Let's Talk Art

Today's post is about something a little different: my art.  

Ok, not that much different, but I don't have a lot happening in knit world right now so I decided to take a moment to talk about ideas I've had recently within my paintings.  Hopefully you've seen my art.  But if you haven't, here's a quick refresher:

My art is all about the imaginary worlds inside my head, filled with knitted forms (mostly knitted balls). This initial concept was based off the idea of looking at illustrations and Disney scenes to use as my inspiration.  Lately it's become more about creating floating forms within a water-scene, which for me is basically floating the forms in a fish tank to use as my still life.

This past weekend I rented the new Disney Movie, Moana, which I have seen twice in theaters.  But anyways, as I was knitting and watching, something happened.

There are so many amazing water-based scenes in this movie, and they all have phenomenal color schemes. What if I decided to go back to using Disney as my inspiration, specifically scenes from this movie?  It wouldn't be a literal copy of course, and my knitted stuff would still be in there, but it's a fun idea.There are enough different colors/moods in these scenes I could get a whole series form it.  

It's on my mind, whether or not I choose to do it, time will tell.  I have some other ideas I'm playing with in my oil paintings right now so it's hard for me to think about switching gears to this, but it could be worth a shot I guess.

I hope you enjoyed my quick art-centric post.  I needed to get it out.  :) 

Have a great week friends!

~Lisa 

November Update

Hi Friends! Sorry I have been so distant in the blog world again. I think after the next couple weeks get through I may be able to start blogging more regularly. But for now a quick update is in store.

Knitting:

Over the summer I self designed a gorgeous spiraling hat. I then submitted it to Knitty. I heard back a couple weeks ago - no go. But the editor liked my style. Long story short, it is now available on Ravelry as a self-published pattern.  

Drehen

This hat was knit in Wolle Rodel from the UK (a gift from my aunt) but can easily be adapted with other yarns. It has quickly become my go-to hat to wear in the chilly autumn/winter air.

I also managed to finished my color wheel shawl a few weeks ago, which is perfect because the plan is to wear it over a simple outfit for my BFA Show reception. I don't have any model photos yet, but those will be up in the next few weeks :) Overall I love how this turned out. It's big enough to wear as a wrap and keeps my shoulders nice and warm ! 

Finally, I started a hoodie at the beginning of the month, and despite my busy school schedule it is going very very fast. The Boxelder Cardigan by Maria Leigh from the Winter 2013 Knitscene (which btw has a TON of amazing patterns in it!) is being knit in Cascade 220 superwash. The photo does no justice, but this is such a hard project to show mid-way. Take my word for it, it's looking good!

(c) Knitscene/ Harper Point

Art:

The countdown to my BFA Painting show has begun. I officially have 1 week left. And yet here I sit, not in studio. Hahaha. Seriously though, most of my paintings are done. I have one left to finish up but I think I'll be good. Maybe I'll work on it later. 

To get you excited, here is a thumbnail preview of my favorite painting:

I also have all of those smaller gouache paintings at a local coffee shop right now, and everyone so far seems to think they look good! I haven't had a chance to take photos of the 'show' (I feel weird with people I don't know being in the photos) but here's a snippet of some of them all framed up nice.

Life:

I had this past week off for Thanksgiving break, which was a much needed reprieve. I still got a lot done school wise, but the pressure was a lot less, which was nice. 

I've been hunting around for jobs and art opportunities, as graduation is a mere 2 weeks away (WOAH). Let me just say - job hunting sucks.

In other random news: Has anyone seen Disney's Frozen yet? I saw it on Thanksgiving with my family. It didn't quite live up to the hype it's been given, but it was a good movie with good songs. Some parts weren't needed, while others were amazing. The animation reminded me a lot of Tangled (not sure if that's a good thing or not). But I'm glad Disney is cranking out good movies again. And the song "Let it go" has been stuck in my head all week. 

With that being said, I finally finished my summer mission: Watch all 52 Disney movies IN ORDER before Frozen comes out. I was able to finish the day before seeing Frozen. Man it feels good to say I have seen EVERY Disney movie. :)

(PS Idina Menzel is amazing - but it's hard not to think of Wicked when I hear/see this song)

I hope everyone is having a great fall. Christmas is on it's way and then it'll be a new year. Where did the time go???

~Lisa

Better Late Than Never

This week flew by for me, I hope it did for you too.  In fact, this whole month of June is going really fast. Why does summer always seem to do that?

Today's post is dedicated to all the things I have meant to post but for some reason or another haven't done so.

I finished my socks last night, too late to make it a FO Friday, so I figured I'd share them today.

The yarn is Prism Saki and the pattern is Jeck. In the end, the project was the perfect knit for this yarn. The slipped stitches add to the gradations in the yarn and make for an interesting look. I had some issues with the toe on one of them, but that was simply because I had been doing them 2 at a time and couldn't get my needles adjusted properly to graft.  This pattern was written a bit oddly, but it was always originally German, so I am ok with that. I know in the future there will be more pairs in this pattern, maybe even with some mods.  :)

After my Wednesday post I realized that I never really showed off my paintings from the end of the spring semester. Silly me! Why didn't I think to post them??

You guys probably remember this one and the struggles I kept having with it. And if not just take my word for it. As you have seen in my recent smaller works, I am putting my knitted objects into more environmental settings, with some sort of ground plane/ other form. This one was white crumpled paper, which worked out great!

Although not quite done yet, this is where I left it for the summer.  After talking to my teacher, we decided that gravity should go out the window. That being said this is the initial layout, but I flipped it horizontal and added the rope to the 'bottom' (right) and the cave area became more defined. 

So, which is better? I kinda like it this way.

I've been carrying printed pictures of these 2 in my purse and pulling them out like a proud mother does baby pictures. Don't judge me. 

And then I never showed off the super awesome ceramic yarn bowl I got at the River Fest a couple weeks ago. I wasn't wanting to use it yet (my home for the summer has HARD WOOD FLOORS) but I broke down today when I started my next quick project. I am knitted a bearded beanie as a gift for my sister's friend (Sister paying me to do it). Since I needed bulky yarn, I decided to hold together. Thus the need for the bowl arose. :)

Such a lovely shade of green :)

I'd like to apologize if any my more recent posts have been rushed/written poorly. I try to post before I go to work but sometimes I am in a hurry to get them done before running out the door. I will try better. I hope you are all enjoying your summer. 

I am ending this post with the teaser for Disney's next movie, Frozen. I have read enough about this movie to be excited, despite the GOD AWFUL trailer you are about to watch.

Anyone going to see Monster's University this weekend? I hope to, if not this week. Happy Saturday!

~Lisa

The Return of My Childhood

Not gonna lie, when it comes to 3D movies, I will always pick the 'normal' movie over it. Not just because of the money issues either, but because it's just a gimmick and never lives up to it's hype.

HOWEVER I would like to say that I am starting to lean in the other direction, and there is a very good reason why. Three words:

THE LION KING

Ok I could go on all night about this, I really could. So here we go. I took my sister to see it tonight, something I had been debating about for the past 2 weeks, because being a college student, an $11 movie ticket just isn't in my budget. But I caved.

And it was worth it.

You see, unlike the cgi movies of today, where everything explodes, jumps, flies and shoots at you, this was a traditional 'hand drawn' animated movie. They couldn't make things jump at you because the original didn't have that. The original was an amazing animated picture. And so was this. The use of 3D brought a whole new perspective to my movie viewing experience. Everything had depth, you could see every layer as if someone simply lied one on top of the other. The few moments when things DID jump at you it was amazing, much better than anything CGI can ever do.

I was very much looking forward to the stampede scene, and sadly it didn't live up to what I wanted it to be, but then again, like I said, the movie wasn't made to be in 3D so that's to be expected. The scenes following made up for it, with the dust from the stampede being carefully layered on top of everything, making the scene that more emotional.

However, there was one thing that completely took the cake for me tonight. The theater was half full, which surprised me to begin with. What made this even better was the fact that half of these people were parents and their 4-5 year olds, the age I was the first time I ever saw it. The other half was people from high school to my age watching it with their friends and boyfriends-- the same generation that grew up loving this movie is now able to see it again, in theaters and in 3D.

Overall, I think that Disney should keep re-releasing all their classics in 3D, and if they do I will be there. Not because 3D is awesome, because it is far from perfect, but because it allows new generations of kids to experience the movies of their parents' childhoods, and not just on DVD/Blu-ray, but in an actual theater, getting a once in a lifetime experience they can tell their kids about when they grow up.

After tonight, I just wanna work for Disney even more.

~Lisa

(oh and the movie poster was actually pretty awesome too, for a re-release that is)

Too much of a good thing?

Everyone's heard of too much of a good thing. Too much ice cream, too much time with someone, too much whatever. Well I'm starting to wonder if I'm getting too much of a good thing with my Disney obsession, and not just Disney, but TANGLED in particular.

Exhibit A: All of my Tangled illustration drawings. I will admit, this movie made me realize how much I wanted to do illustration. I discovered the 'art' of colored pencil on pastel and construction paper way back in December, and did all the brown paper drawings then, and I recently did the blue one. I love the way the colored pencils look, but maybe I'm doing too many of these drawings? I really want to do a water color painting too, but school starts in 2 days so that's probably not an option.

Exhibit B: Tangled Ever After. They are making a new Tangled "short film" for Disney Channel next year, Tangled Ever After, about the wedding. I completely freaked when I found this poster, even though I already knew about the film before hand. I'm not a fan of the name (too Shrek-ish) and the poster is cheesy looking too, but I'm excited to see if they do it justice or make me hate my favorite movie.

Exhibit C: Disney Princesses are not just for kids! Rapunzel 'officially' becomes a Disney Princess this October, complete with her own line of products and her face on all the princess stuff! I'm already seeing it around a few places. Is it bad I got excited when I found out? I really hope they make some good products for her, I'd love a set of bed sheets! The only downfall is that they had to make her 2D to go with the others, and she doesn't look very good in 2D (despite my love of handrawn Disney!). See for yourself:

Exhibit D: Halloween. I got an email from the Disney Store about free shipping on Halloween costumes, so naturally I looked this up. They have a Rapunzel adult costume! But it's $79, so that is NOT happening, as much as I'd like it too. My fingers are crossed that the costume store here will have something, because how fun would it be to do that for Halloween? It's about time they made a blonde princess I actually liked!

And finally, Exhibit E: I don't know how many times I've seen the movie, I stopped counting around 10. I actually bought the 4 disc 3D/Bluray/DVD/Digital Copy when it came out, even though I don't have bluray or 3d, just because I could get it for $20. Talk about a deal!

Ok, so you be the judge. Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing? I'm starting to think so, but I'm not giving up. Tangled is, and will be for awhile, my favorite Disney Movie!

~Lisa

PS: School starts Monday! Poo....

Another drawing and another bracelet

So right now I'm sitting outside my drawing classroom waiting to go to Figure Drawing (GAG--I hate drawing nude people XD ) which isn't for another 30 minutes (I have NO life) and I'm the only one in the hall (Further proof I have NO life) and I decided to update my blog (final proof I have NO life!).

Anyways, I have another of my Disney Mini drawings, along with a bracelet I made last week.

This is my most recent bead loom bracelet, made using different shades of opaque blue. I then sewed white felt to the back and created a border of black seed beads. I like this bracelet but I don't like how I completed it. I wanted something besides just letting the felt show, so I went with the bead border, but it didn't work out very well (but you can't tell in the picture). Overall I like the coloring on this piece and that's about it.

I'm trying to make atleast one bracelet for every color so that I can match my bracelet to my outfit/shirt ('cuz I'm weird like that). So far I have purple, green, and blue, with an orange one in the works.

This is my latest Disney Mini Drawing and it's for Alice in Wonderland. I know that I usually go with the single color thing, and I will admit this drawing seems a bit 'busy' but I couldn't help it. 1) Nothing in her outfit/style matched the color of an important object, 2) she looks really good with the many colors and 3) there were too many important objects in the movie to include just one. The objects are from top to bottom: smoke from the caterpillar's pipe, the mushroom you eat to grow/shrink, the heart for the queen of hearts, and then the watch that belongs to the rabbit. Overall I like this picture and it's one of my best-- I actually drew Alice to look like her but also get the 'realism' style.

So in general, life has been kinda crazy lately. I have studio for school, plus normal school (and 2 tests I don't want to study for at all) along with the things i've been trying to accomplish in my free time (drawing, knitting, loom-- all of which have on going projects right now that are like half done) and just being social (which hardly happens). So overall, that's my life and whether I like it or not, it's all I got. :D

~Lisa

To any and all who care, I've got two more Disney Mini's. Cinderella and Bambi. But before we get to that, on to my life. School has started here at KSU Manhattan, and I am already in the studio (Art major, duh) alot and yet, still bored! I have actually gotten a bit burned out on drawing, which is why I haven't knocked out as many by now as I should have in my Disney Mini's collection. Oh well, life isn't bad, so whatever.

Cinderella is known for the dress, but I felt the theme of this drawing would work better with her rags. Too bad her face took forever and still looks awful.

I like how I drew Bambi, I just wish I could have done the color part better and also the backgruond. But that may just be me.

See ya'll soon!

~Lisa

Here we go again :) I've been drawing more Disney images and for some reason, I'm still not bored of it :D Below are two more miniture drawings I've done.

DUMBO! I LOVE this drawing, the shading is PERFECT and the color adds a nice touch :)

Micky from Fantasia. The reason for the music notes was that I wanted to represent the movie, not this specific clip he's from. I think this turned out ok.

I'll post more once I do more! Bambi is next!

~Lisa

Disney Minitures

Heya :D So I've started a new 'project'. I am doing mini (as in 3x4.5 inches :O ) drawings. Each will be from a Disney movie, with the main character and (hopefully) an object or scenery that relates to that movie. I have 2 so far, 48 (I think) to go!


This is my first. I am trying to go in order of release, which puts Snow White first. This is one of my favorite drawings, mainly because she's not completely in the Disney cartoon style, more realistic, and the Apple is drawn really well :)

I am not a fan of this one, but Pinocchio was SO HARD to draw, ugh. Oh well. That's supposed to be the wishing star behind him.

And finally: Not a mini, but a random drawing I did last week of Tinana and the Frog from Princess and the Frog. Enjoy!

~Lisa

Disney Drawings

So lately I've been on a drawing streak and I am utterly obsessed with Disney, so as a result, I present: DISNEY DRAWINGS!

3 Different styles of Minnie created for one of my friends. I LOVE how this turned out and I may do one with Mickey and who knows what else :)

Penny from the Rescuers. I drew this for a contest on Deviantart to draw children characters from Disney Movies, so I did Penny with her teddy and Rufus the cat.

Aladdin and Jasmine! This is taken from the scene where they are on top of the pagoda after the carpet ride. This was a good chance for me to work on faces/heads realisticly. I love how it turned out.
Kenai and Koda from Brother Bear. I did this for my sister, and I like how it turned out because the characters are not exactly like the movie, but you still know who they are :D

Thats all my stuff for now. I will post more as I draw more (very soon!).

~Lisa