Take Two

Life isn't easy, and it often throws the unexpected at us. Or maybe we build up expectations in our minds and they don't necessarily play out. I'm very good at doing the latter. When I'm stressing about something and someone asks me what's the worst that could happen, I often laugh internally because if they only knew the variety of "worse" I could come up with, they'd either run away or commit me. In these cases it's sometimes an internal battle of logic vs. impossible for me, but I'm happy to say I manage.

Kudos, if you get the reference.

Where was I going with this? Oh yes...

The point is, I'm very good at laying out exactly how my life is going to (should?) play out, but then reality reminds me that life doesn't work so smoothly (and honestly, if it did, I think we'd all eventually become bored out of our minds). 

Art isn't an easy career choice. I knew this when I started, but I'm also very stubborn, so I persisted. Then about two years ago I had an epiphany. I wasn't happy. I was too stressed over trying to make ends meet and missed just doing art for myself. I create because it makes me happy and because what I make often makes others happy, but the business end of it was headache inducing. I made the decision to go back to school and earn a second degree studying to be a veterinary technician. I've been fortunate enough to pick up a job at a local veterinary clinic since I started. It was a good decision, and I sort of wish I made it sooner. Now I not only get to draw and paint animals but work with them and make them feel better on a regular basis.

Because who wouldn't love to work with these cuties?

(Sorry, they're spoken for <3)

Of course, going back to school meant eating a big chunk out of my art time. I remember going through a withdrawal period during my first semester. It was HORRIBLE. I'd never been so happy to draw again when winter break rolled along. But I also was able to reflect on myself and what was really most important to me. I was drawing for fun again and not worrying so much about whether it would pay a bill or make a client happy, and I also really enjoyed working at the clinic.

Now I'm one semester away from graduating, and I feel like I have a better understanding of how I should work. I've delved back into my designs and have started putting plans together for another site revamp and store, but I'm taking it one step at a time rather than planning out my next twenty years like I was doing before. And since I work more with the animals I love to draw, it makes for lots of inspiration.

Of course, my favorite subjects are still my rodent friends, more specifically, my guinea pigs. I'm not a coffee person, but that didn't stop me from making the following coffee mug design...

Cavy. The best way to start your day. (Mug) Coffee Mug
by Digimals

Here's a better view of the full design...

I said "cavy," not coffee, silly.

For those of you who don't know, "Caviidae" (cavy family) is the scientific name for the family of rodents guinea pigs belong to, and "cavy" is often used by guinea pig people to refer to guinea pigs. 

Cavy. Coffee. Get it? Ha ha… ha... ha...  (Hey, I'm sure someone's laughing)

If you're like me and don't drink coffee, I recommend hugging a guinea pig. It's a great way to start your day off on a happy note. And if you already agree with me, I also have a shirt design available here ---> Hug a guinea pig t-shirt

Anyway, in light of my new direction in life, expect to see more animal posts in addition to my art related ones. Also be on the lookout for my new designs. There's still two months before the new semester starts up again, so who knows what could happen?

Mirror Paintings Revisited

     Lately I've been experimenting with an idea that I've been bouncing around on the back-burner, and did a painting with a mirror background.  Now, mirror paintings themselves are nothing new for me.  If you've looked at my portfolio before, you may have seen the Chickadee Cherry Blossom painting I've done.

     The problem with this, is that it's very difficult to maintain a piece like this.  For starters, glass has no tooth to it, meaning there's nothing really for the paint to grip to.  One razor blade will peel even the best paint off a smooth surface with next to no effort, and while most people aren't going to be purposely scraping apart artwork, the fragility of the piece does pose a problem.  I've experimented with a few ways to solve this issue, but the solution I came up with is time consuming and while it holds better, it still isn't as stable as good old canvas.  It also doesn't solve the second problem, and that's how to clean the glass.  Glass gets dusty and dirty, and you can't just Windex a piece of art… well, you could, but I doubt it will turn out too well.

     So to combat problem number two, I started looking into reverse painting, which means painting backwards on the glass then using a mirror spray to add the background last.  This way the glass completely covers the artwork, not only protecting it like glass in a frame, but also making it easy to clean.  I've done reverse painting a few times before, most notably the daycare window art I did awhile back, but never anything more detailed than a cartoon.

See more of the daycare windows in my portfolio.

     In doing my mirror painting I've learned/ reaffirmed a few things:

1) Having no surface tooth sucks.  A smooth surface means paint slides all over the place, making blending, an already difficult thing to do backwards, frustrating beyond comprehension. 

2) Light not only shines through the glass, but through any layer of paint not thick enough to block all of it.  This means you get to see lots of streaks every time you flip your painting around to check it, and painting on glass means ten times as many streaks.  I was constantly blotting and filling in these streaky patches. 

3) You get dizzy flipping the glass around to constantly check your painting progress.  If I try this again, I will be rigging a second mirror to see my painting's reflection as I work.

4) Acrylics are probably not the best option if you're aiming for high detail and shading.  Even after they dry, painting over acrylics with a second layer sometimes causes it to break up on the smooth surface.  Next thing you know, there are chunks in your painting when you flip it over.  Add to this, the fast drying rate of acrylics and sometimes things dry in place before you realize how bad the color blend looks.  If I wasn't so against the messiness of oils and the idea of having to wait months for it to dry properly so I could mirror coat this, I would have used them.

5) The mirror coating I used is not as clear as it would be creating a mirror using the silvering process.  That said, I'm not sure what the silvering process would do to the paint, though I highly speculate nothing good. 


     Despite the hiccups, in the end, I was pretty happy with my final painting.  

I think I have a thing for chickadees and cherry blossoms.

     The mirror coating worked pretty well and while the blending was messy in some spots, it all came together rather nicely.  I would like to make these mirror paintings available for purchase, so I will be revisiting and perfecting this idea.  Stay tuned to see what I come up with.  Until then…

    Thanks for reading.

Doodley Do #2 - Cookie the Goldfish

    I love goldfish.  They're dirty, messy little guys, but they're so darn cute swimming and waddling through the water.  They can live for twenty plus years, and did you know they can get anywhere from 8 inches to over a foot in length?  That's about as big as a football!

    Sadly, many of these cute little waddling footballs don't get the chance to grow up.  As pets they are often kept in unsuitable conditions due to lack of knowledge or straight up indifference.  That's why for today's Doodley Do, I've decided to create Cookie.

*Insert Sarah Mclachlan song*

    So next time you're thinking about getting that cute little goldfish, remember Cookie.  Do your research, get a proper sized fish tank, and make that goldfish happy you found him.

    *Blub blub*  Thanks for reading.

Digimals Shop

      A few years ago I started doing a lot more experimenting with the digital medium and used programs like Photoshop and Illustrator to create characters and designs.  To showcase these fun ideas (and maybe make some side cash), I created a shop called "Digital Whimsy" on the website Zazzle.  It was nice to see my designs on different items, but like so many others, I was getting lost in the sea of thousands of other designers and artists on the site.  That's why a few months ago I decided to actually create a brand for the launch of a new and better Zazzle shop, "Digimals."  Note the updated website links at the far right of this page.

 

Meet the Digimals Mascot.

      Digimals is all about the cute stuff.  Most of the art is animal themed, but all of it is basically done in that cute cartoony style I can't seem to stay away from.  Needless to say, a lot of the products will be geared towards children, such as this Sweet Pea Toddler Tee.

Sweet Pea Ruffle Tee by Digimals

       There's also my zodiac project that I've been working on for quite awhile now.  Today I'm happy to say all designs are complete and uploaded into Digimals and are available for purchase on cute little coffee mugs.  More items will soon follow, including a fun poster design.

Soon this could be yours!

      Over the next few months I will be adding a more appropriate store banner and lots more fun designs, so stay tuned.  Thanks for reading. :)

Doodley Do #1 - Tackling too many ideas

          I've been bitten by the idea bug on more than one occasion (okay, a lot more).  It gets me into a lot of trouble when it comes to completing projects because there's always another idea waiting just over the horizon begging me to bring it to life.  Anyone who's looked into time management skills will know doing too much at once is far less productive than focusing on one task at a time, but let's be real here.  If you've got an good idea, throwing it on the back burner is like throwing a piece of your soul into a box with a label "Do not open 'til Christmas."  It's there.  You know it is, and it's kill... ing... you.

Soon, my precious.  Soon.

          So what to do?  Well, if you're me, you do what you shouldn't do and work on it anyway!  Ha!  No, but seriously, too much at a time only makes your work suffer and your patience burn out because twenty started projects without one finished is really discouraging.  For me, I've always found the best thing is a list of all the important, must do stuff.  I say this and also point out that I'm a bad list keeper.  I write a list.  Loose it.  Write another list.  Loose that.  Find the first list.  Revise it.  Loose it.  In less than a week my desks are covered in sticky notes, but despite all of that, it somehow keeps me on top of things and when I can strike a line through an item on the list(s), it gives me a little pat on the back to keep going.

          Once enough things are crossed off and I know I'm caught up on deadlines for the week, I'm allowed to work on one of my "back burner projects."  Eventually, those back burner projects will get moved to "the list" (unless they prove themselves not that great), but until then, I can indulge without feeling guilty.

          And if you're really overrun with ideas, keep a list of those ideas, or notebooks, sketchbooks, computer documents, whatever.  Sometimes I'll comb through my "whatevers"and revisit an idea I had years ago just to see if it still has potential.  If it does, it just might get moved up the line.  If not, I know it'll always be there waiting for me to get back to it.  Happy creating!

    

Still Alive and Working On Lots of Fun Stuff.

      A quick post today because I haven't done one in over a month (so much for new year's resolutions).

      Been working on an overhaul for my Zazzle shop the past two months and have gotten pretty far.  The grand opening of the revamped shop is coming soon.  I've been focusing a lot on what I do best: cute animals.

      When I went to school I studied illustration, particularly because I love story telling and I love creating artwork for children (I'm too much of a child myself to do otherwise), so I've been focusing on creating a line of designs for children's clothing.  Today's most recent addition is this little gem below.

Sweet Pea Ruffle Tee by Digimals
View other Sweet pea T-Shirts

      I've also finished my zodiac images, and in addition to my sweet pea design, there's a few more children's themed art coming up. Stay tuned for the store launch, and another post.  I will get better at this blogging thing, I promise.

Trying Something New

      While watercolor tends to be my go to medium, every now and then I will pull out my other mediums to mix things up (and to keep up my skills with them).  Awhile back I did this with my acrylics and experimented with painting on mirrors.  I was pretty happy with the results:

Ready For The New Year

      Here I am again, another month out since my last post.  I'm so ashamed...

      The holiday rush coupled with the usual pressures of life really whooped my butt this year, but emerging from all of it I feel a renewed energy and am ready to tackle the new year with reckless abandon.

The Art of Self Promotion

      Wow, November is just about over.  I barely even remember it starting, but it's been a crazy busy month with art related deadlines and day jobs filling up my schedule.  A few more weeks, and I'll be adding cookie baking into my agenda.  Oh yes, I am a Christmas cookie baking fiend ;)

I even designed a cute cookie themed baking apron.
You can buy it here.

      A lot of this month has involved working on self promotion because part of getting myself established as a full time artist means getting myself out there and noticed.  This has

Prints Finally Available

      So today marks a new milestone for Niki's Art... a teeny weeny one... but a milestone none the less.  I've officially hooked up with a print on demand service so that I may provide prints of some of my artwork.   

This being the first one to be made available.  Come on, you know you want to buy it.

      I've been wanting to get prints of my work done for quite some time now.  After all, one of the reasons I paint is so that I can share my work with other people who enjoy it, but let's be real.  Not everyone can afford a $250+ painting, and even if they could, that would only be one person who would forever get to enjoy that painting.  Prints allow for a much wider audience, and a happier me because now more people can have them in their homes.  Ideally, I would like to invest in a high quality printer and inks so that I can have full control over my prints, but for now I've decided to place my trust in Crated.com.  I just recently received the proof I ordered and was pretty pleased with the results.  I was even more pleased to find the colors of the final print matched my computer monitor image to a tee, which will make future pieces easier to adjust.

      This site offers a few different options.  For starters, you can order just the straight up print, or you have the option to order it already framed and matted.  There's also the option for a printed canvas.  The original size of the cat painting above is an 8"x10" but it is also available in larger sizes.  I should also note, if you do decide to order the print by itself, there is no white boarder and the print comes delivered in a mail tube, so the print itself will be rolled up.  Not a huge deal, but this might provide a small challenge if you're framing it yourself.

      You may have noticed I've added a link to my Crated store to the sidebar.  If cats aren't your thing, I encourage you to keep checking back, as I will be posting some more artwork very soon.  But, of course, if you are one of those people who totally love this painting, you can order the print here.

Blogs, Banners, and... Mice?

      In redoing my blog, I've faced the challenge of coming up with something a little more interesting to look at.  The previous banner with the sketch of the pig and pencil just wasn't cutting it.

Too monotone.  I like color in my paintings, darn it!

    But what to do?  This was particularly difficult considering I have a number of styles I work in, but after mulling over it a bit I came to the obvious conclusion: why not show all of them?  I, therefore, came up with the following design...

New Blog Setup - First post!

    Today marks the momentous occasion of me starting a blog with blogger.  Woot woot!

     I was originally running a blog directly on my website, but despite all of my self taught efforts and success in constructing NikisArt.com, my methods were waaay too inefficient, so I decided it was time to rely on blogger for my blogging needs.  It was the best decision for my sanity (Lord knows I need all the help I can get!).

     So what is Niki's Blog?  Simply put, it is the news hub and information spot for my business, Niki's Art.  You saw that link up above, right?  You should totally click it.  Go ahead.  I'll wait...