Home Sweet Home

Riding the Fox finally has a home here!

I went and bought myself a fancy pants domain and now have a space on the internet all my own to put up my art. I've only put up my current sketchbooks and art. I'll have to go digging for older stuff. It's nice to have someplace I can showcase my work. I'm still deciding if I want to incorporate the blog into it, or keep this blog here. I like what Blogger can do, but I kind of want everything consolidated. Especially since I'm terrible at keeping up with social media. You would think that Blogger would incorporate better with Google Sites, but maybe that will be a future improvement.

I think my goal for the year should be to work on being more consistent at posting things on Instagram and here on the blog. I've pretty much shuttered Tumblr since starting to write here, and I hate Facebook, so I only have an account there for a business account on Instagram. Don't try to find me on Facebook, I don't post anything there. I like Instagram still, even though they're owned by Facebook. If there is an alternative to Instagram that is visually similar and user friendly, please let me know. I plan on keeping Instagram and Pinterest active for RtF. That's about as much as I can handle social media wise.

Riding the Fox on Zazzle!

My first art love is drawing. I've been doodling since I could hold a pencil. All throughout high school I took as many art classes as I had time for. 2D art is my go-to, hands down favorite. I don't have access to a good enough printer to do my own prints, and I always liked the idea of functional art, so I've been looking for a home for my flatter designs. Embroidery is fun and popular, but each piece is a one-off. I usually don't repeat my work. So, aside from the one lucky recipient of a piece of embroidery art, I can't share what I make with a wider audience.

Now, I found Zazzle and created a shop.There's not much there yet, but to test things out I made a keychain with my cat, Bones.

No, just no. Bones the Cat Keychain
by RidingTheFox

My son, Alex, says she looks like she's dabbing, and wants the text to read "Dab", but that's his generation's thing. Maybe if it gets enough attention, I'll do another run of them that way. 

Bones has been one of our two cats for quite a few years. We got her when she was approximately 3 years old from the local Humane Society after one of our other cats died. While the husband and Alex were looking at cute, fluffy kittens, I kept being drawn back to her cage. She was just sitting there, with a patch shaved out of her side, one ear was clipped, and she just looked miserable. But, when we brought her into the little visitation room, she had the biggest purr I have ever heard.

We decided that she was the cat for us. The Humane Society told us that she was a stray, had probably had a litter of kittens sometime recently, the shaved patch was where they had to dig out a pellet that someone had shot her with, and to top it all off, someone had smashed her face so hard they had to remove her canine teeth on the top. It was her first day out on the floor. We took her home and it's been canned food and cuddles ever since. 

SPIDER!

So, the Husband found a spider packed in a box of inventory for the store he works at. From what I can tell, it's a giant crab spider, or huntsman spider. It's butt and a couple legs had fallen off, but I was able to reassemble it to the best of my ability. It is approximately 4" wide, from furthest tip to tip. 
I coated it in UV resin, (which is awesome and fun and I'm really going to have to get more so I can master working with it) while positioning the legs.
When it's completely done, I'll turn it into a necklace.

I need to trim up the excess resin, maybe add something shiny. I'm leaning towards using ribbon instead of chain, but that may change. Chain may be closer to a spiderweb look, but I like how ribbon works as a necklace.

This is a real spider, procured as ethically as possible. I don't kill creatures for my art. If I see an insect or other critter already dead, I'll use it. This one was found already dead, unfortunately shipped with merchandise from unknown lands. I'm hoping it will find its way into someone's life who will love and appreciate the beauty (and creepiness) of this big-ass arachnid.