2015 | Day 124

Day One Hundred Twenty-Four

I have been working on a bunch of things today...a little more on some, less on others...but busy all day and evening...yay.

In no particular order (because I kept coming back to things) I worked on:  the really long horns guy, Biteyou (the original), the 2snake, and -- even though I told myself I was taking a day off from sewing -- the linen snake circles (no photo).

I added some light color to the 2snake so that I would be able to keep track of his back vs his belly when I start to work on him.

I decided that I wasn't happy with the finish of the really long horns guy after all...he needs more work, more spiffing up.

I always get more paint on me than on whatever I'm working on.

He had some areas that needed paper repair as well...and he is getting an overall look to (hopefully) pull him together.

Taking a giant step towards finishing up on the original Biteyou...this is really hard for me.

I need to keep a bunch of stuff going on at once right now.  I have a lot of ideas swimming around and I am jotting them down into my sketchbook but I also need to physically work on several things at once...I just need to.

2015 | Day 21

Day Twenty-One

Whew, boy -- I get so tense when I am "painting" -- I had to stop for tonight...my arms are shaking.  I stiffen up so much and focus so hard and hold my breath...I do it to myself, I know.  But there it is...turn the music up loud and that is how I get the painting done.

My starting point tonight.

Heh -- this time I mixed enough of the color to have some left for when I go back in and touch it up.

I have not yet drawn a crow that I am happy with -- tonight I think I like this guy.

I left myself some room to adjust his silhouette a bit...I am fairly happy with him so far.

At this point I had to turn the canvas upside down so I could lay the brush down and pull it towards me.

Not bad -- not too bad.   I need to touch him up a bit and I need to decide if I want to make his legs black (I am pretty sure I do) but I cannot take on such thin straight-ish lines tonight.  I really really love how the black inside of the teensy bearish creatures and the crow-like guy is blacker than the background.

Pretty go so far.  I need to adjust the glow a bit, too.

Eeek -- now I'm glowing, too!

Biteyou under a glowing orb.  A parade of teensy ghosty, glowing bearish creatures.  A ghosty, glowy crow-like guy.  Hmmm...

Day 264 - 365/2014

Day Two Hundred Sixty-Four

I have been drawing versions of the newly named biteyou creatures for a long time.  I based the mouth/teeth/smile on the way my dad always smiled for photos...it cracked me up.  I have been playing around with the biteyous more lately.  I have a few large repurposed canvas collages (the ones I purchased from estate sales as framed oil paintings) and an easy/easier way for me to fill up the space (because the non-painter me is inexplicably needing to paint on them) is to do a large version of a biteyou guy.

There was a game online by Tiny Speck called "Glitch".  You could create a game avatar from a whole bunch of different elements and space them/place them a million different ways.  My character was called Cloudyhead.  My favorite version of Cloudyhead is this one, I think you can probably see why. (I think the resemblance is kind of uncanny.)

The artwork of Glitch was amazing.  I spent waaaaaay too much time in the game and was often lost for days.  They did an Indiegogo fundraising campaign to publish a book of the artwork.  You can learn a lot more about the artwork and stuff at that link.

So...anyway...

Today I have been playing around with eyes and mouth/teeth for the dark blue furry biteyou. Here are some of the results.

And then I was thinking of an idea I had a few weeks ago...maybe try a girly-er biteyou with Cloudyhead-style eyes.  So I started over:

And I am thinking if I go with this idea, I will probably be stitching around the elements of the eyes and stuff because of the stitching on the moon/planet. But I am not sure yet...I am not happy with the mouth/teeth yet.

I want to get some color into this piece on the biteyou, no matter what way it ends up.  I'm not sure I will go with the eyes based on Cloudyhead but if I do, I will be sure to credit it in the end work as mentioned here.

Day 251 - 365/2014

Day Two Hundred Fifty-One

I was looking at the frame that came with the estate sale painting that I am making into the fluffy black monster -- I think it looks really cute -- like it is looking out a window or something. 

Looking out of its frame.

Then I was thinking...wouldn't it be silly/cool to have him (or her) extending over the frame...maybe something like this:

I printed out a copy of the photo from above and added black marker to see what it might look like.

I have a few ideas for this guy but I am not sure what way I want to go yet...I need to think about it a bit.  But I did realize something else...I think I want to call this sort of nondescript monster/guy (and others like him) a biteyou.  It will be the name of the sort of creature it is, like "dog" or "horse" -- there are many different breeds within the groupings, but they are all the generic name as well.

You may remember that I originally got the name "Biteyou" from retired Detroit Derby Girl Sass Knuckles whose son re-named their cat "Biteyou"...as in "don't pull the kitty's tail or he will bite you."  (I don't remember the exact quote, but you get the idea.)

My first guy named Biteyou is this guy...even back then I knew I would reuse the name.

And yes, I still need to finish this guy.

But this guy will also now be known as a biteyou character:

And yes...this guy is far from done, as well.

Day 243 - 365/2014

Day Two Hundred Forty-Three

Creatura Lupus Ursus came home from the Members Biennial Exhibition at Paint Creek Center for the Arts and I have been meaning to put it up on the wall somewhere -- I just did not want to leave it packaged up on the floor in the studio.  I needed a long wall space so I moved some things around.

This is good for now.

And yes, it did take me most of the evening and into right now (9:30ish) to think about and layer papers to this collage.  I have been wanting/needing to do something to further Biteyou's progress.  I had about ten papers I was working with and then I narrowed it down to four, then three, then the two I ended up with.  The end result is nothing like what I originally had in mind, but I have a few other ideas now.  If I really hate it when it is dry I can always cover over it...but I like it right now.

Thinking...thinking...thinking.

Trying out a paper...taped on.

Getting ready to start.

I narrowed it down to these three...the heavier ones with the ridges/lines was just too light or distracting or something.

Very wet dark green/gray/brown with inclusions over a medium purple of the same kind of paper.  I am not at all a purple fan but I like how this looks.

It looks better in person.

Drying for a bit before I move it back into the studio.

Day 82 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-Two

Or maybe Biteyou's background/horizon will be a regular lawn or hill or something with a Little Prince-inspired planet behind him in the sky.  Clearly, not like this...but I wanted to see how it might look.

I've been mostly fooling around today, avoiding doing the million things I really ought to be working on...a few did get some attention.  (I hurt a lot today.)

Day 80 - 365/2014

Day Eighty

So I've been thinking about Biteyou today and what sort of things I might do with his collage/canvas.

I know I started out wanting to paint a big picture but Biteyou (in his painted state) is a very large part of that canvas.  I am a lot more comfortable with collage and constructing/assembling things with paper and sometimes maybe stretching it to sewing...so how about if I combine a little of this and a little of that...hmmm.

I've had the idea in my head that Biteyou is outside at night and the inclusions in that black paper have been seeming to me like stars or night sky things.  And when I think of that scenario, I kind of think of putting a sort of planet-type background behind him...and the images that come to mind first are the wonderful illustrations from Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince".  Perhaps I can work out something that is heavily influenced/inspired by those.

I'm still just in the very beginning stages of fooling around with ideas...nothing is glued down yet (or even totally figured out yet).  I don't know yet how detailed I want things to be, etc.

Okay -- I brought Biteyou out and grabbed a handful of various paper scraps in green tones.

The only reason I tried to sketch anything out was purely for an example for the blog...I know what I'm seeing, but it is hard to explain.

Closer view of buildings on a planet background.

My major influence/inspiration for this idea.

The first few trial shapes.

Another building in a different size...man...this could really take off and get pretty detailed with all sorts of assemblies in paper and/or fabric...or both...

My head is spinning with ideas!

Day 76 - 365/2014

Day Seventy-Six

Tonight I applied the black paper with inclusions to the Biteyou collage.  I took a little extra time to make the Biteyou-shaped tears a little bigger so that I will be sure to have room for painting his edges or outline...whatever it turns out I do with him.  This process always takes longer than I expect.

Ready to get started.

I tore the Biteyou outlines a little bigger and slopped on the matte medium.

I apply the matte medium underneath and on top...just to make sure it is good and wet and stays put.

It is drying nice and clear.

I need to let him sit for a while before I move him back into the studio to keep drying.

I still don't know how I will finish him...certainly he is not fully painted yet.  I don't know if I will use more paper(s) to create a background or paint on top of the paper or maybe a bit of both to keep the collage going.  I do think he is outside in the dark...unlike me, Biteyou is not afraid of the dark outside.