On my easel… New steampunk nude!
“We’ve only just begun…” The placement for this figure was an enormous challenge as there are large steampunk wings coming in later. I have less than a month to finish this piece so it’s going to be a hard slog to get it all done to the quality I want!
There are times I wish I could save it as it is. I really like the way it looks now, but I can’t wait to see it finished either! Ah well, that’s what photographs are for!
The finished work will be appearing in a very cool steampunk show during Loréal fashion week so stay tuned!
Render in progress
Well, that was a nice break! I’ve had a chance to relax and a chance to be sick as well. Yay. but now it’s time to get back to work. This year I want to try writing shorter posts and see how that goes. The plan is to actually publish more. We shall see!
A lot of my Daz time of late has been more technical in nature, a lot of tweaking and experimentation. I have some new toys that I have been practicing with! This is the result of some experimentation and I love the eerie light quality! I still want to tweak the head a little, but it’s coming along really well, I look forward to painting it up.
7 things my toddler has taught me about art
One of the joys of being a parent is watching your child grow and discover new things. This often means you get the delight of rediscovering the simple pleasures in life. Erica is an arty little toddler, she has taken to drawing and painting like a duck to water. Ever since her eyes developed she has loved looking at art, tilting her head to the side to consider works for quite a long time. She loves going all over the house looking at my paintings and I really value her opinion! When a new one is introduced she tells me all about it. One of her first words was “draw” and we hear it many times a day. She draws with a ferocity and concentration. She grips the crayon or pencil and goes for her life! Here are some of the tips I have picked up on art appreciation from my curios toddler.
Seven – 8×8 Oils on Canvas
Seven 8×8 Oils on Canvas
$150
Currently at ArtBoy Gallery
I love the Borg. I think they are one of the best enemies introduced by Star Trek. they are so..human. they appropriate from everywhere to add to their perfection. they take our distinctiveness and add it to their own. they augment and corrupt rather than create, but everything they do serves to create more drones operating on the hive mind. The borg are captives, taken and converted. their memories shared amongst every other borg and their identity lost. their original species is lost. all that remains is the drone.
In Voyager they introduced Seven of Nine and converted her back. it was a long, slow process involving the stripping away of her borg components and extricating her from the hive mind. in doing so, they turned her from one of the most interesting borg, a princess in training to be a queen, a real tough bitch, into a robotic pin-up. there is fan art everywhere for Seven of Nine. she became a fanboi fantasy and one of the sexiest characters to come out of Star Trek. Everyone paints her as she is better known, corsetted with the small, cute, borg accessories. I wanted to show the original Seven of Nine. I painted her at the cusp of becoming human, as she works with Voyager. I wanted to remove the sexiness and show the indecision, the corruption, the raw human underneath. I think many fan art pictures of her focus on the sexy and in showing her as a human remove her personality. I wished to show her as a borg and show her humanity in that.
Come see this painting and other Sci-Fi themed works this Friday at ArtBoy Gallery! FanBoy vs ArtBoy: Science Fiction Opens Friday night 6-8 and runs through to the 4th of December. I will be at the opening and I’d love to see you there!
Warp – 13x19cm Watercolor on Paper
Warp I
19×13
Watercolor and Pencil on Cold Pressed paper
It’s been a challenge creating and uploading these small artworks, but a real pleasure as well. the color and delightful shapes of the human form just continue to thrill me. this one is available on my website, along with all the others at http://www.jennierosenbaum.com and they’re only $50 each!
Crouch III watercolors and pencil on paper
19×13 cm Watercolor and Pencil on Cold Pressed paper
On my website I am publishing a new watercolor every day for 50 days. These watercolors make perfect Christmas presents and are small and bright unique original and affordable artworks! Each one is 13×19 cm and is painted on cold pressed paper. Each is signed by me and ready to frame!
I am really enjoying this challenge as I go forward, it’s a wonderful way to beat back my winter blues and stave off the spring lethargy. I am also challenging myself by painting different types of nudes and stepping outside of my comfort zone in terms of color, lighting, angle and so on. Revisiting different poses several times, I can really focus on the anatomy and the minutae of light and shadow and form. This is a technical excercise in seeing as well as a joy to explore!
Did I mention that each one is only $50? That’s 50 works, 50 days for $50 each! You can see and buy them all on my website, and watch Facebook, or twitter for more 
I will also, of course, be publishing a couple here.
Suspension WIP – 24×30 Oils on Canvas (detail)
Suspension Work in Progress
Oils on Canvas
Filigree and Lace and Cogs oh my. I’m keeping the lace lighter and airier than last time, a contrast from the steel filigree goggles and the heavy cog above it all. This was last weeks work, blocking in the background, glazing details and starting the massive cog undertaking. the figure is almost complete, it’s really about the detailing now. I have yet to use any black, a complete change for me. deeper tones have been blended using umbres and paynes gray or ultramarine. they are creating some very alive warm and cool blacks. I’m paying a great deal of attention to temperature in this piece, even more than I usually do, as it seems that slightly different hues go a long way towards making metal look convincing.
I have a lot of projects coming up at the moment, so while I will be continuing this series (I do love it so!) I will be working on some other things as well.
Suspension WIP – 24×30 Oils on Canvas
Suspension 24×30 Oils on Canvas
So I have begun the massive process. the work is further along than this now, but I have been slack in photographing and uploading my WIPs. I’m too busy working to catalogue it all! we have also started putting up a ceiling in my studio. this should help protect against the australian summer, and protect my neighbors against all the singing and swearing that emerges from my studio.
Too rude? Speech part one – my work
As I edited my speech from last week for posting, I realized it was way too long for a single post! This is the first part, about my work. I was introduced beautifully so I only needed to discuss my work itself. Some of these phrases will form part of my new artist statement.
“My artwork explores the nude figure. I find the human body to be a marvel, not just of engineering and design, but also of poetry and emotion. I am endlessly fascinated by what lies beneath, beneath clothes, beneath the layers of pain and beneath the masks we wear.
Nude Art is our history. It is our expression and our drive. It shows our growth as human beings and our evolution emotionally.
I mostly paint women. Strong, elegant and emotional, I capture different aspects of what it is to be a woman. I have been drawn to a difficult arena as censorship grows and fear over the nude body reaches fever pitch.
That is why I have dedicated myself to debunking myths about nude art. I want to show the world the beauty I see in the human body and share my firm belief that nudity is not threatening, it is not always sexual and it is here to stay.”
Russet – Nude steampunk painting
An uneasiness has been plaguing me for a few weeks since I pronounced this painting complete, an unpleasant nagging. It wasn’t until I took a few days away from it that I worked it out.
So here it is revised. Same painting, but with some new improvements that just make it better overall.
Why being obsessive produces better art
The more I get absorbed in this complex steampunk series the more I wonder about my obsessive tendencies and artists in general.
Recently, I’ve been having a hard time painting, something was gnawing at the back of my mind. Like a face I couldn’t put a name to it was elusive and irritating.
Something was Not Quite Right in my last painting. The geometry of the gear was off. I didn’t like the model I chose to begin with and have since gotten some better gears, so I decided to redo from start. Or at least, redo the gear.
Just the act of making this decision was galvanizing. suddenly I wanted to be in the studio all the time again! On a roll, i also decided to revisit the gold embellishments on the bustle, to bring them into the shadows better and connect the shapes more. I painted furiously, and it has paid off. A little obsessive prod that was poking me has subsided. The itch stopping me from continuing to the next painting, that was thawing doubt up in the way has passed and I am fired up and ready to continue.
Sometimes obsessiveness can harm a piece, it can lead to overworking and losing a sense of motion, spontaneity and immediacy that draws people in.
Flip 3 – nude steampunk Daz studio render
Flip – Daz Studio 4 Render
I just can’t get enough of this pose style and set! I think I am going to have to do a triptych.
Lately I have been obsessed with viewing a pose from lots of different angles. translating the same thing into different images and differing moods. I think this is something I will explore further as I progress.. Sometimes we only focus on one side of things. It’s good to get the whole picture.
And one of the benefits of 3D is that you can!
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Wings, Helmet, Harness, Boots and Hair: Apteromata Flight
Textures: Acherontia Atropos Flight
Flip 2 – steampunk Daz render
Flip – Daz Studio 4 Render
I love this pose so much I just have to keep playing! It’s odd how something changes with the angle. At the moment I am doing some watercolors and exploring the same pose from different angles, it’s really fun to see how much mood can change.
I will probably start posting those next week.
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Wings, Helmet, Harness, Boots and Hair: Apteromata Flight
Textures: Acherontia Atropos Flight
Is obsessiveness a good trait in an artist?
I seem to have a hard time working on more than one painting at once. I can work on more than one of a different media, and will sometimes have watercolors on the go as well as an oil painting, but I can’t seem to paint more than one oil painting at a time. I get so obsessed with this one work that I have to see it through to the end. I play the same album on loop for the duration of most pieces (I feel sorry for the neighbors!). I can’t change to new brushes in the middle of a work and I lose it if something interrupts me while i’m working. I’m a very obsessive painter.
every time I try to put a piece aside to sit on while I work out what’s needed, or to dry, or to work on a deadline, I get stuck. Like something pulled between two equal forces I cannot move forward or back. And then I stop and feel lost and blocked.
My studio is being set up so that I can have a few easels running at once. I love this idea, I can see it so clearly. But I worry that my obsessive tendencies may prevent me from working as I should. I need to have multiple pieces happening. I need to be able to work on more paintings, to produce salable works while I paint the exhibition pieces. To just let things dry once in a while! I need to get past my obsessiveness and move on.
Flip – Daz Render
Flip – Daz Studio 4 Render
and.. because the last piece wasn’t complex enough I’ve thrown another spanner in the works. oh yes it’s raining fiddly bits here! I’ve been dreaming of the day I could get this harness and wingset, I’ve been planning works against them coming on sale. then they did and I pretty much had to spend a few weeks rendering my ideas. tell me if I’m crazy! I’m mildly worried about working with such a recognizable product in the 3D universe but you cannot deny the compelling delight of these wings!
if I’m not around much at the moment now you know why…
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Wings, Helmet, Harness, Boots and Hair: Apteromata Flight
Textures: Acherontia Atropos Flight
Suspension – Daz Render
Suspension – Daz Studio 4 Render
I’m going insane! a gear and lace – I don’t know what I’m thinking, but I’m so excited about this piece! it’s going to test my geometry skills to the limits but I think when it is done it will be a very interesting painting. I’m pretty psyched. I’ve been doing some other work this week, watercolors, some backlog things, and working on my geometry skills! this is requiring a bit of planning to get exactly right. but I have the canvas and I am getting all geared up.
hehe.
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Goggles: M4 Steam Cowboy
Hair: Scarlet Nights Hair
Boots and Cravat: Scandalous for V4
Gear: Steampunk Cogs and Gears 6 *free*
Gears – 30×20 Oils on Canvas
Gears 30×20 Oils on Canvas
$1000
I’m not quite sure what I want to title this, it appears I will be doing more gears and cogs so Gears (the working title) may not be appropriate – other thoughts were Russet and Pedestal. what do you think?
I really am loving the Steampunk Burlesque series, I’m pushing everything to the hilt and improving with each piece, they are lots of fun and a huge challenge. I’m planning an exhibition of these pieces so stay tuned for further details!
Gears – Daz Render
Gears – Daz Studio Advanced Render
the next in my steampunk burlesque series, this painting is just about finished now, I will posts some WIPs of it next week to show my progress. I thought the difficult part would be the bustle, turns out the gears were a real pain! I’m thinking of buying some new gearwins from renderosity as part of my problem was that I don’t particularly like the prop I had. I mean, those look nasty! pointy teeth- yikes!
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Goggles: Uber Goggles *free*
Hair: Scarlet Nights Hair
Bustle: Scandalous for V4
Rebirth – 10×8 Oils on Canvas
Rebirth 8×10 Oils on Canvas
$200
Currently at ArtBoy Gallery
The painting of Last Weeks render. Volume is trickier on a small canvas. I’ve been getting better and better at visible light thanks to my steampunk paintings, but I was not prepared for returning to miniature. There is something wonderful to creating a smaller work. Large paintings are epic and protracted, smaller ones have their own challenges (see those fingers) but they are faster and fun in their tight control.
if you like control.
which I do.
Death – Daz Render
Death – Daz Studio Advanced Render
ArtBoy Gallery is doing it again! this time FanBoy Vs ArtBoy is looking at comics. I decided to do a three part set based on Jean Grey, looking at Phoenix and Dark Phoenix – guess which one this is?
The opening is on the 10th of June, come by and check it out! The Facebook event is here
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Where do you find your muse?
I’ve been having interesting discussions lately on the topic of muses and how different artists access their own personal muses.
In Greek mythology, inspiration for all the different arts were represented by the muses. Demi gods and goddesses who would descend on artists and grant them inspiration.
These days we refer to our muses as fleeting anthropomorphisms of our inspiration and drive to create.
I find my own personal muse in several ways. Sometimes she will just call upon me, and those are brilliant times, but other times I must seek her out.
I call my muse by sketching, looking at art books, watching my favorite movies ad listening to my favorite painting music. Anything that triggers that side of the brain for me really. The things that work for me may not work for others, for example, I find watching Hellboy II or V for Vendetta to be massively inspiring. The visuals and use of light just flick a switch inside.
Other times I will load one of my quick start Daz scenes and just play with posing my model like a doll until I get something that works. Sometimes I will sit with my iPad or even an analogue sketchbook and just draw. My favorite music currently to paint to is by Ayreon and will often send me straight to thinking about creating.
Knowing how to access your muse is key to getting into the studio every day and working with purpose and inspiration. It’s a key component of being an artist.
How do you find your muse?
Nude of the week – lace
I am currently painting this. If I thought, for one moment, that copper pipes were bad, well, let me tell you, lace is no picnic to paint! It’s funny, this is such a simple pose, but getting the feel just right took weeks of painstaking work. The painting is practically flying by in comparison! Except for the lace. I am enjoying it though, this entire series is a huge challenge and delightful fun. It also looks like it will be extended into a full exhibition later this year!
Nude of the week – aviatrix
Aviatrix – 20×30″ oils on canvas
$1000
http://www.bit.ly/jraviatrix
Here she is! The completed Aviatrix. I have to admit i am thrilled with the way these pieces have come together. As usual, the more I paint the more inspired I get and this series is pushing me to improve and tackle new things. No sooner do I start on one than I get inspiration for another!
Time machine, the event I created these paintings for went very well. Sadly I couldn’t attend, even though I held out hope until the last minute! The photos are outstanding. I only had the two paintings but they received such a wonderful reaction that I am inspired to continue and put together a steampunk exhibition with some other artisans.
Nude of the week – pipes, steam punk burlesque nude render
Pipes – a steampunk nude Dazlstudio render
I have yet to photograph the finished aviatrix yet so here is the render of the painting I am currently working on. it’s working name is pipes, but I don’t have a title for it yet. Sorry I didn’t post this last week, I had a migraine and couldn’t move. I painted, because I paint every day, but even that was a struggle, it was painting and sleep for pretty much a week. Ah, the glamorous life of an artist!
I’ve been obsessed with inverted poses lately. This one kept ringing in my mind for ages, I have sketch after sketch as I tried to refine it and bring it to the surface. I may be doing more as I work out this latest itch! I get poses stuck in my mind like a song and the only way to fix it is to paint and paint and paint!
Products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Chair: Girl Play
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