"Fall"

Pencil drawing of "Fall"

A quick technical sketch has turned into a 4 part project. I've decided to name this piece "Fall" and am going ahead with three more pieces that will illustrate the three other seasons. I didn't expect this sketch to inspire three more but sometimes that does happen. The recent portrait sketches I did have now found a home. Spring will be a woman and child and winter and summer will be represented by male figures. I'll probably start "Winter" tonight while "Fall" is drying. The bottom left portion is very mangled with the corn stalks and color but it will make sense once everything dries and things are allowed to pop.

Watercolor and acrylic layering

Adding oil paints for details

Sketches and notes for the
other three seasons.

More Sketching

More sketching going on here in the studio. I need to keep my hand moving. These were my favorites from today's session:







Ignore the hand. It looks
like I ran it through a blender...I know.
Next week...I'll practice hands.

Some Days

Inspired by his neck

Some days you just have to throw your hands up in the air and go out for a drink with a good friend! That is exactly what I did this past Saturday when my week turned into this tumultuous event of highs and lows. Chocolate martinis (and some vanilla ones too) turned out to be the perfect remedy for such an unpredictable week.

Odd and artist is a natural combination so when I walked into the bar (earlier than my friend) all eyes were fixated on me and of course my rhinestone tiara. My friend was recently lamenting how it is never a good time to wear a tiara unless you're getting married or are a fictional princess. Having been very inspired months ago by cousin Angela to wear my tiara often and wear it proudly, most especially when times are tough, we decided that this Saturday was the perfect day to bring out the head bling.

I hate waiting, but have learned to come prepared with a sketchbook for such times. Sitting in a bar alone as a woman is never a comfortable situation, but add a sparkly tiara to the mix and you have a delicious recipe for being super uncomfy! So, out came the sketchbook (which always raises my comfort level) and down went some fairly decent drawings....that is, until the first martini hit my lips. I could have sworn I drew more but I think they got lost between martinis, laughter and song.

Off Day

It was an "off" day creatively in the studio. I just couldn't focus on applying paint to bristol so I sketched just to keep my hand moving. There was about an hour's worth of good sketching this morning. These are some of my favorites from the session. (It was fun to try and capture annoyance/anger in the faces.)

Break's Over....

Well that was a nice little break! I just needed a bit of time away from writing and sharing happenings in the studio. For the past month I've been redesigning my illustration website and preparing for some exciting stuff happening in the spring. For now though, I've been doing a bit of illustrating along with commission work. Here are a few pieces to share with you:

Tree Mural (cont.)

Revised sketch of tree

The process....

So the gnarly fat tree I drew the other day for the wall mural was given some revisions. "Make it thinner and to the left" was the suggestion. Although I was quite married to the original version I can see how this change will work better on a wall around furniture. Part of creating a wall mural is first showing the client a fairly accurate sketch. The artist can't deviate from this sketch once approved. Artist liberty is saved for other projects. Going from quick sketch to painted sketch is done by using a cheap light box....aka the window.

Makeshift light box

Drawing transferred to watercolor paper

After the original approved sketch is traced through the window onto water color paper it is then taped to a flat board. I have one special board I use for all my illustrations. I'm a bit superstitious about it and tend to use only this particular board. It has years of paint and tape and even clay attached to it. There is something soothing and familiar about those marks. After the paper is firmly attached I begin painting using a combination of water color paints and watered down acrylics. The paper usually takes quite a beating (hence the need to tape it down firmly). This particular sketch took about 3 hours to bring to finish.

The owner of Divine Rooms (whom I'm working with on this project) approved the sketch and sent it off to the client. We now we wait to see if the client approves it for the wall. I'm rather excited to begin putting paint to wall.

Tree colored and ready for client to view

Tree Mural

Tree for Nursery

Currently I am mentally and physically preparing to paint a mural with Divine Rooms. Mentally I need to draw and paint the subject over and over in my head days, even weeks before the project starts. Physically I need to sketch several ideas out and then hone in on one that pleases me. There have been some changes by the client on this one which I'll work on tonight but basically this is the tree that will grace the wall of a nursery. The crib will stand right under the main branch.