Little Owl WIP

I started working on another acrylic painting this week.

I've had this idea swimming around in my head for a bit now and got a chance to try and paint it out. The image in my head plays out like an old storybook; a little owl loosely tied up in string surrounded by a few friendly (or are they?) rats checking out the scene.

I've still got a lot more work to do but I am pleased with the direction it is heading. Based on the outcome, this painting will hopefully be heading up north for an animal-based show in the spring... more info to follow :)

Have a spectacular weekend everyone!

Another pen + water illustration

Still playing with inks.
My plan was get outside this morning and draw some plants, but it was 92 degrees. 92!!! I guess I'm going to need to adjust my schedule slightly if I want to draw outside and avoid sweating through my clothes. 7 am should be decent, now if I can only convince myself to roll out of bed that early I'll be all set!

A Drippy Bear

I am super in love with my totally-not-waterproof fountain pen right now. I've been experimenting with it all week and am happily coming to the realization that I may have experienced a very "happy accident."

I love the absolute randomness that occurs as the ink separates. On my sketchbook paper it really only changes from dark blue to light blue, but on watercolor paper it can dry anywhere from a light violet to a super dark indigo. I am curious how coffee or tea will effect the dried color... must experiment further :)

An Inky Elephant

I cleaned out the area behind my art-desk this week.
After finding 3 secret-caches of ferret food, a rubber mouse and many nerf gun darts, I also found an old blank canvas. *Yay!*

I had been wanting to make an elephant of some sort, so this was perfect timing.

I used Pitt Artist pens for the black lining, and watery acrylics for the elephant. The background is a mix of acrylics and glossy gel medium, which I liked at first but I am not so sure about it now. It has a subtle sheen, but as it's a bit sticky I'm afraid it's going to suck up the circulating dust and get grimy. Another reason to experiment with epoxy-resin I suppose.

Sea Turtle

Earlier in the week I received a fantastic suggestion via a facebook for a sea turtle, or "Honu" if you are in Hawaii.

This particular suggestion came at the absolute perfect time so I jumped on it right away. I had just finished a project and needed something new to work on, and am still playing Mass Effect 3 so I really, really wanted something happy to think about during the day. Also, I love sea turtles. In fact it was the thought of seeing a sea turtle that originally drew me to pursue a scuba diving license.

Alas... 10 dives later and still no turtles.

I made a few pencil drawings last night before switching to the wacom for this starting sketch. I decided I was happy enough with the arrangement this morning and started the coloring early this afternoon.

I'm planning to finish up the shell and background tonight, hopefully to have it completed by sometime tomorrow.

Key Deer and Pelicans

I spent a better part of today going through the vacation pictures we took in Key West.

It's about 95% pelicans.

Oh sure, there are a few family pictures, one or two of a beach, the quintessential food picture, an occasional blurry rooster and a few shots of the 'Caution, Key Deer" signs... but the rest are just pelicans.

The pictures of the 'key deer' warning signs got me thinking however. I've never seen a key deer and I was curious what one might look like. Google responded with the cutest mini-deer you could imagine.

Sadly, they are a very endangered subspecies of the white-tailed deer that is so common in Michigan. Habitat destruction and human encroachment have taken their population down to roughly 400 - 500 deer left in the wild and this is why there are so many signs on the approach to Key West.

After looking at the collection of key deer images, I decided to make my next frame project a drawing of said deer. I have quite a few blank frames sitting around at this point, but felt particularly drawn to using a small ceramic white frame that I found on clearance at Target. It needed a key deer to be happy.

I'm happy with it, though I may end up shrinking the image inside the frame just a bit so the whole circle is visible.
I think after that, I have to do something with Pelicans. I have way, way too many pictures of the birds to not draw them.

Something Different

I've been experimenting.

Occasionally if I find myself getting too comfortable with what I'm working on, I like to step off the trail for a bit and wander down in the woods to see what I find. On such a jaunt earlier last week, I came back to path with a notion stuck my head.

Objects.

I started to think about my work as an object and not a watercolor, print or illustration. Spurred on by my love of the folkart movement, I spent a few days thinking about boxes, frames and diorama-type creations.

And then I went to a thrift shop down the street.

Bad decision in terms of fiscal responsibility, good decision in that I stumbled upon something new to play with.

I found that frame (originally a scuffed ivory/white) and it felt like it needed a rabbit in it, so made a quick sketch with pens/watercolors. All the sudden, it wasn't an illustration of a rabbit - it was an object. I came home with a few more frames that needed a bit of love, so I started printing other work and painting/staining the frames to match.

Overall, fun experiment indeed.

Also I may, or may not have brought home 4 more frames from Target this morning to continue said experiments...

Target was a bit expensive, but the thrift store required a good bit of fix-up (broken glass, missing wall-hangers...etc)

Any thoughts on where I might find intact inexpensive frames?

Manatee -- painted

I love manatees.

I've been sketching the gentle giants a bit more since our excursion to Key Biscayne and decided to turn a few of the sketches into paintings.

They are just so cute.

New work wednesday!

Wood, acrylics, gloss medium and a spray bottle. I love these things right now.

I am pretty interested in exploring this new process. I've always loved drawing lesser-celebrated animals (hello possum portrait!) and the method of layering the pigment with gloss has me pretty much entranced. I've started a few more pieces with heavy india ink application as well, but I've had to lessen my reliance on the spray bottle.

In other news, I am about 30% done with my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project and am really excited to visit one of the tour locations. My theme is 'Time Travel' which has made for quite a few headaches thus far. Oh the paradoxes!

I am also trying to finally get my Etsy store up. I removed the store section of my website back in the summer while we were travelling and I have yet to find the time to put it back up again. I'm thinking Etsy might be an easier route at this point.

Moral of the story: So many things to do, so little coffee to be had!