Little Christ in a Garden

I am alive and painting. I just couldn't show you this painting until just now because it was a commission/surprise graduation gift for My Lovely Friend (click on the link!). Now she has it, so now you can see it:

Little Christ in a Garden

Detail Image

I love this painting. As you can see, I managed to do a ginger-headed, freckled-faced, little Jesus with a mouse and toadstools. I had fun painting this. I was hoping for a fairy tale feel- I don't see why the Christ child wouldn't have loved fairy tales.
      And I think I should let you know that for some reason my carpal tunnel is better lately. I am not sure why, and I don't know how long this good spell will last, but I will take what I can get.
      I just got back from Franciscan University where they sent off the newly graduated class of 2012. If I had stayed at Franciscan longer than 2 years, this would have been my class. I love them so. It was a great blessing to be there with them, through the good and the bad.

‎"WHAT was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world." ~GKC: 'Autobiography.'

“My imagination is a monastery, and I am its monk” -John Keats

When you are describing,
A shape, or sound, or tint;
Don't state the matter plainly,
But put it in a hint;
And learn to look at all things,
With a sort of mental squint.
~Lewis Carroll

Alice and Snowflakes

       Well, I did it. I gutted out a drawing late last night. Heh, you guys are so good. Yesterday, starting in the morning and lasting all day, different people, both friends and complete strangers, encouraged me in one way or another to keep drawing, just do it, etc. That did more than you know. Even the tiniest bit of encouragement can go a long long way, which I need to learn from myself.
        These are two more pages, done once again with my trusty Bic Atlantis pen, for my Arthouse Sketchbook Project book, which is due in less than a month, and I am no where NEAR finished. Grrr. Need to gut out some more drawings!

“Do you hear the snow against the window-panes, Kitty? How nice and soft it sounds! Just as if some one was kissing the window all over outside. I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” And when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves all in green, and dance about — whenever the wind blows — oh, that’s very pretty!” cried Alice, dropping the ball of worsted to clap her hands. “And I do so wish it was true! I’m sure the woods look sleepy in the autumn, when the leaves are getting brown.” -Lewis Carol, Through the Looking Glass


      Tomorrow I get the results back from some tests, and find out if I need surgery, or if they even found anything wrong, etc. So, again, prayers would be awesome. I am actually more afraid that they didn't find anything than if I need surgery. I have been through this before, and I hope they actually find something wrong this time. Can't fix the problem until you know what it is you know. 


One of the lovely people who helped me yesterday sent me this:

       Thank you, lovely little person you. 

Just so You Know...

        I am alive. But not so well. Thus so much.... inactivity. I have my own health difficulties, someone else in the family is sick, I am still wrestling with school issues, etc- so, not much priority has been given to blogging, unfortunately. Or drawing, which I hate like I hate very few things. I am actually having difficulty with my hands, which is NOT ideal for an artist. So, if you could say a little prayer for that, that would be amazing. So far it's mostly my left hand, which is good for a right-hander like me, but if the right hand gets bad, well, I suppose I'll deal with that if and when it comes.
      I hope you are having a good Lent. I think I have. I never really know for sure, for better or worse.

God bless! 

'When it is all over you will not regret having suffered; rather you will regret having suffered so little, and suffered that little so badly.'
-St. Sebastian Valfre

‎"The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man." -Fyodor Dostoevsky

Men say the sun was darkened: yet I had
Thought it beat brightly, even on—Calvary:
And He that hung upon the Torturing Tree
Heard all the crickets singing, and was glad.
          -GK Chesterton

Happy 200th Charles Dickens!

Today is Mr. Dickens 200th birthday! I do so love him! If only I had been aware of this coming.... I could have drawn a bit of something for him. As it is, I only found out about it through Facebook, as I do so many things these days.

Young Charles Dickens

I absolutely love him! I haven't actually finished THAT many of his rather long novels. But none the less, I find his writing to be almost soothing. He creates such characters! Such touching situations.

Who better to discuss Charles Dickens than Chesterton? I happen to have the book Chesterton wrote about Dickens (it was being discarded at the local library. What!? Oh well. At least I have it now), however, I regret to say I have not read it yet. But, I will fix that soon.

‎"The full value of this life can only be got by fighting; the violent take it by storm. And if we have accepted everything we have missed something -- war. This life of ours is a very enjoyable fight, but a very miserable truce." ~GKC: 'Charles Dickens'

I also recommend this link. I am especially fond of that last longer quote in the article, 

it is one of my favorite quotes of all time. 

Here are some quotes by Mr. Dickens himself:

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.” 

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.” 

“Never close your lips to those whom you have already opened your heart.” 

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” 

“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.”

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.”

“Every traveler has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering.” 

“Family not only need to consist of merely those whom we share blood, but also for those whom we'd give blood.”

..... I could go on. And on. And on. But, maybe instead of that, you should just read him. 

Chesterton on Imagination....

Found on this website.

"...the first fact is that the most simple people have the most subtle ideas. Everybody ought to know that, for everybody has been a child. Ignorant as a child is, he knows more than he can say and feels not only atmospheres but fine shades. And in this matter there are several fine shades. Nobody understands it who has not had what can only be called the ache of the artist to find some sense and some story in the beautiful things he sees; his hunger for secrets and his anger at any tower or tree escaping with its tale untold. He feels that nothing is perfect unless it is personal. Without that the blind unconscious beauty of the world stands in its garden like a headless statue. One need only be a very minor poet to have wrestled with the tower or the tree until it spoke like a titan or a dryad. It is often said that pagan mythology was a personification of the powers of nature. The phrase is true in a sense, but it is very unsatisfactory; because it implies that the forces are abstractions and the personification is artificial. Myths are not allegories. Natural powers are not in this case abstractions. It is not as if there were a God of Gravitation. There may be a genius of the waterfall; but not of mere falling, even less than of mere water. The impersonation is not of something impersonal. The point is that the personality perfects the water with significance. Father Christmas is not an allegory of snow and holly; he is not merely the stuff called snow afterwards artificially given a human form, like a snow man. He is something that gives a new meaning to the white world and the evergreens, so that snow itself seems to be warm rather than cold. The test therefore is purely imaginative. But imaginative does not mean imaginary. It does not follow that it is all what the moderns call subjective, when they mean false. Every true artist does feel, consciously or unconsciously, that he is touching transcendental truths; that his images are shadows of things seen through the veil. In other words, the natural mystic does know that there is something there; something behind the clouds or within the trees; but he believes that the pursuit of beauty is the way to find it; that imagination is a sort of incantation that can call it up."
          - G.K. Chesterton, Everlasting Man

Carried Off by a Murder of Crows

Yes, I am still alive. Have some health issues that seem to like tmaking sure I am working hard, but, somehow things always work out.

.... Hopefully. My commissions and things ain't gettin themselves done. Sigh. What I wouldn't do for a bit of health. Maybe it's best this way. Keeps me from being a Drawing Terror of some sort.

Back to the drawing. This is a quick sketch I did inspired by the book Wildwood by Colin Meloy. It's been rather charming.

I thought a little quick sketch of someone's little brother being hauled off by birds was more engaging than more anatomy lessons.....

Latest GK quotes via my Dad:

"A man cannot be wise enough to be a great artist without being wise enough to wish to be a philosopher.  A man cannot have the energy to produce good art without having the energy to wish to pass beyond it.  A small artist is content with art; a great artist is content with nothing except everything." -GKC, "Heretics"

When the Going Gets Tough...

....The Tough copy pictures out of children's books about pet baby dragons. At least, that is what this combatant virtuoso of the female persuasion did. It is from the book, Me and My Dragon by David Biedrzychi. Just go look on amazon or something and look at the cover- you'll see why I found it irresistible when I ran across it at the library.

I apologize for the poor image quality. My scanner is dead, and I could not find ideal lighting for my silly camera. I went on a quest inside and out- outside was TOO BRIGHT, and inside this old house there is no good lighting ANYWHERE at the moment. This was the best I could do. I copied another picture of the dragon reading Knight Boy: Dragon Tamer in bed with a worried look, with Mouse looking over his shoulder. But that one I could NOT rescue- even with my iphoto editing, which I am rather good at.

Yes it has been tough lately. But, "beautiful people do not just happen."

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. beautiful people do not just happen."
-Blessed Pope John Paul II

‎"As long as we live, we fight, and as long as we are fighting, that is a sign that we are not defeated and that the good Spirit dwells within us. And if death does not meet you as the victor, he should find you a warrior." -St. Augustine

More Exciting News!

I was just accepted into the Catholic Illustrators Guild! I feel so.... grown up? Proficient? Blessed? Dexterous? Obliged? Affected? In need of nibbling nourishment? Indeed!
    In short, I was rather beatific at the news this morning when I checked my e-owls.
And yes, I am taking liberties with this post to practice my vocabulary with my mac dictionary. I looked up most of those words....
(anyone catch the Harry Potter reference?)
  And, ahem, a random quote I just received from a friend. 

“Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast….Of course, slowness is bad. Really skillful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy.” 
― Miyamoto Musashi


 If you recall, I posted a quote by him for my first post. He makes me laugh. So, as my friend said, when you are accused of not being busy enough, just calmly mention that you are a master of strategy. 
   Oddly enough, I think I like Mr. Musashi because he reminds me of Jane Austen. He can make a point or insult you to your face, but you will have to pay attention to catch the subtleties. People like them can get away with insults, and get away with style. 


Interesting how one can jump from one subject to another, is it not?


Happy remainder of Hobbit Week.

Happy Belated Birthday Hobbits!

     And a happy Hobbit Day to the rest of you! Technically, that was yesterday. September 22nd is Mr. Bilbo and master Frodo's birthday, but I didn't realize it until the later morning hours, and didn't have time to draw and post properly the day of. However, I did find a website that said the week containing Sept. 22nd is considered Hobbit Week, so if you haven't had a chance to celebrate properly, you still have almost two days left! I celebrated by watching the Fellowship of the Ring extended version (for fans, there is a HUGE  difference), while drawing these pictures. Can one draw and watch at the same time? You tell me. Did I succeed? To be perfectly and entirely honest, I do think it takes away a bit from the drawing, but, I wanted to do both, and I didn't have time before work to do them separately. I had fun anyway. I think I will have to reread my Tolkien collection soon! There are so many things I have forgotten, and that makes me exceedingly sad.
      I picked out a bit from the "Long Expected Part" chapter of the Fellowship, because I thought that the most fitting.

'You mean to go on with your plan then?
'I do. I made up my mind months ago, and I haven't changed it.'

It is based off this:

Inside Bag End, Bilbo and Gandalf were sitting at the open window of a small room  looking out west on to the garden. The late afternoon was bright and peaceful. The flowers glowed red and golden: snapdragons and sunflowers, and nasturtians trailing  over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows.
    'How bright your garden looks!' said Gandalf.
    'Yes," said Bilbo. 'I am very fond indeed of it, and of all the dear old Shire; but I think I need a holiday."
     'You mean to go on with your plan then?'
     'I do. I made up my mind months ago, and I haven't changed it.'
     'Very well. It is no good saying any more. Stick to you plan-- your whole plan, mind -- and I hope it will turn out for the best, for you, and for all of us.
     'I hope so. Anyway I mean to enjoy myself on Thursday, and have my little joke.'
     'Who will laugh, I wonder?' said Gandalf, shaking his head.  
    'We shall see,' said Bilbo.


Happy Hobbit Day to you all!

              

 

 

 

June 16th, 2011: Illustration Friday

   So. I went to orientation at school. And it stunk. Most likely I am NOT going to art school this Fall. Again. So yesterday was pretty horrible. I suppose that the Bible verse I last posted was even more relevant to me than I suspected. I hate it when that happens! So I'm down in the dumps. A lot. But I know it will be ok. I just have to re-plan, and that isn't much fun.
     Ok, so, it's been awhile, and I kinda forgot about it, but it's Illustration Friday time once again! This week the word is swept. I thought about doing something all pretty and whimsical and romantic... but I'm in a bad mood, and so I thought "heck with it!" and drew a little spider being swept away firing a machine gun of some sort! TAKE THAT YOU FORCES AGAINST ART SCHOOL!!! I mean, I'm not bitter or anything. Honest! I'm not! Who knows what God intends. But, it did feel good to draw such a pathetically spitefully little spider who's returning the favor.

Heh, the little bloke reminds me of Danny in Hot Fuzz (not that I really recommend it the movie..... although I do have some fond memories of watching it over seas), when he says, "Ever fired your gun the air and yelled, 'AHHHH?" Ahem. Anyways.
      Well well, what quote do I use for such a mournful time?

"To give, and not to count the cost
to fight, and not to heed the wounds,
to toil, and not to seek for rest,
to labor, and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will" 
-St. Ignatius of  Loyola


There we go. Some comforting, slightly painful,  yet fighting spirit. 

April 12th, 2011: An Emo Day....

So today was tough, I'm not gonna lie. And I have been reflecting on many things, such as suffering, patience, anxiety for what's to happen, etc. I did this little sketch as more of a time to sit and reflect and think, and not so much for display at all. I even considered not posting it. But I decided I would. Maybe someone else out there had an emo day and would like to see a fellow sufferer. What the drops are I haven't decided. Maybe they are rain. Maybe they are blood ( having to do with the"sharing in Christ's death" perhaps) But there you have it: a quick sketch that I did for myself at the end of a less than perfect day.

"Broken things are precious. We eat broken bread because we share in the death of Our Lord and his broken life. Broken flowers give perfume. Broken inscence is used in adoration. A broken ship saved Paul and many other pssengers on their way to Rome. Sometimes the only way the good Lord can get into some hearts is to break them." - Fulton Sheen.

     

  I know I have already shared this quote, but it is what my drawing is based on, and so I reposted it. I have also been bumming around to Mumford and Sons.... and here is a quote from their song After the Storm that I rather like:

“And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.

And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.

Get over your hill and see what you find there,

With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.”

I want to draw something based off this sometime, but hopefully I will be more chipper next time, and will maybe draw another umbrella attacking a kid, a cuddly soft thing, or a dragon, or something. God bless. 

                 
P.S. It just occurred to me that part of this blog is orange... I don't even like orange... so I have NO idea how I let that happen. Although I have to admit, the blog ain't bad lookin......

April 6th, 2011: A Blustery Day and Runaway Umbrella

Ok, so I think umbrella's are cute- especially red runaway umbrellas.... and so I decided to do a quick sketch before bed, and delay practicing piano yet again. I used an adorable child's face from an old children's prose book that's filled with Jessie Willcox Smith illustrations. ( I love that book. SO MANY pretty pictures.) There is an odd shadow in the top left corner that is not on the original, but that I cannot get rid of no matter how many times I scan the picture. I am a little too tired to care much about it right now; I want to go read a book or sleep or something. Anything BUT practice piano.

Hehe. Where is the mouse? See him? I love mice at the moment. Five second cuteness right there (i.e. takes a short to draw, just incase you were confused). How about some Despereaux Tilling quotes then? (What? How did we go from kidnapping umbrella's to Kate DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux? I don't know. I don't plan these things.)

"Once upon a time," he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him." 


"There is nothing sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name." 


"Despereaux marveled at his own bravery. 
He admired his own defiance. 
And then, reader, he fainted."


 "He was reading from the beginning so that he could get to the end, where the reader was assured that the knight and the fair maiden lived together happily ever after." 


"Love is ridiculous. But love is also wonderful. And powerful. And Despereaux's love for the Princess Pea would prove, in time, to be all of these things: powerful, wonderful, and ridiculous." 


I spose I got a bit carried away there. That is easy to do with such a lovely book. I love Despereaux! Is it insane to be a smidgen bit in love with such a tiny big heart? He has the most adorable over-sized ears! (Look at me gushing over a mouse.)

March 4th, 2011: Andersen's The Little Mermaid Unfinished

Yes, I have been slacking. Well, actually I have been quite busy, just not with drawing. I've discovered that deadlines for scholarships/applications are much sooner than I thought, and so I have been working like crazy on portfolios and essays. But today, even though I was not feeling very well, I did start an ink drawing. I read Andersen's The Little Mermaid, and, of course, I loved it and wanted to draw it. Yes, I am doing lots of fairy tales lately. But I am doing that on purpose, because 1), I have never read them before, and 2), I knew they would be fun to illustrate. So here she is, the Little Mermaid. The story IS NOT like the disney version, as I am sure you can imagine. She is a beautiful, sad, "quiet and thoughtful" creature, who wanted more than anything to acquire an immortal soul(mer-people do not have immortal souls or after lives) by winning the love of a human. She fails, more or less, but do read the story anyway! She is a very heroic mermaid.

I am leaving for the weekend, and so I will probably not finish this until Tuesday. But I do plan to finish this using some ink washes, and maybe a touch of color here or there. For my other plans (as if I have that many) you will just have check later!
       "Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is a supreme creative act." -Charles Dickons

"I always remember to forget those things." Winnie The Pooh

March 1st: Attaching the Foot to the Invention, and The Rose Elf

I have been reading Andersen's fairy tales lately, and this sketch is from a story called The Rose Elf, which I find tragic, disturbing, and absolutely charming and lovely. I do not want to tell you the story here because I want you to find and discover it for yourself. It is only a few pages long, but so packed with details and suggestions. I LOVE Andersen's work so far! I think that this sketch would look good redone as a pen and ink drawing.... I may just do that, after I tweak the composition a bit.

"And the queen bee hummed in the air and sang of the blossom's revenge and of the rose elf, and of how behind the smallest petal there lives one who can tell and can avenge a wrong." 

Drawing number two is from Structure of Man: Drawing the Human Figure From Your Mind. Look! I am attaching the foot to the Invention! Yes! That means we get to move onto the arms and hands soon! 

Art quote:

"I feel there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people." -Vincent Van Gogh....  That right there is why I think that "art for art's sake" does not stand on it's own, more or less. "Only love creates," -St. Maximillian Kolbe.

February 26th: Turin Kills Beleg

    Today is a bit more somber than the princesses and dragons and mermaids thus far. I decided to get out one of my favorite books, Children of Hurin by Tolkien, and draw one of my favorite scenes from it. I love Beleg, and I almost cried the first time I read his death scene. (Warning: do not EVER grow to love any of Tolkien's characters from The Silmarillion, Children of Hurin, etc. He will kill everyone off, as he did my favorite, Beleg Cuthalion.) This is a rather rough quick sketch, and I am not happy with Turin's closer arm that's holding Anglachel. The foreshortening is rather pitiful. In fact, it is pitiful everywhere else too. Just goes to show again that drawing from life is so much better for natural looking results; but, one doesn't always have that option. But I DREW today! Maybe I should have practiced piano, considering I have a lesson on Monday that I am NOT ready for, but still! I drew! And I am over all pleased with the overall feeling of the sketch.

        "Beleg drew his sword Anglachel, and with it he cut the fetters that bound Turin; but fate that day was more strong, for the blade of Eol the Dark Elf slipped in his hand, and pricked Turin's foot.
        Then Turin was roused into a sudden wakefulness of rage and fear, and seeing a form bending over him in the gloom with a naked blade in hand he leapt up with a great cry, believing Orcs were come again to torment him; and grappling with him in the darkness he seized Anglachel, and slew Beleg Cuthalion thinking him a foe.
        But as he stood, finding himself free, and ready to sell his life dearly against imagined foes, there came a flash of lightning above them, and in its light he looked down on Beleg's face. Then Turin stood stonestill and silent, staring on that dreadful death, knowing what he had done; and so terrible was his face, lit by the lightning that flickered all about them, that Gwindor cowered down upon the ground and dared not raise his eyes."

      Poor Turin. Beheading his best friend who had suffered so much to save him was only the beginning of his troubles.

February 23rd Part Two: Git 'Er Done Quotes

"To become the enemy, you must see yourself as the enemy of the enemy." - Miyamoto Musashi

"If you do not control the enemy, the enemy will control YOU." -Miyamoto Musashi

"Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience." Thomas Merton

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a most perfect plan executed next week." -George S. Patton

Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of a warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men." Miyamoto Musashi

"The ways of the Lord are not comfortable, but we are not made for comfort, but for greatness, for good."-Pope Benedict XVI

1st Post: February 23rd, 2011

Officially, the post of the day is the header. But I needed to do a post to point that out. Also, I decided to put the past two sketches I did over the past week. The first is my attempt at copying a Waterhouse while watching Quantum of Solace. Which I thought was kinda lame.  

Note to self: trying to draw while watching an action movie you've never seen before is not the best idea in the world. Fun maybe, but the drawing rather than the tv watching suffers. 

    Another is a lesson or two from The Structure of Man: Drawing the Human Figure From Your Mind DVD set that i am using in an attempt to teach myself anatomy. I have been working on these DVD's for about 3 years now. It's about time I got past the foot don't you think?

How about an art quote for the day: "Art allows us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." -Thomas Merton