Super Nova and Other Such Things

Well, for someone who doesn't have a job, I've been pretty busy this week! Mostly I've been doing social sorts of things, meeting new people and all that. And it's been pretty great! I must do more of these things.

Choir practise, QUT Queer Collective screening of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, parent time, Sprinkl (a creative networking group) and Super Nova were all the highlighting events of this week. And tomorrow I'm going to see 'A Cat in Paris', a feature length french animation. Joy!

Super Nova was pretty damn great, I came away with about a million billion business cards and flyers of a lot of things that I'd like to check out. As well as some amazing art by Ben Templesmith. Seriously though, so many things and artists to check out now! There's some pretty great local talent in Brisbane. And I definitely want to check out the Brisbane Quidditch Group. :D

Also, next year I totally want to share a table with someone at Super Nova. So friends, I'm putting it out there, it's just an idea right now, but let's Super Nova it up next year!

Speaking of friends, it was so great to see so many friends at Super Nova! It was just lovely to catch up with people, especially people that I hadn't seen in a while/ages.

Although while I was at Super Nova, I did manage to make myself ill in some way. I blame the sun. I was standing outside in the sun for quite a while in order to get in and when I made it in it was pretty hot and crowded. Combine that with no lunch or water and you get a Lex who very nearly passes out. x_x Or perhaps my friend Jarrod is so manly he made me swoon.

Well, that's enough talk! Time for some art:

It's Snow White! I quilled her using paper and I really want to turn her into a necklace. I'm going to coat her with resin, get a metal loop to attach her to a necklace and test her out. If she's sturdy enough I'm going to quill more necklaces and put them in my Etsy. :)

And here's Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. :) She shall also become a necklace!

That's all for now, I need some more rest, that sunlight sure takes it out of me.
-Lex

More Expressions

More expressions! These things are monstrous. x__x Ugh, so many expressions. And this second one was certainly harder than the first, because I really didn't want Polina's expressions to look too similar to Anna's. I think they came out good though and the two ranges of expressions match the personalities of the women. Anna is more reserved with her expressions and quicker to frown than to smile. Polina is more expressive and outwardly happier.

Also, I've been getting feedback on my script, which is very exciting, time for a new draft soon! I've been a little slack lately, I've been busy with commissions instead. Time to crack the whip!



Ugh, so I had a job interview today with Shingle Inn. I don't want the job because hospitality is lame. I do want the job because I want money. I'd love to be able to buy more than the basics. I want to colour my hair and buy comics. :( Oh well, it's the whole starving artist thing I guess.

Oh, and here's an old sketchbook picture. It's from months ago, but I still like it.



And here's a birthday painting for a friend! When I was painting this I was thinking a little bit of Tangled and also of the Lady of Shalot.



Anyway, it's late and I don't want to keep my housemate awake with my typing, so that's all for now.

Lex

Oops, haven't posted here for a while...and I promised myself not to neglect my blog. Well my art block seems to be gone, which is great because now I can really rip into commissions and other artly duties.

Here's a birthday gift that I painted:



Sadly the scan does not do it justice. I like to think that it looks better in real life. It was appreciated by the recipricant, which is always awesome. :)

I've also been on a bit of a reading binge. George Orwell is pretty great, I'm tearing through 1984. If you're into that sort of thing I also recommend The Chrysalids and Brave New World.

Also, I'm moving in a few weeks. Excitement! I look forward to living without parents, the way most of my friends do. I feel like I'm really lagging behind. But not for much longer!

Commissions

A neighbour saw that last picture and commissioned me to make more like it. So here they are:

They're A3 and my scanner only goes up to A4, thus the shiny spots on them from the camera flash.

Next time I'll upload some art that's different!

Infinity

When forever means never and never is for forever.



I never seem to draw happy looking people. Perhaps I should draw happy people for my next picture. Anyway, here are more sketchbook pictures! I quite like them, I should do something more polished with one of these. Or both. I should also do more digital art. So many things that I 'should' do.

Hhm, Saturday night and here I am, writing in my blog. Being broke is boring. Well, not too boring, I have been keeping myself occupied, drawing, animating, that sort of thing. But I can't really go out and enjoy my Saturday nights due to lack of funds. I'll be back at Masala Point next week though, so it's all good. So NOT looking forward to waitressing again. Bleeeeeeeeeeeargh.

It'll be good when Viola's done and I can go and find other work. Studio work, hopefully. Freelance doesn't appeal to me much. Making a government funded short film would be pretty sweet though. I've been forming an idea for my next film...it's incredibly rough, very unformed. Very much like a lump of clay sitting around in my mind. But every now and then I poke at it, giving it a bit more shape.

Books and Fruit

There are so many books that I want to read right now. And so many different things that I want to do. My mind is a everywhere right now. I feel like...there's this bit in 'The Bell Jar' where the central character (whose name I have forgotten) is talking about her future. In her mind's eye her future is like a tree, with all these different fruits growing on the branches. But she can't have all the fruit. Each one is a potential future, and she can only have one, or a few. I feel a little bit like that right now. Not enough to drive me crazy (as it did her) and not about my ultimate future. I suppose that I just see that tree for each day. It's like, today I should take this fruit...no wait, that one...no wait! I really need to stop thinking like this, it's getting on my nerves.


Anyway, here's another picture from my sketchbook. Not a very cheery looking picture, I'll put something cheerier up tomorrow. Or the day after, whenever I post again.

This is so much dirtier in my book, it's just a scribble on a page where ink has leaked through. The wonders of Photoshop, eh?

Saw Ben Drake and a whole mob of other uni people yesterday. It was good and makes me miss uni a little, despite the fact that I'm technically still there. But because I don't have schedualed classes and I don't have to go into uni (and therefore don't, because it's quite far away) so the uni atmosphere that I liked isn't there. Just the work. Hhmmmm...Although I do enjoy the work as well. Even the thesis.

Speaking of uni work, it's time I went and did some.

New Blog

It's a new year and it's a new blog. I've enjoyed having my Viola blog http://viola-animated.blogspot.com/ so I decided to make a blog for my general art as well. Especially seeing as I seem to be incredibly inspired just at the moment. I just keep drawing and drawing, it's fantastic.

So, here's a picture to start off with, done with white acrylic paint and blue and black ink. Didn't scan too well, so just take my word for it that it looks nice, okay?

I'm reading 'The Whole Woman' by Germaine Greer at the moment, it's interesting. So far I'm a bit over half way through and there are a lot of things that I don't agree with. On the flip side there are a few things that, for me, ring true.

One of those things is this;

"The woman who is never mated must grieve. If she is mated and left, she remains forlorn. The maintenance of the pair bond too often requires the gradual obliteration of her individual self. 'I want to make him happy,' she says, unaware that if he is not happy it has less to do with her than with any of the other factors in his life. If she tries to treat men as men treat women she toughens herself and tarnishes her self-image. If she bears no child, she is disappointed; if she bears a child she is sentenced to long periods of confinement at home with that child and sole responsibility for any problems that child may face. When it grows up she is not entitled to remain in close contact with it and must mourn its loss. If she terminates a pregnancy she must shoulder that grief and struggle on. She may find satisfaction in her life's work, if she is so lucky as to have work worth doing, but she is likely to be left with nothing but that work."

A long chunk of text, yes, but it really speaks to me.

Well, that's all for tonight,

Lex