Plum colored, plum tuckered, plum crazy

Its been a busy week, but I don't have a lot of actual art to show for it. Some weeks are like that - lots of other types of businessy chores to do. Still continuing to work on the digital painting samples. The chicken teriyaki above was a good lesson in painting "cooked meat", which can look really dull if you paint it the exact color it actually is. You have to really brighten up meat - raw or cooked - to make it look palatable. I'm still working on staying loose and painterly and intuitive, rather than slow and render-y and analytical like my other work. This bowl was black, but I made it dark plum instead, which I thought was much more interesting.


And speaking of plum colored things, I picked up my newly framed "Pulling Up Roots" piece for the UArt show, and am really happy with how it turned out. The frame has a plum tone to it, which is difficult to see well here, but it really looks good with the art. This picture was taken in the store (making use of one of their easels), which is why it has reflections of big ceiling light fixtures in it! So this is now on its way to San Jose for the show.




And as always, the cats have to have their moment. I'm not sure what I said to Phyllo to make him bury his head this way. He seems to be just a bit overwhelmed. Or plum tuckered out. (had to get 'plum' in there somehow) Maybe I should get him a fainting couch.



And Willow is my new best helper at the computer. Notice he's laying where the keyboard is supposed to be. Rather than move him, I move the keyboard. I know. You can say it.
CrAzY.



Mad Men starts up again Sunday night, yay!

Illustration Friday - Breakfast (and a little Ballet)

More with the food. Illustration Friday's theme this week is Breakfast, so thought I'd fiddle with some "morning" food. Still experimenting. On this one I did the lettering with the pencil tool (Photoshop).



On this one I used the brush tool for the type, and added a background.


Same here, and just got crazy with the color.



I'm also still working on developing my digital 'look' for kids. For this one I took an old very tightly rendered colored pencil piece, and redrew part of it in this new style. And I like it so much better. Its fresh and light and clean.


I love to draw, and want these pieces to look like I sat and drew the scene 'live'. I'm finding I have to 'warm up' to draw well (like I do if I'm at a figure drawing session or something), even though I'm technically drawing-over something I've worked out pretty tightly. Does that make sense? I don't want the piece to look 'traced'. So I'm thinking like I do when I draw live, which requires a different set of brain cells than I use when I go sort of numb and trace something. I want the line quality to be alive and interesting, which means there will be 'stray' lines, just like there would be if I were drawing from a model.
I've said too much. I'll do more, and hopefully you'll get what I mean.


Yesterday it was 106 here. omg. Even with a/c, this is how it feels.

Loose Kids and Cats

Still doing the new digital thing, but moving on to kids and other stuff besides food.

You may or may not remember that I did this drawing a while back; but that version was tighter, and just in black and white. I redrew it much looser, and added color. I purposely left it very loose and sketchy, just like I've been doing with the food pieces. It takes a lot of self discipline to not get in there and render! And also, this drawing was done digitally (the drawings of the other food pieces are all pen and ink) using a Wacom. So this is 100% digital.

(click on the image to see it a bit larger)

I tend to work in a muted, or tertiary palette, rather than primaries. So I added those spots of hot pink to liven it up, and balanced them out by using them in a triad - the girl's shoes, the little boy's shirt, and the cup holding the silverware on the right. The blue-green of the chairs is balanced that way as well (although there are 4, not 3). Same thing with the plates, etc. Otherwise the color choices are very intuitive - I'll start with one or two I like, then build from there. I did change the kids' hair color, the table, the plates, etc. a few times to get them to work, but the drawing and actual color application were very 'free'. And fun!

And can you tell I've been to Pier One and Cost Plus recently? ha ha There's a certain 'influence' in the table and settings I think.


While I'm busy with this, here is what the rest of my family is up to ~

Shmoopie - "Whachoo lookin' at?" (way up high on an armoire)

Phyllo counting his money

Willow the Milk Monster (he'd drink a quart a day if I let him)

Saachi the Kung Fu master

And Charlie in the Box (dare him to not fit into any size box, however small)

Yesterday I took my Pulling Up Roots piece in to be framed, and was happy to find a "black" framing material that had a subtle plum-beet color to it, so it compliments the work perfectly. I can't wait to see it all framed up! I'm doing UV/Conservation plexiglass on all my pieces now - even though its a bit pricey its the best thing, and I figure if you're going to do it, do it right. Its been accepted into the UArt Open 2010 (yay!). Which means I will have two of my colored pencil pieces hanging in shows that are sneezing distance from each other - one in Los Gatos (for CPSA), and one in San Jose. Kinda cool.


I also bought some neat still life goodies at the store yesterday that I would like to do in colored pencils. I have an idea to do some smaller pieces, maybe to sell, so I'll post as I go. I have some new pencils too that I want to try - Dick Blicks and Lyras. The Blicks seem very much like Prismacolors, and the Lyras of course are oil based like Polychromos, but a little softer I think. I'll also be continuing on with the new digital work. So I'm busy!

Stay cool everyone - (its 100 and something here today - bleahhhhh, melt melt wilt wither)

From the kitchen this week

More in the new style ~









I'm having so much FUN. And this, compared to tight colored pencil work, is like comparing a Lamborghini to a horse and buggy. I still love a good old fashioned horse and buggy ride, don't get me wrong - but a spin in a fast Italian sports car gets your juices flowing. And you get there faster.

I've always wanted to incorporate more actual drawing into my work, but couldn't figure out how to do it. This is freeing me up a lot, and I have about a billion ideas of what I want to do. So stay tuned for more of the new 'me'.


My "Twix Mini" piece is just about packed up and ready to go off to Los Gatos for the CPSA show. It will get FedExed tomorrow. Here it is in its nifty crate.



And I can't leave without sharing a kitty pic. Here is my neighbor's kitty who comes to visit and have a nosh every day. She even uses the litter box! Then she goes back home. I don't know what it is about my house that makes all the cats lie on their backs with their feet in the air like this. Cuz I don't do this (just in case you were wondering).



Ciao ~