virtualnao

relocating

2010-05-01T02:28:00.000-04:00

Hah, it's been at least a half a year since my last post here. So I'm going kill this blog because I've switched to tumblr. Update your bookmarks/feeds/whatever. New artblog is at diario.naomi-maria.com .

Quick update... Since Handicraft, I started working as a bicycle delivery girl for Jimmy John's and uni is as busy as every. I should be going through my advancement portfolio review next week.
Still doing bike polo. We have a website now: indybikepolo.com.

Anyways, start following me on tumblr . I actually update that with more frequency. It suits my e-laziness.

handicraft and charming nonsense.

2009-10-07T05:09:00.000-04:00

I managed to take home decent profits from the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange! Pretty exciting. I managed to sell most of what I brought to the exchange. Now I'm working on new things to fill up my online store at charming nonsense. Right now I'm trying to figure out layouts, decide on shipping costs, write up descriptions, take photos, and make more items. I expect to have the whole thing up and ready by the end of this month.

art, contests, and events.

2009-09-28T17:42:00.002-04:00

Friday 25 October was the final showdown of Art vs. Art. This was my third year competing, but my first year making it into the top 32! It was a little disappointing that I didn't make it into the final 16, but it might be a good thing, considering the number of times the Wheel of Death landed on Instant Death.

This weekend is the 2009 Fall INDIEana Handicraft Exchange at the Harrison Center for the Arts. I will be a vendor this year! You'll be able to find me at booth #50, which will be in either Gallery 1 or perhaps the basement (the vendor map doesn't make it clear), wherever it is, I'll be across the aisle from A Squared Industries. The Exchange runs from 6pm - 9pm on Friday 2 October and 10am - 6pm on Saturday 3 October.
I'll have a few extra chairs at my booth, so stop by and hang out!

I'll post videos of destruction from Art vs. Art and photos of what I'm selling on Thursday!

Oh and I've been uploading art to flickr! Go check it out. I'm slowly getting a little better about taking photos and getting them up, but I'm still behind, hahah.

cornhole.

2009-04-17T18:19:00.000-04:00

Ugh, I really prefer the term "bean bag toss," but more people are familiar with "corn hole." I did not build them, merely decorated them for one of my friends.

More photos on my flickr account!

madame pigeon.

2009-04-04T01:37:00.005-04:00

I'm pretty bad at updating this, even worse at updating my flickr account, and virtualnao.com has yet to see any construction. Oh dear.

Classes have been keeping me busy and it will crazy until the end of the semester. Gallery show in August is off, since Gnosis had to close it's doors; however, I'm pursuing some other locations.

Something I was working on earlier today:

playing with stone slabs.

2009-01-21T19:53:00.008-05:00

Uni started up again last week, so I've been pretty busy with studio work. Lithography will be the most time consuming class this semester. Last night I was graining stones:

It looks a bit tedious, right? Well it is! Graining a stone takes several hours.

In the video I'm pouring corundum grit on to a wet limestone slab. Then I use another piece of wet limestone and pass it over the bottom stone in various patterns to remove the previous image off the stone.

I will explain more about processes in lithography at another time, since I have an essay that I should finish tonight.

One more thing: my next solo show will be opening Friday, 14 August 2009, at Gnosis. More details and flyer later.

squish factor

2008-12-05T17:49:00.004-05:00

I just came home from dropping eight cute little guys at Gnosis for tonight's opening of the Squish Factor group show. You should go and buy soft and cute plushes! I will take some pictures later tonight at the gallery.

The fall semester is about to end! I'm pretty pleased with all the paintings I did and you'll be able to find pictures of them on my flickr pretty soon. Even though I will be going to Chile for a couple weeks, I will be working on putting up more work and getting the website in order...finally.

I've already started planning out the show calendar for 2009. I know that I will be doing at least one solo show and a couple group shows. Information will be posted as the dates and locations are decided.

out with the old...

2008-11-20T17:41:00.008-05:00

Made a new header. I think I'm managing to translate my normal drawing style better into solids. The background pattern was made by hand!

In other news, start keeping an eye on my flickr account. I upgraded to pro last month and have started posting things as I work on them. I will have a huge backlog of work to upload, but I will try to be diligent about it. As for virtualnao.com, I still have yet to figure out how to divide up my portfolio, so who knows when that will happen.

digital doodles.

2008-10-26T10:44:00.003-04:00

can't sleep.

2008-10-23T04:39:00.005-04:00

frankentits and scrimps.

2008-10-23T00:47:00.002-04:00

electronic elephant.

2008-10-19T04:08:00.003-04:00

I haven't touched a stylus in a long while. Drawn in Acorn. It's a nice simple graphics and photo editing application. Although, I just use it for making drawings.

(un)lucky - $200

2008-10-14T12:02:00.009-04:00

I forgot to post photos of this diptych. It's from a few months back. $200 for sale at Gnosis.

Victims of Victoria

2008-10-14T02:07:00.006-04:00

So my entry for Art vs. Art didn't get into the top 32, but it was sold almost immediately, so that's not too bad.

My show, Victims of Victoria opened on the 3rd at Gnosis and I was not even present for it. I sort of ran myself into the ground getting things ready for the show plus my studio and academic work for school. One of my friends hung my paintings for me while I feebly wrote out titles and prices. They then drove me home and I crawled into bed and died for the weekend. Photos of work will come later.

I'm not crazy about the work I did for the show. I know it was my first solo show and only had a month to make everything, but I feel like the pieces are bare. I was experimenting with some new techniques and learned a lot about planning and executing an entire show based around one theme. I will try to have my next solo show be a mix of prints and paintings, but I have no idea when that would be. Next week I will start working on pieces for a soft form/plush group show that opens in December.

Side note: I really need to make a new header illustration for this blog. My hair is much longer and that hamster is no more. And I need to update flickr, deviant art, cloroflot, etc. and finally finish my website...

Art vs. Art

2008-09-17T19:47:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday was Art vs. Art. I actually finished the painting this time, unlike last year's entry. Last year I actually had a plan and knew exactly what I wanted to do, just ran out of time. This year I decided to just let it develop while I was working on it. Just started with the background and ended up with this finished product:

So now it's time to vote! Go here and look through the thumbnails for my painting (#362) to vote for it or someone else's. You can actually vote for the same painting three time or vote for three separate paintings with the same email address. However, you have to follow the link that in a confirmation email sent to your address for the vote to be official. Watch out, it might wind up in your spam box!

I'm hoping to make it into the top 32 and have someone buy the painting again. It would be nice to make it into the top 16, but I'd be kind of sad if the painting would wind up getting destroyed. This year I will actually be able to go to the showdown since I don't have to go to work anymore!

indianapolis art events

2008-08-02T15:28:00.005-04:00

The date and registration information for next month's Art vs Art 2008 is out. I'm trying to think of ideas for a painting. Last year was my first time participating, so making it that far and having someone buy my painting is pretty good. Video from last year's event:

Big Car's Masterpiece in a Day is also September.

how handy.

2008-08-01T03:33:00.002-04:00

Something I started in Photoshop. I guess it could be considered finished.

photoshop brushes

2008-07-09T02:47:00.007-04:00

Another slow night at work with nothing left to do for the last hour or so...

I haven't experimented with the various brushes in Photoshop very much. In the past I would use them in backgrounds or as minor texture when coloring line work. And I was never compelled to emulate dry media. If I wanted to do an illustration that had the look and feel of charcoal, I would make a charcoal drawing.

It took a little while to find flow and opacity settings to my liking, but I think I will play with this more.

quick update.

2008-07-08T02:17:00.002-04:00

Something done during downtime at work. I have pictures of my completed paintings to upload later on in the morning.

belated update

2008-04-22T07:47:00.015-04:00

So! I have completely forgotten to update this and now it's time to catch up.

First, a completed commission I did for my friend Rob, also known as Stray. He liked the header illustration on this blog so much that he wanted one for his site too! He sent me to his flickr and I picked out something to work with and made some sketches. Then I dove into Adobe Illustrator to make the final format of the image and then a little bit of tweaking to improve the image to Rob's liking. The final version went to him where he changed the colors to fit with his interface better and voila:

I'm currently working on illustrating Humannaires! Astronaut Instruction Manual for Pre-Teens, written by Mike Mongo. I won the project by participating in the competition on Pixish. I'll post images from this project later, because I'm still going over the book, making notes and preliminary sketches.

And to finish this post off, my new deviantArt ID and an oekaki!

volume + key

2007-12-23T14:08:00.000-05:00

James and I just started renting a studio to work in. It has three rooms, ample electrical outlets, and a sink. There also was some furniture that was left behind by the previous artist. Yesterday and today, we spent some time cleaning it up and bring in some supplies. I'll post some pictures of it soon.

And since I found my stylus, I have been keeping myself busy. Two new oekakis:

zombie monocle.

2007-12-20T12:59:00.001-05:00

I found my tablet stylus! =)

ps kills my wrist.

2007-11-27T07:58:00.000-05:00

Over the last two or so months, I have discovered that working a full time job does not exactly leave time for full time art. I haven't gotten much done. I was thinking of working on some logos for a local business, when I realized I have misplaced the stylus for my Wacom tablet! Guhh... So I made a little oekaki, but my hand started cramping.
40+ hours of photo and advert toning a week has really taken a toll on my wrists. But working at Gannett, I have become much more proficient and efficient in Photoshop and Acrobat!

new branding.

2007-09-21T13:11:00.000-04:00

Someone bought my painting from Art vs. Art! And M asterpiece in a Day is tomorrow morning. I have a large diptych planned out using spray paint, paint pens, and oils on canvas.

My boyfriend and I have created a brand for ourselves-- BFx GF. The site is there, just not functional, since I really need to finish up my own website first. BFxGF will be a site where we will sell art, clothing, accessories, toys, furnishings, and other things that we both make.

If you are thinking about doing business with Holly Combs of Peel Magazine and the new gallery Alias, don't. Her husband Dave is wonderful, but she's a tyrant who demands that things go exactly her way and will cause you great misery. I lost a gallery opening thanks to her.

Last but not least, I love the Graffiti application on Fa cebook. It has a couple glitches, for instance sometimes you lose the ability to apply a new color swatch, but other than that it's a great flash application. Some things that I have drawn so far:

blueberry buddha.

2007-09-09T02:51:00.001-04:00

Well hooray! I have a job to sustain me between freelance items. Starting on Monday I will be an employee of Gannett Company, Incorporated. I will be prepping photos and images from various Gannett periodicals and sending off to print facilities. It's definitely a better job than Starbucks. And I'll get Photoshop CS3 training.

I competed in Art vs. Art a couple weeks back. I wasn't particularly satisfied with the painting, composition, or the provided supplies, so I didn't really promote it. It's far from finished even though I had sketches to work from. I do like the image idea of blueberries + Buddha, so I'll do some Buddhist art research to make it look more like a traditional devotional painting and redo it in oils. I think I have a better chance for Masterpiece in a Day.

Besides that, I have quite a bit of freelance work that I'm behind on. I really need to get on that!

i spy some pixel pixies.

2007-08-15T12:55:00.000-04:00

I'm done fixing this this layout.

As for this blog, it's going to be the main feed for my website virtualnao.com. So that means this will be full of illustrations, progress images on projects, and random doodles. I'm also thinking that I will do some drawing and cg tutorials because I have people ask me frequently and I get tired of having to explain most of the same things over and over. I'll also do critiques for people if they'd like me to.

Other than that, I really need to get working on my website. At least finish up the splash image and get the interface up. I've just been really absorbed in getting work and reading up on CSS because I know so little. It will definitely save me some time on the three other websites I have lined up to do.