Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Happy 2014!

If you know me, you know that I don't really believe in New Years' resolutions.  I believe that we should be 'resolving' to be a better person than we were yesterday, every day.  Rather than making a grandiose list of things you want to do differently but probably aren't going to, I guarantee you'll make a much more significant difference by incorporating small goals into your everyday existence.


Case in point: my attempted "drawing a day" project that is ongoing.  It turned into something more like "a drawing a few times a week," but that's okay, and here's why.  If I flip through my Handbook, I can see improvement from one week to the next.  That's the goal, isn't it?

That said, one of my goals for the next... significant length of time is to tackle the largely intimidating project traditional Venetian mask making.  After researching the process extensively, my plan is to start with a small scale model and work my way up to creating wearable face masks as my technique improves.


See?  Got my supplies.  Nothing you can't buy at any art store, or even Amazon Prime.

Step 1: make mask positive for molding purposes out of oil-based clay.  The crappy factory made mask is just there as a three-dimensional reference that I don't have to worry about messing up.  My authentic Venetian jester isn't going anywhere near odd-smelling grease clay.
Step 2: use clay positive to cast plaster negative.
Step 3: use plaster negative to create "stuck paper" positive (noted as being different from paper mache)
Step 4: cut out eyes and nostrils; sand edges smooth.
Step 5: coat "stuck paper" positive with several layers of white acrylic paint
Step 6: decorate!

Monday, December 30, 2013

Tanzanite Venezia

© Chromeheart
Venetian streets are very narrow, often dark despite full daylight.  Looking down one of these narrow streets is like peeping through a keyhole; you only get to see what's straight ahead.  You see faded, sunwashed partial scenes through (that hackneyed) dark tunnel.  Indistinct.  The City's alive, and she's choosing what she wants to show you.  If you want to see more, it's up to you to put one foot in front of the other and make some moves.  It's not like, say, Boston or NYC where you can see what's ahead of you at least a few blocks in any given direction.  Nah, Venezia wants you to get to know her the old fashioned way.

My pen got skippy toward the end of this sketch, so I had to improvise a bit and added the wash.  I think I might have dropped the pen on the floor one too many times.  Don't buy a Pilot Metro if you're a frequent pen dropper.  The ink handles nicely in Private Reserve fashion, but I'm more than a little disappointed that "tanzanite" is warm blue instead of... tanzanite color.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Interior sketch


Had some extra time today, so I did a more involved sketch than usual.  My apartment building has a policy about decorations that are visible from outside, but fortunately, they don't care much about little lights in the windows.  If I stuck up a giant LED santa claus, that would be a different story.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Dec. 10, 10:01am


Diamine Salamander, Lamy Safari F, Hand.book journal, wet Q-tip.  Almost-done votive candle.

Between my cream sketchbook paper and the warm lighting in my snapshots, the green tint of the Salamander ink often gets lost.  Diamine Salamander is actually a top notch example of what I consider to be a good ink: an ink that darkens almost to black, and shows a prominent hue when it's thinned out without being too saturated.

Plus, Diamine inks come in these nifty vintage style bottles.

© Oscura Photography
www.viaoscura.blogspot.com
Now, if only they'd ship the bottles with a handmade glass pen!  Nabbed this one at a glass art gallery in Stone Harbor, New Jersey.  Glass pen feature coming soon.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Dec. 9 2013, 9:46am



I got a little behind this weekend, as a result of a NYC trip (more later!) so this is the first sketch I've done since Thursday last week.  After months of not drawing, I'm challenging myself to draw something every day.  It doesn't matter what it is--a Classical portrait or a ten minute doodle while I'm drinking my coffee.  It doesn't matter if I do it with a pen or a brush or a stick from the backyard.  None of the variables matter, as long as it's a drawing.

Diamine Salamander, Lamy Safari F, Handbook journal.

Oxblood Sketch


Quick breakfast sketch from a few mornings ago.  Zucchini frittata.  Diamine Oxblood in a Pilot Metro Medium nib. It's easily one of my favorite inks.  The color ranges from that of merlot to recently dried blood depending on the tone of the paper, and thins to a lovely coral hue.  For those that aren't aware, fountain pen ink is extremely water soluble even after it's dried; even moreso than dried watercolor paint.  That's so it doesn't clog the pen.  If I'm doing a painting with a FP ink in more than one pass, the solubility drives me bathouse crazy.  For quick sketches on the go, however, it makes life so much simpler and my travel sketch kit so much smaller!  I can achieve a painted effect simply by swiping a wet Q-tip across an area of hatching.  So simple.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Morning Sketch


Diamine Salamander, Lamy Safari F, and a teeny weeny espresso mug.  The crochet project is a secret, but it isn't far enough along for any of y'all to figure out what it is.  ;)

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Diamine Blaze Orange (ink test)

I hesitate to call this an ink "review" per se.  I'm not a fountain pen connoisseur, and I don't test inks by writing "the quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog" then drawing some squiggles and dripping water on the paper.  I care more about the ink's functionality as a paint or sketch medium than how wet or dry or whatever it is in some $200 pen that I don't intend to purchase.

© Chromeheart
Generally speaking, the more saturated the color of an ink, the worse the shading is, so I honestly wasn't expecting much in terms of writing quality.  I guess it goes to show, one shouldn't judge an ink by the way it looks in a vial.This photo is color accurate, and as you can see, it shades quite beautifully from pale orange to carmine.

Writing test done in a basic Fabriano sketchbook with cream paper, since that's what I normally write in.  Fabriano paper is actually manufactured in Italy, unlike many of their competitors, and it doesn't bleed through or feather.  Don't even get me started on the "Italian"-but-actually-Chinese bad excuse for stationery otherwise known as Moleskine.


The fact that this ink is a midtone at its darkest shade makes it very limiting in terms of painting, unless I decide I want to do a series of low contrast orange cityscapes or something.  (actually, that's not a bad idea).  Anyway, the point, I'm not really feeling monochrome orange in my sketchbook.  Although it looks pretty out of a medium nib, I don't think the color lends itself very well to ink wash painting.  Furthermore, the water solubility of this ink is so dramatic that it pools and makes a mess if I try to work another layer over an area that's already dried.  On the upside, that quality would force me to stop being so darned finicky and commit to whatever I put down on the first pass.  It could go either way, really.

Paintsketch done in Handbook journal.  Cream paper with a slight bit of tooth, which snags on dry writing nibs just enough to annoy me.  American made handblown-glass pen, I don't remember the artist off the top of my head.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Extra Ordinary

© Chromeheart / Oscura Photography
First off, I don't normally use my kitchen as an art studio.  I'm weird, but I'm not that weird.

I had a professor at Montserrat who was always telling me to "make the ordinary extraordinary."  Translate: draw the most boring crap you can possibly find in a way that makes it look interesting, instead of just drawing stuff that looks interesting to begin with.  It forces you to focus more on your technique, to use execution as a tool to create interest.  To say "hey, look how beautiful this thing is, that you walk past every day without noticing."

If I look around my apartment, I don't own a whole hell of a lot that isn't innately interesting; it's a side effect of having very Baroque taste.  My coffee mugs are shaped like owls, my lamps are almost all antique, and there's a jester mask on the coffee table.  Normal, normal, where to find some normal?

Hmm...

No matter what you do to it, kitchen paraphernalia always looks boring and mundane.  I'm not even sure if it's possible to weird up food prep.  So I grabbed a pen, and a brush, and pulled a stool up to the counter to draw me some normal in bright orange ink.

Thanksgiving Weekend Sketch

© Chromeheart
Window in my old bedroom.  The jar of Old Lyme beach sand lives there, since I seem to have misplaced its lid.  The absence of lid makes it difficult if not impossible to transport without spilling.  However, truth be told, I'm not experiencing any burning need to transfer about a cup of 'nostalgia sand' from the Fourth of July into a practical, travel safe container, and that's okay.  At the end of the day, it's just another jar of dirt.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Some Things I'm Excited About


+Latest Barnes & Noble bargain find: an entire coffee table size book that literally explains how to build a Gothic cathedral, with diagrams and everything!  So inspirational.

+Blank leather book, handmade in Firenze:  I haven't decided if I'm going to use it for writing or drawing yet.  Or at all, because it's just so pretty.

+Bracelet in progress: Mainstream fashion finally did something right!  I don't usually follow current  trends, because I don't usually find "trends" attractive.  Case in point, I'm still waiting for male skinny jeans to go back to whatever hell they came from.  Whoever came up with that must have been blind.  BUT.  I'm seriously digging the chunky chain bracelets with ribbon, leather, thread, etc woven between the links.  This guy is my own twist on the woven curb chain trend, and they'll be available for purchase in my Etsy sooner rather than later.

+It finally occurring to me that I should watermark my photos.  I love my signature typeface!  I am, however, working on a blackletter Oscura O logo with an edgy modern twist.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Impractical Perfume Bottle Sketch

© Chromeheart
This is a really, really, really impractical perfume bottle that lives on my deskamathing for purely decorative purposes.  The dippy part doesn't reach the reservoir where the scented oil lives, and said oil is too viscous for turning it upside down to work very effectively.

It is pretty, though.

To answer the unspoken question, YES there are christmas lights on my desk, and yes they are usually on while I'm doing things.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Quick Midnight Sketch

© Chromeheart

Yesterday, I cleaned my apartment top to bottom.  When everything was said and done and dusted and
put away, I removed my sorely neglected Handbook journal from its place on the bookshelf and threw it on the table.  I made a cup of tea.  I sat my patootey in the chair, made an ugly face at the last of my drawings in the book, and opened to the next blank page.

What to draw?

I looked up.  Incense burner that had been a sugar bowl in its past life.  Laptop.  Stereo.  Beanie boo.  Ripped note to self.  Blah, all boring stuff.

A former professor's voice came into my head unbidden.  No matter what, don't stop drawing.  It doesn't matter what you're drawing.  If you don't know what to draw, just draw whatever's in front of your face.  (paraphrase)

Okay, then.

The reasoning is that if you're not drawing constantly, you're not getting any better at drawing.  You're not refining your personal style.  You're not... doing anything remotely productive, if you're in the drawing-things trade.  Not that the things I was doing instead of drawing (learning to make masks &etc) weren't productive; they just weren't productive toward becoming a better visual artist.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

A Chrome Heart: One of a Kind Jewelry

© Chromeheart / Oscura Photography
Here's a sneak peek at some of the new items that were JUST made available in my etsy store!  Okay, I lied a little bit, the snake necklace in the front isn't for sale.  I just wanted to show it off because I lovelovelove the way it came out!  Unfortunately, I only had enough materials for one, and the snake charms are no longer made.

When I say my jewelry is unique/one of a kind, it really is.  I don't like making the same design over and over and over again like I have nothing better to do.  I'll make one for myself and one or two for the store, and then move on to something new.  Also, I tend not to buy jewelry supplies in bulk, with exception of ribbon, chain, things of this nature.  Pendants, special baubles &etc, I don't normally buy more than three of the exact same thing.  So yes, anything you purchase from A Chrome Heart on etsy that is labeled "one of a kind" truly is the only one of its kind!  I don't have the supplies to make another one, even if I wanted to.  Which I don't.  Break the monotony.

I've always made jewelry on an off and on basis, where I'd get really interested in it for a while, then get sidetracked by art, photography and whathaveyou, and pick it up again a few months or a year later, but I never really stuck with it.  Lately, I find myself getting very irritated with jewelry.  I'm a girl with a baaaaaad case of magpie syndrome.  If it's sparkly, I want it!  If it's not sparkly, I don't, unless it's matte black or something, and don't even get me started on plastic costume jewelry.  It defeats the purpose!  More to the point, the jewelry on the shelves in almost every store I walk into is either cheap plastic and base metal crap that I'd be allergic to even if I didn't hate it, or too expensive for me to mentally justify the cost.

Not that I'm much of a "fashionista" by any means.  I like what I like, and if nobody sells things I like at a reasonable cost, I'll break out the pliers and make it myself.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

NaNoWriMo: Insane, Inane, and Completely Worth It.

© Chromeheart / Oscura Photography

NaNoWriMo is a quasi-acronym for National Novel-Writing Month, which authors and aspiring authors celebrate by... writing a novel in a month, regardless of how many other priorities try (or succeed) in getting in the way.  Well, maybe not an *entire* novel, but there is a relatively daunting 50k word count goal.  Full details to be found at www.nanowrimo.org.

Now you might be thinking, "I thought this was an art blog.  That has zip to do with art."

It has to do with the entirety of my excuse for not doing any art since Halloween.  I'm using NaNo to get down an idea for a fantasy novel that's been fermenting in my brainmush for quite some time.  I'd had to stop writing to focus on the things in front of my face through four years of art college, and haven't quite been sure how to 'get back into writing,' as the saying goes.  Rusty writer cogs and whatnot.  On the night of October 31st, I made a snap decision to unceremoniously jump off the dock fully clothed, into... a lake?  An ocean?  A 50,000 word book, perhaps?

My current word count is 40,626 and I'm genuinely surprised how well the book is coming together.  Nine days and 10k words to go!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Who Broke My Holiday?

© Chromeheart / Oscura Photography
Unfortunately, I can't topcoat my coffin jewelry boxes until I locate my gloss glaze, wherever it's hiding in the aftermath of moving 200 miles southwest.  In the meantime, I'm crocheting little toys.  This adorable palm-sized ghostie is a free Lion Brand pattern available on their website.  Since the Lions are kind enough to allow the selling of finished items made from their patterns, these are going to be listed in my store as soon as I can set some time aside to take proper photos.

A close-up of Skelemouse, by request
© Chromeheart / Oscura Photography
I've been getting increasingly annoyed with the disposable quality of spooky, gothy Halloween wares in all the retail chain stores... so I'm making my own, and if all goes as planned, retailing them on Etsy year round.  Goth is a lifestyle, not a cardboard candelabrum with LED "candles" or a shitty vinyl tablecloth that you chuck on November 1st.  Don't even get me started on the cheap yet somehow overpriced costumes that only look good if you're blind in both eyes, and why does every female costume have to look like a playboy get-up anyways?  I remember when Halloween costumes were supposed to be cute, funny, or scary.  I remember when the "ladies" section of the Halloween store wasn't full of awkward lingerie.  Who broke my holiday?  No, really.

Up next: Frustrated Chromeheart makes brocade bat wing costume piece from scratch.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

What's On My Desk - 9/18/13

© Chromeheart / Oscura Photography
-Coffin jewelry boxes being painted

-Black and Gold masquerade masks, waiting for eye holes.  Red brocade mask waiting for glue to dry.  They'll be ready for the store in 3-5 days.

-A crochet cupcake from a free online pattern, which looks more like a genetically engineered flower gone wrong than any cupcake I've ever seen.  Needless to say, I'm going to change the pattern significantly from its original for my own ends.  Small crochet toys are simple; the challenging part, is figuring out which combination of these simple techniques yields the most appealing result.

-Little fox providing 100% recommended daily value of hugs and smiles, according to the package he came in.  Too cute for words.


Friday, September 13, 2013

Work table snapshot 9-13-13

© Chromeheart / Oscura Photography
Most of the drawing I've done lately has been pattern designs--for these little felt critters, slowly beginning to populate my etsy store.  (link above)

Designing a pattern like this can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days, depending on the animal and the level of simplification required, with plenty of room for trial and error.  Example: the turkey (top left) was actually supposed to be an owl.  It was only after attaching the wings that I realized I made a turkey, in the perfect fall color scheme.

The flying bat and ghost are already available in my store, made to order, and the owl, turkey, and sleeping bat will be uploaded this weekend (sept. 14-15).  I'm currently working on a pattern design for a baby bat in a blanket, after the latest viral craze in the goth side of the internet.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Cafe Venezia (progress ii)

© Chromeheart | Illustration
Since the last update, I've darkened the shadow areas with a contrasting color: Diamine Ancient Copper.  The hues created by the mingling of the blue/violet and copper pigments are beginning to create some interesting depths.  In my source photo (posted several weeks ago), you can see that the lighting situation in this scene is unusual in that it's very dark due to the closeness of the buildings, although it's broad daylight.  Only the light from the shops illuminates the narrow street leading to the piazza.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Cafe Venezia (in progress)

© Chromeheart Illustration
I posted the line drawing and photo composite for this piece about a month ago.  (and that, toward the top of the picture, is a 20 year old Batman mug with much sentimental value.)  Here it is again with the main value structure established in J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir.  Although Elcat de Saphir has a reputation as the "favorite" blue ink of fountain pen lovers, it's actually more violet than blue when it's thinned out as I have done in this ink painting.  Next, I'm going to use a contrasting ink, perhaps Diamine Ancient Copper, to deepen some of the shadow areas.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Owl Tea

© Chromeheart Illustration
Have you ever drank tea out of a very confused looking owl?  Bed Bath and Beyond sells these quirky owl mugs in four different colors.  When I saw them, I just had to get one of each, sort of as a housewarming gift to myself.  Sketch done with a Pilot Metropolitan (Medium nib) loaded with Rohrer & Klingner Alt-Bordeaux.  It's an expressive, high quality (but unfortunately very un-waterproof) ink made in Germany.  Alt-Bordeaux translates literally to "old Bordeaux" but I personally haven't tried drawing with aged wine to compare the color.  If you do, let me know how it works out.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Cafe Venezia (lineart)

© Chromeheart Illustration
Cafe Venezia, on San Marco.  I start all of these with a light pencil drawing, and erase the lines after the ink is dry.  I'm debating what color ink to paint it in with.  I usually do my ink drawings in monochrome, but the coloring of my original photo (below) is really quite striking.

FW acrylic ink -- Antelope Brown; Biro Leonardt #30 nib on Portofino watercolor paper, made in Italy.

© Chromeheart
If you're wondering how I took a photo without oodles of poorly dressed tourists on San Marco in July, well, I didn't.  I took three photos standing in the same spot, and composited them together to get rid of the people.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Venice - Watercolor Experiment

© Chromeheart

Although I normally do work like this in some kind of ink, this time around, I decided to give Dr PH Martin's concentrated liquid watercolors a whirl.  They come packaged like inks, in small glass bottles with an eyedropper in the lid.  No weird chalky paint cakes here.


I have to say, they behaved better than I expected.  The aqua color I blended interacted with the water and my special Italian paper similarly to a fountain pen ink, and dried almost as transparently as an ink.  Liquid watercolor proved to be a very flexible medium on and off the page.  While it's no substitute for ink, it's definitely improved my overall opinion of watercolor paints.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Red Doily


I learned to crochet a few months ago, and after making countless cup coasters, Christmas ornaments, a few "softies," and most of a granny square afghan, I decided it was time to try something different.  Something... dare I say... fancy.  This is a few hours' work on what is going to be a 17" diameter doily.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

North Station, Boston

© Chromeheart

I like to keep a script liner and a tiny vial of ink in my bag in case of "emergency" aka an hour long wait for a train.  J. Herbin fountain pen inks are the opposite of waterproof, so my brushes aren't ruined if I'm unable to rinse them immediately after use.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Three Roses

© Chromeheart

Bean Seedlings, 5 Days Old

© Chromeheart

Wilting Bouquet

© Chromeheart

Sestiere di San Marco

© Chromeheart

Canal Grande, Venezia

© Chromeheart

Firenze, Ponte Vecchio

© Chromeheart

Firenze, Piazza Signoria

© Chromeheart

Darek Writing

© Chromeheart

View from Viterbo Town Hall

© Chromeheart