Art Card Tradin'

The fall semester has started! I'm taking biochem 1, cell physiology, genetics and a weird history class. I love the science ones so far... we shall see how the other one goes!
Since I'll be busy and won't have much time for art, lemme just throw at you something I did a couple weeks ago!
I had my first ever art trade with someone on deviantart. (blogadog, you don't count! haha)
heres my part of the trade (we traded ATCs):

and here is hers, proudly pinned up on my art board:

Why yes, that is my dear Umut! Being all magical like always.

A trip to the natue sanctuary...

So we have a nature sanctuary and my pre-vet club organized a volunteer day. 3 of us showed up, but hey we're a small group so we'll take what we can get! We cleaned goat poop, llama poop and duck poop and organized bird cages. It was AWESOME being around all of these animals, the people were friendly and I will definitely be going back.
My favorite was the goats, they are like dogs! They're adorable and friendly! I want one. :)

I was amazed at the diversity of animals here, there were all kinds of parrots and cockatiels, parakeets, even a magpie! Some birds I've never even seen before. They had goats, llamas, emus, ostriches, a donkey, mini horses.

The Lone Guanaco

Painting number 10 in my calendar series! Only 2 more left!
I thought I would represent South America with this one, seeing as I've done North America/Europe way too much! (But hey, gotta love those familiar animals.) This was fun, especially the water. The grassy/rocky hills gave me some trouble though. I am pleased with the composition overall. Not sure what I'm gonna do for the next 2 paintings! I've got a mouse in a meadow sketched out...

The Winter Sun

I made myself a little triptych! I'm not sure how much I like it though, to be honest. The first painting (left) I like a lot, but I regret chopping the bull in half. -_-' Oh well I can always re-do it, or just keep the first painting.
Close-up of painting 1:

On a side note, school starts next week. I'm not really looking forward at the moment.

A look back...

Today I randomly found a bunch of old photos, going as far back as 8 years! It was interesting to see myself, my friends and my pets from that long ago... here are some treasures:

Little me, showing my friend's pony.

Apparently I found a baby bird and was trying to save it.

Old parakeets...

My old bunny, Mr. Wiggles. He was the cutest gosh darned thing ever.

I miss having snow and fields right out my back door!

Baby Titus!

I had forgotten his habit of rubbing his chin on everything.

The reason why Titus was tolerant of small animals as a pup..

Me and my baby bun

Could it be? It is! Blogadog!

Its always strange for me to think of the past, makes me feel small. But this was a good distraction from what I'm pretty sure has been THE WORST WEEK OF MY LIFE. Initially, having my wisdom teeth pulled wasn't bad, but it got worse... much worse. The medicine made me nauseous, the pain was relentless, it hurt to eat, I couldn't sleep, I wanted to vomit but I couldn't... ugh. I haven't left my house since I got back from the surgery. I couldn't even go to work today, but I'm feeling better and I'm getting more sleep so I think I can go in tomorrow. It won't be fun, but it needs to be done.

Plane of Heaven

 

My face huuurts. And I feel sick from the pain meds. Yet somehow I managed to knock this painting out! I did use a little GIMP to do some corrections and add some highlights. The reflections were hard to do as the shapes were quite vague, but I atleast got the impression across I think. So, why an otter? Well, I hadn't done any aquatic animals yet, or my night scene! Only 3 more paintings to go! This has been an awesome project. Maybe I'll do another one next year. Maybe. Gonna go with a different theme next time though! 

Excuse me now while I try and settle my stomach... ugh... 

Bye bye wisdom teeth, hello pain meds!

I got my wisdom teeth removed today. The office I went to was nice, the staff was kind and my doctor was very nice and was optimistic about the procedure. It was a really quick surgery, one minute I was chilling with the IV, next thing I know I was awake! Strangest thing though, I did wake up sobbing and I don't know why. It was really weird. I wasn't sad or anything I just had tears streaming down my face and I was crying. I'm not sure if the staff was just being nice but they said it was a reaction to the anesthetic. I still felt silly though. But Doom came in and I laughed and he took me home. My face is still numb but I'm not in too much pain thanks to the pain meds, which thankfully have not had any crappy side-effects like nausea, which I was worried about. When Doom had his wisdom teeth taken out awhile back he got sick. *knock on wood* I hope I keep feeling alright!
Other than not being able to eat (I'm craving a burger, dangit!) I'm STILL grateful that I can sleep as much as I want and watch movies and shows with Doom and play with my doggies and relax.
Expect some art over the next couple weeks, cause its my short little break til fall!

Prelude to fall(semester, that is)

I am officially done with physics! I don't think I'm gonna get anything higher than a B but I am so unbelievable relieved to be done with summer school. It really drains you. I have 2 short weeks before fall semester, but I plan on taking full advantage of this tiny break.
This morning I painted an autumny-inspired bear for my calendar project! What perfect timing, eh? Here is a WIP shot (I only took one, d'oh!):

And the final product:

So let me just tally up my calendar project thusfar:

1. Barn Owl & forest (complete!)
2. Crow & forest (complete!)
3. Foxes & wintery forest (complete!)
4. Bison & Badlands (complete!)
5. Rhino & Thunderstorm (complete!)
6. Snow leopard & mountains (Complete!)
7. Hare & Desert(complete!)
8.  Black Bear in Autumn (complete!)
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?
12. ?

I know I hadn't really intended on drawing a bear but it just kinda happened so I went with it! I'm still not sure about the other 4 paintings... I've realized it really boils down to good references! We shall see. 

Pendant for Doom

Sculpey clay, painted with silver metallic pen(I don't have silver paint!), acrylic paint and a layer of glaze over the top to make it shiny! I think I did a better job with this one than the first pendant I made for him, a hammer. Practice of course, helps. Who knows, maybe I'll sculpt more in the future! I do enjoy it. I think I'm overly ambitious with my art projects though lately, there are about a million things I want to do!
WIP pic, unbaked and unpainted:

Fei & Doom: A Love Story

Fei is my youngest dog and I love him to death, however, I've had to come to the realization that Feivel doesn't love me nearly as much as he loves Doom. Feivel's acceptance and friendship with Doom is actually partly what made me realize Doom was such a great guy because Fei tends to be skittish of strangers and men. Nowadays, when Doom is around I am an after thought to Fei. Oh, he still listens to me, but you should see the adoration in his big puppy eyes when he sees Doom! Rather than being heart-broken over this apparent 'betrayal', I am happy for the two of them. They are absolutely adorable together, and I love the both of them to bits and pieces. And to prove that they are in love, I must tell you a little story:
He is a poodle, a water dog, however, he doesn't' really love the water like poodles are really supposed to. He can swim, but he's not an excellent swimmer and he rarely goes in for anyone. The other day, I went swimming with Doom and Fei proved his love:

Doom is the only person to get him to do this! I think its great.
Here are some more pictures of their love affair over the past couple years:

Ti, on the other hand, is still my grouchy overly-attached old man. Hehe.

So why don't we go somewhere only we know?

"I came across a fallen tree, I felt the branches of it looking at me. Is this the place we used to love? Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?" - Keane, Somewhere Only We Know

Some art, another break from my calendar project. It was good to paint some familiar faces. Its watercolors on 9x12 bristol board, which is quite different than painting on watercolor paper. I quite like it. It seems to have an illustrative quality to it. I used some general references for the animals (european badger and hare) but other than that I kinda just made up the background on my own. Which is probably bad because now it looks like they're in some dark creepy forest. But these two have a lifetime of adventures to discuss, so that's what I've depicted them doing: just sitting down in a favorite spot, reminiscing on the past. It reminds me of course of the song by Keane, a song that I've loved for quite awhile.
So here's your dose of art from me!

Baby steps into the veterinary world...

Today at work was the first day I really helped out in the treatment area! They often ask for help from my coworkers who have been there longer (and therefore are more helpful than me), but today I actually helped out a few times! I still feel bad when I don't do something correctly (like hold the dog a certain way) but at least a few people are patient enough that my clumsiness isn't as horrible. I helped a tech put a dog under for a teeth cleaning, and I helped hold a dog for an ultrasound, and I got to watch a tooth get extracted! Pretty neat stuff. So, this is post is just to say: baby steps, baby steps, baby steps! (as my physics lab TA likes to say!)

Just a few things to inspire...

So, I'm a dreamer, I'll admit it. Doom gets on me all the time about my pleas and starry-eyed fantasizing about going on adventures and taking vacations and talking about the future. He's more of an 'in the moment' kind of person. I don't know why, its not like I hate where I am now, but I can't help but look to the future! So after I'm done with my calendar project, I'd like to continue painting as much as possible, so here is a list to inspire and motivate me with my future projects (feel free to suggest or borrow from this list! I'd love to see your versions of these ideas, you artsy peoples out there!):

• I'd love to illustrate a scene from a book. Like with characters, setting, everything, with as much detail and accuracy as possible. Maybe something from A Song of Fire and Ice.
• Dinosaurs- I was obsessed with them as a child, but since there aren't exactly any live references to use I've never attempted to draw/paint one. How cool would that be to recreate a scene from when the earth was inhabited by entirely different creatures?
• My dogs. This will be difficult, and I don't know if I could succeed but I'd love a nice painting of them to hang up. Poodle fur is hard though! 
• Light beams and dust motes and back-lighting and other various lighting situations! I tend to just throw shadows where ever I damn please. time to actually use my brain!
• I have a canvas of monstrous size that I'd love to do an acrylic painting on to hang up in mine and Doom's future apt/house. Ambitious, I know. But we'll see if I can come up with something worth painting/keeping/showing. 
• This one is definitely a challenge to myself: sci-fi. these types of paintings are not only imaginative, but they are pretty technical and exact, something I don't really practice! Not sure if I can actually come up with a cool enough concept, but sci-fi rocks so I'm putting it on the list!  
• Water. Like waterfalls, pools, streams, reflections, anything. Its oh-so-beautiful and challenging at the same time. 
• Landscapes, landscapes, landscapes.