Dance! Dance! Dance!

I hope everyone had a wonderful leap year! Anyone do anything crazy? Reckless? Something you won't do for another four years? I didn't do anything special ... just went shopping and bought a lot of clothes. Lol!

So I've been drawing like crazy these past few days and I've totally been inspired by dancers. One of my childhood friends is a phenomenal professional dancer and I used to go see all her dance shows when I was younger. I used to love drawing dancers then, and I still love drawing them now. I was watching some old episodes of So You Think You Can Dance, and did some quick and fast 10-20 second gesture drawings.

Below is a quick sketch I did of a ballet dancer (she's sad because her feet hurt ... I think)

On to some interesting news, I got another cat! *GROAN* That's my third cat now ... but whatever. I'm not a crazy cat lady, I swear. This little cutie was abandoned by her owners so we decided to keep her. I have like, zero experience when it comes to taking care of long-haired cats, so she looks a little ragged right now ... but I guess it suits her since her breed is a cream pointed "Rag-doll" cat! Okay okay, I apologize for that bad joke. Anyway she really reminds me of Duchess from Disney's "AristoCats". But that name was too long, so I decided to call her Bella. Yes, Bella. From Twilight... *runs and hides under the table*. Whatever, I'm totally not embarrassed (okay, maybe a little)! But I know that every girl out there secretly loves that movie!

Anyway, let's change the topic. On another fun note, if you haven't already, PLEASE join Pinterest. It's like the coolest thing since chocolate-covered bacon! All the cool people are doing it ... I've been posting all kinds of art on there that inspires me! Check me out --> my PINTEREST.

Happy Pinning!

Corel Painter 12

So today I told myself that I would totally be a good girl and work on some of my personal projects for my portfolio. But then I went to the computer depot and bought a copy of Corel Painter 12 and just spent the day painting on my Cintiq. I'm definitely embarrassed to say that I haven't done a life painting in a long time. I'm not going to say how long, because, well, it's embarrassing ... let's just say I'm out of shape.

Anyway, so I painted ye ole boring fruit still life, then found this old photo I had taken of some girl and painted her picture. I used Corel Painter's cool oil painting brushes and it felt like I was really oil painting!

My father, who used to be a phenomenal oil painter in his hey-days (and one of my strongest critics) said that I wasn't able to get any life in her eyes, and I totally agree with him. As embarrassed as I am to put these up, I think it will force me to get off my ass and start doing some still life at least 2-3 times a week. I need to get better ... *groan*

Tomorrow, I will bust out with some old skool gouache and get painting!!! I totally love gouache ... I love the texture you can build up with it. I'll probably paint something really boring ... like a sky or a forest. Anyway, let's see. But I have to admit, painting really is like a form of meditation. I totally zoned out and forgot about the world around me ... *inner peaceeeee*.

Oh and I was listening to Aretha Franklin's "Jazz to Soul" album while painting. If you haven't already, please please go buy this album now!! It's a great pre-valentine's day song list for all us single folks out there. *sigh*

The Owl Forest

So I recently started watching the tv show, Spartacus and omg it's insane! Actually I tried watching it about 2 months ago while I was eating a hamburger and I just couldn't sit through the first episode. Er ... because of all the blood and guts. But I decided to give it a second chance and it's TOTALLY badass! Just never watch it when you're eating.

Also, I've also been going through this comic book craze where I just bought like $500 worth of comics! I FINALLY bought the Scott Pilgrim series after watching the movie, which by the way was so awesome, words can't even describe it. The comic book is just freaking uh-may-zhingggg!!! Oh I totally loved it! It's soo funny and quirky! And I must say, the movie really stayed true to the comic book! Good stuff, good stuff. Oh and I also just finished reading The Walking Dead after watching the show. Ah, the show just doesn't do justice to the comic - it's too tame! The comic is wayyyyyyyyy better! Everyone needs to read it! Right now I'm reading American Vampire, so far so good!

So below is my newest piece, I'm going through this owl phase where all I want to do is draw owls. It does have that Owls of Ga'hoole feel to it, but I was actually inspired by the Frozen Planet (again)! What can I say, I love that series! Also, it might be that I'm suffering from a severe cold at the moment, where I'm just sneezing my head off every two seconds. So owls and a cold on my mind equals this:

Oh and by the way, below is the playlist I was listening to while working on my piece. If you click on the names you can check them out on YouTube:

Harsh Realm - Widowspeak
Perdus cette nuit - BB brunes
One Day In The Woods - Beat! Beat! Beat!
Lavender Moon - Haroula Rose
Big In Japan - Martin Solveig & Dragonette Feat. Idoling
Future Starts Slow - The Kills
Comeback Kid - Sleigh Bells
Shallow - Beach Fossils
Hang it Up - The Ting Tings
How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep - Bombay Bicycle Club
Blue Jeans - Lana Del Rey
For Your Eyes Only - Acid Washed
Little Sister (Featuring Orianthi) - Tokyo Police Club
Weekend - Class Actress
Black Sheep - Suckers
Do You - Carina Round
Whatever this is - Ruby Coast
Gold On The Ceiling - The Black Keys
Boyfriend - Best Coast
Celestica - Crystal Castles
A Real Hero (Drive Original Movie Soundtrack) - College feat. Electric Youth

Is it Valentine's Day yet?

So I guess it's that time of the year again ... where you walk into a mall or a supermarket and see giant red hearts and stuffed teddy bears every-freaking-where you look! No, no I'm not bitter. At all. Ahem.

Below is a silly little sketch I did for the upcoming holiday. Please don't ask me what it means, this was just the first thing that popped into my head ...

Another fun note, I am exhibiting my artwork this week at the Global Village. If you're in Dubai, please check it out! It's going to be super fun.