Category Archives: Elaborate Costume

The Princess Violet, Sheep and Songwriter

Princess Violet and Fiona Riona Bologna
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

The Princess Violet was a difficult sheep child, a source of rarely ending exasperation for Fiona, her governess. When feeling particularly cheeky or impatient with her studies, Violet would sing little songs about a wise old fruit seller called Fiona Riona Bologna who sometimes played matchmaker to a succession of curious characters in a small Italian village.

Copic marker art cards for Paint Party Friday. Thanks for dropping in!

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Cats and Dogs and Poofs and Plans, Oh My!

The Princess of Whispers
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, uni PIN pens, Staedtler pens, Uniball Signo

Are we sick of animals in fancy clothes yet? We are not! Or at least, I am not! And I hope you are not! These are all the recent ones:

Fancy Dress Dogs and Cats, the First Eight
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen on Bristol

So, quite a long time ago (it seems!) I started the Art Card Dogs project. Holy cow I just checked and I haven’t added to it for over a  year. Maybe this summer I can finally get it together and make a poster/bath sheet/bedspread/shower curtain/car seats (or who knows!) out of some of these art card collections. Unfortunately, summertime is busy time at my job (construction industry), but as my life keep reminding me, I am not getting younger!

Thanks so much for dropping in! All suggestions regarding merchandising are most welcome!

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Lord Stinkeye Chihuahua, Pen and Ink

Lord Stinkeye
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

A fine person called Sarah (The WonderStrumpet!) posted a pic of her dog Tigi in a discussion about fancy clothes, so it seemed clear she was hoping he would end up in some. And so he  has. (Though his nose is too big in my version, arrrgh.)

Side-by-Side Chihuahuas
Two photos by Sarah, with Lord Stinkeye between
(Also, I cropped the photos.) :)

Not too bad! He doesn’t look like a Stinkeye, but perhaps he was more ornery in a misspent youth. (And to be fair, she didn’t say he WAS a stink eye. Only that he gave her one. And who hasn’t given a stink eye or two?)

Hello to Paint Party Friday! And one more thing. I made a Flickr set of fancy clothes (human and beast) Woo!

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Love Triangle, Fancy Feline Edition

Lady Hisst
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers, uni PIN pens, gel pen

You may remember Lady Mrowr from just a few days ago. This is her sister and rival, Lady Hisst. Both are currently vying for the affections of Sir Thom Kyatten, Duke of Dandelion (below).

Lady Mrowr, Lady Hisst, and Sir Thom Kyatten, Duke of Dandelion
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

I know I was hooked on themed mermaids just a short week ago, but I may be switching to animals in elegant attire for a while. Super fun, you should try it. :)

Submitted to Paint Party Friday! Happy PPF! Thanks for dropping in!

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Fancy Dress Animals, Their Time Has Come (Again)

Lady Mrowr, three stages
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Lady Mrowr is my latest and favorite fancy-dress art card. She is a cat similar to a Peterbald type (with somewhat narrower ears). And now I think I will do a whole bunch of animals in fancy clothes ATCs*. (She was done a couple weeks ago but hadn’t made it to the blog yet!)

I included some earlier dressed animals below.

Four Animals in Fancy Dress (click to enlarge)
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Here we have Harrington with Ascot, The Theurgist Tarabelle, Fox Maiden and Vincent Mundy. You probably know by now that I really like to name things. The two dogs above are probably my favorite dogs. (And they still live at my house!)

Thanks for stopping in!

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*ATCs – Artist Trading Cards, size 2.5″ x 3.5″. Lots of folks sell and trade em!

More Girls With Text, Pen and Ink

29 Faces, so close to the end! <sad face> It’s also Paint Party Friday (though it’s Copics and ink this week).

Two More Skinny Cards with Text
Each 3″ x 7″ ink and acrylics on Bristol vellum

This is the companion pair to my last post, for a skinny pages with text swap. Skinny pages are 3″ x 7″. Neat size! (They are faces number 23 and 24.)

On the left, “Mistakes are proof that you are trying.” (author unknown) On the right, “Rosie likes opera, jellyfish and dominoes. Rhubarb, ragtime, and ocelots. She likes quiet time and comfortable chairs. She does not like Speedos.” (written by me. More high art!)

Thanks for dropping in!

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Two Tall Hairstyles for 29 Faces

Faces 21 and 22 for 29 Faces!

Two Skinny Cards with Text
Each 3″ x 7″ ink and acrylics on Bristol vellum

The first says, “Good manners and kindness are always in fashion”. (I could not find an author for this quote.) The second says, “Sydney did not like for the tea to be late. It annoyed her greatly.” (Written by me. High art.) :)

I like these faces, the lips continue to be better than before! But I do not like the text style and if I want to add text to art I will have to work on it. (The purple background and pale hair in the left one is acrylics. The rest of both is Copic markers, ink and white gel pen. Made for a “Skinny Pages with Text” swap at illustratedatcs.

Note to self: Uniball Signo gel pen + acrylics = no. Sakura Gellyroll white gel pen + acrylics = yes.

I’ve been asked how I produce so much art. I don’t have kids. I think that’s quite a lot of it. And I just get to it every night after work. Most all day on the weekends. As many hours as a second job, certainly. But I want to be better and I don’t want to wait. So I don’t have a choice. :)

“The trouble is, you think you have time.”  ~Buddha

Thanks for stopping in!

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Spirit Masks, Tribal Art Cards in Pen and Ink

Faces number 19 and 20 for the 29 Faces Challenge.

Two Tribes
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Bear Clan Princess and Rhea the Tracker. As members of friendly clans, the Princess and Rhea often work together on missions for the tribal council, particularly those involving both diplomacy and stealth.

These were made for a Spirit Masks swap at illustratedatcs. I’ve watched some more mouth painting videos and these seem much better! Thanks for dropping in!

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The Maiden and the Parasaurolophus, Ink Art

Imogene and the Parasaurolophus
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Another day, another two inked art cards with an unlikely connection! The parasaurolophus and Imogene are faces number 17 and 18, which puts me slightly ahead of the February curve!

This is a detail of a larger tapestry that hangs in Imogene’s front hall. She claims it was inherited down several generations, originally stitched out of the imagination of a talented great aunt from Quebec whose husband was the owner of a parasaurolophus skull.  The story is somewhat tenuous, as the  parasaurolophus was first discovered in the 1920’s, after the woman in question had died.

Incidentally, this creature (who probably looked totally different than this!) lived 75 MILLION years ago (according to Wikipedia. Hold it, confirmed at BBC Earth). Did I mention – SEVENTY-FIVE MILLION YEARS. I can’t even.

Here’s my last week’s retrospective (as inspired by denthe):

Faces 10 -16, 29 Faces Challenge February 2014
The Slumbering Herd

Thanks for stopping in!

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Henry VIII and the Jackalope, Copic Art Cards

Henry VIII and the Jackalope
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

If you came in here thinking that these two faces have nothing to do with each other, you could not be faulted for thinking so! For one thing, the Jackalope is commonly believed to be a North American cryptozoologic creature. And for another, ‘ole Henry spent a lot of his time juggling wives and that whole Reformation business so it’s doubtful he had time for pets.

I was just as surprised as you must be right now, to learn that it was in fact a six and a half foot tall Jackalope named Hewerald that told Henry which wives to behead and how to go about severing England’s connection to the Catholic church.

Perhaps you’re wondering if the Jimmy Stewart vehicle “Harvey”, about a gentle man who travels about with a six foot tall imaginary rabbit, might be based on this story. Why yes, it was! Of course Harvey wore no horns, and was intensely wise in the manner of good pookas. The complete opposite of Henry’s advisor (a bad pooka). Would you be, once again, surprised to learn that in fact they tried it that way the first time, but Jimmy Stewart was incapable of portraying villainy of this kind? Ah, the things you might learn on a little art blog!

I wish Henry’s eyes were more beady. But I like his nose. Thanks for visiting! These are Faces number 15 and 16 for the 29 Faces challenge.

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