The Curious Concepts Project: WIP "Colors"

I've been working on "Colors" (still a working title), so it's time for an update;

 As a reminder, 

This is the sketch I'm painting over.

I traced over my lines in Photoshop to create selection paths. 

You can't see the paths themselves here, but I used them to add in the colors,  

Navy Blue, Purple, and "Silver", which you can see.

Not sure if I've explained this enough yet, but all those shapes/colors are on different layers, one of the perks of using a computer. When I work on digital paintings I can go over AND under what I've already painted in. I can also hide and reveal layers as needed.

Used a soft edge brush tool to add some stars.

A texture brush + the burn/dodge tools.

More burning and dodging. The stripes were given identical textures, 

so you couldn't see them very well until I started shading.

Because you can never have too many dots, 

I used a hard edge round brush and made this spotted pattern.

And it's hard to see here, but I painted a layer of texture onto the ship.

Used the paths again to remove the purple spots

 from anywhere they weren't supposed to be.

Took the round brush and switched the edges back to a soft setting. 

Then I selected the Dodge tool and went over each of the purple dots, 

so now they look round and dimensional instead of just flat purple.

Hard to explain this part. 

Basically I took the original purple lines and blurred them. The selection paths were used to keep  the lines' edges from blurring too. I added a new layer of blue underneath, again using the paths so nothing else in the image would be affected. The blue is showing through the purple a little now.

Painted in some shadows behind the ship and large striped shape at the top.

I also did some more shading.

It's not finished yet, but the next time you see this, it should be. :)
(and I will have figured out a real title-might ask Vitt what she thinks)

Fancy Things For the Van Buren

Here's a fun fact for you: This is my 100th post. Didn't even realize it until I looked a my stats last week.
This past month, vaguely put, has been quite a month. So nothing special for this milestone, I'm actually pretty wiped-out right now (not much is getting done over here), but it is a good excuse to give you a long overdue update on the Van Buren.

The last time you saw the Van Buren's kitchen it looked like this;

The old wooden floor tiles would not budge.

After disscussing ideas with the creative people over at the Greenleaf forums, a jug of vineagar, and a day or two last summer of prying/chiseling/cutting-It looks like this now;

Some may say that I put a few holes in the front and that there are still some pieces stuck inside, but I call it progress. :) Of course, the vinegar also dissolved a portion of the foundation I fixed last year, so it looks like I'm going to have to redo some of that now. At least I could get the old flooring out, right?

It's hard to picture this tiny old house as ever not being a total mess, but the unfix-able parts are slowly coming out, and then it's just a matter of adding in new flooring and wallpaper (this house definitely can't just be painted)

And since I started planning out the rooms, a year or two ago, I began to acquire some furniture for this house.

(I didn't have much room for photographing, so all the pics were taken on top of the VB's widow walk)

Remember the antique co-op where I purchased, what is now, The Steampunk House?
Well that changed hands, and subsequently now has a few different vendors. One of the new vendors had some nice miniatures in their section, and so I came home with with this lovely little rustic piece here;

Later in the summer I went on a day trip to Chautauqua with my mother. One of our stops, Chautauqua Miniatures. They gave us these tiny gift bags. Promo items? Sure, but where else would the residents of a dollhouse shop, if not a miniatures store? So hopefully I'll find a useful place for these, even if it's in another house.

Technically I didn't buy anything while I was there (this time). I just sort of helped a certain someone find me the perfect Christmas present, several months in advance. I've been looking for an old style bathroom set for the VB, to either match or replace the old fashioned upstairs toilet that used to be glued to a wall. This Chrysnbon kit is the first set I've seen that wasn't also heavy/breakable ceramic. And since it's a kit, I can build/change it to fit the design of my little house without too much trouble (I hope).

If anyone has experience with these kits-Helpful tips appreciated

Last, but not least, I also acquired this table and chair set. At least, it was sold as a set-The chairs don't quite match, but that's the kind of thing you would find in an old house (or Billy,...Not sure which house this is for yet). This was technically another Christmas present, it was the result of a spontaneous trip to another co-op, that was closing. It was on sale. Good deal, if I may say so.

I wish I had more to show, but this house seems to be more of a summer project and I ended up being pretty busy last summer. (still am)