Something Shiny

Sweet Lou

2012-01-16T09:54:00.003-06:00

Here is the latest in the pupper portraits. Sweet Lou.
I am hoping that his people like it as much as I liked painting it. One of the sweetest faces
I have had the pleasure to paint.
xox

More Puppers

2012-01-12T01:14:00.003-06:00

As promised,
here is another one of the pups I had the pleasure to paint.
This little girl is called Batu.
Thank you for the opportunity Jenny. :)

Next up, the very sweet Lou.
xo

Let's try this again

2012-01-06T09:20:00.008-06:00

Welcome to 2012!

Where to begin. It's been a heck of a last year, I'm looking forward to this new year and what it has to say for itself, because I did not like the stories that 2011 had to tell. So out with the old, and in with the new.
Booyah!

I've started this year painting the sweet faces of dogs. Below are just a few of them...

Bender
and
Bear

Darling Charlie.

Not to be left out, there have also been a couple kittens.

It is the year of the animal, people! :)

There are more surprises to come, but I can't tell everything at once... who knows when I would be able to post again then. Heehee

xo
D

FallCon 2011

2011-10-06T08:39:00.002-05:00

*Reintroduces herself to lovely followers*

Hi there!

Nice to see you again.

In an unexpected turn of events, I have been invited to this year's FallCon event on October 15th. Please come out and see me, I'll be sharing a table with the beautiful and dangerous Jess Hickman.

I am taking commissions, so if you want a sassy elf, or a watercolor of your beloved pupper, please send me a note here or on facebook. I look forward to seeing you there!

http://midwestcomicbook.com/?page_id=13

XOXOX

Thursday Sketch

2011-02-17T09:30:00.000-06:00

Once again Jess Hickman and I have decided to post a weekly sketch. Here is my first contribution. :)

Don't forget to come and visit me at C2E2 in March, the weekend of March 18-20. I will be sharing a table with Jess, our location is E9. I am currently taking commissions that will be completed in time for pickup at the show, just drop me a line at darla@outofthemyst or on facebook with 'commission' in the subject line. Hope to see you there!!!

xox

Koi Extravaganza Eleganza!

2011-01-25T15:21:00.007-06:00

Lately I've been having alot of fun drawing Koi. I have some shows coming up and I thought they would make some nice bookmarks. Lemme know if there are other things you'd like to see book-marked.
xo
D

Chicagoland Expo!

2010-09-07T20:51:00.004-05:00

Things have been so busy!!!!

Between working on cards for the Clone Wars Rise of the bounty Hunters set and giving Gus all the attention... ever, I've hardly had time to breathe. But I wanted to alert all those people in the Chicago area that I'll be in Caroll Stream, IL this weekend for the Chicagoland Expo. Please come and see me, I will be there Friday-Sunday. :) Here's a link for directions and more information.
http://www.nonsportcardexpo.com/

If there is anyone out there who cannot live without a commission from me, please send me a message and perhaps I can bring it along this weekend. There will be all kinds of other great artists there to make me look like a hack, so come on out and make it a good show for all involved.

For commisions, email me at darla@outofthemyst. com with "Commission" in the subject line. :)

Hope to see you all this weekend!

xoxox

Thursday :)

2010-08-12T22:02:00.002-05:00

Ta da!

Thursdays ART!

2010-08-09T19:56:00.003-05:00

So, during our last get together, Jessica Hickman and I decided that each thursday, we would post a new sketch that we'd done that week to keep ourselves sharp.
I. Am late.

But here is my sketch from last week. A little picture of my Gustav. :)

This week will be timely and oh so sketchy. )

xox
Dar

Progression of a Spotty Nose...

2010-07-16T16:54:00.013-05:00

As I have long suspected, Goose's nose is getting darker and darker, leaving the pink nose of his puppydom behind. For my own satisfaction, I wanted to document the changes in my little Gossamer's nose. :)

Here, we are nearly at the all pink puppy stage. So cute.

A smattering of spots on a little pink nose...

The evolution of 'chicken nose'. If you look closely, there appears the head of a chicken in the center of Goose's nose.

The chicken begins to get an eye...

Finally, we have the slow demise of chicken head, and the near obliteration of all pink from the spotty goose nose. As the nose progresses...I will update. Thank you for humoring me in this activity. Long live the spotty pink noses.

xo
Dar

July Already?!?

2010-07-15T09:30:00.012-05:00

Okay, time to jump start the blog. I made a promise that I would keep this current, so here goes.

Lots and lots of things have happened since my last post, some good, some not so good. Let's focus on the goodies. :)

Contrary to my initial assessment, Hops have not taken over my home. Whew! The gardens are going crazy though, I'm not sure the reason for it, but now my little white house has a leafy green skirt surrounding it. Here is one of the greenies...

I have continued work on the "Companions" project I started at the beginning of the year. To refresh... I only have one set complete, the Samurai and her Consort. Here they are....

The Next paring is that of the Dragon Borne. I've just finished the male half of this pair, here they are. :)

So far, I am having alot of fun with this project. :) The next on the list is the Mermaid's consort. A lion fish... ooooohhhhh!

I will be having a preview of sort of a webcomic project I am working on with my good friend Jacob Armstrong, so keep an eye out here for news of The Sunfish Gang.

Last on the list of updates... the Goose. He is thriving in the midst of summer, enjoying his usual haunts, the dog park, the back yard, the kitchen counter, the couch... the bed(see: MY bed)... Here is proof of his taxing life...

Most of the artwork seen in this post will be sold either in print or original form on my Etsy Store, so keep an eye out, and message me with any interest! I still have a few of my 2010 Sketchbooks if there is anyone who missed the earlier chance to get one.

Hugs and kisses!

-D

The 2010 sketchbooks are here! The 2010 Sketchbooks are here!!!

2010-05-24T08:46:00.001-05:00

My convention sketchbook is now available. :) If you'd like one, all you need to do is send $10 to my paypal account, that includes shipping (mugmoni@comcast.net), tell me what you would like sketched inside and wait patiently! Don't miss out on plenty of Dames and Danes, there are tons of both. The cover is glossy color with a black and white interior in this 20 page bookie! That is all.

Spring Con

2010-05-18T08:14:00.014-05:00

What a weekend! Spring Con was so much fun for me, plenty of friends stopped by to give their support and hang out and I got to draw for two days solid while the lovely Spring Con organizers took care of me. What more could a girl ask for?

Gus was the big hit at the show. I had so many people come up and tell me how much they liked him, even some who knew his name before I told them..apparently.. there are people out there reading this. Who knew!?! The Goose thanks you all for your support. WOOF!

He may look like he is all "yeah whatever" about it, but take my word, it made him very wiggly.

One of my favorite commissions of the weekend was "The Last Unicorn" for my friend Sonia. Jess Hickman and I each got to draw her in one of her forms. Here are the pictures we handed over, thank you Jess for permission to post yours, and Sonia for the chance to draw this:

I think they two compliment each other quite nicely.

The lot of us convinced our friend Uko to come and take part in the Con, it was great having him stay with me. (you can crash in my guest room any time Snuggles) Gus took quite a shine to him and cried little puppy tears (from the couch) as Uko drove away...

There were many other fun and fabulous things that happened at Spring Con, but hey, what happens at Spring Con stays at Spring Con...(thumb to nose). You got me?! (wink)

Translation: I forgot to take any more pictures.... doh!

On the home/doggy front, recently I have noticed a rash (not that kind of rash) of things coming out of my mouth...ugh. Hold up, that is a terrible statement, way too much possibility for misunderstanding and ridicule... by my dearest friends... ---.--- Let me start again.

Lately, I've realized the idiotic things I say to Goose in the moment. It may have been happening all along and I just noticed it, who knows. But from here on out, I will be taking note of these words.

Number 1: shouted at Gus as he stuck his head in the toilet for a refreshing drink.

"Dogs don't drink out of the toilet, they drink out of the sink! What's wrong with you?"

More of these to come, I am most certain.

For now, I will leave you pictures of beautiful flowers. Enjoy!

Please take note of the Bee fly-by caught on film by the ninja skills of yours truly (the right side of picture 1) ...well I was impressed.. >.>

<<<<<<<---------

Toodles!

All the News

2010-05-13T10:16:00.009-05:00

This upcoming weekend I will be camping out at SpringCon! Woot! It's at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds grandstand... say that three times fast. :) All day Saturday and Sunday!

We art geeks usually have to wait for this show all summer, typically it's called FallCon, and happens.. well.. in the fall. But this year we'll have lovely 70 degree weather and lots of wonderful comic nerdiness in the spring.

In celebration of SpringCon I have put together a new sketchbook. Here is the cover:

It's all about man's two best friends... Dames and Dogs (specifically, MY dog, Gus). I huge thank you to my favorite Chip for putting it together for me. (Coincidentally.. he will also be at SpringCon, see, it gets better every second) It has lots of new sketches and some that I have posted here, funfunfun! After the show I will make it available on-line for anyone that can't live without my dog.

The lovely and talented Uko Smith will be arriving this evening to spend the weekend, he too will be at SpringCon. I'm telling you...this place is going to be chock full of goodness, anyone within the sound of my voice ought to show up. :) Just take a look at the guest list if you need proof!

I've been buying lots of twisting, smelly, green and lovely plants of late. Though very few of them have gotten in the ground yet, my kitchen looks and smells positively greenhousey. (it's ok if you're a little jealous...) One plant that fascinates me is the Hop. Or would it be Hops? (checks tag) Hops. Personally.. I think one plant ought to be a Hop, but then this would lead me to the argument that I think one TUMS ought to be a TUM..anyway...I got off my point.

Hops. I bought this little plant, thinking that the foliage was so pretty and imagining how much fun it would be to have Hops on my house. :)

That said, I seemed to overlook the fact that they grow 25 feet high. So, as it turns out, by the end of the summer, if anyone comes to visit me, just look for the big pile of Hops, and I will be inside. This, is why I am better at "In-Theory" rather than "In-Practice" gardening. A word to the wise...

Signing off from amid the Hops. xox

Monday Already

2010-05-03T08:03:00.003-05:00

The weekend was very good to me. I spent so much time with wonderful friends. There was drawing, movie watching, parade going, farmers marketing, cheesy wiener eating...it was lovely.

Today I get back to drawing the sketchbook and hopefully finishing the sketches so I can put it together and get it printed up! Many pictures of Goose... wheeeee! I put some color on the Pirate drawing, still looking a little angry....

I might do this one up as a print, but I've not decided. If anyone wants to offer a yea or nay, feel free.

I have run out of things I know. Very sad. Time to go I guess.
XO

Too Much Caffeine

2010-04-29T08:36:00.003-05:00

As is known to me, my body is ultra sensitive to caffeine. You would think that this would have occurred to me last night as I was downing my second can of diet coke with lime. Nope. Or hey, a couple warning bells may have sounded in my head as I was finishing the chai I'd purchased earlier in the day. Nuh uh. I greeted 4:00am with a rousing hello as I struggled to stay in my skin. It was awesome. ---.---

That said, there is new art, a lucky by-product of caffeine saturation. I've been working on the pages for my upcoming sketchbook, and I'll be darned if I didn't churn out a whole bunch last night. Go figure. Yay caffeine!

Look! There's one now!

Pirata! This inking thing really gives me a charge. I've really been having fun with it. I had an outing with Chip yesterday and found a perfectly timed sale at Blick Art supplies so I got a new pen.

It.Is.Lovely.

I spent some time inking the pirate after the caffeine had moved from my hands :)

So, to sum up...

- When you can feel your skin, you've had too much caffeine, and do not expect sleep until at least 4:15am.

- Inking, yay!!

- And last but not least.. Argh, you scurvy dogs.

Love,

The Caffeinated Scallywag.

xox-argh

Sunday Morning

2010-04-25T08:18:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting at the computer looking out over the back yard, it's been raining on and off for a couple days and I'm ready for a little bit of sun. The Farmers Market started this weekend, but not even the prospect of a steaming cheesy wiener and all the fresh flowers in the world could entice me to walk around shoulder to shoulder with people in the pouring rain, so, next week it is :) I really did want a cheesy wiener though...

Even without the jump start of Farmer Market, I did accomplish a couple things yesterday. I finished the base art for my new sketchbook, I'm not clever enough to tell you the name without offering up a huge, allure busting explanation, you are so very curious now.. aren't you? So, you will just have to wait with eager anticipation until it is revealed. Mwahahahah! That said, I will tempt you with the image. :)

Coincidentally, she is wearing my current hair style. I know.. where do I come up with these things. Oohhh, and look.. boobs! That's right, your little girl has grown up and is drawing breasts. (thinks) Actually, what that might mean is that I am growing ever closer to being a 13 year old boy. Hmmm. Food for thought.

The doggy news...

Coming soon to a book store/amazon/dollar bin near you, there will be a story about The Goose. Yay!!! I've been asked to take part in an anthology of children's stories. I'm really excited about this, you see, I was looking for a way to introduce Gus in some kind of short format to see if the population of the world loves him and is as entertained by him as I am How could they not be? :) We'll see. So look for it. I will tell you when.

I finished up two sets of cards for Sadlittles , Damsels and Dinosaurs, and Rantz Angels. I had a blast with these cards and am looking forward to starting on the upcoming sets. Here are some samples. Damsels first, they seem to have a harder life.

Now how about some Rantz Angels. I know! I can hardly wait myself :)

To find out all about these, go to the Sadlittles web page. You'll also be able to see what's coming up. You should go now. you know you wanna...

......crickets......

Well I didn't mean RIGHT NOW. :)

Hugs and kisses

Oh, one more thing.
Gus likes bunnies.

...tasty bunnies.

(I kid...mebbe...)

The banner question....

2010-04-12T08:02:00.000-05:00

I've been putting together elements for the new show season and I've come to the question of a banner. Usually, one or more of my current paintings can be seen behind my table but for several reasons I've been considering a banner of sorts. My question lies in whether I should concentrate my banner on something fun and Gussy such as this...

Or something more along the lines of my traditional work, like deeeesss...(though not this exactly.. something new and shiny. )

I would love it if those of you watching.. >.> might offer up an opinion. Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope. (DORK!)

To Whom it may concern:

The person responsible for that last statement has been sacked.

Marlon the Wonder Llama will now be handling correspondence.

Our pardons,

The management

- Pictured here.

Marlon the Wonder Llama

aka. Spunky

Made some nummy fish tacos yesterday. Who knew I could make fish tacos?

It turns out that even though they powers that be say there will be people at the farmers market before the 'Official' start date, those powers do not know the truth. The actual story is that on a beautiful, sunny April morning, there is exactly one guy down there with several tubs of flowers. Very disappointing. Farmers Market cannot come soon enough for me boy oh boy.

Working on Damsels and Dinosaurs...I will post some later if I can.

Fact of the day: One package of noodles... not quite enough. Two packs... always too much. Just saying.

That's all for now.

^-^

Homecoming

2010-04-06T13:00:00.000-05:00

Returned home last night in the mid-wee hours of the morning. Happy puppy face is the best welcome home, most especially the Goose face. Admittedly, there is a very tiny chance that I could lack objectivity, but I really doubt it. There is just something about walking through the door and having 150 pounds of wiggling cow dog rush toward you with the the only goal as becoming your lap dog that washes away any grumps you might have. Yeah, best thing ever.

I'm gearing up to jump back into cards, as I took the weekend for other things. On the table this week, TOPPS ESB 30th anniversary, Sadlittles: Dinos and Damsels as well as Rantz Angels. Somebody crack the whip!

Oh - Ee - Oh.. I'm do-ing cards.. :)

More interesting things when I am feeling... more interesting. :)

Ta-ta

Motobikes and Guard Dogs...

2010-03-31T20:53:00.000-05:00

Today was the second motobike ride of the year. Here are a few things I came away with...

-Did you know that ice on a lake will to drop the air temperature around said ice by what seems like about 20 degrees. It's true. Ask Jennifer. I'll give you her number if you need it. Kidding.

Here we are riding down the road next to this wonderful lake...open water...beautiful... open water...beautiful...a little ice...a little cooler...full on ice...O.O...What the hell man? Interesting...

-While there never seems to be enough chai on most days. A large chai in the middle of a motobike ride, possibly a little too much. That's right, I'm not afraid to say it.. a little too much chai there.

-Even a bad day on a motobike is better than most days without a motobike. Very much looking forward to the next ride.

A big thank you to both Vanonis for providing me with such lovely company today. :)

Since I lost my job, most of my days consist of drawing/painting, and spending quality time with Gus the great dane. I have noticed a trend, he has always been very attached to me, but now he seems to keep an eye on me most all of the time. Our usual dialogue...(no..Gus doesn't really speak, but if he did...)

Me: I think I need a tasty beverage.

Sleeping Gus: Where are you going? *gets up* I should come.

Me: You don't need to come, I'll be right back. *walks him back to the couch*

Gus: I should come, *gets up, again* just in case.

Me: Really, I'll be right back. Lay down.*helps him onto the perfectly comfortable people couch*

Gus: Where are you going? *boomerang* What if something happens?

Me: Just getting some water. *back to the couch*

Gus: I should come. *gets up to follow*

Me: Really, I am just getting water. Stay. *almost lifts back onto the couch*

Gus: Don't leave me. I should come. *springs up* Hey.. aren't there treats in there?

Me: *sigh*

Gus: I win.

He is my own guardian Goose. But a picture speaks a thousand words...

Nothing is going to sneak up on me.

That's all for now.

Day two of Blog!

2010-03-31T08:08:00.000-05:00

I have followers! (even if one of them is me because I clicked the wrong button and have yet to figure out how to stop following myself. >.> I'm creepy.)

I think I'm going to like this place, it is kind of a relief not have to fight off any vampires or defend against mafioso thugs, and while I love animals, good grief, that zoo takes up plenty of time. I thought I would post some of the other things I'll have at the upcoming shows this year. (humor me... it has been a long time since I've had this much new stuff, lol!) I'm going to be doing sets of small prints (4x6ish), and trading card sized prints of the women that I've been painting. As well as their male counterparts when I finish painting them. Just the perfect sizes to carry around in your wallet, purse or man-purse-bag thingy. Hehe. Here they are. I'll have two sets, "The Fighters" and "The Magicians" :) They will also be available as individual cards and prints. These things will be showing up in my Etsy Store too. (picks her followers up off the floor) Stay with me here.. lol. Very soon I will be selling off the originals so message me if there are any of interest.

Okay, enough of this self promotion stuff. Going for my second motobike ride of the year today. I can't wait! While the winter has been very productive, I am ready to become the moto-girl again and spend my spare moments zipping around the upper midwest. There is almost nothing as good as driving along and feeling the temperature change just because you rode into a valley or passed between some shading trees. Or to be able to smell the wonderful scents of the world that you never get when inside a car...or just to go fast and hug the twisty roads with your best friends. So excited!

Well that's about everything for now. Have a lovely day two! I hope you come back real soon.

Love and hugs

GossemART!

2010-03-30T21:07:00.000-05:00

In the upcoming days, I'll have more new things to offer at my shows. Below are a few of those items. Who doesn't love stickers of Gus?!

HA!

2010-03-30T20:32:00.000-05:00

Testing....1...2...3....

2010-03-30T19:38:00.000-05:00

With a gun to my head, Jessica "Clinker" Hickman is making me create this blog. So if I make mistakes typing, it is out of fear. :)

Let's try to post a picture, shall we? Here is my Goose. Formally known at Gossamer, great dane extraordinaire.

Now that my toes are wet, I am going to scurry off and hide. Thank you for stopping by.