This Week's Still Life - Skull / My childhood fear

This week we painted a medical model skull. I decided to continue trying to use oils. It's hard because I'm used to using watercolors and I haven't quite got the hang of oils yet, but I'm not terribly dissatisfied with the results :)

When I was a kid, skeletons were the thing I was afraid of the most. (Then aliens). I remember always being alone in the dining room because I never finished my food with the rest of the family. But I wasn't allowed to leave until I ate every grain of rice on my plate. So I would sit there alone, but I always kept my eye on the window, because I was always afraid that I would see a skeleton there looking in.

When I Was A Stupid Kid - Booger.

 Like any Stupid Kid, I always had a finger up my nose... that is, until....

Until I really examined a booger one day, and decided that THAT was the MOST DISGUSTING thing I have EVER seen. (My face is going, "What the .... ??!")

Therefore, I fought any and all urges to pick my nose. NO SIR. These fingers are never going to touch something so vile ever again!!!  Boogers to me became as radioactive as poop, homework, and boys. DISGUSTING!
 In a few days, it felt like I had two wine corks stuck in my nose. But I was determined to make it through.

I would suck up lungfuls of air through my mouth. A minor inconvenience. I'm SURE my body will find some other way of dealing with boogers. It had to! It wasn't going to let me die!

Since I can't breath through my nose, I started snoring. But that's OK. I was convinced that one day, I will wake up with an empty nose, just like I do when I recover from a cold. One day you can't breath, the next day you can! It'll be just like that!

I will be the first human to walk this earth with the power to not have boogers. While everyone's picking their noses, I will be the one who will never need to touch a booger, elevating my status to that of a higher being... perhaps a god.

Well, it so happens that not long after, I had an appointment with Doctora Dizon, my pediatrician. Just routine stuff, vaccinations, physical.

HOLY MOLY, she about dropped the otoscope when examining my nose. "What do you have in there, RAISINS*?!" she exclaimed.

And that's how I was given a medical prescription to pick my nose, When I Was A Stupid Kid.

* She didn't actually say "raisins", she said "champoy", which is a salty Filipino snack made from dried plums. Raisins are the most popular dried fruit in the US, so I used that as the American equivalent.

I hope you enjoy my Stupid Kid stories!
Tiffanny

Christmas Day Sketchbook Paintings

 It was really cold yesterday, but I still wanted to go out and paint, so I just went to Austin and did these from inside the comfort of my car (and at home, after taking lots of color notes). Parking downtown is usually excruciating, but since it was Christmas, there was tons of easy parking. I smell a new Christmas tradition for me! I hope you like my little sketchbook paintings.

Until next time!
Merry Christmas!
Tiffanny

This Week's Still Life

So my friend and I decided to switch things up. I painted with oil and he painted with watercolors. Kinda scary to be out of your element. I haven't painted in oils in forever!

When I Was A Stupid Kid - The Severed Head Affair

 When I Was A Stupid Kid, I loved playing tricks. Especially scaring people.

So I hatched a plan to scare the pants off of my cousin. I started gathering my materials to frankenstein a monster so terrifying, he would literally crap his pants right then and there. Then I would explode in insane laughter, mocking him for falling for my plan. Relishing in his terror and in my own genius. It would be the greatest achievement of my life.

So with a paper bag stuffed with a t-shirt and tied on one end, I proceeded to draw a festering face.

 And with some yarn, I fashioned some horrid hair.

 With ketchup, I bloodied his brow.

 And with a kitchen knife and some crazy zeal,

 I stabbed the Severed Head Monster.

Before I placed my monster strategically in the bathroom, I used red cellophane to cover the lights and cast an eerie glow. A scheme this diabolical needs elaborate special effects.

With that beautiful red light, my monster turned from a hacked-together paper bag monster into something that looked very realistic, if I may pat myself on the back.

Now, all I had to do was wait and get ready to savor the moment. MY VICTORY! And I shall be held in high in the Parthenon of Child Evil-Geniuses for the most clever, practically fool-proof scheme ever concocted by a deranged mind. Now, just a bit of fairy tale adventures to quickly pass the time....

Oh man, I gotta pee....

WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

And that is how I scared the crap out of myself, When I Was A Stupid Kid.

Oh boy, oh boy, now you tell me a story! What kinda pranks did you pull? Hopefully they didn't backfire like mine did!

Tiffanny

Watercolor - Still Life with Iron Teapot, Missletoe, and a Bust my Husband Sculpted!

So my friend and I are going to do at least one still life a week for as long as we can tolerate it. This is the first painting since we have made that resolution.Ohhhh it has many problems, but I have been assured that only I can catch them, being the critical creator. Anyway, here it is for all of you to love or hate, and everything in between.


Visit me again :)
Tiffanny

Short Pose Session, AVAA, Karin

Figure drawings from the AVAA ranging from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. I was sitting on the side that was completely lit, so not much light and shade to show form.

I kind of wonder sometimes if I should even be posting my figure drawings. They're not particularly fun to look at, especially not compared to watercolors, and paintings in general; And I dont really shade things in so they kind of look like coloring-book drawings. Maybe I will start posting figure drawings again when I start going more traditional with it (like with charcoal or conte or something). I dont know. As a reader of my blog, what would you say? Pare it down to only fun stuff, or do you wanna see my figure drawings (which, if anything will at least show that I am practicing and possibly growing)

I dont know. OH, a friend and I made a resolution to get together and do a still life once a week, possibly every tuesday or thursday. So you will be seeing that stuff on here soon i hope!
Thank you ever so much for visiting me blog :)
Tiffanny
 

Short Pose Session, AVAA, Red-headed lady

Yay! New model last night. I draw on really big paper when I go to figure drawing (18" x 24") so I have a hard time with proportions because I don't see the entire figure at once on my paper. I'm on a donkey easel, so stepping back is not too easy (It's more of a scooch and lean-back thing that I do). Still, I LOVE drawing on big paper because I can really use my entire arm to draw. Big sweeping lines are fun. Adds energy (theoretically. In practice though, my figures still look a bit stiff)
25 minute pose...

 I've been really working on understructure before I put details on. You can really see the frame this figure was built on in this one and the next one.
10 minutes...

 5 minutes

Well, that's all for now! Hopefully I can get my readers something in color soon. :)
Thank you so much for visiting. HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!!!!!
Tiffanny

Watercolor Sketchbook - Flightpath Cafe

A cold front has covered pretty much the entire United States, and even Austin, Texas was cold today. I had to change my zoo plans. That's ok, there's a figure drawing session in town. I drove a half hour to get to the figure drawing session only to find out that it was canceled... forever! :( I decided to just try sketching people at Flightpath Cafe. I was never great at painting interiors. I like drawing and painting people though :) Hope you like it :)

When I Was A Stupid Kid - First Crush

When I Was A Stupid Kid, my first crush was Astroboy. Was I aware he was only a cartoon? Yes. Still. He's that awesome.

Did you have a cartoon crush as a kid? If you're not too embarrassed, please share! I'd like to know I wasn't the only Stupid Kid around!

Thanks for visiting!
Tiffanny

5 Ways to Prepare for Zoo Drawing

OK, I plan on going to the zoo this weekend, weather permitting. So I've started preparing by drawing my dogs. I prepare many other ways, and I've created a list I hope you may find helpful.

1) I prepare by browsing through animal drawing books. My favorite authors for this are Joe Weatherly, Ken Hultgren and David Coleman.
2) I watch my BBCs Earth or Life DVD, and sketch some animals while they are moving. This prepares me for the zoo trip where animals wont hold still.
3) I look at my animal action figures from Schleich, I draw them in a pose that is different from how they are sculpted to prepare me for different poses a real animal will have.
4) I go to a natural history museum and draw taxidermy.
5) I draw my dog and cats. I try to draw them moving as well as relaxed.

Now that you have mentally prepared yourself with these tips, you will have a more productive trip! :)

I hate spending hours at the zoo and then ending up with crappy drawings. Best to prepare to make the most out of your admission fee! So, I hope to update with some zoo drawings by next week. I hope you will visit me again.

This is Honker, my short-haired dog. Because of this, you can really see her definition. She's perfect for anatomy study.

 This is Gracie. True to her name, she's very graceful, in movement and features. She's foxy-red and has a deer-like frame, with long thin legs.

 This is Frannie, a friend's dog. She's hard to draw! I'm so unfamiliar with her.

Short Pose Session, AVAA, Reina

 Reina was booked as model again today at the AVAA. Once upon a time, someone commented that I only draw pretty young thin models and that I ought to expand. I soooo agree! I wish I did have a choice in the matter, but I'm not the one booking models! The recession has absolutely, without a doubt, hit us hard financially, but I'm optimistic that next year, I may be able to hire my own models. Need to practice males too. Not that Reina isn't awesome to draw, of course. And kudos to her for being in great shape.
25 minute pose...

 15 minute pose...

5 minute pose...

And that is that!
Hope you keep on visiting me and please comment if you find some bad habits. I'm aware of the thunder-thigh tendency. I continue to fight that... :)

Have a great day!!
Tiffanny

When I Was A Stupid Kid - Tiffanny, Private First Class

 When I Was A Stupid Kid, I liked to pretend that I was a soldier.

 I would dash from foxhole to foxhole...

 I would subordinate my enemies with my machine gun...

 I would crawl bravely though dangerous mine fields...

 I would... What the hell is that smell???

And that's how I got myself completely covered in dog crap When I Was A Stupid Kid.
What's the worst thing you got all over yourself when you were a Stupid Kid? How did it get there?

note: I decided not to paint all the frames, mainly because watercolor paper is verrrry expensive :( I would love to paint everything though! But I should really save some paper for plein air painting or still life or something. I would blow through it way too fast if I painted all of my Stupid Kid stories.

Economizing,
Tiffanny

When I Was A Stupid Kid - Two Birds With One Stone

When I Was A Stupid Kid, I had a closet door that had a lip and a crossbar on the inside.

Like any red-blooded-Chinese-Filipino-kid would do, I exploited this unique furnitural property for my entertainment.

Whilst latched on to my closet door as if it were my personal in-house sideways see-saw, I pushed  off the side of the closet....

...and swung gleefully until the hinge hit its limit, whens-forth it would send me flying back to the beginning, where I would again, push off the side and continue swinging. It was utterly fabulous.

I never doubted the supreme invention called screws and hinges. Those metal things would never fail me.


That is, until the day the hinge screws finally came off the wood and sent the closet door, with me on it, flying across the room and crushing my bed.

And that is how I destroyed two large pieces of furniture in one foul swoop, When I Was A Stupid Kid.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my childhood adventures. I think this incident might be tied to the fact that my hips always pops, as far as I can recall.

Now tell me, were you a good kid or a destructive kid? What did you destroy and how did you do it?

notes about the illustrations:
*The Illustration of me falling on the bed is misleading in the fact that I drew it falling with the flat side on the bed. It was more like a side-chop. Also, My mother believed that thick mattresses were bad for you, and so my mattress was quite thin, an inch thick at most, so it did nothing to break the fall.

Come visit me again!
Tiffanny