Author Archives: Leah

BlissBot AlphaBots ~ Artificial Emotional Intelligence

Well, I’m mighty late with my AlphaBot this week, but at least I’m in time to wish you all a blissful Valentine’s Day with Oddment 200!

This is the second in an alphabetical robot series I call Artificial Emotional Intelligence. The BlissBot’s wires tend to get a bit disheveled when in the throes of his eponymous emotion. But it’s all part of his programming. ;-)

Speaking of programs, I’m using this series to teach myself how to “paint” in Adobe Illustrator. In this piece I made extensive use of the gradient mesh, which partly explains why it’s so late! It’s an amazing tool, but it can drive one a bit nuts, especially as a newbie. And of course I’m still not really satisfied. I hope one shining day to figure out how to make AI gradients tamely do my bidding. For now they definitely still have my knickers (& often my Bézier curves) in a twist. So much for my hope that I’d be as blissful making this bot as I was angstful for the last!

 

AngstBot AlphaBots ~ Artificial Emotional Intelligence

Here come the AlphaBots!!

I decided my theme would be Artificial Emotional Intelligence. Each bot will represent an emotion. Should be fun!

I also decided (probably very foolishly) that AlphaBots would be the perfect opportunity to teach myself Adobe Illustrator. (AI for AI, get it?) I’ve used it now & again for some type/lettering work, but I’ve never tried to make an image with it before. It’s a whole new world & cranking out this simple little bot nearly drove me crazy! I’m still not at all happy with the gradients & such. I hope when I learn the ropes a little more I can touch him up, poor fellow.

Appropriately enough, I started the alphabet with angst– I certainly felt enough of it as I was attempting this effort!

The background text/texture is imported from Photoshop, as is the little belt buckle ornament, but everything else is AI. Wish me luck with this project! I hope the next one doesn’t take this long!

 

Legally Odd Crow-quill pen & ink on legal pad

Oddment23-LegallyOdd-LeahPalmerPreiss

{Originally posted in my Oddments blog}

And now for something completely different! Here’s a whole parade of oddments, marching in a highly disorganized fashion. Or maybe it’s a page of legal notes in an alien language? Either way, I worry that this document could someday be used against me in a court of law.

Crow-quill pen & ink on legal pad. As I was drawing this, my husband kept walking by & shaking his head. :-D

{You may recognize some of these creatures strolling through the background of this site!}

Wassail Acrylic painting on text collage on canvas, 6"x6"

Original & prints available on Etsy.

This is another curiotype for A.Word.A.Day. It was really challenging (but fun) to paint because of all the teeny-tiny tools. I cribbed them from Joseph’s workbench in Campin’s Mérode Altarpiece.

‘Tis the season for maximum mess-making around here. I love making gifts, but as always when I’m in the midst of an interesting project, I seem to develop a severe case of mess-blindness. Between all the crafting, Etsy packaging, card-making, decorating, gift-wrapping & artwork, my studio tends to build up quite an alarming residue of tools & materials as Christmas approaches.

By Christmas Eve I always feel exhausted, overwhelmed by the surrounding detritus, yet giddy with some sort of seasonal magic. I figure Santa’s elves must feel the same way. Also, I think a little celebratory beverage can make clean-up time a lot more bearable, don’t you?

Good Wassail to all of you lovely oddment-hunters!

Acrylic on text (scanned from an old dictionary) on canvas, 6″ x 6″

Redolent Acrylic painting on text collage on canvas, 6"x6"

This painting was created for A Word A Day, back in 2011, when I’d just begun my curiotype alphabet of AWAD words. It makes me nostalgic to think of those days, now that I’ve completed all 26 letters… but the wonderful thing is that I get to begin all over again! Thanks so much to Anu Garg for inviting me back!

Redolent in my Etsy shop