Haunted Clothing, the red series (a post for Kara)

Weapon gown

Long Gloves

Banner Wrap

Thorn Suit

Ocean Wave Gown

Fur Cloak

Brain Gown

Twin Bird Gown

 

 

Ocean Fin Gown

It's been awhile since I last shared any of the Monster Fashion! This weekend was the annual South End Art Hop, and I was asked about this particular series. Not having it up anywhere else I decided to do a little post here.
All paintings in this group of Haunted Clothing are acrylic on 9"h x 6"w x 1"deep canvas, with accented elements on all four sides of each piece. Trying to find my photos of the sides, has me thinking it might be time for another photo shoot...But for now, enjoy!

Do you like books?

I am illustrating two stories!  This is all happening thanks to Jeremiah Christie, a writer who approached me several years ago to do some brainstorming. Here we are now with the results. Jeremiah has come up with a dozen stories and poems and in collaboration with myself and seven other artists, we are trying to make an actual book come of it.  
Please check out this video:

We are getting down to the wire. One generous donor has just pledged enough to earn themselves a guided tour of Shijiazhuang, which brings us to 19% of our funding goal! But we only have until May 2nd (2015) to fund the rest of it.  ALL OR NOTHING. If enough of you out there are interested, this book could become a reality. If you've been saying I should illustrate a children's book, well, this is my chance. Please make a pledge!
Read more about some of the other people behind this project here at Jeremiah's website.  He wrote a really flattering post about me and my art, too!  You can find that right here.

Sketching in Clay

I've been wanting to get back to my Haunted Clothing project for a while, not just on paper but working with 3D elements that are wearable.

During the "Great Studio Purge" of December 2014 (the HUGE remainder pile of which still sits blocking the studio door...) I was on the fence as to whether to keep my polymer clay.
So I compromised.
Last week, my friend Gwendolyn Evans invited me over for a day of working with polymer clay.  I went with the intention of finally making some items that could potentially be added to outfits, and Gwendolyn was happy to take all the super-bright colors of clay that I no longer needed.

Here's what I made.  For the most part I kept to white or natural colors (greys, beige, translucent) but I also mixed a weird red for the mouth and HAD to use some phosphorescent clay for the tentacles.  

Each piece is being stained with an acrylic paint glaze for a more natural look.
That white glob at the bottom is Golden Acrylics' Acrylic Glazing Medium, I cannot live without it!
Polymer clay & Acrylic ©Sweet Enemy Art 2015 

Rocky Horror, anyone?
Polymer clay & Acrylic ©Sweet Enemy Art 2015 

Antlers and Squash stems inspired most of these.
Polymer clay & Acrylic ©Sweet Enemy Art 2015 

Inspired by jawbones from a deer, this might be wearable as a pendant.
Polymer clay & Acrylic ©Sweet Enemy Art 2015  

It was a nice change of pace working directly with my hands, especially once these came out of the oven and were cool enough to handle.  The painting process really makes them come to life.

Much of it ended up being too delicate for actually wearing, but my goal is to use them for drawing references. Inspired by Beth Robinson (of Strange Dolls) I may find a way to recreate them in stronger materials.

Cards & Chariots

Happy New Year!  I posted a few cards on Etsy today, including the lovely Inktober postcard set featuring the first ten drawings from the challenge.

Taking advantage of some quiet time, I've been painting a series of women and their chariots.  These are all done in Acryla Gouache on cradled 5"x7" wood panels.
You can see my works-in-progress over on Instagram but here's a sneak peek of the three I'm currently working on.

Mid-way stage on three "Chariot" paintings. 

Inktober and a SALE!

From left to right:  October 5th, 4th, and 6th.  I liked this arrangement, so it's available as a print.

I can hardly believe it:  I finished Inktober 2014 and only had to do two catchup days.  I did my best to work on other projects at the same time, but ultimately the small scale of these drawings (4"x6") made them very entrancing.  And portable, too!

So now that I have 31 drawings, all the same size, all the same theme: HAUNTED CLOTHING, I'm hoping to do something with them.  A book is one possibility, and since they're the perfect size, I'm also looking into printing sets of high-quality-artsy-deluxe postcards.  These should arrive in time for holiday shows, which are coming up very quickly!

For the moment, I'm uploading a small selection onto my print site and having fun making them available as T-shirts and mugs in addition to the usual print on paper.  And here's a good reason to check them out right now:  Society6 is having an Artist promotion sale through November 9th, so to get $5 off any of my printed art there AND free shipping, just follow this link:
http://society6.com/kristinrichland?promo=VG3GX4X7MQYG

Sale ends November 9th, 2014 at midnight Pacific time!

And the same group is printed on a mug!
(I like these mugs)

I let the images flow one into the other here

This mug needs some tea...