The link above there is the issue of Somerset I was published in most recently.  Which was totally excited for me!  Hopefully for you, too.  :D

Norwescon has come and gone and what a blast it was.  If you haven't been to a con, I recommend finding one as soon as you can and going! It is such a wonderful experience to be surrounded by people that love the same things you do.  To know that common ground can easily be found and nearly every conversation stepped into with ease. 

Norwescon is something special, though.  Maybe I project a bit, but to me there in an atmosphere of total acceptance.  As though we all realize that none of us quite fit into the society at large, but for one brief weekend, you can be whoever it is you are inside with no recrimination.  If you want to wear a blue tiger striped body suit, pink fuzzy boots and dance with a giant balloon, then you are all the more beautiful for doing it.  If an author wants to get on stage and sing song-fics of her own novels, then she is a diva and space age rockstar.  It's an amazing and beautiful experience.  A world that is totally free.  I wish the rest of my life could be like Cons.

But, alas, freedom and fun times don't pay the bills.  ^-^

A bunch of new prints in my etsy shop as well as some new videos on my youtube channel.  Keep an eye out for exciting new things soon!

Cheers and be free!
Laurie Noel.

If at first you don't succeed...

     As with most kids, art was always part of my childhood.  Art class once a week, I think, plus coloring books and what not.  To be honest, my elementary school instructor wasn't that memorable nor were any of the projects we did.  Art stuck with me, though.  My grade one year all entered little sculpted animal heads into the local state fair kids' art show.  I remember working so hard, even though I didn't like sculpting and didn't want to do the project.  I gave it my all, though, and made a baby seal head I was proud to call mine.  I received a participant ribbon (which, to be fair, might have been the only ribbon they gave out), and I was so mad.  My mom said all the Good Mom things about what was Really Important and Trying My Best was better than winning and blah, blah.  All I really remember was being so upset, not about the ribbon, but that I didn't do better than I could have.  That's what really stuck.  The drive to be better than I was before.

     So I got to work.  I practiced.  And practiced.  And after that, I practiced some more.  Seeing a pattern here?  Once I hit Jr. High I signed up for an art class, I picked up any How-To-Draw books my parents would buy me and once the internet was invented, I scoured it for any drawing tutorials I could find (usually Sailor Moon).  But most importantly, more crucial than any tutorial I could find or class I could take, I practiced.  I filled up a dozen or so sketchbooks throughout high school.  I constantly had my sketchbook and any free moment and, lets be honest, most of the time I should have been paying attention in class, I would draw.  These drawings had no purpose.  There was no endgame.  No plan.  They were just in my head and wanted to come out and play.  Sometimes they were character designs or concept sketches, but mostly they were just free spirited doodles.

     Lately I've been feeling like my art has plateaued and I'm not really sure where I'm going.  I've been thinking about that a lot and I realized I never sketch anymore.  Almost every piece of art I've worked on for the last year or so had a reason to be.  Either it was an ATC, a journal page, a gift or something for my shop or videos.  And those are good things to work on, for sure, but I think my imagination misses the playground.  So I'm resuming the habit of sketching.  I'm going to try for at least one page a day.  It'll be abit more of a challenge, juggling work and all the rest, but worth it.

     And to tie it all together, there was a bit of time in Jr. High when I went through a faerie drawing phase.  So here's one of the ladies I was quite proud of after drawing.  To see where my faerie drawing skills and all that practice have taken me, click here for my latest video.

     My good friend Michael was kind enough to mention me in his blog this week.  I will be forever indebted to him for introducting me to ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and a trading site called ATCs For All, and really breathing fire into my creative life.  Thank you, Michael.  I'm glad to be on this artistic journey with such fine company.

Art Journal Love!

Another video up this week!  This time I was working in one of my art journals.  My color palette was very inspired by one of my favorite artists on etsy MariaPaceWynters.  I just love her bold color schemes, and she seems to love red and teal as much as I do!

Inspiration comes from a lot of places but always seems to flee whenever I'm faced with an artist's arch nemesis, the Blank Page.  All the whiteness just stares at me and all my ideas run in terror.  Fortunately, there a lots of ways to coax those ideas back out to play.  For this page, I reached for my trusty tarot deck and pulled a card.  It ended up being the Strength card.  So I searched for some quotes about strength and found this one by C. Joybell C.:

“Don't be afraid of your fears. They're not there to scare you. They're there to let you know that something is worth it."

Drawing upon that theme, and a sumptuous color palette, I overcame the Blank Page.   I'm pretty happy with how the page turned out and hopefully you'll enjoy watching the process. ^-^

 

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for what you'd like to see me do next, I'd love to hear from you!  Thanks, folks!

Summer Lovin'

Oh, how I love summer.  The sun shines and the warmth just soaks into my bones.  The children laugh and splash in the pool, the ants crawl about my floor, and frozen yogurt becomes an acceptable dinner.  Then there are those beautiful moments when the night is still, and so hot you can feel the air in your lungs.  A breeze through the open windows pushes the curtain aside and rolls across you, the hair on your arms swaying like sheaves of wheat.  A smile plays across your lips as the sweat at the nape of your neck cools against the skin.

Unfortunately, here in western washington, summer lasts about one week.  But oh, what a glorious week.

This has actually been a very creative "weekend" for me.  I snagged a copy of Mixed-Media Self-Portraits: Inspiration & Techniques by Cate Prato, which spritzed some inspiration on brain.  Then as I was working on a background and watching Empire Strikes Back, my favorite little green wise man said something so beautiful and appropriate it became the theme of the piece.

Yoda says, "Luminous beings, are we.  Not this crude matter."

Unfortunately he says it to Luke, the subtle significance was immediately lost in angsty, teenage jedi moodiness.  But at least I was there to appreciate it.  And thus, this piece came forth.  I feel like it's done and I'm rather pleased with it.  Then another painting came along when I wasn't trying.  That's always nice.  Inspired by part of Rumi poem. 

An exciting painting, as I've made a youtube video of the process!  Super duper awesome announcement of my youtube channel! I'm still learning and figuring out all this video making stuff, but so far, I'm having a blast.  If you'd like to follow along with my learning process and see my artistic techniques along the way, I'd love to see you there!  Click here to check out the videos!

New item in the shop this week?  An ACEO of everyone's favorite little elf hero, Link!  Of the Legend of Zleda variety.  Click here to check the guy out!

Anyway, thanks for joining me this week.  I know content has been somewhat lacking as of late.  Personal drama.  You know how it is.  But I am looking forward to devoting more time to both my art and this blog and sharing this artistic journey with you.

Peace and Love!

Update!

The show went well.  It was a while ago now, I guess, but it was a lot of fun.  There were a lot of issues and trouble shooting.  We weren't allowed to put nails or pins in the wall, which made sense.  They asked that we instead use 3M hooks, though they failed to mention the walls had first been coated with Vaseline.  Or olive oil.  Whatever it was, it refused to hold any 3M hooks.  I put up hooks that could hold up to 3 pounds and put an 8x10 gesso board on it, which weighs about as much as a handful of feathers, and they'd all fall off the wall.  I'd be all like, look pretty picture on the wall!  And then the picture would be like, fall on the floor!

We had a fight.  It didn't go well.

But after some panicking and reassessment, the show went off pretty well.  It was a great experience, and I feel like I've learned a lot.  It also challenged me to more seriously consider my career in art.  Hopefully exciting news on that front soon.

Here is a link to the photos from the night of the event.  I've posted them all on my facebook page, Mermaid Loves Octopus.  Feel free to hit the "like" button while you're there and keep updated with what's going on in my shop.

I've finished the line work for my February illustration and I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out.  I chose the 31st Nancy Drew Mystery Story, "The Ringmaster's Secret" as the inspiration.  Pictures and book review to follow!  I'll also have prints available in my etsy shop once it's finished.

Cheers everyone!

Also!  Sneak preview of a piece I'll be premiering at the show!

Follow the link to buy tickets and get info:
http://www.rawartists.org/view-artists/userprofile/lmeynig