I entered a few works into an opportunity last month. The regional arts and culture council of Portland, Or is purchasing some works for their portable collection. I got this letter today.
Hello, Thank you for taking the time and effort to submit your work for the RACC Portable Works Collection. Please excuse this general e-mail — response to this Call for Artists was tremendous. The selection panel reviewed submissions from 248 different artists and looked at over 1200 images. The overall quality of the work submitted was very high and the competition strong. Regrettably, we do not have the funds to purchase all the good work submitted and unfortunately your submission was not among the semi-finalists chosen. On behalf of myself and the selection panel, please accept our heartfelt thanks for taking the time to share your work with us. I hope you will keep RACC in mind in the future as a resource, and will connect with us again as other public art opportunities come up. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or feedback. Sincerely, Keith Lachowicz It's a bummer but just a sign for me to move onto the next project. I can move the girl to a different wall and get back to my baby piece. Sigh, I was hopeful, since I really needed the money for my desired move. I know God will provide it elsewhere.
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Welcome! I am so glad you have stopped by to visit my blog. Yesterday when I was done with the bug there was one specific spot, where the rear connected to the sectioned middle area, that I was very inspired by. There was dimension without the use of lines. My goal today was to create something based on that technique, free from lines. I've very comfortable working with lines so this was outside of my normal comfort zone. I'm not sure if it came up quite as three dimensional as I was hoping. It's tricky when you don't know what your making to get it to look just right. On a whole I'm very pleased with the outcome and I really enjoyed working on it. I put the signature in the wrong place too dark to move it... but what ya gonna do lol. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!
Final bid 454 credits. This card will be staying in Oregon. Name Jeffery. Jeffrey is a part of a living tiara that a mermaid wears. He gets to go to all the fancy events under the sea and hob knob with other jewelry items. Lots of work to get done today so this will be a short post. Fortunately I started this early enough to get it done. Started with the legs. Enjoy!
Final bid 253 credits. This one goes to Washington state. I've been contemplating what makes something cute. What first came to mind was big eyes and simple chubby features. I then considered drawings that I believe to be cute. Most prevalent to me would be pokemon characters like Pikachu. Pikachu doesn't have big eyes, to the contrary, his are small little black balls. But he is very simple in form and mildly chubby. With yesterday's card refusing to be cute I wanted to give it another try today. Here is what I came up with.
I would ultimately like to create something that anyone could look at and go AWWWW... I don't think this one reaches that level of cuteness. The toes are not very cute and perhaps it's not fluffy enough. But if it was fluffy it would look too much like the aliens from Chicken little... also why it didn't get a third eye. I think this creature would benefit to be shown in scale. What I mean by that is how much cuter would it be at 3 inches tall then 8 feet. I know I told Ashley I could do worms in something to make it scary today, but practically speaking the cards are so small I don't know if I can get worms into the cards and get them to look right... at least I wasn't ready to try yet. I think I've been stuck on cute and needed to work on that first. Today I mailed out the first creature card. The auction picked up speed in the last hour or so and went better then I expected. I will post the total and name given to the creature on the card as they come in. The letting go process was easier then I expected. I think partially because I keep making them, and partially because I have taken the time to record them well. I have the digital images I am more willing to part with the physical cards. Final bid 202 credits. This card will go to Washington state to live with Card #1. This is what tree sap looks like to the rest of nature, young and alive. Kaleb and I started watching Monsters Inc for background noise while I worked on the card. A Lilo and Stich preview came on and I thought about how cute Stitch was and yet he was still a monster. Inspired by his ears, I set out to try to make something cute that didn't look too much like Stitch. My process starts with a shape that generally has a purpose, say the eye socket or ears. Then it progresses from there. This one really got away from the cute side of things. They evolve in a very strange manner. If I try to impose too much on the drawing it either takes forever to finish or looks forced. I've been contemplating what makes something cute. To me it seems like big eyes and simplicity. I'm not fabulous at simple. I need to work on it. One of these days the card will want to be cute... not today.
When Ash got home from school I said, " I don't think you want to see today's card. It's scary." Her reply, along with many sounds, was "Just a peak. I'll try to be brave for a peak." So with heavy anticipation I showed her the card. To my surprise she erupted in laughter. After discussing it she said that it would be scary if I put some worms going in and out of it. WORMS?! Now? When the card was nearly finished? I told her the worms would have to wait tell tomorrows card. Just another lesson in unpredictable audience responses. I need work on scary and cute... makes me wonder what it is I'm actually making. I suppose odd is somewhere in the middle. Final bid 212. Sending this one to New York! So this one took a LONG time today. Partially because I decided to do cross hatching, but it wasn't one of those long times were you just wish you were done with it. I enjoyed this one greatly during the whole process. She was a challenge. Have I mentioned that I enjoy a challenge! Part of the trouble I was having was trying to create her features in a way that even though she was still inhuman, she would still have an attractiveness to her. It was Ashley's idea to give her a human nose... although we had a mild argument over what constitutes a drawing of a human nose. I believe she meant the side view partial triangle look. I tried to explain that this is how you draw a human nose from the front... I am still not sure that she believes me.
Tomorrow the first card will be won and ready to leave. It is time to start letting go. Thankfully they all have started to receive a following. Some more then others of course. It's very interesting to me to see which ones people like the most. Final bid 650. She will live in Illinois :) Information from the winner: Character name: Mizz Thang from Tang Tang is another Planet. And she is a striking beauty at 6 foot tall. ( a head-turner on any planet.) She has a purple poodle like creature on the end of a leash that is the comparable in size to a Great Dane named Yang (see card #20). She also has a chartreuse dog/iguana like creature as well named Ying (see card #17). Hello Friends. Happy Saturday!
Today I was working on my card hoping to make something "cute." This is what ended up happening. I don't think I would call him cute per say. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Ashley says it's scary because it's missing it's back half. I like that about it. I did have to decide if people would think I didn't finish it. So I attached this thought to the auction and my posts. You may be wondering where his back side is. Your welcome to choose one of three answers. 1. It's retractable and is currently retracted for climbing. 2. It's invisible. 3. It doesn't have one. I think I lean toward 1 or 3... probably 1 since I think the action involve would be cool. It gives it mystery. We shall see what they buyer thinks. The bidding process has started to pick up. Card #2 only has 4 credits for the lowest bid so far. It just reminds me of how unpredictable everyone is. The one I like the most isn't favored, and the ones I question the most are. I need to work on that part of things. I think this card is my first step in that direction. I am taking a risk by not adding a rear section to him. I wonder how it will turn out. Thanks for stopping by!. Final bid 172 credits. This little thing will live in New York. Stage name: The Vanishing Venitoreal Real name Ike Vestile Hello friends,
Today was interesting. I sold some work which is always great! But when it came time to work on my creature I ran into troubles. I started it in the upright position as seen in the middle image. I started with the comb. Wasn't sure if it was a sort of tail but then it just looked too much like a tooth brush to me. Doing various things wasn't helping me to feel any better about the piece as a whole. I enjoy things that are precarious and strange but sometimes I look at them and they just don't work. The lower circular venting area use to be an eye as well but I couldn't get a decent balance on the thing and it refused to look good so I kept working. I added a lot of detail this time in the scales which added to the time of the whole piece but I felt it needed the variation. Part of me wonders if I was over thinking this one. I was sorta geeking out on the details which I enjoyed. I figure I got them to a place where I liked them. I'm just wondering if I liked the two eye thing but thought it wouldn't be strong enough on a whole. I like what it turned out to be and based it on my own artistic perception... I just wonder if I pulled it too far back from the brink of insanity. Maybe fishy fridays should be Fab or Flop Fridays. Risks make for great art, sometimes. I had an idea today that I'm going to start working on as well. I have a number of realism works in the wings but I am enjoying this mental diversion; however, the postage will start to wear on me if I can't make some real money to compensate the expenses. My plan is to make one Special Edition Creature Card every week or two and sell them here on the website. I'll put them on quality Bristol art paper, and use colored pencils to add to the designs. The paper is 6 x 6 so the drawings will also be larger and possibly more square in composition. I am thinking about 15.00 should cover the cost of the drawing and that week's postage for all the works. This allows the process to be at minimum a sustainable wash. I believe I will be adding a tab on my website for the creature of the week and for any other sales I decide to estate. Coming soon a special sale on miniatures. Keep checking back for more details! Thanks for reading. Final bid 606 credits! I keep trying to make one that is landscape but enjoy what they look like portrait before it is said and done. I enjoy making precarious things :). So far all the other drawing have at least one bid. It is an interesting dynamic to watch. Part of me worries that they will go for a steal but the market sets the price. I'll just have to watch and see.
Final bid 252 credits. This one will live in Texas. Here is my creation of the day. It started off as a lizard and then turned into a humming bird. I wasn't satisfied with it and turned it around. I like it better as a headpiece.
Final winning bid 454 credits. This card is going to live in California. First winning bid 280 credits. (card was not collected and subsequently re-listed) |
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