Category Archives: Elaborate Costume

Day 20! Tiny Portraits Tell a Tragic Tale

Day 20 of the 30-day challenge.

Six Marriages, One Cat
8″ x 10″ Acrylics with a little ink and gel pen

Henrietta and Rupert were together through all six of her marriages. The second and fifth, Sydney and Lars, died quite unexpectedly. Vicious rumors accuse Rupert of having been the cause of at least one of those accidents (as well as two of four divorces). He was still robust at twenty-four years old, which was the last time anyone saw Henrietta or Rupert alive.

Submitted for the topic “Beginning” at Illustration Friday. Six marriages, two funerals, and four divorces is a lot of beginning over. Even if your loyal cat sees you through it all.

Henrietta is maiden number 145.

Hooray, it’s an 8×10! The background could use additional layers but at one painting a day and work tomorrow, it’s going to have to stop here. Don’t be surprised if many of the next ten days involve tiny portraits, apparently my new favorite thing.

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Winnie McIntyre Was the Only Witness

Challenge Day 18 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

Winnie McIntyre Was the Only Witness
5″ x 7″ Acrylics on 250 GSM* cotton vellum
(cropped in paint.NET with thin border added)

I almost posted this without the red splatter. I suppose this is number two in my Dark Side series. (Hmm, not a bad idea.) Here was the first, which also includes tiny portrait(s) and blood splatter. I blame these impulses on the women of wonderstrange. (The only reason I almost didn’t do it is because I worried it would splatter in a non aesthetically pleasing manner. I wish there were more contrast in spot size, but it’s not too bad.)

It was an interesting experiment. I gessoed this heavy Stonehenge 100% cotton paper then taped the edges with masking tape so it wouldn’t warp. As you can see (below), the bottom piece of tape was very crooked. Dangit! If I were going to do it again, I would fade out the background wallpaper more. I don’t love the color combination of the wallpaper with the picture frame.

I don’t know how I feel about painting on paper. I think it has lots of potential but I’m still struggling with the proper consistency of paint with which to paint tiny fine lines. I could use a pen but I like the idea of paint only.

Thanks for stopping in! Progress pics (under yellowy lights. Ugh.)

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*GSM – grams per square metre (I had to look it up, so I thought I would share.)

Day 17 and Paint Party Friday, Acrylics

Day 17 of the 30 day challenge! Also joining Paint Party Friday because I have been painting! This is canvas number 7. (The other ten days of the challenge thus far were made up of pen and ink or acrylics and ink as I gathered acrylic supplies and started learning to paint.)

Daphne, Portrait in Blue
5″ x 7″ Acrylics on Canvas Board

Fortunately it occurred to me to scan this one. (Much better quality than my terrible pictures, as in the progress pics below.)

I have done several maidens in frames, and an art pal named Sarah Trumpp, doing a painting challenge of her own,  reminded me I might like to paint one. So I did! Lots of progress pics below, as her face went through various incarnations before settling on this one.

Here’s a few of the early tiny framed girls:

Three Maidens in Tiny Frames
Each 3.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Lost Portrait of Emily, Tudor Maiden Portrait, and Anastasia of the North. Because if I’m going to spend that much time on 2.5″ x 3.5″, it’s gonna get a nice name. :)

Thanks for dropping in!

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A Maiden Called Celeste, in Acrylics

Celeste in Her Favorite Hat
5″ x 7″ Acrylics on canvas board

If I wasn’t doing a 30-day challenge (it’s Day 15 already!), these might all get lots more time. But I must keep moving forward! And I still need sleep and to go to my regular job. So, despite the fact the hair and fabric would be improved with more detail, and the background got no attention, I must call it done. No ink this time, just paint.

I referenced this image to get the sketch started but I prefer not to copy a photo very closely. She looks strangely familiar to me so I might have some particular image in mind. Or maybe just the style. Any ideas? (1970’s McCall’s pattern  illustrations?)

Thanks for visiting!

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A Maiden in Acrylics. Fancy Hat Included.

It’s day 13 of Thirty Paintings in 30 Days!

Exotic Maiden in Fancy Hat
5″ x 7″ Acrylics with brown Uni-ball Vision Elite ink pen

I feel like I could continue to work on this for another few hours. Some spots are still messy, and some colors could be improved (though they are far less dreadful than at the beginning – see below). Facial features could use some work. But, I am writing this at  thirty past midnight on a work night, and we’ve got 17 more days of paintings to go, people!

So this one is done (for now). A detailed pencil sketch made a lot of difference. So did outlining with a smooth, dark pen. No way I could have completed all those lines with a tiny brush and 1. make it work tomorrow, and 2. kept my sanity.

I didn’t use a reference photo because I’ve been drawing so many women in crazy hats lately. This one is Maiden Number 141. Photo references can make a big difference so next time I’ll try to use one. Thanks so much for stopping in!

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Day 12 and a Fancy Maiden

Day 12 of Thirty Paintings in 30 days! I am submitting a little ink work I finished today, with the hopeful promise of more acrylic paintings in the next few days.

Justine Lilly, Debutante
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

This (startled?) maiden is one in a series of art cards I have made to advertise (and trade in) an art card swap I am hosting at illustratedatcs.com, loosely based around fancy costume from various European eras (Victorian, Renaissance, Tudor). Normally the swap limit is six trades, but I usually make more as the months go by toward the deadline.

Eight in Fancy Dress
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, ink, gel pen

As you can see, I’m a bit obsessed with fancy hats. (Though based loosely on hats from the various eras, the hats are mostly from my crazy brain.) (Click to enlarge, if you like.)

If you are visiting from the painting challenge and are disappointed this is not a painting, you can see the orange hound in acrylics from yesterday, including LOADS of progress pics which demonstrate why my beginner skills are not quite able to handle an acrylic painting per day (but maybe January 2015)! Thanks for stopping in!

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A New Challenge for the New Year

Happy 2014 to all! I plan to re-learn acrylics this year. I’ve been talking about it for ages, for one thing. For another, I was gifted Starving to Successful, a book about getting into galleries. And I’d love to do large scale work, but probably not in ink.

So! By happy coincidence I followed a link from Art Trader Magazine, and joined this 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge just yesterday, the day before the new year.

Brea the Bird Charmer
2.5″ x 3.5″ ink

Today is Day One and I am snowed in. So, I will not be getting any new paints today. I am instead going to submit this latest delicate flower, Maiden 137, in keeping with my recent fascination with decorative HATS. Made with Copics, my new Hi-Tec-C 0.4 pen and various Microns. (She was almost abandoned due to nose problems – never quite fixed, arrgh!) But I was very happy with the simpler style of the two birds.

Longa Kolo
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, Hi-Tec-C fine liner

This one is from a couple days ago. Longa kolo means “long neck” in Esperanto, (if Google Translate can be trusted). Lots of progress pics . Thanks for dropping in!

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Holy Cow with the Hats Already

Franny the Fairy Jester, and Leah at the Abbey
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Two new wild hats and more fancy clothes. I really tried with Franny to make a different kind of face for a change. Mission accomplished! These are maidens number 133 and 134 (which is totally crazy). Leah at the Abbey, and the two hatted fellows below, were made while out of town with a limited palette. (I did bring quite a lot of colors, but it’s never as many as you think.)

Yaro the Elder, and Streetwise the Pooka
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

As I mentioned in the email (the new-post-announcement, if you are a subscriber), I have not figured out how best to relay new post information without spamming email subscribers who are also Facebook subscribers. If you are accomplished at navigating these waters, please share your wisdom! No progress pics for the last three drawings because I was without scanner, but a bunch for Franny. Thanks for stopping in!

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Ink with Attitude. Serious. Attitude.

Blake, and an Evil Mime Queen
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Blake arrived closely on the heals of his cousin Maureen (seen below). This family much prefers their right profiles. You’d be surprised how plain the other side looks!

The evil mime queen was made for someone who like evil queens. And mimes. And pink with turquoise. And creepy cute stuff. She is maiden #126!(Any future mimes should have instead of this streaky white gel pen, a smooth application of white ink with a brush. Live and learn, and all that!)

Another Maureen
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

One side blog note. I believe I’ve got categories covered. Tags, not so much. For one thing, almost all of my (208!) posts have many of the same tags (Copic markers, pen and ink, illustration). (Which are separate, I think!, from keywords for my SEO widget.) Geez! If you are a person with insight into this tags business, do share.

Thank you for stopping in! Progress pics with attitude, below.

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Grisly Tudor Portrait. My Dark Side!

Two and Five.
Henry VIII with portraits of his two beheaded wives.
5″ x 7″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Hooray, I can finally post the gruesome portrait I made for a Secret Santa gift. The giftee, AnnD, is in love with the Tudors and has a fondness for historical beheadings. (She also does hilarious crafty things with her pals over at wonderstrange.  And, she made and sent me this coolest Marie Antoinette ornament. )

I do like how it’s *almost* tasteful. Then I feel guilty because those poor women. Dang!

I may need a whole new page for the Dark Side (which will need a much better name than the Dark Side).  I hope the people who like the cute animals and cities and houses here will not be offended. (But I’d wager you odd ones will dig it.)

Next week it’s back to imaginary birds. Or tiny houses. Or some other, cuter, thing.

Thanks for stopping in! Leave a note! Lots of progress pics!

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