Been so busy the last couple weeks! I agreed to do this horrible box for some charity auction -- Japanning takes long enough as it is, then a week before the surprise deadline (the auction isn't till November so I figured we had till then -- nope, suddenly I'm informed that Oct. 26 we needed it in) I got an air bubble under the paint layers, meaning I got to scrape off the top of the box and start all over. I absolutely hate how the box turned out but there was no more time to work on it. Ana, who works at the teen center and was the one that asked if I'd do a box for the charity, dismisses it as saying I always hate my own artwork. (Indeed -- this is why I hate doing it.) I wish people would understand what an immense burden making any type of painting is and not think they should ask for it so lightly. Part of why the box came out so badly was no one had $10 to spend on gold paint and I had to improvise with a very messy gold powder. Art supplies don't just manifest from thin air! Consider this next time you ask artists to crank stuff out for free!
Also keeping me busy -- but proving much more fruitful than that awful box -- I made a new cape. It's a medieval 1/2 circle cape with a (fake) fur lining and a silver brocade on the outside. Though it's reversible, so actually it can be a fake fur cape with a silver interior lining depending how I put it on. I copied the design from a 13th century illustration of Yolande de Soissons. I'd actually planned this cape for a long time and the fur was sitting in a box for years. I finally bought the brocade a couple weeks ago. I think that means that cape used about $140 in materials, though divided in two over the course of about 8 years. I have some nice fur and brocade scraps left over that I'll probably use to trim other garments in the future.
Otherwise, got that grant propopsal sent in finally. Hopefully it'll be accepted, and I'll be sponsored to translate works by Beaumarchais. I rubbed those stones I have from his grave on the papers, maybe it will give me an edge.
And to the curious, we still have no idea what's up with my dad's drunken claims of owning a house in California that we're supposed to move to. It's not come up again, and given by his pestering my sister to help with the rent money, we're planning on staying put for the time being. (A couple weeks ago it was me that got to help pad the rent money, which was annoying as I'd finally saved up for the dentist -- ended up having to cancel the appointment for my fillings, we'll see when I can build up enough to reschedule.) I can say there's no doubt that we've not owned any houses in California since we moved back in '95 -- we'd have made use of it about 15 times over by now were that the case.
Also keeping me busy -- but proving much more fruitful than that awful box -- I made a new cape. It's a medieval 1/2 circle cape with a (fake) fur lining and a silver brocade on the outside. Though it's reversible, so actually it can be a fake fur cape with a silver interior lining depending how I put it on. I copied the design from a 13th century illustration of Yolande de Soissons. I'd actually planned this cape for a long time and the fur was sitting in a box for years. I finally bought the brocade a couple weeks ago. I think that means that cape used about $140 in materials, though divided in two over the course of about 8 years. I have some nice fur and brocade scraps left over that I'll probably use to trim other garments in the future.
Otherwise, got that grant propopsal sent in finally. Hopefully it'll be accepted, and I'll be sponsored to translate works by Beaumarchais. I rubbed those stones I have from his grave on the papers, maybe it will give me an edge.
And to the curious, we still have no idea what's up with my dad's drunken claims of owning a house in California that we're supposed to move to. It's not come up again, and given by his pestering my sister to help with the rent money, we're planning on staying put for the time being. (A couple weeks ago it was me that got to help pad the rent money, which was annoying as I'd finally saved up for the dentist -- ended up having to cancel the appointment for my fillings, we'll see when I can build up enough to reschedule.) I can say there's no doubt that we've not owned any houses in California since we moved back in '95 -- we'd have made use of it about 15 times over by now were that the case.
I'm glad you also got to have some fun (the cape) and I shall think *very* good thoughts for you about getting the grant.
Drunken claims are usually... well, just drunken claims. At least it's better than drunken threats.
But anyway. Glad you're around.
I am enjoying the painting, btw. I do like it a great deal.