I Created A Blog!

Dearest Alex,

I have just spent most of my morning creating a blog.

"Why?" You ask.

Promotion.  A way to force myself to stay on track and keep to my ever shifting deadlines.  A way to share what I'm learning, as I'm learning.  A way to vent my struggles...

There is something quite comforting about a blog.  Even though no one may ever read a single post, as I'm writing this I feel connected to you, to the Universe, to my possible readers--or do they call them followers here?

They say it is easy to create a blog, and I suppose it is true, but I have just spent hours going through various templates and learning about features, hours that I could have spent working on my book.  Finally, I chose one of the travel templates, even though technically this is not a travel blog (though I suppose any blog is a journey).  I'm fairly happy with the result.

To keep true to the purpose of this blog, I need to inform you of the progress regarding my "live" projects.

WofV--The Fantasy Novel
After its 11th revision, it is currently being edited by friends.  I hope they will send me the edits soon, so that I can start searching for a literary agent.  I think the novel is brilliant, though I'm sure there are grammatical errors, and spelling mistakes--after all, English is not my first language.  By moving to Canada, I have managed to miss out on most grammar instruction, and all I know about grammar is what I have absorbed by reading.  I have struggled to no end to create a quire letter that will showcase the brilliance of my very complex novel in a page.  I think I have succeeded, and I may post that letter here in the future.

"Horsing Around" Collectible Limited Edition Print Series
The series is ready for sale.   However, most people seem frightened to purchase the images over the Internet through PayPal.   I have made several sales to friends and friends of friends, but so far no one has purchased anything through my site.  I need to up my advertising somehow, as well as establish the print sale in a physical location.  I'm afraid Christmas Season will be a bust, but hopefully I can come up with a plan by Easter.

AIMH--The Picture Book

"...Fighting with tangles,

fighting with curls,

the poor barber yanked,

the poor barber pulled,

until with one last effort

(and to the wonder of us all)

(I'm including only half of the 2-page spread to protect my artwork.)

After two years, yesterday I have finally finished the two-page spread illustrating the above.  I must have done a hundred sketches, but no matter what I did, the bear did no seem big enough!

The solution: loose the background.  As soon as I removed the background and just left the characters, the bear looked much bigger.

Now, I'm moving on to spotted owls and pygmy short-horned lizards.  Yesterday, my printer refused to print reference photos I found on Google, so I hope I have better luck today.  I also hope I have the time to at leas sketch in a rough plan of the following two-page spreads.

As I was heaving breakfast, I read a bit more of "Drawn to Life: The Walt Stanchfield Lectures: Volume 2" edited by Don Hahn (a book I recommend to any artist out there) and I just have to share some words of wisdom:

"When you don't have a model to draw from, you have to visualize the pose or action.  Visualization is in cahoots with kinesthetics, for when you visualize you are not using your eyes, but you are using every cell in your body.  It's as if you create a whole 'nother world in your imagination -- one that can be translated to an audience through your drawings.  But even with a model in front of you, the same process has to take place; otherwise it is just copying." (Stanchfield; page 266)

"Gestures are always performed for a reason.  They are not just mere movements of body and limbs in some haphazard way, divorced from inner participation (motive); it is the visible manifestation of man's emotional or intellectual state." (Stanchfield; page 277)

His lectures area absolutely brilliant!  I wish I had this book when I was studying Life-Drawing at Sheridan.
I'm dreadfully busy at the moment, but I hope that in January I may finally find some time to do more Life-Drawing.  I really do miss it.

I guess, that's enough for today.

I'll write again tomorrow.

Always,

M