Daily Creativity: Body Positive Conversation Hearts

Daily Creativity: Body Positive Conversation Hearts

Daily Creativity: Body Positive Conversation Hearts

Conversation hearts in honor of Valentines day. I’m not a big fan of Valentines day because of the pressure it seems to put on people. It’s one of those things, when you are single you think, if I was with someone this would be a great day. Yet when you are with someone the pressure that is put on this holiday can be overwhelming. You end up feeling bad about yourself no matter your relationship status. When I was a kid I loved Valentines day because my mother would sneak chocolates under our pillows. We would wake up to a tiny sample of chocolates. It wasn’t much, just enough to make us feel special. My first year out of the house I was living with my sister and my mom arranged for her to put my chocolate sample under my pillow that first year. It was awesome and made me feel really special. That is the kind of stuff I love, yet most of what you hear about this day, is pressure. Pressure to be in a relationship. Pressure to show someone how much you care. Pressure to feel like you partner has done enough to show that they care. It’s frustrating and while both my partner and I know this is a made up holiday and don’t really celebrate it, I see this continue to hurt a lot of other people. Instead of focusing on relationships I thought I would focus on self love. I asked for some suggestions from a Fat Acceptance group I belong to on Facebook to help me come up with some empowering conversation hearts. Some of these are my own, and some are important to others. I would buy a whole box of these.

Fountain pen Ink and digital pastels.

Welcome to my 2018 Lent project of Daily Creativity!

Daily Creativity: Xenomorph Disney Princess

Daily Creativity: Xenomorph Disney Princess

Daily Creativity: Xenomorph Disney Princess

With all this talk about Disney buying parts of Fox there is the discussion, does that mean the Xenomorph is a Disney Princess? So of course I had to draw that. I’m not sure if the Alien franchise was part of the deal, but it is enough for me to be a big ‘ol geek about it. Colored pencils on paper.

Daily Creativity: Rory as a Union Soldier – Union Dragon

Daily Creativity: Rory as a Union Soldier - Union DragonDaily Creativity: Rory as a Union Soldier – Union Dragon

Tek and I visited Gettysburg before going down to Balticon. I highly recommend this trip, it has changed so much since the last time I really explored there, twenty years ago. The roads are paved, there is this auto tour you can buy (in CD form now but there is an app in Beta) and they built some overlooks. All while preserving the integrity of the historical site.

We learned a lot we didn’t know. Even having studied the Civil War I missed a lot of things that I learned on this visit. I was inspired to paint Rory as a union soldier. Artillery of course. I’m thinking the war might have been won faster with Dragons on the Union side, but it would have been a very different war.

I started painting this at Balticon, doing some work on the few moments I wasn’t on a panel or getting my 5-2-1. I finished it when I got home. So yes this does break the rules of Daily Creativity as it took more than one day to finish, but in the time total it wasn’t more than I would spend in a day, I think. I am pleased with how it came out and had Tek check my work with the depiction of the enfield riffle Rory is holding. I painted some dirt on his uniform and fur, and tried to make it look dirty. Faded blues too. I’m really happy with how this piece came out. I may be the only person who wanted to see Rory as a soldier, but it marks this trip for me.

watercolors and ink on pressed paper.

Peppermint Pony! Not technically a Daily Creativity

Daily Creativity: Peppermint PonyPeppermint Pony

This Peppermint Pony was a commission by the same person who commissioned the Penguinaut last year. This is for the new knitting team name. When I was given the inspiration of ponies of course my mind went one place. I did this with markers because I wanted the color to be bright and cheerful. Thanks to Tek for reminding me to add a cutie mark. I had almost forgot and I knew something was missing. This doesn’t count as a Daily Creativity piece because I this is the result of many sketches that I dismissed before settling on this one, and it took longer than a day to make. Still, Daily Creativity has become the label and tag I post most of the art under, so I feel like it still fits into that tag. Ink on paper.

Daily Creativity: Chocolate Bunny Delight, Rory Enjoys Easter

Daily Creativity: Chocolate Bunny Delight, Rory Enjoys EasterDaily Creativity: Chocolate Bunny Delight, Rory Enjoys Easter

Who doesn’t like a chocolate bunny? Rory loves them. Concluding this year’s lent I finish with a pice of the world’s cutest dragon enjoying the spoils that often we avoid during lent. Growing up we always had a really good chocolate bunny in our basket. It was something that was a big treat because it was always fine chocolate. Unlike our Christmas Santa, this bunny wasn’t hollow either. The question always was, do you eat it all on Easter? Or do you savor it over time? A word to the wise, don’t savor too long, opened chocolate goes bad. Plus there is the added risk of a sibling finding where you hid your candy and eating it on you. With 8 siblings, this was always a danger. I chose to savor though, and often too long and had to throw away turned chocolate. At least the jelly beans were plentiful. Markers and Ink on Bristol.