On a roll.

I am really milking this one painting for all the blog posts I can get out of it!

I worked on this painting WAY too much. Like, hours and hours and hours. I am usually a super fast painter. I still have the urge to work on it too, I just can't seem to get it where I want it. If I just liked more colourful subject matter, life would be so much easier. All that black on black was such a pain.

The scanned and photoshopped version is ready for the spotlight!

It looks almost too dark until you put it in the mat, then it totally changes. I guess having a photo of it in the mat would make more sense. Uh, go look at the listing to see one. (See what I did there? ) Haha.

I am probably going to do a bookmark or mini print of something else with this image. And if I can work out the kinks on the original I will sell that too.

So now I have to go and baby my cat. I had to shave some of the fur off his tail and it majorly hurt his pride. Handsome cats take things like this very hard. It should grow back in a few weeks, but until then he is a big fat ugly cat instead of a big fat adorable cat. Sigh.

Still more Winterwoods.

They are probably about half finished... Ok, maybe 40 percent. 30? Does a face count for more percentage than an elbow?



Her face is complete, working on the hair. I rarely fully finish one area at a time but I am giving it a shot.



He looks a bit better now. I am still not sure if I digging him yet though. But there is still work to be done, so that could change. He looks less like a teen heartthrob though!

Next is clothing, and sometimes I kick myself for getting all involved in intricate outfits when it comes to painting them. Like ruffles and tiny buttons?! WHY did I do that to myself!

A few more days and they will be ready. I already have an idea for the next painting of them. Obsessed much?

More Winterwoods.

Little sketch...

I swear he won't look like Zac Efron when its painted. (Ok, I hope!) And I took it on an angle to try and keep a bit of mystery, but I think it just added gigantism.

This is another drawing of The Winterwoods, a couple I did a print of before. I like the idea of people who might come back again and again. Or maybe I just like the idea that I get to draw their clothing. Ha. Plus I can make up more of a story for these people, and then ideas come to me more readily. I always enjoyed falling back on Batcat when I felt less than creative, and becaus it wasn't forced I made some good quality artwork. So I am trying to do it again with some new kids.

Its too cold in my studio for me to be too productive today. So I leave The Winterwoods in their sketch form, and get to the business of making myself a mini-apple crisp.

Anita Blake!

The Anita Blake painting I have been posting progress shots of is finished...

I am not gonna lie, there is some digital cut and paste going on here. Her shrunken body was enlarged. I know a lady isn't supposed to share secrets like that, but it was pretty bad, so I must confess.

I actually like it quite a bit. You have no idea how scary splattering blood on it was though! Its could have ruined it so easily. That monster behind her isn't supposed to be anything in particular. There are a billion supernatural things in the books I could have done, but that would have taken research, and I am lazy. I wussed out at adding arm scars (the character has a lot of them in the books) but only hardcore geeks would know that right?

I made bookmarks with it! It seemed like the logical. They have a blood red back to them. So appropriate. I am probably going to have it as a print in my Etsy shop too. But later.

Most selfish painting ever. haha.

Ghost Girl!

I think she seems like a ghost, what do you think?

I think it turned out pretty good. She has a bit of that " big eyed girl" current look that I usually try to avoid, but I can live with that. I used my favorite colour combo, black purple and gray, and that alone makes me like it. If it doesn't sell in 4 months I am totally keeping it!

She is in the shop, and I put her at a competitive (is that the word I am looking for?) price for an original painting. :-) Cheap is what I mean.

I had planned to post two paintings, but it is too dreary a day to get good photos of the other one. Plus I might hate it, so I need to stare at it for another day. So tomorrow.

Painting progress...

I posted some line art last Thursday, and I am slowly turning it into some sort of actual painting.

Its coming along. She has "giant head" right now, but I can probably fix it. Or just burn it if I can't. ;-) I am liking it less the more I look at it, but I am trying to not be all Debbie Downer about it.

My dude switched to night shift this week and its making me all weird! I don't know when to eat my meals. A voice in my head says "When you're hungry dummy!" but that is easier said than done. Watching someone eat dinner hours after I ate mine is torture!!

Tomorrow I have finished paintings to post and list! Yay!

Today is pointless.

Its one of those days I can't make myself do anything worthwhile. I have some pouches to photograph, bookmarks to make, whatever, don't want to. I feel like moping today.

So I started a totally pointless painting. No plan, no direction, just paint and pencil on canvas. Its an exercise in uselessness. I am not trying to challenge myself or illustrate something. Its just because I want to do it...

It may be beautiful, it may be horrible and get painted over before 10pm tonight. But at very least, I am doing something. And today, that is a victory.

P.S. Hello 50 followers! (Thanks Rachel!!) Its such a cute little number. Makes me feel quaint. Maybe someday I will have 50 000 like some blogs. Maybe interesting content will go out of style and complaining and pictures of half finished artwork will come into vogue. YES.

Two new Loves.

After hinting I would create some new animal "Love" pin and sticker sets, I actually DID IT. *gasp.

Panda Love!

Bunny Love! (Its not even listed yet. I am a marketing genius.)

Panda was quite the leap for me. I intended the Love sets to be Canadian animals that I loved. I kind of changed the rules by adding a Red Squirrel (which Canada doesn't have, we only have brown and gray and black, which are cute but no big ears I love so much...) so after that the concept changed.

I do love Pandas, I somehow don't even believe they are a real animal. So weird. And Bunny Love just seemed natural. I did struggle to choose a bunny that represented every bunny. Its impossible! They all look so different. So screw that, I just did a mix of them all.

So the Love set got a bit bigger. I already have a few ideas for more, but I don't want to go nuts. Maybe in a while...

Today I have an appointment with a makeup artist friend who will make me gorgeous. No reason, just because its fun, and I am a good consumer. So I have an excuse to not work any more today. haha!

Lastly, I leave you with this little sneak peek at my work in progress.

It didn't start as fan art, but it became it as soon as I did the hair. I do so much work that I think is acceptable for people to hang in their homes, and then it doesn't sell. This one won't be as pretty. Sometimes you just need to nerd out and do something with blood splatter for yourself, Am I right? :-D

Get your fresh paintings! Right Here!

*eep*

Listed another original painting! (Two actually...)

"Sugar and Spice" and "Not Very Nice" are now for sale at my Etsy Shop.

Batcat is a moody beast. He can be both sweet and sour. I think I just wanted to have an excuse to paint night animals! This can serve as my Owl contribution to Etsy, as it seems that every hipster person on earth likes owls for some reason. *snark* Ok, I can't point fingers. I like bats just like every other gothy-girl out there. I think I just burned myself.

I feel a bit of that "OHNO...CAN'TSELLMYARTWORK!!" creeping back in. These two paintings are really cute in real life, and mid way through taking photos so I could list them I changed my mind. Then I changed it back last night. Haha.

So there. They are out there. I can't really take it back now. *cries*

Love the critters.

They are back.



The 'Love' sets are finally back in stock. I am updating the listings.

I have had these pin sets in my shop for a LONG time, and I am constantly thinking about discontinuing them. I think "People must be sick of seeing these things!" But then as soon as I sell out I get people asking and asking for them. So instead of discontinuing I might even expand.

I made a ton of them up. I wanted to shoot new photos of them but it was cloudy yesterday and its cloudy today. This is the kind of thing that needs natural light to really show is bright colours. So I will hold off on the new photos...

Now off to sketch some new 'love' set ideas...

This is the guy that killed her.

This guy. This is the sewing machine murderer.

Monogram pouches with a little bat frame.
Only the 'M' is currently listed for sale, but there are more letters available.

I actually made a little batch of them. Whenever I sew I try to do a bunch at once because I always loose my zeal for it halfway through and then don't want to sew again for months.

These are the letters that made it through to pouch form ('B' got screwed up and 'A' was somehow lost...) I will be posting them in the shop in a lazy and haphazard manner in the next day or so. I have to fight with every photo in Photoshop to try and make the black on black details show without washing out the blackness. Its *challenging.* Things always look fine on my screen then I upload to Etsy and it looks like crap.

I think I will try some more monogram items this weekend. I totally love how it looks. Expect some sort of monogram bookmark (yes!) or pin set (hmmm.) I will have to test drive a few designs.

What letters should I do?

She was only 39...

A horrible tragedy!

I mourn.

My hand-me-down sewing machine (from Grandma) might have just bit the big one. My 1970 Singer Touch and Sew 758 gave Gran years of service, and then got trucked down to Toronto with me a few years ago, along with its custom sewing table. For some reason I thought it was just immortal, and would go on working forever and ever...

Here it is in its skeleton making glory. *snifff*

I took it all apart and found that some gears have broken their teeth, and things are just wearing down. I use it to chug through serious fabric, thick felts and velvets and canvas, and hardly ever clean it, so I shouldn't be surprised. Plus Grandma sewed for a family of one billion. I bet if this machine had a notch for every pair of hemmed jeans it would blow your mind.

And it died exactly in the middle of me making a ton of new pouches. Argh! I almost went and got a garbage bag and just threw everything away. I was that annoyed.

So its back to my new sewing machine. I mean, its ok. I guess.

But its plastic, lightweight, small, has a foot pedal instead of knee pedal, a short ass cord, it jams and tangles, and its loud. I just really loved the solid heavy old machine that would sew through anything (including my entire finger!)

So I am grumpy. I should never have praised my grannie-machine on Twitter. I cursed myself!

I am going to see if the old one can be fixed, but gear replacement from a vintage machine shop is at least $70. I can get a whole new (1970) Touch and Sew on Ebay for $80. Will mull it over. Its not so much the money as the "this machine is ancient and must pass away" that is making me grouch.

That is the end of my complaining blog. Go about your business...