[Whimsical Willow] on the Water

I just finished this painting today. It's sort of like a willow tree on the edge of a little green river with a forest on the opposite bank. I liked the pink accent color against the greens so I added some flowers.

We raided Ulduar last night, wiping for three hours while trying to kill Thorim on Hard Mode. This allowed for a lot of downtime so I set up my little easle in front of my second monitor and painted while raiding.


You can actually see the forest background better in this picture. I thought it looked awesome before I painted a tree on top of it, but I had to put some sort of object in the painting. It's actually really easy to paint trees like this. I start with a solid green background and let it dry. Then feather in some black around the edges on top, then mix some green and black and slop on some vertical lines like trees. Before it completely dries, add in lighter shades of green to create depth (highlights) to define individual tree trunks. I used a similar process when I did that purple Night Elf forest painting a while ago.

Must-Have iPhone Apps

Having recently bought an iPhone, I have been relentlessly searching for new apps to download from the iTunes App Store, especially free apps. So far I have come across a few that I really enjoy. Some are useful, some are informative, and some are merely hillariously amusing. Here are my favorites:

Apps that are useful for staying up-to-date:

TweetDeck (FREE) - Excellent Twitter interface.
WootWatch (FREE) - Check what's up for sale on the Woot sites.
Facebook (FREE) - A simple Facebook interface.

Apps that can make you look smart:

Tipulicious (FREE) - Calculate tips and split bills.
Dictionary (FREE) - Includes a thesaurus and dictionary.
Keeper (FREE) - Track passwords in one place under one PIN.
Shazam (FREE) - Identify songs you hear.

Apps to help you get ahead (especially fashion designers!):

Fasio Network (FREE) - View the latest collections of top designers.
TouchCloset (FREE) - Catalog your clothes and accessories.
Units (FREE) - Quick measurement conversions.
Lose It! (FREE) - Weight loss goal and calorie intake tracker.

Apps that you will get a kick out of:

SmackTalk ($.99) - Instantly make people laugh.
EggShaker (FREE) - Not quite the same as the real thing.
Lightsaber (FREE) - Turns your iPhone into a lightsaber.
StickWars Lite (FREE) - The best free iPhone game ever.
BubbleWrap (FREE) - You know you want to pop bubbles.
Fluid (FREE) - It looks and acts like water when you touch it.

[Priest Costume] update

The sleeves are finished now except for the gold details. I plain to paint the swirls on using fabric paint. I bought several shades so I can add some depth to the designs. I will try out all of the colors on scraps first because I'm not sure how thick the paint should be or what it will look like after it dries. It would be horrible to just start painting directly on the sleeves and then have it turn out really ugly. So my planned process is:

1. Trace the design onto a piece of tagboard or cardstock to make a stencil. Label one side "right" and one side "left" so I can make sure it will be mirrored exactly on the left and right sleeves.

2. Test the paint on scrap pieces of the purple satin fabric to make sure it bonds well and looks good. Also test the design to figure out which colors to use and how to add depth with highlights and lowlights.

3. Pin the design stencil onto one sleeve and paint on the design. After it dries (if paint got on the stencil), flip the stencil and do the other sleeve.

The lower half of the robe is closer to completion now too. The side seams are finished, including adding a zipper. I am currently working on the bottom hem. I am sewing yellow double-fold bias tape along the bottom hem to give it the gold border at the bottom. The added stiffness should also make the hem less flowing so it is more like a robe than a skirt. Once this is done I should be able to paint the designs on at the same time (and via the same process) as the designs on the sleeves.

Once the sleeves and skirt are complete I will probably start focusing on the side panels or finish the top. I may save the top for last because I could decide to skip some of the back details and opt for a cloak instead.