I figured I ought to show the cutesy new art I got done yesterday. Hope you like!

Pearl of Wisdom by =vyktoriah on deviantART

Autumn Wind by =vyktoriah on deviantART

The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim.

The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things. The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.

Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.

Thos who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.

They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.

The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass. The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass.

The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium.

No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved.

No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.

No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything.

Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art.

Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.

From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor’s craft is the type.

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.

It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself.

We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless.

~ Oscar Wilde from The Picture of Dorian Gray

I’ve been working on a painting for a few days, and I decided to video the process. So far I’ve put in about 9 hours which I have condensed into a 5 minute video.

There’s still a ton left, but I haven’t done it yet. :) The results are below!

Can I just say how horrible life would be if I wasn’t able to create stuff? I’m one of those ridiculously annoying people who can’t seem to function without art in her life.

And while I may not be as good as so many of the artists I admire, I like to think I have my own style which some folks can recognise and/or appreciate.

Lately my brain has been in overdrive with ideas. And although I think I’m starting to burn out a little (I started a picture this morning which I can’t seem to flesh out properly), I feel good about the stuff I’ve put out lately.

So without further ado, THREE (count em!) new pieces for your potential enjoyment.

Autumn Bride

Babe in the Woods

The Fog

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve had a few art inspirations over the last couple of weeks. So I thought I’d share them here for all those interested. :) Hope you like!

Verte

Ruby Waters

Shhh

Guardian

Gypsy

Intrigue

Moon Rise

Sabrina

Recently I’ve been trying my hand at new forms of art. Or at least, new techniques as far as my paintings go. In the past, my methods involved quite a heavy amount of sketching, resketching, tracing the sketches and transferring the finished sketch to the final paper. Of course, with that amount of work, you would expect the final version to be THE version, right? Unfortunately, my not-so-steady hand caused quite the annoyance when it came to getting the transfer done.

As a result, none of my finished paintings have ever looked like the original (and usually better) sketches.  So what’s a gal to do?

I decided to screw perfectionism and just go with my initial sketch.  Today I completed the second of two paintings which are in NO way anatomically correct, but which I’m still super proud of because they are far more PURE. And even better… I didn’t even use reference photos! Yay me!

I’m actually even experimenting with not using my pens to outline things. It’s a scary way of working, but in the case of my second painting, the result was SO worth it. It’s much more ethereal and spooky than it would have been had I simply outlined the whole thing.

Anyway, I don’t have them scanned yet, but I’m going to do so soon. I’ll post them when I have them up.

In other news, vyktoriah.com got a revamp recently, and I’m now able to offer prints! Huzzah! :) So if you like any of my art (including some new ones that I’ve not even posted yet!), head on over to score a deal. In fact, head on over anyway and let me know what you think! I am pretty happy with it at the moment, but god knows I am easily pleased. ;)

Today (well as it’s now exactly midnight, I guess I should say yesterday was) is Beltane, the ancient tradition of May Day! In anticipation of this, I arted me up a pretty May Day Witch. I hope you enjoy her!

I also recently tried my hand at a sort of Pop Art genre, with a rendering of Madonna… though without a reference picture this was really just pulled out of thin air and only bears a passing resemblance to her. Still, I love the way she turned out, and I’ll be adding her to my Etsy shop ASAP.

I call her Pop Madge.

Have a Blessed Beltane to all who celebrate. To the rest of you, Good health, happiness and peace for the rest of the year.

I’m not sure I mentioned it, but recently my father retired after 20 years with the US Border Patrol. He’s now moved back in to the family home with my mama, and he seems to be keeping himself busy with various chores and sitting on the front porch in his rocking chair.

I’m not sure why, but I felt the need to commemorate his retirement with a portrait. I had thought I’d do a quick sketch or a coloured pencil portrait, but in the end, I decided to try my hand at acrylics!

I have used acrylics only once before, on a painting which came out pretty messy. But I had some spare canvas textured paper sitting around, and I thought, “Why not?”

The result is a very LARGE (as in, the head in the painting is about the same size as his ACTUAL head) portrait, which you can see below. I’ve no idea whether he’ll like it or not, but he’s pretty decent at making wooden frames, and I figured that this was something he could make into a project.

I look forward to the day when I can do one of my mother. But as she’s recently gone through a pretty drastic physical metamorphosis, I don’t feel confident painting her until I’ve seen her in person!

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, a painting which I simply call: My Daddy.

This will be sent to him as soon as I have two pennies to rub together.