Happy Easter

Happy Easter

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Hoping everyone had a happy Easter!  We had a great day, but now I really have to get to bed.  Anyway, I hand drew the Lily and edited in gimp.

Winter Tree

Winter Tree

Posted by Erin Mansfield

I decided to create a tree.  I once considered myself an expert at drawing trees, from perhaps my 5th grade year and through middle school.  After messing around with this image for quite some time, I feel that the years have robbed me of this expertise or perhaps my ego was just bigger then.  That said, I still feel it is a nice tree.  I drew the image with pen, scanned it, and then edited it in gimp.  I didn't enjoy a plain white background and a black background made the outline and twigs disappear.  So, I used gimp to render in some clouds for the background.  Eventually, I hope to add snow to it and add it to the snow angel pic I created earlier.

A Painful Power

A Painful Power

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Few would thank their faults for their success
Their pain is seen as a miserable pest
It decides to visit whenever it likes
Only popping in for a moment
Or attempting to stay for a lifetime
It can vary from a slightly annoying guest
To something that puts one to the test
At which point there is little left to do
One will medicate the pain away
In any way one finds they can
Sometimes relief is the sweetest candy
Sometimes there is merely numbness
Yet where relief can not be found
And the pain can not then fade
A certain, powerful focus can arise
While one moves onward anyway
When the task is too important to ignore
I do not know why we carry such weight
Why our lives aren't perfectly sweet
Yet there is that calm within the storm
Something within that's so much more
If we can remember ourselves within the pain
We have less to lose and more to gain

Lonely Road

Lonely Road

Posted by Erin Mansfield

It's lonely on the road
When you can't go back
And don't know the way forward
Fellow travelers offer advise
Yet nothing seems quite right
The turn is somewhere up ahead
But the road keeps going
So many miles without an exit
Too few rest stops along the way
You worry you'll run out of fuel
Will have to hike for miles
Before the end of the day?

InspirARTion Flower

InspirARTion Flower

Posted by Erin Mansfield

I created this flower with the InspirARTion Windows 8 app.  It is very simple to use and I was easily able to draw without a touchscreen.  It's a fun program.  Their website allows the same type of drawing tools.

Thoughts of Love

Thoughts of Love

Posted by Erin Mansfield

I walk slowly across the room
Barely noticing the chill in the air
Each step means something more
The sound of my own breath fills my ears
It is a moment of intense promise
The simplest detail is enveloped in significance
The sweetest joy, as eyes meet eyes
And hands meet hands

Precious are the thoughts of love
Amazing how often one forgets
The simple pleasures life permits
When nights are long and cold
And a days work is never done
Smile in the thoughts of what was
And what is yet to come
Enjoy each moment
As best you can
And live and love everyday

Starting to Add Color

Starting to Add Color

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Worked on the Snow Angel pic today.  Took forever, since I'm just learning how to add color to anime.  I used two tutorials to get some ideas.  First I used the videos Coloring Anime Drawings on Gimp, parts 1 - 3.  I also used Anime CGing Tutorial, Color Choice.  It's just a start, but I like the results so far.

Altered Time

Altered Time

Posted by Erin Mansfield

There are moments
That seem to stretch,
Far into the past,
And long into the future.
When time itself
Seems forever altered.
These interruptions
Launch us out of ourselves,
Into an entirely new perspective.
Somehow I see my own life
As both vitally important
And yet highly ineffectual
Within the grander mosaic
Of the cosmos.
Within the painting
Of such bright and varied patterns,
I am as insignificant as a dot.
But to the artist,
The painting is not complete,
Without everyone in their spot.

Spring Snow

Spring Snow

Posted by Erin Mansfield

When winter storms
Cover the early spring
It's blank get cold but beautiful
I'll laugh at the snow
Soft flakes gently falling
A touch of fluff
Softens the landscape
I'll watch the snow caress the trees
While I lay in comfort and warmth
With my slippers and tea

Choices

Choices

Posted by Erin Mansfield

To blindness turns the heart and mind
When we forget the test of time
To stand before our well laid plans
And cheat our neighbors and our friends
How easy it is to pretend
That there is only one choice to be had
Instead perhaps we can admit
Sometimes our hearts have selfish fits

We forget the road is rarely easy
Sometimes life is like a race,
But life often takes a slower pace
There are storms that bring sudden change
Yet change also comes in subtle ways
So take the time to do what's right
Even if it hurts more than you'd like
You never know when something small
Will make the difference, after all

A Doodle

A Doodle

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Back in my late teens and early twenties, I spent a lot of time doodling.  I would fill pages with doodles, many becoming more complex over time.  I decided to do a similar doodle tonight.  This one is fairly simple.  I have no idea what it's of.  I just like the lines and shading.  It's all done in pen and scanned onto the computer.  No digital edits.  I learned how to draw in pen from my father, during times I needed to stay quiet.

Escaping the Shade

Escaping the Shade

Posted by Erin Mansfield

A shade seeps into the day
It lays unnoticed at first,
But by the very end,
When the mind is strained
And the body is worn thin,
It hangs thick in the air
It overwhelms the senses
And irritates every sensibility
Till one starts to believe
That it is the very taste,
The very essence of life,
Gone sour beyond recognition

So muddled and jaded by it's presence,
The mind seeks only to wallow in misery
Taking the poison as the cure,
One steeps within the tar
And the shade feeds

This, my friend, is an avoidable condition
I myself, do know the cure
But when lost within
It's hard to stop
For a mind becomes so baffled, so blind
That one enjoys pain
But love causes only anguish
To escape this shade
Surrender to love
And let go of yourself
However painful that may be
Trust not what you feel
But be tender towards others

Happy St Patty's Day

Happy St Patty's Day

Posted by Erin Mansfield

In honor of the day, I decided to learn how to tie a celtic knot. I found an excellent picture tutorial with video at Animated Knots.  I tied the knot with some black nylon rope that's used for jewelry.  I had Kevin take the photo.  I just couldn't get a good shot on something so small.  Then I used gimp to change the color to a nice Irish green and edit out the leftover tail.

 

I also thought a poem about fairies might be appropriate.

 

 

Walking the Fairy Path

 

Walking along the fairy path

Few others dare pass

Afraid, you see

But oh not me

 

Seeking out the fairy folk

So long as they are pleased

And their mischief

Does not involve me

 

The fairy forts,

I'll enter in

Seeking worlds

Unknown to men

 

I seek no gold and steal no treasure

I only want to explore forever

And gain in wisdom

That can not be measured

Snow Angel

Snow Angel

Posted by Erin Mansfield

There's still some editing to do on this, but I'm done for tonight.  Enjoy.

My Best

My Best

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Sometimes I find it hard to stay in line
I want to change the world and make it mine
Give everyone everything
They've ever been missing
No more hearts with pain to hide
No more children lost inside
I'm always trying to save the day
And forgetting you already did

I'm trying my best
God I'm trying best
But I know that's not enough
You've got to do the rest.
I don't want to give up
Yet I don't want to get in the way

Gentle Sleep

Gentle Sleep

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Gentle sleep, take my cares
Take me to worlds far away
Familiar faces, all with smiles
Only laughter, no more sorrows

Gentle sleep, let me stay
If only for a little longer
People dance, children play
Such wonderful dreams in my slumber

Gentle sleep, ease this heart
Let it soar beyond the stars
Voices singing, breathing art
Tender souls, without scars

Gentle sleep, nurture this soul
Set my path down on the road
Happy couples, young and old
Sweet dreams for a joyful day

Wings Revisted

Wings Revisted

Posted by Erin Mansfield

I decided to add some detail to those the angel wings I created.

They look ok, but something cool happened when I added a black layer in the wrong place.  I liked the result so much, that I created a deviantART account and posted it there.

I was a little nervous to sign up with deviantART.  Never used the site before, except to look at other's art.  For once I have content to add and a platform I know nothing about.

Dark Caverns of Change

Dark Caverns of Change

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Caverns deep and cold
No light, no laughter
Only regrets echo
Through the dark loneliness
Never to escape
Never to find home

So it seems, when lost within
Yet there is no place
That is forever lost
No heart that forever wanders
Our time is short
And so we forget
That much change takes longer
Than the breath we call a lifetime

Wings

Wings

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Created a simple pair of snowy angel wings on my computer today.  I may expand on them to include an actual angel in a scene.  For now I just put them on a black background.

Forgotten on the Path

Forgotten on the Path

Posted by Erin Mansfield

They walked along the shadows
Hearing only whispers
Strangers they were,
Yet closer than brothers
They never knew
Where the others came from
And when they left,
The others forgot of their existence
The only thing any knew,
Was the foot to the path
On a road that went forever
Where people come and go
And very few are ever remembered