Hm...

Mr. Mom lately. Not completely, but feeling a little displaced though. Overwhelmed. Behind. Don't really want to say anything beyond that.

Rainbow socks anyone?

Another late assignment here. It was supposed to be a 6 hour painting, but at a 16x20 canvas and all the oils necessary....I couldn't live with a mediocre half baked painting. Not that my assignment asked for such, but with the size and restricted time frame...I didn't think I could do a painting that would do the canvas justice. The specifics of the assignment were to paint patterns, in this case stripes. I figure with all of the interruptions and days of work...it came around to 25 hours roughly. I know, way too long for a 6 hour assignment. And totally non-conducive to catching up on late assignments. Anyway, I really like this painting. I used a one inch brush to get in on the background, and later switched to a half inch brush for everything else other than the hands and signature. For some reason....the hands were really hard. I wanted to make sure they were subordinate to the face and socks. They still look a little big or angular/masculine to a degree, but they're done! That is what I get for leaving them for last. 7 more late assignments to make up...whilst keeping up with current ones on hand....for only this class. Yup, I may be taking this semester over again...and we are still unpacking in the garage. Boy are we glad to have a garage!!! Now if we could just get the cars in the garage for winter. :) Happy painting everyone! Enjoy.

Hands

My latest assignment finished is on hands. About 12x16, these are done with carbothello sanguine and white pencils. It's a progress...well except the white hand on the top in black and white...that was the reference I was to copy from. I had some proportional issues with the pointer finger and the area around the pinky where it goes down into the crease of the palm, but I felt pretty good about it. My biggest let down...it took almost 9 hours. Which is ridiculous honestly. Oh well, it's done. Enjoy. :)

3 really cute kids

These are 3 really cute kids.

Calamity. Yet may all things work out.

It is here appropriate that I explain the past month. I had most of my life in order, classes for school had begun and I was on top of the assignments. My wife was back in school as well, and our youngest daughter was old enough that we could juggle fairly easily. Our oldest boy had started Kindergarten and took the bus to school and came home on the bus. It had all fallen into place. I even have two paintings after the old man below finished. Then it hit...
Our second child , our daughter, began to relate instances with a neighbor, an older man who lived alone nearby. Our concerns were peaked, and we contacted the authorities...hoping against hope. Their report confirmed against our hopes, and life nearly came to a halt. Needless to say, our previous thoughts about moving (due to a house in poor condition) became an instant focus. Shocked as we were, we tried our best to stay with our schooling. Unfortunately I fell completely behind. Interviews were held with our daughter, son, and us. We searched for a new home. We wondered what had 'really' happened beyond the little bit our daughter told us...still in disbelief, and in a great deal of guilt. My stress deepened. My schooling was my livelihood for the time being...and I was falling fast behind. I had to pack, I had to find a new place, I had to... I had to...
We found a place in a nearby town. Actually just down the street from where I grew up, by my parents. I knew the neighborhood well, the neighbors, and my parents obviously. For me it was too perfect. We had received a call from a preschool before this accepting our daughter also. Meeting with the administrators, we explained the situation. We have been surrounded with help for our daughter. She loves preschool too. She goes to school just like her brother and momma and daddy.
There is no way to explain the exhaustion of my mind, nor the multiple directions I feel pulled in. This new home is so beautiful and bright, solid and clean...I have wanted to put all things in order, to invite the Lord's spirit in that it may abide with us and help us heal. And as I do this, I yet feel torn...anxious, burnt out, and completely overwhelmed. I want desperately to be a good father to my daughter...disciplined but kind, and to be a good husband to my wife as she needs my support a great deal as well.
With moving, getting kids to school, getting my wife to school (my school is all online), Selling things, buying things, organizing a mess, fretting over lost time for homework, getting kids from school, talking to family, meeting for counseling.....I am not sure what the Lord has in mind for me, but I have been able to abide the day. Just the last three days (nights actually) our youngest daughter was really sick and wouldn't sleep much at all at night, but cry, scream, and whimper...testing the last of my and my wife's emotional strength, and much of our physical strength too.
So much relies on my performance, on my attitude. I want so much to spend all my time playing with the kids, but also all with my wife to sort out all our struggles, still more to do all my homework without constant distraction...because it is my job and my livelihood. Without school I would have to take up two or more jobs...and lay down my brushes and pencils for a long, long time. Loans would come due with me out of school, payments would increase beyond any income I could find short of working so much I would never see my family. My wife would have to drop out of school or we would have to get child care for her to stay in...which would compromise my extra job to make ends meet.
I have often thought, my life is a delicate rumikub game (refer to someone who has played it) and if all the steps of my decisions don't meet in the end....I will have to retract far more than I can remember, far more than I am able. The result would be a catastrophe, only not with a board game, but with my home, my marriage, my kids, all our school.......
But who isn't struggling right now? Widespread financial strain, unemployment, and a plague of people too busy to sleep or help one another.
Well, I've said a lot. A great deal has happened of no small influence. As this is an art blog, it saddens me that today I was not able to post art, but I instead painted a very different picture. I seek the way to make all things work out. May it be so. May it be so...with time, patience, hope, and faith.

Fall at Academy of Art has begun. Finances aren't strait yet, and the loans haven't arrived yet, but I am in school. Part of this is good and part is bad. We are very serious about moving from where we are living. Some big issues have arisen. One I will state is that the foundation on the front of the house we are renting is a dirt foundation...and the other day when we went down into the basement, we could see daylight streaming through in several places. Heating will go through the roof in the cold months.
Anyway, I have finished an assignment for this falls classes. Here is the assignment for the situation and environment class I have done. It is a limited pallet of of Ivory black, Titanimium white, Yellow Ochre, and Terra Rosa. It is amazing what I got out of those simple 4 colors. One of the photos is really dull and a bit blurry....while the other is better on color and clarity, but horribly shiny. SO, from these two images I have the best way to show what I have done.

Everybody take a look at my new devianART portfolio site at http://brushdragon.daportfolio.com/
Tied in with deviantART I hope to place my work out there with a bit more finesse. I also have a regular deviantART portfolio that can be found here: http://shauncharles.deviantart.com/
Enjoy. Tell me what you think. :)