Not in Iambic Pentameter

Hunting Girl Scouts

2012-02-18T11:51:00.000-08:00

If you have been reading my blogs from the beginning, you will know that every year right around this time, I make it my life's work (if I remember) to hunt down a Girl Scout or five for some delicious Samoas! Yes, it's cookie season again!

Every year my family and friends bring home Girl Scout cookies and every year they forget that Samoas are the superior cookie (and my favorite) and so I go hungry (for samoas).

Funny story-- I was a Girl Scout. Seriously. I started in 4th grade and went all the way up to Senior in High School, and then they gave me the Adult Girl Scout plaque for some reason, so technically I still am a registered Girl Scout! I even earned my Silver and Gold Awards, Gold being the Eagle equivalent in Boy Scouts.

And somehow after all that, during cookie season, I go without Samoas?!?! What travesty is this? I figured the Girl Scout Mafia would get me a hook up (yeah, they exist, I'm a member).

So if you happen to be a Girl Scout or know a Girl Scout, send her my way coz you don't want to see what happens if I have to wait a two years between getting my Samoas.... (imagine your scariest horror film)

----

On a completely separate note (the point of writing a blog today): My big computer which handles all the uploading, printing, etc has decided to go on strike and stop working until he gets higher ram or gigahurtz or some computer lingo I don't understand.... So My Valentine has actually told me that my belated Valentine's Day gift will be a new computer! Until then, probably no uploading paintings of any kind can take place... And I actually have two that still need to go up... So thanks for your patience!

Last item, remember to make a purchase at my Etsy shop so that $1 of each item goes to the American Heart Association. It's still going til the end of February!

On the Catwalk

2012-02-17T11:19:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day, I know I did at Go Red Strut! As I mentioned in my last blog (which you can read by clicking here) I was going to be one of the Strutters for Go Red Strut-- a FUNraiser to raise awareness of Heart Health! I had a blast and somehow didn't fall down even though my heels were four inches.

All the Strutters were so great! There had to be at least 100 of them. There were Strutters on bikes, in balloon dresses, can-can girls, poodles, boxing cardiologists, and more... It was like the costumes changes of Lady Gaga! It was seriously epic! Every Strutter did their part to make the event SO MUCH FUN and to help raise awareness of the importance of heart health!

On the Catwalk... Yeah on the Catwalk...

Here is where the emcee told the audience that I was a survivor of heart defects, so I pulled out my guns to show my tough side! Rawrrr!! I made sure to wear a dress that showed off my surgery scar, because I wear it proudly.

If you would like to donate to the American Heart Association, please visit www.heart.org

Also you can donate by purchasing some fairy art for that special weirdo in your life, and $1 of every product goes to the AHA. Visit www.etsy.com/shop/ClaireNoblesArt

Now for more pictures!!!!

Before it started....

Big Red Boa!!

I told you there was a poodle! (or maltese, not sure what breed)

These two were the boxing Cardiologists, figuratively "fighting" heart disease, doing push ups -- they were hilarious!

And the crazy people bicycling on the catwalk!!! (they were all telling me before they went up that they were afraid they'd bike off the stage! And they were thankful to be wearing sneakers instead of my shoes...)

Striking a pose!

I think I meant to punch heart disease in the FACE!

Hope you all enjoyed the little slideshow, I might post more pics somewhere.... I'll link it if I do!

Thanks everyone who came to Go Red Strut! You made my Valentine's Day!!

STRUT!

2012-02-07T18:40:00.000-08:00

Pleas join us for this FREE event!!

In celebration of Heart Month, the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women and Macy's invite you to GO RED STRUT

on February 14th, 2012

11:30am-1pm

Macy's Union Square, San Francisco, Ca!!!

This is the surprise I was waiting to share with you all-- I will be one of the "Strutters" for Go Red Strut. That means I get to wear my red sparkly dress and heels and walk a catwalk in front of tons of people. Just a bit of pressure. It's nothing I have ever done before and I just hope I don't bite it on the catwalk.

I am participating this event to spread awareness of the AHA. As many of you know, I was born with severe heart defects. My defects include ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect, pulmonary stenosis and transposition of the greater arteries. I’ve had five surgeries, at ages 2 months, one and a half years, 4 years, 7 years, and 15 years old. Two of them were open heart, the major repair being at age four. I try to be stay active, and eat right, and I lead a pretty normal life aside from having several surgery scars. As long as I continue to be healthy, I won’t need another surgery for years to come. Otherwise, if my health is in jeopardy, I may have to have another surgery much sooner.

Thanks to research done by the American Heart Association, I am alive today. I am so excited to be supporting them and help spread awareness!

February is American Heart Month (and the month of Love!) This event will be amazing and I am so happy to participate in it! I hope that if you can come, that you will-- it would be so great to see your shining faces there to support the AHA and the fact that though I can't walk in high heels, I will be trying my best....

For all the details on this fab event, click here!
For more on the AHA, click here.
And check out their facebook page!

Slightly Insane Comics

2012-02-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

I started a "Sketch-a-Day" journal recently, and for today's sketch I drew a really weird comic... Keep in mind that it was done without any preparation or planning (except for the last two panels). It's called "Stressed Out Claire" Click the first picture and just use the arrow key to view in order so it makes sense (and even then, it might not make any sense...) Also keep in mind that this whole comic is drawn in a 4x6 inch space and the pics were taken with my cell phone... I'm sorry.

This was an actual conversation I had with James. I like to label things in comics btw. And the sweatshirt I'm wearing says "SFSU."

Jasper does this occasionally...

This is me as ClaireZilla. And it has been my mood unfortunately for the past couple of days...

Hope you enjoyed yourself-- or maybe are even more confused with your life... In which case I do apologize for any therapy you will be needing after viewing this...

PSP Tubes and Giant Aligators

2012-02-01T10:44:00.000-08:00

Hello all, and Happy February!!

Last week I posted on my Facebook page about some super secret happenings and apparently nobody likes it when secrets... But I can finally share it with you! I just got officially licensed with PSP Tubestop so now you can purchase my art as tubes!

In case you're not sure, PSP Art Tubes are like digital scrapbooking images that you can piece together and make eCards and the like.

The site is run by an amazing woman named Lisa Cree. She is also the head of the Enchanted Visions Project and paints her own art-- so she is a busy lady! Check out and like Lisa's Facebook page!

As of right now, the website is being eaten by a giant alligator... I'm not even joking... There's a weird page-load error. But hopefully when it comes back, you can fully view the site! In the mean time, the Facebook page is fully viewable and filled with beautiful artists' work. Right now my "Love is Blind" Tube is available for Valentine's Day and soon to be much more!

Just a reminder-- this whole month at my Etsy Shop, I shall be donating $1 from each product you purchase to the American Heart Association! Spread the word!

Heart Awareness Month!

2012-01-30T13:37:00.000-08:00

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?)

2012-01-27T12:40:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-23T11:02:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-16T13:27:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-13T16:14:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-12T23:14:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-12T12:31:00.000-08:00

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...

Anyways, that's my randomness for the day!

Happy 2012 From Claire and Jasper the Cat!

2012-01-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

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.

Ascension

2011-12-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

"Ascension" by Claire Nobles

Medium: Watercolors

Click here to purchase

Finished my second phoenix painting-- hurrah! This painting is all about starting over, new life. The phoenix represents change and rebirth for this whimsical fire bird is very powerful. When a phoenix dies, it reforms from the ashes into a baby bird. The angel is being guided by this creature up from darkness, into light and clarity.

Occupy Sock Drawers! Free Baby Trolls!!

2011-12-02T17:02:00.000-08:00

"Dirty Sock Troll"by Claire Nobles

Medium: Watercolors

Size: ~7x7 inches

Prints available by clicking here.

Dirty Sock Trolls have been unfairly forced into Sock Stealing since the Government Ogre Act of 1695 which declared that baby Trolls are required by law to collect socks for the upper class Ogres. Socks are seen as a status symbol in the realm of the fairie and the Ogres like their socks as dirty as possible. Sometimes the Baby Trolls like this one will mess up and steal clean socks that just look old and dirty. In this case, they are punished by being swung by their ears into the nearest grease fire and forced to wear the clean socks as a sign of disgrace. Obviously this baby troll has made a lot of mistakes as he is wearing many socks and his ears are abnormally long...

Baby trolls are slaves until they reach adolescence which can take 400 years. Because the law started in 1695, there is no telling what will happen when the Sock Trolls are fully grown and will probably want revenge on the Ogres... Some of the Sock Trolls shall start maturing in December of 2012 which is probably what the Mayans were referring to as destruction of the Earth... Really, there will just be a lot of ticked off Teenage Trolls roaming around the malls and other such places you don't want them.

The best course of action is to Occupy Sock Drawers by staying home all day catching the baby trolls. It is said that if you catch a Sock Troll and ship him to Spain, he will be free of the tyranny of the ogres and be able to take up a secret passion of bull fighting. Be sure to ship the troll in a box with tons of Febreze spray so that the Ogre Border Patrol won't come near the box and the baby trolls can escape!

This announcement was brought to you by the very strange yet harmless mind of Claire Nobles and the Occupy Sock Drawer Movement! Be sure to pick up a pamphlet at your local government office, (though you will get strange looks when inquiring). Thank you and good luck!

Thrill

2011-12-01T21:36:00.000-08:00

"Thrill" by Claire Nobles

Medium: Watercolors

Size: 8x10 inches

Prints available here.

I finished the painting! And I *told* you the elf was wearing pants! I feel so happy about this piece. I really challenged myself to make this painting work. I spent a lot of time using tutorials and reference photos in order to help this piece along. It was time consuming, but well worth it as I now have a much better understanding of horses and animals in general.

This is the first piece I have ever scanned in and corrected on my very own! The new scanner is finally working and I actually have an idea of how to use it! I have a few more pieces for you so stay tuned!

Prints are available for sale at my Etsy Shop.

Two Thanksgivings and Cyber Monday

2011-11-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

Two Thanksgivings = AMAZING!!! I ate so much food, I will have to do crunches for 3 hours straight for 8 days in oder to get back into my jeans.... Totally worth it. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Today, Cyber Monday, I'm having a 30% off sale at my Etsy! Everything is 30% off with the coupon code THANKS30 -- it's on my Etsy Shop Banner if you forget the code, so don't worry. The sale will last all day until sometime after midnight (whenever I remember to turn it off) so if you hop online at 2am and the code is still active, then use it! Otherwise if you miss the blog, I will still be doing the 15% off sale for the rest of the month with coupon code FRIENDS15-- though the 15% off sale is not active during the 30% off sale. I'll also be working on getting some more product choices up for the holidays!

To shop at my store, click here.

Have a great monday and happy shopping!

My favorite holiday...

2011-11-19T01:00:00.000-08:00

I just realized today for some reason that Thanksgiving-- my favorite holiday ever-- is THIS UPCOMING WEEK! Seriously guys, less than a week away!!!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for a few reasons, but the main reason is the FOOD! I don't understand why a person can't eat thanksgiving food year round.... I mean my favorite food is Italian, but really, if I had to choose something to eat for the rest of my life, it'd be a Thanksgiving meal.

This Thanksgiving is really special for me because I get two of them!!! Seriously, on Thursday, obviously, then on Black Friday, James (booth wench/techie/perky fawn), his cousin is having another Thanksgiving dinner-- I didn't ask why. This is the ultimate win. My face is a giant emoticon of happiness.

Two Thanksgivings don't come around very often for me, so I shall start training for them over the next few days by exercising like a crazy person. I still need to fit into my pants on Saturday after all....

The Elf IS Wearing Pants on that Horse!

2011-11-18T16:33:00.000-08:00

The horse and elf have been inked!!! My client didn't mind the elf idea at all and gave me the go ahead, next up will be painting!

I was having a few problems with the horse sketch and finally got down something I like and that looks decent to me. I had completely forgotten that my dad used to be a cowboy of sorts growing up and he was able to give me some really good pointers.

The background is still stumping me because I'd like them in a field, but I don't want it all grassy and cartoony and annoying, so I will probably do some yellowy orange sky and hint at some far off trees...

My first title idea was "Rush," but Rush is the name of an awesome rock band and I would seriously have the "Tom Sawyer" song stuck in my head the whole time I painted it. So my second title idea is "Thrill" which I like much better. I know I'd be thrilled to be an experienced horseman(lady-man-elf) and to just ride around bareback all day in a magical field.... It'd be thrilling.... Hmm, so let me know if you guys think of anything else though.

I'd really like to point out that the elf is wearing pants... But they don't have color on them yet... Just wanted to point that out.... It looks kind of awkward and it was bugging me... And btw, doesn't she look so much better actually sitting on something!!

I will probably will be able to lay in a few washes of color this weekend and have an update monday or Tuesday night!

One last thing-- I'm having a sale at my Etsy Shoppe, 15% off everything in the store with the coupon code FRIENDS15 I may have a black Friday sale, but this 15% off discount is on until the end of the month!

Have a good weekend!!!!

Horses coming out of my pencil!!!

2011-11-17T00:02:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I won't be able to upload new paintings for a while even if I finish them. But I can show sketches!! This sketch is a commission that has a deadline, so everything else has taken a backseat until this project is underway.

The request is a fairy on a horse. It's being painted for the client's very dear friend as a gift, so there are a few specific requests.

I was online for over an hour today googling and sketching "rearing horses." The first few attempts to create the drawings were hilarious! I had a bunch of overweight fatty horses! The one above has gotten better from the first few, but he still looks a tad pudgy... I'll have to fix it. I'm used to drawing dainty whimsical unicorns, so it was funny to see that horses are really the opposite of dainty and much more powerful creatures (in a non-magical way).

The sketch above is a slightly more detailed version of the maiden. (sidenote: doesn't she look so awkward without a horse or at least a chair under her??) I decided to make her an elf instead because the wings of the fairy were getting in the way and not aesthetically pleasing and mostly because I realized "Why would a fairy ride a horse if she could just fly?"

Hopefully the client wasn't dead-set on a fairy.... She described her friend as a tough horse-riding girl who would never be caught riding sidesaddle in a pretty dress. I think an elf will go for her personality better. Just think of Arwen from Lord of the Rings.... She was bad-ass on her horse!

Anyways, the elf is dressed in a riding corset, pants and hecka awesome riding boots. So she's pretty hardcore.

Also, since I'm on a horse kick, I will be attempting to get done another horse maiden, Epona. I blogged about this a while ago and just hadn't gotten around to sketching it out. That painting is for a friend who just asked really politely if I would paint Epona, and I couldn't turn her down. There's no deadline, but I'd like to do it simultaneously with my other horse painting. And now that I'm thinking about it I *should* add another unicorn into the mix... But I'm probably too lazy.....

Side-note, I told my watercolor classmate, Splotchy who owns a horse that I was going to draw a horse rider and she is practically asking every class about my progress. She said she'd give horse anatomy pointers too, so I'm in good hands... or hooves...? If I fail, blame Splotchy.

Website Redesign

2011-11-16T17:07:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

I wanted to let you all know that my business is going through a LOT of changes.

First, I got a whole new computer/printer/scanner system so that I can finally do all my own scanning, printing, product making, etc. Matt, my webguy has been the most helpful and wonderful person on the planet. However, he does have two day jobs and it's become increasingly more difficult to meet up with him to scan new art. So he'll be there for me of course if I have an emergency of a goblin getting lodged in the disk drive, but otherwise, I'll be doing everything web and product related myself... Please bare with me during this time. =)

Second change, I have designed all on my own (well, with the help of a web creation site) my own website complete with shopping cart options!! *angels sing somewhere* I'm not quite finished yet unfortunately. But it is a LOT of work -- especially for someone who has no idea what they are doing. I've have to redo entire areas of the site a few times now so that I could have everything flow better and make more sense. But seriously, right now the construction site is epic -- considering it's made by me, of course.

The new website will be a lot more interactive in the sense that I can update it whenever I want, there will be more links, an actual shopping cart system, fun pages, etc. I'm even using paypal as my shopping cart which is a very trusted internet payment service. The whole thing is growing very nicely.

While I have been painting a bit, most of my energy has been going into the site and the new software and learning how to use everything. So hang tight for now. I will be really excited to finally start doing everything on my own without having to wait or rely on others to do things for me. It will make my painting time and uploading much more efficient in the long run anyways because I will be able to scan/print the second I finish a painting rather than waiting for weeks. Go efficiency!

I am really looking forward to releasing the redesign of the site as soon as I am able. I hope it happens before the holidays, but you know how busy this time of year gets. At least we'll have it for the new year if nothing else.

And if anyone has any web-building-paypal-printing products-mechandising advice, please feel free to send it my way!

Cheers!

November Newsletter

2011-11-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

I just created my very first newsletter! In it, I mentioned some new happenings at ClaireNoblesArt.com as well as some super secret sale information happening right now!

To view my newsletter and to get the inside scoop on the sales that are happening right now, click here!

To sign up for my newsletter please fill out the form to the left, below the Etsy Shoppe display or just email me at claire@clairenoblesart.com and I'll add you in manually.

Thanks, and let me know what you think!

New Enchanted Visions

2011-11-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

Hey all, I hope your Monday is going alright so far! I just wanted to let you know about a little project called the Enchanted Visions....

This project was started by two fairy artist friends, the legendary Amy Freaking Brown (real name) and the super inspiring Jessica Galbreth. They came up with an game of choosing a title and creating a piece of art inspired by that theme.

This evolved into something much more. Every month a new theme is given to inspired participating artists and the artists (myself included on most months) create a new artwork for that theme. The only rule is that the art is newly created for the theme, though artists may do past themes as well.

There are now over a hundred artists that participate each month.

Very recently the web director (and one of my personal friends and big faery sister) Coriander "Uberness" Shea Detwiler has passed the web director job over to the super inventive and awesome Lisa Cree.

Lisa has taken what was once a gallery on a partnered site site to become it's very own personal interactive website where one can really get to know the talented people who participate every month.

All four of these ladies have done so much for EV, so if you see them on the web, wave at them and check out their truly stunning and unique artwork.

If you would like to check out the new Enchanted Visions Project site, (you totally should) please click here.

To see my personal gallery on the site, please click here.

More previews!

2011-11-08T00:59:00.000-08:00

Stardancer ink drawing- Created for the Enchanted Visions Project

Hey guys, because I'm nearly done painting this one, I figured I'd show the preview of the inked drawing, Stardancer. This piece has been created for two reasons. First, I needed Enchanted Visions themes to start getting finished. And second, so that I had a pretty painting to put over my bed (to clash horribly with my red comforter...) Funny enough, I actually don't have any original work of mine hung up anywhere in my house... Which is weird...

Btw, I noticed that this painting looks very odd without colors... At least to me it does. Please hold your breath for the colors, as they will be epic.

Anyways, I'm pretty psyched right now about painting. I have one already completed - Dirty Sock Troll - and am almost finished with three others including this one! Wow! It feels great to release my muse!

Unfortunately these paintings probably won't be released for a few weeks-- my web guy is working... On the bright side I *might* be able to get a working scanner and printer so that I can do my own scanning/printing and then I'll go crazy with painting. It's nice to rely only on myself!

Sock Politics....

2011-11-07T16:28:00.000-08:00

Dirty Sock Troll - Sketch

Um, yes, it has been confirmed that it is *trolls* who steal your socks... Though they may get help from various other critters such as pixies and gnomes... I believe it has been an ongoing political conspiracy amongst the faerie realm for hundreds of years...

I caught this baby troll just yesterday and managed to get a rough sketch --didn't have my iPhone with me...

If I can get a chance to throw some color on this sketch, maybe we have a chance to put the sock thieves to rest!

Troll Sketch- Grunt!

2011-11-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

I have no idea where this is coming from… Probably my mind punishing me for painting pretty fairies for so long… Needed a creature that burps more.

And the sad thing is I have commissions and planned pretty paintings to be working on, and my muse is stuck on TROLLS!?!

I can’t refuse my muse because then I can’t paint… So let’s hope this is temporary.

*belches loudly* –’scuse me!

Maybe not.

Welcome!

2011-11-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog site! It's quite pretty over here! Anyways, I shall be posting regularly so stay tuned!
To view older entries -Click Here-

Not in Iambic Pentameter...

2011-08-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so if you were wondering about the silly title of this blog (and post), read on.

I've been asked a few times today in the last 5 hours so I think I should explain the weird title.

"Not in Iambic Pentameter" is the title of my Livejournal (which I don't use anymore). My friend Meredith forced me to get a Livejournal. Since I had never had a blog account I had a ton of questions for her. "What can I write?" "Who sees this?" and "What's a Livejournal?" I was asking her questions for about half an hour while she was setting me up with an account. She finally got so annoyed at me for asking all these "ridiculous" questions and told me to shut up --it's just a normal blog!!! Sometimes I make big deals out of small things...

I paused for a minute and finally said "So I don't have to write it in Iambic Pentameter?"

We laughed for about twenty minutes at the randomness of it all. So we titled my blog "Not in Iambic Pentameter" to get really specific. It just kind of stuck.

Older Entries, First Starting Out

2010-03-26T19:56:00.001-07:00

To view my older entries on my old blog site please -click here-
Or go to http://clairenoblesart.com/blog/
There, you can see the very start of my journey as a Fantasy Artist... It's dated all the way to 2009 When I had my first experiences in the art world. I spent a lot of time writing that journal. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it!