The Dragon’s Horde

Pictures of awesome stuff.

Dragon’s Horde 0054: Kiss

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Title: Kiss
Stitched by: Jennifer Conley
Completed: January 1, 2016

 

I honestly don’t remember exactly when I completed this cross-stitch. We’ll say that I finished it at the beginning of this month. This is the project I kept complaining writing about. The one I was trying to use as a country keeper topper, only to discover the company who used to sell the jars the size the pattern called for doesn’t make the jars anymore, and standard mason jars are too small to use the 5×5 design…

 

So right now I plan to frame this guy for mom. Hopefully she’s not one of the secret people following my blog under some weird alias. I haven’t had anyone called “crazy cat lady” follow me so I think I’m good. : 3

 

If you are reading this mom, I love you! Act surprised when you get this. And I don’t really think you’re crazy… ok… I don’t really think you’re that crazy… >.>;

 

Overall this design wasn’t too bad. I changed the original color of the kisses to the silver thread. I also changed the backstitched words to the blackish-brown color instead of the blue the pattern wanted to use. The blue didn’t pop enough against the lighter silver in my opinion.

 

I might do this one again just to see the original project to fruition, but if I do it won’t be for a while. This one did nothing but fight me every step of the way so taking a break from it for a while would most likely be for the best. It was cute. It’s done. I’ve already moved on to my Spring cross-stitch. Let’s label this as a success and keep on going.

Dragon’s Horde 0053: Karma

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Title: Karma
Artist: Jennifer Conley
Medium: News Paper / Magazine Cut Up

 

This was the final project I created for my History of Visual Communications class. The objective was to create a poster around an inspirational quote. I was at a lost as to what to do at first to be honest. I didn’t want to do anything overly organic and creative. I didn’t want something super touchy feely. I seemed stuck in left brained mode and the thought of having to make pretty, flowy lines around something super sentimental didn’t seem all that appealing.

 

I was at the laundromat trying to ignore the news that was on since it was all about people getting shot, or beat up, or any number of other depressing things reaffirming the fact of why I avoid the news when I can.

 

It made me think about karma and how those people would reap what they sow eventually, but also that the people who are being forces of good would also reap what they sow. Karma isn’t a purely negative force even though the only time we really hear about it is when we are trying to comfort people who have been wronged. Karma rewards those people who go out of their way to make the world a better place.

 

To show that karma can be inspiring, I used a cute, sort of sarcastic quote that I enjoy.

 

“I saw that…”

~ Karma

 

I didn’t know which art style to go with until I started thinking about karma and life in general. Life is messy and chaotic. It doesn’t pull from only one area or facet. It’s not a “style” like art deco, or post modern. It’s everything. It’s every color, every style, and so I decided to do a cut up composition from news paper and magazine clippings.

 

It was actually an amazingly fun experience. This is my first cut up and it forced me to analyze the ads and articles I was looking at. What was the color choice, the font? What was the purpose of the text? Did I feel it could be improved on or was the ad successful in my opinion?

 

It really made me stop and think about all of the concepts I have been learning in my classes, reinforcing them.

 

It also helped that this style dealt more with straight lines and geometric objects. I got to arrange them how I wanted to tell a story. It wasn’t until I had already started gluing words down that I realized I could make phrases which emphasized the original quote. Sort of like subliminal messages. I got to pick through all of the words I had cut out through over 300 pages of print. There were duplicate words, words I loved, words I didn’t remember cutting out, words I couldn’t believe I had cut out because I wouldn’t use them in a million years. There were different colors, different fonts, different sizes. There were missing words, lost words, words I wish I had found or realized I would have wanted.

 

It was great taking what I had before me and making something from essentially junk clippings that most people would trow away.

 

It was a fantastic learning experience, and a great craft type project where I actually got to get my hands dirty rather than keeping everything clean with digital art. I can honestly say even if it’s not “original” or whatever negative things people may say about cut up art, this has been one of my favorite projects for school so far.

Dragon’s Horde 0052: December 2015

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Title: December 2015 Holiday Treat
Stitched by: Jennifer Conley
Designed by: Jennifer Aikman-Smith
Completed: December 31, 2015

I honestly do not remember the exact day I completed this cross-stitch. I suppose I could go back through my posts, pinning down the day, but I’m fine with the date I picked. I started this Christmas day, right after completing the commissioned piece for Marcus, and I finished it before the New Year.

It was nice to go back to working with bright colors, and working on something small. An instant gratification project really since it took pretty much no time, especially in comparison to the 8 or more hours a day I as putting into The Hobbit.

Dragon’s Horde 0051: Winter

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Title: Winter
Stitched by: Jennifer Conley
Designed by: Gancedo.eu
Completed: January 19th, 2016

 

This is my most recent completed cross stitch. I’ve enjoyed working on it. I think it has helped me be reflective and calm through these past few weeks. I feel like it’s helped me with the “downness” I usually experience with winter and being constantly cold.

I’m happy with the way it came out and with my color choice and I’m looking forward to framing it. Onward to Spring and new green things.

Dragon’s Horde 0050: The Jack of Hearts

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This is the first half of my homework for my History of Visual Communications class. We had to create a playing card which was decided by our birth date. I happened to get the Jack of Hearts.

 

Completed in roughly 3 hours using Photoshop and a Wacom tablet. It was a lot of fun and I loved working on it. Now to create the back of the playing card before the assignment is due. : )

 

Dragon’s Horde 0049: The Hobbit

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Title: The Hobbit
Designed and Stitched by: Jennifer Conley
Completed: December 25th, 2015

This is my first ever custom cross stitch design commissioned by one of my co-workers as a Christmas gift for his girlfriend.

It was a fantastic learning experience, and even though for a while I was getting tired of stitching yellow, then brownish-black, I love how the design turned out.

Dragon’s Horde 0048: Genius At Work

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Title: Genius At Work
Stitched by: Jennifer Conley
Completed: December 8th, 2015

 

This is the Christmas gift I stitched for my older brother. I was going through the cross stitch patterns I have, trying to find something I wanted to work on when I found a Loony Toons book. As I flipped through the pages, looking at all the characters I saw this one.

 

My brother has always had a thing for Wile E. Coyote, and for some reason this pattern called out to me. I remember one time while I was at girl scout camp I made a bead lizard during one of the arts and crafts classes and put it on a key chain ring and gave it to him. He still has it on his key ring to this day. It makes me feel loved and cared for. Something so small to me at the time has come to be such an important and sentimental object for both of us.

I don’t know. Seeing the pattern made me want to do something for him. Something to show I love him. I enjoyed working on this piece, and I’m looking forward to creating the frame and sending it on its way.

Dragon’s Horde 0047: Patience

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Title: Dragon Virtues – Patience
Designed by: Jennifer Aikmen-Smith
Stitched by: Jennifer Conley
Completed: November 18, 2015

Stitched for Clavan

This is the cross stitch I made for my boss as a way to say thank you for putting up with me. I know I haven’t been all that outgoing work wise (or really any wise) for the past few months, and it’s only been recently that I have started feeling like I’ve shaken the depression that I had been living in.

Through all of my ups and downs, through the information about my mom, through my week off for mental health, and my putting in the bare minimum during my work days he has been supportive.

I have an amazing supervisor, and I am grateful I can call him “boss”, but friend as well.

Dragon’s Horde 0046: Strength

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Title: Dragon Virtues – Strength
Designed by: Jennifer Aikmen-Smith
Stitched by: Jennifer Conley
Completed: October 26, 2015

Stitched for Shrew

Hey Shrew,

I stitched you up a little something. I hope you don’t mind. I love reading your posts and I always enjoy your comments on mine. You are such an amazing person. You are strong and determined and you inspire me. You show life isn’t about being perfect. It’s about trying and doing your best.

I wanted to make you something to show that you’re a light for me, and for others. You’re not backing down, and that’s awesome. Thank you so much for being who you are and for always being free with your words.

I would like to be able to send this little guy to you. If you wouldn’t mind sending me an email at conley.setup@gmail.com I would appreciate it.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. : 3

Dragon’s Horde 0045: Life Abstract

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History of Visual Communications
Project 2 – Life Abstract

Artist Statement

This is the first time that I have ever really worked on an abstract piece. There’s always been some sort of structure behind my work. Creating a label, structuring a form, concepting out a pose, or exercises focusing on particular things such as anatomy, shape, or lighting.

Very little of my work has ever been free form, so this piece was actually intimidating for me. How does one go about creating an abstract piece? How can you make art if you don’t know what it is you intend to make in the end? How can you do something without having a thought out process, step by step plans? That’s what my whole life is based around. To-do lists and structure and time tables and end results. How do you let go of all of that and just create?

In a way I feel that I’m not that great of an artist because it’s so hard for me to simply let go and find that creative streak that so many other people seem to have. But I was going to have to figure out some way, some trick, to allow me to do this or fail the assignment.

I was sitting at Crispers, having just eaten, thinking over the requirements for the project and the suggestions given to help jump start the creative process. I was listening to music and simply looking out the window on most people would consider a dreary, rainy day.

I thought about all of the different areas of my life, all of the things that are important to me. All of these different things that add up to make me who I am. All of the colors and feelings and memories I associate with these things.

I took out a mechanical pencil and my sketch book and just started doodling really while I thought of all of these different things. So I suppose these are the swirls of my life. My mom, my brothers, my co-workers, my hobbies, my fears, concerns, hopes, dreams, aspirations, all mixing together.

I used green, blue, red, and purple for the swirls because those are the colors of the charkas I most identify with. The heart chakra, the throat chakra, the root chakra, and the crown chakra. I used blue and purple as the background color because those were the colors I was drawn to. Looking back at it I wish I had gone with a gray or some other solid color so as to let the swirls pop more.

Everything in hindsight I suppose.

This was the first piece where I used color pencil since my art classes for my Computer Animation degree over three years ago. It was fun working with color again. Lately if I do anything traditional I stick to graphite shading, which is still a passion of mine, but this piece is special, in part because of the color.

It was a fun assignment and while it’s not a masterpiece, it was emotionally healing for me and helped me think through some of the issues I have been struggling with, mainly my financial fears and how those fears have been bleeding over into the other areas of my life.

All in all, I’m happy with it, and myself.