Samurai

I did this drawing in the Samurai exhibit at the National Geographic museum in DC.

I saw a poster in the hotel for a special exhibit on Titanic for the anniversary, and right away wanted to go. I didn't find out more about this particular exhibit or anything...which was a mistake, because it actually was significantly less cooler that I was expecting it to be. It was pretty sad. I was psyched about it and thinking there would be actual artifacts from the wreck, awesome things like that....

and I was wrong. They had one moderately cool thing (I guess...) which was one of the lifeboats they used in the movie (and it was a lot larger than they make it seem). So overall it was Not So Great.

But our tickets included the exhibit on samurai, and that was better.

I got to sit and draw some of the oldest known photos of Japan! Which is cool.

So remember, if you're a Titanic fan and in DC, skip the 100 Year Obsession "special exhibit" thing. Ok?

Helloooooo!

Hi everyone! I happen to be in Washington D.C. right now, I'll be going back home tomorrow.
I'll be posting drawings as soon as I get back to MA, where there is a scanner.
Ok! Just thought I'd share that...just to make sure nobody thought I was abandoning the blog. Or something.
Cheers!

Åv@

Flea market

Don't you love flea markets?
I am someone who loves flea markets.
There are people's scratched up videocassettes of The Little Mermaid and extensive collections of nail polish and stained stuffed animals and the boxes of "new" packaged stuff. Flyswatters! Socks! Knockoff brands of Sharpie markers! (They write the brand name in the weird cursive Sharpie font so you don't notice until you've payed your dollar fifty for them--you've actually just bought some Skerples or Shoupies instead! Surprise!)
It's not actually any of that stuff I really love about flea markets. The best part is the old stuff. The actual old stuff. It's once you've walked past the possibly-pirated DVDs  and broken Tiffany lamps and the weird stuff like underwear in giant packs and deodorant displayed on tables. (Why...?)
But once you have you can find the true interesting things. Old skeleton keys. Ancient crates of Coca-Cola bottles with sticky brown soda still inside. Written-on postcards.
And I was able to find, among some other very old things including someone's report card from 1936 (I will definitely be sharing that later), a color-in paper doll book--$2 instead of $10 because I wasn't a collector! Yesss!!

What I love so much about this paper doll book is they have these handwritten descriptions of what the dresses looked like in real life so you can color it in accurately. How could you not get excited about getting to paint "a white chiffon dress with cranberry, blue green, and lavender splashes of color"????

Princess Caroline definitely did have some snazzy outfits. Although I admit sometimes I was dying to change up the color scheme, particularly for the "brown blazer, ecru blouse, and tan skirt" which I hoped looked better in real life than my rendition of it.

 Fun, right?!

I hope everyone goes to a flea market and finds themselves some nice paper dolls to color in. Sometimes it's nice to have some instructions to follow. 

Although it would be pretty funny to have given the Princess a new stupid modern shirt. Like 

I ♥ 1D

or something with Angrybirds.

Untitled

COMING SOON

Hi people.
Gosh I feel pathetic. Please try and believe me that I'll be posting something I'm working on soon. For real this time. This is so sad, I keep having to do apologetic posts with nothing but words! Patheticness!!!

Here is a drawing of Paul McCartney to help drive away some of the general patheticness....I hope....?

  AM I HELPING?
/

...artist's block

Gah!!!!
I am having some real artist's block. Or something.
It is seriously driving me crazy and everything I try to do isn't really coming out how I want it to...it is awfully annoying.

I'll get something together and post it...soon.....!

I've been trying to do a lot more black-and-white watercolors off photographs....and I was doing this awesome photo of the Beatles, and it was all going great except for when I got to JOHN!
COME ON JOHN! WHY ARE YOU SO  FREAKING HARD TO PAINT?!?!?! AGGHHHHH.......



I'm fine, though. Soon I'll do a successful watercolor of some famous person. There are lots of possibilities and I can avoid John Lennon.

Mi Tierra sketch

A sketch I did with color added in with watercolor pencil. 

Oka-Loka

My watercolor of a box of Oka-loka candies. (These are really the same thing as Nerds, only from Costa Rica.)

Stages of the Strawberry

My chocolate-covered strawberry is consumed in four documented stages.

Japanese Treats

What a pathetic blogger I am!!
I don't even want to know how many day's it's been since Chapter Three cont'd.....
Well. I've been really busy, or something, and I just haven't gotten around to posting in a long loong time... (and every day I thought COME ON POST SOMETHING and then, always, some thing or another would distract me and then it would be the next day and I would think, COME ON POST SOMETHING! TODAY! And I didn't, and the cycle repeats itself. Also I have recently started to follow the blog of the artist Tommy Kane. Me: Wow! Tommy Kane posts something, like....every other day! And then.... Me: I used to do that..... :(

But I'm posting now!!! Yesss! Time to move on.

I have just received as a present (from Japan!)....a big box of weird Japanese treats!

I absolutely love the packaging. I think I might have to frame the yellow chick one. :)

Cheers!

-Ava