Princess

This is a portrait of a friend's sweet little dog. Rest in peace, Princess.

IF: Perennial

The topic for Illustration Friday this week is "Perennial." Here is an illo full of perennial favorites: giant ferns, geraniums, gladiolus, gerbera daisies, gloriosa daisies, gaillardias, giant alliums, and a couple golden guernsey goats. Gee, that's a lot of "G's."

[Note: not all plants shown are perennials, there are a couple annuals in there... ]

In other news: I am almost done with the illustrations for my current project. I'll be able to share more about it when the book comes out- yay! Have a groovy weekend, everyone!!!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

My daughter's elementary school was looking for silent auction items for their spring fundraiser, so I thought I'd donate a painting. There was no way of knowing what I'd end up drawing, so it was super cool to find out I'd be making a portrait of a darling little girl! I traded my black ink for brown and had so much fun making the stripes and swirls and flowers!

p.s. I met this little girl and her lovely mother in person, and must admit that this painting doesn't do her justice... she is impossibly cute!!! :)

The Mural Project: Part One

Thanks for tuning in! This is going to be lengthy post, so be sure you have a comfy chair and a refreshing beverage... This all began when my oldest daughter asked if we could re-paint her room. Sounded simple enough, and then I shot myself in the foot and asked if she would like a mural...

I work in ink and watercolors. I love how I can be precise with my linework and work on small pieces of paper and then add lovely watercolor washes. The painting you see above is in acrylics, which I really don't "get." There are artists out there who do amazing work with acrylics, the way they blend colors and create their mystical paintings. My work ends up very folk-art like, as you can see, and this is why I tip my hat to them and stick with my watercolors.

So, we did some brainstorming and I did some sketches and submitted them for approval and then we began on "The Horse Room."
The walls had been a light purple, here you can see the blue sky (Mickey Sailor DC3A-60-1).
My wonderful husband kindly offered to help me paint the sky and the grass (Apple Orchard 430B-5). People probably don't really care what the colors are, so I'll move on...
Alex brought home this cool projector thingy from work, and it worked great.
As you can see on the screen, it was getting a little late... I kinda felt like a vandal drawing on the walls. I got detention once for being late to band practice. Oh, yeah. That's right!
We now have a mare and foal out to pasture
and baby Gordy!
I tried something wild and crazy and painted with the kids in the room with me. They took some photos, and played "Paint Store" (apparently, the customer is not always right at the paint store).
There was a puppy playing the didj
and the Zsu-Zsu pets made a cameo appearance!
Oooh, a floating legless horse!
Last night I finished the barn and added a few more flowers.
Took the day off today because I have a sore throat and a wee fever. Starting to feel a little better and hope to get back to painting tomorrow. My goal is to have everything finished by Sunday so we can get rolling on "The Nature Room with a Unicorn."

Purple Posy

I mailed out a huge pile of postcards today, finished some long-overdue thank you notes, and ordered some new greeting cards instead of printing them up at home. My website has been updated with some new artwork, too. Might have a greeting card giveaway when the cards come in... Hope that you are having a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

Glad

Here are some gladiolus for a nice spring morning. As my kids are on Spring Break for the next week, there might not be much art time for Mom. But we will fill our days with fun together time, and playdates, and cookie baking! Hope to get my new postcards in the mail during my quiet time when the kids have their quiet time! I'll leave you with my Mom's favorite springtime poem:

Spring has sprung,

the grass is ris.

I wonder where

the birdies is?

Flower Power!

I had a fun time painting these flowers for my friend's daughter. I like acrylic paints because they are so fun and bright. I feel very lucky, I was asked to illustrate a picture book and just signed the contract. I am excited and nervous all at once. Mostly, I feel very humbled and am still trying to absorb it all. With lots of luck, paper, ink, and paint.... I might just make it.

Hi

Since Mother Nature is being so stingy, I decided to make my own flowers! Oh, I have also had the theme song to "Top Cat" stuck in my head for at least 3 days now....