K.M.Myers Illustrator/Author: 2011

31 December 2011

Strathmore Doodle Course

"Learn techniques from experienced artists through online videos and downloadable instructions. Get inspired from other students in our virtual classroom. Keep motivated with ideas and tips from your instructor."

17 September 2011

Digital Painting practice, today. Zhang Ziyi.

I've been a bit rusty on the Photoshop painting skills. But I only realize this now....The above "painting" was turned in for a course assignment and the instructor called it out as a paint over. She said it was not acceptable to paint over photo's for this course. Fair enough, but I honestly didn't think what I had done here was a paint over.

I started with a blank canvas, but also loaded the picture, fading it's opacity under a layer to get a decent outline. Then I worked from there, without the picture underneath. Little did I know, the 'locked' original was still turned on. So when I went to smear and blend my layers and finally erase pigment, I was actually revealing the original.

I thought it was perfect, and it was because it was the original! Luckily, one of the perks of online school is feeling my full embarrassment in the comfort of my own home. Oh well, for at least one hour last week, I thought I had mastered painting in Photoshop.

01 July 2011

Will I Ever Finish? Painting, 2011.

Graduate school is so fast paced, I now have a stock pile of 'unfinished paintings'. Maybe unfinished can be the new black for fall. One of my favorites...even in its undoneness...

24 June 2011

Spotlight on Victoria Reynolds

Victoria Reynolds paints meat. She is a Los Angeles based contemporary artist. Her work is collected internationally and is available for viewing on the web through an image search on Google.
At first glance, her paintings have such great detail they remind one of Dutch still life work. Such as....

However, the subject matter goes beyond simple representational painting...the viewer is left to wonder about meat in general, the gore and beauty of the flesh and most poignant the visual pun in regards to our societal's graidoise displays of the human body. After all, at the end of the day...it's just flesh dressed or undressed, raw, cooked and displayed for consumption.

02 June 2011

Extreme Coupon: Eureka Style

Yes, the perfect opportunity to cut my food bill without cutting my taste for all things organic and vegetarian... Deals so great, I have to share, with anyone else who cares to print, clip and save.

What you need:
1. A printer, loaded with plenty of ink and paper.
2. Skill at entering your name and email address over and over and over...
3. Scissors
4. Copies of local ads, can be printed off of the web or viewed.
5. Also, if you are using Google Chrome, don't while printing coupons, it doesn't work, at least I couldn't get it to work (the Java needed for printing) so I slugged along in Internet Explorer, but it's worth it.

Here's what I did:

Cross referenced sale items from ENF and the Co-op and found corresponding coupons, for example:

ENF has Blue Diamond Almond Breeze for $1.89 and I found a coupon for an additional .55 off...hello savings.

Some surprise deals came from WINCO, with Boca products. I had a coupon for $1 off with two Boca purchases. Each were $2.49, but with the discount only $2 each. Total deal, considering that the Co-op is advertising Boca Burgers ONSALE at $3.49 each. Not all items on sale at the Co-op are in the ad this week, so it helps to be at the store.

Other double deals:
Pacific Almond Milk with coupon: $.88 at Winco.
Rudi's 7 Grain Organic Bread with coupon: $2.29 at ENF.
Annie Chun's Gochaujang Sauce with coupon: $1.29 at ENF.
Imagine Rice Dream Vanilla Frozen Dessert with coupon: $2.29 at the Co-op.

You get the idea...I could go on, but the hunting is part of the fun...
Inspired by The Thrifty Mama