A little splash of color

So much to do, so little time!

2009-08-07T23:27:48Z

I finally broke down and bought a bunch of metal working supplies from riogrande.com -rawhide mallets, steel blocks, drills, polishing clothes, etc. I'm already working on several triple goddess pendants, which will have stones mounted in the center of them, and some tiara-like head pieces. Metalsmithing is so much fun, but it takes a lot of patience. I'll post pictures later as I'm posting from my phone right now...lol

A Chance Encounter - Completed

2009-07-06T07:11:39Z

There are some areas that I cannot fix without changing elements that I like, so I'm calling this one 'finished'

Rumors of my demise are greatly exagerated, and other stuff

2009-07-06T04:46:26Z

I'm alive. I really am. I have been away for a REALLY long time. Last time I posted, it was just a quick post about John and I getting engaged. It's been 10 months... holy crap!

Basically I have no excuse for being away. Well yes I do. I'm addicted to WoW. I know it. I admit it. And I'll use that as my excuse...lol

But seriously, I have been adjusting to "OMG, I'm going to be someone's wife" while working full time, going to school part time, and trying to find time to do everything in between AND having to compensate for the fact that John was laid off in January. His position is officially being eliminated this month, which is good because he gets a small severence package, which we're going to use for the wedding, and he can officially move on.

So we have the date set - 10/24/09! Just a few short months away and we have nothing planned. Well that's not entirely true. We have the park rented, the wedding party picked out, and a basic idea of what we want to happen. Keep it simple is going to be the motto for the day.

On top of that, I'm turning in paperwork this week to get preapproved for a mortgage. We found a house that we're seriously interested in and I'm crossing my fingers that I can get approved for at least that much.

I haven't done a ton in the way of art that hasn't been for class assignments - although some of that stuff really kicked booty. I have found a new love in the art of metalsmithing and rediscovered my love of pottery. And I managed to declare one painting 'done'...lol

Holy crap!

2008-09-03T02:43:52Z

I'm getting married! w00t!

More later :)

Quick update - A Chance Encounter

2008-04-08T03:45:22Z

She's almost done! YAY! I have been working on this one for a LONG time and now she's finally in the home stretch.

And yes, it's a HORRIBLE scan...lol

TV goodies - Stolen from pixie :)

2008-04-03T03:55:31Z

Empire Magazine has revealed its list of the "50 Greatest TV Shows" ever. So, of course, LJ-ers have leapt upon the opportunity and made it into a meme. Snagged from leeef

1. Bold the shows you've watched every episode of
2. Italic the shows you've seen at least one episode of
3. Post your answers

50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City

45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Fools and Horses
41. Band of Brothers

40. Life on Mars
39. Monty Python's Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted

35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI: Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood

30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf

25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office UK
22. The Shield
21. Angel

20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who (new version)

15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica (new version)
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld

10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24

05. Lost
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. The Simpsons

Question for everyone who wants to respond...

2008-03-27T23:47:51Z

Does the nagging, self-doubt ever end? I mean, do you ever get to a place where you look back at your work and say "damn, that's good!" as opposed to "wow, that's way off..."? I'm not talking about or looking to be an insanely successful commercial artist, but I would love to be able to look back at a piece 6 months after it's completed and be able to say "You know, I did a really good job!"

More rework

2008-03-21T04:11:10Z

For the past few days I've been revisiting 'Hold on Tight'. I haven't touched her since last Fall, but after looking at her for a while with 'fresh eyes', I knew she really needed something. I added wings and started to add spirally vines to take up some of the open spaces, but ended up adding too many and it looked funny. So to TRY to make it a little better, I decided to add little flower buds here and there. Now it looks like spirally, wispy grass/ plants as opposed to vines. I'm okay with that. It definitely has more of a spring time feel to it now. Maybe the season change inspired the additions...lol

I don't know yet if I'm happy with her, but I know I did the best I could with this version. I still have the line art, so if need be I could always reprint that and try painting her again.

Comments and critiques are always welcome!

A new WIP - A Chance Encounter

2008-02-21T03:51:15Z

I know, I know... I've completely fell off of Live Journal, FAE, Myspace, and a bunch of other networking sites, but things have been busy, plans are being made, and all that good stuff. Just a quick post before I ramble on later (perhaps tomorrow) as I'm making tile goodies right now.

I still have a lot of work to do on it, and I'll probably have to make some additional corrections is photoshop, but I think I'm going to be happy of her overall.

Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated :)

Added 1/22: Now that I'm looking at her online I need to go back and look at the end of her tail. It may just be the way the paper was leaning, but her tail looks all squashy and small now. Hmmmm.....

Nope, wasn't done...

2007-11-30T13:52:57Z

I worked on it a bit more and fixed her face in photoshop... not it's not so lopsided (even though it did give her a kind of pouty charm)

More fun than you can shake a dead hamster at... and other things that make no sense!

2007-11-27T19:57:51Z

On the twelfth day of Christmas, jenleeart sent to me...

Twelve shyfayries drumming

Eleven sarahpaulines piping

Ten hillfairys a-leaping

Nine staceytippins dancing

Eight uminomamoris a-milking

Seven redrevvys a-swimming

Six selinafenechs a-laying

Five bo-o-o-ooks

Four faeries

Three laura powers

Two renaissance faires

...and an art in a fairy.

Today's round of random internet testing...

2007-11-21T12:16:38Z

Ha ha ha!

Your Score: Narcissus

33% Extroversion, 46% Intuition, 27% Emotiveness, 57% Perceptiveness

You are viewed by others as tasteless, thick-skinned, inflexible, self-absorbed, arrogant and oblivious. You are Narcissus. You seek out high risk jobs, and jobs that allow you to assert yourself over other people. You also really need your space. You have a strong conformist streak, but you also like to be spontaneous. You also love you. I mean, you REALLY love yourself. You think you're awesome incarnate. But, your flyboy arrogance aside, your bravado lets you accomplish things that others might not be able to.

Famous People like you: Chuck Yeager, Alan Shepard

Stay clear of: Atlas, Prometheus, Daedalus, The Oracle

Seek out: Icarus, Apollo, Hermes

Link: The Greek Mythology Personality Test written by Aleph_Nine on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

What does your birthday say about you?

2007-11-19T00:05:57Z

Lets101 - Free Online Dating

Temple of the Dark Faery (FINALLY!! )

2007-11-15T03:13:11Z

I started on this piece back in January or February, I believe, for the FAE forum's Dark Fantasy Art show. Well after about 9 months, I finally got around to finish painting her. She's not perfect, but I'm happy with her notheless. I definitely think it's one of my best pieces to date.

Comments and critiques are more than welcome!

Guess my grades - The results

2007-11-06T16:29:43Z

The purpose of this was not to say "look at all my pretty artwork" or "I'm kickin' a$$ is class". It was, however, a way to get other artists honest opinions of the quality of the work that I presented in my mid-semester portfolio - which will account for half of my final grade.

Image #1 - In-class Contour line drawing:
The general consensus here was that the drawing was roughly "A" quality work. My instructor gave me a 88% (B+) on this piece, which means that my grades did not bode well for future drawings. She marked me down on 'line quality'. - whatever that generic term is supposed to mean.

Image #2 - Outside contour line drawing:
Since I lost time to work on this (aka a rush job...lol), I knew that this piece wasn't going to be as good as the in-class drawing. I shared Giovanna's thought that I would fall somewhere in the 'B' range. Nope. She gave me a 75% (C). Now to give you a little story on this drawing. This is actually much higher than my initial grade for it. She originally LOST IT and gave me a ZERO because she hadn't had a chance to grade it yet. Very professional, huh? Anyway, she again marked me down for line quality and even went on to say that she doubted that my detail lines were accurate - on a still life that she's never seen. (??) Okay.

Image #3 - In-class Structure line drawing:
I personally think that this draw was close to the quality of the in-class contour line drawing. I took my time and I felt like I did fairly well. When I got my portfolio back last Thursday night, I found a big, fat 75% on the back of the drawing. Yep - ANOTHER C. She gives me advice IN-CLASS on how to make the drawing more 'interesting' (the horrendous word that she uses daily, but has never defined her standard). I take her advice on how to make my lines more 'interesting' and what does she do? She marks me down for it. I was shocked to say the least, but that brings us to the last drawing...

Image #4 - Outside Structure line drawing:
Now when I did this piece I had no idea what my other grades were as she only grades us on submitted portfolios and written critiques. So I really had no 'set up' for receiving a 73% (!!!) on this piece. I was completely lost for words. I can see getting a 'B' on it as there are some definite areas for improvement, but a C-?? There wasn't anything she liked about this drawing. Line quality, perspective (which is off in one or two areas, but hey - we hadn't covered perspective yet... duh!) - all of it was 'not good'.

Does my instructor realize that she's teaching DRAWING 1 at a community college, or is she aspiring to be a professor at some ritzy art school?

So I'm trying not to let her get me down. It's art after all and art is subjective. Do you think Van Gogh and Monet had every little thing perfect on their pieces? Of course they didn't - that's what made them interesting!

Sorry. I had to vent a little and get people's opinions. I'm busting my ass for 6 hrs a week while sitting in a studio that's either too hot or too cold attempting to draw a still life that I despise (I'm sick of drawing fruit and bottles) - but now I have to do with the knowledge that even if I get an 'A' on the end of the semester portfolio, the best grade I can get in class is a 'B'.

Guess My Grade Pts 2, 3, and 4!

2007-11-03T00:21:26Z

Here is image #2 - Outside assignment Contour line based on a still life of our creation

Image #3 - In class assignment structure line drawing based on existing still life

Image #4 - Outside assignment structure line based on a still life of our creation

Thank you to all those who posted responses to part one! It was very much appreciated. Please take a moment and do the same here. If you had to grade these, what would you give them, or what would you expect to get if they were your pieces. And please be completely honest ... don't mark me higher because you like me...lol A lower grade will not hurt my feelings :-D

We're going to play a game!

2007-11-02T03:09:52Z

It's called - 'Guess what grade I got!?!'

I'll post a drawing from class along with what type of exercise it was. I'd like you to post what grade you would expect it to get along with any comments you have.

Still life drawing - In class Contour line drawing exercise

Reply with the grade you think I received.

Til Tuesday...

2007-10-11T15:46:13Z

At 7pm tonight, Christina Davis and I are off to FaerieCon!!!!!

I'll have lots of pictures and I full event report/review when we get back! We're bunking with Lisa Evola, Jessica Galbreth, Jane Starr Weils, Linda Biggs, and a couple other girlies. A bunch of faerie artists in one house with bloody mary's on tap!?!?! (j/k ;-D )

It's gonna be an awesome weekend

WIP - Temple of the Dark Faery

2007-10-02T14:33:16Z

I started this piece last January for the Dark Fantasy Art Show on the FAE Forum (http://www.faeforum.com). While she never made it on there, I'm hoping to have her done in time for the Beyond the Veil artshow over at http://www.fantasyartshow.com

Here was the initial sketch

After that, I did a 'final' sketch onto watercolor paper and started painting her - and hated it. I rarely start over on a piece. If I decide I don't like it, its usually because of design and composition, not color and feel. So I trashed it. At this point I was really thankful that I had done the initial sketch in a sketchbook instead of the watercolor paper, because I was able to go back with graphite paper and recreate the image. At that stage, I decided that there was far too much open space behind her, so I sought to fill in some of the negative space. That brought me to this point...

She sat untouched for about a month after that. In august I was determined to work on her so I got out the masking fluid and started masking the important areas to keep clean. And once she dried, she sat there until mid-September...lol Just as the masking fluid was beginning to yellow, I started working on her again only to discover that I didn't ink her before I laid the masking fluid down!!! D'oh!!!! So then the slow process of carefully peeling up the fluid so I could preserve all the graphite lines I could - because they were coming off with the fluid :( . I inked as I went and while she didn't turn out EXACTLY how the original sketch looked, she's really darn close. I was able to start laying down watercolor shortly thereafter, and I'm liking her so far. She's still far from finished, but she's off to a decent start :)

Comments and critiques are welcome :)

Hold on Tight Rework

2007-09-20T03:05:58Z

As previously stated, I put some more work into Hold on Tight as she was pretty muted color-wise. I think she pops much more now, but I'm not sure if I'd consider her 'done' yet.

Constructive comments and critiques are always welcome!

And I'm sorry for the bad scan. It's after 11pm and I don't feel like cleaning it up right now :-D

Good call on my part...lol

2007-09-14T16:08:30Z

This makes me really happy that I decided to go back to school for art.

Stolen from Dawn, who stole it from someone else...lol

1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com/;
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark;
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions;
4. Post the top ten results. (I posted them all)

My results:
1.Interior Decorator
2.Stylist
3.Potter
4.Craftsperson
5.Animator
6.Fashion Designer
7.Set Designer
8.Costume Designer
9.Graphic Designer
10.Artist
11.Computer Animator
12.Medical Illustrator
13.Art Director
14.Industrial Designer
15.Exhibit Designer
16.Interior Designer
17.Desktop Publisher
18.Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator
19.Florist
20.Fashion Retailer
21.Producer
22.Arts Administrator
23.Clothing Manufacturer
24.Special Effects Technician
25.Director of Photography
26.Antique Dealer
27.Jeweler
28.Entrepreneur
29.Money Manager
30.Advertising Account Executive
31.Investment Banker
32.Importer/Exporter
33.Retail Buyer
34.Sign Maker
35.Recreation Director
36.Director
37.Convenience Store Operator
38.Event Planner
39.Librarian
40.Tour Guide

You can make a view finder out of a CD case...

2007-09-14T12:53:11Z

Well I am now two full weeks into my drawing class and I'm having a good time :)

The first class we practiced on a still life so we could have a record of our beginning 'skill' (or lack thereof). I've come to realize that I do not like still-life drawing.

The second class we practiced with blind contour and modified blind contour drawing. This exercise reinforced my belief that this is how many horror movie monsters are created...lol Wow!! - during the blind contour portion, my hand looked very similar to the failed transport experiment in the movie The Fly. Modified blind contour went much better as I could occasionally peek at what I'm working on. We ended that class period by beginning work with negative space. Negative space turned out to be one of those simple concepts that I had to walk away from to fully understand. I stared at my exercises wondering what I was doing wrong as things weren't going well. The next morning - I had absolutely no problem practicing it. Weird.

Class three was a bunch of fun! We started working with gesture drawing - something which I have a knack for even though I have never used this 'technique' before. (I guess you can say I excelled at scribbling...lol) I'm posting some of my gesture drawings here - partly so I can see my progress in class. Feel free to comment and offer tips.

New LJ account & art

2007-09-13T02:11:27Z

Ah, the first of hopefully many entries to the new Live Journal account. My old account (Morganstargrove) is going to be 'closed' after I copy over any entries that I care to keep. It was time for Morgan Stargrove, the artist, to 'pass on', and so now I'm going to paint under my actual name - Jen Lee Suttorp. Well Jen Lee for short just because most people can't pronounce my last name. It got far to confusing to have to explain to someone who I painted under two different names as I had my fantasy work signed Morgan Stargrove (My faire persona) and Jen Lee for my abstract work. I can't even begin to tell you how many times people looked at me funny when they bought one of each style and I'd sign it with two different names. It got to be too much, let me tell ya!

So Jen Lee it is :)

In October, I'm going to begin posting my older pieces. Mainly so I can see my progress over the years. I have officially started working on a degree in art so I'd like to have a visual record on the pieces I've done and decent practice pieces. Now that I'm drawing and/or painting almost everyday, I'm hoping to improve even further before the end of the year.

And please feel free to comment and critique, but please make them constructive critiques. Just telling me that my work sucks does nothing to help me improve.

And with that being said, here is my new piece - Hold on Tight. This piece was drawn back in July and added to an ever growing stack of artwork that I needed to find time to work on. I managed to get her painted this week, and while she's far from perfect, I'm decently happy with her.

My tarot card is....

2007-08-24T19:50:13Z

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.