Art Prints for Sale.

I recently listed a bunch of prints of my Prismacolor marker and pencil drawings over at the Etsy shop. Here is a small sampling of the new goodies:

"Lunchbreak - WV"

"Porch - TN"

"Treasured - WV"

"Scroll - WV"

"Letterpress - VA"

The color and saturation are absolutely amazing, and I couldn't be happier with the print quality. I do hope you'll take the time to have a look.

Until next time,

Kylene

Nesting Dolls - 2d

Simple but fun. Ink and watercolors on 5" x 7" watercolor paper.

 

Pencil Portrait - Natalie.

The great thing, for me, is that not working in color means I can work late into the night without having to worry about my light source. Unfortunately, this also translates to really bad iPhone photos along the way (and poor vision, most likely).

Commission piece in pencil.

8" x 8" on 10" x 10" paper.

And, the finished scan.

Extra Progress Shots! (Because I forgot I had them!)

I typically send my husband progress shots and ask for his input when he's away at work, and I completely forgot about including those in the last blog post. Not quality photos, but they show a little more of the step-by-step than the scans I posted, so here they are:

Mixed Media - Here's to Trying New Things.

This started out in pieces as random sketches in a notebook. I decided to patch them together in one composition, which I then transferred onto good paper by way of my ghetto lightbox. (My acrylic palette balanced upon a lamp which was sitting on the floor).

Unfortunately, I had a mishap with the first attempt that I will be blaming entirely on the miskit, and not  my impetuousness. After a few days, I decided to give the project another go. I transferred the drawing again in pencil, and then redrew my final lines in ink.

After cleaning up the remaining pencil marks, I went in with a small, round brush and laid in thin washes of Speedball, Super Black India Ink (waterproof). Typically, I'm a graphite girl. I like to get my values from pencil shading before spraying with a fixative and then adding in color, but I thought I'd try something new.

The last step was to add washes of watercolor over the values I had created with the ink. I think the next time I try this, I'm going to use a different paper. The softness of this brand didn't hold up very well to all of the harassment. I touched up a few highlight areas with white acrylic paint in the end.

The piece is roughly 6 1/8" x 8 1/4" with a paper/white border of about an inch all of the way around.

I look forward to playing around with this process more when I have time around commission work, and I'll do my best to post about it along the way.

Cheers!

Commission Painting of Koi - Acrylic on Canvas.

The client was looking for a specific style for this painting in order to match a piece of decor he had already purchased for his new home.

(Please excuse the poor quality progress photos. I typically save breaking out the real camera for the finished shot.)

Initial pencil sketch.

Color sketch using markers and pens.

The line work drawn onto the canvas.

The finished painting.

Acrylic on gallery wrap canvas. 

24" x 36"

American Gothic (with cats) - Commission Painting.

AKA "A-meow-rican Gothic".

A recent (hilarious) commission request. It was a bit of a challenge pulling this off in acrylic, but the weather just didn't allow for proper ventilation for oils. Overall, I'm happy with the final results, but wish I had been able to get a better photo.

Acrylic paint on gallery wrapped canvas.

12" x 16"

Double Portrait in Pencil.

I've been pretty busy lately (no complaints!), so here is a belated post. 

10" x 10" pencil drawing on a 12" x 12" piece of Rives BFK.

Study - Pencil Drawing.

A tiny study of a chunk of iron pyrite.

Pencil on paper.

5" x 6 1/8"

Colorized in PS.

Day 25 + Alts.

I've made it to day 25 of my 365 photography project. Here are a few alternative shots from along the way:

Drawings coming soon!

Commissions & Photography.

This poor blog is in needs of updates, but I just don't have anything I can post about right now other than my little photography project. I have a few commission pieces in various stages as well as a personal project that has to remain "hush hush" until completion/delivery. I'm hoping at least one of these projects will be finished before the month is out, but one never can tell when waiting around for supplies to be delivered.

Some personal news (already old news to some): as of last Saturday morning, Sean and I are officially engaged. The proposal was both thoughtful and charming and I couldn't be happier.

I'm chilled to the bone on this mountain today, but remain thankful for these first amazing months of 2013.

Until next time, here's a squirrel to keep you in cute company.

365.

An attempt to do something with consistency. A photo a day for a year. Hopefully I'll stick with it (and even learn a thing or two).

 001/365

I'm sure I'll post about it on this blog from time to time, but the project can be followed over at my Flickr page.

Thanks for looking! 

Dudley & Winston - Acrylic on Canvas.

A pair of paintings recently commissioned by a friend. We strayed from the original concept (creating these portraits digitally) and decided to go for a stylized look using paint on canvas. Here are a few shots of the finished pieces.

16" x 16" 

Under The Weather - A Little Overdue.

Without getting into all of the details, let's just say that the holiday season was filled to the brim with house-guests, fun, and all of the trimmings. After the first of the year, we even had this brilliant bout of weather. 

 

Sean and I spent one early evening walking around the property, collecting neat items to bring home and taking photos.

I also managed to get my first tick...don't worry, folks, I won't traumatize you with any photos of that experience. I have a boyfriend and a couple of friends that will probably forever remember what a gigantic baby I became when I realized exactly what was attached to me. All of these years I've lived on the east coast, roaming the woods, attending bonfires, camping, etc...I guess it had to happen sooner or later. I just hope it doesn't happen again any time soon.

Ick.

Our beautifully warm weather was quickly followed by a monster of a storm. By 4 o'clock pm on a Thursday, I had lost power at the house and the inches were piling up. Around 5, Sean was able to leave work and attempt the drive home. It didn't take long for him to get stuck "somewhere" on the highway and for me to lose cell phone signal and enter into a state of panic. Things looked something like this outside:

 

Hours later, I was bundled on the couch with my cats and a hurricane lamp when I heard footsteps outside and the jingling of keys at the front door. Even in a foot of snow, Sean had managed to get about a half mile from the house before the Ruby Sue decided she'd rather spend the night in a ditch than go any further. So, he trudged the last half mile up the mountain while coyotes yipped somewhere off in the darkness (seriously). I don't know that I've ever been so damn happy to see someone.

The house was without power until the following Sunday. We were able to dig out the car the next day (with little damage) and drive back into town. We're lucky to have a close friend just down the road who had power, so we were able to pack up the kitty cats and camp out for the weekend in a house with heat and running water. Once the snow had finally stopped and the sun had come out, things were actually quite beautiful.

 

 The yard the following morning.

 

 The poor little Forester.

 Our snowy mountain + tree on the power line.

One of the cute little rental cabins down below our house.

The whole experience was, well, just that: an experience. A generator is now high on the list of "must-haves" for this year. We love the seclusion of our property, but would prefer that we don't have a repeat of a power outage any time soon. Heat and running water are pretty amazing!

I have several irons in the fire currently when it comes to work and hope to have new pieces finished and posted soon. 

Until then!

 ~K.