Bee's Knees Industries

In the Limelight . . . Almost There

This is the drawing for the final piece for Venus Envy. It is not quite finished, as she will be surrounded by disapproving faces, but I think this one may be completely finished tomorrow night. I'll also be able to pick up my other four pieces from the printer tomorrow after work, then I can stop by Dick Blick and pick out some mats and get cutting.

Cutting the mats is in one way my least favorite part, because I hate those unwieldy 30 by 40 inch boards, but it's also my favorite, since it's usually when my pieces really start to look finished and refined. Maybe I'll even post some pictures of them tomorrow. Then it's off to my dad's house for some assistance cutting glass and assembling frames. And, of course, I expect to finish this all in the next two days in addition to working my regular full-time job. Sometimes I think there really is something wrong with me.

In other news, I did not get accepted to Amelia's Magazine. The good news, however, is that they will have another call for illustrators in May, for the theme "Super Bugs." (Did you hear that, Kevin?) Another day, another drawing.

Two Sides of the Same Coin

One more down. Just one left to bite the dust. This one is the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, in case that's not clear, which I'm afraid it's not. I'm pretty exhausted, and I tend to hate these when I'm done with them, but I think that's just a product of the exhastion. By the next morning, I tend to like them pretty well, not unlike this story here. Funny how that works.

Sky Above, Earth Below

Another one down, and another one down. Another one bites the dust.

I'm really cutting it close with these pieces, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm taking the three finished ones to be printed tomorrow, so I'll be all done with those soon, I hope. I'm feeling much better about this now, though, since I had one piece that just wasn't working at all, but I got an OK from the Venus Envy folks to leave it out. That takes a lot of the stress off. Now it's just a matter of doing the rest of the grunt work on these. All the stuff that involves my brain is pretty much done.

I've got a whole new look going on here. There seem to be mixed reviews, but I like it, and it matches my current body of work better. It also matches the portfolio I'm actually constructing now. I hope to have that up sometime between the dropoff time for Venus Envy artwork and the actual Venus Envy show. We'll see...

To Anyone Who's Interested:

The craft fair I've been working on is at 8125 Groby Rd. in University City.

Finally, A Design!

These are tags for the Amigurumi pieces I will be selling at the craft fair Saturday. I guess the next step is getting something up at beeskneesindustries.com. As you can see, there isn't a lot of content yet...

I Love Potatoes

Twenty-four years old and I still play with my food. I didn't get much done tonight. I might have more time in the evening if I didn't mess around so much while making dinner...

Cephalopods on Parade nos. 16–18

Just toiling away on more stock for the craft fair. I'm afraid my table may be a little bare, but I figure that any exposure is good exposure. It's been tough balancing working on Venus Envy, Chilicraft, other outside projects, and general life.

Munny Show, Etc.

I have nothing finished to show, but I do have some plans in the works. This is a Munny I bought for an upcoming show at Star Clipper. I've been wanting to do one of these for a while, but I never really had a reason. It should be fun, but I'm nervous I'll mess up and have to go out and buy another one. I may try to do a Trexi to. I'm such a hipster!

Of course, I can't walk into a comic book shop and only buy what I went there for, so I also got the very cool Beasts! book. I'd absolutely recommend it. The art is amazing, and the writing is delightfully quirky.

Today was Kieran's sister's first birthday party. We haven't seen her for a while, so when we bought her some clothes for her birthday, we got some stuff that is probably already too small. She's pretty big for her age. Luckily, we also bought her some bibs, and, judging from her birthday cake massacre, she shouldn't outgrow those for a while.

Communication Between the Sexes

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This is my second piece for the Venus Envy show. The little letters across the top of the tree read "Communication Between the Sexes," but they're kind of hard to read on the screen. This one was really pretty painful. A lot of little, minute details and a couple of "Corel Painter has unexpectedly quit" messages, but here it is. And, yes, Adam speaks with sperm and Eve thinks with ova.

Tree of Knowledge

This is the drawing for my next digital painting of Adam & Eve. I'm a little too tired to post much about it, so I'll just leave you with a detail to show you why I'm so exhausted.

Wish Me Luck

This is my submission to Amelia's Magazine for the topic of Alternative Transport. Whale submarines are much more fuel efficient than traditional submarines, as plankton is a renewable fuel source. I really hope I get in, since it would be the first time my work was published. I've got my fingers crossed. By the way, Amelia's Magazine is great. It's a bit pricey here in the States, but I think it's absolutely worth it.

I'm rather proud of the little guy's hair. I have a hard time freeing up my style in Illustrator. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new era for me. (Ha.)

No Way Down

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I just found out I was accepted to the Venus Envy show coming up in a couple of weeks. It's an all-woman show supporting female artists working in St. Louis, so I'm working on a theme intended to make people rethink female archetypes. I've been sort of putzing around on these pieces, since I wasn't sure if I'd be in the show, but I guess I'd better get cracking on them now. This is the first piece, entitled "No Way Down." Hopefully, I'll have more soon. My others will include Eve, Lady Godiva, Mary Magdalene & the Virgin Mary, Gaia, and the victims of the Salem witch hunts.

Peacock

I've started up my watercolor class at the community college, and I love it. I'm actually working on a much larger and more complex piece, but today I was doing washes with salt, and one wash took two hours to dry. My instructor saw me just sitting there, so she handed me some more paper and told me to do something. Hence, the peacock. The trouble is that I bought a whole block of paper, which means that I can't use the second sheet of paper until I'm done with the first one. This week, I'll have to go out and get a second block of paper, I think, because watching paint dry is not my favorite way to spend a Friday evening.

A Melancholy Day at Laumier

Kieran, lost in thought.

A lone dog on the horizon.

In happier news, Mindy, from work, lent me a book of 1001 movies that I have to see before I die. I've only seen a handful, so I'm working my way through the list. So far, this week I watched A Fish Called Wanda and The Graduate. I also have Boogie Nights from the video store, which I hope to watch soon. It's nice to force myself to sit down and watch a movie without worrying too much about accomplishing stuff. I need at least two hours of relaxation every day, I've decided, so I should be through this list in a few years. Then I can die feeling fulfilled. Until then, my self-preservation instinct had better remain intact.