Stuff I Sewed a While Ago

I made this dress after I saw a similar dress at a store. I thought, "That's so easy, I could make it without a pattern!" So I did! I already had this crazy clown fabric so I just bought some lining and a the fabric for the tie. I finished this in one day I believe. Here we have a belted look and a free-flowing look.

One purse- two looks! I intend to make and sell more reversible purses. They will be different styles- not just plain totes. The cat was fun and annoying to make, so I don't know if I'll be doing many things like that again. I made this for my friend Jaela for her birthday.

A closer look. And apparently a plug for Neff clothing :)

This pillow is my baby. I love it. I especially love the back (which I consider to be the part with the flap- the top picture). I designed this myself (from the assymetrical flap to the contrasting stitching to the mock-box structure) for an assignment in my Home Decor class 2 years ago. I got 100%!! I started cutting fabric for a coordinating quilt... and I haven't touched it many many months :( It's on the ever-growing to-do list.

I wish this wasn't sideways :(

In my children's clothing class last year our last project was to make coats. This is basically an Ashley Original because I modified the pattern to make it A-line, invented the little flap for over the zipper (and search every now and then for the perfect giant buttons to sew on there), picked the pocket style, and tried my darnedest to make a rounded collar :) It wasn't a complete success, but I know it's pretty cute! I love picking out fabrics and putting them together- did I mention that? So great.

That's all for now! Just thought it was time for ya'll to see some of my sewing handiwork! Until next time...

Dress That's Been a Long Time Coming

I found this pattern at Joann's last year... and after lots of stalling- it's all done!

Cover girl #1
and #2

And me modeling, having fun! I hope this gives you a good enough idea of my "execution."

No, not a serious pose.

This however- very serious ;)

Figures and Faces

These are all assignments from 4 different classes: Figure Drawing, Head Drawing, Oil Painting II, and Life Painting. And these are all from 2006-2007. Man I need to get my butt in gear and do more stuff like this!

This is on "chip board"- basically the same as the cardboardy back of the large drawing pads. Instead of white charcoal we used white oil paint for our lights.

Just black and white charcoal on colored Cason paper.

This is Alexis. She was a good drawing subject in class and a nice girl all around :) This drawing is a good example of how I DON'T intend for my drawings to come out, but how they often do anyway. I didn't get my darks dark enough so I scratched some charcoal over them- and it makes the drawing realistic and flat and sketchy at the same time. I might like the result.

This isn't the best drawing. But whatev. In figure drawing class I don't spend a lot of time on the faces, as you can see. He's kind of a blur. The next drawing is a stellar example of what I just said though, haha.

haha- Faceless. I really like this drawing though. I think I got my values right on and that's why it looks this good. And maybe my edges too. For the non-artist, the "value" is how light or dark something is. Getting correct values in your work is one of the best keys to getting your work to look accurate or realistic.

This was a fun assignment. No darks/shadows, just lights.

Jamie! I painted her for extra credit I think. I felt bad making her sit there for so long so after 2 sessions I just took pictures and finished this from photo reference.

This girl was nice. She would always keep a little smile on her face! That's hard work- for 2.5 hours with only a few little breaks! I painted her in class like 3 times and this is the 1st or 2nd. I sort of got "progressively" worse through this semester I think :/

This girl was from Africa and she loved to listen to Enya. So she was awesome. I took pictures of these paintings and not scans- so I think the color/value is off a little :(

Oh man. This guy. Well anyway, I kinda like how this came out.

For this, my teacher set up lights with different colored "gels" or colored cellophane to give us a new idea of how to color people. To make us think outside the peach box. Or whatever skin color.

These last 3 were done for my life painting class, and I think I got worse as this semester went on too. Because I was pretty happy with this when I was done (I think the drawing is a little skewed though) and I think my teacher thought it was kind of mediocre. I was always frustrating him. For several reasons but one being that he thought I had a more potential but wasn't using it :( I wish I could see what he did in me. I wonder.

Sketchbook 2008

Well everybody, let's get caught up! I already showed you my first sketches... so here are some of my last :)
I drew these to fill a sketchbook required by my advanced illustration teacher. Got some good stuff out of it :)

A roughly 20 minute sketch of my niece Nathalie in her dorm.
A bird I drew from a calendar I had. I though this came out really cool!

My niece Daisy! I realized later her eyes were not on the same level, but it still looks like her so, oh well :)

Haha, for whatever reason I just love this drawing/concept. It is feuling idea and desire to make some oil paintings like this to go in people's kitchens and such.

I did this quick pen drawing from a photo I took at Nathalie's karate competition in Phoenix.

This is Declan, my friend's cat. I drew this from my phone screen! Cute cat.

This is Kirsten. I drew her while she was paying attention in class. Her head is drawn too big. But I LOVE pregnancy as you know, so this is a good one. Best for last ;D