Art time.

Hello me hearties =)

Hope you all had a lovely christmas with a pile of presents under the tree? I for my part was glad when the next morning was there... xD

So... What I've got for you now are some WIP's =) I haven't been doing much these days due to the whole christmas hassle and all that sh** and having to work a bit besides that cause my boss is building up his own web page now... so ... yeah, but now I've got back cause I had one of these "I'll do one within the last days of the year" - painting ideas like with sleeping sun last year. So.. yeah, I'll probably finish it soon. Here are the pics:

First of them is a WIP of my current portrait... I'm coming forward very slow with this one cause it has so much difficult shading in the face -.- I'm wondering if I'll ever finish this one.

So much for now then =)

I wish you all a happy and healthy new year. Don't make too many resolutions, as I know it from myself I hardly ever keep them. ;) C'yall next year.

*vanishes*

P.S.: Do not forget lovelies, I do have a homepage now! :D And since yesterday there's aaaallll the old portrait stuff up in the gallery! So you can see how bad I was ago almost 10 years ^^ Have fun and spread the word: http://www.artrefugium.de

Houston, we're online!

Hello me hearties!

I have one big announement to make! 

My very own web page is finally all finished and online! :D It took a long long time and much patience but now it's done! Please come in and have a look around!

http://www.artrefugium.de

You can find yet unreleased photos there, tutorials, videos, journeyblogs ... =) Hope y'all like my page :D

Do not be deceived btw by the .de - domain name. I had to do this because the .com was already taken ...

A big fat THANK YOU goes out to my boss who made the database beneath the page and puzzled together the template. He had a load of patience with me while I was partially very very impatient. 

So... yeah, click and see if you can find something useful for you =)

*vanishes*

P.S.: I now installed a working guestbook plugin and a visitor counter x) Everything's complete now :D

Tools of the trade.

Hello me hearties =)

So short before christmas I decided to finally take that big photo of all my materials I've got here and do a little material tutorial. Hope it's helpful for some of you. If you've got questions - feel free to leave a comment or write me, I will try to help as good as I can =)

So here we go:

1) My beloved Derwent Graphic pencils. Grades 9H to 9B.

About grades: pencil leads consist of a graphite + clay mixture. The more graphite, the softer the pencil and the darker the abrasion is. The more clay, the harder the pencil. From 6H on - in my eyes - you can use those pencils only for technical drawings.

2) A 120 piece box of Faber Castell Polychromos.
I love them but haven't found much use for them yet cause I still need to practise... (Btw if you notice that glitch on the upper side of the 3 parts of the box... this was Microsoft ICE's fault... :-/ haven't got them twice xD)

3) Acrylic colors. The big bottles are from Schmincke, the small ones from ALDI.

4) Acrylics again. A collection of all sizes and kinds of tubes, most of them aren't used anymore... ^_^° The bigger ones are from Schmincke, the clear ones are from REWE I think and of the rest I don't know anymore where I got them...

For Acrylics: They're a mixture of pigments and an acrylic polymer emulsion. The cheaper the paint, the less pigments are contained. Still you can buy cheap stuff as well, they're good for doing areas where the underground has to shine through. 
Acrylics are water soluble - means you don't have to poison yourself with toxic solvents. There's also a lot of effect, thicking and thinning addition stuff for them out there so the possibilities with acrylics are endless.

5) Schmincke Watercolors.

6) Drawing tools... From top to bottom:

   - Paper stomps in all sizes
 For smudging in pencil drawings. They're good for details. If they get too dirty, use a nailfile and file the dirt off. If they're REALLY dirty, get a crapet knife and cut off the dirt.

   - A mechanical pencil
They come in several grades, just as pencils themselves. They're awesome for doing details in beards and hair.

   - Faber Castell Eraser pencils
Perfect for erasing small detais such as highlights on hair

   - Different erasers, a grey one from Faber Castell, a white one and a kneaded eraser, also from Faber Castell

You can trim the grey erasers to sharp edges to erase light hair with it. The kneaded eraser is great for lighting up areas that got too dark or erase details such as stuff in hair. 

   - White gel pens
 For highlights in eyes and metal pieces etc where you can't reach complete white with erasing-

   - A jumbo 8B Faber Castell pencil
Love to use it for bigger black areas..

   - A 9B graphite stick, also by Faber Castell
Usually just used by me to make graphite powder by sharpening it

7) Graphite powder in a small glass and pencil sharpener
Graphite powder is awesome. Dip a paintbrush into it and start painting with it or make a smooth background. You can make it yourself or buy it in art supply stores.

8) A big brush for big canvases and backgrounds and doctor's Q-tips for smudging in pencil drawings
I chose to get those Q-tips with the longer wooden stick because normal ones just weren't made for my chubby fingers..

9) Masking tape (cheap stuff from ALDI) to tape my future portraits 'n stuff.
Discovered that lately. I wanted to get straight edges and neat white frames on my pictures so I told my sister to bring me masking tape :D

10) Paintbrushes. A load of them. One can never have enough paintbrushes in my eyes x)
Not much to say here. Just so much - the white haired synthetic brushes are awesome for acrylics. I tend to use more synthetics these days cause normal paintbrushes are made of animal hair and I don't want any animal to die for my art.

11) Fabriano Accademia paper.
The best stuff for portraits, really. The blue labeled blocks are 120g/m² (56 lbs), the green ones 200g/m² (94 lbs). I recommend to not use the 120g/m² for things where you need to get deep black spots because it gets wavy then. Better use the thicker one.

12) Stabilo liners in several colors, silver gel pens, blender pencils, a silver Faber Castell Pitt artist pen, a black Edding marker, a Faber Castell broadpen in black, and a classical Online fountain pen
For doing all kinds of stuff... details, writing, signing...

13) My beloved Canon CanoScan5600F scanner
Not much to say either, just: I love it and can highly recommend it. It has an incredible sharpness so I can even scan canvases with it. It comes with a scanning program where you can adjust just EVERYTHING.

14) The chaos under my table... Art folders, more paper of all sorts, small things such as corks, stickers, more paintbrushes, beads and all kinds of stuff.

15) Glow-in-the-dark paint and Schmincke masking fluid
The glow paint can be mixed to a certain grade with white paint before it loses its ability to glow... For the masking fluid - always have an eye on it, the last bottle dried in due to unknown reasons... and never leave it on your paper for more than 2 days. Better not use it on canvases and any surface that sucks moisture in.

So... yeah ^^ All I know for now in short form. There will be an even more excessive tutorial on my upcoming web page =) 

So far, have happy holidays and many presents beneath the sparkling tree =)
*vanishes*

Wow.

Is it already christmas? Why I'm asking? Well, today I got a new wire for my router. I've now put it over to the window and the connection didn't fail anymore for over 4 hours now. Besides that, my monitor problem is also gone (I guess it were interferences from the router which was standing right beside it before..) ... Finally some things work :D At last. I had enough trouble the last week... first a big family row and then being ill having to take heavy antibiotics... but now I'm all back =) Just need to adjust my sleep-wake rythm now. 

What belongs to the art department I'm not doing much atm due to my illness last week and because I'm awake at daytime which makes it impossible for me to do art because I hate people gazing over my shoulder asking "what'cha doing?" ... Still, I've got a few WIP's for you from my current project =)

Had some problems with the hair strands in the face and they're not totally right but eh, whatever...Probably gonna try to correct it. if it won't work I'll leave it like this. I know he's gonna like it anyway :D

Meh... and I've thought I've beaten the monitor devil but it starts flickering again ... seems the router wasn't the cause... opening a window to cool that pc box down -.-

*vanishes*

Art, art and ... art.

Hello me hearties =)

I'm full back in doing what I usually do. I started a new portrait to inaugurate my new Derwent pencil set =) The portrait is one that I wanted to do since a few months now. Here are some WIP's:

This time taped like a pro cause I want a neat white area around the pic. I might even get  a frame for it when it's finished. I try to get that awesome facial expression right but it's actually not as easy as I thought it would be. Still I think this will be one of my best works when it's done x) Probably I'll even show it to the model... ^_^ <3 I've got no title for it yet but I think it will be something special since this person is kinda special to me.

Btw here are the pencils I got lately :D I love them, I keep opening and closing the box just to look at them *_*

I have to get a bit adjusted to them, dunno but drawing with derwent pencils is different to faber castell xD Maybe it's only illusion and my head tells me that but I feel it is like this. 

Also - I lately discovered a new way to get great, smooth graphite surfaces in a walkthrough I found online. You simply need graphite powder and a bristol paintbrush and / or a kitchen sponge ... dip your paintbrush / sponge into the powder and work it onto the paper until you're satisfied. I still need a little practise but this method is great :D

 

So much for now =) C'yall :D

Review time.

Hello me hearties,

I got a very cool early christmas present yesterday and now have watched and heard it completely. So I thought I write a review about it x)

It is: "Showtime, Storytime" by Nightwish - the nuclear blast mailorder edition.

It comes in a noble looking "book" ... as I think that this was meant in the description saying "book" .... There's high gloss black cardboard inside which contains the CDs / DVDs and the extras that are:

- 12 high quality photo cards

- a (printed) setlist

- an "access all areas" - pass (which will be of no future use I guess xD)

- a certificate (I've got number 832 out of 1000)

- an autograph card (sadly printed too. At least here I would've expected original autographs since this box is limited to 1000 pieces... but whatever, I've got enough of them ^^°)

Also sadly, that high gloss cardboard catches ugly fingerprints very fast that are hard to remove ... :( 

For the media content:

- The concert still is catching me, waking up some memories. Floor does her job very well, better than expected while hearing the record first before watching the DVD. I think they'll reach totally new levels with this woman as singer.  She's still got some dents here and there but I am sure that will fix with time.

- The documentary ... hm well. My mind is splitted. At some parts I'm just thinking "actors!" ... And it's clearly visible that they had trouble editing the material so that Anette is not to be seen. All in all it's nothing really new in the north. 

So at the end I think I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars because of that fingerprint - catching design and the questionable documentary. The rest is cool. And my DVD - drive is slowly dying T_T 

So far from me, cy'all :)

So much to do, so little time.

Hello me hearties =)

The giveaway is over, the 2 winners are chosen ... I will send out the pics within the next days then.

I also finished another piece of my nightwish paintings lately. It's for "Taikatalvi" and more of a speedie... but see yourself =)

And the other thing - so I found this song online which immediately reminded me of south pole and polar ice deserts ... so I decided to start a totally new project. I'm doing a video. Shooting around the area here, putting it together with the song and let it work. Here are the first 4 official pics for it :) 

I really wanna bring over the feeling how cold it is but at the same time show the beauty of the area where I live.. hope I will make it. Needed to borrow the cam of my parents because mine doesn't wanna eat that light anymore... -.- Got me a 16 GB memory card now because that 2 GB that's in there only eats 10 minutes of filming and that's simply annoying. 

Another thing - I'm at the moment searching the internet to learn new stuff about drawing ... I always get kinda jealous when I stumble upon people who've been at art schools such as that one in Florence ... I'm a poor mouse and can't afford the sums they want there so I need to search and teach myself...
So lately I found this walkthrough that's using a sponge and paintbrushes to get smooth graphite areas ... I now tried that myself and am positively surprised. Been searching for a way to do this for ages and now finally have a solution :D I'll in general try now to get a bit more into the traditional technique stuff and all that because there's so much stuff I am not able to do simply due to a lack of the technique needed for it... hope I can solve this problem and surprise you with better artworks in the future =)

Yeah, so far for the news.. I'll keep you up to date what belongs to my winter project and stuff =) 
Cya next time.

Meep :D

Hello me hearties =)

Hope you're all doing well and had a sunny monday :)

Just wanted to present a new finished artwork. I completed it in a sudden attack ... And my "brother" loves it x) But see yourself:

As for my novel ... I'm getting forward quite good, got already 11 Word pages now. (I stopped for a night now cause I finished the portrait and have so much other stuff in my head...) Still it's sometimes hard to find words ... better focus on drawing and painting for now before I get a writing block. 

And - something monumental happened - I sold my first piece of art on etsy! :D It feels strange to give your work away but I can live with it. Especially with this piece I sold. A piece of past memory that has now left the house and so my eyes. 

For everything else... nothing's changed so far. Still stuffing my head with italian, wondering how fast the synapses are building up ... I'm almost suspecting this language is some kind of pre-installed in my brain xD

And I'm planning to play more guitar now ... still got no amp but I'm misusing the electric guitar as a western guitar ... xD And I can proof what the maestro said - repeating is everything. So your brain builds the connections and at one point you're able to do it then. This is why I hate today's society which wants you to have everything right at the first time...

But enough for now. As a closing goodie, an awesome video for you. This brings back the feeling from last year a bit, blowing me off my chair in some way.  I know many of you don't like Floor but I think she's doing her job very well in this song. (Still, my time is over, I won't be a full time fanatic anymore. But I think I can learn a lot from Floor when it comes to singing.) 

So far for now, cya next time :)

No idea for a title...

Hello me lovelies,

sorry for being away again for so long... had a lot to do lately... -.-°

First of all I had to get my car fixed for doing the TÜV .. a 2 year check for cars to make sure they're safe for the street ... well after everything was fixed then I went to Susi and Dennis and to Ingolstadt on Saturday, not coming far cause I've got a flat tire short before Allershausen (which is - as I've been told later - somehow a cursed place for car accidents...) so I drove aside, called the ADAC and waited for the guy to come and change the tire... 

Now after I've been home for 2 days, my parents today discovered that I had the wrong tires on my car. It were theirs. Bad for them now but good for me since it means I don't have to get 2 new tires ... So ... yeah xD So much for the chaos of the last days. It slowly lightens up.

As for my novel - it's going forward very well. I finished the fine plot last night and will start typing and assembling the pieces I've got somewhen in the next hours or so... Besides that I'm looking for publishers to send to when the thing is finished in the end... I'm highly motivated x)

And besides THAT I am still continuing stuffing my head with italian on livemocha. One lesson a week. I just love love love the sound of this language. And I always wanted to learn it... now I've got a reason so I can do xD

And I dunno... do you guys still know this song? x) I remember good seeing them for the first time at The Dome on TV asking myself what the heck this language is they're using ... And I still love those songs from back then... childhood / youth memories x) (Also a few stupid ones xD)

Cya until next time =)

Plottin' like a madwoman.

Just wanted to let you know - I've not dissapeared. Besides fighting to keep my health and feeding a web shop with products for work I am plotting my novel...  Atm doing character sheets. They are printed on both sides of the sheets ;) Front side character description, backside motivations and achievements. This is gonna be interesting in the end. Besides that I've got a few word documents filled with all other infos.. gonna get a pile of stuff in the end I'll be able to work with :D

 

Btw - I came to stumble upon a metal band from ... I think they're from Tunisia. While looking for african metal bands and I actually found they're quite good. They sound like Kamelot vs. Terry Horn (you could also take Marco / Zachary Hietala as reference). But see yourself:

So far.. I'm back to work =) Cya :D

News. Or something like that.

Hello me hearties =)

So I am back in every day life I guess.. took me some time to get normal again.

What's new in the south? Actually not much.

The people doing my web page are slow as snails and I think I'll kick some asses within the next days... I'm tired of waiting...

The other thing is - my visual creativity seems to be on vacation which means I'm doing random jewelry at the moment ... ^_^° Never thought I'd get into this but doing necklaces from leftover beads acutally is some kind of fun. If you wanna have one of them, please visit my etsy shop :) Selling them for 15 Euros / 20,70 Dollars per piece. 

And a complete other thing - since drawing is not on my list atm - I chose to dig out the novel I'm working on since... yeah 2 years or more now. I found this plotting tutorial on deviant art and am now doing a proper plot before I correct all the rubbish I wrote and put the puzzle back together... I hope I can release this thing somewhen in the next 2 years xD (No I will not tell you the storyline ... sadly there are too many idea thiefs out there and I don't want my unique story to be stolen... ) All I can say is: the setting is a desert planet. I love the Dune movies - but it's not inspired by them. (Nope, no drugs xD Actually the story doesn't really relate to the Dune scenery at all.) The idea came in a dream I had long ago. Since then I was hatching about how to build up a story on that... first I wanted to make it as epic as Lord of the Rings but soon I discovered that it was just too long-winded and boring so I gave it another way which seems to work so far. This is only the first part of it for now... there will be a second part which will take place here on earth. You'll see why ;)

About the whole thing itself - I dunno but ever since I've read Federica de Cesco's desert novels, I got more and more fascinated by the people living there ... Especially of the Tuareg culture since they have matriarchy and all that stuff is interesting for me as a woman ^^ I guess one thing came to the other and so I am a huge desert fan today. I also already had an encounter of the weird kind on a concert because of that but that's another story. ^^ Nothing you'd want to know, believe me. 

Yeah so far... I keep dragging myself to keep on plotting because I wanna get finished someday... I'll let you know when there's something new =) Until then:

cya =) *vanishes*

Concert review.

Hello me hearties,
there I am again among the living I guess... it was a strenuous thursday that almost threw me out of my shoes but I think it was worth it :) But from the beginning.

First we were at the place way too early, sneaking around a bit to see where the entrance is ... just to drive off to a McDonald's first then cause we couldn't find a toilet arount the location... ^_^° 

Back then we accompanied the people that were already waiting there, having a nice talk, freezing a little and then being dragged back by the security people into the crumbling walls in front of the building to wait there... We then stood there for about another 2 hours until they'd let us in. But whatever, I think that belongs to a concert, sitting outside with strangers becoming friends :D

So we were inside then, waiting for another hour for the support band "Caspian" to start playing. I must say I was positively surprised. Everyone was complaining about them only playing instrumental and boring but I found them quite good. Just a little too loud maybe. Still I can recommend them.

After Caspian had finished, we slowly realized that it would get serious now. HIM would soon come on stage. A historical event for me, since this was my first time ever seeing them live... I still have problems believing that I really saw them standing up there... xD When you think of it, since my teens, since over 10 years I had only known them from photos and videos and then you see them live and in color standing in front of you... it is really kinda strange. 

The show was totally awesome. Maybe one of the best concerts I've ever seen in my life, though, for my taste, they could have made a few breaks inbetween the songs instead of smashing one after the other out ... But still it was great. And Ville seemed to have a lot of fun up there. At least we in the front row couldn't stop laughing. Yet when they played When love and death embrace he seemed to almost start crying. Probably all the goofing around was just a cover-up... Who knows. I also absolutely loved the light show. I think I've never seen a better one.

For more photos please visit my photo album on facebook. :)

After the concert we then went out where the buses were standing but had no luck since the band seemed to have disappeared right after the gig... but I later on read then that their truck had been robbed on the way from Milano to Vienna so I'm not wondering. I'd be paranoid too after that and look that I can disappear as fast as possible. So maybe there'll be a chance to get a photo with the maestro next time then. I will visit another concert of HIM for sure. They were totally awesome. And I'm hard to impress.

So far for now... 

A last thing besides all the concert stuff - my web page is FINALLY somewhere near going online, the adress is already registered and I've been told they're working on it now. So it can't take that long anymore. :) 

Cya *waves*

P.S.: This was the song I loved most of the whole set:

Giveaway time!!

Hello me lovelies!

I've got a big surprise for you: There's a giveaway going on on my facebook page! You can win an A3 copy of my "Brothers" portrait! All you have to do is like my page and the pic, share it and put a comment under it :) The 2 winners will be chosen by random number generator in the end. Deadline is December 1st 2013 :)

Weeellll....

Happy news for y'all - my page will be online on monday or tuesday! :D Can't wait! Will let you know when the time has come then!

So... yeah, just wanted to let you know that the page is about to go online =) 
And show you one of my favourite songs of the moment. I've been digging a hole into youtube today and took a listen to the older Sirenia stuff ... and I have to say I truly like this album. Will put it into my list of all time faves.

Also been at the drugstore lately (no drugs, I swear! xD) to get some stuff and came across those jewelry thingies ... I couldn't resist and bought me a bracelet. I love this sparkling silver stuff. I just love it. But see yourselves :D

It's by "beeline" and costed 4,95 Euros / 6,95 Dollars. I bought another one from this company a long time ago but the rubber band somewhen fell to pieces... need to get me some new and fix it someday... 

So... yeah that's all for now =) Have fun with the video and see y'all next time arount :) *vanishes*

'ello

Again so long away, I'm dearly sorry ... got a lot of stuff flying around my ears at the moment ... Among these things are looking after my car to get fixed because it's leaking oil ... trying hard to finish my guitar hero pic and stuffing my brain with italian grammar on livemocha... At least my health is restored I think. Had a bit of a sore throat over the weekend but killed it with silver colloid, honey and cinnamon... Feeling all well again now. :) All that's going on my nerves at the moment is the unsureness about the car ... -.- I need it on the 17th to drive to Munich for the HIM - concert... which I don't really feel going to at all... But I wanna see them live at least once in my life so I have to go. I'll survive xD And after that no more Finns. Had enough of them T_T Nothing against Finns themselves if one of you should read this. I just had enough of Finnish musicians. Moving on to new shores. Warmer ones xD

The other thing... I dunno, are there any astro- / quantum physics fans among you? I'm hatching over a theory for quite some time now and I had one of these last night again ... Wanted to hear your opinion on that. What I'm thinking? My theory is that dreams are parallel dimensions / worlds. That we get out of our bodies at night wandering around between the dimensions. I wonder what you physics guys say about that. I think it could be possible.. would explain a lot of things. Just a few thoughts x)

Besides that I have good news for you - my web page is somewhere in the process of going online and I will be told when the database is done =) So I'll tell you then when the thing is finally online :D Beg your patience until then cause I really don't know what these guys are doing at the moment... ?_? 

Btw - after finishing the guitar hero I will start my long thought about project x and I think I will do another making of - video thingie with that again ... Just so you know :)

Yeah... so far for now. Cya all next time and please comment if you have something to say about that parallel world - thing, I'm really curious for qualified opinions!

*vanishes*

And so...

Hello me hearties =)

Sorry for being away for so long again ... haven't been doing so well the last week. It all began with having stomachache that woke me up, after that my digestion started to make problems and somehow every bone was hurting ... I went to the doc but he couldn't find anything... I guess it came from the excitement and stress of the days before... all the happenings threw me over I guess... I'm doing good again now. Hope it stays that way.

I also did a little art lately. Not much, just a cardboard box (cause I had gotten a box of Ferrero Küsschen for my birthday and wanted to make something of it...) and a few photos.. But see yourself =):

I also digged out an old movie lately which I've seen on TV somewhen in my youth, I have no idea how old I was then... The movie's called "Encino man" and is about two high school guys (played by Pauly Shore and Sean Astin [later known as Samwise Gamdschie from Lord of the Rings]) who find a cave man (played by Brendan Fraser) in their garden while digging out a pool... they try to make him socially suitable and stuff and get into a lot of trouble because of that. But still the movie is funny as hell. At least I know now where I've got my speech defects from ... they're just too contagious xD

And I've finally finished reading a book. It's called "Nachtland" and the Author is Jan de Leeuw. It's about a little boy whose father became a drinker and now lives separated from his mother and he hates the new boyfriend of his mother. After christmas the boy runs away out onto the frozen lake where he is later found, lying in coma since then. While his sister and mother try everything to get him back into life at the hospital, the boy himself makes a journey inside his mind. He lands in a wonderland, finds friends and enemies. I think it's a book worth reading, yet I don't know if it's available in english. I got it in German, the original must be in Dutch. Here's a german recension: http://www.buechertreff.de/kinder-jugendbuecher/63833-jan-de-leeuw-nachtland/
I think the book is very enthralling, yet it reminds me of some certain movie. But I like it =) It's worth a read. 

What belongs to books - I got a big inspiration push lately for my SciFi story =) Am working on it again at the moment, hoping I will finish it somewhen... I let you know when the time has come. And I will try to translate / let translate it into english =)

So far ... cya'll =) 

Miracles tend to happen when you expect it last.

*wipes off dust* oh dear, again 12 days without a post ... I'm starting to get lazy. 

So, where was I?

It seems that I now am truly free from that curse that bugged me all the past years... I had kind of a last test yesterday looking at these pics and wondering why the heck I wanted that guy... So I'm free now *jumps around of joy* 

The other thing that makes me incredibly happy atm is ... I digged out an old CD from the attic to find out from when it was and through that I found my 2 heroes on facebook... And I can now officially prove that they're the lovliest, kindest lovelies in this world <3 Besides that I've got a problem of a different sort now but I think I can live with that x) Also the puzzle of where's and why's has got a new piece that's quite interesting. So... yeah, everything's going well at the moment. Finally.

I'm also hatching about a new painting idea, not yet clear in my mind but I think that will be the case soon. And I'm still digging in my small picture collection to find something drawable cause I'd love to do two separate portraits after my special project but the pics are either too small or they have such complicated details that it's impossible for me to draw them T_T I will find a way. I will.

For now, I will crawl upstairs into my bed, been up for way too long playing games and cleaning the bathroom... *yawns*

C'all <3

Why does there always have to be a title xD

... nah, I just don't really am bubbling over with ideas when it comes to name things xD Sorry for not writing so long again ... having a million other things in my head atm not knowing what to do with them ...

First of all - the shadow didn't take back my life. It really seems to be over. Still, I'm a bit moody these days. Especially today cause I'm asking myself once more what sense certain things in my life make. Or more - what good is a dream when you'll never reach it. I think I swapped one shadow for another... -.- Why do we always yearn to have someone we can look up to while it chains us up? I think I've never really been myself in my life. And probably never will. Not if I don't find a method to stay off of those influences ... Well but as long as I don't find a cure I'll be watching out to keep my sanity... 

For my web page - I fear I have to beg your patience once more since my boss seems to be quite busy atm -.- I really hope I will go online at least this month. 

Btw - does anyone of you know a good, free source to learn italian? I'm really into it at the moment and would love to learn it. (Among other things cause I love the sound of that language...) Please leave a comment if you know possibilities =) 

So ... yeah. I will see where this all will lead me, standing somewhat besides me today, need to sort my head out. 

Cy'all :) 

P.S.: Can't stop watching this at the moment <3 Craving to see them live but wondering if they'll ever come on tour again... :-/

Everything remains as it never was.

Hello me hearties =)

There's a lot of news for you these days.

Point one - My web page will be online latest end of the week, there are still some template fixes to be done and I did a beautiful front page for you =) Which leads me to:

Point two - the reason I now poked my boss to finally finish the page is - im finally gaining some attention, at least when it comes to my Nightwish artwork cause I joined a facebook group that's leaded by people with influence and yeah well... ^_^° They love my stuff. And little me is happy when people love my things =)

And the rest of the story - I got a new finished artwork =) The long lasting and finally finished painting for Ghost River. The scan doesn't quite show the real beauty of this work but still I think it's one of my best pieces =) But see for yourself =)

 

The problem now is that I've got some kind of artistic idle -.- Guess I overworked myself again... Hope it disappears soon cause I've got a lot of stuff to finish and begin... x_x 

And I'm again hanging somewhere inbetween the worlds cause of this group join from above... Normally I didn't (wanna) have to do that much anymore with all that stuff and I wanted to stay out of it but something seems to wanna tell me that the journey isn't over yet. I know it's a good thing, yet I fear that I could fall back into my old habits again ... Which would be the last thing on earth I'd want. Seems my box of darkness has come out of the shadow and taken shape again ... But we'll see. As the good old saying is - Time will tell. I know my borders. The shadow will not steal my life again. 

ArT RefugiuM over and out.

A box full of darkness.

Hello me hearties =)

I've got a finished work for you again, the little inbetween - speedy called "Moonchild", inspired by a song by the same name by Celtus =)

It's nothing special but I kinda had to do this inbetween... and it's - if he doesn't pull back - already sold to a friend x)

And for all the rest - I decided to continue with the Ghost river - painting I had flying around here... well I could say I didn't decide but my inner me did ... Here are a few of the last WIP's =)

The castle is inspired by some sculpture and digital art stuff I found on my google research but all in all there's not much left of the original images, I re-designet it all x) Hope I can smash the girl who wants this painting off her chair with the details 'n shit xD

So... for the rest... I'm doing fine, I just lately had a little family argument that kicked me back into a bit of a depressive phase that almost poked me into the wrong direction again but I made it to climb out of there again before it ate me... for now I'm stable I think. I just feel some sort of darkness taking over the world but that's no wonder since america is about to bomb us all out of this world... We'll see. For now everything's fine. 

Now that it gets colder again my interest in writing also is coming out again... I think I'm gonna throw over my scifi novel another time xD Hopefully one day it will see some daylight ... =_= But hey - I've got a concrete beginning scene now and already have the score for it, so it can't be that bad xDD

Ok I'm out, I'm babbling too much rubbish.

I saw what you did.

Hello me hearties =)

I'm back, all tooth fixed and well... nah well rested not. Not yet. Gonna get some more sleep later, nothing to do anymore tomorrow. 

Yesterday evening was awesome again, as always when I'm in Solnhofen. A nice and cozy little "family" meeting. :) And if you ask "wtf is she talking about??" - here a video of my heroes of yesterday with one of their covers :)

If you live in southern germany (or austria) I recommend to see them live. They're awesomesauce. I'm blown away again every time I see them. They've also been adopted now by Bayern 1, one of our regional radio stations, so if you can make it to receive it, keep your ears open since they play a few of Suzan's own songs. 

I also got my borrowed e-guitar now, just need the amp and the wire now but that'll happen somewhen in the next time then =) Very curious.

I also began - out of pure boredom - a drawing with white pastel pencil on a black base colored sheet of watercolor paper... out came this:

 

And it's probably already sold since a buddy of mine loves it x) Just gotta finish it... =_= (And I guess you people know how good I am in finishing things...) We'll see =) So long...

cya :)

An essay on the learning process...

Someone I loved gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift. (Mary Oliver)
Without this person, my artistic skills wouldn’t be what they are today, probably they won’t even exist. I’ve paid a high price for this. But who knows where I’d be if I wouldn’t have been given this box of darkness. Probably it kept me from going astray into even darker grounds.
At first, this box of darkness seemed to be just another song with attachments that led me to the face of this person for the first time. Later on I started to glorify this box. It took me away to worlds I had never known before, showed me what I was able to do and who I seemed to really be. In reality, I was just a mirror, finding someone else in myself.
Sunk deeply into my dazed, moonlight soaked world, I didn’t realize that the darkness started to take me over. I thought I had nothing to lose, thought this is the world how it’s meant to be for me, a prince on a white horse. I’ve let it consume my thoughts, my heart, and my mind. I’ve let it consume my life which I was ready to give up.
This box kept me caged in chains I was never able to get rid of cause they seemed to be made of an indestructible material. Every time I tried to escape, they became tighter until I nearly couldn’t breathe anymore.
Then one day, the chains seemed to disappear for a little time. I took my chance and tried to wriggle myself out as long as they were nothing but translucent lines. But as I did my first move, they immediately became solid and unbreakable again. I did this for a few times, but this box always kept me chained up, threatening to tighten the chains so much that I wouldn’t be able to breathe anymore, always waving at me with the face of a good friend and the last glimpse of hope I had.
Then, one day the day came where my thoughts drifted toward the darkness, and I realized the dark box had become and is just a light grey shade in a bright environment. A deep sigh of relief welled within me, and I knew the darkness was gone for good. I felt a great relief, now that I was free from this burden. Every now and then my mind wants to open the hazy shadow box once more but loses its interest again in the last second.
For now I dwell on the bright side. And I hope this box stays the haze it is, and maybe disappears completely someday.

I thank the person who gave me this box, for all the experiences, for all the things I was allowed to learn and see, for all the inspiration he gave me and still does.
But more – for understanding life itself a little bit better.

.... I had to get this out. Found these wonderful lines by Mary Oliver today and just had to say something about it cause it hits the nail on the head. And yet this is just another try to therapy myself. 

But everything's fine, don't worry :)

So where was I? 

Had a dentist appointment today, fixing another hole or two... in the end it became a root canal treatment -.-° Now I have a temporary filling there and gotta go to the doc again on thursday to get it all finished... sheesh am I glad when these 2 teeth are done.

On wednesday I'll go to my bosses, bringing up some paper and picking up the e-guitar and in the evening going to see my 2nd mom and brother in Solnhofen. Will be a nice and cozy evening again, I know already now =) So looking forward to see them again, it's been almost 9 months now since I last saw them... 

So... yeah, not much new here in the south. Life starts to go on again after waking me up way too early today... probably gonna go to bed early too =_=

So cya'll next time =)

I slowly run out of titles...

Hello me hearties =)

There's been happening quite a lot of stuff since the last entry, but let's start at the beginning.

First of all, I finished the painting that was lying around in the corner for almost 2 years... I started it shortly after Nightwish's single storytime was out but then somehow lost the mood to continue... but now it's all done =)

Done with acrylics on a sheet of 30x40 cm Britannia watercolor paper. I'm still trying to make the new series of paintings for the NW album as a continuing story in some way, just as the songs of the album are .. I'm still working on the next one, the Ghost River piece, which has also a bridge in it... 

The 2nd thing then ... I ordered myself a stamp with my wartermark on :D Botched signatures on my artworks? Never again :D I just need a silver ink pad now cause it just won't work with the color I tried... but whatever. I can wait. 

Btw - the symbol represents the initials of my real name, an M and an A ;) I designed this piece a long time ago but never really had a use for it... one day not too long ago then I thought ok - I need a watermark. And so I found the symbol somewhere in the depths of my harddisk ... x) Now I went to one of these online stamp shops and ordered a customized stamp... Hope it will be of good use in the future. 

I also bought me some good drawing paper lately cause I'm running out of test sheets... got me some Fabriano accademia in 120g/m² and 200g/m² in A4 and A3 :) This paper is awesome for pencil portraits, I can only recommend it :)

 

So now on to the last thing I wanted to mention =)
I've been to the cinema yesterday with a friend, to watch The lone ranger :D 

(BEWARE, SPOILERS! If you don't mind being spoilt, read on.) 

And for those of you who haven't seen it yet - forget the shit that the critics are writing. The movie is awesome. Absolutely great what belongs to all the native american stuff and all that, I love it :) The landscape they filmed in also is stunning as well as the visual effects and the stunts. My fave things in the movie were the mad horse and the gun battle on the rolling trains =) Some szenes were so goddamn funny that we were almost lying down on the cinema floor laughing. BUT - some scenes badly reminded me of "Der Schuh des Manitu", a German comedy movie about a ranger and a gay native american ... I guess those Disney guys must have seen it at some point xD 

But all in all a great movie. Well, they combined Bruckheimer, Verbinski, Johnny Depp and Hans Zimmer again, there is no chance of a bad result ;) I also love the score, already got it here. 

The only thing I didn't like about the movie is that they used the old Tonto to recite his memories to a boy instead of pulling up the movie as a whole story. But everything else was great =)

Yeah so far for now... Cya =)