Week 1: Different Strokes

It would have been smarter to stop before trying to lay any paint down on the cheetah since it's a bit of a smudgy mess now, but come tomorrow it should be dried enough for more work. It looks like the rest of this won't take too long, which is fine with me since I was fool enough to start another piece yesterday evening. Hey, school's not in session. I'm bored.

Make Way, It Has Begun

The year 2013 has come despite some paranoia about the world ending on 12/21/12. It looks like Time makes fools of us all, including those who misinterpreted the Mayan calendar. Despite the hopes of some, we're all still here and life continues on.

From the day that the world was supposed to end until yesterday I was up visiting family for the holidays. Now Christmas and New Year's are over and it's time to resettle the chaos that comes with them and fall back into the routine that I've set for myself. Of course, this includes Attempt #3 at the Weekly Art challenge. Considering that there's only one semester of school left for me to trudge through, I expect that the whole thing will flow much more smoothly once there's a sweet, wonderful lack of homework in the way.

The first piece of 2013 will be a small painting for my grandmother. She recently moved in with my aunt and uncle as she can no longer live alone. She's trying to give her bedroom an Africa look and mentioned to me that she needs another wall hanging with a cheetah on it. So why not? A painting of a cheetah she shall have.

Of course, while looking at reference photos I began to question my sanity for tackling this. Just thinking of all those spots is daunting...

Also, I just listened to "Over the Misty Mountains Cold" from The Hobbit soundtrack. Repeatedly. Hey, Dwarfs sing pretty!

Page Six and A Finished Painting

Wherein Rose carries out on her warning and I call it (temporary?) quits on the "Surreal" painting. The highlighting on the fabric is still ugly, but the rest looks better enough for me to be satisfied until I get bored later and fix it.

Page Five

In the works of a friend when she saw the inks of this page: "That escalated quickly."

I Can Fix It!

"Wreck-It Ralph" is a great movie by the way. Just thought should be put out there.

Today most of Intermediate Painting was spent making more adjustments to old pieces. A great deal of time also went into my current piece, but again it's going to be a gift so won't be shown here until after Christmas. Instead let's take a look at what I worked on today, and compare them to photos of how they looked before.

First, the "surrealist" painting that I was so disappointed in. Here's how it used to look:

Here's how it looks now. It still isn't finished, but it's a large improvement. The chairs still need work, and several more details will be added to the cheese house and the wine glass as well as its contents. The drapery will also be changed.

 Here's the last assignment I did, in all it's frustrating "glory"...

 ...and here's how it looks now sitting in my locker in the studio. I decided to cover the bricks, but not with paint so thick that you can't see some hint of them. It simply isn't possible with my skill level and the remaining time to fix all those bricks and make them presentable. Something needs to be added along be bottom to make the wall more tidy, and the flowers will be made neater and have more details. It's much easier for me to look at just because the bricks are covered.

Page Four

In which the just desserts start to be served and the heroine speaks for the first time! Also a nod to women taking a stand in the comic world in the background there.

Page 3

A hero's origin story is often an unhappy one, and this one is no exception. You probably gathered that from the first two pages. To me personally this page and what it hints at are pretty intense, even knowing what will happen next.

Also I just realized that I forgot the electricity on Rose's hand.