Mad ACEO: Snow!

Well, I kind of screwed up this week...We were out of town and I didn't have what I needed to do what the plan was originally, so we switched, and I only managed three.  Better than nothing anyway.

These are all straight watercolor, and as I am not at my computer, we are having to make due.

Well, it's an appropriate subject for the week!

Merry Christmas!!

Mad ACEO: "I've got a bad feeling about this."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsXEToflqGs

I got to choose this week's theme.  It was destiny.

Really want to say something about the movie.  Really, really.  But I won't.  (No, Carey, you won't.  Noooooooo...)

Crawling Mad Scientist, gouache and pan pastel on black Artagain

(I love the gouache and pan pastel!!)

Millennium Falcon 1, gouache and pan pastel on black Artagain

Millennium Falcon 2, acrylic on acrylic

(When Jessica sent me this primed paper, I knew it had to be for something very special!  It was perfect for this!!)

R2D2, acrylic on metallic acrylic

(ditto to above!)

Oh.  Well, I guess I do have to say something.  But I won't say *that*.

BB8 was SO FLIPPIN' CUTE.  I really would not have ever believed anyone could have come up with something that could be on the par of R2D2. 

BB8 in pencil, watercolor marker, and watercolor crayon on Canson XL mixed media

So cute.

ACEO watercolor and pan pastel test

Though I still had other ideas from this week's theme that I could have done this afternoon, I wanted to try something different.  Okay, really I just wanted to play with my pan pastels and my other ideas would have taken too long.

I am discovering that pan pastels over something else is a wonderful thing.  This time it was watercolor.  It's actually a little hard to tell some of the pastel from the watercolor in this, which tells me how well they do work together. 

Mad ACEO: Fog

This week is about fog.  A lot of weeks could be about that, haha.

I really cannot say which of these images came into my head first after Jessica told me our theme--it might have been literal fog, but this first image popped into my mind so fast that I cannot be sure.

The Usual Afternoon Fog

(that is my desk during schoolwork planning)

Pink Fog in oil pastel

(these might actually not be done...and they scanned weird...and there are two more started in this series but they didn't make the cut as yet)

Now, the irony is, this week I have no Crawling Eye.  And I am *certain* that Jessica chose fog just for the Crawling Eye.  Why else would one choose this theme??

So I must apologize for the lack of the Crawling Eye...I had a few other ideas for this week that haven't materialized yet, too.

Beware the ides of December.

Always

Simply must share this thought.

Mad ACEO: How Lovely Are Thy Branches

Watercolor on Canson XL Mixed Media

Watercolor on Canson coldpress

Watercolor marker on Canson coldpress

Watercolor marker on Canson XL Mixed Media

Ink and watercolor on parchment paper

Mad ACEO: Salt

This week: salt!

I had an interesting time with this week's theme.

The watercolor-with-salt thing didn't work out so well...not that I'm surprised.  But I think at least a good share of the fault was the surface of my watercolor board.  I tried.  I really did.  The watercolor marker worked *much* better.  Definitely learned some things!

Salted Road

watercolor, ink, and salt on watercolor board

Salty Beeza

watercolor and salt on watercolor board

Salt Plant

oil pastel on aubergine Colorfixed cardstock

The Great Salt Lake

oil pastel on aubergine Colorfixed cardstock

Salt in His Eye

watercolor marker, ink, and salt on Canson XL Mixed Media

Shio (salt) 1

sumi ink on rice paper

 

Shio (salt) 2

sumi ink on rice paper

You know...salt is a really cool word.

Salt.

Ooo

Man, this looks so much better than tofurkey

Mad ACEO: The Moon, The Moon!

Only one person in the world will get that reference.

(you didn't even know it was a reference, did you?)

Anyway.  Has been an interesting week in some ways.  I *ahem* sort of just realized, well...*I have a scanner.*  I mean, I knew this.  And in my defense, I don't usually think most of my work scans well.  But these did, very well in fact.  So, yay.

Interesting thing regarding these, #1: I got a very cool package.  :D

Interesting thing #2: I cut some very awesome cards out of watercolor board, which I love love love. 

There are other interesting things.  I shall spare you, at least for the moment.

So, this first card is a whole bunch of stuffs.  Done on Canson XL Mixed Media, with watercolor markers, watercolor sticks, pencil, and Inktense pencil.

This second card came from my wonderfully exciting package...it was primed with acrylic iridescent which I thought would be *perfect* for the moon.  I was right (the right side of the moon is pure surface), though I had a rough time getting oil pastel to stick to the smooth acrylic.  But then someone mentioned pan pastels and lightglobe went off and yes, pan pastel is *awesome* over oil pastel.  The surface is a delightful velvety contrast to the iridescence.

This next one is the above-mentioned watercolor board (like illustration board, only wc cold pressed surface).  It took my watercolor markers *beautifully*.  But it did need sparkles, so I used some sparkly stamping powder and also some ink.

Canson XL Mixed Media again. Watercolor marker and an extremely small bit of ink. Sorry, Kitty, for messing up your cute feetsies.  I promise I'll get them right next time.

Canson XL Mixed Media a third time with ink, watercolor sticks, watercolor, and watercolor marker.

This was a very fun week.

I really wanted the pigeon.

ACEO: Narrative: Making Tea

 Theme this week: narrative in five parts.

I used watercolor paper with ink and Inktense blocks, once again.

Light

There was this light above the mountain...I don't even know if you can see it here, but it was incredible.

Etch-a-Sketch

When I was little, there were certain pictures I would do on my Etch-a-Sketch, over and over.

This was the most common, sometimes with a little more detail in that father room (it's a dining room).

Isn't that kind of weird?  

The stairs really are fun to do, though.

Now we know why

They are after our riches.

Too much and too much.

So sad, the world.  My heart goes out to so many.

And there are answers, and there are solutions, but that's not what people want.  People want to marinate in their own selfishness instead, lifting themselves on high.

So often we are left mourning in cases where we have answers and others will not listen due to their self-involved centeredness.

God help us.

**

I am not sure why I even bother to talk to people sometimes.

I am continuously misunderstood.

And, though I appreciate some good skepticism, people who marinate in it are just annoying.

Why should I even talk to you when you a) don't even stop to think about the best response b) don't understand where I am coming from c) don't try to understand d) genuinely believe you understand when you haven't done the above and e) don't appreciate what I am talking about, anyway?  I have so little common ground with others, it seems.

Funny

I could not stop laughing while I was reading this this morning.

http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/dear-walmart-someone-insulted-me-in-one-of-your-stores-your-ceo-must-now-resign/

Ah, the misunderstandings this shall cause...

Mad ACEO: Mountains

Theme this week: mountains!

I'd kind of wanted to do more than this, but at least I managed my five.  There's a lot I want to do with this theme.  :)

These are all illustration board.  I need to get some more of that!...

The first is sumi ink and Inktense blocks used as ink.

The following are all oil pastel, on Colorfix primed illustration board. (Australian Gray...I think.)

Aaaand...you can put them all together, like this.  :D

Kids were very distracting as I did those, but it turned out okay after all.  I'm liking how it looks on my screen, which makes it feel like I'm looking at them from a distance.  Scale isn't quite right on those mountains, but I blame the distraction.  And the fact that I should have had two more primed cards in there really.  Next time; I'm definitely going to do a more precise job without distraction.

Don't forget Jessica's!

Mad ACEO: Oil Pastel

The theme Jessica chose this week for our ACEOs was oil pastel.

I wasn't sure what I felt about doing itsy OPs, so I thought it was a wonderful idea.  :D

Turned out better than I had expected, as far as working small.

This first one...I swear it has oil pastel.  But only the cloud surrounding the Crawling Eye.  On Friday, Scarlett came home from dance with some Halloween stickers, some of which were disembodied eyes.  You know I had to borrow one of the stickers.  The rest is ink, watercolor, and white oil pastel.  Turned out great, though I wish I'd figured in the clouds into the comp from the first.  Still, I like it.

I made an effort to make my photos look nice!  The colors are still a bit off, but it's an improvement nonetheless.  This is my view of the sunset over the Salt Lake.  On illustration board, which is my favorite support for these.

Another illustration board, this time a marsh.  Probably has nothing to do with the Marshwiggles in Narnia because we definitely were not reading that the other day.

This one kind of got abandoned because I didn't like the surface...it's my lovely cold press paper which I usually love (see Mr. Crawling Eye above), but I did not end up liking the oil pastel on it.  Anyway, it's the sunrise from my deck, opposite the Salt Lake.

I ended up with four this week.

Mad ACEO: Ink

This time we decided on a series to post, because these things are addicting!

Mine turned out variously, but it was good practice!

Sorry these images are super yellow; I'd correct them, but not right now.