Naughti Gras Preparation

By some sort of magic, an unfinished "Di'Quarium" got accepted into Naughti Gras looking like this. And at this size it looks ok, but ok just isn't good enough.

This is going to be seen up close. There will not be any ropes to hold people back. It needs detail, more push and pull to create dimension. I need more time. Sigh.

Let's focus on the major thing that needs to be completed: eliminating the lighter space around the dicks and the fish/dick food. That is really the only thing that jumps out from this picture. But when I walk past it on my easel, the dicks need veins and more shading, the large rock needs more layers of paint to cover up my underpainting, and the far right plant needs more movement.

Knowing that I can nit pick forever, this bit of tightening up has made the painting easier for me to look at. Detail shots to come.

Di'Quarium is in!

I 'll admit it. I checked my email way too much yesterday. It was the day the notifications came out. There was nothing at 10 am, nothing at noon, and nothing at 3 pm. What was going on? Why was it taking so long? Never mind that there were almost 1,700 entries and that there were only 3 days to sort through all of them and keep them straight.

The wait was worth it, for my piece was one of the chosen ones. And for a brief moment, that was all that mattered. The moment after that moment was choc full of profanity because I had a lot of work to do to finish the piece. That may have been a bit dramatic. I just need to tighten it up and add the details that will make it pop, mainly highlights and veins. Photos will be posted soon!

Naughtigras Notification Day

About a month ago, I started a new painting with the intention to document the progress. Things went pretty well until this past Sunday. That was when my poor time management not only caught up with me, but tried to bite me to.

Sunday was the deadline to email submissions into Naughtigras. Up until Friday, I felt like I was making great progress and that I would submit with time to spare. I was feeling so good that I took the evening off from working on it.

That was my first mistake.

Mistake number two was not working on the painting at all Saturday.

Sunday quickly became clusterfuck Sunday and the third mistake, trying to paint a weekend's worth in one day. 'Di'quarium' quickly felt sloppy. Enter the disappointment of frantically trying to meet a deadline and submitting lackluster work. See my shame below.

The only good thing would be to not get accepted into the show and do much reworking. A few hours will determine 'Di'Quarium's' fate.

Meet Me at the Ice Cream Truck

Someone recently turned me on to Cazwell's video for 'Ice Cream Truck,' and dare I say, I found it fascinating.  There are lots of bright colors, a catchy tune, and several pretty men to look at! It's everything a Dano needs to be inspired. Now if I could just be inspired to paint instead of popping my butt.