A little yellow finch.

Yesterday, at my parents house,  a small, bright yellow finch entertained us for the afternoon.  We where all delighted by the creature as she flew back and forth by the bay window.  We suspect she has a nest near by.   She was so amusing and spirited, I was inspired to draw a little yellow finch.

My favorite part about this drawing:  This colors I was able to use to describe the belly of the finch. 

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Summer School!

I have always taken an unconventional path for my education.   Fortunately for me my parents were encouraging and supportive.  My senior year of high school I was able to intern for a local Art School.  I spent most of my time in that studio painting and teaching small children to paint.  After high school I went to a few different art school.
It's been three years since I have been in a educational studio.  And I felt it was time to go back.  I found an online school ran by Will Terry and Jake Parker,  "School of Visual Storytelling".   That's the class for me!  Devin had to hear me talk about the class for several weeks, until I was able to sign up (I love Devin!).  I'm now signed up and ready to take on the world!  Or at least my little world.
We received our first assignment, It's not due until the middle of next month but I couldn't stop thinking out it.  So here is the first draft.  I still have a little to fine tuning to do... well that is, till they  critique it then there might be several changes.

The assignment was to illustrate this:

“It was a bright sunny morning as Koki left for school but today he thought he would take a different path...what he didn’t realize...”

 Enjoy

Peace and Faith

This little girl caught my eye on facebook,  I had to paint her.  She seems to have so much 

personality in that tinny body of hers.  I don't know Faith, but she just looks like someone everyone would want to be around!  Thank you Emily for letting me use your picture.   

Feel free to stop by and check it out!

You can now custom order your own portrait or family potrait {Here}

Paige in the city.

 I thought it would be kinda fun to see my process mapped out. 

I start by blocking in my subject, and today I got to use my cousin's gorgeous daughter Paige.  Usually when I block something in it's kinda fast and a little sloppy especially on the iPad.  This should give you a good idea as of what will go where.  I try and think about shape as much as possible here and in all the steps.  I went a little too fast and ended up putting Paige's eyes up too high.    Unfortunately I caught that mistake at the end of the drawing process. Fixed  it but it should have been caught at the beginning its not real fun to fix the position of something after you spent all the time rendering it. 

When I start painting I just lay the color in with thick brush strokes and I'm focused on the back color  

(I don't think that a actual term) as well as the shape.   I like to think from back to front when looking at the color, because I feel it best describes the form.  This is a fast process for me and one of my favorites.

The transition between laying in the color and rendering can be the most awkward for me especially at the beginning. It just doesn't look that great.  At this time you should slow way down start looking at details and form as well as shape.  This is often the moment I think... I'm I really still doing this?  If you get past that feeling of self doubt you can usually pull it off. 

Thank you to Jodi for letting me use your photo and Paige for being so darn cute!

I think my favorite part of the drawing were those cool moccasins. 

Eliza Jane

This is my dear friend Eliza Hawkins.  The first time i met Eliza I felt like we needed to be friends.  She has one of those personalities that are addicting.  Her enthusiasm  is sincere, and she reminds me of a Disney princess.  So it only made sense to draw her the way I see her, elegant, enthusiastic, and delightful.  If you would like to be entertained, Eliza has quite the beautiful blog. You con follow her at http://itselizajane.blogspot.com 

Dancer

A Blue Zebra

Last summer my husband and I started going to the library...a lot.  Our air conditioning didn't work and I was pregnant in July!   We spent a lot of time there because it was cool.  Then soon got hooked on the books and the atmosphere.  For a small town we have quite an impressive library.  We now go there as much as we can.  I spend most of my time in the children's and youth section, because of the illustrations.
The last time I went there a book caught my eye and I fell in love with the art work, plus the writing was clever, it's called "A is for Musk Ox" by Erin Cabatingan and illustrated by Matthew Myers.  It's a refreshing and entertaining spin on the classic and in my opinion a little boring alphabet books.  Myers' thick brush strokes, fun details and movement of the blue zebra and musk ox intrigued me to look Myers up. www.myerspaints.com (Which by the way we just got the Internet after two years of not having it, which has made this much easier)  And I have come to like Myers that much more.  Now, I want to find and read all his books.

 Using similar thick brush strokes as Myers I had fun creating this little giraffe.  I really enjoy this style and I would really like to incorporate the looseness to more of  my work. 
 I also thought it would be fun to see a little bit of my process so I added the sketch.  

Summer Tree

This was a quick drawing I did on my i Pad while Emmett took his nap.  Love nap time. 

Little Monsters

These little monsters were created first on paper, painted with acrylic and water soluble oil paints and then inked.  I decided to play with the little guys on my iPad to see what I could come up with.  Character design is one of my favorite things to do.  These little guys were fun and I was able to use some of my favorite colors.