Poppy Tie Lady sketch

 

As you can see, I'm not really going after likenesses with these cabinet card ladies, although there is a hint of the original within the sketch. I'm more drawn to (did I say "drawn?) the clothes, the hair and the fact that these are real people before the days of Photoshop and retouching. Now that I think about it, I wonder if they did retouching in the 1800's? I'll have to look that one up!

Love the hair!

Now she needs a little color, so that will be for tomorrow's post.

Stare into my eyes

I just love the way dogs will study their owner's face to pick up clues as to what their big buddy is thinking. Like, is she going to give me a hug? A treat? Like, what's up? Is it dinnertime yet?

The Quick Brown Fox

I was sorting through sketchbooks and came across this page. I was beginning to work on a painting of a fox in a surreal landscape and I wasn't sure how I wanted to proceed. These sketches provided a starting point and a way to loosen up. Sometimes I just need to get my hand moving, and then my brain says,"Hey, wait for me!" and kicks into action.

Halloween is tomorrow - still can't decide what to wear!

Cup 'O Tea Sketch

There's a bit of a chill in the air these last few days, time to throw some wood into the pot bellied stove and have a cup of tea!

Sketch

I'm vacuuming in my high heels today, tralalala lah! This happy homemaker is probably wondering what to do with that floating lamp.

Seriously, I have a Hoover vacuum cleaner that is older than the hills, but I will never trade it in because according to the repair shop, "they don't make 'em as good as this old model anymore!"

Laundress sketch

Here's a smudgy beginning of a birthday card I'm working on for the fans of the fashionistas. She going to wish you LOADS of fun on your birthday, get it? get it?
I thought about reversing her position to face the washing machine, but it didn't work as well as I thought it would. Here, take a look:



In this version, the washing machine becomes more prominent in your sight - since she is facing it, our eyes tend to take it in at the same time we view our lovely subject. But that is just the point, I don't want that washing machine to share the limelight, I want her to be the star. So for me, the first version works better, where she turns her back to the machine and it becomes less important. It's just one of those things where you ignore the rules and do what you wanna do - it's called "artistic license"!

Adoring cat

Here's a little detail of an illustration I will soon post, an adoring cat. As a former cat owner, I can agree with that old saying, "Dogs have owners, cats have staff."

July Birthdays

I have so many friends that have birthdays in July - including me! Here's a page from my sketchbook, a future Fashionista birthday girl. I'll post the finished version, when I finish it! Rembrandt and I were born on the same day in July, a trivial fact that I relish. Who do you share a birthday with?

Oh my, it's been SO long since I've posted - I'm working on a project that I'll add to my blog in a bit. But for now, I thought I'd share some sketches for an upcoming children's book about a little Pomeranian who has a love of Opera. It's odd, but this is the second project in 4 months with the theme of the Opera. (here's a look at the other.) Maybe that's because my great-grandmother was a Parisian opera singer, and I'm carrying on the legacy. If I can't sing in the Opera, at least I can illustrate it!

New Cover Illustration

I was fortunate to work again with Janna Netland-Lover of Local Design Group on the May cover of Minnesota Medicine Magazine. The theme for this issue's cover was the subject of organ transplants. Organ transplants are now able to be used on a much wider base of the population for a wider variety of situations than in the past. Janna envisioned an illustration of silhouettes and organs - so I got out my trusty Wacom pen tool and tablet, and away I went.

First I sent her the following three sketches, using the magazines template to position the elements to work with the type and label.


Version One: Patterned background, organs, which are illustrated in pen & ink style are highlighted in rectangular solid shapes.


Version Two: Plain painterly background, organs depicted in realistic medical illustration style, no backgrounds to highlight them.


Version Three: Another painterly background, but in warm colors, and organs are highlighted by rectangles.

Janna chose the patterned background, but preferred the organs without highlighting shapes behind them. So I went to work on tweaking the figures, completely changing a few, and here's how they came out:






I'll post the finished cover tomorrow.

Sketches for the Retro Fair

Here's a sketchbook page for another fabric pattern. The theme was that of a country fair with the roller coaster, big slides, cotton candy, fortune teller and "Guess your Weight" scale. Sometimes the sketches have a loose lively look to them that compensates for the lack of color.

Preliminary designs

A new assignment for Minnesota Medicine Magazine, folks is in the works, yay! Only this time, it is a cover for a supplement that will go out next month with the magazine. The supplement's theme is health care reform, with the general focus on Minnesota leading the nation in working with the federal government to examine changes in the health care system.

I submitted these two sketches, one being a collage treatment, and the other a more painterly approach. The art director selected the magnifying glass sketch. Here's something I learned - I drew the wrong icon for the medical industry. Initially, I looked it up for reference in various websites, and most of the reference sites got it wrong! The two snakes entwined around the staff (which as you can see is what I drew) is called the "caduceus", whereas what I should have drawn is the "asclepius", the single snake entwined around a staff. Caduceus is the symbol of Hermes, the ancient Roman messenger of commerce, and Aclepius was a Greek god who whose specialty was his healing powers. So you can see how these descriptions can make quite a different impression in regard to the medical profession! The snake shedding its skin symbolizes renewal and vigor, the aim of medicine. Now aren't you glad you learned something new today?

Back to School

I'm a school girl again. I enrolled in a community college to take another class in Illustrator, having taken one six years ago and completely forgotten everything I learned. This is not a workshop or one day seminar, no this is the real thing with real HOMEWORK and all the suffering that goes along with sitting 4 hours in a classroom every Thursday morning filled with a lot of other suffering souls, determined to better themselves or just get through it to fulfill their requirements. I'm awful at this. Everyone is so much younger with innate computer sense. These young whippersnappers don't even need to listen to the instructor lecture and demonstrate, they are completing the homework assignment and texting friends and websurfing while she speaks! Meanwhile I am still trying to figure out how to turn on the computer. I wonder if I will live through this.

Early Girl

Summer is fading fast, and my tomato plants are pooped. I had 2 big "Early Girl" plants in my little garden. I watered them, weeded them, lovingly tended them for nearly 4 months, and in return, they gave me 5 tomatoes. Five! They were rather small, hard as nails, but a brilliant MAC lipstick red and nary a blemish. They not only looked perfect, they tasted deeeeeevine!!! So when I ask myself, was it worth all the trouble when I could just drive to the farmer's market and buy tomatoes instead, the answer is, YES YES YES! Nothing in the world tastes as good as a homegrown tomato straight out of your own garden.

Sketches

I'm working on a new assignment, another cover for Minnesota Medicine. I submitted 3 sketches for the art director to consider for the theme. This month the key article addresses the growing problem of how to dispose of pharmaceutical waste. What a timely discussion this is! Just recently I took my father to the doctor, and I took along some old tubes of unused medications. I asked them if they had a way to dispose of them properly, and they said no, they just threw them in the trash! I was shocked. I thought they had some scientific way to properly dispose of unused medications, but apparently, most pharmacies and hospitals just dispose the contaminants like every other household - dumped into the trash and into our water systems.

So which sketch do you think they chose?

The third one, the underwater scene. What fun this will be to paint, I'll post the finished version after I complete it.