Loftus Hall Trouble

I took my sketch drawing to work with me today since I was going to be sitting in at the Children's Section for three hours, it took me an hour to finish what I need done.

My problem is, in the painting, looks like I drew too many steps, what I know is going on is a perception shift, as the steps go up you don't see the top of the step like in the bottom of the drawing here.

I have to go back and smudge a bit.

I also noticed in the drawing itself I have drawn too many posts on the left side.  I guess I was too busy practicing drawing the post to keep count, doesn't matter, I got it down right on the canvas. I just have to fix up those stairs.  

Perspective has always been a challenge in my drawing, more so now since my right eye has a partially detached retina.  NO I am NOT going to get it fixed, no health insurance, can't afford it and cant get on Obama care because my income is TOO LOW go figure.

I work part time as a library page, not a lot of money coming in but enough to get by.  I will never work full time again because I just can't handle it.  I have kids that NEED me.  I mean they need me to be there not mentally checked out and depressed because I spend too much time in a job I don't like.  

Besides that I have a mild form of autism known as Asberger's 

The job I have is not highly social which is calming for me as opposed to the forty hour work week I used to do as a cashier in a small grocery store. I kept doodling on small pads of paper to keep my mind sane.

My art gives me something to think about, a lot

its a place I can go to that gives me energy 

instead of sucking everything out of me like most things.

I seem to be pretty good at it though I still have things to work on.

I have done charcoal reversals, pen and ink, graphite drawing watercolor

Oils (my favorite)

Ceramics and stained glass

These were my first projects in glass

this is the top half of a colored pencil drawing I did what  like 9 years ago

when I scanned this it cut off the knotwork boarders 

This is Abraxus, a unicorn from a story I have been writing.

Yeah I make stories too but they take even longer to get down on paper, it's the editing process that gets me bogged down, not so with Painting, I just keep going till it's done.

I'll keep chugging at Loftus Hall till I'm done,

I did get some drawing down on the canvas but I think I need to rest up and try painting

the next night, let my brain figure out how to work those steps.  Most of the drawing work is done. I'm making progress just a bit slower than I thought it would be.  

Loftus Hall Project Phase 3

I started painting the griselle the foundation of this painting.  I like this stage though I haven't finished drawing it all in yet I can 'sculpt' the areas and fix problems and I can see what I am doing better.  I have the painting hanging in our kitchen and I'm using a cereal box to steady it and I have a reference drawing laying on top of that.  I keep standing back and looking at it to make sure everything is evened out.

I needed an up close shot of the staircase and found Aaron's Vlog on the place.  I took some sketches.

That helped me out immensely   I was up so late last night that I had trouble staying awake at church.  Brought my sketch book with me to doodle in to try to keep me from  zonking out.  

I still have to clean up my area in the kitchen.

That's our kitchen table, there is a celtic knotwork hound painted on it.  I'll have to get a shot of that when the table is clear, looks really cool.  As I said before I am way into Celtic stuff.  

This is another of my favorite pieces, the Water Kelpie.  Legend goes that these things lures children into the ocean to drown them.  Well I made my Kelpie NICE.  I LOVE the vibrancy of this painting, IT looks better in person.  I can never get a good enough picture to do it justice.  Well time for me to log off and clean up and get some decent sleep.  I got a day job to go to.  I work as a library page.  It's the bottom of the ladder as far as jobs go but I do love the books and being able to know when stuff is coming in.  It doesn't sap out my energy like other jobs.

Loftus Hall Project Phase 2

The first pic is my canvas on the kitchen floor.  I have no where else to paint this thing.  I had decided to use a grid system to get this thing on canvas, in the second pic you can see a printout of the staircase with a grid.  I found my old grid stuck in an artbook and was fortunate that this one works as far as scale though.  You can see how much I done tonight.  It's like two twelve am now as I am typing this and I'm planning on going to church in the uh morning (a few hours from now)  I have done quite a bit here and had to force myself off this project to get some sleep.  I hate not having an art room. I snipped at my daughter when she came in looking for a snack.  I HATE getting interrupted.  But that's the way I get when at work here, I really wish I had my own space.  I always salivate at those expensive easels made for large paintings.  I had to hang my work on the wall in the kitchen to keep from getting handled by the kids.

You know, I don't think I really was aware of how much work this was going to be for me.  It will be worth it cause it will look so cool when it's done.  It might take me longer than a week, I'm really loving this though.  It's pretty ambitious since it has been two years of NOT painting and many years since I have worked this type of perspective drawing.  

Loftus Hall Project Phase 1 part b

Don't you just love crappy first sketches?  I am getting the idea here of the shape of things.  Bear in mine I am doing this sketch from a black and white print of the staircase and a lot of it is dark and I can't see much of the detail.  Which just means I have to go back though and see the color shot and  probably should watch the Loftus Hall portion of Celtic Demons again to see it better.  Some might ask why I go through so much trouble to do this thing.  Well if you have to ask then you don't know the artist mind, we are flippin NUTS.  Pure and Simple.  I have such a strong vision of this idea, this very emotive painting of the staircase that I HAVE TO DO IT.  I know it will look totally bonkers when I first layer it in magenta but trust me it will work very well as I add the other layers on top.  I have done this with smaller paintings before, the hard part is just getting the drawing of the staircase down.  I still have to figure out where to store this painting when I get started on it.  I live in a three bedroom apartment with FOUR KIDS 12, 8, 2 (she's into EVERYTHING) and the youngest is ten months.  The oldest two know better than to go near mommy's work because I descend upon them like a banshee when near my stuff.  I have to work in the kitchen late at night to get work done.  Very hard to accomplish anything in the daylight.

I might as well show off another painting that goes along with Celtic Mythology  MY POOKA

Not bad but I don't like how my moon looks, it looks like a big round stone or else an ORB floating there.

My oldest daughter doesn't like how the legs are, because they are malformed and I explained to her that it's like that because the thing is in the middle of forming.  It looks pretty cool up close. 

I have Scots and Irish roots and when Ghost Adventures did Celtic Demons I went NUTS .  I don't get cable (can't afford it, had a choice and I choose internet connection)  I found it on Youtube.

I was like ohhhh got to start sketching out stuff of Celtic Mythology 

One of my best redones.  The original fairy looked bad so I redid the wings but ended up painting over the whole painting which made the colors richer.

From this I hope you get the idea of where I am going with this Loftus Hall idea though it will be different than what I have been doing.  I tend to really favor greens and Ultramarine but Loftus Hall will be deep reds and dark purples.  I don't use black or brown anymore, not straight out of the tube, If I want to indicate something dark I would use Indigo, black just looks too flat for me.  I love rich colors.

Loftus Hall Painting Project Phase 1

Ok I know this doesn't look like much but I haven't done drawing having to deal with perspective for a few years.  This is just a sketch on paper and I am still working on it.  When I get the bones of this thing down then I can draw it over again on the 30 inch by 40 inch canvas.  The writing off the side is some notes on which colors I'm going to use and what my first layout of color is going to be, in this case magenta.  It will be a layered color painting.  

This is what I got done so far for tonight.  I was hoping to start on the canvas right away but I want to be right with the perspective on this thing so I started with working it all out on paper which is a lot less frustration.  I am erasing A LOT!  

When I start a drawing like this I mark off with some light lines on where things are going to go, starting with the two posts out front, then the ones up the stairs then lining out basically where the banisters are going.  Maybe I'll get it fixed a bit better in the morning.  I am caffeinated with Assam Tea which tends to make me easily frustrated when working on something that requires me to be patient and KIND with myself as I do something I haven't done in awhile.  

I estimate it will take me about a week to do this painting, let's see if that holds.  I'm not on any deadline here. I am just wanting to focus well on this work.  I am hoping to buy a gesso board for my next Ghost Adventures inspired painting, Proveglia which I wanted to do first but I can't order it till my paycheck comes.

I had my 30 by 40 canvas here so I thought the Loftus Hall staircase fits it perfectly, just a hell of a time drawing this project out.  When I do Provegila I won't have to do this much pre work.

Returning to Painting

   I noticed that on my last blog it was about Aislinn being born, let me tell you that surprise little one had me busy and we moved from our two bedroom apartment into a three bedroom around the corner of our building.  And just when Aislinn was off breast feeding and the bottle guess what.  I had another one coming..

This is Merida June Akeman

NOW she was born Jan. 15 2014, she is 10 months old now.  I have not been able to paint for almost two years and it really SUCKED!  When the library I worked at took part in a new arts festival our town decided to do they had paintings from a gallery displayed.  Wonderful works but it put me on edge, I wanted soooo bad to paint.  I have no studio to paint in.  I have to keep putting my stuff up so the kids can't get into it and find a safe place for my paintings to dry.  I finally figured out how to make it possible.  My paints and stuff are on top of the Fridge for easy access, used to be stored in the closet.  THEN I cleared off the kitchen table and laid down newspapers and did a painting based on a sketch I did some time ago the original sketch was this

When I did the oil painting, the first one in TWO YEARS it looked like this

NOW how cool is THAT!!

I did do another painting but it's not dry enough to scan yet.  It's a buffalo and the painting style is a bit different from this.  

I am currently going to be working on a 30 inch by 40 inch painting of the grand staircase of Loftus Hall from Ghost Adventures Celtic Demons.  I have a spooky color scheme for that one.  I'll be charting the stages of that painting on my blog here with my camera.  I have no way to do a video which would be cooler. I am so glad to be back to painting, not painting puts me on EDGE. 

New BABY

Born April 25 a bit early than planned but my babies usually come early.

Funny thing about this photo is that when I took it it was too bright, but when I changed it in my photoshop deal 

and just went black and white it turned out great.

I have been extremely busy with the new baby, her name is Aislinn.  I am nursing her so it's taking a lot out of me sleepwise but this will keep her from getting the allergies I got.

I was given food when I was a WEEK old for crying out loud!!

I was born in 76 so back then I guess feeding newborns food was ok?

I don't know what I was given, I was not nursing so the doc said to give me food instead.

These days MY baby doctor is reminding me to NOT give the baby any food.

Don't worry I know what happens when you do.

This is my third child but she was one I did not have any pain meds for during the birth, It just 

came on so fast and they couldn't give me anything.

We are moving into a three bedroom apartment and are busy with other things I just haven't 

been able to blog on anything.

But I wanted to share this.