Nerdy Alpacas, Lights @ The Ex, Pumpkin Cats, & Jack Layton’s Funeral

Nerdy But Cute Alpaca - 8x10 Art Print

A friend suggested an alpaca as an animal on my to-do list and I just couldn’t resist their fluffy faces and incredibly spiffy hairdo! I just want to ruffle the hair on their heads in glee. I probably spent too much time painting this nerdy alpaca’s ‘do, but I really wanted it to be ruffle-worthy =)

I haven’t spent as much time as I would like creating new art but that’s because I’ve been preoccupied trying out new things that I would like to eventually add to my little Etsy shop.

Also I’ve actually been kind of social the past little while! Kinda crazy. There’s been family barbecues, nights out for dinner with relatives and family friends, pigging out at The Ex with friends, not to mention all the deliciousness when I headed out to Buskerfest, I think I probably need to start being a little more busy with that treadmill after the last month or so though, ohmygosh! *pats belly*

New Painting: Those Crazy Black Cats Need To Stop Flying

AGGHH. CAT HAIR EVERYWHERE.

I can’t even begin to imagine what naughty antics cats would be up to if they had wings.

My boyfriend’s cat Mini was great inspiration ^_^

Mow?

Good kitty~ :3

Do Crazy Artists Make More Money? Lets Hope So.

After the Nerdy Yorkshire Terrier and the Nerdy Tortoise, I had a request on deviantart for a Nerdy Axolotl and you just can’t say no to that!

I need a little break from photos and treasuries and tags before I go a bit crazy.. okay, I admit I’m already a bit crazy – I remember one day when I was hanging out with a friend.. this huge bright light made me want to grab my tablet pen, go to the Photoshop window and adjust the exposure.. tweak the gamma a bit, perhaps, maybe the saturation..

Except that I was actually outside.

Away from any computer.

And the bright light I was seeing was actually the sun.

I spent the next few minutes muttering that real life really needs some tweaking in Photoshop.

.. I think I might be sitting in front of the computer a bit too much.

Anyway.

Some more updates, perhaps?

I’ve been slowly getting into the groove of the tarot cards again. I think a (crazy) goal of mine is to ultimately paint the entire tarot deck.. it’s only, well.. *mutter – 78 cards – mutter* and I know I won’t reach that goal anytime soon. It’s a far away dream, and I plan on taking my time,  but I am enjoying the ride! I have the next tarot card in mind, and I think I’m definitely going to be having a lot of fun with that one. (Also, this is probably just slightly more attainable then when I decided to paint all the pokemon.. we’re at what now, 649 pokemon? Eek.)

The Six of Wands was first, and I almost chose to paint a lynx but decided on the sleek looking caracal. I wanted a powerful cat to represent the victory of the Six of Wands card, but not a common choice like a lion or tiger. Playing with the caracal’s fur and the gradients in the background was especially fun, as well as the fluffy ear bits. Fluffy ear bits make me happy!

The Star was a bit of a challenge as well. If you ever look at the original card, you can tell that there’s a LOT of stuff going on, and every aspect of the card has a meaning: the number of stars in the sky, even the number of points on the stars mean something. I didn’t want to overload my painting too much, but decided to paint an American White Ibis. The ibis is actually the bird in the original card and seemed like the best choice in the end.

Here’s a bit of the rambly side of being a seller on Etsy. (You have been warned!)

I’ve probably spent a good several solid days tweaking all of my listings in my Etsy shop, but not because of this whole ‘relevency’ thing (more on that another day, perhaps), but because of all the photos I’ve been adding.. I have 200+ listings in my shop now, and that means 200+ photographs to add!

Here’s a link to the ‘before‘ shot of the shop. Kinda.. static? Repetitive? Weird?

Here’s how it looks as of today:

I think the variety of display shots is at least a bit of improvement.. I still have a few more listings to go through and photographs to add – WHEW. This feels like it never ends! And I still want to tackle improving descriptions and tags even further.. not  to mention making a shop banner that’s um, a little.. better? The one I have up there was really one I just slapped together for the sake of having a banner up. I think I gotta dig up the digital art side of me again. It feels like it’s been a long time!

I also added some new sale items: customizable listings for multiple prints.

Hopefully August isn’t as slow as people say it is. If anything, I’ll have the rest of the month to draw and paint more, and to enjoy that blinding ball of light in the sky before it stops being so bright.

Once winter comes, I’ll probably be complaining about how I need to open up Photoshop and bump up the levels and contrast of the sky..

Clouds, Picture Frames, and Nick Carter?

The newest nerd: the tortoise

Taking photos.

So much work.

I should probably invest in some natural indoor lighting, because although today was a nice, sunny, beautiful day, the clouds would go all Flanders on me.

Clouds: HI NEIBOUREENO!

Me: Get lost, Flanders.

Clouds: Okely dokely!

2 minutes later..

Clouds: Hi neighboureeno!!

Me: @#&(!

Simplify Your Life? Yeah Right.

New Nerd - The Yorkshire Puppy

It’s already August! How the heck did that happen? It feels like I’ve just blinked a few times and summer’s already half over. I barely just got into July!

While looking for inspiration, I realized that the first week of August (again, how did August sneak up like that?) is ‘Simplify Your Life Week’. This is a time where we should really just pause and re-evaluate your priorities and figure out how to leave clutter out and simplify everything around you.

.. this is a hell of a lot easier said than done, of course.