Don't look at me like that. Wedding invitations are art! Especially if you make them yourself. Which I am! They're also time consuming 
which is why I don't really have any real art to post at the moment. So I'm busy, give me a break! I printed out the script (because God knows my handwriting isn't nearly that good) and hand-cut all the paper. The clear stuff on top and the purple below... and that took almost two hours. Thanks to one of my bridesmaids, I have some pretty awesome silver ink that I'm using to stamp a tree in the middle. The tree, admittedly, has nothing to do with our wedding or the theme. I just think it's cool looking. Hmm, guess you can't really see it so well in this picture, but you'll just have to trust me. Luckily, when you get married you have a dozen friends who are not only willing to help you with such projects but actually get offended when you do anything without them. Anything. So although I've gone the cheapskate route and made my own invites, at least I'll have some help assembling them. It's art, I swear. It counts!
Finally had some time to sit down and start to graph a portrait I need to do. Yup,
it's another baby. A newborn actually, which probably explains why his hand is creepy and wrinkly... I've drawn a lot of babies, and I can honestly say that I've never seen a hand quite like it. Anyways, at the amazing art store that I drooled my way through the other day, I purchased a grid. I was hoping that it would be clear... because one would assume that clear would be the best way to go... but it's opaque white. I can see the portrait underneath it... I'm just afraid that the details don't show too well. I think what I'm going to do is use the grid for a general outline of main proportions 
and then remove the photo once I have that. After some debate between my fiance and I as to the best way to convert the grid to the drawing paper (why is there always math everywhere?!) I drew an outline. Didn't get very far. I find the red lines to be distracting and my eyes didn't know which box to focus on to draw. So I'm not sure that buying a grid made my life any easier. I might just have to go back to drawing my own so my eyes don't fall out and it doesn't take me twice as long to draw a line.
Life's insane this week. I'm in the middle of switching jobs, finding a new p
lace to live and planning a wedding. It's crazy. I've been lucky to have any time to draw when I'm not cleaning house or something, so bear with me this week! All I have for this day is some more anime. Always the easiest fall back I know. I realize that drawing anime isn't going to help me learn anything but anime proportion, which is unique to the style. I mean, if people really had eyes like anime characters, they'd look pretty freaky. Regardless, at least I drew something. Next time, I'll start working on another baby portrait for my aunt.
My Betta Miko makes a terrible model. No matter how much I pleaded with him, he wouldn't stop swimming around like a crazed fish. He's always hungry. So when I get up close to his tank, all he assumes is food. Now, I know that gesture drawing is good for moving subjects, to sketch like mad and hope to get some kind of outline and some semblance of movement. I don't know how well I did that. In fact, I got so frustrated with his frantic movements that I ignored him for a while and drew one of the incredibly fake looking plants in his tank. Oh Miko. My favorite drawing captures his attitude completely. It's one that says: "Feed me now human, or suffer the c
onsequences!" Which is Miko's attitude all the way. When he calmed down, I could finally get fins and details in there, but I don't think that details and exactness are the point. Especially when you're drawing something that's moving around. It's how to guide the eye of the observer with nothing but a few lines. If you're good enough, they'll understand what the object is and how it's moving even if it's a nonsensical blob of lines. Me? I'm not sure if I'm
to that point yet, but I'm sure gonna try.
Tuesday was one of those days when I had things I should be 
drawing, but decided to draw some nonsense instead. It was too late at night to bust out the watercolors, and I didn't feel like gridding the drawing I have to do next. So I drew some anime instead. Slacking, I know. Still, art is art. I went to my first professional art store the other day and salivated over everything. There's so much stuff! And half of it I have no idea what it's for! I bought some watercolor paper, some masking fluid and a grid that lays over photos or whatever you're drawing. What I really wanted to do is max out my credit card there. Markers, colored pencils that cost $2.50 a piece, brushes (oh the brushes!)... I want it all! I also found transfer paper that would help me so much with my ornaments, but next time!
I'm starting to like watercolors a little bit more. I turned my 
twilight into a sunset. I think it looks much better that way. I laid an orange wash over the original and added spots of orange in the waves. I made the mistake of trying to lay the wash over the water and just ended up smearing blue all over the place and getting rid of the light parts! Luckily, I was able to pull out the worst parts with a paper towel, and somehow the smearing didn't end up looking so bad. I didn't really define the waves on the bottom of the painting, because I planned on making a beach. Never did... but it worked. I think that maybe the sun could be a little brighter, but considering the fac
t that I didn't mask it, it's ok. At this point, the salt pattern kinda looks like birds. The last thing I did to the sky was add yet another wash from the top of violet to make it look more... awesome.
I considered leaving the painting the way it was, but I felt that it needed something. My fiance wanted me to paint a ship... but I can't paint a ship from memory. So I decided on palm trees. I had to practice to get them down right, but once I figured out the basic brush movements, they're 
actually extremely easy. Just quick downstrokes with an angled brush. Some thin lines to indicate individual leaves and bingo! I'm super happy with the trees. All in all, I think I turned a disaster of a background into something fun and it was good practice.
I started painting on the background that I like the least. Mostly because it can only go uphill from here. Right? These are the things I tell myself. I didn't do much. I decided that more than anything, this botched wash looks like a sunset or twilight. So I commenced with painting some water. Prussian blue, black and a little bit of crimson. Water can be hard. Especially when it comes to reflections and waves. But this water is fairly still so... not so difficult. Even though it's best to mask out a section that you know is going to be white, I didn't have that luxury. So I took some Chinese white and made a moon. At least I think it's a moon. Might be a sun. I was thinking twilight because the salt spots kinda look like stars. The awesome part is that the wash behind the waves just makes it look like the reflection of the sky. Good times. I think I might add a ship or palm trees or something tomorrow.
which is why I don't really have any real art to post at the moment. So I'm busy, give me a break! I printed out the script (because God knows my handwriting isn't nearly that good) and hand-cut all the paper. The clear stuff on top and the purple below... and that took almost two hours. Thanks to one of my bridesmaids, I have some pretty awesome silver ink that I'm using to stamp a tree in the middle. The tree, admittedly, has nothing to do with our wedding or the theme. I just think it's cool looking. Hmm, guess you can't really see it so well in this picture, but you'll just have to trust me. 
