Valentine Cutie

This sweetie is all set for candy hearts and roses.

I know a lot of single people are not in love with valentine's day. The dramatic wear black, the bitter post facebook rants, the embarrassed ignore it.

Personally, I delight in valentine's day. It easily wins the classiest holiday color scheme and all the over decor is cute enough to use year round. V-day has the dubious honor of being the only holiday I'll actually be festive for.

Some years I go to parties with friends, this year I'll probably be alone again, sipping pink whipped cream from my white-chocolate mocha. I love it all.

What's your favorite holiday?

Silent Songbird

I have a condition called Fibyomyalgia. Or Myofascial Pain Syndrome. Or both. My doctors didn't agree and now I don't have health insurance so it's a little unclear.

The main thing is, my muscles hurt.

I'm not a person that this is a big deal for.
Some people have such severe pain that they can't work, it's hard to sleep, and even small household chores can wipe them out for the day. I hold down a full time job, keep my apartment respectable, sell my personal art on the side, volunteer weekly, and have a decent social life.

But every now and again it becomes problematic.

It isn't the biggest problem I've had, but this past week I've had a bit of a pain in my jaw. At first I thought my teeth hurt and I had cavities again and, I won't lie, I was pretty upset. But as I considered it more I realized that my teeth were not bothered by crunching up hard foods, drinking ice-water, or eating sweets - all cavity related issues that popped up last time.

I came to realize that actually my jaw didn't hurt at all in the early morning (like it might if I were grinding my teeth at night) or in the late evening (when, this week, I've been home alone).

Kids, my mouth has been hurting whenever I've been singing! I tend to sing when I'm in the car or the tv is off in my apartment (though I try to not, because I figure my neighbors have never done anything to deserve that)
So I decided to quit.  It's not like I sing well, so what's the big deal?

Oh. Apparently I love to sing. I catch myself trying to sing all the time. I hear the chorus of a song I love and I just want to belt it out. It's been all of two days since I had this revelation and I'm going nuts!

Butterfly Princess

Apparently I've never listed this to my shop before, even though it's a print I designed quite some time ago and presented at other venues. I have several friends who get excited about princesses and formal wear so I drew this especially for them.

Hand Drawn Cards

The other night I decided to draw and color some cards. I don't break out the colored pencils all that often because I prefer the look of the computer generated stuff, but of course if I want a card for a friend or family member this is how it goes because it takes waaaay too long to color it on the computer, get it formatted and get it printed. Mostly it's the printing that takes forever. 

The first card was drawn while I was watching "Glee" the other night. So it is BASED on Rachel, but the colors are entirely different. Lighter hair and eyes, totally different colored clothes. Just because I like to put my own twist on things. Also, because I wanted to sell this card and I didn't want be making a "Rachel from Glee" card. I just liked her sweater.

 

The next card is based on nothing but my love of etsy. If you look around you'll find similar items all over the place. Those hair pins you know you've seen a hundred times, but the earrings and necklace are fairly ubiquitous as well. The top and the skirt are just cute. To be honest. If you browse my favorites on etsy you'll notice that I have a lot of items that show up on my girls.

God Is Bigger Than You Think

Check out my flickr stream to see a bigger, better version of this.

This piece started out as a sketch during youth group, I often do fun things with the message titles and since we were talking about how huge the universe is I added this little girl with her telescope.
I never intended the background to be so grungy - but I just kept adding textures. Almost entirely from Bittbox though the stars are from JoannaStar on Deviant Art.

Hopefully I'll have this available as an 8x10 print in my etsy shop soon.

All Images are property of Melody DuVal, please do not use in any way without permission.

Clay Chic's Bad Hair Day Earring's

I designed this curly haired girl for Clay Chic's Bad Hair Day Earrings. She makes these huge sterling earrings that are so stunning no one will be looking at your hair. She'll be making hang tags with this image on them.

All images on this blog are property of Melody DuVal. Please do not use with-out permission.

Summer Beauty

Check-out my flickr stream to see my latest piece in full!

It started out as just a doodle, but I loved the curve of her hair and her dress. I don't usually enlist outside help for my color choices, but this time I was inspired by Colour Lovers. I hope to have the print available in my etsy shop by the middle of June.

Life's Big Canvas

I was featured over on Life's Big Canvas today - lots of bright and colorful features over there, check it out!