Holy New Art Batman!

Yes, the joke here is that I’m Robin. I wish! (Cries in corner)

So, I have recentally finished a piece of art. Please please, hold your applause. It was bound to happen one of these days.

It’s a lovely piece inspired by the song “Lights” by Ellie Goulding, I looooove that song! I was alone in my dorm room, chillin, when that song came on my itunes and BAM. Instant inspiration. So I’ve been working on it on and off for like, a week? I marathoned it for a couple days, but then I got kinda busy with school work (which I will probably scan and upload soon… hopefully) and I was only able to work on it for an hour or less a day. Also, if I’m to be perfectally honest here, I was just avoiding painting the hands. Yup, not only was I digitally painting (which I kinda suck at, and have next to no experience doing) I was also doing hands. Me and hands have a longstanding arrangement, I don’t draw them, and they don’t mess up my artwork. A peacefull coexistance yes? Haaaaaaa well enough of that it seems. I have to “challenge” myself. Stupid need to improve.

Well, I’ve been talking about it long enough, here it is! My lovely work. Oh you know you love it! Hoh hoh hoh! (That was my french laugh by the way… I love you J. Michael Tatum! I really hope you know who that is.) But I went through soooo many differnt versions before I got to this one. Well, it was really the backgound that changed so much, and that was mostly because I diden’t want to paint the hands. This is what happens when you procrastinate. Great Things! Ha no. Don’t procrastinate kids! Then you become an old person who can’t do anything on time with no friends like me. Not something to aspire to.

Anyways, check out my gallerys! There are links at the top of the page and on the right of the screen. Enjoy! More updates to come.

My mom just suprized me with a chocolate sunday! She loves me. :3 What’s your favoirite type of ice cream?

College is Boring

Ahhhhh I have no life.

So what better to do than blog about nothing right? WRONG SIR! I will write about my art life here at COLLEGE. (cue the sparkly lights surrounding college)

Yup. So, here goes.

Well, in my classes it has become clear to me that you cannot EVER assume that every person in the class in indeed a freshman. Nope, some are sophomores, mother’s coming back for a design degree, and a graphic designer who is currentally a graphic designer witout a degree… Yeah, figure that one out why don’t you! And in the food place at which I eat, I got mistaken for an upperclassmen. It happens I suppose. Maybe I’m just so stunningly beautiful that people that people assume I’m older? You don’t know, you can’t see me! Well, no that is not the case. I was just standing in the line correctally. (Yeah, college boys still have no concept of waiting.)

Where was I again?

ART! Duh, but first! Wanna see my beautiful self? Well it’s the late-at-night version… and really I should be in bed cuz I have class really early… but whateves! Yeah, you kow you’re jealous. I have a moustache shirt. BAM!

Well this was random. Laters!

An Update

Now as I have learned in English class, and attention getter. *Ahem* FREE COOKIES!!

Disclaimer: There are not actually free cookies. That was a lie. Like what the cake is. Sorry about that.

But anyway, I made some changes to my already super sparkly blog and I thought you might want to know!! … I know you don’t really care. Just skip to the link at the bottom of this post to see the pretty pictures if you don’t want to read this. I totally understand.

I’ve added a couple new tabs of galleries to the top of the screen! Now I can show off my wonderful Sculptures and attempts at Photography. Feel free to scroll to the top of the screen, click the tabs, and view my wonderful work! You can do that now, I’ll wait here. *Starts humming to myself* Done yet? You took forever! Well anyhow, you can see by the lovely golden arrows on this screenshot where the new tabs are located. You can also get there under the “Galleries” box to the right of this post. I also updated my Artist Statement page and Traditional Art gallery… So, you should look at those too…

Now that the boring part is done, we can get on to the shameless advertizing of my new works! First up is my shiney new, just-peeled-off-the-plastic, Photography page!

Pretty nice for a wanna-be huh? Those were taken at my birthday party this year. The one on the left with a few others were out in the hills by my house, and the flower was part of my birthday bouquet.

Next up is the Sculpture page! I don’t really have much on it, since I don’t do many sculptures… But yeah, here’s my clay pot I made and painted! From this I learned a very valuable lesson: Watercolor does not stay on very well over Acryllic paint. One of my friends convinced me to paint the whole thing with white acryllic paint first, then watercolor over. Yeah don’t do that ok guys? It doesen’t work. At all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now for the Traditional Art page update! I added a bunch, but the sad part is I have so many more pictures to crop and upload… I painted the box on the left for my oldest sister as a kind of wedding/engagement gift. I made it for her to put all her special wedding tokens in, so later when she has kids they can look through the box and see a little of what her wedding was like. I also made another one for my other sister who is also getting married a year later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So yeah! That’s a good taste of what I’ve been up to lately. I’ll have to get the rest of my pictures uploaded soon, and hopefully have them up within the month. I graduate at the end of the month, so things are going to get even more hectic then they already are. Ah! I’m so nervous!

• Sculptures :
  http://ashleyjetvig.wordpress.com/sculptures/
  
• Photography:
  http://ashleyjetvig.wordpress.com/photography/
  
• Traditional Art: 
  http://ashleyjetvig.wordpress.com/traditional-art/
  
• Artist Statement:
  http://ashleyjetvig.wordpress.com/traditional-art/
  

Mega Update of Gigantic Proportions!

I have gotten so far behind, and I am sorry for that. But the good news is that I finished my Sisters series! Yay!!

First I did my portrait, then I did my middle sister’s. Mine looks really rather strange. It upsets me deeply, but what can you do? Hide it under the bed and never mention it again? Pretend nothing is wrong with it? Or my personal favorite, be like Picasso and KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!

Ha ha, no. I do not actually burn my art work. I only recycle it when I majorly screw up in the beginning stages and no forces in this world could ever repair the damage. Except maybe Harry Potter, but where can you get an attractive British wizard at this hour?!

In all seriousness, I have only had one piece this year that I am so ashamed of that I hid and am pretending it does not exist. It was my charcoal piece. It fills me with much shame.

So, here is my self-portrait!

 WARNING: I DO NOT ACTUALLY LOOK THIS WEIRD. My pencils were giving me such troubles on this drawing. There were of a really terrible quality. I also just royally screwed up on the chin. I might upload the picture I used later, if I can find it… I lose things quite easily….

 

The final picture I did was of my middle sister, and I believe that one is my best. Except for the nose. That nose hated me. It would not work for me, and for the life of me I could not fix it! It was terrible! But yeah, other than that it is probably the best one I did. You can decide for yourself though. I switched my brand of pencils I used on this last portrait. My other pencils were terrible nasty quality, and these pencils now are amazing! The finished product is such higher quality! … I’m a bit of an art supplies nerd. Seriously, you can put me in Michael’s and I can spend an hour just looking at all the wonderous things I can buy.

 

Oh yeah, I also uploaded a whole ton of pictures onto my “Drawing” page. It’s a lot of sketchbook assignments and even a catapult I painted for my friend’s physics assignment! You can see them if you click on the little rectangle at the top of the screen that says “Drawings” in white letters. It’s hard to miss, unless of course you are ignoring it. Which is totally fine. Then you could just click on this handy dandy link right her in the words you are probably glossing over. MY TALKING IS SO INTERESTING!!!

http://ashleyjetvig.wordpress.com/drawings/

 

 

 

 

The Unsuspecting Doodle

One night this past summer of 2011 (how long ago that seems now), I sat in my basement massaging a cramp out of an angry neck. (This is what naturally happens to the body when humched over drawing at the computer for many hours at a time.) Then I decided to do one more quick doodle before bed, where I probably should have been two hours before. It looked a little something like this.

I liked it, so I made it my profile picture. Little did I know that this unsuspecting doodle would be the start of a massive project that would consume countless hours, and span many months. First one friend saw and wanted one, then another, then another. Soon I had a list of to-do’s! As painstaking as it was sometimes (I got a literal lump on the back of my neck the size of a ping pong ball for three days) it was very good practice, and you can see the evoluction of my skill from shakey to smooth lines, and simple shading to more complex. I’m to ashamed of the very first friend I drew to post it (holy man does it suck). I am so ashamed of it that I am going to redo it, and make it so much BETTER!

So now, for your viewing pleasure is a montage of my chibi faces.

And the sad part is, I still have three more to do! D:

Exciting News!

So I’m really not one to actively seek out attention, but when something really exciting happens in my life I feel it must be shared! (also I haven’t posted in a while, and I felt my blog was becoming lonely without me) Anyways, a while back I entered a couple contests for being featured in an art book and designing a bookmark, and I found out my results. I received honorable mention for my bookmark. Yay!

Graphite artist pencils, pastels

 I really didn’t think I would do that well considering I did it in the span of about two nights…. Yeah…. I thought my participation in this endeavor was optional, but then as it turned out my art teacher said I was getting a grade on it. So if I had known that I would have put a bit more time into it. *sigh* oh well. I am a notorious procrastinator. Now that I think of it, I should have something to that effect printed out on shirts, it would save me so much time! Everyone could just look at my shirt and say “oh” and not expect everything done on time! I could make a fortune selling them!

The other contest about the art book is kind of a funny and sad story. I only entered it because I’m required to enter a contest every quarter or semester or something. I don’t need to remember things. Anyway, I actually got a spot in the art book! Yayz again!! What was funny about this is that the picture I entered of my art wasn’t even of the finished product. I was behind on my deadline, (Heee) and so I sent in my picture of my kitty before she had her whiskers. It’s not that bad, but I wish I could send in a new picture. Also, the flash caused a reflection on one of the cat’s eyes… and ugh… bad. The sad part was I now have an even better picture. Very regretful am I.

Pastel

I’m still in the running for some prize or something. I was not aware there even was a prize other than being in the book, and frankly I did not even remember I would be printed in a book. Ha Ha! I feel so very smart at this moment.

This is the nice picture of my cloudy by the way. I want to replace the picture SOOO BAD!!! D:

And on another totally unrelated note (cuz that’s the way I roll) I am almost done with my portrait! And by “almost” I really mean 80%. I am having some terrible artists block about this though!  It’s like pulling teeth to try to get myself to sit down and finish the thing. I think it’s because I’m just bored with it.  But it will be done within a week. Somehow I will see to it.

ALSO! I finished a painting. I hate painting. I’ll upload it later. And I got my first commission! Excitement! I’m being commissioned, (so I’m being paid to draw something for somebody), to draw the someone’s deceased grandparents for their parents. I find the prospect both exhilarating and terrifying!

I’ve actually been thinking about starting commissions, and it doesn’t have to be big work either. Sketches, designing characters, redesigning characters, portraits, ect. But I feel like first I need to actually build my portfolio and upload all my sketches and stuff for examples. I’m getting so behind on my sites! (This is where the procrastination shirt comes in handy.)

The Sisters: Candace

So yet another project has been finished! Not on time mind you, but much closer to the due date than last time.

So here it is! My wonderfull eldest sister Candace!

Graphite

     Seeing as I’m a senior and going off to college next year, I thought I’d do a series of me and my siblings as we are now for my parents. Kind of a “Thank-you-now-I’m-off-to-college-kthanksbye!” kind of gift. Of cource I’ll miss them, but I’m not going to far away so I will be able to see them often.

     If you are thinking “holy man that’s so cool that she can do that from her head!!” :O  Thank you for thinking so, but I drew the portrait from one of her engagement pictures she took a few months ago.  I cut her fiancee from the picture because I only wanted the sisters, (I’ll do the brother-in-laws-to-be later) and it was only of the back of his head. What? You don’t need the MEN in an engagement photo, it’s all about the women right? Actually there are some really nice ones of the two of them I’m planning on drawing for their wedding gift. Why buy them stuff when I can just put part of my soul into a drawing and give it to them? It’s because I love them!! But that’s a little ways off. First I have to finish my own portrait (I just started it a couple days ago!!), and then do my middle sister. Going in order is for losers.

     I kinda skrewed up in places, for one thing the eyes are slightly to big. I diden’t notice this until it was to late, so now I just must live with it. She is much prettier in person.

     So not that I think anyone will care, but would anyone like to see my wonderful moustach man I painted in Paint Tool SAI? (so it’s digital art) It’s actually a pretty epic painting. It made me question what was wrong with me, because the urge to draw it came literally out of nowhere. This is also a prime example of why I don’t draw on the computer at midnight.

My Darling Cat

And so I have completed another masterpiece! (Well I’m getting the hand of pastels, and I only made a few mistakes…. so….) Obviously a masterpiece!! It’s of my adorable kitty Cloudy.

Pastel

 

   She looks a lot more adorable in person.

 

   I did this with chalk pastels and pastel pencils. I have discovered this wonderful invention called “spray fixative”. Apparentally you can spray your pastel or other messy medium with this wonderfull chemical thing and the pigments stay in place! Oh my! Then you can add another layer on top of the previous one without the other layer being disturbed! Genious!

   …. Sorry for excess sarcasm, but I was told about this before but was a stubborn non-believer. Until I actually tried it, and now I am in LOVE with spray fixative. For those of you who don’t know, there are two kinds; Workable Fixative and Fixative. Workable means that you can still add to the drawing (it just seperates layers), and fixative permenantally keeps the pigments in place and you cannot work over it.

 

Now on to a portrait of my oldest sister! I’m about half way done.

Thoughts I have

So I had a weird thought, and I thought I’d share. This is a blolg after all, isen’t it?  …. Still not funny.

First of all WARNING this post contains strange thoughts, impossible sinerios, and comic book ideas. Possible side effects include confusion, your brain hurting, and your IQ level dropping five points. If you experience any of these side effects, keep reading, becuase you are probably wondering where the train of thought is going. But trust me, this train crashed a long time ago. The passengers are now just wandering aimlessly around.

Anyway, I was thinking one day about what would happen in people diden’t have hands, and everyone preformed their everyday tasks using telekenesis. (Telekenesis being the ability to move objects with your mind.) Would we then draw and create art with our brains? Would we be better able to draw what was in our minds by not having to go through the arm muscles, but instead have our brains directally control the pencil, or pastel, pen or whatever?

I feel like we would be better drawers because we woulden’t have to train our muscles to draw what we see, or what we envisioned in our heads. We also woulden’t get messy because our hands were not holding the medium. …. Hmmm… I think I would miss hands. Mostly because we would be off balance….. and how would we hold ice cream! The world would end in massive waves of disparing children!!

I am extreamly greatfull for hands.

Pastels Galore

Hey there people, how’s it going?

Well I recently finished a large-scale pastel drawing that I am very proud of!

Pastel

The right side got a little washed out, but it’s not too bad. I can’t really complain since I didn’t take the time to properly set up my lighting before taking a picture. My bad. Anyway, I used a picture of a Japanese garden for my inspiration, but changed the colors and most of the background. If I ever find the picture again I’ll put a link in here. I was going for realism with slight fauvism, but mostly I wanted bright colors and a relaxing feel to the piece. Hopefully I achieved this, I don’t know about you, but it makes me feel serene.  For my next project, I’m doing another pastel of my cat Cloud! She is such a little princess.

 

Until next time.