up the wolves

Another (obviously rough) sketch for yet another new drawing. I'm playing with ideas for several different series at the same time, and while a few of them will probably end up jettisoned I'm actually okay with what I have so far. I hope to have all the layouts done and at least one or two pieces completely finished by early July, and hopefully I can get them photographed and printed by early August so I can move on to the next slew of drawings I want to get printed before October. A little ambitious, especially given the sluggish pace I usually work out, but I'm trying to break out of my old habits and give this "productivity" and "decent work habits" thing a try.

a little sketch for "water polo"

Being rather un-athletic myself, I always admired the water polo team in high school. Apparently they were pretty good, but I never went to any games so I didn't know this firsthand. I mostly just stared at their unbelievable upper body musculature. One girl in my graduating class liked to ask me to draw little figures and cartoons on her biceps and forearms, and then flex so they'd move, like sailors' tattoos. It was pretty neat.

Wikipedia has an enlightening article on the history of water polo. I'm sourcing the bathers' costumes from the time period of the sport's inception, between 1890 and 1900. The monsters are just fun to draw.

circe comes home from the market

A few quick shots of the layout for a new drawing.







Shortly after taking these photos I ended up changing a lot of it. I wasn't happy with the angle of her head and the way the animals looked. Sigh.

I'm trying to be more disciplined about the way I approach drawing (and painting, although I haven't painted in so long I'm a little afraid to start again once I unpack my brushes) and do a proper preliminary layout, then studies of the details that trip me up, before starting in on the actual piece, rather than just plowing through and getting frustrated when I mess up because I haven't considered it enough.

Also, in possibly the coolest news I've heard all day, did you know that the phrase "Holy moly" originates from Homer's Odyssey? Apparently the herb that Hermes gives Odysseus to inure him to the effects of Circe's sorcery was called moly. HOW AWESOME IS THAT.

possibly the best way to browse etsy ever

I know the search function on Etsy receives a lot of criticism, from buyers and sellers alike, and it seems like the administration has been doing a lot of tweaking over the past few months. Personally I haven't felt any major frustrations with the search engine because I don't generally have the budget to do a lot of shopping, but when I started looking for housewares and decorative pieces to pull together the color palette in my new apartment I felt a little overwhelmed.

Then I found this application and I suddenly it's SO MUCH FUN to search by color. (And I can't help but feel extra validated in taking tons of pictures of the interior in progress.) Basically the way it works is you upload a picture and it picks up on the general colors present in the picture. Then, if you want to look for things within a specific hue, you can click on its tab in the palette. There's also a keyword option if you're looking for something specific, like prints or jewelry.

Observe:



This is the shelf in our bathroom that I've been having a little difficulty coordinating with the artwork I already own.

After uploading the picture with the terms "art" and "prints," here are a few sample pieces the analysis came up with:


Astro Boy Pop Art Print, $5.00 with shipping
from Monster Gallery


Ship Mast, photographic print, $30 with shipping
from rogerjporter


Houses, limited edition print, $31 with shipping
from carambatack


Deceleration, illustrative print, $21 with shipping
from MultiplePersonality

Pretty neat, I think. Now I just need to figure out my budget and take more pictures.

hmm.

For some reason the first sketch in my last post is stubbornly hiding, so I'm trying again.



There's also this:



Honestly, other than the occasional doodle I haven't been working much at all. My application review is taking a very long time so I've been trying to keep busy puttering around.



We found a local farmer's market that gathers every Saturday morning, and we've very much been enjoying the bounty of the season. Cherries and stone fruit are very cheap and sweet these days. There's still a lot of asparagus and the mushroom vendor still has a few morels, which I can't quite bring myself to try. They're so alien-looking and highly valued I feel nervous at the thought of cooking with them.



That's about all at the moment.