Where did the time go??

Phew. So it's been almost a year since I last wrote anything here and I did promise to post those paintings from my portraiture class, so before I give an update on anything I will stick true to my promise and share those paintings with you!

The first painting. Pretty frantic looking and certainly not my best. These guys were meant to be sketches of the figures, rather than actual paintings, and the instructor quickly informed me that this was the type of sketch she wasn't looking for. My ego became quite bruised after that.

My second attempt. Looking a little bit better, however the face still gives me chills at night.

The third (?) attempt. Softer, better shading here. The face is still bothersome, but at least it's looking a little more human!

Another later one I did - this time I tried to focus more on the face. Her boobs still bother me. Every time I look at this painting all I can see are lopsided boobs. The model had lovely boobs, they weren't lopsided at all. That was completely my bad.

The final painting. I love it. It helped that the model barely moved for three hours straight. Such a professional.

So those were some of the paintings that came out of my class. I've done more painting and drawing since, and am currently working on a vibrant painting of a parrot tulip (one of my absolute favourite flowers) that I will post pictures of in a later post (hopefully not a year later post!).

On the more personal front, it feels as though the last year has been quite a whirlwind of activity and inactivity. Many things have been going on, both good and bad. I moved to another city (what I like to call the equivalent of moving from Ottawa to Gatineau, so nothing too exciting) and have been feverishly making plans for the future. Some of these plans have been paying off in massive ways and may involve a wild new adventure in the next couple of months - but more on that later!

Catching Up

The weekend is almost over and I've been very, very uncreative lately - largely due to the fact that I've been knocked down with the flu this past week. No dance class, no painting class, just sitting around at home huddled under covers watching reruns of America's Next Top Model (yes, I know, but it's such good rubbish when you're sick!).

The weekend before I fell ill, I finally visited the Halifax Seaport Farmer's Market down by Pier 21. I had been told so much about it by people that I work with, I wanted to check it out for myself. I've never been a huge market and fresh foods nut - I used to know people in Ottawa who would swear by the vegetables in our downtown market ("meh" is what I had to say) - what I'm most interested in are all the little crafty things: jewelry, homemade candles, homespun wool, paintings, that sort of thing. I will say this: Halifax's market totally owns Ottawa's when it comes to what I like. I even didn't mind some of the food that was there - fresh Greek appetizers, Acadian meals, neat homemade chocolates - it was all very neat and very interesting!

While wandering around looking at stalls, I found one that sells the most AMAZING feather earrings - called Heather's Feathers. They had a gorgeous display of single earrings, double earrings, headpieces, and extensions - so awesome! I stared in awe for a good couple of minutes before I actually found a pair that I liked more than the others (which was really, really difficult). They're there every Saturday, so if you happen to be in the area, GO CHECK THEM OUT. The earrings are beautiful, classy, perfect for people who are into the tribal aesthetic but don't want to take it to the extreme. Just as I was about to leave, I overheard a woman ask where they found all their feathers, to which one of the girls responded "at a fishing supply store." I stored that awesome bit of knowledge in the back of my mind and moved on.

I now want to try and find feathers locally that I can use to make my own earrings. I know for sure that there are a multitude of places online where you can find them, but I would prefer to find them somewhere in town if at all possible. I've already hit one store on Agricola but didn't have the best of luck. I'm going to keep hunting around when I have the time, but for now I think I'll save up some money and buy from them. Hey, if I can't make it myself just yet I can at least support a local artist and their awesome creations!

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One day I will get around to posting an entry with all of the paintings that I have done so far for my figure painting class that I wrote about in my previous entry. There are about 4 sitting in my living room right now, with a fifth one waiting to be picked up at NSCAD. I have plans of doing some portraits in the next little while, I just have to get my lazy rump moving on them. I promise my next post will be about my paintings!

Finds from the last post

The next photo is a concept sketch for a painting I might do - it's still in the twinkle in a mother's eye stage, but it might begin formation in the next couple of days - I'll keep people posted!