Nude of the week- iPad painting

I still don’t have a studio, but that’s ok, because i’m consuming myself with learning to use my iPad as a serious medium. I’ve been drawing and painting on it every day, in multiple apps. It’s very interesting, they all have something to offer in different ways. This is painted in sketchbook pro and often…

6 years on – why I started Blogging

it turns out, the more I experimented with painting and enjoyed myself, the less pain I felt. and sharing with the world enabled me to create the career I have today. sometimes I wonder about taking down those old posts, they’re a long way from where I’ve come today, and I worry that they aren’t in keeping with my “brand” but I look back fondly on them, they’re part of my journey. this blog is the history of my career from the beginning, an online visual diary and a fun diversion.

ditch the nagging b**** and reclaim the most important thing

I haven’t done any real painting since moving as my studio is still very much under construction. it will soon be in a useable state and then a huge pressure will be relieved. because I’ll tell you a little truth about being an artist- the less you paint the less you want to paint- the reverse of my statement in my post 8 reasons why making art is like making love but that leads me back to my goals for 2011 and what I want to do about #5 on my list: I want to paint.

Art, motherhood and religion – oh my!

There is no such thing as the perfect parent and what works for one family may not work for yours. the best advice I’ve received is to do whatever works for you. all of these subjects make me think about relative roles in the home and workplace. there is still an expectation that women will stay at home to raise their children, that their careers are temporary (as evidenced by the very large gap still in pay rates) and that we have a duty to surrender to our children. a few artist dads spoke out in the comments of this post, they find it just as challenging to balance their careers with their children. all working parents have this dilemma. the problem is that because so many artists are passionate about their jobs (and enjoy them!)

Runtimes – your Daz content and you

I used to have one large one, with this new install I will be running one for my paid content, one for my free content and a special one for the content I beta test (as a ninja – shhhh!). but I don’t recommend you have anything so complicated to start out with. if you are using the Daz installers they will give you nice prompts and install where you tell them, or to their default location in applications/dazStudio/content. if you buy from Renderosity , or download freebies, you will get a .zip file with your content. the .zip files will have all the directories and everything laid out, but you will need to merge them together (or you will overwrite your existing content!!). in winzip I believe it’s automatic, however with a mac it’s actually not the default.

15 cost cutting tips for artists – and where to draw the line

The GFC has tightened everyone’s belt. this is a reality, but sticking to a budget doesn’t have to be a bore and it doesn’t have to be temporary. every cost saving tip you learn now will help you out when things improve. I actually do better on a tighter budget! my post last week inspired me to create this list of tips. I’m very cheap, I search to buy everything at the best possible price and I try to save wherever possible. I do not, however, like cutting corners or losing out on quality.

the miserly artist at work

I hate spending money (yet, ironically, I love shopping) especially if it’s on something that’s important. when I started painting again I went to a place called art shed which had enormous tubes of paint for under $5 and inexpensive 100% cotton canvasses. knowing that I hadn’t paid that much meant that I could play with paint and if they didn’t work out it wasn’t a real loss.