Happy Holidays!

Have a great weekend everyone!

I'll be back next week (and hope to share the painting that I finally finished last night, yay!).

A little mouse

It is a busy week and you'll probably only see one more post from me before the weekend.  Next week might be a little light on posts too but then I hope to get back to more frequent postings.

I had fun with this little mouse (painted in acrylic gouache on illustration board).  You've seen him before here.  And I tried to keep in mind the previous illustration of this owl while working on him.  I like where these are going and plan to try the same ideas on illustrating a person next.  But first I want to work on another vintage photograph (like these) so I hope to share that next week along with a painting I am going to finish this week, by golly.  Sometimes a painting will take me way too long and this is one of those.  But I have to finish it now as I have to get to the next one which will be in an upcoming group show.  So it must be done!

Much to do, have a good couple of days and I'll check in once more probably on Friday.

A doodle sketch

A random little sketch and doodle from the weekend.  Have a good and a not too chaotic week!

New Painting

"Capturing the stars before they faded to memory" acrylic gouache on 11 x 14 inch panel.

New painting just added to my shop.  A few details:

I enjoyed painting the not-fully-painted boy.  Hope to do a few more like that.  

Have a great weekend!

Owl Illustration

A little owl illustration.  Have a great day!

New Pens

New pens (new to me anyway): Faber-Castell Artist Pens.  I just discovered these, which is why I have so few, and have really enjoyed using them.  What I like: they don't bleed through the back of the page (unless I really, really saturate it), after applying the color I have a few minutes to use a wet brush to move around the color a bit but then once it is dry it is essentially waterproof (and I have found that helpful for layering the applications), and the tips are so brush-like and smooth to use.

Below is an illustration of a mineral, and other stuff, using these pens plus a little bit of colored pencil.  This particular drawing is less than an inch so you are seeing it much larger here.

Owl sketching

While working on an owl illustration I thought I'd sketch some owls.  So many amazing kinds of owls and they are so expressive.  

Some Paintings

Milla

Some paintings to share.  You might have already seen them on my Flickr but just in case.  Each is painted in acrylic gouache and on 5 x 5 inch panels.  I had so much fun painting these you can expect to see more in the future.  The one above and the first two below are now in my Etsy shop.

Marcus

Marta

And the following four are at the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery for their holiday showcase:

Minerva

Wendell

Ansel

Fern

And while I'm on the subject, I also added this painting into my shop just today. 

Into the woods

Have a great weekend everyone!

Illustrating Vintage Photos

A couple of new illustrations.  Vintage photographs reproduced onto a nice paper for painting or other media.  That chevron pattern, I think it is called, took me an eternity to paint (used acrylic gouache).  And the lower one I did just a little bit of collage in addition to painting.

Inspiring

I found this inspiring piece in a book I recently acquired from my local used/new book store called American Anthem Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum.  Love this book, folk art is so inspiring to me for many reasons.

This particular piece jumped out at me because of the gorgeous color.  It is called "Three Faces in Lush Landscape" by Minnie Evans and is oil on canvas with collage and is dated 1959.  You can read more about Minnie Evans here.  Her life sounds challenging and fascinating.

I will likely be sharing more from this book in the future and I hope you enjoy it.  Every page is filled with amazing American folk art and designs.  I can't seem to get enough of them!

The Studio Helper

Most of you probably don't know I do most of my work with a little green bird on my shoulder.  We got in the habit, he and I, of having him sit on me while I paint and now he won't let me do otherwise.

He knows the time of day when I normally paint and will alert me that this is HIS time.  Mostly, it works very well.  He sits, he preens, he tries very hard not to leave little presents on my back.  Other times, he tries to bite my brush.  But, after a gentle (or not so gentle) warning that he will be returned to his cage he reluctantly returns to his perch on my shoulder, nestling into my hair.  Probably heaving a little bird sigh.

His name is Rudy and he is a green cheek conure.  We call him a "he" but we actually don't know.

A little portrait I made for my husband this last year.  Rudy immortalized.

In My Sketchbook

A couple of sketches over the weekend.  My sketches lately are either planning for an upcoming painting or practicing.  I want to practice drawing and painting all different sorts of things but particularly nature and then doing whatever comes to mind with that little bit of nature.  I just let the sketches go where they will which is why they might seem a little random.  It is all about practicing and brainstorming.

It was a busy weekend of all sorts of holiday preparations and I'm already feeling that familiar holiday overload and am trying to ignore the fact that it is only the 5th.  I do love this season, but boy oh boy is it exhausting!

The last beekeeper

"The last beekeeper" Acrylic gouache on 6 x 6 inch panel.

Now in my shop, this little painting has given me some ideas for the next paintings.  Simple background, something I've been craving with the larger pieces but unsure how to proceed until now (and by larger I mean 6 x 6 inches and up).

Have a great weekend!