Working on Art Today!

Today was a day for me to work on art.  I had a successful day at the craft show Sunday, 100% increase from the train shows I have attended.  

I have several large projects going for me right now. Well, I say 'large' mainly because I'm still trying to get a lot of hours at the job that provides health insurance for us as well.  I have noted the 'Steam Punk' piece that I am working on, or rather haven't, in almost three weeks. So I'm trying to get back into a 'get-things-done' mode, as opposed to the 'no motivation' I have had lately.  I have thought about the 'Steam Punk' piece quite a lot, and been jotting down notes, researching the ancient cultures of ancient central America.

  

However I have been making large strides on a poster/invite for my mom's 60th birthday this summer.  I assembled most of the imagery a few months back, and then let it sit.  Not today, it's been progress, progress, progress.  I have set in the bottom of the image and been working my way up.  There may yet be a hint of a border tossed in, but the details of that haven't come together in my head yet[See the image below].

I also have been thinking a lot about a story idea that came to me one night at work, just from looking at some one's t-shirt.  For a single image, it's turning into a large story with a plethora of fun and interesting characters, environments, and worlds.  I have explained the concept to only two people, each with a positive reaction. Of course, that was after they had me break it down a second time.  There's a lot to it. So I've been filling a notebook with the tidbits that occur to me throughout the day, I progress a bit at a time, and keep telling myself, 'I want to know more about this universe of characters'. 

I haven't really written any stories since high school, but have rather only put to paper [or rather, put to processor], story outlines. Something I'd like to take on later. 'Later' being the bit I need to get past.  If I don't do it as soon as I can, I may not do it, having found any number of excuses. 

I love to create, both visually and with words.  Making the time happen is a habit in current state of chrysalis. 

Steam Punk Challenge! Concepts #1

I've been researching the Olmec of South America. They left a mark on the landscape with their colossal heads, as well as a possible origin for many of the rest of South America's cultures in the pre-Colombian era.  they have little in the way of recorded mythology, but what little there is still fascinates.  

The feathered serpent, or man of crops, which have been depicted in the stylization of many mezoamerican cultures.  Adornments are of critical importance, detail, which seem to lend themselves to such a challenge. Just to get a rough idea, I've been drawing the art & sculpture, and for kicks drew over a Lintel carving to see the concept emerge.  I will work at this a bit more, but am going to head to bed at the moment. 

Comments are welcome.  

Steam Punk Mythology

As I search the web, I find many things, some I had know about [The Weta Rayguns], which are very keen in their own right. but also the convention held at the beginning of the month out in California [Which now also has a mention of the Steam Punk Art Challenge].  

I'm starting to lean toward a South American theme, before Europeans arrived.  Olmec would be fun, the mythology there is sparse anyway, leaving room for various interpretations.  The scale of some of their monoliths lends itself quite well to the Steam Punk theme. 

My notebook is starting to have lots of scribbles, doodles, and other scratchings that in a few years even I won't recognise. I think about scenes in my head all day at work, come home, and try to spill them out, without making a mess. Although sometimes the mess is a bit helpful, bringing together ideas in a way I hadn't previously thought. 

Steam Punk Challenge

Here's a chance to see me work a concept through. I haven't done this since going to school in Florida. I've got to post progress milestones to the competition. I do have some ideas to start with, but I would like to ask the friends who view this blog, Steam Punk, what images are conjured in your mind by those words? What image have you been waiting to see, that best describes the term Steam Punk to you?

My progress will be posted at the site holding the competition, follow the link
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?threadid=696660

Thanks to everyone who reads this, and shares their ideas,
Buckaroo