I designed these covers and an interior for this series to establish a template. We then handed the rest of the series off to a production designer to finish up the series. I like the simplicity of the design and the bright colorful photos.
August Adventures
I know this post is a little late. August proved to be quite productive, especially with my ceramic sculptures. I have been pretty busy this month with the graphic design business also.
I have started assisting in the Clay Studio on Friday so I am able to work a little more on my ceramic projects. The first photos I am showing are the ceramic sculptures I have worked on this month. First is these little Witch Hat Incense Burners. I realized after building them that the incense cones just fit in them. So next time I need to build them a little taller. These also still need to be glazed.
Below is a picture of my little totem from last month. This is after the bisque firing.
Next are a few pictures of it after I painted it. We ended up using an acrylic paint called Patio Paint, that is specific for painting ceramics. I really like the way it turned out, although it took me forever to paint it and decide on how I wanted to paint it.
I just love the way this little Big Mouthed Monster came out!!
I loved the Monster so much, I decided to try and make a Big Mouthed Witch. Here is the start of her with the start of her hair.
I found this Crystal Pepsi at Publix. I haven't had one of these since I was a teenager. After drinking it I don't think it really tastes like Pepsi at all.
The boyfriend and I went out to dinner out near the Ft. Pierce Jetty. After dinner we walked along the jetty and I took this picture as the sun was setting.
I had backed the LightSail Kickstarter awhile ago. I finally received my certificate of the centimeter of sail that I purchased. If you look there is a small square on there which is the a centimeter of an actual piece of the material used for the sail. I am so excited to have been able to give a little to continue the exploration of space.
I completed the ArtSnacks Challenge for August. You can read more about that here. I am going to discontinue this subscription after the September box. I have also purchased the Studio Inktober Edition Box and I will be showing a review of that also, but that will be the last one.
I don't think I wrote about finishing the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child book in last month's adventures. I really enjoyed the story and following further into Harry's life with his children and career.
I discovered a new little cartoon this past month. I don't watch many everyday cartoons, but this one kept coming up in my news feeds on my social media platforms. This cartoon is Steven Universe! As it came up I noticed it was about different Crystal Gems, and that kind of sparked my interest. One of my favorite things to collect are crystal gemstones. I got on our Hulu account and noticed that the older seasons were there. So I watched it and fell in love with it. It is such a cute cartoon and shows the love and the dynamics of different types of relationships. I actually cried a few times while watching it.
I think that is about it for this month. If you would like to see my work in progress pictures or just some creative randomness you can follow me on Instagram and Facebook.
ArtSnacks Review ~ August 2016
This month it was a bit of a weird combination for me. I wasn't sure how to work with the alcohol marker with the water-based acrylic paint. Then it took me a bit to decide what to create with the colors I received. I decided to go with a lotus flower. I then played with how the supplies would react with each other. See below for my review of each product.
Here is a list and my perspective on the supply:
1. The first thing you get is a bookmark with a list of all the supplies. There was a corny little joke on it this month "Why did the artist decide to become an impressionist? ~ For the Monet."
2. A Sticker of the ArtSnacks Logo.
3. A yummy treat. This month I got a chewy Jolly Rancher.
4. Robert Simmons Acrylic Short Handle Paintbrush ($5.99 Retail Value). This was a very nice paintbrush. I loved that the bristles did not separate or flare out.
5. Daler Rowney System 3 Medium Body Acrylic Paint ($6.50 Retail Value). I got the color Process Magenta. This is a very smooth paint. I ended up mixing it with quite a bit of water to get different values of the color. When I mixed it with a little bit of water it blended well. But when I mixed it with a lot of water it took a bit to mix it up.
6. Copic Classic Marker ($7.99 Retail Value). I got a green colored marker for this one. I love Copic Markers. My only gripe with this is these alcohol based markers work best when you are able to blend more than one color, so I was disappointed by only receiving one marker.
7. Small 3D Zip by Baggu ($6.50 Retail Value). This is a great little bag for carrying all your supplies.
First I did the sketch for the lotus flower. I then decided that it would be best to lay down the marker first. Then painted the flower and used the magenta on top of the green to change up the values. I really like the way it came out with the limited supplies I received.
Summer School Brochure Design
I designed this brochure last year before Summer School for Rourke. It was to sell some packaged programs for summer school. As far as design goes, I remember we were short on time and put this together pretty quickly.
July Adventures
This month doesn't feel like I shared a whole lot on my social networks. One good thing is my graphic design business is starting to pick up a bit, so I have been busy with that.
I started a new online class called Ever After with Tamara Laporte. This is similar to the LifeBook classes except we are focusing on Fairy Tales and style development. I have completed the first 2 lessons. The first one is The Little Mermaid and was taught by Tam. She asked us to follow the teachers as close as possible to learn the techniques the teachers are teaching. The top photo is my sketch. I always have a bit of hesitation when it comes to painting on top of the sketch, because I am scared I am going to ruin it.
As you can see it actually turned out pretty good. I am very happy with it. I love Tam's whimsical style.
The second lesson I completed was Beauty and the Beast by Andrea Gomoll. I did end up changing the drawing a bit for this one. I just had a strong urge to change it up so I followed my instinct on it.
I am very happy with the final piece on this one. One of Andrea's techniques that I love and I started doing myself is the sketchy black outline along the main focal pieces. I am trying to loosen up on my final pieces.
I didn't get much further and I have fell behind in the class already. The next lesson for this month is Snow White and then creating our own piece from what we learned. Then I will have to start on August's lessons. This is a four month course. I plan on doing a complete blog post on each month as I finish the month.
So I joined in the Pokemon Go craze. The top picture is while waiting in line at Starbucks, I caught a Zubat.
The next weekend we took the kids to Oak Hammock Park to hunt down Pokemon. This is the park where the Devil Tree is located. There was one Pokestop and a Pokemon Gym located at this park.
Here is a picture of the infamous Devil Tree. You can read more about the Devil Tree here.
That following Wednesday was ArtWalk in Downtown Ft. Pierce. I went with my cousin Tracy and her son to go Pokemon hunting. There is a bunch of Pokestops down here and a Gym.
I also completed July's ArtSnack Challenge. You can read more about that here.
The last weekend in July my Sister came to visit me. We took a class at Peacock Clay Collaborative creating little totems. My sister and I decided to make ours Halloween themed.
We ended up missing the 2nd class the next Saturday. So I will show pictures of the fired totems and the painted totems next month.
We were so excited for the New Harry Potter book to be released. We went to the Midnight Release Party at Barnes & Noble. They had so many fun little activities to do while we were waiting to get our books.
One of the activities was to hunt down the teachers and take their final exams. This picture is of us with Professor McGonagall. For her exam we had to answer what was her animagus. Of Course this one was easy.
