The John Singer Sargent Project

Well, I’m beginning 2007 with an invitation to all my fellow artists out there to join me in an artistic challenge. Being a self-taught artist, I’ve recently begun exploring the many ways that formal art education pushes students to develop. One of them is the imitation of Old Masters, or in other words, copying people who are too dead to have copyright. Well, more importantly, copying good artists who are dead. No point imitating those strange purple cat paintings my great grandmother did on the sides of barns . . . just kidding.

Anyway, in collaboration with several of my friends from Fine Line Artists, we decided to devote the month of January to John Singer Sargent. He was an extremely talented portrait and landscape painter with enough versatility to satisfy both those who appreciate Monet’s cheerier pieces and Whistler’s gloomier ones (both artists influenced him).

So the challenge is this. During the month of January, I will be gathering up as much information as I can on Sargent, his working methods, and what makes a Sargent a Sargent. And then I will be working with his methods and color palette in a series of preliminary sketches before finishing with a work done as much in his style as I can manage. Oh, and I should mention that fellow blogger and Fine Line Artist Katherine Tyrrell will also be sketching her way through this on her blog Making a Mark, as well as providing more information and background on him.

Let me emphasize that this is a bit of a twist on the traditional exercise because I am not directly copying any of his works. Rather I’m trying to take away from his body of work a feeling of how Sargent thought, and then painting a subject of my choosing as if I were him.

And I’d love for all of my artist readers out there to join me and send me either links to their blogs where their work is posted, or email their works to me at portraitswithcharacter @ gmail.com (notice that I only want pictures of your Sargent works. Not pics of nekkie girl on girl action, advertisements for cheap medications, or stock deals. For heaven’s sake don’t spam me) so I can post them here. It would be great to really support each other throughout this project and cheer each other on!

Tomorrow I’m going to post some examples of his works, a long and possibly tedious description of what I’ve found out about Sargent so far, and also a few preliminary sketches that I’ve been working on. Until then, I invite you to check out his works at: http://jssgallery.org/Thumbnails/Sargent_Paintings_Index.htm

And don’t quit looking until you’ve taken a look at a bunch of them; you really have to see a few before you really appreciate the subtlety. And no, “subtlety” does not mean “boring,” you smart alecs back there.

Christmas Lights

"Christmas Lights" - 8 x 10" - colored pencil on paper.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Click here to buy.
Well, it’s goodbye to 2006. Troublesome thing it was too. What to write as a fitting tribute? Well, for starters, above you’ll see my first serious work of 2006, also a work that I consider one of my first forays into being a serious artist. But what to write of my other accomplishments?

Perhaps a nod to my greatest accomplishment is in order: I pinpointed the reason for my rapid mood swings and what my husband calls “female schizophrenia.” Are you ready for it?

My first grade teacher. Yep, that’s right. I figured it out today while watching a children’s program with my toddlers. My daughter was cheerfully singing along to “If You’re Happy and You Know It” and it was then I realized that my first grade teacher had made me, along with the rest of my class, sing all of the verses at the same sitting, thus ingraining in all of us the natural inclination towards mental instability.

If you’re not familiar with the verses, here they are:

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands (x 2)
If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it, if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.

If you’re sad and you know it, say boo hoo (x 2)
If you’re sad and you know it, then your face will surely show it, if you’re happy and you know it, say boo hoo.

If you’re mad and you know it, stomp your feet (x 2)
If you’re mad and you know it, then your face will surely show it, if you’re happy and you know it, stomp your feet.

Well, what normal person could possibly exhibit all of those emotions in the course of a minute and 19 seconds? My point exactly.

My husband says he’s pleased that I’ve worked out a reason for my schizophrenia and that now I ought to work out why I have a victimization complex. I don’t have a victimization complex, but if I do, it’s his fault.

Boxed In

"Boxed In" - 4 x 6" acrylic on canvas board.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Click here to bid.

I'm very tempted to blog on the House of Vomit that I currently live in that has kept me from the computer, but as that would gross out 95% of my readers and make me wonder why it's not grossing out the remaining 5%, I will merely mention that everyone in my house is sick except for me and I'm trying very hard not to join them.

I will instead mention briefly what my husband got me for Christmas. I opened up that promisingly heavy box to find . . . a Canon Rebel xti!!!!! Okay, it's a camera, for those of you who either don't know or don't care about this awesome creation. A digital camera with all the fun manual options of my old Minolta. That takes photos the size of a billboard.

I will leave you with one of my photos that I took with it as soon as I whipped that sucker out of the box.

The Odd Couple

"The Odd Couple" - 11 x 14" acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Please click here to bid.

Well, I am officially on Christmas vacation as of . . . wait for it . . . now. No more painting, drawing, sketching, or doodling in the air with my finger, until Tuesday. That probably means no more blog entries until then either. I know, you will all miss me bitterly. When you're not playing with the toys you got for Christmas.

So drink, be merry, try not to set anything on fire, and I'll see you after Christmas. Merry Christmas to everyone except for that humorless little trundle elf who wouldn't let me merge in traffic earlier today. You know who you are.

Oh, Eileen!

In the words of the Dexys Midnight Runners . . . Oh Eileen!

If you're reading this, you sent me an email about mexican villages and your return email address didn't work! So get back in touch with me!

6 P.M.

"6 p.m." - 6 x 6" acrylic on canvas.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Please click here to bid.

Check out my swank new first page on my website and tell me what ya think. (Because I've spent too many hours already on that page and if it isn't any good I'm not fixing the rest!)

I never thought I'd be the sort to start a neighbor feud, but I'm finding myself dangerously close. I mean, I'm a pretty easy-going person. So it takes a lot to get me to the homicidal rage stage. But one thing will always get me there. And that's messing with my sleep.

I mean, I get precious little as it is. Once you figure in the eeking every last productive minute out of the day and the lying in bed agonizing over how you didn't eek every last minute you could eek and then the children waking up cheerily (where in the world did they get that cheerful gene from anyhow) first thing in the morning, that's not much time left for sleeping anyway. So when you throw in an idiot neighbor and her pack of howling hell hounds, the situation escalates like an the bass line at the end of a Britney Spears song.

This neighbor lives behind our townhouses in a regular house, with a barn and at least 18,000 barking dogs located adjacent to it. With that description, she will know precisely that I am talking about her, but I'm not worried, because I doubt she's literate.

Now, see? That is exactly the sort of nasty neighbor bashing with no basis in reality that I'm being pushed to!

Anyway, back to the baying hounds of purgatory. They bark all the time. I don't see how it's physically possible! One, with an unfortunately very distinctive voice signature, literally barks for two or three hours on end without ceasing to clear his throat or take any phone calls. It's like watching Geraldo. It just keeps going, long after your patience with the irritating tenor of his vocal cords has driven you to ripping out handfuls of your hair and stuffing them in your ears.

And I've tried the reasonable method, calling animal control. She blew them off! So they inform me that I have to get the other neighbors to band together and go to court against her. Seems vaguely inconvenient, what with the full time eeking and policing that me and my husband perform every week. So my husband went over there and asked her kindly to stop them. She told him (probably shouting to be heard over the dogs) that her dogs were never left outside and never barked.

Grrr! Grrr! I would say I'd give her a taste of her own medicine, and make some really loud noise while she's trying to sleep, but I don't think I could find anything loud enough to be heard over the dogs. She must sleep between yaps, when they take a second to gasp for air.

Oh, humble readers, what shall I do? I'm contemplating bringing her a plate of Christmas cookies, iced with letters that read "SHUT YOUR DOGS UP OR I'LL MAKE FUNNY THINGS UP ABOUT YOU ON MY BLOG."

Somehow, it doesn't quite have the required sting, does it?

Beyond

"Beyond" - 9 x 12" pastel on colorfix paper.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Please click here to bid OR to buy in time for Christmas!

Top 5 Worst Ideas I've Had As a Mother (but had the sense not to implement)
1) Run particularly nasty diapers through garbage disposal
2) Buy rawhide bones for 1 year old to teeth on since he likes the dog's so much
3) Make my own baby clothing out of my clothing that I used to wear out on nice evenings
4) Adopt Dora the Explorer
5) Stop using verbs to standardize communication in the household between adults and toddlers.

Dressage Horse in the Mist

"Dressage in the Mist" - 6 x 6" acrylic on canvas.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Click here to bid.

-- all blog readers, please ignore my sniffling and do not lean in too close to partake of my words: I am Contagious. --

So. It is less than a week and a half to Christmas and so far I've been asked approximately 237 times if I have any suggestions on what to get my husband for Christmas. Gah! C'mon, he's a guy! He's impossible to shop for, like every other man in this hemisphere. Over the course of our marriage, I have bought him an assortment of gifts that have elicited a "Oooh!!!" and eventual abandonment (of the gift, not me. But I'm sure if I don't get better at gift-giving, that's coming too).

This year, in an attempt to improve my gift giving skills, I have scrutinized and analyzed every purchase I have seen him make. I have sought to find a pattern. A reason to this madness. I have discovered these common threads in the items he buys for himself.

1) It needs a three pronged plug and we don't have an outlet like that
2) It needs AAA batteries and the last one was just used to replace the one in the remote control
3) It requires more space to set up than our townhouse has unless we sell the sofa.
4) It requires more time to set up than our people used developing the English language
5) It doesn't fit so it gets thrown in the back of the closet to be used for cat nesting purposes
6) Its charm wears off like an inlaw's visit: slow at first and then gaining speed until you want to put it someplace you'll never see it again.

What I found is that he's buying the same things I'm buying. The perfect gift has not yet been invented for my man! Oh the relief! The weight off my shoulders!

Of course, knowing what I know now doesn't keep me from thinking upon the present I got him, rubbing my hands together, and saying, "Oh, he's going to love it!"

Moose Himself

"Moose Himself" - 6 x 6" acrylic on canvas.
Click here to bid.

I'm not writing a long post yet until the rumors of Blogger eating posts disappear!

Crumb Snatcher

"Crumb Snatcher" - 6 x 6" acrylic on gallery wrap canvas.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Click here to bid.

As a cop's wife, I felt it was my duty to inform the appropriate holiday agents (i.e., Santa) of the legal minefield he is treading each year.

Top Ten Citations Police Could Give Santa Claus in the State of Virginia:
10.46.2-711 Fail to display state license plates
9. 46.2-613 No valid registration
8. 46.2-812 Driving more than 13 hours in a 24 hour period
7. 46.2-800.1 Riding animal on highway after sunset
6. 46.2-870 Speed
5. 46.2-1120 Load that extends more than 3 feet
4. 18.2-91 Enter dwelling without breaking at night
3. 3.1-1023 Collect, Transport, or Possess Endangered or Threatened Species
2. 58.1-3916.1 Tax Return, Fail to file
and of course

1. 18.2-119 Tresspassing, general.

Bad Santa!

Tying Up Loose Ends

"Tying Up Loose Ends" - 2.5 x 3.5" colored pencil on drafting film.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater
Click here to bid.

I do have more work on my horse from last post done tonight, but as I'm forcing myself to be in bed by 10:30 p.m. tonight and uploading photos takes at least 30 minutes (15 minutes to load the wrong ones, 5 minutes to load correct ones, 5 minutes to place in correct order, and 5 minutes to remember what I was doing sitting at the computer in the first place), I'll have to post the progress shots tomorrow. Otherwise I'll turn into a pumpkin.

But I have plenty of time to talk about bras. You may be bemused by my topic, but it was my 2 year old daughter who put the thought in my head. She spotted one of mine sitting on top of the laundry pile, grabbed it, and looped the straps over her arms. Then she strutted around the living room announcing, "I'm Mama. I'm MAMA." And I thought to myself Oh my God, she's just like me.

But the whole episode made me think about bras in general. I think if you looked up "false advertising" in the dictionary (does anyone even have one of those anymore?) I'm betting there's a photo of a bra. All one has to do is peruse the pages of the latest Victoria's Secret (Home of Eternal Perkiness, as dubbed by a friend) to see the depths of deception.

Too small? Bras with the boobs already in them!
Too saggy? State of the art support system as pioneered by DMV bridgebuilders!
Too large? Bras that pancake!
Too long? Cantaloupe shaped bras with iron inner cage to prevent mishaping!
Too perky? Double padding to prevent wardobe malfunctions!

Really, there's just no excuse for less than perfect boobage on the streets these days. With the wide range of Cleavage Correction available to you, if you go out to Walmart with anything less than Giselle Bunchen's boobs bursting through your shirt, people are going to think that you possess weird defunct breastage whose problems are beyond the ability of Victoria's Secret to correct.

And the colors! Oh, taste the rainbow (can I say that without a trademark next to it? Go on, sue me Skittles!)! You can coordinate your bra to your panties, socks, hair scrunchy, eye make up, shoes, dog -- who cares if no one's going to ever see your color matching ability? You'll know it's there, and feel oh so beautiful. For instance, right now I'm wearing a blue-purple bra that perfectly coordinates with the color of the circles under my eyes.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get off the computer, stand up and shorten my bras straps from "Extra Perky" to "Insanely Perky" and step boldly out into the brave new world of undergarments with more smarts than me.

Penny Lane - Work in Progress

"Penny Lane" - 14 x 17" work in progress.
Text & images copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Please email me at portraits with character @ gmail. com (take out spaces) for purchase information.

Okay, as promised, I have finally motivated myself to get out my digital camera and take some proper in work in progress photos to demonstrate how I work on drafting film. If in the following tutorial (I'll add to it as I work on Penny Lane these coming weeks) any artists out there are confused, amused, or bemused, feel free to comment or question me!

I use Dura-Lar Drafting Film Matte (and I've told so many people that, Dura Lar oughta be sending me the stuff for free by now!) and this piece will end up 14 x 17" with Prismacolor pencils.

Okay, first of all, the most important things I can emphasize about any drawing is:

1) do a preliminary sketch on a different sheet of paper first (10 minutes)
2) know your values and make sure you have strong shapes of light, midtone, and dark
3) put your focal point in a compositional sweet spot – that is, on the top third, bottom third, left third, or right third of the paper

And the most important things I can emphasize about work on drafting film is:

1) only count on 2 layers on top and 2 layers on back - any extra is gravy
2) pure, heavy layers are the most powerful, so think hard about optical mixing instead of actual mixing
3) the strength of the drafting film lays in working both sides.

With that out of the way, here is my start. Drafting film is entirely erasable, so I start out with a few light lines generally letting me know where things oughta be. This will usually have no real bearing on where things finally end up, but it makes me feel better. At this point this is all black Prismacolor pencil, nice and sharp.




I like to remind myself of how dark I’ll need to go with my midtones, so I lay down my darkest darks early. In this case I can see that I’m going to need my darkest dark in the eye and in the shadow of the halter, since I have a very strong light source coming from the left. The shadow is going to add more drama than a soap opera to the piece.



Okay, so I’m going a bit hog wild with the darks now. Once I get my paw on a black pencil, it’s hard to get it free. I’m using hard pressure on the darkest areas and scribbly medium pressure on the areas I’m not sure of the value yet. I’m also using a bit of Warm Gray 90% at this point. And I’m nervous, as usual, that I’m screwing it up.



I grow increasingly nervous as I lay down color. It’s officially in the ugly stage and I’m second guessing my values like nobody’s business. I should just relax, I should know better. I need midtones before I start to really panic.



Bits of pure color make me feel better. I use them a lot in my painting to add interest, and when I paint, I can add them afterwards, which is easier. But when I draw, I have to reserve those areas for pure color – which is why you can see blue dots here and you’ll start seeing greens and magenta later.



I told you this stuff was completely erasable! I decided that the shadow above the left eye (horse’s right) was much too dark, and attacked it with an eraser. No harm, no foul, right?



You can see that I’ve started putting in my background. While I like to get areas done to a very high level before I move on, I cannot emphasize how strongly I believe I need at least a small area of background done so that I can constantly be checking values.



I haven’t worked the back until now, and I begin with just a hint of Clay Rose on the shadow side of the white stripe. This color will show up as faded on the front, so it’s a great way to tint whites.



I work the mane (remember it needs a shadow to look like it’s sitting on top of the forehead instead of ingrained into it) and add a lot of pure colors to add interest. Especially pumpkin orange. Love that color. And apple green. I think it’s apple green.



Where I got to tonight after . . . mmm . . . 3 hours of work? 4 perhaps? I am starting to lay in the body colors and the nostrils, but I know that I’m getting too fatigued with the image to work slowly, and there’s no better way to screw up a portrait, especially a horsey one, than by rushing the body after working the head like a crazy person. I’ve still got a long way to go on the head anyway – I haven’t worked the back except for some blue in the shadow on the right, because I want to save the back for nuances and deepening the darks.



The context shot. She’s looking pretty good, coming off the paper because I’ve worked blue into the shadows farthest away and red into the areas closest to the viewer. Hopefully I can continue the optical illusion as I start on the body on Monday.



If I've been at all unclear, or if you have any better ideas, lemme know. I'm all ears.

The Stunning Restraint of Maggie Stiefvater

I have actually mostly completed a large painting that I am very pleased with but I am exercising intense restraint and not posting the cruddy after-dark photo I just took of it. Instead I am a-slapping at my wrists, forcing them to wait until morning and it's perfect photo taking light.

Lest you think I slack!

Edit to say: and here it is.


"The Blue Road" - 24 x 30" acrylic on canvas.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Click here to purchase.

Nine Lived Santa

"Nine Lived Santa" - 2.5 x 3.5" colored pencil and acrylic on drafting film.
Copyrighted 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Click here to bid.

Whoever thought of the name "companion animal" was obviously not thinking of cats at the time. My criminally insane cat Moose is not so much a companion as a fellow traveler on this train called life -- a fellow traveler who turns out to be an escaped convict with delusions of grandeur.

This "companion" of mine has knocked over our Christmas tree multiple times on purpose already. He waits for us to look and then just pushes it with his paw. He has also gone Psycho on me and attacked me in the shower, suddenly appeared cloaked in shower curtain as he slimes unsuccessfully down my legs into a plasticky heap. And he pushed our other cat, Violet, off a table when he realized that we were taking photos of her instead of him.

Companion my furry little . . . uh, toe. (Lets keep this PG, right?)

And my dog! Whoo! Don't get me started on that crumb-snatching, squeal-yawning, English-speaking sofa dweller. She's a bit more companionable than Moose, but she's still a foxy little elf. Gotta keep your eye on her.

And Violet . . . little Violet. So sweet, so innocent. You can tell she's not full grown yet. She'll get there. I can see it in her little beady eyes.

This is my warning to all you homes free of companion animals! Do not be fooled into thinking cats and dogs are stressfree friendly selfless additions to your lives! They will suck you into thinking they are people! They will eat from your plates! You will live to see horrible things like dogs scrunching their butts across your pillows or cats carrying gummy fruit snacks from your children's places at the table!

I highly suggest getting one of those little furry dogs they make now, it actually breathes . . . it's so twilight zone. If I had one of those, I'd put it right in the middle of my dining room table and make everyone stare at its little sinister rising and falling belly while they ate. Mmmm!

Guess Who?

"Guess Who?" 2.5 x 3.5" fine art print.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Click here to buy limited edition signed prints of this image.

Please note the shameless plug above. The original of this image (of my criminally insane cat Moose hanging off the back of my desk) is already sold but the limited edition prints turned out very well and I'm pleased with the batch that the printer just sent me!

Okay, that disgusting marketing ploy aside, I turn to the subject of internet search engines. I should preface this entire blurb by saying that I have at my disposal a nice little web statistic tracking tool called Tracksy that lets me know how many people have ogled my website or stared in disbelief at my blog and where they came from. It doesn't tell me their names or what I'd have to do to convince them to buy my art, but I'm sure that technology is coming soon.

Anyway, I have to say that I greatly enjoy reading the list of search terms people use to find my blog and website. I like to think it says something about me. You ready? Here are some of my favorites:

1) art of the criminally insane
2) difficulty attaching angel on top of christmas tree
3) portraits of j.r.r. tolkien
4) death horse painting
5) chicken liver chuckie
6) funny food poisoning story
7) microwave casualties
8) smiling monkeys
9) spanking porn

and my favorite:

10) horse by well non artist

Who types this stuff into search engines, anyway? You're a bored executive. You sneak a look around your cubicle to make sure no one is watching you violate the company policy on net surfing, and open up Google. With a guilty smile, you type: "smiling monkey." Oh the entertainment that one can get from grinning primates, right?

I just think of the legions of readers I must've disappointed. With eager anticipation, they click on the link to my blog after getting the google results for "art of the criminally insane." And instead, they find my site, which is almost -- ack, can I say it -- wholesome, when you're expecting the brushstrokes of a Manson or something.

As for the horse by well non artist . . . well, that one comes close.

Something Completely Different

"The Queen's Bidding"
Copyrighted 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Not available without concerted begging.

Okay, so today's post is something completely different for me -- once again I'm trying again to illustrate my novel. Y'all gotta tell me what you think.

Oh, oh, and I have to tell you -- "The Understanding" has been accepted into Cross Gate Gallery's Traveling Exhibtition -- a prestigious foxhunting themed exhibition. Very exciting stuff.

Kisses

"Kisses" - 2.5 x 3.5" colored pencil and acrylic on drafting film.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Please click here to bid.

Okay, I will seriously do a tutorial this week on using drafting film. But until then, I have to rant about a hair cut. We've all gotten bad haircuts in our day, right? For instance, my husband once got this rather awful one where all of it looked great except for one two inch by two inch area on the back of his scalp that was short enough to look like a recent surgical site. He could've been real mad about that one, if I hadn't been the one to give it to him.

But the difference is, I'm not obsessive like my husband. I'm a tomboy. I just want it all to be the same length and if they mess the rest up, eh, who cares, it'll grow, right?

Yeah, sure.

It was with great expectations of leaving with a trim job that I plunked myself down into a seat at a discount hair salon which shall remain nameless. One half hour, two cell phone calls (to my hairdresser, not me), and two relatives (my hairdresser's, not mine) later, I had a hair cut. Well, cut hair, more precisely. One side was blatantly longer than the other, so I tolerantly smiled and pointed it out in the mirror. With the grim determination of a Monty Python knight, the hairdresser dove in and began cutting away at the wrong part. I smiled mildly and pointed this out as well. No harm, no foul, right? She began apologizing (oh, please, stop talking while you're cutting my hair!) and hacked in the general direction I had indicated. And then she hacked off my bangs by sheer proximity. Was this better? Yes, please, just let me out. Thanks!

Well, my plans to just let it grow out were foiled by the fact that it was still completely different lengths all over my head and my bangs wandered aimlessly across my forehead. My attempts to pull it back into a ponytail resulted in something that looked like

1) troll doll
2) chia pet
3) Tina Turner

It was not good. Very not good. I decided to swallow my tom boy pride and go to a real, wallet stealing hairdresser to have it fixed. It had been a long time since I'd paid more than $12 for a haircut, I figured it was just as well. Well, it turned out that she had to cut it - ahh -- very short to get it all match. How short, you ask? This short? No, shorter. This short? No, SHORTER!

The result is that I now have a very nice hair cut that looks like it belongs on a barbie doll from the 50s. It's this curled under bob affair that really makes me want grab my apron and started singing Julie Andrews songs. It's not that it's a bad haircut at all (so that's why those expensive hairdressers are so -- expensive), it's just that it's so not me that it's disconcerting. Plus I look so young I'm going to be carded for the rest of the year. Ha, you say that's not a bad thing, I say, try standing in a check out line with two small, evil children in the cart while you fish out a license for cooking wine. Then come back and tell me you wanna be carded!

I would show you a photo but I'm afraid some web creepo who has an advanced degree in computer science would download it, print it off, and stare at it lustfully while playing Dungeons and Dragons. Who knows what that would do to my boundlessly positive energy.

The Golden Ticket

"The Golden Ticket" - 2.5 x 3.5" colored pencil on drafting film.
Copyright 2006 Maggie Stiefvater.
Click here to bid.

Well, I was going to blog tonight on The Transporter II and the implausibility and hotness of Jason Statham's character, but as I just got an email from Art Encounter in Las Vegas saying that my page was now up, I thought I'd give you the down low.

Apparently Art Encounter is this humungous (humungus? humoengus? huumungous?) gallery out in Las Vegas and shock of shocks they actually would like to represent me -- which probably means they haven't read my blog. Anyway, here is the link to my very snazzy looking page on their site: http://www.artencounter.com/index.php/cPath/2_277

I also have a bunch of photos of my stuff looking snazzy on their walls but they are hassling me and not being easily posted so I'm giving up. Yes, I'm lazy. I may try again tomorrow after I've had more donuts. Ooh! I should also get a photo of the blinking Krispy Kreme ornament that my husband bought me today. Yes, that is the definition of love.

I'm contemplating posting a tutorial on colored pencils -- anything in particular you guys want to hear about? Shoot me an email if anything tickles your fancy. And until then, go have some donuts. I know I'm going to.