Work in Progress - Vikings!

Hi All! Just a little update on what I've been up to lately. I'm currently working on a lot of projects, but one that I can share is a piece for the collective blog, Running with Paintbrushes. We are all doing paintings with a Vikings theme. Pictured here is the under-painting for my piece. Check out all of our progress at the RWP blog by clicking HERE!

Sketches and Bunnies, what fun!

Here's a little sketch I did as a thank-you gift for a lovely girl who modeled for me for a book project recently.
And this exotic beast is my studio companion, Aerie. She's the inspiration for the bunny in the above sketch, and has appeared in many of my other paintings and drawings. Her favorite activities include stretching out on the floor, hiding behind the couch, eating carrots, and having her ears scratched.

Recent Publications

This month I had a couple of fun items arrive in the mail! Below is a piece that I did for the October issue of Spider Magazine. Such fun, and they are so lovely to work with!


And this one is a cool story, and a good lesson on tagging blog posts/images! A woman contacted me from a French educational publication called Eingana, asking if they could use this image that I did as a project for the collective blog, Running with Paintbrushes. I did a Google Image search for Baba Yaga, and sure enough, my painting popped up. It's great that my work was discovered this way, but even greater that she actually contacted and offered to pay me!

Experimenting with Technique

In July I became a student again, at the Low Residency MFA in Illustration Program at the Hartford Art School. I came home full of inspiration. One of the things I wanted to focus on straight away was my technique. I have been working in watercolors for a long time, but I have been wanting to try something different. Not to change my style, but to mix up my way of working so that I feel more confident in my technique, even as I experiment. Below I outline some of the steps for a new process I am working on.

I begin with a solid drawing using a dark brown Verithin pencil on hotpress watercolor paper

Then, I do an under-painting using thinned acrylics, keeping it mostly neutral.

Next, I seal it with a few coats of matte medium, and begin glazing over it with oils.

Finally, I go back in with the brown pencil to strengthen some of the line-work, and there you have it!

So far I am really enjoying working this way. It's fun to mix it up!

SOI Student Scholarship Competition

"Our Fluttersome Ordeal" by Tran Nguyen

Shout out to the winners of the Society of Illustrators NY Student Scholarship Competition! Every year, the Society selects an outstanding group of students to be honored in this juried show, and it is always exciting to see their work. I am, without fail, blown away by their talent every time. One of the winners this year, Tran Nguyen (image above), really grabbed my attention - her work is lovely, delicate and bold at the same time. And then I went to her website and was even more impressed! Wow, I can't wait to see her work in person. She is also the recipient of a scholarship to attend the Illustration Master Class this summer. As I noted in a previous post, the IMC is a wonderful experience... and I am jealous of everyone who gets to go this year! Also, kudos to the two Hartford Art Schoolers (my alma mater) who both had two pieces accepted! Great work!

New Work!

I have some new work up from Running with Paintbrushes projects. Check it out!

Google Art Project

All I have to say is, Holy Cow! The Google Art Project has embarked on a mission to allow anyone and everyone to explore the greatest museums in the world, all from the comfort of your home computer monitor. Now, I must preface this by saying that no virtual experience can beat the real thing, but that said, this project is pretty darn sweet! Currently, 17 museums have participated in the project, with more likely to be added in the future. For each museum you can view a selection of paintings from their collection. The website works really smoothly (no long waits for pages to load, thank you!) and the images are available at high (HIGH!!) resolution. Go enjoy the brush strokes!!

http://www.googleartproject.com/

Aesop's Fables

Happy New Year folks!

Over at Running with Paintbrushes, we've started a new project based on Aesop's Fables.

Check it out and track our progress, and please feel free to leave us feedback!

http://runningwithpaintbrushes.blogspot.com/