Ah hah!

So it turns out that trying to graduate by next May has kept me so busy that I have been very neglectful of artistic times. This means I have very few drawings/paintings to show for the past few months. I have taken a few hours here and there to create a few things, most of which are currently still in my "Need to be finished" pile.

Last night I had an "Ah hah! moment when I realized that throwing around paints and graphite is probably a much more therapeutic way to unwind than obsessively refreshing Facebook or getting lost in the archives of Tumblr (yes, I am guilty of both). I am going to try to remember this and hopefully have pictures to post here more often.

In the meantime, here are a few of the limited creations I've made this semester (Please forgive the incompleteness of most of them).

Stegosaurus in Space! This little guy hitched a ride on a rocket. Graphite.

Barn owl from the 2012 NC State Fair. Graphite.

A little root flower that popped into my head one night while drawing before bed. Pencil and Photoshop.

First portrait I've done in years. It was a fun experiment.

Art Sale Paintings of Awesomeness!

Here are a few of the paintings I've sent out so far! Be sure to check out my Art Sale post and you can get some little guys like this made just for you!

Buy Art, Help Me Go to School!

So here's the deal. I am a college student at North Carolina State University. I depend largely on Financial Aid to pay for my tuition/fees and books every semester. Despite maintaining satisfactory progress, a (pretty darn) good GPA, and the same financial status as in years past, I have not received enough financial aid to cover the costs of my next (and hopefully last) year of undergraduate coursework. Needless to say, this isn't such a great situation. But I have an idea.

Instead of griping about how frustrating it is, I'm going to make paintings, doodles, and sketches. Lots of them. Then I'm going to send them to anyone who "donates" $5+ toward my 2011-2012 school fund. You get a spiffy piece of artwork made by me, and I get to go to school this year without entering into loads of debt. Think of it as an investment in my education!

Since it takes a little more time to do paintings than sketches, here's a breakdown of what you'll get:

$5 - 5x5 Sketch or super fast painting

$10+ - 5x5 Watercolor painting


Below are a few examples of paintings.

I kind of have a thing for cephalopods...

...and space.

If you have a preference for cephalopods over space (or the other way around) just let me know. If not, I'll choose one for you and it'll be a surprise. A special surprise from me to you. I might also throw in a few non-space and non-cephalopod paintings just to mix things up a bit. Whatever you end up with, I promise to do my best to make it super spiffy.

Interested? Click the donate button!

You can also help by sharing this on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, etc.

Edit: Removed donate button as this project is finished for now. Thanks to everyone who supported me!

Painting through the Universe: Earth

It's been a while since I've worked on my Painting through the Universe project, but have no fear! I have a new installment to continue our journey through the solar system. This one should be very familiar as it is our very own planet Earth. The planet that we share and inhabit together; the only one we have.

Earth in watercolors

Four Jellyfish

I often like to doodle and paint whenever I'm watching a movie or television show or doing pretty much anything that involves listening (Note to my instructors: I'm still paying attention even if I'm doodling away. Probably paying more attention than if I wasn't doodling!). The other day I was in the mood to paint, but not really paint anything in particular. So while watching way too many episodes of True Blood (Yes, I'll admit it. I'm hooked), I painted whatever was in my mind at that time. Apparently jellyfish were on my mind. Why not? They are amazing creatures! Now, I'm hooked on painting them. Here's a picture of the ones I painted yesterday.