First of a Series: Lena Dunham of Girls

This is my first in a series of fandom inspired portraits. As a fan of Lena Dunham's writing and acting in Girls and Tiny Furniture, I wanted to capture her not just as the person who intentionally contorts herself into unflattering poses for the sake of her characters, but also as someone who has an unconventional sexiness. The series of portraits will follow high profile people who challenge convention with their writing and performance, people not typically associated as sex symbols, though they bring heaping servings of sex positivity and openness to the forefront.

Lena Dunham- watercolor/colored pencil on watercolor paper.

A Return To Dr. Sketchys Philly

There was actually enough of a donut hole in my schedule that a special Dr Sketchys session filled perfectly. Having a retail schedule means sacrificing nights and weekends. Unfortunately this usually means passing on regularl Friday and Sunday sessions of Dr Sketchys Philly.Last night's session happened to be held on a rare Wednesday evening. It was a session hosted in my favorite childhood haunt, The Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was part of the museum's Pay What You Wish Wednesday.
The theme of this session was Game of Thrones. While I've never seen the show to judge if I'm a fan or not, the elaborate costumes (There was a sword wielding woman in armor!) and the Arms and Armory Gallery setting provided an exciting, and dare I say, badass figure drawing session. There were models with swords, armor, furs, and flowing cloaks. The evening ended with a marriage proposal between 2 of the models. Seeing the model turn bright red even gave this cynical girl a butterfly or two.
The session itself was a little shorter than the usual Sketchys sessions because of the time constraint of the museum closing at 8:45PM. Instead of a variance between 1 to 20 minute poses there were only 5 and 10 minute poses. Overall, however, I'd say this was an awesome night. I would certainly go to another sketchys session at the museum. (I've only gone to sessions held at World Cafe Live and the Mutter Museum.)
Without further adieu, here are the sketches and photos from Wednesday's session. Enjoy!

5 minute pose of Ms. Candy Mayhem

5 minute pose

2 separate 5 minute poses

5 minute pose

5 minute pose (Coincidentally, this is the now engaged pair!)

10 minute pose

Artists, models, and curator wrapping up on the museum steps

Mmm Pi

For my mathematician. Valentine made of candy hearts and a doily mounted on canvas.

Hey folks! I'm also updating on Tumblr. Follow it for pretty pictures! www.heartshapedscarz.tumblr.com 

Festivus for the Rest of Us

No matter what religion or nonreligion you affiliate with, most people in the U.S. celebrate a holiday during the month of December. Whether that is Krampus, Festivus, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza. You get the picture.
My friends and family received their handmade holiday gifts. SooOOOooOOooo, that means I can share what I made! The last 3 months of retail hell sucked the marrow from my bones, but I pushed on to at least make a few things. As you saw from my last post, I like to make my own little tree for the aparment. This year I played with papercrafting for the first time. I made 3 dimensional flowers for the tree, as well as cards.

Dimensional Paper Flower Tutorial!

I have a few things up my proverbial sleeve. Until these things are revealed, head on over to Instructables.com to see my very first tutorial. CLICKY HERE. It will detail how to make dimensional paper flowers. Like these red ones I used to make my completely DIY holiday tree!

Enjoy. Feedback and sharing is always appreciated.

It's Illustrtaion Friday!

Today's prompt for Illustration Friday is "identical." Below is my submission for the topic. (This piece was also an original for an art trade.)

"Sweet Jane"

Shennanigans at the Etsy Craft Party

 As I previously posted, I did a silhouette portrait demonstration at the Philadelphia Etsy Craft Party. For those of you who don’t know what the Craft Party is, Etsy holds an annual event in cities nationwide. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume everyone reading this blog knows what Etsy is. Philly’s chapter had a vintage postcard station, a silhouette cutting demonstration (held by me), a craft swap, a custom vinyl and rubber stamp making station, and potluck. This was my first time attending Philly’s Craft Party. Previously I have been to the Norfolk event in 2010. Both were a lot of fun. The Philadelphia 2012 party was held at Nextfab Studios. Nextfab is a prototyping studio located in the heart of the city a few blocks from 30th Street Station. Along with our various demonstrations and crafting, we were treated to a tour of Nextfab, which included a showing of one of the labs. The lab was a collision of creativity and technology. It featured examples of what their 3D printer and scanner could do, replete with prototypes of a tiger’s claw, a hand, and a previous employee’s head!

My silhouette cutting area.

     But back to the crafting. There were novices and pro’s alike in attendance. It was an intimate enough group that we were able to sit down and talk with one another. We were a varied bunch. There were purse-makers, fiber artists, dressmakers, general crafters, jewelry makers, and myself, a varied artist who leans closer to fine arts/outsider art and 2D work. Along with cutting silhouettes of a few attendees, I also had enjoyed working on the vintage postcard station, and viewing Etsy shops at the projector in the front of the room.

The warm up silhouette my boyfriend posed for.

Silhouette on mint colored doilie.

Patterned silhouette on avocado green doilie.

 

   If you were at the Philly Etsy Craft Party post a comment with your shop link, please! Oh, and more photos of the craft party is up on my Flickr album HERE.