IF - Voices

I was unsure of how to illustrate the topic, when I stared down at the piece I was working on as a gift and had and *aha* moment.
I did a portrait of Leslie Hall of Leslie and the Ly's fame. And if you've ever heard her music, you'd understand Voices.
She makes me feel warm and giggly inside.

IF-Similar

Betsy and Emma are so very SimilarI have a terrible scanner, and taking photos of it didn't work either... so this is what I have

Work in Progress - Patron Saints

So the theme for my final project for my painting class is "Patron Saints of the Absurd". So I've decided to paint three self portraits as absurd patron saints, that *actually* exist. The first in the three-part series is the patron saint of cake-makers. Oh, yeah.
The other three in progress will be uploaded when I get to them, until then, I won't say exactly what they are :)

Gouache on Watercolor block.


The original sketch, the eye is not right yet and my nose is too long.


I fixed the eye and the nose is more realistic.... gooooo cake!The more I look at the most current version, the more I'm not liking my eye. I'll leave all of that for when I get closer to painting the face...

Here's the photo I used for reference... excuse the weakness of the cake. After a long night of shooting the poor thing for reference... it melted under the hot lights. It originally looked really good.




I like this photo, but alas, it didn't make the cut.

Work in progress - Tightrope Suzette

I'm working on a tight rope walking circus gal.
Not a Disneyland rip-off, a girl that popped right into my head.

She's in Illustrator right now, just waiting to be finished!

IF-Detach

Yet another appropriate theme for me to illustrate.
I've been trying to teach myself the art of detaching so that I can stop being so sensitive to what other people say or do around me. Maybe detach to save myself from being hurt or heartbroken.
A piece of me to stay whole, and the other to escape.

If I detach too much... what will I sacrifice?

(Ink & Watercolor)

IF- Sail

Luckily, for once, the obvious didn't seep into my head when I put my pencil to the page this week.
Sailing to me, lately is a mixture of freedom, but with freedom comes a price. My body feels free to sail wherever it wants, but it seems I'm still tethered to the ground by my mind.
So this is what Sail means to me this week.

Colored pencil and graphite.
(Although, I think the original looks better than the scan)

Doll

I was really sad when I put this one together, its a bit of a self portrait. OK, it's an all out self portrait.
You get the idea.

I love love love paper dolls!

Gouache on watercolor paper & brads

Nosebleed

When I first started practicing with wet media (watercolor, ink and liquid acrylics) I wanted to do a series of nosebleeds. While I still want to do a small series, I keep finding myself busy with one new project after another.
But I have every intention of picking it up again. So watch this spot.

Poor Frenchie-poo

Poor Frenchie. His humans think it's cute to make him wear skirts. It's oh so oh la la!

IF - Sour

I don't know if this is too morbid for IF. But it's the VERY first thing that came into my head when I read the words "sour".

It's sort of self-explanatory.

Very, very, sour.

I felt sort of Bill Plympton(ish) while I was sketching this out. (While on my camping trip... hence the reason I'm posting it now.. I had no access to a scanner for a week!)

IF - Forgotten

This topic is timely. I just moved out of a state that I've lived in for 20 years. That's a majority of my adult life. I left my friends, my school, my apartment behind. I've also felt the emotional loss of losing the oldest friend in my life.
I've been feeling really lonely without my friends around, not getting any more phone calls or emails (out of sight, out of mind I guess), and knowing that my best and oldest friend has decided to put a pause on our friendship... has left me feeling very forgotten.

I was in the moment when I drew this up. I didn't do my usual sketch, resketch, edit, and fix routine.

Art Nouveau style

Sorting through some work from school I came upon a product illustration I did for some kind of natural hair care serum or something. My first post is from when I was first sketching it.

And being the Art Nouveau nut that I am...

Sketch

Concept sketch:

Watercolor and ink final:

They're cute, they're going on my Etsy

I wanted to do a little linoleum carving lately, so I cut down a piece I had to make tiny little animals expressing their love for you.
*retch*

Here's the linoleum, I'll post the prints when I make them.

I want to track my progress...

I'm doing a piece dealing with the death of my brother, and it's a painful piece to work on. It's taken me months to even get as far as I have on it. But I know there are a ton of changes that I am going to make on it.

So here's the sketch and the first bits of the painting.

I still have no other name for it, other than "Vengeance"

Body Image Doll

This is the rough cut out of the editorial illustration I did on body image. I'm still working on an updated version of the complete illustration.
I couldn't help but cut her out and assemble her. Although, I see issues with the doll, I'm going to correct what I think needs correcting in the final illustration. Then I'll go and have it printed out and then I'll reassemble her!

Then I'll take a photo of the completed doll and scan the art. Because a scan of this thing doesn't do the colors and the assembly justice.
(remember, this is a rough)

(I already know that there is a wonderfully talented artist who makes amazing art paper dolls. I found her stuff while doing research for mine. I'm not stealing her idea or concept, since I had the idea to create this before I found her.)

More schoolwork

Just a doodle to practice some transparent acrylic techniques. They have a different feeling than watercolors. Both of which I have to practice more of.

A doodle of my cat, Lucy Fur in transparent acrylic, ink, acrylic ink on gessoed illustration board.

Yet another school project

Which it seems that's all I've been doing lately. I don't have the energy or the creative metabolism to do my own thing. And I'm aching to!
This assignment was to create a product poster for Apple's iPod and I chose a theme of rock and roll.
I have a lot of friends into rockabilly things, and took this idea to another level. I didn't want a static piece where a girl was holding an ipod and listening to music, so I made it abstract.

I should have some of my own art soon.... I hope




And I'm realizing that watercolor is painful to master. I'm not aiming at mastering it, but I wish it was a little more easy, like oils. Or maybe it's because I'm so used to using oils and the ability to correct mistakes with that medium. Ooops, it's not the right color, that's ok, we'll blend it right in! In watercolor, you put that color down, it's down. Unless you realize your mistake right away and can mop it up. Just make sure you have the right color to put down afterward. I'm also learning that my hand-lettering skills leave A LOT to be desired!

In addition

And as I was working on a project for school, I look down at the illustration... and I had yet to add her eyes.
And she was staring at me with gaping holes.

Or, not staring at me as the case may be.