Every day, she said....

Here's the thing I was going to post last night.
But didn't.

It's one of those nauseating look-how-clever-my-kid-is posts.

We watched Tom Burton's Alice in Wonderland a couple of week ago, and immediately after, the Sprog got into my watercolour pencils and produced this.
She said she likes the Red Queen, because they both have "abnormally large heads".

She also painted the Hatter, but I don't have a scan of that yet.

Artist Interview - Rhiannon Stone

Rhiannon Stone is a mixed-media artist, photography enthusiast, blogger and all-round Awesome Person. 

Her blog is Pierced Beauty where she writes about her journey to becoming an artist and the assorted things that make life beautiful. 

I asked her some hard hitting questions!

If you woke up tomorrow as an animal, what would you be? 
A leopard. They are just such amazing and elegant animals plus I love all kinds of cats. Big cats, wild cats, domestic cats. That and I love everything leopard print (which I'm sure Alana can confirm!)

Describe your Art: 
This is a hard one. I don't feel like I have found my 'style' yet so its hard to describe but I think I would say my art as honest and full of emotion.

I create art that has feeling, and is relatable. I love using words (which is why art journaling is a perfect fit for me) and creating something beautiful. I love using colour, despite tending to wear black most of the time.

What are your favourite materials to Art* with? 
I have two big passions; art journaling & painting as well as photography.

For art journaling and painting my favourite materials would be gesso, watercolours, acrylics, bubble wrap, sponges, indian ink, sakura gelly rollers and all sorts of collected images. Most are from free promotional magazines you can pick up at coffee shops, or sewing patterns from Opp shops (about $0.50 each!). I love collecting clothes tags, receipts, lace, pretty packaging and old books.

 For my photography, I'm currently saving for a new camera (Canon 600D + 18-135mm lens) but in the meantime my partner is nice enough to let me use his camera (Canon 550D + 18-135mm lens). I love being able to play around with the photos in Photoshop afterwards to create new effects or looks.
There are a lot of wonderful bloggers/artists out there that share Photoshop actions they have created which is quite fun to try (check out Alex Beadon & Carrie from WishWishWish as a starting point)

Where do you get inspiration from? 
I am a sucker for websites like Pinterest and I spend hours looking through my favourite set of blogs. I do make a point to focus on what is around me everyday (instead of what is on a screen in front of me) as well though. A small flower growing through a cracked footpath, a particularly colourful sunset, even just spending the day with friends. Look for every day things in your life that you love. It doesn't have to be something huge, it can be as small as the pattern on your coffee.

Do you sell your art/do commissions? (and if yes, where and what's the process?) 
At this stage I don't do commissions (although it is something I would like to do eventually). I am however working on resurrecting my Etsy shop and hope to be open within the next 2 months. If you would like to be kept up to date with all the happenings head to my Facebook page or blog for the latest updates.

Where do you hang-out online? 
I am all over the interwebs! Primarily over on my blog (www.rhiannonstone.blogspot.com) but you can find me at all these other places:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/piercedbeautydesigns
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/rhiannon_e_stone
Pinterest: pinterest.com/piercedbeauty
Tumblr: pierced-beauty.tumblr.com
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/piercedbeauty

Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring artsy people? 
Keep learning and keep trying new things. I still consider myself to be relatively new to the art scene so I am continuously looking for new techniques and ideas. If I ever get stuck for motivation I find a tutorial for a new technique and give it a go. The absolute biggest thing to remember though is that absolutely no one starts out amazing. I have done a lot of art journal pages that I don't like but from that I learn things that I do like.


 *Yes - I'm using "art" as a verb.

The evolution of dragons...

I do like drawing dragons :D

I've been drawing them since I was a kid.

Oh - this is embarrassing. From 1994-ish.

Spiky Dragon, circa 1995.

'96 or so.

These are the earliest drawings of mine that I still have.

2001? or '02. 'Round then anyway.

Now, a bunch from last year:

One of my fabric designs at Spoonflower.com

An exemplar for a digital painting class I taught last year.

Currently, my dragons have been rather crocodilish looking.

Elves too. I like elves.

Much ADO about stuff.

Recently ADO - Art Dolls Only advertised for new members. (Go on - poke around their blog - it's awesome!)
Their membership is closed to new members for most of the year, and I managed to finagle a place during the latest (very short) open period.
I'm extremely excited to be part of this group of amazing artists. And I expect it to be very good for me.

You see - despite doing arty things for my hobbies and sanity projects, (and my Day-Job), for pretty much my entire life - I don't always feel like I have a right to call myself an artist. Sometimes I feel like a big fraud.

Now, I know that this is my Depression/Anxiety talking. I know that.

I'm a skilled draughtsperson, and I have a good eye for colour, composition and whatnot. I sculpt well, and I can sew, and knit, and I can paint and I've taught life-drawing classes and ALL KINDS OF STUFF. I'm good enough at some of these things that I am paid to show other people how to do them.

But still, there's a voice in my head that whispers "Fraud". Sometimes it yells.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. The Day-Job involves teaching aspiring artists, and the single biggest problem that the students I work with have to overcome isn't how to draw well. Drawing is easy.
It's believing that the work you are producing is worth showing people. That your worth as a person isn't tied up with how people receive the things you make. It's why students who have done almost all the required work miss deadlines. Or don't show their Tutor. Or don't submit stuff for group critiques.

It's why I have a drawer full of incomplete dolls, and why it takes me ages to work up the courage to list finished ones for sale. (My Etsy store sat empty for almost two years after I opened it.) It's why I go weeks without updating this blog (and avoiding it because I feel guilty about not updating only makes things worse).
Why, if I get a nice comment about my dolls I crash emotionally - I often end up in tears later in the day.

I know not to do this - that is restrictive and not good for me. I advise students about how to deal with and stop this behaviour all the time.
But still...

Now, the above isn't a whiny "lavish attention on and love meeeee", I'm just getting so sick of letting my stupid malfunctioning brain chemicals get the upper-hand on my behaviour. Joining ADO is something that I think will help force me to face these issues far more definitively.
It's all been a bit heavy - sorry.

So, um yeah.
~OH NO! what's that over there?!?~
^ That's what we in the business call a smoooooth deflection.

Here's a colourful dragon sketch I did on Monday:

I used every colour of watercolour-pencil I have!

And some paperdolls that I made in February. (See what I mean? My gods, FEBRUARY. Why have I not shown them?)

Steampunky!              Sassy!                Stroppy!

Gosh, I do go on.

I'll have to try to be a bit more concise and up-lifting tomorrow. :D

Dragon photos

Well, he's not terribly photogenic, but he is adorable...

                                                 

And he needs a name - Leave suggestions in the comments!

And here's a grainy photo of the progress on the Bishie:

(Ignore those feet - they're really rough) The legs and hands are still 'raw' clay. I'm thinking that maybe his thighs are too muscular - but will wait until I've done his arms before deciding on them.
He'll be roughly 28cm tall - ever so slightly shorter than Barbie.

Dolls again...

Two dolls finished in as many weeks! (I think there may be something wrong with me!)

These ones are OOAKs and have been *way fun*.

The Sprog took some photos as I sculpted this one.

And an Edwardian Vampire - just because.

I may make her a wee cameo brooch yet.

Now I'm off to assemble a body for the male head and hands I sculpted two nights ago! 

(If I can get him finished this weekend - I'll be three-for-three...)

Artist's Mannequin

I seem to be 'collecting' these things:

I don't know why.
They're something that tends to be bought by new art students and people who want others to know that they're "Arty".

Maybe that's why I have so many of the damn things - They get abandoned with me when their well meaning and eager young owners realize just how useless they are as a drawing aid (unless the thing you want to draw is a wooden artist's mannequin, of course).

They do, however, make a great substrate for painting on....

I also had a go at "fixing" the pelvis on this one - with the end result that its arms are now way too long for it's body. Oh well.

I went a bit mad with the hotglue gun too...

Carousel Monsters

Some sketches for an upcoming Spoonflower contest...

A Chimera - the goat head is in the wrong place
...must fix that.

A Manticore and Dragon

And a Griffin and Hippokampoi...

Foam Wings