Update :)

So, I am still alive. Funny how I start out my posts that way now.

But for real. This time, there is a real update that is worth something:

I've moved to Nashville! I have amazing roommates, a job, and it all seems to be working out. I have no idea about art school yet (still waiting for financial aid) but this is a huge step to get me going again. I needed this badly, so this is very good.

It came up VERY suddenly, and the past month trying to move in and find a job was absolute chaos; but yet, it has worked out so much better than any other endeavor I have meticulously planned the past few years. Yeah. Chaotically peaceful, and I am oddly calm. I guess there is something to this idea of God's timing... yeah, He's pretty amazing, "let's just be honest," to quote one of my lovely roomies.

You guys have been so patient. The past few years have been so hard... I have had health issues, money issues, people issues... and I was caught in so many ruts, just kind of becoming actually part of my tiny bedroom, like a ghost, or that decrepit old lady in Great Expectations. I needed this.

Hopefully I can become more disciplined, motivated, hopeful, etc, now that I am out playing grown-up. I am so glad to just be moving at all, I don't really care what happens. God knows.

So I may be back and making art for you to see here again soon! I really believe things are going to start happening for me. So much has in just one month. Someone Up There is up to something.

Pray for me and I'll pray for you. <3 I start my new job soon and I have the jitters.

Fall is coming and I am alive.

Hey guys.

Yeah, I'm still alive. :)

I'm fighting again to get into art school, but in the mean time, it's almost Fall! A lil drawing to celebrate. Guest starring Mouse and Spider.

"Target Practice" made with a Bic Atlantis pen.

A kid using the falling leaves for practice with his "sword." Struck me as amusing, and it was fun. I love using my ink pen. It's kinda a sentimental thing for me. Maybe because I used it so much for drawing pictures in-between note-taking during class? Not sure. (But, I DID take notes. My friends would tell you I took more notes than anyone- and STILL had time to draw somehow.)

I hope you guys are doing well. I am doing pretty well myself. My hands are still giving me trouble, but, I think my health has really improved this summer. I have lots of hope for getting back into school soon.

Sketchbook Tour

I decided to do a little sketchbook tour of what I have in my current sketchbook. It's.... a bit scary actually. But, I know I love spying on other's sketchbooks, so, I am going to indulge you. A bit. I won't show EVERYTHING... my camera is less than ideal, and I do want to sleep some tonight. But I will let you have a bit of a peek- consider yourself highly favored. Maybe I will do this again down the road, and I pray you (and I) will detect something resembling improvement. :)

Well, apparently I can't just group them all together..... This could be special. This is going to be a very looooooooooooooooooooonnnnnngggggggggggg post.

Sometimes I tape reference photos inside to work on from time to time

 

Bright Star cover.. and my own critique notes...

Apparently the photos have a mind of their own in regards to their placement? Sigh... so annoying. Is it just me? Yeah.. it's gotta be me.

Princess Out of Bed plans..

I can put words here! Interesting.

A bit of Last Airbender there. I LOVE that show so very much!

"Mummy" drawing around the form.

Maybe in the future, both my drawing AND my blogging layout skills will be better. Reach for the stars, Mary!

Been practicing a bit of anime style lately...

Balsa from Moribito:Guardian of the Spirit... Such a good anime and novel. :)

<-- This area looks awkward. 

More words! Oh blogger you are so accommodating.

A kind of gesture drawing of Eliza Dolittle while watching My Fair Lady.

Contour practice.

A quick Dr. Who fandom.

Not my original design... and I cannot find where it came from! Grr.

Drawn outside in nature. I felt very... refined doing it? There was a baby deer behind me.

More nature!

It's like I am playing tag with where I can figure out I can put words...

From a book cover at work (the library) during lunch break. 

More words? Huh. This looks awful. 

Boring but important quick gesture drawings.

There you have it. It's late, and I am tired, but I am glad to share this. I really need to start a new painting project or something, and not JUST sketch around. 

Maybe the next tour will be amazing.

Still crossing my fingers about art school this Fall. My financial aid with all it's power to give and take has not arrived yet... Waiting waiting waiting.

God bless!

Still Here, Still Fighting

... Don't worry your pretty little faces, I am still here. I have been out of town, had my life put on hold by a stomach flu, etc. I am thiiiisss close to going to my local university to get my bachelors of fine art with a concentration in graphic design, and maybe a minor in creative writing. I have been emailing and calling and emailing about financial aid, a living situation, etc. So far I have next to no answers, but I have hope! I am so so close! No, this school is not my IDEAL art school, but at this point I think being strong means taking what I can get, and if it weren't for the fact that I may have to commute an hour one way everyday at first, I would be very happy. With my health issues, I know that's gonna be tough, but I don't really know how to give up on this, so, I will keep fighting.
      I just wish I could keep up with this blog in the mean time. I am trying my best to draw in-between all this madness, but I am not producing much that's worthy to put on here, to be perfectly honest. Mostly anatomy tutorials and gesture drawings, etc.
    But if you only knew! I have classes coming up soon! Classes! As in, I will have something to work on! Something to make me feel like I am making progress! I have been kind of stuck at home with health issues for two years now, feeling like I am getting nowhere. But, this lil artist still loves her art, and she isn't beaten yet. She has this foolish tendency to be obnoxious enough to have the audacity to keep going.
     Oh, yes, I get frustrated with the seemingly impossible task of finding money and a job and a living situation, but I can't help but hope that it's all getting very close now. Something is coming. Even if it takes its time arriving, whatever it is, I will always be here, and I am always looking for a way to do what I believe I should.
    I am so excited! Wish me luck, and of course, pray for me as I pray for you. You must be the most patient followers, and I do appreciate you. Very much.

P.S.
      Oh, and I am working on a story for Mouse and Dragon, and maybe Spider (Mouse is a kind of regular on my blog, when I actually blog, for those of you who don't know. Dragon and Spider aren't so much, but I love dragons, so, there you have it.) I have always thought they needed a story, and proper names, so now I am slowly slowly fabricating a world for them. I have no idea when it will be done, but if anything, I hope to finish something that I can at least illustrate a few scenes from someday.  

P.P.S.
        For a bit of added inspiration, here is an amazing speech given by Neil Gaiman on the making of art. Especially if you are an artist of some sort, click on this link. Keep making good art, no matter what.

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

Updates, and Ink and Fairydust

I thought I would let you know the results of those tests I kept talking about- I have carpal tunnel and nerve damage in both hands and elbows. Excellent news for an artist right? Oh well. Thankfully, my left hand is the worst, which is good because I am right handed. Will my right hand get worse? Probably. It's already given me issues for a long time, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. God has taken care of me thus far- I don't see any reason to doubt Him now.

Also, the next Ink & Fairydust is out! Featuring a lovely cover by Mary MacArthur. There are a couple drawings inside done by yours truly that I have already posted on this blog.

I have a crazy month art-wise ahead of me. I have another commission, my Arthouse Sketchbook Project, and the next issue of Ink & Fairydust to illustrate before the end of the month. I work best under pressure, so in some ways I am excited, just as long as I get it done in the end! Time for the montage music.

I hope you all are having a blessed Good Friday, one of my favorite days of the year, and that you have a lovely Easter!

God bless and happy Easter!

One Lost Chord Divine

I am back! And with a painting. This one is a commission for a lovely friend who has managed to get two pieces out of me, which is quite an accomplishment actually. I jest of course. A little bit.

Anyway, enough nonsense, here it is. She hasn't actually seen it or okayed it yet, but I wanted you to see what I am working on none the less:

This is a mix of ink and watercolor. Mostly watercolor.

It is based off this poem:

A Lost Chord

Seated one day at the Organ,

I was weary and ill at ease,

And my fingers wandered idly

Over the noisy keys.

I do not know what I was playing,

Or what I was dreaming then ;

But I struck one chord of music,

Like the sound of a great Amen.

It flooded the crimson twilight,

Like the close of an Angel's Psalm,

And it lay on my fevered spirit

With a touch of infinite calm.

It quieted pain and sorrow,

Like love overcoming strife ;

It seemed the harmonious echo

From our discordant life.

It linked all perplexéd meanings

Into one perfect peace,

And trembled away into silence

As if it were loth to cease.

I have sought, but I seek it vainly,

That one lost chord divine,

Which came from the soul of the Organ,

And entered into mine.

It may be that Death's bright angel

Will speak in that chord again,

It may be that only in Heaven

I shall hear that grand Amen. 

-Adelaide A. Procter