Illustration Friday: Red

Red carries with it many meanings. Red is drama, risk, determination, and passion, but unfortunately, too much red can backfire.

Illustration Friday: Super Hero

When we last saw our super hero he was flying the friendly skies, but now he's found himself in a bit of a pickle. Will our hero escape? Well, of course, he'd never miss dinner.

When I was home for the holidays my furry friend Andy kept me entertained with his coffee table climbing antics. He loves to reach up, and pull himself along. After he moves down one side I'm most impressed at how he rounds the corner to continue all the way around. There's much meowing and carrying on as well as he makes sure we're all watching because he loves an audience. I believe he thinks he's in his own little adventure movie, crossing a great ravine. Every time I see him do this the Indiana Jones theme music plays in my head. If Harrison Ford decides not to do a 4th movie Andy said he could find time in his schedule for the right amount of catnip.

Illustration Friday: 80's

I remember watching Pac-man every saturday morning. I just read some sites that said it was the worst cartoon ever, but I was a kid, and it was just fine by me. Mr. and Mrs. Pacman were the portrait of the typical American family. I often heard it said during the 80's that much of the world thought our streets were paved with gold. Well, the Pac family didn't have gold, but power pellets grew on trees, and that was just as good, or better. If anyone got in their way they just ate 'um. I have to wonder if this mentality has contributed to the obesity problem in America today.

My apologies to Grant Wood.

1 Year Blog Anniversary

Tomorrow is my one year blog anniversary, but I'll be on vacation, so I'm celebrating a day early. I remember being so excited starting this up, and posting my first Illustration Friday post. This blog has been a wonderful creative outlet for me. A place to follow through on the ideas floating around in my head. I cherish all the support from everyone who's stopped by for a visit. I love hearing from you. You've all kept me so motivated to go on, and try new things. I'll be doing more blog visiting over the holiday. I've added some more of my favorite artists to my blogroll.

This will be my 34th post. It's not quite the 'at least once a week' goal I was reaching for, but it does feel like an accomplishment. This has been a real up and down year for me. I have noticed that for me every year seems to have a theme or a certain focus, and I seem to follow my own little story arc that supports it. This year I thought I knew what I wanted this year to be about, and what goals were most necessary to achieve, mainly to buy a house, but I learned that sometimes the path from A to C involves a lot more focus on B than you had intended. There was so much more middle stuff that needed to be accomplished before the end goal C could ever be thought about. But that has been a good thing since stopping to focus more on my art and career has opened up new and exciting opportunities that may bring me to a better point C than I ever had imagined. This year I learned that the most random points in your life have a way of connecting in ways you never considered. I hope in 2007 to see even more of my dots connect.

Illustration Friday: Peace

Who! who! who!, Merry Christmas! to everyone who participates in Illustration Friday, and everyone out in the blogosphere and beyond!

Tomorrow is my 1 year blog anniversary, and it's been such a fun year meeting so many new friends. I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday.
Happy Winter Solstice!

Illustration Friday: Thanksgiving

I'd like to take a moment to give thanks to pie! While turkey is often the main attraction every Thanksgiving my favorite part has always been my mom's homemade pies. I'm not a big fan of pumpkin unless it's folded into a cheesecake, but I love cherry pie topped with wonderful cool whip!

This is a photo of last year's pies. My self-appointed job is to crimp the crusts, and decorate the top. I had fun with my maple leaf cookie cutters for this one. I haven't yet decided yet what the design theme will be for this year.
For some inspiration maybe I should consult the Book of Pi.

Illustration Friday: Clear

Never is there more of a need to clear the skies than when Andy the Amazing Flying Ace takes to flight. While many of his tricks are downright....well, amazing, he's often unpredictable, doesn't have the best brakes, and he's not exactly known for flying in a straight line. So, if you happen to hear his plane engine buzzing near, unless you'd like a propeller up the nose, it would be best if you cleared the runway, and gave him the right of way.

I loosely sketched the idea for this illustration as I was driving on the toll road to go visit my parents, (even though I never condone sketching and driving). I was thinking that I was soon going to see little Andy, the most precious kitty that ever was, and his tendency to sometimes fly at great distances off the bed or couch rather than simply jump down, and so the character of Andy the Amazing Flying Ace was born.

A 'History of Angela' Fun Fact: My high school class was so apathetic that our class color was 'clear'.

Black & Orange

I wanted to contribute an illustration to Penelope's Black & Orange gallery, but I'm still a little lacking on fun drawing ideas. I have been snapping a lot of photos lately of anything that catches my eye, so I used the photo below, manipulated it in Photoshop a bit, and tranfered it onto Sculpey III to create the necklace above. Creating homemade necklaces has become a bit of a hobby for me, but sculpting a charm is something new, and was quite fun, especially the part about it not burning!

Have a spook-tacular Halloween!

Illustration Friday: Ghost

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I've missed participating in IF so much, but have had a hard time getting that creative spark back. So this is my little attempt to break the hiatus.
I love how everything gets dressed up for the holidays....even the donuts.

I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween with sprinkles on top!!

Illustration Friday: Farm

This week's entry was inspired by the soon to be released new version of Charlotte's Web starring cute little Dakota Fanning.

Illustration Friday: Match

I was having idea block when I went to read my now several days old Sunday Chicago Tribune, and there was a cover story about the twin Chinese girls who were adopted by different American families, and were reunited due to a chance meeting on the internet. Amazingly, their names are both Mia. They seemed to have an immediate connection when they met face to face, and their DNA was a match.

Illustration Friday: Clean

From the moment I saw this week's topic I knew I wanted to do a 'in the tub' scene even though I knew there would be a lot of similar entries. I wasn't sure who would be in my little tub until I remembered the time my mom and I attempted to bathe our extremely bratty, ornery cat Max. Mom said it couldn't be done, but I truly believed that since I was bigger, and even more stubborn than him that I would be triumphant. Well, as soon as I got him soaped up and slippery he did the 'crocodile death roll', I lost hold of him, and he jumped out of the basement sink, and ran upstairs. I paused, heard the 'I told you so' from mom, and calmly went up after him. I found him just sitting in the middle of the floor. I told him we would have to finish this thing, and his soapy little self realized I was right, and he let me carry him back down to the basement.

I've been meaning to get back to traditional painting for a long time now. I've become so dependent on the computer that the thought of picking up a real brush is extremely intimidating. I needed to break through this barrier. I want to get into working in acrylic, but for this first go around I went back to the medium I used to know best....watercolors.