Illustration Friday - Bottled

I did this drawing/watercolor a year or so ago. It was perfect for Illustration Friday's theme of "Bottled". I have neglected doing an IF for far too long. I did work on one last week for "toy", but didn't finish in time. I will get it done I'm sure though.

This is an autobiographical piece for me. I was feeling very bottled for far too long. A couple of years ago I was able to finally break free, much like this genie here. It was a terrific feeling, but I'm sure some think I was going over board! It felt good anyway. I have calmed down quite a bit, and am content in other ways. It's called happiness.

I have prints available in myEtsy Shop.

NibbleFest - Asian Inspired/IF Legendary

I'm a little behind, and have been neglecting my poor little blog!

This is my entry for NibbleFest - Asian Inspired. It also fits with last week's Illustration Friday which was Legendary. This is a Legendary Entertainer. I was also thinking a lot about Spring, so I made it very Spring like.

It's an ACEO, 2.5x3.5 inches, watercolor.

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Illustration Friday - time

Old-Time Sex Symbol.

Yeah, it may be a stretch!

This is one of my favorite women to paint - Evelyn Nesbit... America's first sex symbol, inspiration for the Gibson Girl, and key player in turn of the century scandal filled with love, murder, sex, millionaires and a beautiful woman. This disgraceful story of the day rivaled the present day OJ trial in notoriety.

So what do I do, try to do a sexy woman, and all I can come up with is some kind of old-timey sex goddess.

This is an ACEO (2.5x3.5 inches) done in watercolor.

It's for sale in my Etsy shop.

Illustration Friday - flawed

This is my entry for Illustration Friday's prompt of "flawed".

Sometimes the flawed one is most beautiful.

Even though this flower looks beautiful to you and me, it's different than the others in this field of daisies -- making it flawed to them.

Of course, usually the one that's different in a group is sometimes the most beautiful.

Look a little deeper into something and you will see the beauty. Everything and everyone has their own beauty, you just have to dig a little sometimes to find it.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

This is an ACEO (3.5 x 2.5 inches) watercolor and pen and ink. Available for sale on Etsy.

Illustration Friday - contained

Boy, what a blogger-bum I've been lately!

I did an Illustration Friday, but I'm a day too late. This is for the prompt "contained."

I can't contain the happiness I feel over the coming inauguration. I'm hopeful for better times ahead, for us all.

This is just a quickie acrylic painting on paper.

So I didn't officially make it for the IF deadline, but at least I did one this week.

I was also inspired a little by watching some 5th graders painting today. They were really enjoying their mixing of the paint, so I wanted to just throw on some paint also. It's a little different than my normal style?

Speaking of the 5th graders. One of them made the comment while doing this mixing of paint.... "I feel like a kid again." That was surely the quote of the week. See how important art is, especially for kids?

Illustration Friday - resolve

Here's my entry for this week's IF theme of "resolve."

I resolve to do I.F... no matter how difficult it may be!

This was drawn with pen, then colored digitally.

I like digital colors, but I think I need more experience. It just looks too stale to me. I guess the practice is good, and it's fun.

And now for some reason my thumbnail didn't show up on the IF Link Viewer. Not sure what happened. It never happened before :(

Illustration Friday - Wide

"She Needs Wide Open Spaces." My entry for this week's IF - Wide. I know the feeling of that need.

I was so sick of slacking on Illustration Friday, that I had to just put up an older drawing. Old is better than nothing at all. When I thought of "Wide," my immediate thoughts were of the Dixie Chicks. This made me remember this drawing from 1992. Back then I had dreams of my own patchwork fields. I don't really have wide open spaces of patchwork, but at least I do have my own bit of land now, no longer throwing money away to rent. And I now get to grow whatever I want, without having to possibly uproot it anytime, to transport to another rental.

Nothing beats owning your own piece of land, even if it's only 1/3 acre, not 33 acres!

This is a colorful drawing done with pentel markers, approx 8x10 inches.

Illustration Friday - Legends and Tales

I'm getting my Illustration Friday entry for Legends and Tales done at the last possible moment of the week. Better late than never.

There are so many legends and tales that came to my mind for the theme. It was hard to choose just one to illustrate. I decided on one of the stories carried down through the ages of what happened to Merlin the wizard. Here we have the version where Merlin is trapped within a tree by magic.

I toyed with the other fate of Merlin for my illustration. In the other version Merlin impresses the fairy, Niniane with his magic by building a castle in the air. She learns of his magic and dances a spell to enchant Merlin. While he sleeps the fairies trap him in his castle in the sky where he lives, separate from the mortal world.

This is an acrylic painting done on an LP record. No need to frame, just hang on an nail through the center hole. They look wonderful alone or hung in a group.

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Illustration Friday - Wedding

"Hey, Little Sister what have you done?... It's a nice day to start again, it's a nice day for a white wedding."

This week's IF is "Wedding." Yayy! I'm finally particpating in IF again. It's been a while. I've either been gone, or just had no time, or probably no ideas. There have been some tough themes lately. I was glad to hear "wedding" was the theme, cuz I could actually come up with something.

What? Well, my untraditional sister all gussied up in her wedding finery! Untraditional, yet beautiful none the less!

This is an ACEO (2.5x3.5 inches) painted in acrylic. It's in my shop over on Etsy, now!

Illustration Friday - citrus

This week's Illustration Friday theme is "citrus." And here we have a lovely Goddess of the Citrus fruits.

I guess you would call this mixed media. It's a little bit of collage using tissue paper. I also enjoyed using my new Winsor & Newton colored inks, both with brush and a pen. I've wanted a set of these little colored inks for a long time. I finally splurged (using my 40% off coupon) and bought some at Michaels. They have the cutest labels and boxes, and the colors are so vibrant.

This is an ACEO (2.5x3.5), art card, mixed media on 140 lb. watercolor paper.
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Illustration Friday - Remember

The weekly theme for Illustration Friday is "Remember". It took me a while to think of an idea, and even longer to get the painting done. Life was just too busy this week. Well I'm getting it onto IF with just a few hours to spare.

I was thinking about how young women use to make a special message for their lovers who were going off to war. Then I wanted the overall look to be like the vintage needle packages. I've always liked those packages. I guess because I remember my mom having some in her old sewing machine drawer way back when I was quite young. They probably belonged to her mother before that.

It's an ACEO (2.5x3.5 inches) acrylic. Find it on Etsy.

Illustration Friday - fortune

Madam Mew The Fortune Teller is very talented at seeing the future. But she only seems to the see the mice in your life. I guess she has a one track mind.

This week's theme for Illustration Friday is "fortune." Pretty easy for me to come up with an idea this week. Amazing! If you've never checked out Illustration Friday, you should do it! It's got incredible art and so fun to participate in.

This is ACEO size (2.5x3.5 inches), watercolor and pen and ink.

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Illustration Friday - Green

This week's IF Challenge is "green." A somewhat easy challenge in that a lot of ideas come to my head. But not so easy to narrow down. I decided to just do a doodle in my little journal (6.5x4.5 inches). When I think of green the main thing that screams at me is a message about saving the planet. Yes, I am, and always have been, a tree hugger. I can't stand the idea of the loss of a species on account of human foolishness. I hate the thought of nature being paved over and no longer available for future generations to enjoy. Let alone the fact of the weather patterns changing and having no water on account of massive drought -which is very likely to happen out here in California. All these things terrify me and I wish for a new administration to help move our country in a better direction toward a more Green way of living.

Sometimes I've just got to doodle, and not try to make some kind of "masterpiece" - not that my art is any thing nearly close to a masterpiece! When I'm not creating something to try to sell, I usually do some kind of doodling. All in the hopes of a new brilliant idea to be born that will one day make it into a creation that is saleable. This is the first I've shared a journal entry with the web viewer. This is a little flashback to my younger days -just a hodgepodge of ideas thrown onto a page. It was very fun, and it's nice to not be pressured and to just doodle.

Illustration Friday - Snap

The IF theme this week is "snap". So here you have a bunch of "snap dragons."

The brightly colored flowers are so named because of the way you can snap the flower heads and make the little dragons open and close their mouths. I've never actually done this to one of these flowers, even as a kid, but I guess many kids enjoy doing this. I remember these flowers growing in my mom's garden when I was young. I've always loved their bold splash of color, but I personally have never really had good luck with them. I've tried growing them from seed before and they took 2 years to finally bloom. The ones I planted from the nursery never seemed to live long. I think they needed more organic matter in the soil. Something that mountain dirt lacks sometimes - too much decomposed granite. I'm sure I'll try again some day, and I'll be sure to add something to the soil. Then I may get to see these little dragons snap!

Here it is on ebay.

It's an ACEO (2.5x3.5 inches), watercolor and pen and ink.

Illustration Friday - Hide

"Hide Your Love Away". I'm glad I could participate in Illustration Friday again. The challenges there are so very... challenging! It can really excercise your brain to come up with an idea.

What a coincidence to hear the Beatle song this morning. So this idea was born - a mama and baby kangaroo. Such a cute image of motherly love! This is an ACEO (2.5 x 3.5 inches).

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Later in the night I heard another quote from a song that also gave me some inspiration - "All the things you try to HIDE will be revealed on the other side" from the song, "Hell", by the Squirrel Nut Zippers.I'll have to put that on the back burner til another day.

Illustration Friday - sprout

Another entry for Illustration Friday, this week... sprout. This is "Little Miss Garlic Sprout". Everyday she wishes for someone to share her sunset and wine. She has a great personality, but maybe just a bit too much odor.

This may be a bit of a stretch for "sprout". While I was thinking about the subject I saw this garlic going to sprout in my kitchen. What's sad is it was only bought a few days before. That's how fresh our market is up here in this small town. Sad huh?

This is an ACEO, a small art card, 2.5x3.5 inches.

You can find it here on Etsy.

Illustration Friday - Red

My entry for Illustration Friday's Red had to be Little Red Riding Hood. This is "Beware of Strangers".

There was bound to be other Little Reds that were done this week. I'm just glad that I had mine pretty much done before I went and looked at some of the other entries. I didn't want to be influenced by the other Riding Hoods, or I would be too intimidated to do my own. There are so many wonderful illustrations on IF. It can really take your time away if you get too involved at looking at all the fabulous art there.

As for Little Red Riding Hood - I don't think I really liked the story all that much. But she does have a cute outfit! I've always been a little upset with the Wolf always being the bad guy. I can understand the damage they do, but I also see so much beauty. But I enjoy all animals really. And to have any become extinct or even to have none in their natural habitat - well that is truly one of the most sad things to me. Having been a German Shepherd owner for so long, I can appreciate wolfs even that much more. My own Ziggy is so wolf-like at times and that adds to my love for the wild wolves.

This is an ACEO, 2.5x3.5 inches, acrylic on acid-free, 140lb watercolor paper. I've listed it on eBay, and as usual for my ACEOs- a $0.99 starting bid.

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Illustration Friday - Super Hero

Here we have "Rocky Raccoon-Defender of the Forest". He's faster than a speeding arsonist, more powerful than a bunch of bark beetles, and able to leap tall bulldozers with a single bound.

I'm not in the habit of drawing super heroes, so coming up with an idea was challenging. I finally thought that it would be great if there only were a super hero to protect the forest and it's creatures. Although I also thought it would be nice to have a super hero to clean my house and make dinner.

This is an ACEO, 2.5x3.5 inches, watercolor and pen and ink.

click here to see it on Etsy.

Painting a Day - Illustration Friday-80s

This is my entry for this week's Ilustration Friday. The theme is 80s. This is "MewDonna".

I couldn't make up my mind while I was thinking about the 80s. My interests at that time were so varied, and changed so often. So I just thought of what was very influentual during that time. And, of course, Madonna came to mind. And then MewDonna was born. I did actually buy the first Madonna album, on cassette tape. What's a cassette? Seems so ancient, and more obsolete than records. Because I still listen to records, but rarely listen to cassettes. I did have a lot of fun dancing to Madonna many times, especially to that first album. That was before she had really hit it big and before I got a bit burned out from her. I was a bit anti-mainstream back then. Guess I still am.

Having come of age during the 80s made it a very eventful time for me. But I wouldn't say they were the best of times. Well, maybe some of it was!

It's an ACEO, 3.5x2.5 inches, acrylic.

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Painting a Day/Illustration Friday - Invention

Today I participated in Illustration Friday-Invention. The title of my illustration is "Radio is the Bee's Knees". This commemorates the invention of the radio. I think it was a truly fabulous invention. The size of this is about 5x7 inches. Watercolor and pen and ink on 140 lb watercolor paper.

I just love the 20s jazz era with it's flappers and such. So this was a lot of fun to do. I've been listening to Radio Dismuke on the internet. It plays 20s and 30s jazz and pop music. I think it's very refreshing to get a dose of that old music once and a while.

Oh, and the little painting on the wall is based on a watercolor I bought at a yard sale. It was painted by A.Rosalie Morrish in 1921.

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