Diving Deeper

The author's favorite illustration from last week.

I forgot to teach my workshop this morning, if any students see this I am so sorry. It is all my fault. We went on a trip this weekend and my kids were out of school Monday and Tuesday, it messed my thoughts up. But I shouldn't make excuses, I know it was a big inconvenience. I hope we can still have fun next Wednesday. I can't wait to paint again, really miss it and look forward to the workshop.

Illustrating and Drawing

The best side effect I have seen from doing these illustrations is that I am drawing really well in my sketch book. I want to find a way to capitalize on my drawing ability with my paintings. Painting is a whole different skill set and it doesn't transfer automatically. My Favorite illustration from the week:

Textured Red Wine

Need a little wine for Valentine's Day? "Soft, Spicy Red", 9" x 12", $85.00. I have been working with textures in preparation for teaching an acrylic workshop this Wednesday and Saturday at MAD Arts in Madison, VA.








Also still working on my illustration project. The images are getting more unique and a little psychedelic. This is what I had hoped would happen; I am arriving at something new once I exhaust all the obvious solutions.

New Illustration Project

In a quest for some steady employment to support my painting habit, I have taken on a few part time endeavors. One is doing 62 illustrations for a self-empowerment book. I was intrigued by the subject matter and the freedom it gave to express. One thing I didn't anticipate is that the joyous discover came in the first week and now I am on auto pilot trying to recreate the success and make the book consistent. Maybe I should have made each illustration look unique like it was done by a different person or picked four styles and made it look like it was done by four different illustrators? Anyway it is a learning experience and I am proving to myself that I can be disciplined and stay on a schedule. Another of my endeavors is training to be a floral designer. It is really fun and I enjoy using my knowledge of color and design in a whole new way. I am in need of more practice and having some real failures but my teacher is very encouraging and optimistic. My third venture is going to be teaching an acrylic workshop to adults in February at MadArts. I am very excited about this. I have never taught painting to adults and I am interested in how it will go. I will also be anxious to get back to painting. I am pining for it which is a good thing; absence makes the heart grow fonder.

My illustrations are a combination of painting, drawing and digital methods.

Puppy Love

Acrylic on paper

More Joy

These are two more attempts at the "Joy" illustration. I am scanning the line drawing separate from a painted layer and I like the way the colors look this way much better.

Commercial Illustration

Working to bring my art full circle from digital illustration, to fine art painting back to a method of combing the two for commercial work.
Here are a few samples I am working on.
Connected
Joy
Grateful