:dolorosa:

More progress on the latest Homunculus doll. I do believe that I am done working on her face, so now for the rest of her. I will probably leave the dress that came with her pretty much intact, it's too nice to cut up or burn, truly. So it's time to figure out what accoutrements she will have. I went through all the bones and such that I have, found quite a bit that I forgot I had, including a complete dead baby bird skeleton. I had watched it slowly decay over the summer of 2012 on the ground where I ate lunch outside while at work and finally took it home. I'm not adding that to her, just thought I'd mention it. Can you see why I'm still single?

I still need to think of a name for her. The skull necklace is giving her a bit of a Kali-esque look, which was not the original intention. I've said it before, after awhile they sometimes seem to create themselves.

Yes, the free Halloween picture downloads are still available.

I recently read an article in Time magazine ( the Sept. 23rd issue to be exact ) which was about creativity assisting in longevity. Most of it seemed to be about people doing this after retiring, which doesn't help me now, and there were some statements of the obvious ( "Multiple studies over the decades have shown that happiness contributes to longer life." In other news, water is wet. ), but it was encouraging to read something like this after my previous reading about other artists who had died in their 40s.

:masque:

Today is the last day for voting in the RAW artists semi-finals, so one last time I bug thee:



I've been working on a new Homunculus ( I used to just call them Spooky ) doll, hopefully to be done before Halloween, as it progresses you'll see why. For now I've just been working on painting the face, using the crackle finish I love so much, even though the results are unpredictable:

 

After it was dry enough, I went back in and touched it up some more:

I've been starting to gather other materials to be used later on in its creation. Who knows how much of this will be part of it, too soon to tell:

The free Halloween pics are still available for download at deviantArt. I'll remove the free download feature next month, and tally up how many there were. So far this is the front-runner, can't say I'm surprised:

:vote:

Too much non-art stuff in the past week, so not much progress with the new homunculus doll, at least not enough to show here. But! In related news, one of the other dolls, Ostia, will be on display ( and for sale, if you're so inclined ) at Witch Dr. in Salem, MA for the month of October. I confess that I really didn't know what sort of place it was before I dropped off the doll - turns out it's a store that sells smoker paraphernelia, you know, for tobacco use only. But they have a lot of space for artwork, and they create much of their glass products in-store, you can watch through a window in back as they make some of them.

And yes, this being October, this is your weekly reminder of the Halloween is My Xmas illustrations available free for download on deviantArt, or, if you want to support the arts, in particular MY arts, on sale at Etsy.

You may recall that this past March I participated in one of the monthly RAW art showcases that they have here and in many other cities. Right now they're having open voting for the best artists of the year, who will go onto the semi-finals in NYC. I know full well that this is more about the number of votes received than actual talent, but that doesn't mean I won't give it a go! So if you would be so kind, please vote through the link below, and you can do so once a day until next Wednesday, Oct. 9th. Surprise me!

:masked:

Started some planning on the new Homunculus doll, to be completed before Halloween if all goes well. The sketches below will surely give away the direction I'm going in, but ah well.

I'll also mention again (and will until Halloween itself ) that I'm offering free downloads of the Halloween is My Xmas series over at deviantArt. Hoo hah.

:on location:

Looking ahead, feeling hopeful in several ways. As long as I can keep active hopefully there will be momentum.

I have plans to make another Homunculus doll before Halloween, which might give you some clue as how it might appear. You will certainly see so in the progress photos, but for now she looks like this:

Speaking of Halloween, as mentioned last week, I'm still offering some Halloween art as free downloads until the holiday itself on deviantArt.

Two more pics from my August photoshoot below. I think I'm done with editing the "normal" shots, and while I'm proud of these on their own, let's see if I can do my usual "arty" thing with them now. Or not my usual thing, who knows?

But I am also looking ahead to what I can do next with my photography. In my usual weekend wanderings, I came across a cliff overlooking the Boston Harbor in Nahant, which is a small strip of land poking into it that won't survive when the oceans rise. I immediately thought that it'd be great for a model photoshoot. Now if only I can get somebody to follow through on that. If I hadn't mentioned it enough already, I have a long string of people show interest then flake out on me. One could almost take it personally after awhile. But I'm determined to make this work somehow.

:tis the season:

It's getting to be that time of year again - Halloween! Although you'd not be thinking that way in Boston today, with the temps being in the 90s. But since I hate winter more (and heating bills), I don't complain about it.

No idea yet what I'm doing for the holiday itself, especially since it's on a Thursday ( meh ), but it's still a fave of mine. I shouldn't jinx it, but who knows, maybe we'll get another snowstorm.

I have no new artwork in that theme, yet, although I may see if I can create a long-overdue new homunculus doll in that vein. But I decided as an experiment of sorts to allow free downloads of my "Halloween is My Xmas" series on deviantArt until Halloween. I just checked it out, people have already started. People just love free artwork, sigh. But if you want to buy actual printed versions of them they are available on my Etsy page.

So far this is the top runner:

I talked about these in further detail in a past blog entry.

:photomancy:

Working away at more photos from last month's photoshoot, I think I'm nearing the end of the "basic" shots, then I'll see if I can do further things with them like I normally did with photos in the past. Again, there was no concept here so I'll have to create one.

Once again I'm pleased that I'm able to "recover" some of these shots due to some bad lighting in the beginning of the shoot, but the ultimate goal is fewer mistakes of course. I like that I was able to bring half of this shot out of darkness, but I'm still not completely pleased with the tones. Maybe it looks better in black & white?

 

But I have no such problems with these other two:

I have just finished reading "Just Kids" by Patti Smith, which is about her life with Robert Mapplethorpe, and it's heartbreaking because you know how it ends, with his early death ( like Patrick Nagel, who I've talked about before, in his early 40s. ), but also very touching in how their lives stayed entwined through so many changes, and it's also very much about living life as an artist. I found it equally inspiring and frustrating, because while they certainly had their struggles, it also appeared that they were often in the right place at the right time, people seemed to just give them things or opportunities, and this sort of thing still eludes me. Or just to find people who "understand" what I'm doing with my art, even if I'm still trying to figure it out myself.

A lot of it has to do with personality of course; it was clear from her story that Mapplethorpe charmed more than he frightened, despite his often controversial subject matter, and it didn't hurt that his main patron was also his longtime companion. Do patrons even exist anymore? Can I get one please? Or I just have to get a personality transplant. I feel that I have improved somewhat, but I think some people still make wrong assumptions about me without ever really knowing me, and I've made forays out into the art "world," but a lot of it seems more like a performance than real life. Some people's lives are their art, and that's okay I guess, but I can't compete with that.