Selfies and a Sneak Peek

Wow, I am totally into art right now!

I *finished this self portrait a couple of weeks ago. Oil paints, about 11"X14". (And can you believe the best picture of it was taken with my iPhone? Weird...)

I was so pleasantly surprised that working with oils was so much easier than it used to be (credit to my latest painting teacher, Joe Brickey) that I'd forget to do anything else because I enjoyed working on it so much.

*Keep in mind that "finished" means that I ran out of time to noodle things to perfection and would rather spend my time elsewhere.

Then there's this selfie. I will do nearly anything to get out of traversing the 5 flights of stairs up to my apartment. Thus, this one is titled, "One-trip Sheri." It was a lot more awesome and Western-y in my head, but again, I'm *finished.

I broke my own rule recently only because I really couldn't carry all the bags, a watermelon, and a gallon of milk at the same time. Blast.


And lastly, I'm really excited with how well this new project looks so far! So here's a small bit of it as a sneak peek... Partially as a way to make sure I finish some time soon. I want it to be a surprise, so I'm not telling anything.

I've been trying to use the mixing brush in Adobe Photoshop both more often and better (using some helpful tips from Ctrl+Paint videos) and I really enjoy color mixing! WHO KNEW? Not me, I can tell you that.


AND: 4 weeks and 1 day until I'm on my way to the Holy Land! Eeeek!

Wif a li'l bi' o' luck!

SO! I found a rather great Sherlock model! It just so happened to be the guy who came to model for my painting class, in a bizarre turn of events. So not only did I get to take some pictures of him, but I got to paint him for 12 hours of class time!

And here it is! Now, try to reserve judgment, I did my best, and these are just pictures I took with my phone-- the first picture is a bit truer to the actual colors.

I still need to finish the shirt and fix up the background. My oil painting skills are still not where I'd like them to be, but I feel like I've improved tremendously since I last tried. Or at the very least I enjoy it a LOT more. It could have something to do with listening to Harry Potter 7 while painting...

Also, even if I haven't been producing any new pieces for the Sherlock show, I sketch him ev-er-y-where! In my notes for other classes, on the church programs, and of course in my sketchbook. I feel like I'm getting to know him rather well, even though he varies slightly from sketch to sketch.