Current Projects!

I haven't been doing a very good job on keeping up with my blog this month. BUT I am happy to say that I'm creating quite a bit. I suppose life has a balance to everything. I am definitely feeling a shift in my productivity mood as of late! You can only lay in bed and binge on TV for so long. Sometimes I get the itch to create something beautiful that makes me proud. I've yet to create the beauty I've been longing too, but have done some practicing and I'm on the right track. I wanted to share some of that track with you today! 

Here is a flowery mix media post card I made! I first started out by layering some paint down with lots of patterns. I then drew some flowers over the top with this gorgeous marker I'm in love with. I then wanted to create more defined colors so I colored in some of the flowers using colored markers. Last but not least to finish it off I added in some white paint to highlight it. It got awfully dark after coloring it in so the white really helped. Here is a gif. of my process!

I'm mostly happy with this because I learned a lot on what not to do and also what kinda markers and pens would be best for layering. 

 Cat man! This was my second attempt at a mix media post card. I layered the background with blue and yellow. Then drew my cat man with some markers, adding in some detail. Then going back over in black and white for the features and little details. To finish it off I added a white background to make him stand out a little bit, but that got too boring so I used a triangle stencil and blue ink to create some more texture! Again this was an awesome learning experience because I discovered the power of the stencil!

 This is Ghost Bees #1! I've had this idea for ever to do a skeleton honeybee ghostly image. Its been floating around my head for years but never is able to manifest its self for some reason! BUT I'm absolutely determined to make this idea come to life! I've spent hours looking and reading about honey bee structures and anatomy. I'm so happy to say I think I'm on the right page for once! This guy is a bit rough, but I learned a lot about layering black and white. Also incorporating some water color AND and awesome honey comb stencil that I made!

 This is my first Ghost Bees attempt. It didn't turn out well at all. (like most of my previous attempts!) I took it a few steps further than this, but ultimately scrapped it. I love the colors and the collage background turned out great. This was before I decided to go stencil route and was testing out some paper cut outs. I love paper add ons cause it gives it more 3D depth but I just couldn't layer it on correctly and get it to work out.

Phew! This post was longer than I thought it would be! I've got more backgrounds and a whole list of ideas that I'm terribly anxious to dive into. I hope I can share more of my art and processes soon! Also you can find all of these and more on my instagram (@remikeahi) I'm pretty good at updating that as I'm working!

July Art Journal!

Phew finally got this sucker finished up and photographed! I'm terribly sick of this note book and after working on filling it up for 4 months I felt like it was time to move on! I ended up tearing out most of the pages left in the back. Which are now being turned into little notebooks! I was adding too much and the cover of this was too thick and unbendable so the added pages just awkwardly sit like a bloated Remi in skinny jeans. Over all it was just time to put this lil'guy on the shelf with the rest of my filled journals! I haven't picked one for the month of August yet (already falling behind *sigh*) But I think I'm going for a medium smallish one, something less daunting! I can't believe how fast this year is going by BUT also this year has been a mess its about time to wrap it up before anything else sad or uncomfortable or awkward or unexpected happens! 

Song and Doodle #60

Todays song is by the wonderful Margaret Glaspy. I am completely head over heels for her song Somebody to Anybody. At first listen I fell in love with her voice. Its unique, easy to listen too and completely effortless. I love voices that feel like they're coating you like cocoa on rainy days. This specific song became one of my favorites after I paid attention to the lyrics. I realized how much I related to this song and it spoke to a deep insecure part of me that I tend to not pay attention too. The part of me that convinces myself that people don't like me, but covers up for the fact that I probably don't like them as much I tell myself I do. I have a complicated relationship with people, my antisocial-ness makes me a monster to be around at time. This song some how brings light to the flaws I try to hard to bury and there for makes its pretty powerful song ( in my opinion!) Her album Emotions and Math is absolutely stunning from start to finish. I highly recommend picking it up!

"My sister she is gonna die tryin

with her hear ablaze and a fightin song

Not me, I'll be a dandelion 

Give a gust of wind and I'm gone"

Zine Submission!

I've been trying to submit more of my art into things lately. I'll go through phrases where I try a little harder then other and this happens to be one of those phases! Utah has a few awesome organizations that support women and minorities. Whenever I see them pop up I always try to contribute any way that I can. Support local! This specific group is called SLC Pink and they are a submission based zine! They mainly focus on ladies and non binary folks! This rounds theme is self portrait. So here is my entry for the zine. 

I know that I should have thought a little more out of the box rather than just a straight forward portrait. So I'm not going to be too surprised if I don't make it in. BUT I really love the way this turned out. I've really been developing and working on my specific style and finding something that fits me and is consistent with my other work. This is has always been a challenge for me but I feel like I'm on a good path. With this self portrait I really wanted my message to be that women can (and do!) have facial hair. Its a human thing that I know a lot of women are really mortified about (including myself!) but really shouldn't be. I wish it was easier to embrace the beauty of facial hair. That is the main point to my mustachioed self portrait. I think it does a good job at conveying the point, with out looking like a mustache plopped onto a girl. Creating this drawing also made me love and accept myself a little bit more! Overall I'm really happy with it!