Zebra Moth!

I could not find a poem for this one... I'll have to write one later or something.

I'm working on illustrations and poems for the week I missed.  When I do my reflections post I'll include links to all of the caught up days :D.

I've stated this before- but I do intend to assemble all of this into a little book; plus some additional drawings and poems not included in this.  I'm actually pretty excited about this project.

I have more to say but want to save it for the reflection post; So I guess I'll leave my A to Z commentary at that.

In other news; I loved the Zebra moth and have a fantastic idea for a fantasy piece that I hope to get a sketch up sometime tomorrow.  :D

~Alicia

Y is for Yellow Plant Bug

Also known as a four lined plant bug.  It's really pretty- I look forward to drawing it.

Today... don't even ask about today... it did NOT go the way I wanted. 

HOPEFULLY I won't have any random disasters tomorrow.

~Alicia

X is for Xerces blue butterfly

Ok... so today is a bit of a stretch...

Blue-Butterfly Day

    By Robert Lee Frost

It is blue-butterfly day here in spring,

And with these sky-flakes down in flurry on flurry

There is more unmixed color on the wing

Than flowers will show for days unless they hurry.

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:

And now from having ridden out desire

They lie closed over in the wind and cling

Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.

OK- so here is a picture of the Xerces Blue Butterfly:

It is an extinct butterfly- thanks to the settling of an area in California (I knew this an hour ago and am to lazy to look it up again...)  It is kinda sad; but we do know what it looked like thanks to some bug collectors back in the day.  

I did a rough sketch of this earlier; but honestly it's not really that great of quality; so it's been added to the pile of drawings I need to catch up on :P.

I mostly did yard work and laundry today- so I think I'm caught up on everything enough that I can spend tomorrow drawing bugs.  :D

~Alicia

W is for Wasp

I hate to do this again... but here is the poem:

The Wasp And The Bee

By Jane Taylor

A WASP met a bee that was just buzzing by,

And he said, " Little cousin, can you tell me why

You are loved so much better by people than I 

"My back shines as bright and as yellow as gold,

And my shape is most elegant, too, to behold,

Yet nobody likes me for that, I am told."

"Ah! Cousin," the bee said, "'tis all very true,

But if I had half as much mischief to do,

Indeed, they would like me no better than you.

"You have a fine shape and a delicate wing;

They own you are handsome, but then there's one thing

They cannot put up with, and that is your sting.

"My coat is quite homely and plain, as you see,

Yet nobody is ever angry with me,

Because I'm a humble and innocent bee."

From this little story let people beware;

Because, like the wasp, if ill-natured they are,

They will never be loved if they're ever so fair.

I've spent much of today washing all of the laundry that was caught in our little flood; I'm not quite done yet- so hopefully tomorrow morning I will be finished with that.  When I wasn't working on the at I was researching poems and insects to make up last week.  So I never got to today's image.  I will thought.  Seriously; not an empty promise.

I have officially decided that I'm going to go ahead and assemble all of these into a book at the end of this challenge.  I'm not going to have it be an alphabet book though.  I'm going to add some more illustrations to the poems I've already selected plus there area  lot of poems and rhymes that I liked but didn't quite make the cut.  My goal for this will be to have the book done and on the app store (I don't have the money to try publishing a physical copy) by the end of May.  Or maybe I'll get really crazy and try to submit to a publisher; but even with the friends I have in the children's book business... well let's just say it is really hard for the unknown to become known.

See you tomorrow- hopefully I'll have a nice list of links catching me up.  I'm going to have to catch up soon though; we're almost done!!

~Alicia

Holy Cow... this week...

Ok I'm so so so behind in the A to Z thing.  I shall get caught up though.

• So I had a week of super prep for finals; that put me pretty far behind.
• Then when I was going to catch up I lost my iPad.  (it was crushed to death :'( )
• Then my home was filled with sewer water.  
• I've spent the last 2 days cleaning.
• I'll spend tomorrow cleaning after I get done with finals.
• It's been fun.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE:

• I'm starting summer vacation with a clean house.
• I was smart in my preparations ahead and I'm ready for finals tomorrow

I'm so very ready for summer vacation.  

I'm working on scheduling out my goals and whatnot; I have a lot to do AND a lot I want to do.  So I'm looking forward to Tuesday- when I'll actually have some time to sit down and write out all of my goals.  At the very least I look forward to the break.

'Nyway- I'm exhausted- so I'm signing off for the night. :D

~Alicia

p is for... oh for Pete's sake :P

So much arg


 Main line backed up, our apartment flooded.

So I've been working on that.

More tomorrow.

-alicia

Oh is for oh bother..... or: A to Z Catch-up, Finals and my poor iPad...

A to Z crowd if you don't want to read the rest of the details about my life: I know I'm behind.  I'm going to spend much of today catching up.

Now if you want to know what's up...

Today has been a WEIRD day.

In some ways it has been a kind of awful day.

SO
cue the bell toll used in CSI

1:48 AM- My apartment:

Got up to help a sick kid in the bathroom.  He'd gotten sick all over themselves so I had to help him take a shower (we don't have a bathtub in our apartment; just a shower) He's only 5 and was half asleep so this was kind of a fun moment.  I'm standing there trying to talk him through washing himself... In the end he ended up clean and dressed in clean pj's and then went to bed.  I went back to sleep.

8:30 AM- My Apartment

Woke up to my daughter chattering about *something*.  Let her climb in bed next to me to watch 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates' on my phone... tried to get some more sleep.

9:45 AM- My Apartment

Spent some time working on my final project for my Figure Drawing class and also getting other digital pieces ready to print.

11:45 AM- Copy Center at the University

With 2 kids in tow (my son in a super whiny mood 'cause I tore him away from video games) I get my art printed.  YAY- already for finals next week :D

After this I proceeded to run some errands around town which led me to:

12:45 PM- Storage Unit

Stopped to talk to the manager about rent for this next month- we're emptying out the storage unit so I'd like to use our last months rent for this next month... They weren't in.  So I drove to our unit to do a little work (since I was there) handed my son my ipad so he'd be entertained.  My daughter had a notebook and pencil and was just as happy as could be. 
I finished up what I was there to do- closed the unit- fought with the lock for about 10 minutes while my son complained about his legs, feet, arms, how heavy the iPad was.  etc.
Finally closed the unit- took iPad from son; Set it on the top of the car while I strapped my daughter in while my son continued to complain about life.
The left for the next errand.

1:30 PM- arrived at self service copy center in town

After navigating through graduation traffic from one of the 2 major Universities in town (hint; not mine) I got to the next store.  Grabbed the paper that I bought for making sketchbooks and stuck it in my bag.  Then realized there was no iPad in my bag.  Searched car...
 Re strapped in kids and headed back up to the storage unit.

2:15 PM- Storage Unit

Found iPad in the middle of the street face down with at least 2 different tire tread pattens on it. 

Now one thing you have to understand.  My iPad is not just some cosmetic cute device that I keep around. I use it ALL OF THE TIME it is my life.  I use it constantly for my drawing and sketching.  It is the encyclopedia of my reference, my notes from different workshops.... honestly I use it for EVERYTHING and it went with me everywhere.

SO to have this happen is devistating.

The silver lining... It still turns on and seems to function just fine.  It is *just* the touch screen that broke. 

Though you can see in the picture there is a slight bend under the little square button on the case; that bend could mean the difference between the iPad being repairable and being a lost cause. 

I'm broke and frustrated. 

I've been doing research on kits I can buy to fix it myself as well as trying to get a hold of various repairmen in the valley to get quotes on the cost.  So far it isn't good.  The one guy who has gotten back to me told me it could be in a range of $100-$220.  I didn't have the model number for him right then so I wasn't able to get an exact quote.  SO I'm going to have to call him back tomorrow for a better quote. 

It isn't looking good though. 

2:30 PM- Wendy's

Finally got lunch for me and my kids.  I'm a little in shock the entire time and we probably looked pretty odd from an outsider- mom looking like she's about to cry and the 3 year old and the 5 year old eating quietly.

4:00 PM- Home

cooked pizza for husband and then got on the computer to type this out.



SO for Finals: I'm pretty much done- literally only have 1 sketchbook page left to do.

For A to Z- I'm going to spending this evening on catching up on that. 

Finally; for my iPad. 

I don't even know.  The fact is it is probably not repairable because of the dumb little bend in the case.  (the metal case not the removable red case; 'cause who cares about that lol)  If that is the situation then I really don't know.  We're really really broke right now- so a part of me wonders if crowd funding is an option.  If I do try to fund raise using crowd funding or selling art or a combination of the 2; I don't know if I should get another iPad or try to raise enough to get a Cintiq tablet.   (not that one specifically but something like that) In this one weird case the iPad would be the less expensive choice.  But the other one is more designed for artists...

I'm feeling a bit deflated.

The only good news in my story here is that we happen to have a iPad mini that my husband's work got him one christmas that we've pretty much only used for kid stuff. SO I can just take over that and I'll have something to use while I figure out what to do with my big iPad.


That is life.

Fun stuff huh?

Well I'm off to sketch and sketch and sketch. 

~Alicia

Arya Stark- Advanced (stylized) Figure Drawing final

If you are here for A-Z I posted for R earlier today- so you can scroll past this if you like.  It's kinda funny to do a challenge on a blog that I use for regular art stuff as well; I didn't anticipate the fact that I'd want to double post some days.

Ok here it is- one of my final projects; I think I'm pretty much done (pending a critique from friends) we were supposed to do a Caricature of a famous person.  Caricatures are really really REALLY hard for me.  So I'm hoping this works and isn't just a cartoon...

Maisie Williams as Arya Stark from Game of Thrones.

Now to tackle the next project :D

~Alicia

edit:
had some critiques from friends here is the update one

r is for roach

I've been incredibly busy working on projects for finals; which has led me to be behind in this challenge.  (that and I got hung up on the letter 'o' hard to find an insect for that letter)  I will catch up.  But probably not until this weekend... Most of my finals are due Wednesday- even though my actual finals are not until next Monday.  SO depending on the reviews/critiques I get on Wednesday; I could very well be finished this week.  However I've never known a professor to NOT have things to say about my art in regards to how to improve it.  But the bulk of it will be done tomorrow; so I should be able to catch up.

So following my example on 'M is for Moth' I selected a poem for today.  I honestly cringe a little bit that I'm committing myself to draw a roach (ew!) but this poem made me laugh a bit; so I think it will be worth it :)

Nursery Rhymes for the Tender-Hearted
by
Christopher Morley

(Dedicated to Don Marquis)

Scuttle, scuttle, little roach—
How you run when I approach:
Up above the pantry shelf,
Hastening to secrete yourself.
Most adventurous of vermin,
How I wish I could determine
How you spend your hours of ease,
Perhaps reclining on the cheese.
Cook has gone, and all is dark—
Then the kitchen is your park:
In the garbage heap that she leaves
Do you browse among the tea leaves?
How delightful to suspect
All the places you have trekked:
Does your long antenna whisk its
Gentle tip across the biscuits?
Do you linger, little soul,
Drowsing in our sugar bowl?
Or, abandonment most utter,
Shake a shimmy on the butter?
Do you chant your simple tunes
Swimming in the baby’s prunes?
Then, when dawn comes, do you slink
Homeward to the kitchen sink?
Timid roach, why be so shy?
We are brothers, you and I.
In the midnight, like yourself,
I explore the pantry shelf!

See you later!

~Alicia

N is for...

Not a clue....
Nadda
Nothing
Nill

I've had the hardest time finding a rhyme or poem that I liked enough to do a drawing for.  That and I spent the day working on a very silly painting. 

This is Baron Quincy T Shamel

It was an exercise in creating a Maquette and then doing a painting from it.  We were also instructed to do a portrait of a monster.  So this was mine. 


Tomorrow will be a super sketchbook day; So I'll get caught up on this while I'm at it :D

~Alicia

M is for Moth

No drawing tonight; I just didn't find the time.  So I'll put up 2 tomorrow.   Here is the poem I selected:


The Moth

    By Walter De La Mare


    Isled in the midnight air,
    Musked with the dark's faint bloom,
    Out into glooming and secret haunts
        The flame cries, 'Come!'

    Lovely in dye and fan,
    A-tremble in shimmering grace,
    A moth from her winter swoon
        Uplifts her face:

    Stares from her glamorous eyes;
    Wafts her on plumes like mist;
    In ecstasy swirls and sways
        To her strange tryst.

I have a struggle finding poems and rhymes- not that there aren't a lot out there; but I have been trying to stick to public domain.  The one for today took entirely to long to find.  It is part of the reason I didn't get to the drawing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news: (a short narrative taking a slight break from the A to Z thing)

I decided to open an Etsy shop.  Right now I just have a few things up- just stuff that I've created for the A to Z challenge.  So far it is just 3 prints that I have for sale.  I'll have original drawings up soon- I just decided that they would be better to sell framed.  Hopefully I'll have a healthier selection of artwork up in a month or so.  I'll be adding to it here and there.

FINALS ARE UPON US
well me anyway- I only have 1 week left of school and then Finals week. (dun dun dun!!!!) This semester is a little lighter; so that has helped- but there is still a TON to do.  >.>

OH and in regards to my BFA application.  I GOT IN.  I'm very excited.  I'll post more on that after finals.

until then- enjoy the A-Z insect poems :D

~Alicia

L is for Ladybug

Got a little behind- my anniversary was this weekend so my husband and I decided to do something for the first time ever.  (like literally this was our first anniversary trip since we got married!!)  It was fun to get away from school and kids for a day. I've been catching up on homework and stuff for the last couple of days though.  Worth it!

So I've published Saturdays and Mondays posts now- post dated to the proper days.  Enjoy!

J is for Junebug
K is for Katydid

and here is today's:

~Alicia

K is for Katydid

J is for Junebug

I is for Inchworm

Finally had time to hop on photo shop and make these a little prettier.  SO above is letter I; below are F and G- not H though; I haven't been able to work on that one past the little sketch that I did yesterday. 

~Alicia

H is for Hush Little Baby

break from bugs, largely because I couldn't find a poem with bugs in it for this letter :/

SO here is a preliminary sketch for a future painting.  it's not that original, but it's cute.

clearly in process.

and my poem for today.

Mama's Gonna Buy You a Mockingbird

Lullaby

Hush, little baby, don't say a word,

Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird.

If that mockingbird don't sing,

Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring.

If that diamond ring turns to brass,

Mama's gonna buy you a looking glass.

If that looking glass gets broke,

Mama's gonna buy you a billy-goat.

If that billy-goat won't pull,

Mama's gonna buy you a cart and bull.

If that cart and bull turns over,

Mama's gonna buy you a dog named Rover.

If that dog named Rover won't bark,

Mama's gonna buy you a horse and cart.

If that horse and cart falls down,

You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town.

G is for Grasshopper

once again posting from my iPad.  I should be at my computer tomorrow, then I'll put the pictures with the poems, for now I'll just do what I did yesterday.  the drawing is not finished; I've had a ton of homework today.  (well that and my 2 kids were hanging out with me all day, which I love, but sure makes it hard to draw!)

here is the poem; could not find author.  I thought it was pretty cute, it deserves more illustration than the lone grasshopper I drew.
                           

GRASSHOPPER GREEN

Grasshopper Green is a comical chap;  He lives on the best of fare. Bright little trousers, jacket and cap,  These are his summer wear. Out in the meadow he loves to go,  Playing away in the sun; Its hopperty, skipperty, high and low— Summer's the time for fun. Grasshopper Green has a dozen wee boys,  And soon as their legs grow strong  Each of them joins in his frolicsome joys,  Singing his merry song. Under the hedge in a happy row  Soon as the day has begun Its hopperty, skipperty, high and low— Summer's the time for fun. Grasshopper Green has a quaint little house.  It's under the hedge so gay.  Grandmother Spider, as still as a mouse,  Watches him over the way. Gladly he 's calling the children, I know,  Out in the beautiful sun; It's hopperty, skipperty, high and low— Summer's the time for fun. ~Alicia ps- it is a pain to post from iPad  pps- below is a sketch I did today, needed a break from bugs and homework :)

f is for fly

today has been crazy busy with kids and homework, so I've not gotten a chance to hop on photoshop and format it nicely.  so here it is in pieces. :)

the fly

William Blake, 1757 - 1827

Little fly,
Thy summer’s play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink and sing,
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength and breath,
And the want
Of thought is death,

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.

here is my drawing with all of the tools used to make it.  drawing a fly was a lot more fun than I was expecting.

~alicia

E is for Earthworm

Late :P but it was a pain to find an 'E' poem.  I really didn't want to do Earthworm- but that is what it came down to.  This poem made me laugh so I went with it.  It seemed that most poems about Earthworms were educational in some way- which isn't bad- but I wanted something silly.  Oh well if I really DO assemble these into a book maybe I'll re-visit this letter.

~Alicia

oh and here is something random and creepy: earthworm head under magnification if you are interested. :D

D is for Dragonfly

I'm trying to stick to insects and creepy-crawlies for this challenge.   That in itself is proving to be a challenge.  (bwa ha ha ha)  I was lucky enough to find this little dragonfly poem on Mamalisa.com- I was happy they had the Chinese as well as the English.  I'm hoping my computer didn't change any of the characters and make it offensive... but from what I can tell the characters copied over just fine.
HOPEFULLY I can find a poem for 'E' that will fit.  (Besides eency winsey spider :P)
~Alicia

C is for Caterpillar!

Not much to say :D
~Alicia

B is for BEE

The scan couldn't capture some of the fun parts of the drawing... I used metallic ink on the wings and the bee- but you cannot really see it.  Oh well.

~Alicia

A is for Ants

had a rough start to this challenge- I should be caught up by tomorrow, maybe tonight; depends on how late I stay up.

This year I'm doing small illustrations to go with rhymes.

I had a whole bunch of ants drawn out- one for each verse; but decided that it would be to time consuming to actually finish the sketches so just went with the first one.

NOW before you correct my lyrics- I learned this as 'the littlest on stops to eat a plumb' not 'suck her thumb' and as it was something from my childhood I decided to use the lyrics I learned instead of the main-stream version.

~Alicia