Mess of a Desk

This is what my drawing table looks likes when I'm painting. I keep a printout of my color study nearby as well as the original sketch. The spiral pad is there to remove excess paint from my brushes. I use Liquitex acrylics and cheap brushes. My butcher tray palette is MIA, probably sitting in the sink waiting to be cleaned.

High Five!

I'm thrilled to have my illustrations featured in the pages of Highlights High Five magazine! Look for me in the October 2008 issue, in stores now!

The Other Side of Summer: Color Study

This is a Photoshop color study for an acrylic painting I'll be starting soon. Photoshop allows me to experiment quickly and effortlessly with color. The final painting will surely take on a life of it's own – but this study gives me a clear direction before any paint leaves the tube.

Bears, Squirrels and Kids, OH MY!

I've been working on these two paintings over the summer and chronicled my progress on this blog. I've posted sketches, color studies, different stages of painting and FINALLY (?) the finished illustrations! Next, I will turn them into postcards and hopefully generate some more interest in my work!

Illustration Friday: Clutter (from the Archive)

This unfinished illustration is from my early days. I was fairly comfortable with drawing, but painting was a different story. After meticulously transferring a sketch to watercolor paper, I would freeze up for the painting stage.

I felt like I was walking a tightrope every time I applied watercolor. I didn't think there was any way to "fix" a mistake - it was DO or DIE. It was seriously stressful and not much fun at all!

My mind became cluttered with doubt and I abandoned this piece.

Since then, I've learned that watercolor is reversible to a degree. It's possible to "lift" a poorly chosen color out of the paper by saturating the offending pigment with water and scrubbing it off with a brush. My watercolor work was much more successful when I learned such tricks, many thanks to my friend Teri Weidner!

Honestly, watercolor is a drag and still causes me anxiety. For me, acrylic has proven to be a more flexible and freeing medium. A mistake in acrylic can simply be painted over and forgotten!

Here's a closeup of some clutter. 

Illustration Friday: Memories: THEN & NOW

You're probably wondering, "What am I looking at?"

Inspired by the Illustration Friday topic, "Memories," I dug out one of my composition books from grade school. The notebook was devoted to a catalogue of state facts (state tree, state flower, state nickname...). Throughout the notebook are doodles. Inexplicably, the page for "Oklahma" has a sketch of a boy spitting seeds with the caption "watermelon spitting contest!"

Above is the sketch from thirty years ago. Today I took another crack at the subject. It's encouraging to see that I've improved. (I have improved, right?!)

Below is the complete drawing. As I often do for Illustration Friday, I challenged myself to create an illustration in short order. I completed this in an hour and a half. Medium is acrylic with some colored pencil.

Here's some fascinating state facts from my research:

"Magnet Cove etc make AR a wonderful state!"

"AL has a statue in honor of a bug (boll weevil)"

"AK is the closses state to Russia"

"IA has the biggest popcorn-packing plant in the USA."

"People visit Las Vegas to get rinch??"

The Other Side of Summer