Rachel E Schneider

New swell shoes

2011-10-12T11:38:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've painted shoes, but more are expected for the near future. For now: this pair (commissioned by a lovely kayaking lady) inspired by the Ipswich, which I have paddled down many times.

2011-10-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

Some hand-lettering from my sketch books

Mysterious Tea

2011-08-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

A baboon and a Bentley

2011-08-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

Two batches of sketches, very light pencil and very dark pencil:

You can see that some of these crossed the gutter in my sketchbook(s).

So Remiss...

2011-08-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

More sketches, I'm adding more to my back-log of scans, so expect more updates soon, as well as some posts on my current projects which include album covers, Noh inspired jewelry, and big paintings.

Pencil sketches

2010-09-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

sketch post: wagner time

2010-09-06T13:51:00.001-07:00

Another batch of sketches from old and current sketchbooks, this time pen and ink. Sammy, the cat, is likely to appear in most of these sketch posts as he is always around to pose and I see him so much that I can draw him from memory fairly easily.

King of Infinite Spaces

2010-09-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

This image ultimately stemmed from the reflections of the sky on the water of the small pond in front of this father and son. The feeling of a vast elongation of the world through the mirroring of water and sky laid out before the two of them made me think of one of the defining books of my childhood, Sophie's World, one of the messages of which that a child (and, ideally philosophers) have an endless capacity for wonder and discovery. For that little boy, there was no break between the solid world in front of him and the untouchable mystery of the blue sky, only an infinite world of possibility.

Some sketches and....

2010-08-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

the niftiest music video I've ever seen. I'm sad that Google doesn't have enough photos of my childhood home, but the rest of you might be luckier. My brother recently played the new Arcade Fire album for me, specifically the song "Rococo", which he correctly assumed I'd like. It reminds me uncannily of my high school Art History class.

I've been culling drawings from some of my more recent sketchbooks so as to have some filler for in between posts of finished pieces. I've been dividing them up by media, and black and white verses color, but the years are all mixed in, although unless I grab my older sketchbooks from my parents' house, none of these will be from earlier than 2008.

Dangerous Trails

2010-08-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a new piece, the first illustration in a new method of working for me. I've always wanted to work on top of photos, but for whatever reasons had never gotten around to actually doing it. This, and another illustration that I will be posting soon, are my test runs of the actual process, although they are purely digital painting and photography, later on I'll be working in traditional media as well.

The photo was taken on a little day hike in my hometown, Middleton, MA. This particular hike had several children in the group and they proved to be great fodder for my impulsive picture taking. The idea for this image actually came from the teenagers that came along for the hike, however. Several of them wandered off mid-hike (they had come on the hike for a school assignment and, naturally, when they felt they had fulfilled their academic obligation they left.) Even in Middleton it's not the best idea to go off on your own in the woods when you aren't familiar with the area. I thought that, rather than just becoming lost, wouldn't it be fantastic if something really unexpected happened to those wily teens? So, when I looked through my photos and saw this boy stepping aimlessly off camera, I knew he had to be stepping somewhere dangerous.

Salem Arts Festival

2010-06-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hey, if you're here because you saw my work up at the Salem Arts Festival, and are interested in buying a piece, just email me your number and I'll call you as soon as possible.

Untitled & Unwritten

2010-05-06T11:36:00.000-07:00

The show is coming up fairly soon. I'm going to start posting my images here, for now here's a line up of all nine chapters.

Go over and check out the show's official blog at: http://untitledunwritten.blogspot.com/

Both Marika and I have all our images up there, and we're encouraging people to add to the show by helping to fill in the story that these images represent.

I think I'm funny...

2010-05-03T19:30:00.001-07:00

I really do!

My former roommate and good friend Sarah sent me this:

which I apparently drew for her at some point. I have a lame sense of humor, and I think it's hilarious. Each time I look at it I laugh. The simple pleasures in life.

It's coming!

2010-03-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

this is the image for the postcard for the show, it was fun to do some ink work.

so much

2010-03-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

I'm fairly busy trying to pump out work for the show, here's a little preview:

my work for this show is full to the gills with 50's style clothing, different lighting effects, and much more elaborate backgrounds than I usually do. Crazy.

Where the "magic" happens

2010-01-17T17:15:00.000-08:00

This is what my studio looks like. Pretty swanky, I know. It is happily covered with posters, art, and the postcards/business cards of fabulously talented people (although they keep falling down and are mostly covered in the pictures...) You can see the painting I'm finishing up right now, and the final drawing for the nest one I'm working on.

A preview of things to come...

2010-01-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

.....a detail from a painting I'm currently working on, for my show with Marika. I do love painting fabric, and I'm trying to relish it because the next painting has a lot of straight lines!

Happy Holidays

2009-12-28T11:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a painting I made as a gift for my dad. Hope everyone enjoyed last week, and had a good year.

bird catching

2009-12-14T10:16:00.001-08:00

Well! Right now I'm working on some personal paintings, as well as doing work for a collaborative show with Marika Mccoola. Another little thing I'm doing on the side, for fun, is a series of character designs for The Magic Flute. Or rather, The Magic Flute if it was ever turned into an RPG. It's something I started for an assignment back in school and it was pretty fun, so I thought I'd revisit it. Here's the first finished character design, my favorite character, Papageno!

Three of the other characters have already been started, but since I have so many other projects going, I can't say when they'll be ready for posting.

Art for your feet!

2009-09-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

So, the story behind these is: I got a free pair of shoes, but they were hideously white, so I painted them. My mom liked them, so I painted her a pair. Then, since other people liked that pair, I decided to start doing them for money. These are the first three pair of shoes. I love making patterns.

Second done

2009-07-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

Second in the series, this one for The Queen of Attolia. I'm getting more of a feeling for this new digital color process I've been trying. However, the third will probably take more time in coming than this one.

The powdered graphite drawing:

The digital sketch (less or a departure from sketch to final for this one than with the first):

Still going

2009-07-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

Well! So many things have been going on lately that I haven't even thought about updating. No longer! Here's a new bit of art!

So this is from a series of images I'm working on inspired by Megan Whalen Turner's YA books. This is for book one, The Thief.

I decided (for reasons I'm not too sure of) to do digital finishes for the series. The plus side is, because I wasn't going to be painting, I got to use powdered graphite for the drawing, which I haven't used in ages. So, here's the drawing :

And here's the digital sketch:

New things have happened

2009-05-28T15:12:00.001-07:00

I am always absurdly pleased with myself anytime I manage to do anything in HTML, so imagine my delight now that I have set up the store section of my website all by myself.

Success, you are so delicious.

It's still a work in progress, so I only have things up in the prints section, and nothing is actually buyable yet. And those are just stand in prices....but still!

irresistable

2009-05-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

I am so in love with this blog it captivates me. Especially when it puts up images like:

this

this
this
and this

wrapping it up

2009-05-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

Well, commencement show is going up this week, and I am ready to get out of here. It's been great (mostly) MICA.

The Mighty Allansaurous

2009-04-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

Huzzah!

2009-04-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

Great news! My website is up and running! Thanks so much to the wonderful Sarah!

storyboard (part two)

2009-04-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

These are the posters that the little boy finds in my thesis children's book, FULL MOON. They pull out of the book.

story board (part one)

2009-04-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

I decided to put my digital sketches for my thesis children's book up here. The pages/spreads with a pink dot in the corner are ones that are/will shortly be put up in their final state on my webiste.

how did this happen?

2009-04-15T12:19:00.001-07:00

I don't know. It's a cover image, the text is coming, but it's not done yet.

what I'm working on right now...

2009-04-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

in progress full page color illustration of "A Study in Emerald" for Sean Murray's Fantasy Art class.

gouache and pastel

update?

2009-04-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

This blog is so neglected, but I have been busy. So, upadates:

currently working on illustrating Neil Gaiman's story "A Study in Emerald", above is one of the spots.

I've also been steadily finishing up my illustrations for a series of fantasy and horror short stories.

Both projects are going well, I'm really enjoying combining gouache and pastel. The pastel eases me through my usual dislike of gouache.

ALSO: the wonderful Sarah is setting up my website for me, now that I've actually done the design and gotten (most) of the files ready. So, expect www.racheleschneider.com to be ready soon!

First Post, finally.

2008-12-23T06:09:00.001-08:00

So here they are, my Chinese folktale paintings. I'll try to post more frequently than this.