Kanaloa

Kanaloa is the Hawaiian god of the sea, and is a complimentary power to Kane. He is also the god of death and the Underworld, and teacher of magic. Fisherman pray to him for protection, but he cannot always be trusted.

This is #4 of my six Hawaiian gods and goddesses that will be available in print-form at APE next weekend. That's right, November 1st and 2nd... and I still have two more to go! I am most definitely running late...

Purrr-casso

This is my first piece for Purr-casso - gouche and collage on Canson paper. Artwork is due on Saturday, so I don't know how many more (if any) I will be able to get done before then. I do, however plan to sell mini prints of this piece at APE, and 100% of the proceeds from this print will be donated to the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society! So, you can either get a print at APE or hold out for the original which will go up for auction a week later. Take your pick - its all for a good cause!

Also, I'm posting this to IF this week because it is pretty late for me to be JUST STARTING with this stuff. I was way ahead of the game last year. I have a feeling that I will probably be posting quite a bit to Illustration Friday this week because I feel like everything I am working on right now is late, late, late. More to come soon...

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Mermaids, small happy fish, and blue paper packages tied up with strings :)

Since this illustration features a present wrapped in strings, and since it is a Holiday card and holidays are some of my favorite things, I think it is an appropriate entry for this week's Illustration Friday. It really is much too early to be thinking about Christmas, but after working on these cards for a week I just can't help it. Now that they are finished, though, I need to focus on more pressing matters...

like what to be for Halloween?!

This is my second and final Holiday card for APE! Off to the printer they go! Have a great week!

Holiday Card #1

Yep, its another mermaid. Surprised?

Ok, break time is over. Back to work. Happy weekend!

A Break from Ape: The Girls

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to get to see Spring Awakening for a second time. I saw the show in NYC just after Christmas this year with most of the original cast, and fell head-over-heels in love with it. I must confess, I am a musical theater geek, but this show is different from anything else I have ever seen. It is gritty and honest and beautiful and if you ever have a chance to see it, please do. The national tour of Spring Awakening will be in San Francisco for another week, so if you are in the area please go see it! The only warning I have is that there is a lot of mature content, so you may not want to take young children (or your mom - a painful mistake I have already made once) to see it.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed with APE things and other projects that I should be working on, I decided to take a break and let this sketch out of my head. This is the original cast of girls from Spring Awakening singing "Mama Who Bore Me." Way back when, I had a quite a hard time deciding what my major in college would be. It was a toss-up between musical theater and animation, and animation ultimately won out because it had been my first love, because I thought it would be easier to "make it" in the animation world (hahaha), and because I knew that a career in animation would allow me to both perform and draw. I'm confident I made the right decision, but this show in particular made me miss being on stage. Since I can't be up there with them, I guess the next best thing I can do is draw them. And for all of you IFers out there, this sketched is "packed" with ridiculously talented young women.

Enjoy, and we will return next week with our regularly scheduled APE-in-progress programming :)

Kane

Here is the third in the Hawaiian gods and goddesses series: Kane. He is the life-giver and creator of forests and trees. I had a really hard time finishing this one, so I'd love to know what you think! Again, this will be one of the prints I'll have at APE, so please come on by if you can.

Oh, and I know its a stretch, but I'm submitting it to IF this week because its "packed" with birdies! Have a great weekend everybody :)

Pele

The bitter rival of Poliahu. She reigns over Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii, and is the goddess of fire, lightning, dance, volcanoes, and violence.

This will be my second print available at APE in November. I am having trouble deciding whether I should post the rest of the prints as they are finished, or wait until after APE to post them all together. In any event, I still have a ton of other things to be working on, so I should still be posting regularly. Again, if you have a chance to come to APE, please do!

Poliahu

Hooray for good news! Bill and I will have a table at APE (Alternative Press Expo) in November, and thus will be selling our stuffs there. That means that from now until the end of October, neither of us will be getting much sleep in order to make said stuffs. I know it will be a blast though, so I can't wait!

That being said, this will be the first of several prints I will make available at APE. Her name is Poliahu, and she is the Hawaiian goddess of snow-capped mountains. Snow-capped mountains in Hawaii? Yep, namely Mauna Kea - a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii, which, when measured from its base at the bottom of the sea floor, is the tallest mountain in the world. Poliahu is the bitter rival of Pele, the goddess of fire, and uses her chill to keep Pele confined to Kilauea and Mauna Loa on the southern end of the island.

I have always been fascinated with Hawaii and its culture, so I will be making a series of illustrations of Hawaiian gods and goddesses for APE. If nothing else, it will give me an excuse to do some reading/research. If anybody is looking for something fun to do on November 1st-2nd, please come on out to APE and say hello! Good times will be had by all :)

Update: I added this post to IF because it fits the topic better than my posts normally do. She is an island goddess - perfect fit!

Singing, Sailing, and Swimming

I spent the weekend doing another five in the series, this bunch being a little different from the last. I've never worked with ink on a brush before, so I wanted to try it out and focus on line quality. These five are also slightly different from the last in that together they create a story. This mermaid is a siren ( are all mermaids supposed to be sirens?) and she lures a sailor into the sea and steals his hat. Hope you enjoy - Have a great week!

Return of the Mermaids

I've been very good and have not drawn mermaids in a very long time. We're talking months. I'm starting to work on a little project now, however, and it just could not be avoided any longer. So those of you who are angered by the sight of mermaids, I'm sorry. Actually, I think I have to let you know that you are just in the wrong place. Mermaids are (and will continue to be) a pretty regular occurrence 'round here.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy these watercolors. It was nice to pick up real paint again for a little bit. Shown are two of five paintings I was able to finish this weekend, and I plan to do more. If you like them a lot, there is a possibility that they will be available for purchase sometime in the not-too-distant future. I will post more details about that later. For now, have a lovely Monday!