Sketch #2

Lilacs

Graphite on Hot Pressed Water color paper

This is a preliminary sketch for an article about a woman's memory of her early teenage years. I had to create an innocent exchange involving a lilac between a college age hippie and an early teenage girl. It takes place in the late 1960's. I had to make this pretty literal for the key illustration but I decided to add additional elements of garden life to layer the composition. The bird bath adds a bit more to the story. The foreground may be my favorite part to work on. I enjoyed drawing the azaleas and look forward to painting them. As many of my interiors this will be in black and white.

Sketch #1

"Irish Blessing"

Graphite on Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper

I haven't posted in a very long time so I am going to make up for it. I've got a couple projects underway plus some alphabet sketches that I'm looking forward to finishing. I promise this week will be an every day thing! This is the kick off to my 7 days of 7 sketches!

This is a sketch for an interior illustration for one of my magazine clients. It's based on an Irish Blessing about rain. As an art student I always wanted to illustrate poems but now I find it very challenging. There usually is very little amount of imagery to work with and it's tough to open up new and exciting possibilities and still remain true to the publication. I used a wordier poem called "I Died for Beauty" by Emily Dickinson to set a mood in my mind. It also happens to be one of the only poems I know by heart so it is something I have always wanted to play off of.

The final will be in black and white for the publication although I'm hoping to take it to color for myself. I'm looking forward to getting that misty atmosphere, mossy stone and old wrought iron. I'm still batting around a color theme....green or blue...warm or cool. Oh the decisions!

Ornaments!

Cindy Ann Ganaden started a community group last year for artists and craftsman to exchange ornaments via post. I was excited to get crafty and obtain some cool ornaments. It's a success and a lot of great work is exchanged. Groups consist of five so each artist doesn't get to overloaded with work during the holidays.

I chose to print out an illustration of mine and adhere them to stained wooden discs. I then sprayed it with Triple Thick Krylon Crystal Clear to obtain a glass like surface. I cut up a ribbon, looped it and superglued that to the back. I mail mine out tomorrow.

I'm excited for the holidays. Warm lights and crisp air. I'm looking forward to finishing up classes so I can concentrate on some fun illustrations I have rolling around my head! Sunday=Decorating!!!

Painting Demo #3

An ear. So exciting, I know. This was a demo I did for a Corel Painter class at PCAD. I had my students create an ear while I was demoing. I started with a white canvas, brown hard pastel. I created a monochromatic underpainting with the pastel. Then I used a real bristle brush to create the overpainting of color. I then moved onto more pastel to give some texture and blend. I finalized it with a little airbrush for a smooth transition in problem areas.

I recommend James Gurney's blog to everyone. This particular entry is worth checking out if your learning ear anatomy. But don't just stop there....check out the whole blog. It's fantastic.

Painting Demo #2

No alphabet sketches last week. Or this week. I'm teaching two weekend workshops and will be unable to complete extra sketches. But no need to worry. Here is a class demo I did for my Saturday morning Painter class. Inspired by Andrew Jones, it was a lesson on creating, saving and using selections and layer modes to create textural backgrounds and abstract images. I didn't really have a plan for this. It just evolved. I grabbed some images that were nature based and took it from there.

M is for Mummy

Graphite on Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper

Here is a sketch in honor of the Halloween season. I wanted to do something familiar but put a little bit of a twist on it. A screaming cat should do the trick. I used reference of a yawning hairless cat. Very frightening. I also put an eye on the left arm....a little homage to Mark Ryden. Happy Halloween!

Random Information #1

Glenn Zimmer was gracious enough to stop by and give a demo the other week in his colored pencil techniques. During his discussion he mentioned listening to talk shows while working. He associates certain areas of the artwork with what he was listening to at the time. Rich and I chimed in on some of our own experiences with this phenomenon. Below are some personal favorites of mine...left to right...

-Fat guy in a little coat...scene from "Tommy Boy" and The Preston & Steve Morning Show

-Tori Amos "From the Choirgirl Hotel" cd. (I was just out of college ... okay?!)

-Jack Johnson's "Better Together" and NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!"

Next entry will be M for ???? Oh...the anticipation.

H is for Hygieia

Okay....so....I think I'm going to challenge myself and create a "Visual Alphabet". Hopefully every week I'll get a letter up. I'd like to say I'm going to stick with mythology and fantasy characters but I might stray into another genre once in a while. So "H" is the first and I'll randomly pick letters here and there.

This is a child portrait of the goddess Hygieia. She was a healer and prevented the spread of disease. She was often depicted as a young woman with one snake and a bowl. The snake represents the delivery of medicine as well as a courier of spirits from the underworld.

Gustav Klimt has a spectacular rendition of Hygieia that I used for inspiration. Go ahead and google that! You know you want to.

New York Visit

Listed from left to right....Stephen Heigh, Glenn Zimmer, Rich Harrington, Walt Reed, Dominick Saponaro, Tegan Bellitta and myself.

Last week we visited the Society of Illustrators in New York during the last days of the stunningly awesome Spectrum Exhibit.  Donato Giancola was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to provide an inspirational lecture and Q&A session for the students.  It was cold and rainy but afterwards we made it to the Illustration House to drool over some more artwork.  Floating about the premises were some Berkeys, De Seve's, Rockwells, Cornwalls, Parrish, a Dr Suess, one Sendack and a stunning Flagg.  Some were color studies, some were rough drawings.  All originals ... All breathtaking.  An experience I recommend to any illustrator.

Snowflakes

This is the finished version of the previous sketch I posted. It is going to be printed as a black and white interior. The quote mentioned how mother nature crafts everything with such intricate care even down to each and every snowflake. My idea was to make the snowflake jewel like to emphasize the craft. I researched jewelry and found alot of interesting incorporation of beads and stones laced within silver, brass and gold. I tried to create a glow around the stones to soften the look and give it a fluffy snowy appearance.

Drop Caps - Final

This is a follow up to a previous post on drop caps. They will be printed in black and white at probably about 1 inch in height. Keeping the final print size in mind I tried to keep the value somewhat simple. I kept getting carried away with the detail so I had to make sure those little areas were keyed in properly. Below I have a close up of the "A". I particularly enjoyed painting the Queen Ann's Lace as well as the drippy background. Karen Appleton sites a quote from Alfred Sisley that I found appropriate for this little painting..."Every painting shows a spot with which the artist has fallen in love".

Painting Demo

This is a demo I did for my class at the University of the Arts. The class is based on the techniques of Corel Painter...a digital program that mimics traditional medium. I used an image of one of my mom's irises and painted it using the the oil brushes. No matter if you choose to paint digitally or traditionally you have to understand drawing, composition, color and value. The computer will not magically make everything beautiful which is a common misconception when considering digital work.

Snowflake

Graphite on Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper

This is a piece that I am currently working on. The final will be published in black and white but I decided to paint it in a limited palette of blues. Before going to final I did make a few changes from the sketch. I felt the snowflake was too centralized so I moved the whole composition over to the right. This cut off a bit of the ribbon shape on the left but I felt it made a more interesting flow through out the composition. I drew one leg of the snowflake and after scanning I copied and rotated it to create a solid repetitive shape. Traditionally I would do this with tracing paper but photoshop makes it so much faster! I will post the final when I finish it.

Cardos and Scottish Thistles

This is a combination of two thistle flowers. One from Italy and the other from Scotland. I tried to combine the different elements of leaves and thorns from each one towards the bottom. The first is a pencil sketch (traditional) and the second is a digital painting. I am currently working on several pieces for a client so hopefully I'll have some more fun stuff to post. I have a very long week of painting ahead but plan to take a few breaks here and there to spend some quality time walking my basset hound....preferably with his new banana outfit I bought him. Hmmmm....maybe the next sketch?

Drop Caps

These are some sketches I'm doing for GreenPrints gardening magazine. They are accompanying a touching story involving a mother, daughter with leukemia and their garden. Along with these will be a key and spot. I plan to take them into Painter and work with black and white value. Right now I'm working on a bunch of sketches but I'll post the final when I finish. The deadline is coming up fast so I'll be working it!!

It's a little modern twist on Illumination which is one of my favorite genres of art history. I don't get a lot of chances to work with this style so I like to take advantage of it while I can. Off to paint!