♥. Just a little early...

Happy Anniversary.

Happy Mooncake Day

♥.

It's actually a lot more cheerful and brighter in person :)

Gifted.

An oldie but a goodie.

Charcoal

So I remember there's something special about this piece.  I don't remember what the technique was called, but what I had to do was color the entire paper black, and then define and shade the skull with an eraser--basically, the drawing process was inverted. 

Hahaha, I also remember I got a B on this because I didn't emphasize the way the light hit the skull enough, which was the entire point of the activity. 

Everyday is Mother's Day

A little late posting this, but it's all good.   

Clouds...

are very difficult to paint.  Thus,

SUNFLOWER DIVERSION!  

Water Colors, Acrylic Paint, Color Pencils

Water Colors, Acrylic Paint, Color Pencils, & Calligraphy Ink

Thursday Night

So I don't just paint my nails during my free time.  Apparently I also paint board decks now.

(Definitely not as cool in person)  
 

Acrylic Paints, Water-based Paints, & Calligraphy Ink

...I study and poorly sketch the profiles of people in class rather than take notes on the course material.

A student walks in carrying an old metal brief case.  His dirty blonde hair is tied up up in a pony tail, his long bangs bobby-pinned back to the sides.  A pair of old fashioned, wire frames perch precariously on the edge of his long nose, not too far from the fluffy, brown beard that grew beneath which curled at his sideburns.  He wore a powder blue and yellow plaid dress shirt beneath a tweed blazer, over a pair of steel grey slacks, completing the look with a pair of brown sneakers that looked like it had seen better days.  He smelled of musty, well-aged books. 

He couldn't have been more than 22 years old. 

Pen

Pen

Soft Pastels, India Ink

India Ink

India Ink

India Ink

Soft Pastels, White Charcoal, Calligraphy Ink

Soft Pastels, Calligraphy Ink

E: Oh wow. I really like that one.
C: Really?
E: Really.
E: It's like
E: something really fast came out of the smoke
E: and survived the explosion.

 

Soft Pastels

"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners.  I wish someone had told me.  All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste.  But there is this gap.  for the first couple of years you make stuff, it's jut not that good.  It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not.  But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer.  And your taste is why your work disappoints you.  A lot of people never get past this phase; they quit.  Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this.  We know our work doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have.  We all go through this.  And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know that it's normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work.  Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish one piece.  It's only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.  And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever met.  It's gonna take a while.  It's normal to take awhile.  You just gotta fight your way through."

-Ira Glass

On this rainy, grey afternoon, I managed to convince E to have a go with my pastels. He relented on account that we play art with a side of Mimosas.

Not bad, not bad. I actually really like this.