Holy Batik!

This is my studio!


So orange! The third wall is white so its not so... oppressive. This is actually very clean. Don't judge. I just like living in utter chaos.

What is batik? Wax resist dyeing on fabric. Wax a little, then dye the rest. Wax some more and then dye some more and rinse and repeat. Poof. Now you have an integrated project. It hard to visualize so...

Here's some in progess pictures of the Misty Descent, panel 7.





The last one is still wet. Its supposed to look like grass eventually. Its probably going to take a lot of colored pencil to get the right texture


This is Through the Canyon, panel 2.










The dye looks darker when its wet. Also, the white residue is salt and soda ash. I add chunks of sea salt while the dye is drying to give it more texture. The orange layer turned out to be neon salmon. Frighteningly neon, but I guess its okay? I'm not going to start over so I better suck it up.


So as you see, I got a megaton done this week! It's really rejuvenating. I feel like I'm finally getting this project under control. The two best things about working over spring break are that I get to run my own schedule (which means sleeping and showing up whenever I want) and no one is in the fibers studio. I can party to Ke$ha and wax all I want. Unfortunately, I'm also cracking up from anxiety, since we're at the month count down. I think I'm in a good place though. Maybe? It's impossible to tell how long creating takes me. I'm a time management disaster. My general maxim is "Work until its done." Lets hope that is under a month. One thing is for sure, I have absolutely no regrets about spending my spring break here.

What's next? Well after these are done I have 3 and a half more. Then I can colored pencil till my eyes fall out. For some reason, doing the colored pencil freaks me out more than the wax. I suppose if the wax messes up I can blame the medium, where as if the pencil messes up I can only blame the artist. Damn, that's me. For my most important batiks, when he reaches the summit and then when he pushes the boulder back down, I'm recording it and making a time lapsed video probably to this music:



My good friend Colin edited the sound so its not so static-y when I use it! He's so cool! Now I just have to ask their permission. hahaha...
Seriously though. What do you think? I'm strangely attracted to the roughness of it all. But maybe its my eternal obsession with duets. I also have a thing for Epiphanies and kites. Weird?

So in conclusion life is busy but good. Probably the best way to be. ;)

Love ya!

Photodump.

Oh JEEZ. Where Have I been? Running around like crazy. Here is Feburary:



Here are some tools I use!




Here's a picture of the Grebe I helped Sherri Smith save!





and the weird stuff I draw in my freetime!



This next week is gonna be crazyyy. Everyone else is vacationing, but I'm going to WORKING MY BUTT OFF. I have to finish 6 more pieces before April...heh heh. I'm going to show a step by step of the batik process. sigh. Show you all my secrets. ;) Not really it just looks confusing.
Love ya!

Sketches

I'd thought I'd show you since I scanned them...



Coming next...
Megan Fox and Fox!

New Work!

Ooohh! Madagascar Fauna! Nerd reason why they are so cool: some abhorently large percentage of species are endemic.(80%?) Which means they appear NO WHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. Like this Mantella Frog that is only found in Ranomafana National Park. As far as anyone knows. Its completely mind shattering to see so much incredible diversity living on a knife edge. If anywhere in the world should be conserved, I vote Madagascar. The medicinal plants alone would knock your socks off. Seriously. All the poisonous plants are named after Mother-in-laws, by the way. The Malagasy people live in the coolest place in the world AND have a sense of humor. I'd be jealous if they weren't all absurdly poor. They have the upside of being completely rich in spirit. I know it sounds sappy, but its true. Anyway, here's my tiny response to the trip. I'm trying to decide what to do with it next???
Edit: This is frog I drew here but I have my own reference picture. Bwahahahahaha.

More Old work..." The Girl Who Lost Her Words"

I like this one. It started my exploration of "obsession." Everyone has obsession, but perhaps to different degrees. ;) I wish I could color this... but not really because then I'd just want to fix the line work. Eh. NEXT!

Super Successful!

Today was awesome! I woke up at 8:30... AM... BY MY OWN FREE WILL. Then I proceeded to get a ton of stuff done from there. Mostly I just ran errands but I feel really good about it and I don't know why. Maybe its because I did nothing but go to Kat's wedding over the break... Which was AMAZING. Everything was so tasteful and autumn-ey. Sigh. It was absolutely perfect.Maybe I'll most some pictures.... maybe. In any case, No matter how much I get done there's always more, but it feels so good to make a sizable dent in it. like. pow. kaplow. I beat you up imaginary villain character. Here's a list of all the shit I did today. Don't feel obliged to read this, this is more for me.
stretched sore back... check
farmers market...check
epic breakfst... check
read genji...check
defeat japanese women's literature midterm...check
discount sushi... check
apply for graduation.. check
orchid mix mission and explore strange outlet mall.. check
find awesome art magazines..check
meet someone that knows someone that knows someone in madagascar... check
repot orchid... check
keep room clean...check
write new blog...almost check but when I post it, it will be check.
more color work? ..probable check?

It is just one of those days when shit falls together. It's really satisfying after a week like last week. Bring it on IP you can't push me down!

Also: The Featured Creature just made my life. SO FLUFFY. Things like this make me want to change my IP to just drawing adorable animals.

So yeah! Have a great day!

Super sucessful