I've just decided to do a new drawing.  Here is just a preliminary sketch using graphite pencils in my sketchbook, which explains the notes on the side.  It is a Gorgon...you know, the snake-headed demon that turns you into stone with a glance. 

I've finally returned to the painting I was working on a few months back.  I had nearly completed it then, but something was missing and I knew it was unfinished.  However, I had ran into an Artist's Block.  So I left it as is and went to work on something else.

I am not an actual artist/writer by trade, but I was not going to sit around waiting for the Artist's Block to go away by itself.  Thus I went to work doing some software and website upgrade for a small company.  Eventually I finish my work and found what was missing in my last digital painting. It was just a evening sky full of stars that was missing.  To add that, I made an extra black layer in Photoshop, and then use a Gaussian blur to make the stars.  I made two more layers like that using different Gaussian blur settings to get different size stars.  I then merge the star layers together, clone certain stars to get them to cluster together.  I also colorize the stars somewhat by using Hues.

For the finishing touches, I change the settings on the star layer to Screen.  My background was a purplish night sky, but by changing the layer setting, the stars can shine out against the purplish background. The finished painting can be viewed at http://www.lindachow.com/gallery/artwork/slide2.html I mentioned before that being an artist/writer is not my day job.  Yet I do enjoy painting, drawing, writing....whatever is good for the creative streak in me.  I hope to become a children's book writer/illustrator someday, especially when I grow old and retired.

I've finally updated my website.  There's some notable changes such as the iframes I put in the gallery for better navigation as well as some caricatures of me and my assistant hanging around our online home.  Of course, I've also added some of my social networking links.  One thing I'm not really big on is these social networking things popping up all over the place.  They have their purposes but it is crazy how so many people spent such a huge portion of their time online.  I rarely go onto these social networking things.  Thus emailing or calling me is the best way to reach me.  If you're trying to get hold of me through this website, it's best to just email Waldo.  He helps me filter out the spammers and potential sociopaths from the rest of society, and does a pretty good job of it. 

There's also the invisible changes to my site.  I've also went through a lot of the graphics on the website and reduce their size, all for the sake of quicker uploading.  There's still more fixer-uppers needed to do around my online home, but those are things that I'll just do over time.

I've mentioned before that I've hit an Artist Block.  In the past I would just wait it out.  Gave it some time for it to go away or waited for inspiration to come along.  No more.  I grew tired of waiting, and I was never the patient type anyway.  I decided to focus some of my creative energy toward some things I had always been meaning to do, but never quite found the time for.  Like my website, for example.  I like it the way it is now, but it is quite incomplete.  I need to fix up some of the links, and upload some more content.  The writing section has been quite empty for a long time.  And of course, I've thought of enhancing this site with Flash.  So now I'll occupy myself with fixing this site up until inspiration decides to meet up with me.

Still working on my painting, I went through each parts of the painting subject and enhanced the colors.  I made the skin tone less sallow, put more highlights in the hair, made the jeans a more "jean-colored" blue and the red sweatshirt a shade more to my liking.  I used a lot of layers and transparency tricks in Photoshop, but my primary tool was the brush tool.  No particular size.  I just like to brush in some shadows and highlights wherever it's needed without losing some of the watercolor qualities of the original painting.  The latest and greatest version is shown on the right.  I feel that it is not complete yet, but I've hit an Artist Block (the visual artist's version of a Writer's Block).  I don't know what else to do with it; thus, I'm just gonna take a break for a while and do something else.  Maybe start writing my first young adult novel or finish up some short story to upload to the web.  Or maybe I'll just go watch some TV and let my mind waste away for a bit.