I hope everyone's having a great holiday season so far. I just thought I'd make a quick update while I'm on vacation since an interview (my first!) I did for Something We Like just posted today. Check it out if you're interested.
Well, I'm off to wrap some more presents and eat entirely too much!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Mexican Hats & Indian Blankets (Applied)
Drawing inspiration from photos I took a year ago of wildflowers in Austin (see previous post Mexican Hats & Indian Blankets), I drew this little guy who is modeling his Mexican hat and Indian blanket poncho. I love how the common names of so many wildflowers evoke such very specific images:
I mostly just wanted to get the idea down on paper, but I also thought these simple drawings would provide me a good opportunity to play with digital coloring since I am still just barely dipping my toes in the great big digital pond. Something else I did with these drawings that I almost never do was to complete the initial shading in pencil. In my current technique, the painting stage consumes so much time that I never bother to establish lighting in the sketch phase. I'll often work it out in a color study if I can't visualize it well enough to go straight to final. If you notice a difference in texture between the two drawings it's because one I drew on graphics pad paper and the other on bristol paper just to get a feel for how the different media take shaded pencil drawings.
I think this little character is begging for a story. Maybe I'll dream something up for him some day...
I mostly just wanted to get the idea down on paper, but I also thought these simple drawings would provide me a good opportunity to play with digital coloring since I am still just barely dipping my toes in the great big digital pond. Something else I did with these drawings that I almost never do was to complete the initial shading in pencil. In my current technique, the painting stage consumes so much time that I never bother to establish lighting in the sketch phase. I'll often work it out in a color study if I can't visualize it well enough to go straight to final. If you notice a difference in texture between the two drawings it's because one I drew on graphics pad paper and the other on bristol paper just to get a feel for how the different media take shaded pencil drawings.I think this little character is begging for a story. Maybe I'll dream something up for him some day...
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Thanksgiving in Prescott
I might be a little late in saying so, but I hope everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving holiday! My in-laws recently relocated, so we had the pleasure of visiting a new town for the holiday this year. I'd spent one night in Prescott, AZ several years ago, but hadn't really had much time to explore. Four and a half days for this vacation gave us a good chunk of time to check out the area and we rapidly discovered how rich the Prescott region is in hiking opportunities!
We first climbed (and conquered!) Thumb Butte, so named as from the distance it looks rather like the tip of a thumb:
The trail sort of disappears in a jumble of rocks and brush as one nears the top, so we had to do quite a lot of scrambling to make it to the top. And make it we did, but not without facing some harrowing obstacles on the way.
Less than a five minute drive from the my in-laws new home was Willow Lake and the Willow Dells Slickrock Trail Loops.
Probably my favorite of all the hiking we did last weekend, these trails involved a great deal of boulder-hopping with stunning panoramic views of the dells and the lake.
We finished off our hiking Sunday at Granite Mountain, taking a trail that wound up a lower hill and offered nice views of the mountain catching some late afternoon sun.
We'd been feeling a bit starved for good hikes since our move to Dallas, so this vacation was just what we needed. I'm not sure how many miles we totaled, but it certainly felt like a lot. We came back from our vacation feeling pretty exhausted, but for all that hiking it was definitely worth it!
We first climbed (and conquered!) Thumb Butte, so named as from the distance it looks rather like the tip of a thumb:
The trail sort of disappears in a jumble of rocks and brush as one nears the top, so we had to do quite a lot of scrambling to make it to the top. And make it we did, but not without facing some harrowing obstacles on the way.Less than a five minute drive from the my in-laws new home was Willow Lake and the Willow Dells Slickrock Trail Loops.
Probably my favorite of all the hiking we did last weekend, these trails involved a great deal of boulder-hopping with stunning panoramic views of the dells and the lake.
We finished off our hiking Sunday at Granite Mountain, taking a trail that wound up a lower hill and offered nice views of the mountain catching some late afternoon sun.
We'd been feeling a bit starved for good hikes since our move to Dallas, so this vacation was just what we needed. I'm not sure how many miles we totaled, but it certainly felt like a lot. We came back from our vacation feeling pretty exhausted, but for all that hiking it was definitely worth it!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Taking Shelter
Continuing my string of autumn-themed paintings, here is yet another:
This illustration is another private commission and installment in the "Little Lost Squirrels" story. Here they are mid-journey taking shelter from the storm. We carried a couple details from previous "Lost Squirrels" illustrations over into this illustration to hint at the continuity - the little green beetle has been observing the unfolding events through several paintings as has the watchful owl. I always think it's fun to find these kinds of extras details in artists' work - kind of like you're in on a little secret!
This illustration is another private commission and installment in the "Little Lost Squirrels" story. Here they are mid-journey taking shelter from the storm. We carried a couple details from previous "Lost Squirrels" illustrations over into this illustration to hint at the continuity - the little green beetle has been observing the unfolding events through several paintings as has the watchful owl. I always think it's fun to find these kinds of extras details in artists' work - kind of like you're in on a little secret!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Etsy
I thought I'd try out a different venue - hopefully one that sees a little more traffic than my usual little corner of the web... so I went and opened an Etsy shop! Several originals from my website and all but one of the prints have been relocated to the new shop. A few new originals have been added to the listings as well.
What's even better is that many of the originals that were previously listed on my site have been deeply discounted for the holidays! Come visit and check out some of the offerings:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/phpeacock
What's even better is that many of the originals that were previously listed on my site have been deeply discounted for the holidays! Come visit and check out some of the offerings:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/phpeacock
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Cricket & the Ant
I have yet another autumn-themed painting to post appropriately enough during autumn, however I'd completed this one many months ago. This piece is the second of six paintings illustrating the fable, "The Cricket & the Ant."
© Editura Eduard within Romania
©Phyllis Peacock everywhere else
© Editura Eduard within Romania©Phyllis Peacock everywhere else
You might notice the colors are quite a bit brighter than my usual palette and for me this was a big challenge. I made the colors as bright as I reasonably could using my traditional media and then after scanning, I did A LOT of color adjustment in Photoshop.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Spring Creek Forest Preserve
After our punishingly hot summer, the weather over the past two weeks has taken a sharp turn toward very pleasant. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, we trekked over to Garland and hiked Spring Creek Forest Preserve this past weekend.
The trail mostly followed along a high-banked creek with many short off-shoots where one could reach the edge of the bank and catch a glimpse of the water. In only a couple places could we actually climb down to the water. The white rocky banks reminded me of the beautiful hill country we recently left behind in Austin. We're hopeful that the nice weather will continue for a while...
Onto the subject of reference from life and nature's little treasures once again... The management at our apartment complex recently decided to repaint everything, including the covered parking. The thorough cleaning required before painting also meant the removal of all of the bird's nests that had been built in the tight spaces between the support columns and the roof. And there were A LOT of them. I found this one on the ground and couldn't resist bringing it home with me:
I have yet to decide if I will actually keep it or just study it for a while before throwing it away. You can't see it in the photo, but under closer scrutiny you can see small bits of man-made objects wound throughout the nest - a length of red string and a fair amount of what looks to be a fine plastic net, possibly for fishing? I think there's a story here...
The trail mostly followed along a high-banked creek with many short off-shoots where one could reach the edge of the bank and catch a glimpse of the water. In only a couple places could we actually climb down to the water. The white rocky banks reminded me of the beautiful hill country we recently left behind in Austin. We're hopeful that the nice weather will continue for a while...Onto the subject of reference from life and nature's little treasures once again... The management at our apartment complex recently decided to repaint everything, including the covered parking. The thorough cleaning required before painting also meant the removal of all of the bird's nests that had been built in the tight spaces between the support columns and the roof. And there were A LOT of them. I found this one on the ground and couldn't resist bringing it home with me:
I have yet to decide if I will actually keep it or just study it for a while before throwing it away. You can't see it in the photo, but under closer scrutiny you can see small bits of man-made objects wound throughout the nest - a length of red string and a fair amount of what looks to be a fine plastic net, possibly for fishing? I think there's a story here...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
