Sarah Stovalosky

Sketches

2011-05-09T01:10:00.000-04:00

Ebony Horse Sketch

2011-05-09T00:56:00.003-04:00

Sketchbook

2011-03-25T02:39:00.002-04:00

Painting Practice

2011-03-25T02:36:00.003-04:00

I'm a pretty small painter, a habit I should break. For size comparison, I scanned with a penny.

Preview

2011-03-21T02:55:00.000-04:00

Yarn Update

2011-02-15T00:19:00.003-05:00

New yarn gallery at my website!

12 Dancing Princesses

2011-01-27T00:32:00.005-05:00

About two years ago I sketched out this illustration for the fairy tale Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Since I've been too busy to come up with new ideas, so I an renovating my old sketches.

Which is great, until I got stuck.

So here are the different paths I took this.

I will probably give up tracing it, and start it from scratch.

Also, a study in ink and gouache.

Boston

2011-01-18T21:45:00.002-05:00

A Continuation of the Last Post...

2010-10-17T00:19:00.006-04:00

Feeling ambivalent towards this color study.

And oops, drew some more birds. Was trying to actually broaden my visual vocabulary, but just ended up drawing the same exact things again.

Glass : TS Eliot Quote

2010-10-10T16:54:00.010-04:00

For an assignment based off a TS Eliot quote.

While I don't have the exact quote on me, after some online searching, this about sums up the theme to the assignment:

Birth, and copulation, and death.

That's all the facts when you come to brass tacks.

-Eliot

glass tracing

Many of the other students took this literally, and illustrated scenes of sex, death, etc etc.

I decided to take a more philosophical position on the quote, believing that Eliot spoke not of these acts (life, sex, and death) as important, individual ideas in his meaning, but as the overall cycle of the human condition.

In the end, what inspired me (like always, it seems) was religious imagery of prophets transcending the human condition into the plane beyond just birth, sex, and death. Specifically where the images of Jacob's ladder, Mohammad flying to heaven, and the shamanic idea of out of body experiences when you cross this plane.

In total we had to do six images, but this glass was both the only 3D structure I painted on in the series and the only image that illustrated this theme strongly.

I am thinking of digging out the sketches and redoing this idea as a 2D image, possibly in acrylics instead of gouache. It will we a fun exercise, if anything.

the original sketch

Samples of Crochet

2010-09-08T16:01:00.003-04:00

Art in Motion

2010-03-06T01:19:00.000-05:00

My illustration as animation, and more.

New Blog

2010-02-05T23:40:00.002-05:00

Guten tag, ya'll!

Letting you know that Julia and I stared a new blog, where we'll be posting personal pieces weekly!

¡stovaliusky!

I'll update this blog when I finish more school assignments, which are finally finished with sketch stage and moving into final stage.

First Sketches of the Year

2010-01-03T01:09:00.003-05:00

Spending two weeks of a three week vacation doing nothing didn't seem to be that good of an idea... However, I think it was a nice respite, and after spending all my day painting a final yesterday, I got back into the flow and whipped out some sketches today.

People! I like were all these sketches are going, especially the one on green paper and in blue ink... Thinking of taking that idea to final. Click on thumbnails to see images on my flickr account.

Happy new year everyone! :)

Recollective

2010-01-02T21:08:00.006-05:00

Before I post the first art of the new year, I figured a look at how far I've come would be appropriate.

In a week, I will be starting my last semester of undergraduate Illustration, and then entering the world of professionalism. But this journey had to start somewhere!

Took the opportunity to take some photos of my old art while i am at my parent's for the holidays. The portfolio they keep my art in was shoved in a dark corner and covered in dust and vacant spider webs, no lol.

2001/2002?(age 13/14)
Continuous Line Portrait
Color Pencil Horse

2005-2006 (age 17-18)
Moose Still Life
Self Portrait in Green I
Self Portrait in Green II
Cubism, Pointillism, Realism, Expressionism
Geisha Still Life
Oedipus
Hands
Acrylic Face
Pear Still Life
Sword Still Life
Senorita in Pink

You can see the art I was producing in high school is on a different spectrum than what I am doing now. The artists I was mostly exposed to at the time were either realistic, or expressive. For example, that moose still life is directly inspired by Max Beckmann.

Since high school, I've been very diligent about economizing my lines, getting slicker and more elegant (if possible... I keep hoping so). Basically, a total 180 from where I started from!

Please ignore all the coca-cola endorsement going on in these photos, thanks! :)

extra i spy game: there is a blue paper clip stuck to one of the paintings!

Gouache Resist

2009-12-09T20:46:00.003-05:00

A few people have asked me how I achieved the faux-print effect on my You Are What You Eat series, so I thought I'd share/show the process.

I did the series using a gouache resist technique on 500lb arches cold press paper.

I drew out all my lines onto the paper, and then depending on the area, I either painted everything but the lines (all the large white spaces/negative space areas) or painted the lines (the details in the faces).

After waiting for the gouache to completely dry, I dabbed waterproof ink with a brush across the whole surface.

Then waited for the ink to dry. Once the ink is completely dry, I run the paper until the faucet. The result is that the ink on top of the gouache flakes off, while the ink directly on the paper surface stays unharmed.

And that is gouache resist. Its a fun technique, but I don't know if I'll ever use it again in the future. I do like the end look, but I might just stick to white on black from now on.

The Hopefuls

2009-12-08T00:23:00.002-05:00

Hopefully, these are the first of a series.

One already planned out (life cycle) and one just for fun (January).

life cycle, 1/3.

January, 1/?.

(also liked the way this looked in black and white)

Anatomical Metaphor [Details]

2009-12-07T12:25:00.005-05:00

Details of Bird Brain

click to enlarge

You Are What You Eat

2009-12-04T23:04:00.008-05:00

Edgar Allan Poe
Lewis Carroll
Roald Dahl

Click on thumbnails to view at my flicker account

How Sarah Spent her Weekend

2009-09-27T23:46:00.007-04:00

This is Geraldine, she's a doll. She's cute, but not too cuddly.

She's crocheted from acrylic yarn, her hair is rooted yarn too. It's very long, and braided into two messy pig tails that like to stick out straight.

She has polyester filling in her head and tummy, but her limbs are empty, and floppy.

To stop her from being a rag doll, she has a spine hidden in the middle of all that polyester. It's the "arm" of a plastic clothes hanger brought home after shopping. It's hooked in place, and helps her sit up straight!

Her eyes are two vintage buttons, her mouth a fabric patch. And at the moment, she is sporting a stitch-marking earring.

Her arms are very long, and her hands really big. She has no shoes on her feet, but she will! And at the moment, Geraldine doesn't know if she wants eyebrows or not.

It took about twenty hours to create Geraldine. She isn't completely complete, but she's content. And perhaps next weekend, she will gain some friends. :)

School Work: Character Sketches

2009-09-24T08:44:00.007-04:00

First assignment for Children's Book Illustration
this year was to sketch 10 pages of character/landscape/object studies
for the poem Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field.

Although its a very basic assignment, it ended up being quite a challenge for me. Just like last year, I was not dedicated enough to the characters. In the end, I didn't do a very thorough character design. The environments, and trying to put the story together, was of more interest to me.

Reading the poem, its obvious it is about sleep. Trying to wrap in sleep with reality, a dream world with a real world, is what I focused on trying to tackle.

Looking back, a page should have been dedicated to showing the three fisherman as their dream gnome selfs, and as their selfs as real boys in pajamas with sleeping caps. Ah, retrospect.

Sorry for the low quality images, just wanted to get this up, and with it being cloudy or not having time in the mornings, the lighting isn't the best for photos.

Anyways, here are some details:

*click thumbnails to see full size images*