pages I filled, starting with Reiellasara and now moving on to Ariennha. Ariennha is a character very close to my heart, even if I haven’t drawn her much – I’ve spent many an hour daydreaming stories and world building in my mind over the years. She’s definitely got Mary Sue energy, but I honestly do not care, I love the character. But why haven’t I made very much art of those daydreams? The trick to getting those ideas down as drawings is to just Nike-style “Do It”.

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  • Drawing of a woman at a control screen. The drawing is on a green, self-healing cutting mat, with prismacolor pencils to the left and right, and a pencil sharper sitting above the drawing.
    Drawing,  Life Musings,  Sketchbooks

    Weekend Wanderings

    Oh my goodness, posting to my blog again?! It’s that Imbolc energy. ^_^ I’ve been making art over the last year, but haven’t had the energy or focus to blog about it. Definitely suffering from an all-or-nothing mind set, when it comes to what I think I should be doing regarding my blog. It’s annoying to keep relearning the whole “imperfection is okay” lesson. T_T And I keep thinking I’ll scan/photograph my work from 2021 that didn’t make it into here yet, but why not start with a little drawing I finished today?

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  • A watercolor painting of a black woman in a chemise, standing on a red carpet and in front of a patterned green wallper. There are water color palette next to the painting
    Figure Drawing,  Life Musings,  Sketchbooks,  Traditional Painting

    Finished Painting: Chemise Study

    I was thinking I’d title this painting “A Soft Chemise” or something, but it was meant to be a study of cloth folds, so maybe just keeping “study” in the title works. I don’t want to have to title every sketch and drawing in my sketchbook. That would be rough, giving things titles is just ugh. Yesterday’s experiments were useful, though I ended up using a lot less of the iridescent paint – just on the gold slippers.

  • Marking Making Part 12 title card, with supplies and drawings arranged in flat lay photo
    Drawing,  Figure Drawing,  Intuitive Art,  Life Musings

    Mark Making Part 12: Soft Pastels

    Now we’ve come to the dry mediums that I rarely use, such as pastel – and next after this, charcoal. Ever since moving to my own apartment (eek, 10 years ago ::stares into the far distance over the insistent passage of time::), I just prefer to avoid potential mess. I miss having studio space – or at the very least space in my parents’ house where I was less worried about losing a security deposit if I spilled a bunch of charcoal dust into the carpet. I’ve been looking at photos and videos of art studios recently, pining over creating an improved setup. Most of the studio tour videos I…