Post Lost and Redone, or Some More Crap You Probably Don't Care to See

I lost a post! I could have sworn I made a post showing the end result of the Native Steampunk California and some pics of the new Native Steampunk picture I was creating, but maybe I’ve dreamt of posting it and thought it’d had happened, that happens to me sometimes.
Anyway here’s a final picture of the Native Steampunk California:

Pretty ain’t it? Well maybe not, since the picture has been on Deviantart for a while and no one has favorited it yet, buttheads.

Anyway, I’ve already started on a new Native Steampunk, again from the Northwest California/Southwest Coastal area. I was somehow cognizant enough to make jpgs of the outline and raw outline when I first started, and here they are:

The blue outline does have some of it erased because I accidentally started painting on it at some point.
Anyway, you probably want to see what it looks now and what it looked like when I first started the project, so here are more pics:

The picture is turning out a little bit more dark and gloomier than I originally intended, but that's okay because this place is always foggy and gloomy though I still find it a nice and pretty place to be. End note: Even now the picture looks a lot different since I fixed the eyes so they're not so far apart and fixed the hat so it looks like where it's supposed to be on her head.

Next time though I will tell you the real reason why I wanted to write today but didn’t because of the lost post. Laters.

Finally an Update

Pfff I can't believe it's been a couple of months since I've posted anything. That's why you should never say you don't have an artist's block, because then you'll have an artist's block the size of Mount Everest, and shit around for a couple of months. Didn't help that I wasn't in an environment that was too conducive but there you go. Anyway, I have done stuff! I've made a necklace (which I don't have a picture of but it turned out pretty nice) and I've worked on the California Native Steampunk, which I do have a picture of so enjoy!
So yeah this is definitely one of my most involved projects, and definitely the most worked on in the Steampunk Native series. It's crazy because a) I don't like drawing backgrounds b) I don't like drawing patterns or c) all of the above. Then I decided to redraw some things because I want it to look 'nice' like the armillary sphere thing that's sitting next to the person in the picture. There's also some more things I might add in, like shown in this pic:
Like, I might add some things on the binoculars/opera glasses, and add a compass or astrolabe in the hand of the person, haven't decided yet. Then there's also some other things I might do, like an ocean scene in the window, or work on the curtain, making me work on this damn picture for another 6 months *sob*.
So that's what I'm working on. Toodles.

No Art, Just Talk

Nothing to really show, since I haven't taken any pictures, and since I'm so busy with beading when I can sit down and work on anything, I haven't worked on the Native Steampunk artwork.
Like I said, I'm beading my regalia. I've been getting faster, but it still takes me awhile to bead. It took me most of the day to do the outlines of outside, the rose, and the leaves.

I might be starting my own business soon, one where I design websites, and make beadwork designs, and sell whatever it is I can make. It's kind of scary to think about, but I guess that's what artists got to do: sell whatever the hell they make. Right now though I'm with good people who'll help me figure things out since they live off their work while doing other things such as teaching beading classes at Humboldt. Exciting stuff.

Next time I'm sure I'll post some pictures of something.

Moccasins and WIP Beading

Alright, so while Native Steampunk California has gone a little by the wayside (a little, I was working on it last night) I've been working a lot on a couple different projects so that I can have regalia prepared for one of my tribe's big powwow, the Nesika Illahee powwow in August. The first thing I worked on were moccasins made out of white buckskin:
Aren't they pretty? I can practically make a print out of this picture because of the angles. They're made in a style that's supposed to be traditional for my tribe and other tribes of the northern California and Oregon, with a piece of leather coming up to make a high-top boot form. It has antler buttons and abalone shell beads to cover up some goof-ups on the sewing for the laces. And here's a crappy WIP picture back when I was still sewing and before I sewed on the top:
Because it's relevant and all that.

Next for me to do was to work on several beaded projects which includes a hairpiece (which will be a hair clip for now since I definitely don't have time to make a beaded crown), two beaded hair extender pieces, something to hold eagle plumes with (once I get one) and a necklace (which I probably won't do myself thankfully). So lots of beading, and let me tell you, it takes a hell lot of time to bead anything, whether it's just to make an outline or filling out a small part. Plus it's my first time so it's taking extra long. My half-sister's mom, the person teaching me to bead, has been beading for over 30 years and is pretty fast and can probably do at least one a night. Alright, so here's another crappy WIP picture to show when I was outlining the whole thing for my hairpiece:Haven't made anymore progress since I was working on a hair extender piece:Notice all the nice tiny holes on it, showing I have no damn clue about where the needle is supposed to go, flaunting the fact that I don't sew either. It's okay though, I'm getting better about where the needle is supposed to go, and the little holes get covered by beading anyway.
And finally:That's with the flower and leaf part beaded, which leaves just the negative space to be filled. And it took way to long to do already. Once I get the whole thing beaded, I'll make a photocopy of it and bead on top of it to make a matching piece. Hopefully the next thing I bead though won't have so many rookie mistakes, such as visible strings and uneven surface.

So that's it for now, since I haven't made enough progress on the Native Steampunk California piece to show a WIP of that one.

Art Block Review 1: Kiki's Delivery Service

It's been awhile since I posted, but I've been busy learning how to bead the Native way and the past week I didn't have an internet access so there you go. More posts soon displaying my newly made moccasins and beadwork if I'm not too lazy or if I don't forget.

Alright, one thing that almost all artists have happen to them at one point of their artistic little life is get an art block. Of course, as is the American Way, tons of people have made tons of books, videos, and other media for poor art-blocked persons to buy so that they would no longer be blocked. I thought I might try to talk about different stuff I've read, watched, or listened to that deal with the problem of artist's block, again with the caveat that I might not continue based on laziness/whether or not I forget. Of course, right now I'm not really in an artist's block since I've been busy with the Native Steampunk series and with working on making regalia for upcoming powwows, but it's still good to talk about what's out there.

So to start off this endeavor of mine, I'm going to review something that doesn't totally doesn't make sense as the first review, which is Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service, since I am that much of an anime nerd and I love writing overly-long posts about such things.

Kiki's Delivery Service is a movie about a young teenage witch who leaves her quiet rural home to move to a large city by the sea for a year of training that is required of all witches in the world Kiki lives in. Since her only talent as a witch is flying, she decides to run a delivery service in order to support herself. The major crises in the movie is when Kiki loses her ability to fly as she loses confidence in herself, indirectly because of a boy she likes (isn't that always the case for female artists? Okay maybe not since it certainly wasn't the case for me). In the end of course, she saves the day by regaining her ability to fly.

Although KDS isn't as great as Miyazaki's Spirited Away, the movie still holds a special place in my heart for the movie. It probably had at least to do with the fact that KDS was the first anime movie that I watched back before I knew what anime was but knew I liked the shows with huge-eyed kids in them. Buying the movie in the recent DVD collection I know I definitely like it because of the way it deals with art block. There are a lot of movies aimed at kids about following their dreams no matter what the naysayers say (one movie off the top of my head is Ratatouille, though there are plenty more), but I don't think there are a lot of movies for children about trying to follow their dreams, getting stuck and unable to move forward as things don't go as planned, then trying to find a way to get back to doing what they dreamed of doing. It makes this movie all the more special I think.

What's great about the movie is that it hits on so many points about art block. Such as when Kiki tells Tombo (the boy she likes) that she no longer enjoyed flying after she started flying her business. That's definitely a problem for any artist who tries to make living off of art (the making an activity you're passionate about into a job thing, not the flying thing).

The scenes where the loss of flight= art block metaphor is the strongest is when, after losing her powers, Kiki takes time off and goes to her artist friend's log cabin in the woods nearby the city. The artist, Ursula, gives Kiki lots of advice on how to move past her block and regain her powers, such as doing things that have nothing to do with flying such as talking long walks and enjoying the scenery. Ursula also talked about a time when she had a serious art block, and about how she had to find for herself inspiration and the reason why she wanted to paint in order to get rid of her art block.

The ending is okay, to be fair there aren't that many movies that have endings that impress me (I don't even like the ending to Spirited Away, which of course makes me a bad anime nerd), but Kiki does get her flying powers back because *spoiler alert* the boy she likes is in trouble and she flies to him in order to save him. So the lesson learned is that boys are the both the cause of art block but also the inspiration a girl needs to get beyond an art block. Okay kidding, Kiki regained her ability to fly because she dug reeeaaallll deep inside and discovered that her inspiration for flying is all the people who she cares about, which may or may not include boy she likes but certainly looks that way.

All in all I really like Kiki's Delivery Service and the way it deals with art block and growing up and such. If kids pay attention to the movie and it's message, it can definitely give them some ideas to think over when they get stuck in an art block and make them think about why they want to do what they like to do. I give the movie an A-, a minus because Tombo ain't that cute compared to other Miyazaki male love interests (hellooooo Howl from Howl's Moving Castle) and he's kind of annoying.

WIP Native Steampunk California

You know the drill non-existent readers, it's another WIP update. To avoid confusion, I'll call the one I'm working on Native Steampunk California, since the design of the whole thing is based on California regalia and basketry, and numbers suck. So, Native Steampunk California it is!
Anyway, as I said in my last WIP post, I painted the window edge for hours, but had to redo the whole thing over again (sad), but it's looking pretty good even though it doesn't look like it did the first time I painted the window edge (double sad). Here it is:I changed the window scene from being day to night since I figured that daylight would give the scene an entirely different look than what it is right now. Hopefully I can figure how to do a reflective thing in the windows to make them more window-y. Guess I'll have to check for tutorials (helloooo deviantArt). The clouds are pretty interesting, the look more like clouds in a smaller picture though. When you look at them more closely the look more like a bunch of random brush strokes. But maybe that won't be as noticeable once I add in window-looking stuff.

Another note, I'm working on my own regalia to wear to powwows. Right now I've been sewing a pair of moccasins, and let me tell you, it's such a pain in the ass trying to sew when it comes to leather because it's so damn thick it's hard to push the needle through one piece of hide, much less three that I have to do for moccasins. I'll post pics of my progress when I'm not feeling lazy about it and when I don't have nosy nieces to worry about. So look forward to that.

RIP Louise Bourgeois

Sometimes there is a good reason to be mad at oneself, at the world, at the universe and everything in between, and right now I’m mad because Louise Bourgeois died on May 31 and I only found out a couple of days from a single link from Feministing. I’m mad at myself because I don’t follow the art world close enough or the news close enough, so I’m finally registering for artforum online so when a favorite artist of mine dies, I might find out about it sooner, and you know, keep up on art shit. I’m mad at the universe for no reason because Bourgeois did live to a long full life as tough as it was for her, but anger isn’t always rational.

I’m mad at the world because why in the world did I not hear about this till now? Why wasn’t there more news on this? A fucking article on MSN news? Or yahoo news? Or wherever the hell I get my news at whenever I open up my browsers. I know I was busy that week she died, but I was on the internet. Hell, not even the feminist blogs touched on her death, except for Feministing linking to a video two weeks after the fact. I know that people are dying every day, I know that there’s a major disaster in the Gulf of Mexico killing a whole bunch of critters, but shit, Bourgeois is relevant damnit! Only the most sexist of art historians or critics, or people totally ignorant about art history or contemporary art (which unfortunately a lot of people are) wouldn’t think that Bourgeois wasn’t a major player in art. So where are the discussions about how awesome she is? Where are the sad tributes to her death? Where is the talk about how influential she was to the art world in the last half of the century? We can talk forever and a day on the tragedy that was the death of Heath Ledger, but not even a note about a major artist of this and the previous century?(Except almost exclusively on art news sites, and fuck Charlie Finch and what he wrote about Bourgeois when she died). Sure people can talk crap about contemporary art about how you can wipe dog shit on a canvas and sell it in a major gallery for thousands of dollars on one hand, and on the other hand talk about the sexism toward women artists in the art world, but nothing’s ever going to change when we can’t even recognize a powerhouse like Bourgeois.

Shameful as it is, I’ve only known about Bourgeois for a couple of years back when I was taking contemporary art from Elaine O’Brien at Sac State. Dumb kid as I was, I didn’t really have a favorite artist. I knew I was supposed to like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, because they are the awesome of awesome artists and they painted and sculpted so realistically, and omg there are no artists as great as they are these days because no one can paint realistically these days dontchaknow? And everybody, and I mean everyone loves Salvador Dali, it’s like a rule or something that everyone has to love Dali, or Picasso, unless you hate Picasso, then you have to love Dali. But me? Well I don’t really hate artists, other than maybe Francois Boucher(his Leda and the Swan + Rococo sux = barf), and maybe Dali but only because everyone loves him so much, but like I said I didn’t have any favorites. Then I found out a few female artists such as Alice Aycock, Judy Chicago, and Louise Bourgeois, Marina Abramovic, Yoko Ono, and my eyes were opened to many artistic possibilities.

I can say so much about Bourgeois. I’m not crazy about everything she made (I’m not crazy about every song on my favorite bands either, go figure) but she made hella much work, and made plenty of fantastic pieces. And far from being meek, her artwork was often aggressive, powerful, and scary but can be funny and witty. I loved her personality since I read her Fillette quote, I don’t even remember what it was exactly but it was something about how she had to protect it because that part of the male anatomy is so fragile or something like that. My love for her personality was confirmed when I saw her part in an episode of Art:21, and the documentary about her called Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress, and the Tangerine. I’ve never met her, and maybe if she’d seen my artwork (my sculpture artwork, not my digital artwork) she might have thrashed it, but I’m still inspired by her and wish I could have met her, but she’s gone now.
So goodbye Louise Bourgeois, the art world will miss your greatness.

WIP Native Steampunk 4 or 5? Don't remember

Not sure if this picture will technically be the 4th or 5th in the Native Steampunk series. It'll probably be the 4th one I put on deviantArt, but in terms of how many Native Steampunks I've started it would be the 9th one. That's why you should never just do a number series, it gets too damn confusing.
Anyway, another not-important note about me besides my aversion to drawing backgrounds is that I also hate drawing patterns. I figure I hate doing repetitive stuff, but on the other hand I can grind shells and paper-mache, two repetitive tasks, from here to hell. So I don't know why I hate drawing patterns as much as I do. Of course on this project, I'm doing a whole shitload of patterns in the background....
ffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu....ck.
Thank whatever for photoshop, because I can basically take this pattern:
And plop it anywhere as much times as I want. It is still a pain in the ass, my dear non-existent readers, because I don't want a whole bunch of floating patterns that look shitty in the picture. I want the patterns incorporated damnit. So that means a lot of adjusting, painting, blah blah way too much work. Of course, the reason I have to add in patterns is because Victorians and Natives had a penchant for patterns. And the red pattern above is based on basket designs from California and Oregon Natives, as I'm trying to make the fashion the person is wearing based on Californian Native regalia. So, here's the progress so far:

Last note: After I made the jpg that you see in this blog post, I continued working on and on the left side of the first window, and it got to the point where it looked fucking fantastic. The painting was detailed, the lighting seemed right, and the whole thing looked tight and I was about ready to work on the other parts of the picture. Then what do I discovered after several hours of work? I painted on the wrong damn document (fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck). Yeah, I painted on the jpg instead of the photoshop document that I was supposed to. So I had to do the left side of the first window again, which of course doesn't look the way I painted it originally (sad face). Bob Ross's whole "there are no mistakes, just happy accidents" shit doesn't even apply here (may he rest in peace), because the first time looked great but painted on the wrong document and didn't know how to transfer all the work to the photoshop document. Go me.

WIP New Native Steampunk

Alright, been a few weeks since I last posted, but for now I'm putting my last Native Steampunk on hold and started another one. Since I don't have a scanner, usually I start off with a preliminary messy sketch of the outlines (which I erased, but I'll try to remember to save it and show it next time) and then I have a a more detailed sketch.

Now, one thing I have to say is that I'm really bad when it comes to backgrounds. I tend to do portraits or figurative work, so I end up concentrating on the person that I'm drawing and leave the background as an afterthought, and it shows. This time though, I really tried to incorporate the person in a scene, and painting the scene first instead of painting the person first, and it's making a big difference. It adds a lot of narrative that's been lacking in a lot of my other pictures, and makes the whole work more interesting. I think if I go back to the other Native Steampunk I was making, I might try to incorporate a scene around the person as well.
Since I haven't been posting much of my progress (bad me) I've already done a lot of work in terms of painting. One of the most difficult parts of the picture so far has been the astrolabe, especially since I don't know much about astrolabes.

Sketches and WIP

Okay, since I need to work on my figure drawings, I did ten 30 second sketches (with only 9 showing, because I accidentally deleted one of the sketches, bah) and a couple of sketches that took about 20 minutes or so. I did them in Photoshop because 1) I don't have a scanner and it's a pain in the ass to take picture of sketches with a camera and 2) I should be practicing on Photoshop anyway, since until I get a scanner I have to learn how to draw things out on the computer.
As for the 20 minute sketches, they're kind of messy, but they work. I used this brush I got from Chris Oatley because for me it's a brush that's the closest to simulating a gestural feeling on the computer that I can get. That's the problem with drawing on the computer, it's really hard to simulate going from thick to thin lines, heavy to light lines that a person IRL can do with conte crayons or pencils or charcoal and whatever.

Based on stock from justmeinaBased on stock from lockstock

Finally, I've been working on a series called "Native Steampunk" were I make character designs with fashion based on powwow regalia and steampunk fashion. Right now I'm posting a WIP picture of what's planned to be the 4th picture in the series.

First Post:, or What I Want to Do with This Blog

Pablo Picasso said, "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." It's a nice quote that he kind of took from this musician from the 19th century and changed a little. Thing is, that for the viewer this quote might be true, but for the artist, art is part of everyday life, or at least it should be. Also, like my favorite book Art and Fear says, there's a lot of mundane things like work that goes into art. That's something that I want to chronicle in this blog, the work that goes into my art, and the finished products. I want to do this as I try to balance life with art, and try to incorporate life with art, and art with life. I'll write some of my thoughts when that relate to art and other things. At least till I forget.