Heart Awareness Month!

Valentine's Day threw up all over my website... It's really, really pink and scary over there... But it's for a good cause! (promise!) Read on...


February is Heart Awareness Month! This is a very near- and dear cause to me, because I was born with heart defects and have faced 3 open heart surgeries due to my condition. Heart health is very important to a person like me, and I hope I can help the American Heart Association spread the word about health and research!


So for the month of February, for every one item you purchase on my Etsy Shop, $1 will be donated to the American Heart Association! So if you buy 5 prints from me, $5 will go to the AHA-- if you buy 2 bookmarks and 3 prints, $5 will be donated to the AHA. It's all about quantity! If you feel inspired and just want to donate or just to find out more information about the AHA, visit this link. The red Donate button in the upper right hand corner.


I hope this year we can raise at least $50-- But let's try and shoot for more!


February will be a busy month for me and there will be a big surprise happening on Valentine's Day that I still cannot BELIEVE I got myself into, but I will tell you all about that closer to the date! 


So head on over to my Etsy Shop and check out my art!

A Sketch a Day... (Keeps Artist Block Away?)

Hopefully you all have seen some of the changes happening at www.ClaireNoblesArt.com --if not, GO THERE NOW!

As I stated a few blogs ago, my painting time will become rather limited since classes have started. Right now I'm in 5 classes, and none of them are Art Classes..... I'm getting a ton of extra general ed out of the way, being a junior and all... I won't be getting normal weekly practice and painting even once a week might not be able to fit in my schedule, so I bought a "Sketch a Day" Journal.

This journal works exactly how it sounds. It gives half a page for each sketch-- so it doesn't even has to be good or even resemble anything, it just has to be done every day. That's my challenge. Let's see if I can do it for a year-- or if I even last a week!

I decided first off that the sketches did not have to be fantasy related. I have given myself permission to draw whatever I want and in whatever style I want (stick figures, cartoons, realism, abstract) as long as its something! Also, I shall not allow myself to spend long amounts of time on these, just pure, quick, raw thoughts!

I won't be posting the results every day, but I might post the interesting ones, or at least group them together and post a bunch at once. 

This is Day 1

"Heart on your Sleeve" 2012, pencil and ink 
(done in 15 minutes)

Whenever I don't know what to draw, my fallback is my left hand. The sketch paper in the journal is alright for pencil-- not amazing. The blending I tried works only OK. I tried to draw some sketchy-stylized realism, probably my second favorite style of drawing. I love zig-zagged, harsh, messy grey lines. It just adds to the rawness and emotion for me. I drew my hand raw and messy pencil, and drew the tattoo clean-lined and in permanent black pen. I was trying to juxtapose the two concepts of emotion. The hand being real and raw and full of emotion, the real character of the piece. The heart is fake and precise, yet is suppose to represent love and emotion, it's in cold black ink. I added a second line to the right side of the heart- it was not a mistake- I like the design, I wish I knew why.

The idea of the tattoo on a person is to represent love and compassion, wearing your heart on your sleeve. I think it's a cool idea. I don't actually have this tattooed on me though, it's just pen.

I hope you all enjoyed this short detour from my fantasy art into my random feelings of love and such... Again, please check out www.clairenoblesart.com because it just keeps getting better each day!

On a side note, my left hand is in pain and lost all circulation from keeping it clenched in a fist for 15 minutes straight. That vein in the center of my wrist got more and more pronounced as the drawing wore on, so it does look a bit creepy now... But that's seriously how it looked at the end of the sketching. My vein is not usually that bulgy...

New Website!

Hello all,


As I'm sure some of you have found out already, my art website looks a little different. 


I met with Matt, the all-powerful webguy, and had him switch over the website we made in 2009, to one which I could update at 3am if I so desired! 


I know right now the new website is very bare. However, in the coming weeks, it will grow into something quite amazing, and you'll actually be able to purchase products straight through me!! I'm so excited to finally be able to customize my own website! Please let me know how the if I can do anything to make your experience at my site better! I will try my best to make your experience at ClaireNoblesArt.com amazing!


So stay tuned!!  --and thank you for all of your patience! 

Spirited Away: A Slightly Eccentric Tutorial - Part 2

This is part 2 from the other day's painting tutorial...


Part 1: Spirited Away: A Slightly Eccentric Tutorial

Here, I started doing some dark strands and shadows in her hair with a tiny round brush. Mostly a mix of Yarka browns. 


I also started worrying about the orb the little sprite was offering the maiden. I outlined it with Yarka yellow but kept the center and the wisps around it the white of the paper.


It was right about here that I started getting distracted by texts from my good friend, Alexandra and started skipping records of each step... You can blame her. =)

First off, I began darkening the shadows of her skin, clothing, etc. I also began swooshing lots and lots of bright colors wherever I wanted. 


I did a bit of skin tone and cloth detail on the little sprite, and the swooshing around the offered orb.


Right here is where I was deciding what color to paint around one side of the orb when the sound of the alert from my phone that Alexandra had texted again made me jerk out of my weird state of concentration and spill green in the wrong place! 


I had a split moment of panic and urge to murder. Fortunately for Alex's life, the weird green splotch turned out to blend in nicely with the already wet reddish pant and I texted Alex to inform her that she's awesome and should startle me more often. 
So she texted back "RAWWWRRR!!!" --didn't work the second time.

Sorry about the color inconsistencies! I don't scan each step because it takes me wayyyy longer, instead I take pictures in whatever light presents itself to me at the time.


Anyways, I just love adding swooshes! Can you tell it my favorite thing? I do a lot of wet-into-wet washes in this stage and I do what Alexandra calls "make backgrounds of doom"- which basically means epically detailed backgrounds... No actual doom involved. These "backgrounds of doom" require lots of tiny brushstrokes of many different colors. In this case I literally swiped a wet brush across my entire palette and used whatever color came out of it. I find this much better than going with pure colors because of the fun subtleties and interesting shades you can get.


I also paint the birds after asking Alexandra what color they should be (we miraculously text "Greenish" at the same time). And apparently Alex now thinks she co-painted this...

And here's where texting with Alex really got me distracted from progress shots! (Blame her!) As you can see, I painted in a ton more "doom," elaborating what was already laid down. The butterflies were done in a monarch-like orange (Yarka) and then accented with white gel pen (white gel pen rules). The figure was much more heavily shaded and shadowed and brought to life, and so were her clothes.


The rest of it went on as I grew less and less able to paint due to the insane cold I had. Plus, I had a crazy headache that made it really hard to continue between the sneezing and the coughing and the sniffling and the vision was getting to be all but hazy.


So here's the stopping point where I finally I left it as "Done." In my sick state, I really thought it was done. (Again, the colors are so far from the original painting's, taken with this camera in this awful light-- so the colors will change quite a bit from this monstrosity to the actual print.) Unfortunately, I put this up at my desk for a few days and after having the chance to really look at it from far away, I realize that I have to squint at it... I now see in my back-to-normal-not-sick-anymore-state that the colors are all about the same value, and since there's not enough contrast: the fairie and the painting disappear within itself. 


SO!: This means, more painting of the non-sneezing variety. I know that some of you are thinking I'm just a crazy artist and am being super anal about my work. You're right. But I'm still going to work on it to make it right in my eyes. 


Now hopefully some of you see why artists have the reputation that they do. =D


Next week classes start, so I will try super super hard to finish it before then!! I promise to try my best!


Stay tuned.......

Spirited Away: A Slightly Eccentric Tutorial

First off, this isn't exactly a tutorial. It's way too scatterbrained for that, especially since I forgot I was suppose to be taking pictures of each step halfway through.... But I would like to show you my experience of pushing my skills into something very different for me.


I wrote a poem earlier that explains the sort of mood I was in yesterday and am usually in while I try to create these fantastical paintings. My brain wants to draw EVERYTHING and I realistically have to settle on only a few ideas. You can view the poem I wrote -here-


This painting was a challenge piece for me because I wanted to create the whole thing in ONE DAY. I mostly succeeded.

So this is the inked sketch that turned up after my muse and my brain settled down, well, settled down a little...


I kept quite a bit of the pencil lines in so that I could have something a bit more raw than my usual clean, crisp black lines.


The hair I left mainly to make up as I went along, as well as much of the background. I have to challenge myself to use brushstrokes, rather than rely on what I have laid out for myself. I really wanted to get the creativity flowing for this one, and push myself out of comfort.


I planned to make swirls and swooshes in the background, inspired by the ones I've seen in Stephanie Pui-Mun Law's paintings. My only other plan for this piece was to make it Bright! and to use very vibrant colors like sunshine.


I use Arches Hot Press Watercolor Paper, mechanical pencil, and Micron pens, usually the finest point: 0.005.

Next I painted in some background with yellows on top surrounding the figure, and some reds and purples on the bottom.


I use mainly Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors, and also Yarka Watercolors. I'm not sure if one is "allowed" to mix brands, but I always have, so I don't see any reason to stop now. The brushes are an assortment of mostly Princeton rounds.


The yellows were lemon yellow and cadmium yellow from the Yarka set. This is mainly because I was too lazy to get the Daniel Smith yellows out. 


For the bottom reds and purples, I used DS alizarin crimson, my favorite, and DS carbazole violet.


I did the first wash the same way I usually do washes. While I was taking Watercolor Classes, this seemed to be a technique that confused most students. First I wet the entire paper with clear water and a big flat brush, nice and wet! Then I splatter some colors around the page, taking care to pull the color as I go away from the figure or other parts I may not want to be bright yellow or the like. You can use more clear water to pull and lift the colors away from the central figure. This way you create a sort of glow around the figure that is especially nice for fantasy art. You have to work fast of course! Otherwise, you're left with weird splotches that you have to figure out what to do with... Once you're done and waiting for paint to dry, you can use the salt effects or rubbing alcohol for some fun starbursts and bubbles. Otherwise, I use a hair dryer, full intensity at this time. =)

Next, I create some swooshes...


I try and stay with my sun-colored plan, but I need a bit of contrast and variation. Since purple is the complement of yellow, I put that down with a little extra red, to make more of a red-violet and stick with the bright theme.


The technique here is to lay down a brushstroke, and then with clean water lay on down directly beside it so there's no hard edges, but so that the color bleeds over. I did create a couple of hard edges, but those are intended. 


(sorry about the weird inconsistencies with color by the way! This was taken under the light of my art lamp which gives off weird shadows and so all of these pictures have had to be adjusted to show them off best.)

Now it's time for the figure. I can always go back to add more swooshing and background later.


I first put in the red-violet shadows, for warmth, then for contrast I used DS ultramarine blue in the cooler areas of the figure, to really bring it to life.


I added in the bright red ribbon, just because I was feeling gutsy. I painted some soft greenish lines coming from the tips of the fingers of her left hand, and I also did some stokes of yellow around the orb the little sprite is offering. 


The above picture also clearly shows the first wash step where I pulled color away from the fairy, but let it slide over the little sprite, since she is not the main focus. 

Wow, the camera really distorts some of these colors from picture to picture... sorry!!


Anyways, here I started in on her outfit and wings. The dress was still wet when I took this picture, that why it's shiny. 


For the dress, I started with yellows as a base color and then used oranges from my Yarkas and watered down DS cadmium red. I also added some DS ultramarine blue and the same red-violet in the folds.


For the pants, I used a lot of this watered down blueish-green color left over on my pallet that I have no idea what colors formed it... That's partly the joy of watercolors over other mediums: colors you painted with months ago can still be used, just add water! More DS ultramarine was used in the shadows as well. I also poured a lot of watered down yellows over the pants then as it was still wet, then I mopped it up. This was done so that I could go for a bit of a glow and to give them a worn look, rather than leaving them crisp white. This way I could also leave the whites for the brightest parts around the orb, wings, etc. 


For the wings, i spent a lot of time adding small amounts of brush strokes, then pressing a paper towel down so they didn't come off as too harsh. I wanted to create the stained glass dragon-fly winged look that the great Stephanie Law is so good at. 

This next picture is a tad blurry-- I'm sorry! I didn't know at the time! 


Anyways, I painted in some of her hair with yarka yellows and watered down browns. 


For the trailing smoky looking bits flowing from her hands, I first painted these with clear water, then spattered in some greens, reds, oranges, whatever I felt like and let them all intermingle as I literally turned my paper all angles, and voila!: I have some really interesting wet-into-wet effects in a contained part of my painting.


That is about as much as I care to fit into one blog entry. More steps will come later as I did finish the piece in one day (yesterday), but looking at it today, I might want to add in a few more touch-ups before I scan it in.


Stay tuned!!

My Muse Wants to Dance

Here's a little poem I came up with as I was in a particular sort of mood. I wanted to paint, but my mind wouldn't "sit still" so to speak... I haven't written poetry in a while, but I wanted to give it a try. I like it.

The Dancing Muse

I think of how to quiet my mind,

When my mind will not respond or yield.

Visions flow around me:

A wing, a whisper, a fae...

Unable to stop once started.

I try to make reason from them.

To coax them to my dominant had, so bent on working.

To weave them into a known pattern.

My cat chases a bottle cap: Completely consumed.

I wish for a moment I could have that focus,

and force something out.

But to force my muse, is like forcing my cat.

Both have a mind of their own,

and my muse is on Fire today.

This is better than the usual 

stumped feeling I have.

And yet so much harder to control.

I long for control...

My hand wants to dance as my muse does--

Little attention for reason or refrain.

No one shall contain my muse today, 

Not even myself, its owner;

and my hand wants to join in. 

I should be annoyed... I am.

I have plans for the day and I am trying to control my muse,

Myself.

My muse laughs at my sullen state.

She offers a hand so I may join her.

So I decide to watch the pictures she brings forth in my mind.

My muse will quiet down eventually, 

Tire herself out,

and lead me towards what I should create...

But not just yet,

First, it chooses to dance!

Spirited Away in a Day of Painting

I decided for some silly reason to challenge myself today while I'm really sick... The challenge was for me to create a painting start to finish in one day. Somehow, the idea poured out of my pencil onto my watercolor paper and became exactly as I envisioned it start to finish. The piece was a challenge because of my cold, but I think that added to the spontaneity and charm of the piece. *cough*


I would like to start doing the One Day Method for all my paintings in the future... But sometimes, there's just no time. I know if I had stopped part way through then it would have probably taken a few weeks for me to get back to it... We'll see how it goes, it's a new year.


The piece is named "Spirited Away" for the Enchanted Visions Project. If you haven't checked out their site, do it now!! I was trying to think of a name for the piece, when I remembered the EV title that I thought I would never be able to imagine a painting for, it fit perfectly. I couldn't possibly change it.


I have been greatly inspired by the works of Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and this piece is about as close as I can get to her breathtaking works. I received her art book of the Minor Arcana for my birthday, and have been pouring over her brushstrokes, imagination and style. I hoped to create something half as beautiful as her pieces.


The result is very lovely, if I can say that about my own work. I am far too exhausted and needing sleep to scan the finished product right now, but I will try very hard to get to it tomorrow so you all can see the finished piece! I'm going to need a lot of hot tea and rest now....

How to Train your Kitten, er, Dragon!

A couple nights ago, I watched "How to Train Your Dragon" for the first time. If you haven't already seen that movie-- YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY! It's a really adorable movie. Probably the biggest reason why I liked it is because the dragon, Toothless, seems to have been based entirely off of Jasper the Cat. (See above pictures)

Not only are Toothless and Jasper very similar in personality, looks, etc. but all the dragons in the movie are basically scaly winged cats. Seriously, the dragons are always eating fish, chasing lights on the floor, being overcome by "dragon-nip" and they are totally misunderstood-- among other things.

  Almost everything Toothless did in the movie, I only could see Jasper. The big green eyes, the black color, the ears, the grumpy yet adorable personality... I've started calling Jasper, Toothless...

The expression on these faces is just hilarious.

The funny thing is that when I looked up pictures of Toothless, I did find a LOT of pictures comparing black cats to Toothless... So I guess I'm not the only one...

AND if you have always wanted your very own dragon-kitten like Jasper, check out my Pop Cat Series at my art store and you can have your very own Toothless-Cat-look-alike as well as other cute kittens!

Jasper the Cat is a throw pillow!

So is Jasper's girlfriend, Victoria! (get the set!)

More to come.

So that's my randomness for the day! Dragons and Kittens.... you know... the usual.

Happy 2012 From Claire and Jasper the Cat!

Claire and Jasper: wishing you a happy 2012! (well, maybe just Claire)

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! I'm glad everyone has made it this far with me!

2011 was a great year, but it's good to start fresh. This year in 2012, I'm making some changes in order to have a more efficient schedule and devote as much time as I can to painting and creating. I hope to have a new website out soon and some new artwork as well, but later this month, I shall have even less time to devote to my art due to a full load of State classes this semester. 

Some of my resolutions include keeping my studio clean, staying organized and doing more yoga. So far, so good!

I don't really have any painting goals or plans, except to just paint whatever comes to mind when I have the time. However, I would like to spend more time on design, concept and details of my work. 

Jasper the Cat's resolutions are to sleep more, to bite James more, and to be more obnoxious. So far he's kept his resolutions...

Thank you to everyone who has supported me from the beginning and to all my friends who have helped along the way, or who I've only just met! All of you are so wonderful and make me the happiest person in the world! Thank you for taking time to view my art.