Presents Abound

My aforementioned little sister also took it upon herself to make a few Christmas gifts this year. I was the lucky recipient of 2 handmade hand flowers. This is the first and is completely her own design.

Mask 2: The plot continues

Well here it is: the second finished mask! It was really hard to let this one go. I think it's actually a toss up whether I like this one or my own more.

The Infamous Mask

As I mentioned in my previous post, I finished a mask to accompany one of my Renaissance Festival outfits. I may add feathers to it at some point, but it's complete enough to stand on it's own as is.

I can't even begin to describe how long it took to string all those beads! Which must make me a glutton for punishment as I'm now making a second one for my sister for Christmas.

If anyone is interested, the mask itself was formed with a rolled out piece of paper clay using another mask I had as a guide. Once it was shaped and sanded, it was painted with acrylics, textured, painted some more and the jewel was added. The beads were added next and then I sprayed a clear gloss coat over the mask to make it glossy.

Methods of time disposal

My freelance work has slowed down considerably, so I've been making an effort to waste time in other ways. If you take a gander at my sidebar you can find links to a few of them. See those little critter images? Yeah, I can thank my best friend for my current neopian revival stage. It seems I've been re-addicted.

If you haven't heard of Neopets and need something to do, I highly recommend you check it out (just click on one of the critters to the right).

In art related news, I've been working on a few Christmas presents. Obviously, I can't post them until after the big two five but eventually pictures will make it here.

I also recently managed to finish a mask for a costume I'm creating. I'll try to include an image of that in my next post.

later dudes.

Hephaestus

This little doodle has been sitting around forever but I finally saw what I needed to in it. I might develop the concept at some point but with me, who knows? *shrugs*

Inflating my ego...

I can't normally say that I've ever really been happy with a photo of myself before. That is until my sister took this one for me!

The costume I'm wearing is the culmination of an entire season of visiting the Michigan Renaissance Festival. I bought one or two accessories each time I visited, purchased the mask on E-bay and made the cloak myself. Not bad if I do say so myself!

Egyptian Pharoah

It's been a pretty long time since I've posted an actual image here and I figured now would be a good time. This one is still in progress and has been for a while. I like the details but the image itself is too static. At this point I'm not sure I can fix that without changing everything though. If anyone has suggestions for me I'd love to hear them!

Defense Association

So I've managed to find yet another method of procrastination and felt the need to share it. If you are an obsessed HP fan and you haven't tried this, check it out!

http://www.darkarts-defence.com/

endings

I found out a few days ago that this year was to be the last 4th of July party hosted by my aunt and uncle. Considering this party has been hosted in the same location for the last 26 years that's saying something!

It was something of a surprise that very few of us actually showed up to celebrate. I had a decent time, but I think it was more to do with being distracted by my surrogate nephew than anything else. Also due to afforementioned distraction there was no 4th of July sketch this year.

emergence of the shadow people

Yes. I've done it. I've put myself on the path to eating healthy. correction. Manwell put me on the path to eating healthy by recommending a rather remarkable and free (did I mention it was FREE) website to do it for me. It has an awesome nutrition/calorie counter and there's loads of support available should you need it. See for yourself the site's called Spark People.

Cheesy infomercial-ness asside the site really is a great source of information. So far I haven't even had to give up my favorite foods!

Time: the thing that waved as it passed by

I can't believe how quickly things are moving now. The freelancing I began this year has continued to increase and it seems I don't have much 'me' time anymore.

Oddly enough though it's been my lack of time that's encouraged me to begin completing my own things in any spare second I have. Dare I hope that my procrastinating days are numbered?

I won't hold me breath counting on that, but it is a rather nice feeling to end a day knowing you've accomplished something on the infinite 'to do' list.

As far as projects go I have a number of things in the works. The current and partial list is as follows: 3 acrylic paintings of various sizes, 1 children's book, 2 sets of clip art designs each week, 1 ink drawing, 4 fanart images and a partridge in a pear tree. Ok so the partridge is a bit of a stretch but you get the idea. The insane thing about all this is that I'm still poking around looking for work! Can we say masochist?

silence interrupted

Lots of new things happening in my world lately. The freelance work is picking up a bit which always make me feel important...yay!

I'm also in the market for a house. It's going to be a huge step for me as a single lady and all, but I'm just dying to get something I can decorate just beacuse I want to. Yes, I'll admit I'm a home improvement show junkie. Give me a can of paint and let me at it!

I'm not looking forward to mowing a lawn, but on the upside I might finally be able to get a dog.... or a cat ....