Happy Holidays! *deep breath*

This picture is important. It's there to remind me that even though my room/work space gets messy during the holidays, it HAS been messier, and I have lived. I lived. I am a bit worried though, I'm moving Lili into my room because she can't co-inhabit with the Christmas tree (this is an artistic decision on my part), and I have to do some major clean-up STAT. I'm also pretty sick with a cold that will not go away. It's driving me nuts. But hopefully, the next time I post, it will be full of pictures of finished gifts. I got both Christmas Eve and Christmas off, so if I can just make the 20-23, I'll be fine.

Sabina painting

Sabina painting. Not my best, but the canvas is only 1.5 by 1.5. I also didn't make her hair curly enough; I think I wimped out. But I finally got the wings in a sort of okay place, and I don't often illustrate her in her blue "escape from the lab" dress.

Vegas Fountain

This is the most trippy picture I have ever taken. EVER. And I have taken some trippy pictures. Kind of an amateur crop, but I love the detail of the fountain. If I ever print it, I'm going to have a LOT of fun burning the edges for definition (no, it won't actually be fun.) Soon, I'll have some Bryce Canyon/Xion images up!

Cyanotype Experimentation...

It's been so long... I don't even want to go into it! Four letter word, called LIFE got in the way. Lili got sick, I got sick, Chloe got sick... it was ridiculous. Well, I decided it was time to return to something more organic than digital photography- though if you want to get real, this is technically digital photography, since the negs are made from digital images (well... sometimes).

This first attempt... let's just say I decided this paper was not to be used anymore. It really didn't hold the chemical well. This other paper did MUCH better in terms of holding the cyanotype chemical. In addition, these two prints are (obviously) not negatives. It's too bad I was so messy with the spread with the bottles; it's actually kind of a neat print. I accidentally inverted it in photoshop and it looked REALLY cool and creepy, kind of Silent Hill style.

Now we get to the negatives. This first one was exposed too long, and thus is too dark.

So for this one, I tried to pull it early. This is the pull of laziness; I never write down the times for any of these, or the time of day. For this particular print, I know it was about two and half minutes in broad daylight, but it obviously wasn't enough.

This one I lucked out, and got some nice tones, even though it's still far from perfect. This is also the only print from film negatives.

Finally, I made a print on canvas. Turned out surprisingly well. I intend on making a painting out of this thing.

Tiny Terrariums!

I know, I know. I swore I wouldn't have long, unexplained hiatus'. Unfortunately, Lili fell very ill with GI stasis, and getting her better took the majority of my time. On the bright side, she IS in fact, all better. I have lots and lots of projects going, but terrarium-making has been something I've gotten really into recently. It started with a book:http://www.timberpress.com/books/terrarium_craft/aiello/9781604692341; which most of my ideas came from. My first projects didn't go so well:

...Not so pretty, right? I'm going to clean them out and try again. I have a feeling that I know what I did wrong. Here is my first successful terrarium:

A glass of succubus? They really are much more forgiving. In the book, it recommended that you use sand, but I rather like the look of the dirt. My second project was more fanciful; definitely the "fantasy" project. Also the most fun to photograph by far.

Finally, this was the most traditional by far, but I also like how you can see the layers of the "earth". Not pleased with the images AT ALL.

Make-shift Macro

I've been a bit short on money recently. Well, who isn't? But Lili had to go to the bunny dentist (yes, there is a bunny dentist) because her lower teeth apparently are growing at the wrong angle, and had to be filed. This is very expensive, at least according to my vet, since I am now several hundred dollars poorer. But Lili is also healthy, and that's what matters. <3 already="" and="" any="" art="" back="" been="" both="" but="" class="separator" div="" don="" done="" either="" event="" familiar="" flounder="" for="" fun.="" get="" helps="" i="" in="" iris="" me="" my="" of="" particular="" portfolio.="" re-do="" refocus.="" roots="" shooting="" sometimes="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;" subjects="" t="" terms="" this="" to="" trying="" ve="" want="" was="" what=""> These are kind of magical. The super secret faux macro lens I used (a magnifying glass) was a fun toy, difficult to control.

This image in particular I am both attracted to, and disgruntled by this image. However, I was intrigued enough to post it, despite the fact that I HATE out of focus images. I cannot help but think of sea flowers deep under the ocean, or something like that.

These pink flowers I do not know what they are called. I am much more partial to the second image than the first, which was more of an experiment.

All in all, I at least felt like I had broken out of my boring pattern a bit.

Prize Makin' Lady

Recently at work, we had a function that involved a competition, and I volunteered to make the prizes! I'm a trainer at Big Thunder Mountain, and each of the prizes were intended to evoke a part of our attraction. Third Prize:

Fast Pass! If you've never been to a Disney theme park, they are these little paper passes they you can get every two hours for the busier attraction. Instead of physically waiting in line, they give you a return time, and thus you have a virtual wait, and you can go do something else; another ride, shop, eat, etc. Most people don't get them, and they make the line longer, but that is the opinion of an old, bitter, cast member. In any event, I thought it would be funny to give third place these. Second Prize:

Billy the Goat! Second prize is probably the most vanilla out of the prizes, but he is basically the most iconic creature of the attraction. Had I been less busy I would have put this on a little old fashioned real ribbon, and make it really western themed. First Prize!

This was my labor of love, and also a little bit of a prototype. I don't think it's any secret that Roller Coasters are, in fact, large machines; machines need to be stopped quickly sometimes. Thus, the need of an emergency stop. The reason this prize is a prototype is I plan to someday make a 1:12 scale miniature of one of the consoles at thunder; they are just too neat, and they left them out of the miniature scene at the Disneyland hotel!

Spring Cleaning

During the process of Spring Cleaning (which is going really slowly, because I keep stopping to write and draw and such... oops.) I found two of my old cyanotypes and an old vandyke print of mine! I have a couple really tiny ones too somewhere, and when I find those, I'll post them as well. I've always loved the tea set print... easily one of my very favorite from college. :)

I think I may take up cyanotypes again... they are so direct, and so easy, and so organic, I just love them! I mean, can you over expose a cyanotype? Yes... but it's somewhat hard to do. Plus, with the ease of computers, you can make negatives as big as you want.

Lagomorph Love

Lili is much harder to photograph than Chloe, although she does do this kind of "oh, your camera is out? You want to take my picture? Heeeeeeere I aaaaaaam!"



Here is Lili without her "arht treatment".


Adorable. Best Lagomorph ever.

Iris, Iris, Petal

EDIT Apparently these are IRIS, not ORCHID flowers, as originally posted. I am a photographer/whatever, not a botanist. I stand corrected.

I see things in Black and White.

This is a problem. I fear it makes me old fashioned.

Custom MLP: Moonlight, Step by Step

This is not a tutorial. I suppose you could learn from this, and if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them. However, there are so many excellent tutorials on the internet, and I am not going to delude you into thinking I am an expert.

But I digress.

Moonlight!!! Or is it... a very baity Surprise? This poor Surprise had many, many cancer spots, a faded symbol, and before I took out all her hair, crunchy short hair. She was downright ugly.


So, Moonlight needed her coat repainted.



...um, is it wrong that is cracks me up that the paint streaks look like weird alien blood streaks? Haha.

Anyway, Moonlight isn't done getting her Alien on, as she's about to look like an Andalite:


Next is one of the few things that I really didn't like all that much on her. I wish I had made her iris's rounder, rather than the oval shape I went with. It ended up okay with the black paint to outline it and give it definition, but when I first saw it as just the purple, I wanted to scream.




(See, the black REALLY helps)

Moonlight was designed to break me out of my comfort zone (although I wimped out on the hair, but more on that later). She is an otherworldly pony; she can travel the universe. Thus, she should shine like the stars.

Glossy!!! Also, at first I was going to leave her symbol as a simple white moon, but I thought it was just a little too undecorated.

Hair time. Wanna see a headless pony? Get ready:

Gross, man. You have to rehair them by pulling a string through their bum, along with the lock for the tail.

But, let's ditch the Military look. Let's get serious, and SEW her hair right in:




The method I use is a combination knot/sewing method. I bought a rehairing tool from dollyhair.com, which is an excellent site. It sped up the process greatly.

Finally, she's all rehaired, but not styled:


FINALLY FINALLY, I styled her hair. This is where I wimped out. I had originally intended to have a braid running through her mane, and a loose "pony tail" for her tail. I couldn't find the right color for the ribbons, and I also couldn't get the braid to lay over the rest of her hair right, so I ended up just curling it around her legs for that "traditional" G1 My Little Pony curl.


I added some clouds and a star in addition to the moon for her symbol. It felt right without being too complicated. I'm also glad I took her outside so the light could catch her hair properly; the hair color is truly gorgeous, and makes up a bit for the boring hair style.



Soon, against my better judgment, I will scan and add the concept sketch to this entry. The lineart is fine, but the coloring... oh boy. However, I intended this to be a "from conception to birth" log about a custom pony.