# StudioinBlue.com > specializing in fine art and illustration ## Posts - [Discipline's Outcome](https://studioinblue.com/blog/disciplines-outcome/): We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit - [The Artist's Objective](https://studioinblue.com/blog/the-artists-objective/): The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. - [Every Child is an Artist](https://studioinblue.com/blog/every-child-is-an-artist/): Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. - [Stuck](https://studioinblue.com/blog/stuck/): I don’t know why, but lately I’m diving deep into understanding how my 3d programs work. My modeling skills are pitiful, but digital art allows me to see my artwork better in a way my eyes cannot. The side effect seems to be the constant reworking of artwork without much initial progress. Here’re some observations for anyone learning Substance Painter detailing ... Read More - [Cat and Mouse](https://studioinblue.com/blog/cat-and-mouse/): This digital experiment in color building and soft edges was inspired by a post on Redit entitled “This is my cat” under /redditgetsdrawn. This will be just an exercise, especially since I’m not posting it on Reddit. Frankly, the platform reminds me of a digital equivalent of Switzerland or Morocco during WWII. The photo’s owner, if they happen upon this ... Read More - [Snow Bird at Last](https://studioinblue.com/blog/snow-bird-at-last/): Snow Bird sold before I had a chance to photograph it. However, from an archive of phone photos documenting the progress and a random Wacom sketch, I could recreate it. This image is probably fairly different from the painting that sold in St. Augustine, but oh well. The individual who owns the painting can rest assured there won’t be any ... Read More - [Balloon Glow with Giraffe and Elephant](https://studioinblue.com/blog/balloon-glow-with-giraffe-and-elephant-not-a-title/): Renée Decator invited me to participate in a group project that was an exercise using assigned objects and a substrate in a style outside of our normal comfort zone. Even though my work wasn’t as experimental as it should have been, it definitely helped clear the cobwebs. Juggling a few ideas, but this one is about the only one worth ... Read More - [Lily of the Valley](https://studioinblue.com/blog/completely-random/lily-of-the-valley/): I grew up watching the processes used by character and set designers. Even if my understanding of perspective and anatomy doesn’t approach their accomplishments, I still employ many of the assumptions made by the masters drawing aliens and fantasy-scapes: Given a similar atmospheric and gravitational makeup, the development of creatures on a theoretical world would still be governed by the ... Read More - [Whoops](https://studioinblue.com/blog/whoops/): A glaring mistake in the first set of reflections, and I didn’t catch it yesterday. This is why I like to wait a day before calling an artwork finished, but this time I’m posting before correcting to show the process. - [Painting is Poetry](https://studioinblue.com/blog/painting-is-poetry/): Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen. - [Art’s Purpose](https://studioinblue.com/blog/arts-purpose/): The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. - [Small Things](https://studioinblue.com/blog/small-things/): Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. - [Working Emu Drawing](https://studioinblue.com/blog/completely-random-blog/working-emu-drawing/): I’m returning to basics the for a while. Drawing is mobile, relatively inexpensive, and somewhat relaxing. And perhaps I can improve my renders of cloth and shadow as well. Learning the difference between ostrich and emu appearance might also be in order. 🙂 Here is the reference image posted on Wetcanvas.com’s challenges According to Wikipedia: The Emu War, also known ... Read More - [Blue Heron Liightwave Rig](https://studioinblue.com/blog/blue-heron-liightwave-rig/): I build my own ideas so I don’t have to rent someone else’s: #notai but #digitalart. Thank you, Fifth Avenue Art Gallery for hosting what will probably be the last of my purely digital artwork. - [Accidents](https://studioinblue.com/blog/accidents/): There are no mistakes, just happy accidents. - [Mermaid](https://studioinblue.com/blog/completely-random/mermaid/): On reddit, many posts will bear the title “this me”. I’m adding words describing the changes. I don’t actively post but will use the images for practise. This one, albeit reproduced faithfully as far as proportions and lense distortions are concerned, has been modified to help create dramatic lighting. The hair pieces and earnings are imaginary. The original post may ... Read More - [Bee Details](https://studioinblue.com/blog/bee-details/): Slowly…ever so slowly, I’m grasping the nuances found in building proper surfaces. Here is part of my bee with one of it’s seams showing .Not yet, but soon 🙂 - [Doubt](https://studioinblue.com/blog/doubt/): If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced - [The Commute to and from Heck](https://studioinblue.com/blog/completely-random/the-commute-to-and-from-heck/): My own artistic misadventures often involve painting a piece almost to completion before executing a series of missteps, all while playing the dual roles of passive observer—helplessly groaning at the ensuing melee—and active, inadvertent saboteur. The digital works, while more successful, tend to accumulate an intense level of detail, much of it rendered in an outdated 3D program buckling under ... Read More - [Go Fish](https://studioinblue.com/blog/go-fish/): I kept rendering weird black spots and having freezes occurring during the process. It turns out that if my model had overlapping edges, orphaned points, or some other flaw, the light hitting the model could exceed 1 (0 being complete darkness, 1 being the absolute brightest bright).  Instead of functioning like a camera where portions would be washed or blown ... Read More - [Grief](https://studioinblue.com/blog/grief/): At the rising sun and at its going down; We remember them. At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter; We remember them. At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring; We remember them. At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer; We remember them. At the rustling ... Read More - [Ignorance is Bliss](https://studioinblue.com/blog/ignorance-is-bliss/): When first starting with Substance Painter, I knew nothing about the science behind surfacing. On second thought, it’s not much better now 🙂 However, following along with Umberto Celetano and Andrew Comb’s tutorial doesn’t seem quite as complicated now. So this is why it’s baffling how in my ignorance I managed a better configuration than now with a little knowledge. ... Read More - [MECHANICAL FISH TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM](https://studioinblue.com/blog/completely-random-blog/mechanical-fish-transportation-system/): The model itself is intentionally simple, as many of its elements will sit farther back in the final composition, where fine detail won’t make much of a difference. I’m also still developing my modeling skills, so I focus my effort where it has the greatest visual impact. This view is shown without textures, which makes the roughness of the mesh ... Read More - [Preoccupation: May 29 through June 30, 2018](https://studioinblue.com/blog/art-musings/preoccupation-may-29-through-june-30-2018/): I would first like to mention how honored I am to be exhibiting at the Fifth Avenue Art Gallery. The members include sixteen incredible artists whose mastery spans sculpture, acrylic, encaustic, collage, and other media. My own work will hang for a month, a prize awarded from the 2017 100% Pure Florida show. The show’s title, Preoccupation, is a word ... Read More - [Last Day of Show at Sarasota](https://studioinblue.com/blog/last-day-of-show-at-sarasota/): Regrettably, I’ll not get to see the show closing at the Art Center Sarasota today (Friday, January 17th, 2020 for those that happen on this archive). The images online tease the viewer…if only we could look around the corner. Work like Kathy Simon-McDonald’s piece, the Chalk artist V, looked gorgeous. I love water color— the way light passes through translucent ... Read More - [Off Season: Treading Carefully](https://studioinblue.com/blog/art-musings/treading-carefully/): I struggled with this painting more than others. It was ambitious in scale and relied on a technique I had only lightly tested, forcing me to merge unfamiliar processes with older, more reliable ones just to bring it to completion. More difficult, though, was the concern that the subject might be misinterpreted—either by the audience or by my own hand. ... Read More - [Day 24 on Day 25: Professor Jarlsberg](https://studioinblue.com/blog/day-24-on-day-25-professor-jarlsberg/): Professor Jarlsberg is a mouse of the late 1920s or early 1930s, holding a prestigious professorship at the Raclette College of Agriculture in Sweden. He descends from a long and distinguished line of Jarlsbergs—one notable ancestor even served as an advisor to Queen Christina’s cat. It seems that purchasing a finer brush for miniature work won’t be necessary after all, ... Read More - [Day 22 on Day 23: Rain and Sleet Day](https://studioinblue.com/blog/day-22-on-day-23-rain-and-sleet-day/): This piece is a response to the blustery, sleety weather sweeping across much of the U.S. lately. Life being what it is, this week has held less art and more of everything else—so much so that studio time feels like a distant memory. When carefully planned pieces give way to stolen moments, I find myself turning to smaller, more immediate ... Read More - [Day 11: Will Squeak for Food](https://studioinblue.com/blog/challenges/day-11-will-squeak-for-food/): What does a lab mouse do when he’s out of work? He’d probably grab the nearest piece of cardboard and advertise his talents. I’d forgotten how relaxing—if a bit time-consuming—Prismacolor pencils can be. I usually work on Canson paper, which can be difficult because it has a pronounced tooth. Strathmore’s toned tan sketch paper, by contrast, feels almost too smooth—not ... Read More - [Day 3: Star Wars Mice](https://studioinblue.com/blog/completely-random-blog/day-3-star-wars-mice/): These were inspired more by Lou Belcher than by December’s release of the Force Awakens. If she hadn’t suggested light sabers, these two would have been Ninja mice. The reward for the fight will be definitely cheese, but we’re not sure which side of the Brie they will take. Maybe we’ll have to watch the movie to find out 🙂 - [Day 2: Unified Cheese Theory](https://studioinblue.com/blog/challenges/day-2-unified-cheese-theory/): As Einstein pursued  the  unified theory of relativity, this mouse works on his Unified Cheese Theory. - [January's Challenge](https://studioinblue.com/blog/januarys-challenge/) - [Creativity](https://studioinblue.com/blog/painting-is-poetry-2/): Creativity takes courage - [The Weird Thing that Happened](https://studioinblue.com/blog/the-weird-thing-that-happened/): Not counting the person who once took one of my pieces home for “safe keeping” after an exhibit closed (yes, you know who you are), I never expected my art to inspire an actual theft. Granted, the attempt wasn’t especially well planned. The would-be thief had an impressive wingspan and the kind of liquid coordination that let him snake his ... Read More - [Why do you Paint Animals Wearing Sweaters?](https://studioinblue.com/blog/why-do-you-paint-animals-wearing-sweaters/): The question was actually “why do you paint sweater fish” since my paintings started with, well, insulated piscine species. It was a question deserving a carefully considered answer, but unfortunately the only response that came to mind was a pat “because they’re cold water fish”. A lame rimshot at best and only a little bit better than “why not?” So ... Read More - [Accounting](https://studioinblue.com/blog/accounting/): You will measure time more by the moments it keeps than by the revolutions of the planet around the sun. - [The Unfinished](https://studioinblue.com/blog/unfinished/): Art is never finished, only abandoned. ## Pages - [Contact](https://studioinblue.com/contact-studio-blue-2/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More - [Start](https://studioinblue.com/start/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More - [January's Challenge](https://studioinblue.com/januarys-challenge/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More - [No Results](https://studioinblue.com/no-results/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More - [Site Map](https://studioinblue.com/site-map/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More - [404](https://studioinblue.com/404-2/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More - [About](https://studioinblue.com/about/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More - [Artist's Statement](https://studioinblue.com/artists-statement/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More - [Illustration Services](https://studioinblue.com/illustration-services/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More - [Home](https://studioinblue.com/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More - [Contact](https://studioinblue.com/contact/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More - [“The” Blog](https://studioinblue.com/the-artists-blog/) - [Privacy Policy](https://studioinblue.com/privacy-policy/): View PortfolioArtist’s Statement Artist’s Statement Vanessa Bates started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator but gravitated towards fine art as her experimentation in color exceeded the gamut possible with traditional printing techniques. Recently she has returned to the digital medium as her skills in programs like E-on's Vue and Newtek's Lightwave progress. Early illustration lessons still influence her art as ... Read More ## Optional - [Agent (MCP protocol)](websites-agents.hostinger.com/studioinblue.com/mcp) [comment]: # (Generated by Hostinger Tools Plugin)