006: African Wild Dog

Not a puppy you want to pet...

365 Days of Animals
006 African Wild Dog
pen/ink/digital

005: Albino Snake

EEK.

365 Days of Animals
005 Albino Snake
pen/ink/digital

004: Addax

They seem like such nice little guys, and such cool horns. So sad!

365 Days of Animals
004 Addax
pen/ink/digital

003: Aardvark

Nom nom nom nom. 

365 Days of Animals
003 Aardvark
pen/ink

002: Actias Luna, AKA the Luna Moth

Such a bittersweet life! One week of existence, what do you do?

365 Days of Animals
002 The Luna Moth
pen/ink/digital

365 Days of Animals!

So! I'm doing a 365 project this year, yes I am. This is my way of kicking my own butt into drawing more and drawing different things.  Running your own business is super-awesome, but it's deceiving in that you don't get to be as creative as it might look like. There is a whole lot of other stuff involved, like production work (oh my gosh, I print, cut, fold, package so much, it's not even funny), financial/paperwork, marketing/social media, and other miscellaneous. That stuff takes up so much time that most times I find myself really struggling to find time to just be creative.

My solution is to force myself each day to take some time, whether it just be five minutes or a whole hour, to just draw for fun. I don't want this to be a stressful project at all, so my only rule is that I have to draw an animal each day. It can just be a quick, simple pencil sketch, a more detailed pen/ink, or maybe I go a little further and color it in for a more finished looking piece. Heck maybe I'll even break out the actual paints and get back into painting more! I want to keep it open to experiment and have fun.

Why did I choose to only draw animals? Obviously I am a big animal fan and they have inspired me and given me lots of smiles for-like-ever, but I wanted to branch out from the usual bears, foxes, cats, and hedgehogs that I tend to draw and challenge myself with some variety. Also, I find it super-fascinating learning fun facts of animals that I am not that familiar with. So I guess it's a research project of sorts too. I've been out of college for over 10 years now, so I have to make my own homework so that I'm always learning, right?

I made a spreadsheet with a list of 365 different animals (this was actually really hard to make this list! It took forever and ever!) I guess I will just start and go somewhat alphabetical (I think this project would make a really really cool "Encyclopedia of Illustrated Animals" of sorts when I finish, yeah??? *cough* If any publishers out there think so too... *cough*)

Have you ever done a 365 project before? Any tips? I'm pretty excited about this!

xoxo,
Michelle

Hello 2013!

Hello 2013! This past year was pretty rad in its own right, but I'm optimistic that this shiny new year before us will bring the awesome like nobody's business.  I'm thinking this will be the year of big changes. I have lots of plans for my business in the coming year, getting rid of the old and bringing in the new.  I'm starting a 365 project that I am hell-bent on sticking to (stay tuned!) I'm getting married to my best friend this year (May 4th, whaaaaat?!) Maybe this will be the year that we finally move out of  NYC (Brooklyn, I love you so very much, it's not you, it's me.)

Here's to adventures and many moments bursting with fun!
xoxo,
Michelle

p.s. I am starting a 365 project for realsies, stay tuned soon for another post!

The Cloisters!

Violent and sad, but most religious art is. Also, this is a tapestry! A crazy-huge-wall-sized tapestry! 

Here come some forgotten photos! Nik and I went up to the Cloisters way back in October (?!!), and had a nice walk around Fort Tryon park and in the Cloisters museum.  It's right up my alley with medieval art from the 9th-16th century Europe. I have a large fascination with religious and medieval art and basically anything with gold leaf on it makes my heart flutter. The Met is my favorite museum in NYC by far, but I hadn't made it up to their Cloisters branch yet. Plus, I timed it right, so we would be there when the leaves were changing. Leaf-peeping! It's so pretty there! Set in the scenic Fort Tryon park, along the Hudson River, it's a great day trip away from the city. I sounded like a guide-book just now. 

Terrible photo, but they keep the lights low to conserve all the tapestries.
Another wall-sized tapestry, and probably what the museum is most known for. Absolutely love them. Poor 'lil unicorn dude...

Cool braids.

Teeny little handwritten/illustrated books! These were only like 3-4 inches wide.

This looks totally typical until you note the weird thing he is stabbing...

Pretty courtyard

The outside!

View of the George Washington Bridge 

Fort Tryon Park

The arch!

Scenic overlook

Magnificent arch!