Illustration friday: Homage

An homage to an old friend.

This was a commission that I completed for someone as a christmas gift for her father. She wanted a portrait of their dog, Cocoa who had passed away. I used gouache on this acrylic paper I found which had a linen finish, and held up to the paint better than the bristol I had been previously using. I was given a few photos to work from, and I asked for a list of his traits. She said he liked the snow and liked riding in cars, so I incorporated that into it. (The snowy background is a little hard to see in the scan.) Trying to get some kind of likeness was difficult, especially since I couldn't see his eyes in any of the pics. When I gave it to her she said she loved it, and said I got the eyes perfect. Whew! He ended up younger than the pic, but she liked that since the painting was about remembering the good times when he was still alive.

Illustration Friday: Heavy

I had the idea for this little illustration back in the fall when I was remembering one autumn when I was viciously attacked and bitten by multiples of ladybugs, or rather it was most likely the fake ladybugs who masquerade as the nice benevolent ones, but are in fact nuisance worthy Mexican been beetles which feast on crops, and apparently exposed flesh. Anyway, it got me thinking that maybe the real ladybugs should have a showdown with the impostors, and the idea of the ladybug sumo wrestling bout was born. I had tried a few sketches at the time, but couldn't get the positioning right. 'Heavy' seemed like the perfect topic to make another attempt at it, and I have to say I had fun with this one. Some ideas just need extra time to marinate.
This was painted in photoshop, and was enhanced, as the last post, using some free brushes offered by the brilliant artist, Alex Dukal.

my workspace

A couple week's ago Nina Seven tagged me to share some pics of my workspace, and I thought it was a pretty cool idea for a meme. My art palettes in the first photo are empty since I left them set out too long uncovered, and fuzzies and dust had gotten into the paints, so I just cleaned everything out to start fresh with the new gouache paints I just bought. I snapped the photo yesterday when some morning sun was shining into the living room, a very rare occurance.
This second photo is my little Ikea computer desk which I'm constantly changing to try to make it more comfortable. Currently, I've decided it works better without the front panel on the drawer, and I finally removed the bottom shelf that was driving me crazy although this means my printer now sits directly on the floor. The clearance chair that I bought to go with the desk didn't work for sitting on, so it became a table for my scanner. That bit of shiny corner on the wall is the mirror I use to keep an eye on the tv when I'm too busy to take a real break, but want a little entertainment while I work. It's funny to see everything backwards. It makes it look like everyone is driving on the wrong side of the road. :)

I feel like I'm a bit out of the loop with who's already done this meme. I'd love to see everyone's workplace, so if you've already posted some photos of your space, or would like to share some pics please send me some links to your posts. :)

Illustration Friday: Garden

I really do want to be a more consistent blogger, but that mean, nasty flu bug got me the other week, and threw off all my plans. I was feeling better last week, but my creative brain was still all mushy, and the ideas were just not flowing. But, when I saw this week's beautiful topic I just couldn't let it pass by without drawing up something new in the sketchbook. I thought this would be fun to traditionally paint, so I did some small tests, and realized that I didn't have enough time to do the details justice. I also desperately need to buy some new gouache paints since most of my tubes are dried up and old. So my big plan for tomorrow is to make a trip to Blick's.
(Digitally painted in Photoshop)