Moon

Yes, I am one of the many Harry Potter fans out there. After reading the final book last week, I decided that I really wanted to paint something in honor of the series. I decided that I would couple that with this week's Illustration Friday topic (Moon) and this is what I came up with. Enjoy!

Happy Wednesday Everybody!

Mermaids and Poems!

For the last couple of weeks, I have been working on this painting for my friend, Meg. She requested a mermaid painting back in March, and I've just now gotten around to it. The mermaids are playing hide and seek, and I have a sneaking suspicion that one of those little fish is going to give the mermaid in the foreground away - I just know it. I may tweak a little more here and there, but I think its mostly finished... I think...

Anyway, in order to make it fit into this week's Illustration Friday, I found a poem to go along with it:

Mermaid

by Walter de la Mare

Leagues, leagues over the sea I sail
Couched on a wallowing dolphin's tail.

The sky is on fire, the waves a-sheen,
I dabble my foot in the billows green.

In a sea-weed hat on the rocks I sit,
where tern and sea-mew glide and beat,
and where dark shadows the cormorants meet.

In caverns cool when the tide's a wash,
I sound my conch to the watery splash.

From out their grottos at evenings beam,
the mermaids swim with locks agleam.

Happy Friday!

Twist!

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "twist", and it just so happens that I also started taking yoga for the first time ever this week. Yoga makes for a perfect "twist" illustration topic. Part of this illustration is inspired by real-life, and part of it is inspired by the current book that I am reading called "Eat, Pray, Love". Its a really lovely book and I highly recommend it. Anyway, I will have lots of other things to post in the near future, but I better get this one up before midnight or else I'm gonna miss my deadline!

Surf's Up is Amazing.

At this point I highly doubt that there is anyone reading my blog, but if there is anyone who does stop by please go see Surf's Up in the theater. You won't be disappointed.
Most of my friends went to see a sneak preview of Ratatouille last weekend and absolutely loved it. I missed that screening, so I cannot possibly compare the two, nor can I tell you which one to see if you are only going to see one or the other. My suggestion would be to go see both because that is certainly what I am going to do. What I can say, however, is that Surf's Up is definitely the best movie I have seen so far this year (followed closely by a film called "Once") and that it is a complete delight from beginning to end. Does anyone remember heart in animated films? I do, vaguely. I thought it bordered on extinction after "Lilo and Stitch", with the yearly Pixar film being the rare exception. But Sony's got it! They really do! Not to mention the beautiful animation, art direction, and stellar voice acting. Please don't miss this gem in the middle of all of the summer blockbusters that, I promise you, will not be half as entertaining.

Her Paradise

After my last post, I received a request for a painting with a Native American inspired theme. The subject of the painting grew up in the Southwest and has deep roots in that culture. This is what I came up with and I hope it does her justice. This is a birthday present, so hopefully I'm not spoiling the suprise here :)

Also, I thought this would also fit well with this week's Illustration Friday topic of "Your Paradise". I have many ideas of paradise, and one of my favorite places is Phoenix, AZ. My cousin lives there and I love to go visit her whenever I can. Yes it is hot, but I love the heat and the landscape is just incredible. So I guess this is a double paradise illustration - both for the girl in the painting (whose name is Ashley) and for me.

Happy Wednesday!

Birthday, Mother's Day, and Citrus All In One

So this is my attempt at digital painting. I decided a while back that I would do a series of paintings for my mom for her birthday/Mother's day (which are only two weeks apart). The theme of the series is her with our dog (Maui) going about their daily activities at our lake house. That seems to be where they both are happiest and that is how I like to think of them. I initially started painting them on watercolor paper, but I got so frustrated with the results that I decided I needed to try something new. And here is the first completed piece created completely in photoshop.... enjoy! I will post the rest of them as I finish them.

For those of you who know my mother (ahem, Lainey) please don't say anything to her about what I'm up to. I am getting this one printed and will be taking it home to her next week, so until then keep this hush hush. I am fairly certain that my mom doesn't get online for anything uless it is completely necessary, so I'm hopefully safe there. If not, Happy Birthday/Mother's Day, Mom!

And finally, since I haven't posted to Illustration Friday in FOREVER, I thought that I would make this fit into this weeks topic: citrus. The palette is "citrusy" right? And also, this is a painting of morning at the lake, and I gaurantee that later on this particular afternoon my mom will make margaritas, which are made with lime juice, which is a citrus fruit. So there.

Happy Wednesday!

Lunchtime Doodle

Today I was listening to music from "Wicked" during lunch and doodled this. Good music is so overwhelming - I wish I could capture that emotion in my doodles. I try.

Green...ish (part 2)

with a little retouching in photoshop. Still not quite finished...

Green....ish.

This is a work-in-progress painting I've been working on for a couple of weeks. I have been reading James Michener's "Hawaii" and have gotten really interested in island culture. This particular painting is inspired by an early 90's musical called "Once on this Island" about a peasant girl who falls in love with a boy of high class. Its a really fun show with a lot of great music. I plan on doing more paintings inspired by island culture soon.

Anyway, since Illustration Friday's topic this week is "Green", I thought this might fit. It would work a lot better if the topic was "Greenish-Blue", but you can't win them all.

Also, does anyone know how to replace a thumbnail on IF? I was a moron and uploaded a low quality version that looks all soupy and yucky and now I'm stuck with it.

scribble doodle

Just trying my hand at some scribble drawings. I have found that this is a good way to stay loose and open to new shapes and compositions. These are just a few that I have done recently - I will post some more sketchbook things soon.

Over the weekend I saw "Meet the Robinsons". I was pleasantly suprised at times and very disappointed at others. Honestly, I came out of the theater not knowing exactly how to feel because I wasn't exactly sure of what I had just seen. I guess my feelings are best expressed in the words of my 4-year old cousin who also saw the movie this weekend. In the middle of the film, he turned to his grandma and asked "Why they make this movie, Grandma?".

I think that about sums it up.