Friday, December 18, 2009

Custom My Little Pony: Cloudburst

This is my first completed My Little Pony custom. She's flawed, but I'm proud of her. I've named her Cloudburst. She used to be a G3 Starsong.

Compare the finished product with the original plan:

Cloudburst features a double-thick tail in four shades of purple with three blue braids (I had to widen the tail hole in order to get the darn thing through). Her mane is three rows thick instead of two, with the middle row cut longer than the outer rows. She has a subtle gradient on her lower legs and muzzle, along with zebra stripes on her legs, face, and the back of her neck. She has swirly white clouds on her forehooves and her "brand mark" is two clouds with rain falling from them. The eyes were repainted also.

All paint was done by hand with acrylics and sealed with a matte sealant for durability. Nonetheless, I have to recommend Cloudburst for display only. I'm willing to sell her; e-mail summerdog.studio AT gmail DOT com if interested.





I also just recently discovered that I'm NOT the only male in the world who makes custom ponies. I've always believed in being myself no matter what others may think about it... but still, it's something of a relief to know I'm not alone.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Friday Dogs: Elderly goldendoodle

From the archives, taken sometime this past summer:


This is a ridiculously sweet elderly goldendoodle (golden retriever/standard poodle), owned by a ridiculously sweet elderly lady, whom I've had the pleasure of meeting several times. Unfortunately, I never learned either of their names. Whoops.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Military presence

Evan, Rufus, and I went to Denver for Thanksgiving, and just got back last night. I'd gnaw my own leg off before subjecting a dog to riding in the cargo hold of a plane, so we drove. It's a 14-hour drive from there to Minneapolis. Rufus slept most of the way.


After sleeping in late this morning, I took Rufio out for his morning potty. The apartment complex we live in abuts the playground of an elementary school, and I won't lie to you — I felt a moment of panic when the first thing I saw was a military helicopter, blades still spinning, out on the playground, with a few soldiers in camo jumping out of it and an ambulance parked nearby. The elementary students were standing in rows and bunches closer to the school building.

By the time I got back with the camera, everyone had gone inside. (YES, I have access to a working camera again!)


One of my neighbors said it was for "DARE Day."

When I was in DARE way back in 4th or 5th grade, they had police officers come lecture us about drugs. I had no idea that the military had gotten involved. If I had known, I would've protested.


I want to be clear: I'm NOT anti-military. I am, however, very much against military presence in schools, regardless of whether they're actively recruiting. Because it can easily be argued that the military is ALWAYS recruiting. And when kids age 10 and under are involved, it just gets way too creepy for me.



Besides, it costs an obscene amount of money to fly a helicopter. That seems like a pretty excessive expenditure for an anti-drug program that's been proven not to work.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Rain

Another older picture.
Ink + Corel Painter

Please do not claim, alter, distribute, etc.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Friday dogs: the ghost of Rufus past

Part of me wishes that I had a working camera around. The apartment building we live in is the designated "dog building" in the complex, so every time I step outside the door there's a new dog to meet and greet. There's even a person on the third floor whose miniature pinscher just had a litter of puppies.

But while we wait for the advent of a new camera, I hope you can get your puppy fix with this snap from my archives:


(Photo by Karen Hollish)

This is Rufus at 8 weeks old, the very night that I brought him home. (This photo, incidentally, was not taken at home, but at my former workplace, by my former coworker — that's her bichon, Scoops, sniffing Rufus' butt in the background.)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Cataracts

Sorry for the streak of depressing content. This picture was pure therapy. Click for full image complete with words.

Click for larger image.
Please do not use, alter, reproduce, distribute, claim, etc.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

What's best for you

Slightly disturbing doodle I made a few years ago, nothing fancy. I believe at the time I was reading "For Your Own Good" by Alice Miller while simultaneously working through some childhood traumas. I did a whole series like these, but this one always stuck out to me.

After a long conversation with my friend Julia, during which I showed her this picture and some others, she took a drag of her cigarette and shrugged. "That's what adulthood is for, right?" she said. "Getting over childhood trauma." We both laughed.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Relocation

Evan and I moved last week to the Minneapolis area. Neither of us has a job yet, so we're both busy scouting out our options, unpacking, opening bank accounts, building up our mental maps of the surrounding area, getting acquainted with the different pace of life...

We're in the midst of suburbia, but it's considerably more urban than the town where I've been living for the past six years. Most of the local establishments aren't local at all, but are chains. I have yet to find a good place to let Rufus run around off-leash. And there's an oxymoronic aura of both isolation and significant lack of privacy.

We have no internet at home yet (and I still lack a working camera), so I can't make any promises as to the regularity of updates or the timeliness of answered e-mails. I can promise, however, that I will try. At the very least I'll queue up some entries to post automatically.


Here's a pattern I made. My experience with making patterns is... well, you're looking at the sum total of it right now. Sized for widescreen desktops (full size 1280x800) for your downloading pleasure (for personal use only).

Click for larger image.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Friday Dogs: Artie

This one is special (fit for Friday the 13th, I guess). There's a story, but the photo is more important.



This is my late dog Artie, and me at age 17 or 18. This photo is a perfect representation of our relationship.

Artie was a yellow lab/German shepherd mix. He was born at the wildlife rehab sanctuary where I used to volunteer all through my teenage years. There were nine puppies in the litter, and the mother neglected them horribly. One of the puppies died after she stepped on it. Colleen, my dear friend and the owner of the sanctuary, asked if I could foster some of the puppies — she barely had enough time in a day to go to the bathroom, much less bottle-feed eight puppies every 2 to 4 hours. With my mother's permission, I took home four of them, one of whom was destined to become Artie.

Two of our neighbors adopted two of the puppies, and my parents decided to keep the chubby little blonde male, whom my sister named Artie, after a character from the old Nickelodeon show "Pete & Pete".

He had the worst hip displaysia that the orthopedic vet had ever seen. At less than a year old, he had a hip replaced; while he was recovering from that, he slipped on the kitchen floor and busted his knee on the same leg; after another surgery to correct that problem, he knocked the same knee on the doorway as he was going outside. By this point, the vet only charged us for the anesthesia and did the surgery for free.

He proceeded to become the happiest, most tender-hearted dog on the face of the planet, and he flat-out worshipped our older golden retriever, Katie. Tug-of-war was his favorite game, and he had very well-toned shoulder muscles because of it. He was a gorgeous dog. His nickname was "Handsome" and he answered to it.

I cried when I left him to go to college.

That first Christmas when I came home for break, on the first night, Artie stood at the door to be let outside. I let him out, and he immediately asked to come back inside. He looked at me oddly, then stood at the door again. This repeated multiple times, until finally I understood that he wanted us to be outside together. It was a full moon (I can't make this stuff up), and we romped in the yard together, just him and me. This is one of my fondest memories of my life so far.

Twenty-four hours later, he was dead of gastric torsion (bloat). He was six.

Occasionally I think that Rufus might be his reincarnation (and my mother agrees, despite her not being entirely certain whether she believes in reincarnation at all). While I very much love Rufus just for being Rufus, it's a comfort to think — even to just wonder if — there's a little piece of Artie in him.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Friday Dogs: George

This is George, and it might be considered cheating to use her for a Friday Dogs post, since no one is entirely certain whether she is, in fact, a dog, or just using some clever disguise to further her plans for global conquest.




She is the leader of the local transgender dogs (see also: Charlie). Perhaps she could best be described by relaying the story of her origin, as told to me by her owner, Leslie:

In rural southern Illinois, where the most exciting feature is a single tree amidst the endless acres of cornfields, there was a rather high-end breeder of bichon frises. A few miles down the road was another breeder of moderate repute, one of Jack Russell terriers.

Jack Russells are famous for their ability to defy gravity. One of the stud Jack Russells jumped (or possibly flew) over the fence, booked it across town, and flew over another fence, which contained the prize bichon bitches. The bichon breeder was about 30 seconds too late in discovering this.

If you're unfamiliar with the way dog breeding works (among reputable breeders, anyway), you ought to know that a breeder relies upon their reputation above all else. For a bitch whose grandmother won at Westminster, to be impregnated by a dog of another breed — her first litter, no less — could ruin that dog's career and spoil many, many years of careful planning on the part of the breeder. HUGE faux pas.

So the breeders were desperate to shuffle the puppies quietly off into good homes with owners who had never set foot in a show ring. My friend Leslie heard about this debacle, and stopped by to have a look at the puppies.

When she arrived, a wave of cute, fluffy, white, bouncy little puppies came tumbling toward her, with big puppy smiles and wagging little puppy tails.

...And then there was this one.

This undersized little female puppy who sort of stumbled out of the whelping box with a perpetually confused expression on her face. When Leslie picked her up, the pup didn't try to lick her face, instead going stiff and sticking all four legs straight out, like one of those suction-cup Garfields you see in minivan windows.

Leslie took this puppy solely on the basis that no one else would want her. And named her George, because gosh darnit, she just looked like a George.

[For the record, George (despite being in every sense an oddball) is a relatively healthy dog, with more quirks than I can count but no real behavior problems.]

Friday, October 30, 2009

Friday Dogs: Rufus

Evan and Rufus relaxing in the park after a long, long, LONG walk all the way across town:

I really love this photo for some reason. Hard to believe I only took it 2 months ago; the landscape undergoes such an extreme metamorphosis so quickly when winter comes up here.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Recuperating

I'm exhausted. I had surgery last Friday (nothing even remotely life-threatening — no worries) and have barely left the house since. Well, Evan and I did take a day trip to Minneapolis on Wednesday, but it was strictly business — we're going to be moving there at the end of the month and needed to meet with some folks about an apartment. Eight hours round trip. Evan drove, and I languished in the passenger seat and tried not to scratch at my healing sutures.

I don't have a new job lined up as of yet, but our finances are in good enough condition that we can make rent all the way through April just on savings and Evan's allowance. His parents are very generous, which is awesome for us.

I'm going to take my unemployment and work on making more blank books for the Etsy shop — more posts as I finish new products. I'm also going to run some art experiments I've been meaning to do, and bang out a full rough draft for that novel I started last month.

In the meantime, please enjoy this kitschy little tiger I made with Copic marker, Micron, and colored pencil. The original is only about 3x4".

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Darwin the Piecemeal Pony

I made this freaky little guy using scraps recycled from a useless bedsheet, a ruined pair of pajama pants, and some bits of fake fur. He's sewn by hand (and wouldn't have been, if I only had a sewing machine) with cotton floss of various bright colors.

He features mismatched embroidered eyes (one of which is merely a red X), a red spiral on his bum, asymmetrical legs, inside-out ears, and one fluffy hoof. What's not to love?

I named him Darwin because evolution favors freaks and mutants.

The pattern I used (and slightly altered) was courtesy of Nocturnal Equine and his final design was somewhat inspired by Uglydolls.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Camera is broken

Yes, it's true. I was running a test with it, playing with all the settings and such, when it froze in the middle of taking a picture and turned off. And won't turn on again. I put in a fresh set of batteries just in case, but no dice.

The wicked old witch, she is dead.

Technically it was Evan's camera, but he almost never used it, so he's not overly concerned about finding the original packaging to see about a warranty. It was a gift from his mother; I'm hoping she still has the original receipt.

I'll try to make do with the built-in camera on my laptop, but the quality is so low, and — as lightweight and portable as my laptop is — it makes a much better computer than camera.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Friday Dogs: Pecan

Pecan (aka "Peekers") is a smelly, adventurous mutt who thoroughly enjoys her life on a farm. Her favorite hobbies are eating things and rolling in things — the smellier and more rotten the better — as well as occasionally enhancing her perfume with skunk spray.

She takes commands very well, though, which helps her to keep out of dangerous situations, and is so affectionate that her bids for your attention can be downright pushy. But really, how could you say no to a face like that?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Breathe Out

A little doodle plus some minor digital bits:


S/He's meditating. :)

Please do not use this image for anything other than personal, non-commercial uses.

Monday, September 14, 2009

If I had wings

I was browsing through the official website of one of my favorite artists, Keith Haring, and found a quote from an interview that I just loved. Haring was working on an art project with kids in Chicago, and one of the kids wrote on the mural, "I WOULD FLY IF I HAD WINGS AND SOMEWHERE TO FLY." I almost cried; as a kid I regularly fantasized about flying away, but outgrew the habit when I realized that there really wasn't anywhere for me to escape to.

Whether that was the actual implication behind that Chicago kid's art installation, I don't know. I hope not. But there's nothing wrong with being wistful every now and then.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Friday Dogs: Casey

Casey lives with my friends Tiff and Joni in Superior, WI. She has a sensitive heart, a territorial streak, and a gentle, feel-things-out-along-the-way approach to most people and situations (the main exception to this being strange dogs, at whom she immediately barks if they don't approach right away to say hi).

Two-toned noses, along with one-ear-up-one-ear-down, are one of my favorite features in dogs.

Casey is rather enamored with Rufus. I love this photo because her leash looks almost as though it was Photoshopped in.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Anubis mask: Progress pictures

(To see the start of the project, see this post.)


Here is the mask base, all dry and resting on the original clay sculpture. To make the mask form, I used muslin mache - basically just paper mache but with cloth instead of paper and a slightly stronger glue formula. To make it extra sturdy, I coated the mask inside and out with a super-thick layer of Sobo brand glue (non-toxic and non-smelly) and then lined the edges with black duct tape. It is quite flexible and surprisingly strong — it took over an hour just to cut out one of the eye holes.


The ears are not attached yet — they're just there to see how they look proportionally. Anubis is a jackal god, so his ears are quite tall and narrow.

Gold satin glued over the right eye. This will later serve as the swirly markings around his eye.

The ears are also lined with the same gold satin. I cut up a plastic Arizona iced tea jug to form their basic shape — the jug's shape is also the source of the ears' curvature, as well as the droopy tips... which, while I didn't plan for them, I kind of like the way they look.

The head is mostly furred here. The ears still aren't attached, and the nose has not been added yet.
(The deer-crossing sign, by the way, was found lying in the woods near the local college. I didn't steal it off the road or anything.)


With the nose added! It was originally going to be black, either folded leather or Sculpey covered with that rubberized tool-dip stuff. But I was in a hurry, and thought the gold nose added to the stylized look of the head.

Next on the list:
  • Figure out an effective way to attach the ears
  • Finish (or perhaps scrap and re-start) constructing the lower jaw
  • Fur the neck and the back of the head
  • Paws and tail!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Behold the chaos!!

This is what my studio looks like right now:


I hope this gives you some idea of why I haven't been posting regularly. We'll be moving out of state in late October, and I have a lot of projects to finish and a lot of downsizing to do before then.

HOWEVER. In the interests of my sanity, I've decided to do the following:

  • Dog profiles will happen on Fridays (if I have a new dog to post).
  • Regular posts will happen at least once a week for now, to the extent that I can manage even that much. Please mind that much of my life currently resembles my studio. :)
  • I've committed myself more firmly to posting more progress pictures of various projects. To that end, look for an image-heavy update on the Anubis mask later this week!
I'll get the hang of this blogging thing yet, I promise!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Fountain mural

My friend Cait Irwin was back in town a little while ago. Her excuse was to do a painting on the side of the van used for the Mobile Farmers' Market, but she also graced the patio of my favorite coffee shop, the Black Cat, with this delectable mural.



Cait is an incredible artist who works at the speed of light. She's written - and illustrated - a couple of books on depression (check them out here), and is currently occupied with painting murals, studying tattoo artistry, getting her official art business "Reality Impaired, LLC" going, and generally being awesome. She also has a cafepress store that you should check out, if not to buy something, then at least to enjoy the art.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Hand-embellished shirt

Check out this shirt my friend made for me. (OK, well, I provided the shirt, and she provided the art.) All this is freehand with a fabric pen:

Back, left side


Front, toward the bottom


Front detail

And even this spiffy little detail under the right-hand sleeve!

I'm really hoping to see her work on Etsy or something similar. But she's going back to Pakistan on Sunday and won't be back in the States until next year at the earliest, for grad school.

She says her creative process when she's doing a shirt is meditative and free of thought — her only chance to really relax sometimes, she says. And I can tell you from experience that it's a joy to watch her work!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

DIY bike saddlebag

Check out my pimpin' new saddlebag, kindly modeled by my steed, Huckabee.

DIY Saddlebag
Click for larger image.

DIY Saddlebag
Mm, beautiful.


Now that the world knows what brand of peanut butter I prefer... Want to make your own? It's as easy as... well, as finishing a jar of peanut butter. -LINK-

Friday, August 14, 2009

We are the music-makers

Someone (don't know who, but I've got my suspicions) (and no, it wasn't me) painted this onto the biking/walking trail that cuts through town and spans three counties. I use this trail every day, or nearly so, and this graffiti makes me smile each time:

(The quote, incidentally, is from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Belly-rub

Summer's running out fast, and I feel like it's only just begun. We took Rufus to the park yesterday and threw a frisbee for him until he collapsed. A tired dog really is a happy dog.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Cardboard coffee table: In progress!

Coffee tables are, if not my favorite furniture, then at least in my top five. DIY and design pages are chock full of awesome coffee tables scrounged, scavenged, and brought to glorious useful life by people who are lucky enough to be able to find either old tables to refurbish or suitable materials.

Me, I had cardboard, a masonite(?) frame I found behind a furniture store, cheap plastic tubing leftover from a Big Box modular shelving unit, and some glue.

I'm in love with the built-in box, though. I only wish it were my idea originally; I first saw it on The Cartonnistes.

The legs are the weakest link, surprisingly; the cardboard top holds up extremely well, especially since I went around all the joined edges using hot glue like caulk and then sealing that over with tape, but keeping the legs connected to the table surface is tricky. A friend of mine suggested a solution involving pie tins that I'm going to try once I get my next paycheck.

I'm also going to decorate it using colored duct tape. Turquoise and blaze orange, anyone?

Friday, July 31, 2009

Charlie

Just look at that profile. Gorgeous.

Charlie is one of several dogs in this area with cross-gender names; she is, indeed, female. A borzoi mix, she shares her space with two women, a bunny, a duck, and a shepherd mix named Nika (below).


Both these dogs are all legs and pure energy. Rufus loves to try to keep up with them, and we love to watch him try. Here's a size comparison between a corgi and a borzoi:

 
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