Art Hop and other news, August - September 2016

Returning to my Art Hop roots, you'll find me this year at 420 Pine Street otherwise known as the Howard Space building. This is where my father's family had their appliance sales & service shop for years...so it's cool to be back! Look for me and Jess on the second floor in Marie Davis' studio (D-3) which is reachable via front (Howard Street) entrance, or back stairs (parking lot behind Arts Riot.)
Festivities go from 5:30 - 10pm on Friday evening, run most of the day on Saturday, and wind down late afternoon on Sunday.

detail from the final page of The Evening Day and Grey, one of two stories I illustrated in The Crown of Secrets

I'm designing prints from selected illustrations I did for The Crown of Secrets, and there will be lots of new greeting card designs.

Probably no new Advent calendar design this year, though I'll have plenty of the first three designs. Another project has come up which is keeping me very busy! More on that soon...

Follow me on Instagram to see more details of this series as it develops

New drawings...I'm playing around with some fancy Crows when I have time between other projects. There will be prints of these as well as the originals debuting at ART HOP. 

During last year's INKtober I focused on bears. When you're doing one drawing a day, you learn quite a bit about your subject, which is what led me to choose crows for my theme this October. I realized while doing the illustrations for "The Evening Day and Grey" just how little I know of crow anatomy and poses. I'm looking for good reference books if you have any suggestions.

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.