#hailymishelle: Updatin Away

Heyyyy I'm alive!!!
Despite probable belief, I actually did survive the "End of the World."
Sorry for my absence.
I need to be a better blogger.

White.

The world is so white.

So blindingly bright.

11 inches.
A lot

a lot

a lot.

Maybe that was a wee bit hyperbolic.

But man, it's gorgeous out there!

(excuse my bad phone quality picture.. thanks)

So, let's update ya a little bit.

This Break is supposed to be filled with completing a LOT

of AP Art assignments.

(notice the words "supposed to")

And because of that,

my creative juices

would much rather create sketches

and things for fun,

and not get serious about anything.

greeeeaaaatt.....

Which is why I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this gem.

I'm going to make this a little bit of an art blog.

It's so much apart of my life
it should be apart of my blog, too.
Here's some of the work I've gotten done so far.

"Lost In The City"

Watercolor & Charcoal
My first time mixing those two.
(Which are polar opposites.)
It shouldn't have worked, but it did.
I like the texture.
I wish the idea would have come across better, though.
It's my brother's reflection through the subway window in NYC.
Ah well, it can't always work out.
I learned a lot!

I'm almost done with my Kirkby commission of Vanessa.

I just need to finish it.
(Isn;t she DARLING??)

My tribute to Les Mis.

combining the old logo

with the new

It's not perfect.
It took a little under an hour to do.
But with all things considered,
I think I like how it turned out.

(And that sure is rare to say.)

And most importantly...
(DRUMROLL...)
I think I may have figured out my concentration!!
5 months late,
but hey, better now than never!
I'll just stick with it.

It started with researching bird's symbolism.
After doing "Songbird" morphing Hannah's face with a finch

Miss Grant asked if I knew what finches were symbolic of.
I didn't have a clue.
It didn't even occur to me that each bird had a different meaning.
A lot of birds have a negative connotation.
Luckily,
Finches are symbolic of Christ.
Which adds a whole new meaning to this piece.
One that unfortunately,
I didn't even realize in the process.

So I started researching different bird's symbolism.

Which lead to researching different animal's symbolism.

It was fascinating.
I've always been an animal lover.
As I child I was always enthralled with animals.
I would even create my own.
That's what my earliest sketches consisted of.

So I figured,
why not go back to my first love,
combined with my second:
people.

The animal's symbolism that I connected with the most
was the Raccoon.

It's associated with
curiosity,
dexterity,
creativity,
& disguise.

Racoons are darling.

It was weird sketching animals

for the first time since.. well,

Elementary School.

I fell in love with this picture Stephanie Kirk took.
(She is BRILLIANT at photography.)

So I Photoshopped this:

Rough draft:

Which lead to this 9x12 under painting in oil.

Which is when I realized I was working MUCH too small.

So I pulled out the huge,

and I repeat,
HUUGE
canvas I bought at DI earlier this year.

And a couple hours later I had this:

I'm no where near done yet, but I'm getting there.

[If you have any advice, I'd LOVE to hear it!!!!]

(Don't mind the hideous background. That was painted on the canvas when I bought it.)

Oh, and when I say HUGE, I mean it.

Here is the canvas in comparison to my large computer screen...

...yeah.

For once I'm not exaggerating.

This piece is manifesting itself as a huge challenge

on multiple levels.

But life is boring without challenges.

I have invested a lot of time in the symbolism of this piece.

It makes me excited.

If done right,

this piece could be really powerful.

Because raccoons are associated with disguise

This piece is a variation on the discussion

of the facades we hide behind.

Which is an interesting comparison
because raccoons can cause substantial damage to us.

What I haven't mentioned yet is the Nightingale

that is going to be incorporated into this piece.

Nightingales are symbolic of "a cry for help from a poor soul."

This courageous nightingale unlocks the secret behind our barriers.

...I'm excited. :)

Oh yeah, and in between that project waiting for it to dry
I tried my first shot at Digital Painting!

I took a sketch I did a long while back,

and added color to it with Photoshop.

Totally different, and really hard.

Especially with only a mouse,

and no reference photo.

But I learned a lot.

Especially about skin tones.

(I hate how the eye turned out, but I love the nose.
Which is the exact opposite from my usual paintings.)

Christmas was amazing.
It was so good to spend time with my family.
And I got Frisket!!

(It's magic! It keeps the areas you want white
and you can rub it off when you're done.
to have the original paper white shine through)

I even felt compelled to do a landscape with it.