Teething, arg

So the little man is a drooling cranky monster baby. It is impossible to get any painting done at all! Poor guy is completely miserable; can't eat, can't sleep... his whole word is crying and drooling. Where did my happy baby go?

I had a couple holiday pieces planned and a few little surprise paintings-one day I'll get them done! Right now I am working a tiny bit at a time, its like a Zen exercise... a painting one stroke a day... without the mindfulness normally involved.

Etsy Treasury!

Chrisy from Sophism Press has featured my painting in an Etsy Treasury. (Protecting)
Being a complete Etsy-newb I didn't even know how to make these. But they look like fun! It's a giant fun mosaic wish list of Etsy items!

Click to get to the full Treasury!

3 months!

Happy 3 months little elf baby!
You'll look at these photos soon enough, and know just what dorks mommy and daddy really are. Next up, tunic, sword, and shield. So you can be a proper elf baby!
Grandma and I made that green Link-hat out of a green scarf I had. Its one size fits all, I can wear it! Daddy thinks I look super-duper silly in it. We also made a striped guitar plushie, its perfect sized for your right now! I haven't stuffed it yet, because I want to get the right stuff, in case you rip it apart or something. Choking on stuffing = bad times.

You drool all over the place now, and chew on everything. You've found your hands, so now every time you see your fists, you put them in your mouth. No, not one at a time. You see one, and then try to fit BOTH in your mouth. Then you slobber everywhere. Fun times! Now you are very cranky at night, fussy and crying for seemingly no reason. You have a hard time eating, you just chew on the nipple and then cry. You have trouble getting to sleep at night, and then you have trouble staying asleep. Sometimes we look at you whimpering and flailing in your sleep and wonder what could be the problem. Nightmares? Gas? We think you are teething, at three months, teething. Ah, what a special hell this will be. My poor little elf-baby. At least you are happy to see me in the morning.

You get one nice long nap during the day and then its play time. You hate tummy time. It makes you yell and scream and fake-cry. We call it fake crying because its more like a drawn out whine. We don't think you'll ever roll over again, or learn to crawl. You don't like laying down on your back or tummy. You want to sit straight up or stand. Maybe you'll skip crawling and just start walking.
I can't imagine the trouble you'll get into.

love,
Mommy

Sketches of Selena

Sketches of Selena (nickname: Nener) and one squid (not Nener.)
From 2 pages in my sketchbook, consolidated into one. I was supposed to be drawing a caricature of her, but painted that portrait instead... Some of these sketches are parodies of more famous artist's styles, but I'm not sure that is very apparent now.

Tattoo portrait - Selena

Tattoo portrait - Selena
Acrylic on wood

My friend Selena has everything I could ever want in a chest-piece: A skull, a Day of the Dead SUGAR Skull no less, cup cakes!, roses, lollipops, sprinkles, hearts, ice cream cones... I have a bit of tattoo envy. And I love love love tattoos. I have one, a gorgeous rose on my back, and would love a million-an-a-half more... But money, and a job that would certainly not allow my dreams of Circus-sideshow style tattoo-dom, cut my dreams short. Which is fine, because I keep doing all these fun tattoo - portrait paintings. And living vicariously through my friends.

more realistic, less realistic

Sleepy eyes
I like this one, heavily referenced from a photograph. Acrylic on paper.


Underwater
Her whole shoulder/torso/body perspective is very unflattering, and I also tried a purple-pink skin tone thing that didn't work out. Acrylic on paper

Onward!

Little studies on little pages

Quick & dirty little studies for (maybe) larger pieces. I like to make a mess with paint after sketching to figure out composition and colors. (I like to make a mess with paint, period.) In all honesty, they are sort of like paint-sketches, or is that the definition of a study?
They are acrylic, karat liqua, and crayon on book pages. Farmer Boy, if you wanted to know. Scandalized at first by the idea of trashing books, I just sort of realized I could start with books that were already falling apart.