Illustration Friday - PUPPET

8 x 10 oil on canvas

My daughter got this mask last year in Florence, Italy - the birthplace of Carlo Lorenzini who is the author of Pinocchio.  I did the painting over 3 - 2-hour days, working from a still life set up.  Much different than working from a photo and, for me, easier to keep a looser style.  This painting is serving as an exercise for a larger painting I want to start working on soon.  The largest paintings I've done over the last several years have been 12 x 16 and I'm in the mood to go bigger and hopefully more dramatic.

Illustration Friday - TROUBLE

8 x 10 oil on clayboard

The Illustration Friday word of the week is TROUBLE. I have a couple of projects going on so I didn't really think I had the time to participate this week, but this illustration is one of the projects I was working on.  If you had a carton of eggs on your kitchen counter and baby dragons started hatching out of them, I think you would have some kind of trouble.  I did this illustration to go along with this little guy

who I finished quite some time ago. I'm currently working on two more compositions to make a nice little set for my portfolio. 

Illustration Friday - OCTOPUS

The IF word of the week is Octopus. I have Halloween on the brain at this time of year so . . . my contribution is OCTOBERPUS.   I did the original art in watercolor, then enhanced it digitally.  

Illustration Friday - SILENCE

SILENCE

This is not me.  My children are grown, and to be honest this was never me - laundry folded, dishes done, dinner simmering on the stove. This is the me I imagined when I was seventeen and still thumbing through bridal magazines choosing gowns and envisioning my 4 carat emerald cut diamond engagement ring.  I didn't even have a boyfriend. 

Maybe this would have been me if I had taken the time to meditate. LOL.  Maybe this would have been me if my children had taken the time to meditate.

Waldo at the Bistro

Waldo at the Bistro

My newest oil painting. 12 x 16 on gesso board.  

     I don't usually like the job of coming up with titles for my paintings, but this title came all of a sudden and naturally.  

    When we were in Italy for my step-daughter Ashley's wedding, I took dozens and dozens of photos to use as reference material. There were a few times that my son intentionally photo bombed my images (much to my amusement) and several times that he ended up in my photos just because he's so darn tall and hard to miss.  When I started looking closely at some of my photos I found him in several reflections on glass etc. (guess he was always close to Mom - isn't that sweet?)  I was nearly finished with this painting and working on tiny details when I finally saw him there in the photo. I originally thought it was a coffee can with Juan Valdez or someone like that, but it was a mirrored surface behind the glass display. There was his handsome face, positioned perfectly. I couldn't not paint him! 

Below is a photo of him, many years ago with his grandparents, dressed as Waldo from the "Where's Waldo?" book series. See why the title was so easy?!

Sun Kissed Street in Siena

Sun Kissed Street in Siena

12 x 16 oil on gesso board

     I am very pleased with the way this one turned out. I worked from a photo taken by my son. Funny, a few of us took the same shot but his photo just had these guys at the exact right moment with the exact right exposure. 

     I tried to be a little looser with my paint application and even used a palette knife in some areas.  My step-daughter, Ashley, helped me with the title. Titling pieces is my one of my least favorite parts.