if I had a body guard...

I clearly have a thing for octopuses!  And yes, its strange, but apparently grammatically speaking, octopuses is actually the correct plural for octopus.  Contrary to popular belief, it is not octopi.  Did I just shoot down all of your your dreams and hopes of achieving grammatical perfection at the young ripe age of ***?  Take heart in knowing that your grammar will always be better than mine ;)

So, here is the photo I was working off of... http://img.wallpaperstock.net:81/octopus-wallpapers_13744_1680x1050.jpg

...and here is my charcoal drawing ( 16x 24 inches)

sloppy charcoal!

Its been a while since I last did charcoal...you can tell, this is pretty awful!  This is a 18x24 inch charcoal slop that I whipped up in 30 minutes or so.  Charcoal always feels sort of relieving to me (attack the paper!).  Its quick, satisfying and always looks wonderfully bold.

zombification!

It has been too long since I last posted a blog.  Let me just say, happy time is over!  Brooding time begins yet again!  You know what that means??  Art!  Or in the case of this post, a ponderance of sorts (firefox seems to disagree with me concerning the existance of the word ponderance.  Suck it, firefox!).  The question in mind is this: if I were a zombie, what would I look like?

drumroll please...

These photos were heavily photoshopped, aside from the eyes.  Those are "wild eyes" prescription contacts.  They are suprisingly comfortable for "fun" contacts, but the slight peripheral view impingement is more than annoying to me.  I rely on my peripheral vision to keep an eye on the creepers ;)

agitated octopus

I can't believe I once ate a plate of baby octopus once (smothered in a delicious curry sauce, sadly).  They are such intelligent and amazing creatures.  Did you know that they smell/taste with their suckers??  Amazing.  And they can solve complex puzzles, and have one hell of a memory.  So here is my ode to the octopi!  Its a double canvas painting, to be hung in such a way that the painting flows from one canvas to the next (or from one end of a tentacle to the next).

another quickie

I tried another one of these black canvas/highlight paintings.  This is Two Hatchet of the Kiowa tribe.

the creep

I made this on a tiny 5 inch by 5 inch canvas. I wanted to try a tecnique I saw in a hand painted graphic novel, where the canvas is painted black and then highlights are painted on.

the forgotten bride

I realize that I haven't been true to the name of my blog of late.  My sunshiny Arizona pictures are less than goth cliche (unless you interpreted the desert as an endless tragic prickly field of death, hehe).  So, forgive me, and let me make it up to you with a sad little watercolor I made.  What oh what could be more forlorn than a forgotten bride, left to wither and wrinkle in her ragged ancient wedding dress? 

giants

There are lots of these in Eastern Washington.  I shot this out of a tinted window, which ended up acting as an interesting filter giving the photo greater denseness (in hue and shade) and intensity.  The composition slightly defies the rule of 3rds (which in all honesty is driving me crazy), but in order to maintain the dslr aspect ratio I'd rather not crop off the left 1/5th of it.  Clearly I'm trying not to let my ocd get the best of me :-P

sit down, shut up!

if only it were this easy! 

(in this picture: my significant other's chin and his verbose lips)

Arizona!

Some pretty nature pics from my trip to Arizona :)

THE OBLITERATOR

So today I was experiencing some internet difficulties, and being the idiot that I am, I pressed the "reset" button on the internet router.  I thought this would solve all my problems, but no, I ended up resetting everything, the password and yadayada.  I suppose my reasoning was "it works with Windows, so why not with everything else?" but of course I neglected to recall how terribly Windows is patched together.  Oh bother!  So naturally, being the stuck up computer geeks that they are, my brother and my dad started yelling at me for pressing the reset button.  I chastised them for making me feel like an incompetent child (or should I say No0b?).  Clearly, the chastising did nothing, because 5 minutes later I was berated for "obliterating" the whole system.  Oh, I "obliterated" it did I???  I'll show you obliterate!!!  And so I did.  Through a watercolor cartoon.

My boyfriend made his own rendition of "The Obliterator", as seen below...

welcome to the zoo

A couple of watercolors I did, just for fun.  I love strange animals :)

Springtime!

Thanks a bunch to my friend for being my wonderful model.  She was very patient with me, as I played incessantly with lights (bright enough?!?!) in her face.  Oh, and I learned how to make a watermark!!!!!!!!  So yes, I put annoying watermarks all over her face, hahaha.  The last picture of these five is my fav :)

the hope/faith balance

I dug out a few old paintings and decided to do the unthinkable...FINISH THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Here is one that I just finished, wohoo!  By the way, does anyone know how to take a good picture of a painting without getting that shine back?  I've done it with and without flash and either way, the photo never really looks quite like my painting.  Without much further ado, here is my golden apple of hope and faith painting

new watercolor

a new watercolor I made the other day :)

cheesy art vid!

Remember that annoying art teacher from the movie Ghost World that showed that AWFUL artsy video to her class of apathetic students? 
Well that is a great example of artsy vid stereotypes...the kind that take them selves so seriously that it only adds to the hilarity of it all.
So, I decided to have a go at it and try to make my own (below)
did I succeed???

remember, forget from k rose on Vimeo.

rusty truck

I found a cool photo of an old junk car online and decided to have a go at it with watercolors.  I think it turned out pretty good :)

Corset complete!!!!

I present to you, my fabulous Victorian style waist cinch corset!  It is layered, one layer of this really horrid thick orange and gold patterned fabric, and a top layer of black lace.  I used all metal boning (stiff boning for the front pieces and bendy spiral steel boning for my curvy bits).  Since I drafted my own pattern for this one (from my body measurements), I messed up the back two pieces and made them unnecessarily small, thus leaving a large 4 inch gap in the back.  A normal gap is supposed to be 2 inches.  Oops!  I'll change my pattern and have better luck next time!

Red Butoh

A self-portrait shoot inspired by Butoh.  I tried to keep this post decent, so I just uploaded a few "mug" shots.

good mourning!

Self-portraits! I finally got to use the softbox I made a few days ago. Basically, it just consists of a cardboard box lined with aluminum with a hole in the side, a 100 watt equivalent 'daylight' lightbulb on the inside (plugged in), and then a piece of fabric over the outside to diffuse/soften the light. It only cost me like 5 bucks to make.

Humiliation

Alas, a new watercolor! I took a sexy looking jeans ad out of a magazine and turned the meaning around completely. I've been especially angry and disgusted by the objectification and dehumanization of women lately (though it is something I have always resented our society for), and wanted to express this through a painting. Its about humiliation, and how women (and oftentimes teenagers and children) are forced into circumstances to fulfill the sexual desires of others (human sex trafficking, pornography, etc.). The blood on the woman's hands, is her own blood, a representation of her life force and her will, spilled, destroyed, and ultimately sacrificed for the sick pleasures of men (and yes, some women). A big "fuck you!" to 'the man'!

through bamboo bars

Alas, I have a new camera, and it takes glorious photographs! I'm very excited about this and plan on rounding up my friends to model for me. Any volunteers?