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What is Steampunk?

For this month's art auction, the ladies of Femme Thou Art Collective will be creating pieces of art inspired by the theme 'Steampunk'.

Steampunk is based in an alternate world to our own, where technology is still in the industrial age of steam power. It can be set in the Victorian era, Wild West, or even the future. Some examples would be: instead of digital clocks, you have old fashioned grandfather clocks, with gears and cogs, and all that good stuff; it's a melding of old technology with modern inventions and ideas.

Here are some examples of various 'artists around the web''s imaginings of the Steampunk world:

For example, a coal powered airplane. Artwork by Michal Kwolek
Steampunk Laptop by Richard Datamancer Nagy
The characters that populate the steampunk world are usually gentlemen and ladies, who are dressed for grand adventures in the steam powered world.

Such as this Sky Captain. Artwork by Nicholas Kole
Victorian Steam Punk Girl. Artwork by Brigid Ashwood
Angler Fish Submarine. Artwork by Jasmine Becket-Griffith
Poe. Artwork by Jasmine Becket-Griffith
Artwork by Enys Guerrero
Artwork by Brian Kesinger

Artwork by Gwendolyn Basala
Artwork by Meredith Dillman
Artwork by Silvia Sigrid Sillaots

Artwork by Rossana Castellino 
Well I hope these beautiful pieces of art have inspired you as much as me! Make sure to check out each artist's site to see more of their beautiful work.

I'll leave you with some inspiring word prompts:

Brass, Aviator, Golden Compass, Clockwork, The Time Machine, Billowing Steam, Pipes, Impossible Machines, Flying Machines, Victorian Steam Couture, Sky Captain.

For more detailed information on the Steampunk genre, check out Wikipedia's Steampunk page


LILY BUTH

Lily Buth is a self taught artist and full time student pursuing degrees in construction and civil engineering. During her free time she enjoys creating portraits with graphite powder and watercolors

Whenever I need to take a break from my intellectual pursuits, I relax with my art. Painting and drawing, for me, is a way to express my happiness and to explore my imagination and creativity.

I believe that passion is the essence of life, and so I try to fill every moment I have with only things that I love. This can take many forms, from flying, to finishing my bucket list, to circumnavigating the globe, to learning about the wonders of fungi, and to having the deep satisfaction of completing a painting.

Through my art I try to express the joy, wonder and beauty that I see all around me. This can be in subtle and soft lines of a face, painting the delicate petals of a flower, or weaving an intricate Celtic knot with my paintbrush.

Visit Lily on Etsy and Facebook:

Etsy

Facebook


Click the images below to enlarge:


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LINDSAY CHEESEWRIGHT


Lindsay Cheesewright lives in a small country town located in NSW, Australia with her Husband and five young children. Lindsay has had no formal training in the arts and prefers to fly by the seat of her pants, learning as she goes.

Artist Statement:

"I am a dreamer with my head constantly stuck in the clouds.

I create art that reflects this through feminine fantasy themes and surreal surroundings; a place where things are not always what they seem.

My art always has the common theme of the feminine, I like to start with the simplest of ideas and allow it to develop as I go. Each piece is a fantastic journey that I travel, with watercolours and coloured pencil as my most treasured companions.

I feel that my current work shows more sophistication and maturity than past works. I have begun to limit my colours now and have been developing a more cohesive look and feel to my work. I am constantly learning from each piece that I complete to help me grow as an artist."

Visit Lindsay's Website

Click on an image below to enlarge.

Linds1 linds2 linds3

SASHA FITZGERALD

Sasha grew up on the West Coast of Canada, moving from town to town, from city to suburb to country, for the first twelve years of her life. Through all of the changes, new schools, and general upheavals, one thing remained constant - her love of art. 

She attended the illustration and design program at Capilano University, and learned many news skills, and met many talented fellow-burgeoning artists. A year later two of her illustrations were published in Jasmine Beckett-Griffith's Vampire Art Now, a beautiful, hard bound coffee table art book. She has also sold her wares at various conventions, including Anime Evolution and MiniComi, as well as at the Granville Island Public Market. 

Through her work, she hopes to tell a story, set a mood, and express emotion. With each painting she endeavors to define the ethereal 'feminine', and uncover all of her secrets. 

In her free time, she loves to cuddle her black cat Honey, take long walks through the forest, drink peach cider on a hot day, build block worlds in Minecraft, and take photographs of her surroundings.

Follow Sasha:

Website
Facebook
Blog



Click on an image below to enlarge.
Dryad the countess portrait

Abandoning the Preciousness

by Stephanie Law


The most important thing about creating art is to create. If you want to be at ease with creativity, you have to immerse yourself in it, and do a little bit every day. Even if that little bit is only to take five minutes while waiting for the bus to come and do a gesture drawing of a man reading his book across the street from you. Or to take the moment to scribble down a thumbnail rough sketch of a concept that occurs to you. Do a little bit each day. Train your brain to think visually.

It can be difficult at first, accustoming yourself to make this small bit of time, because you’ll think:
“I don’t have enough time for it.”
“Art is hard!”
“I’m not good enough yet for that piece I’ve always wanted to do.”
or
“I’m stuck. Artist’ block.”

These are all excuses. Yes art IS hard. Yes, you might not be good enough yet to do that masterwork that you've been dreaming of, but let me let you in on a secret: No artist ever is. Sure, there is satisfaction that comes when the last detail is polished, and your signature scrawled across the bottom corner with its flourishing declaration of “Finis!” Every new painting is a milestone of achievement, hopefully with lessons learned and skills advanced. But if you let yourself rest too long on that satisfaction, then you’re not challenging and pushing yourself onward enough. I like to think that if I still feel a piece I did three years ago is among my best work, then I’m doing something wrong. The best is always going to be among the most recent few, with better ones on the horizon.

That masterwork that you just don’t think you have the skills for yet to tackle? You won’t gain those skills unless you try for it. Take it head on. Make the best attempt you can. Or tackle a small portion or element of it. Maybe it’s dramatic lighting. Maybe it’s multiple figures interacting. Maybe it’s something small like facial expression, or even just how to paint a tree. When you think you have mastered that, move onto the next item on the list, and the next, until you can face the behemoth. It might be you’ll like the result. If you don’t, then figure out what parts didn’t work for you. Don’t just condemn the entirety. Learn to isolate the individual aspects that could be worked on, and then make that your goal of improvement in the next piece.

Preciousness is the enemy of an artist who wants to grow.
1) Precious Time
2) Precious Artwork

To let the Muse work her magic, you have to let go of attachments to those two concepts. Even as a professional who has been drawing and painting every day for almost two decades, I had to learn this lesson recently. I'm not immune to these pitfalls any more than a beginning artist is. I had long ago gotten past the hump of just getting myself to do art every day. That part I took for granted. In fact, after so long, it becomes a necessity — you train yourself to have an artistic outlet, and then it becomes a part of you, as much as breathing and sleeping.

But due to the vagaries of the grand adventure of life, I found my art-time throttled back, and then I fell into the trap that (1) Time was precious.

Because I had little of it to dedicate to creating, it became a commodity, and every moment of it had to matter. Every second sitting at my desk with a pencil or paintbrush in hand had to be momentous because (2) Artwork was precious, and I couldn't waste my time with non-essentials. There was only enough time for masterpieces.

When you fall into that mode of thinking, your brain and your creativity does the only thing it can: It shuts up completely. That kind of pressure is just too much to expect of yourself.

Every work can’t be a masterpiece. Sometimes, you have to just let your subconscious have its way, and let the creativity flow from whatever small outlet it feels inclined to at the moment. Great art doesn’t happen on a time line. And I’m not talking about an individual painting that you finish for a client’s deadline. I’m talking more about the overarching body of artwork, and self-imposed expectations and time limits.

Make time for the little stuff. For the gesture drawings at the bus stop. For the scribbled thumbnails in your pocket sketchbook when random inspiration strikes at inopportune moments. For the doodles on napkins at a cafe, or in the margins of meeting notes at your day job or class.

Sleep researchers speculate that REM sleep and dreams are necessary for the brain to process the events of a day, work out problems, and experiment. That’s what all the non-masterpiece artworks that you create are. They’re never a waste of time, no matter how small. They are the myriad visual dreams made of paint and ink and paper that make a safe space for your creativity to reach for greater heights.



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Make sure to check out Stephanie's gorgeous artwork on her website, as well as her blog where the original article was posted.

This article was re-posted with permission from Stephanie Law.