My Bad Art Habit

I have this bad habit of taking on lots of creative projects and then having no interest/motivation/desire to start them.  It’s pretty bad.   However, I am now trying with renewed effort (and some meds because apparently I’m sick and that’s why I’ve been sleeping so much).  It began with rampant cleaning and organizing.  The bed is made, the desk is nearly free of clutter, you can see the pictures on top of the dresser again and the easel is no longer a clothing rack. After all this cleaning I was left to stare at this:

Two lovely stretchers and my favorite shoes.  Favorites for many reasons, but mostly because they remind me of these:

Dune Prep Sketches!

Having learned far more information than any person ought to know about the Starspen Galaxy, and specifically the Canopus system, I feel much more prepared to sketch some layout ideas for my Arrakis painting.   I now know what Canopus, Canopus B, Seban, Menaris, Arrakis, Krelln, and Arvon look like.  To most people that probably sounds like a bizarre list of made-up words, but to a Dune-loving nerd there is an all-too-clear understanding of fictional space!  Vielen Dank to http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Arrakis for all the essential  information, it is greatly appreciated!

The problem I face now is with positioning.  Do I want to show all of Arrakis or just part of it so I can include everything between it and Canopus?  Do I even want to include Canopus, Seban and Menaris or should I just paint Arrakis with its moons? Here are the thumbnails and planning page thus far:

Is searching the internet really art?

Today’s art adventure begins with research.  So I’d say YES! searching the internet is art……sort of.

I need to learn all I can about Arrakis so I can plan out my painting. Here’s what I know so far:

It’s a dessert planet.

It orbits the star Canopus.

It is the third planet from Canopus.

It has 2 moons; one with a Muad’Dib (Kangaroo Mouse) image and one with human hand image.

So far, this is all I found:

Well, it’s a start…

So day one was easy because most of the creating I did was for the blog site.  Day two however,  posed a challenge.  Cthulhu boards might be dry enough to paint, but they are currently at Ryan’s house.  If I can manage to get some time with Cthulhu later, today might even merit a second update.

My newest ideas are all inspired by the fact that when Ryan and I move out we will have empty walls.  I bought a pack of 15 pre-prepped canvases (4″x6″).  They are small, but I think that will help things seem less intimidating.    I want to paint each canvas with a nerdy thing and then attach all the canvases like one of those collage picture frames.  I need ideas of nerdy things to paint on the canvases.  Ideas thus far include: D20, Portal gun, Horde symbol, Rebel Alliance symbol, Millennium Falcon…..but  I need more ideas.  suggestions welcome.

New Start for an Old Project – Call of Cthulhu Screen

Quite some time ago, around November 2009, I started a special project for my boyfriend, Ryan, a Call of Cthulhu game master screen.  Ryan is very into tabletop role-playing games and is frequently the game master. After the first GM screen we made, I was excited to make the Cthulhu screen, but it kept getting put off and never finished.

The first screen we made was a GM screen for Whitewolf’s Mage:The Acension.  It did not take long to make and the whole process seemed faster because of how excited we were to be making it.  This particular screen has six stained wood panels with hand carved and painted details, as well as a fitted clip for holding papers.  Ryan recreated the necessary game charts to match the theme and they were attached to the inside panels.

Mage Screen, Book Front