Back to normal?

[balaa]

Nupe! But returning a bit to my 'normal' subject. Creative overdrive? yes but not complaining at all after months of feeling stuck and feeling like Ive been spinning my wheels.



And a quick snowy painting from yesterday. Originally started as a piece for a certain project but the colors headed in the wrong direction for it. So try try and try again [:!



To everyone that stops and looks...to everyone that takes a moment to leave a comment. THANK YOU! You guys keep me moving! I should add too that it reminds me I should try to comment more often on the art that others take such care to post here.

Comments

[kyrahlynn.livejournal.com]

Both of these are absolutely magical :)

[uniformgrey.livejournal.com]

It really is interesting to see where you're taking your lighting in your pieces lately! Wonderful subject matter and results!

[swandog.livejournal.com]

I LOVE the lighting in these...so very wonderful! <3

[xxbalaaxx.livejournal.com]

thank you hon..hee hee ever since you linked Evergreen again in my journal, I can't stop listening to it again and again x). /random!

thank you always for all your so very encouraging comments.

[king.livejournal.com]

That second image is absolutely gorgeous. I could stare at it for hours.

[moonykins.livejournal.com]

I never got around to commenting, but I ADORE the SEED-series, and I hope you'll continue it!

These two are gorgeous. I especially love the second one (so much so it's my desktop background!), I love how the snow leopard is practically glowing.

I am forever in awe of your skills, woman! Your sense of colour and light is just mindblowing.

I will never ever get tired of looking at your art! <3

[eccentricfurry.livejournal.com]

Ooooooh, my friend Kaxeno would LOVE that Snow Leapord picture :D I wanna have that Lynx/Bobcat picture myself :D

[azianwolfdoll.livejournal.com]

I love the photography-like essence in the first one! The blending in of his body with the snow & background is excellent! It's like you stumbled upon him during a heavy snowfall & he's trying his hardest to keep still. Except he can't help but shake the snow off his head, just in time for you to spot him.

I wonder what snow leopards do up in those snowy mountains they keep themselves hidden in. I'm sure it's not any different than what you've depicted here, though! That touch of light on its back gives it a nice warming feeling to the coldness of its natural habitat, as well.

[furryskibum.livejournal.com]

Just amazing, Balaa! Winter's my favorite season and I love these snow-themed pieces.

[felix-carni.livejournal.com]

Wow.. Just beautiful both of them.. I just adore how you draw felines of any kind (I might be biased on that subject :P )

[amayana.livejournal.com]

Awwwwww, they're wonderful! =3

[meradragon.livejournal.com]

It has been beyond awesome to see your art updates here again. I'd cmment on eac and every one in extreme depth if it weren't fr the fact of final's week.

anyway, I love how you render snow, A, and B, I love how you render cats. These are all just so beautiful <3

[casidhe.livejournal.com]

Amazing! They're so beautiful.

[miaor.livejournal.com]

These two pictures are gorgeous!! I especially love the first one - how you guide the eye right to the lynx's face.

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

These are gorgeous. *is partial to snow...*

[wolftale.livejournal.com]

your last art posts is so wonderful <3 Your artwork is absolutely stunning!

[kyvah.livejournal.com]

Lovely as always Balaa. I really enjoy the second one. Was that a speed painting as well?

[doc-halfmoon.livejournal.com]

Jaw dropping ... they're just spectacular!!! XD
I love them, I love them so much! =)

(BTW, I love your logo too; it's so ... so perfetc! ;)
Please, teach me! =D

[shellypants.livejournal.com]

I love the colors on both!

[foxfeather.livejournal.com]

Those are both gorgeous. :)

[sekhmet.livejournal.com]

These are beyond awesome. I like how the rest of the lynx;s body is loose and less detailed. It makes its face this beautiful focal point. Where do you get your inspiration from color selection? You always have these nice balances of warm and cool colors. The combinations are always awesome.

[xxbalaaxx.livejournal.com]

it was snowing last night and I was cold, thus the choice of colors in both..I think. The selection is really subconscious and random more than it is deliberate. I choose a flat base color. For the lynx, I started with a dark gray canvas and just went from there. For the snowy it was a navy blue with a touch of green to it.

[redcoatcat.livejournal.com]

Woaaaaaaa!!
Dude your posts are hurting my brain with the amount of awesomeness!!
I would love to know what you've read/studied for speed painting, this.. THIS is fantastic!!
Lighting you do is so amazing, I need to work on that in my stuff. Yours has such mood and dynamics to it..

Oh I am so inspired from this, thank you for posting! :)

[xxbalaaxx.livejournal.com]

really I havent read or studied anything that brought forth these..or maybe the answer is I finally trusted the knowledge I HAVE accumulated over the years and unleashed it on these small paintings. To be honest I have always been afraid to screw up a picture. So before I started most paintings I did a lot of studying..ie I hunted down tons of refs for even the tiniest details of a picture. I mean they weren't exact refs..IE I dont just take a photo of a lion and change this or that and call it my own. Instead I would collect general references of the animal I want to paint..ie for correct markings texture of the fur etc. And then references of lighting conditions I wanted to mimick..anything from foliage photos to sky..to grass etc. All this before ever starting a picture. I think I learned a lot just studying photos..but I really don't think I TESTED this knowledge. Mostly what happened was I worked at polishing technique as opposed to just letting loose and painting. I feel a lot of my work feels rigid and contrived because of this. Its such a focus on detail that the big picture is a bit overlooked (imo).

so these have been almost a step back. Big picture first, details last, if at all.

You are welcome..I truly hope my work does inspire people. Not out of egoism but because I feel its my way of giving back to all the artists that continually inspire me. Seems only fair to give back what I take! Thank you for all your recent comments, each really made me beam ^___^;

[ssantara.livejournal.com]

Nice Snowy!

[wolfcatt.livejournal.com]

These are SO friggin' gorgeous omg...wow.

[fuzzytoedcollie.livejournal.com]

That second one is breath-taking, icy-cold beautiful!

Excellent :)

[glddaisy.livejournal.com]

Love the lynx! they're both beautiful as always. But I really love the lynx.

[hibbary.livejournal.com]

GOOD!! NEVER STOP PAINTING :D And yes, I am glad you are now seeing the awesomeness that lynxes are ha ha ha ha ha.

But I'm just being silly. It's a lovely painting. Do you plan on fleshing out any of these speed paintings? Or doing different versions? Or are they all just for shits? Sometimes it's best, when one is on a roll, not to question or stop to overthink, or you lose that groove. So if you feel that way, don't answer me. :D I don't want to bump you out of your groove! Everyone's been waiting on new Balaa arts. And now they come raining down out of the heavens. I will gobble them up. nomnomnomnom >F

[thornwolf.livejournal.com]

Oh man I wish I had your realism and color skills. This is awesome.

[drewthewolf.livejournal.com]

Wow, these are beautiful!

[dwuff.livejournal.com]

The lynxie is so cute! And as I said on DA, the snowy sunset is amazing. It's like I can literally hear the silence and feel the cold.

[kotenok-gaff.livejournal.com]

theese 2 pictures just amased me ) they are not fully finished (in technic ) BUT it's so great to see such works!! And you inspired me on speed drawings too!! when i was in institute today i even imagin some works that i would draw

thanks a lot!

Leopard picture is so calm and peacefull

and linx one i almost can hear silent night and quite sounds of linx steps on snow

[xcourtkneex.livejournal.com]

These are so amazing :C I love the lighting on the snow leopard one. Do you just do these in Photoshop, or are they real media? If Photoshop, what brush setting do you use? I'm so enthralled, I can't stop staring! <3

[synnabar.livejournal.com]

Your cats are ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS --- and more than that, even, I love how you can create such wonderful atmospheres, if you get what I mean! Just incredible. :)

[shewolfe.livejournal.com]

Your work always makes me smile. Very beautiful, thanks for sharing.

[justblieve.livejournal.com]

SHIT WHY ARE YOUR SPEED PAINTINGS ALWAYS SO DAMN AWESOME

[cunjo.livejournal.com]

I absolutely adore the composition of the first, and the way the way the snow breaks up the outline while still adding to it.

On the second I love the use of lighting against soft and subtle colors. It conveys the expanse quite well, and the top-of-the-world sort of feeling, without needing to show it, or indeed showing much of it at all given the orientation.

I'm sorry I haven't been around to comment much, or around much at all, really... I still admire your work. Perhaps some year I'll be able to buy or commission some.

~Cunjo / Earth