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The Upstairs Archives

~ A random repository of how-to-write and geekery, with an occasional snippet of accidental wisdom.

The Upstairs Archives

Blog Archives

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Happy Easter!

05 Sunday Apr 2015

Tags

catholic culture, catholicism, easter, happy easter!, living life with passion, religious life, religious themes, roman catholic

If you can't see this pic, you're missing out. :-P

Medium: Sketch paper and pencil. And a lot of time and hard work.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Thanks for stopping by. 🙂 Have a wonderful Easter, and may God bless you today and always!)

(Some of you might be wondering about the symbolism in the art. The cross is obvious enough, but that ain’t no Phoenix. Also, why it’s titled “Pelican” but doesn’t look like an actual… well, pelican. That latter part is because I’m a lazy artist who prefers to stylize her birds. Also, symbolism. Anyway, I’m not surprised if you don’t know the Pelican–it’s a lesser-known icon in religious symbolism. The Pelican is said to pierce its breast and give its blood to feed its young in times of famine, preserving the lives of its children, but often dying in the process. As such, it has become a symbol of the Savior. Geeky but awesome stuff–like an albatross represents the sinner returning home. Anyway, you can go on with your lives now. If I’ve brought an interesting new fact into your trivia folder, I say, “Mission complete.”)

Posted by erinkenobi2893 | Filed under Artwork, Living Life with Passion

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19 Wednesday Mar 2014

Tags

baroness emma orczy, han solo, humor, star wars, the scarlet pimpernel

Just completely random stupidity. Sorry about the image quality.

Enjoy!1391748265-starwarsep-osir-percyhan what the

Posted by erinkenobi2893 | Filed under Uncategorized

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Awed Beside His Ancestors

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

Tags

artwork, completely random posts, rambling musings, star wars

On with the show.

He stands at the feet of his spiritual ancestors.

He stands at the feet of his spiritual ancestors.

An unnamed Jedi stands at the feet of his ancestors in spirit. The person in the stained-glass window is Erin Kenobi (the first Erin Kenobi,) a former outlander Jedi who joined the Jedi Order when it was first formed and fought in the first war against the Sith, before the Republic was even created. She could be considered either Obi-Wan’s spiritual ancestor or his great-aunt, a thousand generations removed. Take your pick.

And… is that Obi-Wan in the corner, dwarfed by the image? I don’t know. It COULD be. 😉 I apologize for the comparatively poor quality… I didn’t take as much time over this sketch as I usually do.

Media: Pencil on sketch paper.

Erin Kenobi is one of my characters (as well as being my username). There are actually two Jedi named Erin Kenobi– the second lived post-Return of the Jedi and was a grandniece of Obi-Wan Kenobi. She’s the character I most often act as. Thanks for checking in, and God Bless!

Posted by erinkenobi2893 | Filed under Artwork, Uncategorized

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A Long, Long Way To Coruscant

09 Monday Dec 2013

Tags

artwork, completely random posts, rambling musings, star wars

All right, so my last drawing was Obi being naughty and getting in trouble. It’s time for some cuteness and cuddles… so to speak. Never fear, though, oh ye who do not hug. It’s very subdued, if very cute. 😉

Just some sweetness... never mind me...

Just some sweetness… never mind me…

Oh, darn it. It cut off their boots!

Never mind… *mutters* I worked hard at getting those just right, too…

So this picture has basically no backstory, except that Obi-Wan was very tired one day, and fell asleep on his master’s shoulder. Incidentally, this picture is older and I had less time to perfect my technique, so no flames, please. It’s still cute… I hope.

Media: Started with pencil on sketch paper, then outlined in pen.

Thanks for checking in! God Bless!

Posted by erinkenobi2893 | Filed under Artwork, Uncategorized

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He Doesnae Doodle!

06 Friday Dec 2013

Tags

artwork, brave, brian jacques, completely random posts, disney, merida, redwall, star wars

“A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.” — Jedi Grand Master Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back

Hey! It’s me again, with some more of that mysterious artwork I promised. Hmm… I should start posting some of my Redwall stuff as well, should I not? ;-P

Anyway, moving on, here we go with the next piece of snarkiness, a la Erin Kenobi…

Obi-Wan can't be an angel all the time...

Obi-Wan can’t be an angel all the time…

In this little masterpiece, we have a young (very young!) Obi-Wan who still has much to learn, and who isn’t moving very fast toward learning it.

In a word, he’s daydreaming–and doodling–when he should be paying attention to his Master.

Naughty Obi.

Er, ahem. ;-P

Anyway, I suppose that piece of ridiculousness needs some explanation. And I suppose that it’s also not quite good enough to demur that Ewan McGregor is a Scotsman. Soooooo… basically, the kid decided to act up and draw art not in art class, just like a certain princess of Dun Broch in Brave. I don’t know if he was in Geography or not, but still. He was doodling around, so to speak. And Qui-Gon caught him.

“A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. HE DOESNAE DOODLE!” Yoda AND Elinor ;-P

Media used: Started with pencil on sketch paper, outlined in pen.

And, Obi-Wan…

I want a desk like that.

Posted by erinkenobi2893 | Filed under Artwork, Uncategorized

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A New Hope (For The Hero’s Dream)

05 Thursday Dec 2013

Tags

artwork, battlefield of the soul, completely random posts, nanowrimo 2013, national novel writing month, rambling musings, shifting tides series, star wars, the hero's dream

I’m sorry about the delay in posting the first part of Battlefield of the Soul. The clips and snatches I wrote it in have been uncommonly gnarly, and it’s becoming a character sketch for multiple of its enactors, so unfortunately it may take me a while to finish it. Apologies, once again.

However, on the bright side, now that National Novel Writing Month is over, I have taken up drawing once again. Still haven’t figured how to use that thingummybobbin (what a luscious word! I almost wish I was British at this rate. ;-P) that some Internet entities use to color their drawings on the computer, without struggling with colored pencils. So for now, I’m limited to line and shade, sadly… My drawing pad likes to smear, so when I do a sketch in pencil I have to either a) scan it in a hurry or b) ink the lines and erase the pencil. And that’s the same reason why I can’t color in these drawings by hand. (Sigh…)

And now, for you lovers of the Shifting Tides series, I have a special treat.

Obi-Wan's appearance in "The Hero's Dream" and sequels.

Obi-Wan’s appearance in “The Hero’s Dream” and sequels.

This is intended to be concept art, and I’m afraid… *cough* that in my opinion, it doesn’t look very much like Ewan McGregor at all… but it’s better than my former attempts. Sorry.

The tattoos are supposed to be blue, but since this was a bi-color sketch I wound up drawing them in black. The one that circles around under his left eye is the famed “Flame of Deriaka,” mark of the Royal House. The one on the forehead is a black orchid, meant to evoke the fleur-de-lis. It’s sort of the Sith version of it. (No apologies to any modern organization. The French monarchy copyrighted this first. Heehee.) And the one on the lower cheek is a bramble… rose among thorns… get it? ;-P

Anyway, so that’s my drawing of Obi-Wan as he appears in The Hero’s Dream. And my dad is kicking me off the computer to clean up.

Media: Pencil on sketch paper. I used my mechanical pencil with .5 mm leads. Believe it or not, art can be made from something mundane! 😉

Thanks for reading and/or browsing, and God Bless!

Posted by erinkenobi2893 | Filed under Artwork, Uncategorized

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The Breath

14 Thursday Nov 2013

Tags

author, baroness emma orczy, bbc merlin, brave, brian jacques, c.s. forester, completely random posts, confusing nonsense, contrast, disney, hornblower, insanity, j.r.r. tolkein, long rants, lord of the rings, madeleine l'engle, merida, rambling musings, redwall, small rants, star wars, story dynamics, the scarlet pimpernel

Once again, my readers, I am back, and this time bringing to you a well-known plot device–so well-known, perhaps, that maybe you don’t even think of it like this. Maybe you don’t even know it, but I’ll bet you’ve probably been using it, unconsciously, all through your writing life.

I’m talking about the phenomenon known as breathe. Or, more simply, take a breath and keep on living.

But this is actually two things, and probably you’ve been using them both. The first one is the actual deep breath before the plunge.

The second is still more innocuous. I don’t know if it even has a name, properly, so I’m going to call it The Breath.

The Breath has only two requirements, and they are as follows:

  1. There must be a look shared between two characters; as in they must meet each other’s eyes. (Gasp!) Even though this is a social no-no.
  2. Is the redeeming feature. This simple look, only a few milliseconds long, must also convey some meaning.

That’s it. But, if you think about it, The Breath is meaningful and an important element in literature. It says the things that characters never otherwise say. It bears meaning.

It’s like paisley. It started out sharing a name with a little town in Scotland, and now it’s a recurrently popular pattern.

Popular and pretty.

Popular and pretty.

Now, for the examples. It’s like when Merlin and Arthur exchange a glance, and Arthur leaps out and attacks the bandits. Or when Anakin and Obi-Wan exchange a glance–at exactly the same moment—before Anakin’s little line “What will happen to me now?” Sheesh, even Obi-Wan’s look at the camera right after Qui-Gon’s line “I will train him” could be counted–even though, technically, this is a look at the audience and not at another character. Or Keyla looking at Dwurp and knowing he’s been betrayed. Or you could see Frodo and Sam glance at each other just before Frodo says, “I’m glad you are here with me, Sam. Here at the end of all things.” Or it could be the look when Meg Murry and her brother Charles Wallace Murry share after he’s been ill, or the one between Meg and Calvin O’Keefe when they know they don’t exactly have to kythe, just be in communion with each other. Or maybe it’s Horatio Hornblower and Bunting looking at each other and by that, Hornblower knows that the heretofore troublemaker won’t be instigating a mutiny–anyway, not this time. Or Merida and Elinor smiling at each other after Merida turned aside a potential disaster.

See? Prevalent.

Like paisley.

Posted by erinkenobi2893 | Filed under Story Dynamics, Uncategorized

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You never know…

09 Wednesday Oct 2013

Tags

completed stories, completely random posts, contrast, j.r.r. tolkein, lord of the rings, rambling musings, short stories, small rants, song-related fiction, star wars, story dynamics

Crucified

This is just a piece of randomness that I decided to post, just because. 😉 It’s just one of these things that happen… Welcome to a day in the life of an author.

You Never Know

T’karti closed her eyes against evening chill. It was cold, and she was far from home, and alone. She was a cast-off of society, forgotten. No one knew–no one even cared that she had been taken by cruel men, sold into slavery. No one cared. There would be no rescue. There was no hope.

That was when she heard it. The voice, young, pure, resonant, clear as crystal, sweet and strong, childlike treble melting into youthful tenor. It was a fragile thing, only a little thing, yet it gave her hope.

Home is behind

The world ahead

And there are many paths to tread

T’karti struggled forward in an attempt to push through the crowd of other downtrodden unfortunates. Something miraculous was happening. Even the most exhausted and broken of the slaves lifted up their heads, the first fingers of a hopeful future showing over the horizon. T’karti pushed past the others in the hopes of getting a glimpse of the singer. She was already in love with his voice.

Through shadows

To the edge of night

Until the stars are all alight

There was no fear, no pain, only golden light. There was hope.

Mist and twilight

Cloud and shade

Away shall fade

All shall…

A whiplash silenced the song. T’karti froze. A moment’s dead silence. But then the last note still rang out in triumph.

Fade!

Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi bit his lip against the searing lash that shot a white line of fire across his vision. He did not care. Hope was precious, but it was meant to be given away, and he might have just made someone, somewhere, a little happier.

You never know.

Author’s note: Okay, I know I stole the song from J.R.R. Tolkien, but still. 😉 It was all for the best, and I love it, anyway. I know this is shorter than most of my stories, but it’s only an interlude and could really fit in just about anywhere, into any story where Obi-Wan is sold into slavery as a Padawan. 😉 Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story, and God Bless! 🙂

Posted by erinkenobi2893 | Filed under Tales of a Wandering Bard, Uncategorized

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