IF: Bicycle

I did this really quick little sketch for Illustration Friday. The theme this week is bicycle:

I'm trying to get myself in the habit of doing quick warm-up sketches in the morning where I have to produce something in a relatively short amount of time. It can be anything at all and it doesn't have to be good. I just have to agree with myself to leave it alone after my allotted time is up no matter how badly I may want to fix. Like those tires, for example. I rather dislike the tires, but I'm forbidding myself to do anything about it (which is hard when you're me). Anyway, I'm hoping this kind of exercise will gradually help me to loosen up a bit as well as provide an opportunity to play with media I seldom touch. Today I used micron pens and colored pencil. I can't remember the last time I used micron pens...

Nesting

After several truly exhausting days, we're finally all moved in to our new place. We have a lot of unpacking and arranging to do. My studio still appears to have been ravaged by a tornado, but I'm making progress. I'm hoping to have my studio together by the end of today (or at least by tomorrow afternoon!).

It seems we weren't the only ones procuring a new home this past month. The swallows came back again this year and built a brand new nest above our kitchen window just as we were beginning to move out. Their old nest from last year had been removed, so they had to start from scratch. A lot of work for them, no doubt, but it did afford me a great opportunity to watch the new nest evolve over time. I tried to take a picture a day to document their progress:I'm amazed by how quickly they were able to construct a new nest. They seemed to have completed it well within two weeks. I think I should take a cue from those little birds and get my house in order as soon as possible!

On the Move

Our final moving date is just a little over a week away and there's still a lot to do. I need to put in change of addresses with various places, set up phone and internet service at our new home, and gather up a bunch more book boxes for our substantial library. But, I do, at least, have my painting all finished and ready to be made into postcards:
I think I'm probably going to post this one for sale on my Etsy shop, but I think it might be best to hang on to it until my postcards are finalized. So, if you're interested, check my shop in maybe three or four weeks. I'll update here with a direct link too when it's available.

Update 5/13/11: This painting is now available here.

Ducklings on the Move

In anticipation of yet another upcoming move (just a short, local move this time), I started designing a postcard to send out once we're settled at our new address:
I think I'm setting myself up for a serious challenge with all the ripples in the water those little ducklings can't help but generate. But for the opportunity to illustrate ducklings in all their irresistable cuteness, hopefully the challenge will be worth it!

Cats on a Fence

Just yesterday, I wrapped up on this painting for my book dummy:

I think I'm finally (just barely!) starting to get the hang of this digital painting business. I can still use lots more practice though! The cats went pretty smoothly; the backgrounds not as smoothly. Fortunately my husband has been collecting a lot of incredibly varied and useful Photoshop brushes for a quite a while and had taken the time to organize them by type which proved most helpful to me. I think using some of the more organic brushes helped me to feel a little more comfortable with this media.

So now, I've got just a couple more paintings yet to go before it will be ready for submission...

Interview

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!

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...