Farewell to 2012!

Apologies to all for my long absence from this blog. When I said I was over-stretched in that last post I didn't know how much more stretched I could get! Suffice it to say that I needed some yoga & meditation to make it through the last month.

But I'm back! This is just a silly little Photoshop piece I did as a joke for a couple of friends on Twitter who were talking about the art trends/memes they'd noticed in 2012. We decided to mash up a few just for fun. Of course they got theirs done by New Year's Eve, while I'm limping in a week later. See paragraph one. ;-)

Stay tuned to this spot for an exciting announcement coming soon! Hint: it involves the alphabet. (Yes I know that's not much of a hint in these parts.)

Heights of Folly

Another painting-dweller. (Photoshop sketch version.)

Tree-Dweller

This fellow climbed out of a painting-in-progress to hang out here for a bit... keeping an eye on things while I attend to other pressing matters.

Photoshop

G is for Gashadokuro

This week's entry for AlphaBeasts!

If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise... Gashadokuro, the giant skeleton! This huge & deadly creature likes to bite off human heads. Its appearance is heralded by a ringing in the ears. I think I've had some close encounters after performances by loud bands! ;-)

Acrylic on illustration scanned from Frank Leslie's Chatterbox, 1880-1881, ~6.5"x7.5" You may need to click the image to see the tiny human in the picture-- he was much more prominent to my eyes before the skeleton crept in, though luckily he still has his head.

Edit: Isaac asked to see the original illo before Oddification, so here it is! Click for a closer view, & I think you'll see what I mean about the human figure.

Also, I can finally now reveal that the "Mysterious" series was to illustrate A Word A Day for this week! As a word nerd, I dearly love that site, & I've been a subscriber for ages, so I was over the moon to be a part of it.

Speaking of over the moon, I just have to give a shout-out to another Curiosity: the one that's headed to Mars!!

Buccal Cavity

Oh my, this week's IF word surely hit home. I'd already begun this image, & in fact had already begun lecturing myself about my obsession with detail... I have a tendency not to see the forest for the lichen, so to speak.

I obsess about a lot of things actually, but detail is probably at the top of the list. It gets in my way as often as not, but it's a deeply ingrained part of my personality. Usually I try to fight it, but I let it take the reins on this piece. (Except that, to tell the truth, I could easily keep tweaking it for another 3 hours or more, making changes that were virtually invisible to the eye. But I have a lot of other things that need doing, so this will have to be it.)

I used to have a related obsession with putting hidden words in every picture. I let that one sneak back in here too.

This is the second in a series I'm calling Curiotype.

Photoshop with text from an old dictionary. I kind of veered off from the word that inspired this originally: Buccal, having to do with the cheeks or the cavity of the mouth.

Speed Garden

(...and speed oddment too... this has been a busy day, sorry for the late post!)

This oddment is from an old sketchbook, with Photoshopical additions. The gardener may look a bit odd, but really it's the garden itself that is unusual. I suppose I must have been feeling impatient with my own garden when I drew this.

(This is my second oddment for IF this week; the first is Perennial Curiosity.)

NEWS FLASH! Tuesday 26 July: Oddments & Curiosities is featured on Noah Scalin's Make Something 365 blog! I'm so excited! Noah is one of the most creative & inspiring bloggers around. If any of you don't know about his Skull-A-Day blog, you should head right over there & have your mind thoroughly blown by his original year of daily skulls. He is also the author of 365: A Daily Creativity Journal, a great resource for anyone pursuing a daily (or odd-daily) project. (See store links on the 365 site.)