The little girl in me that use to enter every coloring contest imaginable is pretty giddy right now. This weekend I was informed that I won the Volo Auto Museum Adult Coloring Contest for the 18 – 65 year old age group. They decided to host the coloring contest to help people pass the time during quarantine while they are closed. The prize being a 1 year paid family membership to their museum when they re-open.
Here is the coloring contest page….
Here is my winning entry that I did in Prismacolor colored pencils and chalk pastels…..
I am so grateful to Volo Auto Museum for hosting this contest. It reminded me of why I loved escaping reality through coloring when I was a kid and it gave me that same escape from everything that is going on in the world while being stuck at home right now. We love their museum and antique mall (yay for treasure hunting)! Winning the contest now gives us even more to look forward to after all of this is over.
Some of you may have noticed from my lack of posts that I have been in quite of an art rut. To say the least 2019 was a hard year for me and it took a toll on me creatively. Normally I would use my art as a form of escape but this past year there was a lot of death and loss that really took over and I started to feel like my art was something I was pressuring myself to do just to keep up with other creatives. In other words, this piece I am about to share with you not only represents the character I was inspired by but also a big piece of myself as well.
As a Jim Henson geek it comes as no surprise that I would fall in love with Netflix’s Dark Crystal Age Of Resistance. However, I didn’t expect to be so drawn into (pun intended) and relate so much to one of it’s main characters. That character being Deet, who I now refer to as my gelfling heroine and spirit animal.
Like myself, Deet (born Deethra) is a creative and sympathetic empath who feels very deeply. Being a misunderstood Grottan (from the bat caves), she may not have the most confidence sometimes but she doesn’t let others negativity discourage her. Instead she pays it forward to inspire others to be true to themselves and try to see the world more optimistically. She will do anything to heal the pain of the ones she loves no matter how draining or overwhelming it may become for her. On top of it Deet has a soft spot for creatures and animals (hence the hint and reference in the opener of my last post) making her that more sympathetic and amped to join The Resistance and to help save all of Thra from the darkness. So in other words if I was a gelfling.
I was so in tune with this character that she got me picking up my drawing pencils again and helped to give me my motivation back. Then again if anyone could be inspired in real life by a puppet it’s this girl right here! When I finished this piece I was not sure what I was going to call it and then I decided on “I Will Carry On” which was a phrase that Deet says in the show (I won’t say when incase you haven’t splurged on this masterpiece yet) but I find it very fitting to Deet’s personality, her sacrifices, how I relate to her personally, my overall vision for this piece and the fact I was trying to overcome not only my art rut but other obstacles in my life while creating it.
I actually have been working on this piece on and off again since the end of December. I know this is not typical of me but ehhh art ruts suck to get out of and if you don’t want to mess what you have started up you don’t rush it. I also wanted it to have a soft feel to it so I used pencil, charcoal and chalk pastels.
I am very happy with the way it turned out and I have since accepted the fact that I don’t have to feel the pressure to make something all the time to be considered an artist. I just need to feel the inspiration and let it take over when the time is right. I have also taken on additional ways of self healing to bring more zen into my life and I feel this has helped me to release some of my artistic tension. This piece is a wonderful representation of where I was and where I am going. The Deet in me hopes this piece also finds a way to speak to and inspire other empaths and tortured artists out there that may need it.
If you would like to see more of my portrait work feel free to visit the Spitting Image page of my portfolio website. If your a Deet, Dark Crystal or Jim Henson fan and would like a print or a shirt of this art piece, they will be available in my Amazon Shop starting today!
Stay Spooky & Resist! LDG Nicole of the Grottan Clan
So when I saw a post that Hot Topic was teaming up with We Love Fine for a Rick and Morty T-Shirt Contest my brain went into over drive with ideas. Anyone that knows myself and my husband know how much we love Rick and Morty. My first thought was I probably can’t enter because I do all my art with my hands and not a computer program. This is the dead end I run into quite often (that and you can’t enter unless you have Facebook). However these people are killer and are actually accepting hand drawn art! That alone was enough to get me to enter.
My main goal was to make the piece be very Rick & Morty with a spin from my creepy side. I knew if I did that it would really represent me as an artist. That is when it hit me… Scary Terry! Then from there I went for a modern day technology spin on a very popular horror movie scene and the rest is history.
If you’re a hardcore Nightmare on Elm Street and Rick and Morty fan you will understand the concept and also why I decided to call my entry “I’m Your Jessica Now Morty!” I sketched it out in pencil, outlined it in ink and then colored it with Prisma Color Colored pencils and chalk pastels. It was then scanned into the computer to submit it. I personally would rock the hell out of it as a t-shirt.
Now this is where my Freaky Fanatics come in. I need your help (again…I know, but us artists have to get exposure somehow right?). So anyways here is what I need you to do. I need you to go to my assigned contest entry link and vote for my entry and then SHARE the crap out of it all over social media asking your connections to do the same.
Feel free to re-blog this post as well. The more exposure it gets the better! They have judges for this contest but they are looking for the public to also rate the entries to get an idea on who would buy the artwork concept on a shirt. It will weigh heavily on who wins. So please take the time to rate my entry and it would look even better if you left some supportive comment love on the entry as well.
My main goal was to make the piece be very Rick & Morty with a spin from my creepy side. I knew if I did that it would really represent me as an artist. That is when it hit me… Scary Terry! Then from there I went for a modern day technology spin on a very popular horror movie scene and the rest is history.
Living Dead Girl Nicole 