Illustration Friday: FADED

I wasn't sure I wanted to post this picture--ever--since the feelings behind it are personal, but I thought this fit the theme quite well in my mind.

Last month I had major surgery done and this picture was born of the feelings produced by the event. Normally I don't scare easily, but I was pretty shaken up just before I went under the knife. I felt, indeed, as though I was fading. Another way to see it is that those feelings have faded with my recovery, or hopefully will in entirety very soon. The damage done has also begun to fade.

So, that's my peice. If it looks like a bunch of scribbles to you, then you aren't far off! I started off seriously and then went crazy. Sort of experimenting, in part giving up. A crazy piece, for me.

Illustration Friday: Heights

Well, let's just say that this girl loves heights. Aparently she found the cliff so alluring that she left the prince at the ball just to go see what was over the edge. All that formality got to her, I think.

Anyway, sorry this is more of a sketch this time. I barely got it done, and didn't even finish a picture for last weeks topic (I had a good idea and everything!). The pictures I spend the most time on look the worst. This picture took me all of about two minutes and it made the cut. So, there you go. simplicity is best. And I didn't want to muddy it up with a lot of color--becuase I tend to get carried away in that arena as well--so I opted for a two color scheme.

I'm sure I will one day look back on this time of life and shake my head.

What was I thinking?

And The Cow Jumped Over The Moon...

Here is a picture I did for my cousin as one of her baby shower gifts from moi. I forgot to take a picture and she graciously sent me a copy. I took pictures of it in the works (which I will also include below), but must have been distracted when I finished.

This is my version of the cow jumping over the moon. I know most artists actually have the cow going over the moon, but I thought it made more sense that the cow THINK she is jumping over it, but in reality only jumping over the reflection. Deep, I know =). And you might not know this to look at it (or maybe you would), but I really struggled with that little dog. Boy, was he trying my patience. The cat, I actually found a picture of someone's cat standing on its hind legs, so that wasn't too tough. And I was never good at drawing cows, or horses for that matter. You wouldn't think it would be that difficult, given the fact that I spent the first thirteen years of my life on a farm. But all in all, I was pleased with the way this turned out. Otherwise it would have seen the trash bin and not a fluffy pink package wrapped for the giving.

So, there you have it. While the Farmer is sound asleep in bed, he is blissfully unaware that his animals and dishes are throwing a party, celebrating the secret love affair and ultimate elopement of the dish and spoon. The cow is the most giddy of them all, and the little doggy is laughing hysterically at the spectacle she is making of herself. The cat, really, is just happy he has an audience to play his music for. And the trees, well, have no idea...

Vocal: Illustration Friday

At first when I heard the prompt : vocal, I had a picture of a cat in mind yowling at the moon, with a tree beside it 'plugging' its ears. Well, I did that one and messed it up, so started working on a different one =). This lady is obviously vocal. I imagine that when she is not on stage, she is still as loud. Again, my scanner is not my friend. Sorry about the quality.

Illustration Friday

Here is my submission for Illustration Friday. Possibly not my best work, but I'm trying it out nonetheless =)

Close-up of girl. I modeled her after my own girls and what they wish they could come home with after going on a vacation.

Lady with flower

This was a quick-o sketch I did while watching LDS Conference. She is surrounded by impressive architecture, and yet she would rather 'smell the roses'. Again, just playing around with style and color. Still haven't reached my peak. Feel free to give harsh, constructive criticism.

(and yes, I realize her legs are too short =). I usually don't follow the rule, start with the head and hope it all works out...which it didn't in this case. But like the picture says, she is no beauty, so I like to think that her legs are disproportionate in real life.)

Girl on the lawn

These next few posts will be me trying to turn this into an actual art blog instead of just my portfolio. I realize, as I look at professional artists, that I'm only halfway there, and in all reality I wasn't planning on making this a weekly thing, but perhaps I'll give it a go and try to balance my writing blog and art blog all at once. (Wow, talk about run-on sentences. My writing blog would blush).

Anywho, this here is just a practice sketch I did a while back. Trying out a different style.

PS. Sorry about the quality of the picture. I had to use my camera to first photograph it and then load it onto my computer because my scanner isn't working for me.

The Monster Book completed

I can't  believe it took me so long to post this. But here it is, finally, for all to see. The Finished Monster Book:
PS. Sorry about the Smilebox slideshow. I'm not liking the fact that you have to click on it and then it opens up a new tab. LAME! We'll see if we can't find a new way to post.

Picture slideshow created with Smilebox

Christmas project

 Sorry these pictures are so tiny. I will be taking better ones as the project gets finished. This year for Christmas I decided I really wanted to do a monster book for my kids. If you're an Anthropologie fan like me, you'll have seen their Monster book for kids which is almost as tall as a child. Mine will be a little different. It will still be bigger than normal at about three feet by two feet (-ish), and it will be made of cloth like theirs, only without the hard cover (unfortunately funds won't allow me to go all out in that arena). Also, the artwork is a little different and instead of just made-up monsters (I was lacking creativity at the time), I decided I wanted to do the monsters from legend and myth as well as the imaginary. Here are three of the ones I chose to do:

The Griffin, the Cyclops and Medusa. I also have a Dragon, Fairy, Mermaid, Pegasus ( I know, not a monster, but it is myth and I used to love Pegasus' when I was young), reg. Monsters (the kind that hide under your bed and in your closet), and a Giant. I'm thinking next I will do a Basilisk. They weren't what I thought at all. JK Rowling's idea however awesome (and I really do love it, don't get me wrong), was way off course concerning these creatures. There are real lizards holding the name of Basilisk and they are the coolest animals. They are very small, actually, with cool head gear and poisonous (or so the legend states) and they are so fast when they run that they can actually glide on top of the water. Very cool.

Also, you might be thinking, why is she doing mermaids and fairies etc? Well, they may be 'cute' creatures, but there cuteness actually is their way of charming mortals to their doom, which I find extremely interesting as well as horrifying. And Medusa as far as I have read (and perhaps I should read up more to double check) wasn't as ugly as she is portrayed in the old movies. She used to be a muse, who I assume were beautiful, and was cursed into her snake-hair-stone-making-eye fate. I tried to make her look angry. Hope it worked.

I'm still struggling as to what I should do for my last two characters. I was thinking Vampire and Swamp Thing, but I'm really not set on those. I feel like Vampires are off the path I want to take (and way over done these days) and The Swamp Thing is more of a comic book character, not mythological. So, I'm open to suggestions. Only be quick because I've got to knock this thing out as soon as I can.

After the pictures are all completed I will be sewing it all together between a cloth cover made to look like shiny snake skin (really cool). Then I will do the text so that I can make sure it is evenly placed on the page and doesn't get cut off in the cracks. I will use different kinds of type for that and freehand it onto the cloth. Like I said before, I will take pictures when the project is completed. Cross your fingers that I don't mess up! (I probably do. I'm a pantser when it comes to my artwork). Wish me luck!

Lost pictures...

I was looking through some older photos on another blog of mine and found some missing pictures that I never uploaded to this site. (If any of these are duplicates...sorry). Descriptions below. Oh, and please don't judge me entirely by the quality of these pieces. I hope I've improved =).

1. This first painting is one I was excited to do. It's different than anything I've done before. I found this old cabinet door at a salvage store and the scripture printed on the bottom holds the inspiration behind the piece. So, you'll just have to go and read it now, won't you? =) Obviously I copied a little of Warren Kimble's style. At the time he was one of my favorites.

2. Here is a close-up of one of the walls in the daughter's room. The first murals I ever painted were in that bedroom. This wall was unfinished and I forgot to take the picture and stick it in with the rest of the Cinderella pics. I was especially proud of the way this vase and stool turned out. I think right then I started understanding how to paint on walls. It's a whole new ballgame when you are working on such a large surface, and with no way to really adjust your 'canvass'. Now I'm an old hat at it =).

3 & 4. These are dolls I made my girls. The materials used were ones from old clothes that I loved. The top I used left over pieces of fabric from clothing my mother made herself when she was young (she used to make quite a bit of her own clothing). The lighter brownish cloth was some I inherited from one of my favorite people in the world, my Aunt. I used to spend so much time there, and this same material she had used to cover a bench cushion. The second doll's fabric was less romantic, it came from a pair of my most favorite pajama pants and I was so sad when they ripped one day because the material is gorgeous!

I went through quite the phase. If you've gone through this whole blog you'll see others I made. And I doubt I'm done in that department. Although next I'm hoping to try something along the lines of clay modeling as well as felting.

5. This is a fun little painting I did for my sister's birthday. I did it in about 30 minutes and you can probably tell, but I loved painting it. I'm learning patience as I go. The cat is really done in remembrance of a cat she once owned. He was still alive at the time, but since then he has died and now he is immortalized in this painting. And wouldn't you know, he had a smile just like that! Okay, so he didn't. Ironically enough, he always looked pretty grumpy. Maybe it was because he was so fat. The doll, on the other hand, I gave red hair because that's my sister's color. Very pretty.

6. This is a painting of the Prophet, Gordan B. Hinkley. I painted this (several years back) for my parents as a Christmas present while they were serving their first LDS mission to South Africa, as he was the prophet at the time they were called. This, sadly to say, was never really finished and was my very first portrait so was very difficult. I was under a time restraint because it needed to dry (and do oils really ever dry???) and then I had to allow for shipping time, which to Africa is VERY VERY long. So, someday maybe I'll try the oil portraits again, but I'll make sure I have enough time to really put in the work deserved for something so challenging.

 

 7 & 8. These are other pictures I did the same year as the above portrait (I believe) for my siblings for Christmas. The top one is a scene from Rottenberg, Germany. I don't know why, but that was a toughy for me. I guess it would help if I actually painted more and practiced. Someday my dreams will come true and I'll have my own studio where I can keep my paints out--where kids won't come in and paint for me--and I can pick up a brush on a whim and  just paint all day long. Back on track now--the last one is a portrait I did for my oldest brother of his wife. I used one of their wedding pictures for this and you probably can't tell, but she's leaning on a piano. This was difficult for me as well, again with painting faces and this one on such a small canvas. But I was impressed with my restraint in not putting so much detail in the background, a flaw of mine which I am still conquering.

Again--I know these are amateurish pieces, but I'm still learning and growing. Next I will post a few pictures of the beginning process of a book I'm making for my kids. It's pretty fun.

A New Project Coming Soon...

Is it just me, or is he staring me down?

My critique partner should have seen this one coming =). Lisa (one of my critters) asked me a couple months ago if I would like to illustrate her children's book, ALIEN BABY. (No the above picture doesn't belong to that book, but I'll get there).

Well, my first thoughts were: ARE YOU CRAZY? I'm not a good enough artist to go about illustrating someone's book! I felt very insecure, the time didn't feel right (as I'm working on YA at the moment, too), and I would feel very very bad if I screwed up her whole book. I also had this huge event I was planning with my husband for our church, painting posters, making flyers, making centerpieces, coming up with a decorating scheme. Did I mention Painting Posters?

When the event was over, I thought that maybe I COULD do it after all. Now that the impeding pressure was over with. I mean, don't I draw/paint/illustrate-my-own-crazy-objects all the time?

This was a big decision for me and one I wouldn't have talked about (except with family who I kept telling over and over again how I couldn't possibly do it and they kept nodding and saying, uh huh, sure.). But as I practiced doing both PB illustration and YA novel writing I found that I could do it. I did several practice sketches to show Lisa what I could do (thinking, you know, that she would say, "Yes, you do suck, I change my mind") and she was so surprisingly excited and 100 times more receptive to my work than I thought that I couldn't help but get excited, too. (This is the power of great Critters, people).

So, this email has a two-fold message. First: My critique partners are wonderful people. They encourage me even when I don't think I deserve it. Lisa has pushed me (and when I say push, I don't mean roughly, she gently encourages me with warm/glowing reports, helping me see my potential...sort of like my husband =). She has faith in me when I don't have faith in myself.

Second: When you really want to, you CAN do anything. Or when you put your mind to it....yadayada =).

I have always loved reading/writing/art equally. They encompass many personal passions. And I'm very excited and blessed to be doing both of the things I love most.

Now, wish me luck! This is going to be a roller-coaster ride for me.

Oh yeah, so I didn't explain the above portrait. I was getting discouraged again, even after I made my decision, wondering how I would pick a style for the book and decided I would just do a painting for fun. To let go. So, I had my kids movies up in my room ('cause they LOVE being in there for some reason) and picked up Lemony Snickets, A Series Of Unfortunate Events because I love the set design and artwork of that movie and thought it would be inspirational. Well, when it got to the part where Jim Carrey's character was showing the kids his house and trying to scare them, I couldn't help myself. I saw the creepy/perfect close up of him and had to draw it. It was perfect. His eye making a perfect circle with their fish-lense on. =) Not sure I captured it properly, but oh well. (I took exactly 2 hours to do the whole thing and probably could have spent a whole lot more...but it was late and I was tired and called it quits). So, there you have it.

Here's a question for you ,though: Don't you think that sometimes the best illustrations are just simple sketches? If you look in your favorite children's PBs I bet you'll find that a lot of them are really simple. In fact some of them might even have characters with a circle for a head, two dot eyes and a line for the mouth. Funny. I have a hard time doing that. I feel like I'm being lazy, and yet I LOVE those drawings! Mary Kole talked about this once (sorry I can't find the post). Where she said that even if an artists illustrations are simple there is a whole lot going on behind it than a few little lines. You have to know how to draw well, proportions etc, even for simple drawings.

Now, the pressure's on.

Healthcare Compliance Pros (HCP) Photo Shoot

This past week or so I have been working on a special project for my husband and the new business he and couple others are starting, called Healthcare Compiance Pros. We thought, to save money, we would do the photos ourselves, thus saving the company a few thousand dollars a year using someone elses' photos. This is what we came up with. (Note: These pictures are not to be used, they are under copyright.)

Now, I am not the greatest photographer, but with the help of Photoscape these really turned out quite a bit better than expected. Photography is something I have always been interested in and alwasy meant to learn how to do and I still hope to someday have a more practical learning experience. For now, however, what we ended up doing, my husband coordinating/overseeing everything and me photographing our volunteer models and editing, was use some pictures Bryan found online and then copied the poses. We also added some of our own of random shots I took around the office. Actually I tried to take out all the photos Bryan took (he did take a few), because even though I edited them I can't really take credit for them, can I? =) But it looks like one of his slipped in, the one of the drawer filled with doctorly stuff.

This has given me a great idea, though. From now on I plan on editing all the photos I take and maybe I will then be able to get some really great framable ones of the kids. (And do it whilst I still have my husband's dad's super nice camera =).

Have a look around...

Please have a look around. My latest post is in no way my best work, so go scrollin'!

Everything so far is in chronological order. I have more to add (some crazy person lost some pics on my computer. Yeah.) so check back later for more!

2010

Technically this is a 2009 work, but it was in my 2010 photos so there you have it. Around Christmas time my fingers start to itch, ancy to create something new. Be it gift or decoration. I love that time of year.

I have done several of these Santas for people and always meant to do one for my own house. My only regret with this one is that I was too impatient to wait for the paint to dry properly before sealing it and some of the red shows up in the beard and furry trim. Oh well.

Last minute Christmas dollies for my girls.

yeah, I'm silly when it comes to dolls. I love making them, even when they are made from scraps like these are.

Yes, my secret it out! I catch Monsters and then gobble them up!

The rest of this year, so far has been devoted mainly to writing and moving in to a new home. So, slowing down in the art department. But I look forward to doing another mural sometime. Definately in our next home!

2009

Here are the beginnings of my final mural in Omaha.

I finally get to do my Dr. Seuss room! Because we adopted a wondefully cute little baby boy!

Just some more sketches, just to show the process. First we draw, then we erase, then we draw again 'til it's right, then we perfect those lines, then comes the fun part! Painting! And lastly the outlines. (which is also fun)

Here is another great shot of me. From behind. Thanks husband. In the process, as before. This time with some life to it. I had to change the colors a couple of times. What looked good in the book I was trying to match (color-wise) didn't look so great on the wall to me. I was also changed the pink in the picture to purple, slightly less feminine for our little tike.

Let's take a break from Dr. S for a while...I did. Twice while doing that mural I took a break and worked on a couple of murals for neighbors. This was was for a minister of a different faith who wanted a scripture in the spaces between some family photos. The scripture is appropriately enough about raising children. (Great family!). We went over layout, came up with several possibilities, and then decided on this. The father borrowed a projector screan and printed out the words how they would fit between the pictures for me. I'm not sure it was the best way, but it was the fastest to be sure. It cut out a lot of time sketching out letters. The only problem I ran into was that the projection screen stretching things out around the edges. I tried fixing it the best I could, and though not perfect, it worked out alright.

Here is a close up of the lettering. (Yes it is supposed to be bumpy like that =) This was a calligraphy font that I really loved because of the inperfectness of it. It also worked with the texture of the walls which is always 'fun' to work over and get straight lines to look straight.

These two closeup shots are showing that the owner of the house wanted some words BOLD to stand out, bringing out their meaning.

Back to Dr. Seuss. This is a sketch on the opposite wall. Click on the pictures and hopefully they all will allow you to zoom in to see the detail.

The best thing about doing murals at home: My kids love to watch! (and help) =)

Those stripy fields on the bottom sure made me dizzy every time I looked at them, even out of the corner of my eyes! Gave me a great idea, though, for a teenage room. Wouldn't it be totally phsycadelic to do a whole room of crazy (straight) stripes like that, intersecting at different geometrical angles?

I think so. =)

The other side of the room.

This room had two very large walls. The other two were filled with closet and window. This other wall I joined several Dr. Seuss stories, making up my own make-believe place and architecture.

I had to put this in. The paint was smiling at me! Often ,while I am working, the paint starts to get too thick to work with, so I add a little water to get the right texture. This is what happened one of those times.

This part completed! Yeah! I love Dr. Seuss architecture. It is so fun, so off the wall, and yet it reminds you of European settlements.

The whole thing. (well, mostly)

Black outlining was so essential in this project. You could leave out all the color and I would still be happy. They add so much character, and even demension, all their own.

Boy were these words a pain! Don't get me wrong. I love them, but being up that high on a latter, looking straight, with my arm up in the air for hours, was not my idea of fun. You wouldn't believe how much hotter it is up there. It really must be at least five degrees hotter. But anywho. It worked out great and I am glad I went through the pain to add this in. It sort of represents the journey of our adopted baby. His birth mother helped in the room a little at the beginning and she like the idea that her baby would go great places, including being in our home. This was very special to me. And even after we moved from this house, I wouldn't paint over this mural (the others from our first home I did.)

This boy was a little tricky. I had it done, same way it was in the book, and my husband thought it looked wierd. I agreed, so I looked at several pages with the same character, and then at other stories with a different boy and came up with this face. I like the result. And so did my husband.

This was fun to do. I wanted to put in a lot of details for my baby, so that as he grew he would discover new things here and there. I expecially like the rooms in the houses. I always wished as a child I could have a secret place where little people lived and I could see all their little furniture and how they lived. I also like the steps that lead no where at all. It's fun.

This mural was so massive that I took several pictures.

I love the plants, dripping like liquid over the edges. That was one of my favorite parts as well.

Close up of the 'moose'. Not sure Dr. Seuss would approve of such a commonplace name, but he didn't give me an alternative.

I like this little guy. Amidst the caos in his town, he sits calmly and plays.

I was silly and added cheap blinds to this architecturally significant building. I think Dr. S would approve. I hope =)

And here you see it with furnishings. I ended up turning the crib so that it wouldn't cover as much mural work, but I also kept in mind, while designing this room, the furniture placement and kept the detailed parts on this wall up higher.

I also added my own monstery touches to the room with some more homemade stuff.

More monsters, inspired by other dolls I've seen online.

More of the same.

My sister liked the Monster dolls so much that I made one for her own little (sweet)  monster =).

The back-side. I can't resist a star on the bummy.

My own design. I know, fabulous, righ? =) jk

Here are some pictures of a room I did for another neighbor. This was in her baby's room. She liked the Noah's Arc/Precious Moments theme. Again, I changed it up (don't want to run into copyrighting issues, right?)

This one took some time to figure out. It is harder than you think finding suitable pics online to work from. And since neither of us had any Precious Moments art on hand, that's where I had to look. I was a bit nervous doing something like this, because, well Precious moments has its own unique style, not one that I am used to portraying. That mixed with the fact that it was for someone else (and not my own home), made me want to get it just right. Hopefully I pulled it off. You be the judge =).

The gal I did this for also really wanted specific colors, so we worked it out where we talked about the mural before hand, chosing which animals/characters to use, decided what colors and how much paint we would use for each, and then she went shopping for the paint supplies (which brought down the cost for her quite a bit.) I don't ever talk bids online. Each project is unique and of course at first I wouldn't charge as much until I got a system going and more experience under my belt.

I wasn't a huge Precious Moments fan before this, but ain't they cute? I also changed the eyes, partially for the owner who wanted them a little different, and partly because I needed more to change on it. (again with the copyright).

Another Critter found his way into the room.

Sorry about the glare.

Well, that's it for 2009. I have several pics missing. No idea where they are (mostly non-mural items paintings and some dolls). If I find them I will post later.