My brother had been going through some things lately and I wanted to make him something to cheer him up/let him know I'm thinking about him, so I painted this for him:



I had done another similar painting in VERY different colors, with a much different tone as a result, and had had it rattling around in my head that I wanted to do one in complimentary colors to see what the end result would look like.  So when I decided on doing reddish-orange highlights with bluish-green shadows, I knew it would be for my brother because I knew that it would be very dramatic and kind of dark.  I like to think that the story behind this image is that he has survived some sort of apocalypse and is standing on a hillside at nighttime, watching the city burn, ready to fight to stay alive.  Maybe that's not a terribly positive thought, but he and I both love zombie and other post-apocalyptic stories, so it seems like a natural story for this image of him.

Originally, as I was painting this, I was calling it "No man is an island, more like an archipelago" because the orange highlights combined with the blues as they started to fill in looked to me like a topographical map of strings of islands in an ocean somewhere.  However, I think that now that it is finished, I prefer "Burn" as a title... short, sweet, to the point.

I visited my brother this past weekend (he lives in Pittsburgh, I live in Philadelphia) and gave this to him.  He was really pleased, and I hope you guys like it, too!

I just finished making this bag for a good friend's birthday - she chose the fabrics and what she wanted on it, and I made it happen:

The whole thing:



Closeup of the triceratops:



Flap up with the zipper closed:



Inside the bag:



Closeup of the inside:



These aren't necessarily colors that I would have chosen myself, but I really love how everything looks together

I haven't carried a purse in about ten years, and I finally decided that I need to start again so I have somewhere to put my stuff instead of stuffing every pocket I have and carrying around things like water bottles, etc....  However, I needed it to be a unique, interesting purse that I really liked, or I wouldn't carry it.  So, this is what I've come up with:



Close up of the angler fish:



With the pretty purple swirl lining showing:



And a closeup of the lining:




Now, THAT'S a purse I'll happily carry

I've been a member of Craftster for a looooong time and have never once posted anything, and I've vowed to change that!  So to start it off, here is my very first post and my very first challenge entry.
I made a small happy (dog?) monster guy who turns into an angry (cat?) monster guy:

















Please let me know what you think!