'Oh how wonderful life would be, if I had my own little house in a tree!' This one was created for the Urban Explorer Challenge and I loved every minute of it! As a lover of the natural environment I had to draw on where my heart lies so a treehouse seemed a fitting response!
Painted Zip disk. Mixed media. I love old retro stuff and found rejected objects. It's hard to believe how fast zip, floppy, jaz, etc. disks became yesterdays technology. It's about time these old disks found a new purpose and some respect.
Here is my submission to the 10th anniversary Plushform show at Rotofugi Gallery. I was invited by Shawn @shawnimals to participate in this fun show. He is the creator of the Plushform DIY plush figure being customized by 40 artists at Rotofugi, a designer toy store gallery in Chicago. The original Plushform show was in 2008. I was waiting for their official announcement before posting my final so I could link people to the site for more info. I was told they are working on it and will announce soon. This will be for sale at the show.
I always tell students to start a project with quick sketches to develop a shape language. Plus research, then you can start to generate ideas. This is one of who knows how many small sketches I'll do to start this project. #ideation #designsketches #pilo
When we help someone there is always something that blooms and grows beyond us. It is an increasingly necessary action in a world that unfortunately is increasingly divided.
@givingtuesdaypt challenged me to illustrate its movement inspired by this year's motto "Together we change the world"!
This day is celebrated on the first tuesday after BlackFriday, calling on anyone to choose a cause that ressonates with them and give back to them however you can. Thus, a wave of massive generosity is created, which can (and should) extend beyond today! Are there any organizations you want to support?
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Went to see Billy Strings Band live in Philly. Music inspires me so much. Although you might not like bluegrass, it's worth checking these guys out. Great jamming, musicians and show. Anyway even if you hate bluegrass, I hope you like the art that came out of it. I also included the original sketch/doodle. Enjoy. BTW: the song is "While I'm Waiting Here".
Gentleman Cat was modelled on a victorian oil painting with a special family cat as the star of the show! Part of a pair for a special Christmas present.
'Good Morning' quick sketch from my sketchbook showing my morning chicory / barley coffee with new morning #quaratine routine. A stared series of quick everyday sketches about mixing everyday food with the ideas of cosmos and universe.
Not sure which direction it will go, but the main purpose of it is to draw and draw more especially after sucha long break in drawing....!
Congrats to anyone else who took part in inktober this year! I focused on combining witches inspired by different types of teas and I had so much fun! I’m conquering my irrational fear of side profiles and I think it’s working, I’ve been really liking side profiles lately and finding them easier to do. I experimented on this piece with adding freckles (they’re a feature in all of my inktober sketches but I haven’t liked how freckles have looked when I’ve dotted them in with a pen or brush) and uh, I guess it was kind of a success? Next time I’ll use my lighter shading colour for them, as I used the ink I use for my lines and it turned out really dark and concentrated, but I think they’re cute! (and I have ink sprays everywhere)
"Parts Unknown," Acrylic on Canvas, 18x24 Some actions we will never know the reason behind, and, quite honestly, we don't always need to know the answer. Anthony Bourdain committed suicide on June 8th, 2018, news that was shocking for most to hear. People continue to speculate what could have caused him to commit suicide, some feel he had more to do, to say before he died. Personally, I find there's some feeling of closure or completeness to his death. I don't know what the feeling is exactly, but it's there. It feels like he left on his own terms, decided it was time. I wouldn't consider his death as him waving a white flag to addiction and depression. He said his shows were intended to tell other's stories, tell them frankly and truthfully. It's interesting how blunt and honest he could seem to be about himself, though he kept so many layers held within. Although we'd love to have a clear cut answer, explanation, reason, what would knowing that information change?
"And I Can't Get It Out of My Head"
Watercolor
I feel like I may be cheating since the song I was inspired by is not so simple, but I'm pleased with the result. To be completely honest, this was the piece I needed right now.
The past week has been interesting for me, I've found myself in a peculiar slump. There's not one thing I'm thinking or worrying about, it's a constant buzz of thoughts streaming through my head. Sometimes I can get the buzzing to quiet down, other times it gets overwhelmingly loud.
I've always found art to be a release, it fills in the blanks when I can't figure out how to make my words work. Lately, it's been more of a challenge than usual, but I think this piece says all I've been wanting to say.
I have never loved drawing anything city related because I am lazy when it comes to perspective. However, I have learned that I actually like the wobbly nature of my more recent attempts. Or, I simply embraced my laziness. Either way it has been fun!
This piece was done with watercolour crayons, crayons, fineliner, acrylic paint and a touch of posca. I was showing that love can be blind and sometimes almost arrogant and selfish, the arrow has hit the spot on the second attempt but the scars are still to be seen. Although the person playing cupid aint always an outside force. I enjoy playing with the titles and am constantly changing and thinking of what it will be called when doing the piece, but i do like my wordplay. this one was a play on horticulture and felt it all tied in to the final design :))
This is available as an a3 sized print.
I've been seeing lots of new bird species around my neighbourhood, like robins and magpies!
I like to think this bird is watching me from the sea of uncertainty, and looking at all the things I will create in the future and secretly telling me to go on, without me knowing how they will turn out. And strangely, that is some kind of motivation for me. : .
Rad experience joining a local drawing group for the first time yesterday although I didn't realise how inconvenient my backpack was going to be, it made me slow to set up / pack up and a few of us had to organise a locker at the gallery as we didn't know backpacks weren't allowed so I spent most of today sewing a bag/sketchbook cover which fits an A4 sketchbook, pencils, id and phone and also has some backing in it so I can easily sketch on my lap without dropping my stuff all over the place. I'm going to do a bit more work on my weird comic book page tonight but in the mean time this is my sea serpent digitally coloured, he lives at Apollo Bay and likes to sleep camouflaged amongst the lifesaver rings.
A colour pencil drawing using Derwent Artists pencils on thick cartridge paper. I wanted to show the car speeding down the highway, and so tried to make the tress appear as though they are a blur - Many thanks for looking !
It's 2019 and I am thankful for family, turkey dinner, and Rebelle 3! This Thanksgiving holiday I'm teaching my boys how to draw in Rebelle. They've watched me for years but they're finally old enough to draw on the Cintiq. They're going to love it. Artist friends, check out the Rebelle 3 demo if you haven't already! Happy Holidays!
It's an odd feeling to reexperience the old anger and frustration I thought I had overcome, but, in all reality, I've been letting it creep back in for a while now. There was a moment of fear, it's still in the back of my mind, I'm afraid to slip back into the mental place I was a couple of years back. I'd like to say I've finally realized that it's ok to be afraid, and even a bit frustrated, but it's a matter of how I handle those emotions and my own reactions that make the difference.
This started as a line drawing based on a photo of peonies in the garden. It’s drawn with three different pens: Micron 005, Micron 03 and Faber Castell Pitt superfine (0.3) on 11x14 Strathmore Bristol Vellum. The paper isn’t terribly tolerant of wet media, so I played around with tinting it in Photoshop because I wasn't sure how it would go. But I liked it in color enough to chance painting the drawing with the nice and bright Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolors. It's photographed it on my drafting table with my glasses for scale. The lamp has a daylight bulb, so I think the color (at least where the light is more prominent) is fairly true.
A sketch I did a while back for the JimBob Drawing show prompt "Zombie Rabbit"
Pen and Ink sketech coloured in Photoshop https://www.instagram.com/jimbobdrawingshow/