Oatley Academy

Okay, so I am loving oatley academy! More on that later, but for now here is my WIP for our first assignment.  We are supposed to take a old painting and an animal and combine the two, making a "fancy animal".  Here is my fancy koala.

 Here is the old painting that I took his clothes from.

It has been a really fun project so far! I will keep updating the progress as I finish the piece.

Another Mermaid

What can I say, I  love mermaids! They are so graceful and whimsical, and they appear in my doodles on a daily basis.  So, this weekend I am working on another mermaid. Here is my WIP. More progress will be posted soon.

Meta Con Review

So, Meta-Con finally happened! Crazy.  It was a smaller convention, but it definitely was worth our while.  I felt like I was preparing for that silly event FOREVER.... and I guess I kind of was.  It was great to get back into the swing of things after having Indie, and it was great to get back out there.

I worked super hard on our display, and I got a lot of positive reactions from people about our set up.  I really wanted something that would be pretty without competing with my artwork.  I think that it turned out pretty well, and now we have a great display to take with us to future events.  Here are some pictures of me at our booth!

Alrighty, so the convention itself was pretty small.  I am not sure how many people actually came, but it wasn't super busy by any stretch of the imagination.  There was all the usual crazy people that you meet at conventions, and there were definitely the people that have zero social skills.  But, there was also some wonderful people there! I met Otis Frampton (which was awesome!!) apparently he lives in St. Paul.  I had no idea! He was way nice and pretty hilarious.  Otis was also painting on a tablet that was not a cintique, an iPad, or a Windows tablet.  I should have asked him what it was because I would love to know (if anyone knows what he paints on let me know.).  The other artists and vendors that were there were also (for the most part) very nice.  I especially enjoyed our neighbor (Cecilia) form the Tee Turtle that was across from us during the whole event.

The staff was phenomenal from start to finish.  Nobody was power tripping, and everyone was extremely helpful.  I was a little worried at first, because they didn't have Nathaniel's badge ready at the vendor check in.  (At SLC Comic Con they refused to let Nathaniel anywhere that I went because he didn't have an "Artist" badge.  He was clearly with me and there to help me carry boxes, but they refused to let him in.... that was infuriating! Because of that experience I am a little touchy about making sure that Nathaniel has an artist or vendor badge.)  But, when I asked the staff at Meta-Con they were super nice and said that we wouldn't ever have a problem getting him in and out when he needed to be.  Phew! They even let my family (mom, dad, sister and Indigo) come in to help me pack up my space on Saturday night.  They were so helpful and courteous (I cannot stress that enough!).

Another thing that was kind of fun about the event was that they had free Ramen noodles for everyone, and an all night board game room.

Overall, the convention was well organized and the staff was AWESOME! It was a fun event and we met some awesome people.  The only downers for us was that it was more of an anime convention than a comic con or a sci fi/fantasy convention.  I should have realized this since it's sister convention is anime Minneapolis.  Our sales weren't awesome, but we payed for our expenses and it was fun.  I am not sure if we will go back or not, but I definitely had a positive experience and I am open to going back next year.

The hotel was..... disappointing.  The staff of the hotel were ranged from a little cold to down right rude, and when it came to customer service.... well there wasn't any. It was quite expensive, and there was a million hidden fees.  The room itself was fine, there was absolutely nothing exciting about it, but it was fine. As a side note, it was the ugliest hotel I have ever seen... very very modern.  We could have stayed in a Best Western for half the price, gotten the same quality of room (maybe even a little prettier), gotten free breakfast, and free parking.  Lets just say, I was not impressed with The Hyatt Regency Minneapolis and we probably won't be staying there again.  The one plus to staying in the hotel was that it was convenient since the convention took place in the hotel itself.

Well to sum it all up, I really was impressed with the convention organizers and it was a fun event! I feel like I have finally gotten a small stock of merchandise put together, and a pretty sweet display.   I am ready to take on some bigger events again.  I AM BACK BABY!

We are homeless... and we had a baby!

     WOW! Where to start.  It has been a while since I blogged. So much has happened in the last few months.  First off, we had our baby! She is the cutest, sweetest little thing, and we love her.  Her name is Indigo, but we call her Indie or Go-Go most of the time. Having her around is super awesome, and super hard at the same time, especially when it comes to getting art projects done. I love not being pregnant anymore... let me tell you, I forgot how nice it is to not be pregnant! Indie is finally sleeping through the night and I feel like a new woman.

     Secondly, we are homeless. Okay, don't panic! We aren't sleeping in cardboard box in an alley.   We sold our place, and pretty much everything we own and moved to Minnesota. I was 7.5 months pregnant and I definitely cried when we said goodbye to all of our stuff (*sigh* stupid hormones). We loaded up everything else into our little SUV and moved.  We planned on only staying with my parents for a week or so, but it turns out we are actually kind of helpful around the house, so my parents asked us to stay.  Even though it was hard saying good bye to my super cute coffee table and my little home, I am enjoying the freedom of not having very much stuff, and I love saving money by not having to pay rent.  We are saving up for a house, and hopefully will have enough to start building a cute little house in January. Who knows what life will bring though! I definitely wasn't expecting things to work out the way they have.

   I am working on a couple of art projects, and prepping for Meta-Con (which Nathaniel and I will be attending).  Here is the line work for the Phoenix painting that I am working on. I am so excited to get painting this thing! I felt it was fitting to paint something that symbolizes rebirth since we are starting fresh in a new state with a new baby.

Life is good people! Enjoy it.

Mandie LaRue

The Gold Fish

Here is a little fish painting I did yesterday. Just a little for fun piece. I think I might do a triptych of fish in this style. We will see what I have time for.

Remember to paint for fun :)

So, ever since comic con I have had a little bit of artist block. I have been having such a hard time coming up with ideas, or even wanting to paint or draw anything.  I have never had really bad artist block before and it made me kind of sad.  I kept thinking to myself, Have I lost my spark? Do I actually enjoy doing art? Do I actually want to be an illustrator?. I was worried.  Part of the problem may have been due to the fact that I am pregnant, and was really tired all the time during the first trimester. But, as I thought about it I realized that being pregnant wasn't the problem.

The problem was that I had put so much pressure on myself to create something epic every time I painted or sketched, that I was scared to start anything. I would sit there and stare at my half finished painting scared to touch it because I might ruin it.  I would stare at a blank sheet of paper and be too scared to draw on it because I didn't have any amazing ideas.  The last few months have been extremely unproductive because of this.

As I talked about the problem with my husband, and thought about it myself I realized that the pieces that I have done just spur of the moment, for fun, and without a ton of planning have always been my big sellers and the ones that people have loved.  

For example the grumpy fish- I painted this in about 2 hours and it was a blast.

Another example is the mermaid- I painted her over a couple days in between the work I was doing for clients. She is one of my biggest sellers and one of my personal favorites to this day. 

So in effort for me to rediscover my spark, and for all my fellow artists out there to remember why they started painting and why they love it, I declare today paint for fun day! Paint whatever weird thing pops into your head. Paint for you and not for a client today, paint something that you love and don't worry about it being epic, paint for fun!