"bird deaths" (a pair with "wake up")

("Bird Deaths" © 2011 Amanda Russel)

(ink, gouache, mod podge and newsprint strips on canvas)

Out of classes for the summer!

Look for more frequent updates!

(sharpie on watercolor paper )

2011 © Amanda Russel

("Real Purdy Mouth," ballpoint pen and ink, copyright 2011)

I've been drawing a lot of portraits and trying to sharpen my skills at rendering the human skeleton and form.  I've been looking at a lot of old anatomical illustrations, especially of skeletons and of religious imagery. I've been drawing a lot of Virgin Mary portraits, for whatever reason. I'm thinking of getting another Virgin Mary tattoo, actually. Of an older, more Latin-inspired style, with three eyes- two on one side, one on the other. 

On the life front, I have moved back into my own place and room, and I am continuing to go to school.

On the health front, I am continuing to frequent the hospital to various doctors' appointments, and to receive both monthly chemotherapy and, more recently, plasmapheresis treatments. So far, nothing has made much of a difference, and I am still paralyzed from about an inch above my bellybutton down.  I continue not to give up hope that I will regain at least partial feeling and mobility at some point.

("Shot My Feet," colored pencil, 2011 copyright Amanda Russel)

Marpessa Dawn

(gouache on cardboard)

(copyright 2011)

What I'm currently working on:

(From a screenshot I took of Lady Gaga's new video, "Born This Way")

(gouache and micron pen)

"A Meal For One"

Progress.

"Taste this, it's terrible"

I am making progress on my poetry book. Here is what I've got in terms of the illustrations so far:

(cover)

("Brushing my teeth")

("December 3, 2010)"

("A haiku")

(All images copyright Amanda Russel, 2011)