Canine Forgiveness

Whoever said this had it right - a dog is the epitome of unconditional love. They also know what you are thinking and feeling- if you are blue, they are there to cheer you up. This is a print of one of my paintings - you can view and purchase it here.

All Good Things

 

Is the gang in the dining room getting rowdy? "Where's my dinner??!! I'M HUNGRY! FOOD FOOD FOOD! I wanna eeeeeeeeeat!". You know how impatient family and friends are. Well, just point to this sweet print and pertinent message that should be hanging on your dining room wall, and calm the unruly crowd. To view and purchase my latest print, check out my shop here.

Enough Snow Already

Winter is still winter, no matter how optimistic I am about the coming of warmer days. We're in for another round of snow this weekend, and I'm wondering where are we going to put it? This is a poorly shot photo taken by me with my vintage cell phone, as I was driving through a parking lot. That's a lotta snow there!

Make Do

This old English proverb is near and dear to my heart and timely as ever. I created this print with one of my Fashionistas in mind, the lass who is sewing and mending. You can view and purchase as a poster print in my online shop: here.

Valentine's Day

We all have standards for seeking True Love, and here's one of 'em. You can view and purchase this print in my online shop here.

Spunky Girl

Do you know a spunky girl? Maybe it's you! I'm having fun with type - you can view and purchase this 8 x 10 print in my shop here.

Matisse's Sneaker 5" x 7" Painting-a-Day

Matisse loved patterned rugs, so I'm sure if he wore sneakers, this might have been one of his.  Such an odd name. Sneaker. Where did that come from anyway?

I just looked it up and here is what I found:  "Keds were first mass-marketed as canvas-top "sneakers" in 1917. These were the first sneakers. The word "sneaker" was coined by Henry Nelson McKinney, an advertising agent for N. W. Ayer & Son, because the rubber sole made the shoe stealthy or quiet, all other shoes, with the exception of moccasins, made noise when you walked." - Mary Bellis

To view and purchase, click here.

Red Sash Dress 5" x 7" Paintng-a-Day

Another party dress done in watercolor and colored pencil, this time with a leafy background. You can view and purchase this tiny original painting in my online shop here.

Pink and Orange Dress 5" x 7" Painting-a-Day

Working in watercolor is a truly liberating experience. You can't erase, so you either accept mistakes and embrace them, or you don't work in watercolor to begin with! Purchase this tiny original painting here.

If wishes were horses we'd all ride away

 

This is where I wish I were today, looking at the waves.

This is where I am today, looking at my garden.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?!!

The lovely beach photograph is courtesy of Poipubeach.org. You are looking at Poipu Beach on the Garden Island of Kauai, Hawaii. This is where I am going to learn to surf and get sunburned. Instead, I went to Trader Joes today. I stood in line with my purchase and commented on the huge crowd of shoppers. The clerk said, "Oh, it's because of the warm day today - everybody came out to do their shopping." It was 10 degrees today! I guess that's warm compared to yesterday, where the windchill factor made it 35 below zero, but still, only in Minnesota would one say that 10 degrees is a nice warm day for shopping. I'd rather be surfing!

Karaoke game

Here's another sketch for the catalog I worked on previously, a holiday issue with lots of toys. This was a karaoke game, and this mini-mob of girls seem to be enjoying their own home-grown concert!

Illustration Friday - Ocean

I'm a wee bit late in submitting my painting to Illustration Friday's weekly topic, but here it is. Better late than never, as my dear old Grandpa used to day. The theme of the week is "ocean". This is one of a series of paintings I did based on my dreams. I love my dreams - they are such good starting points for surreal paintings! I usually enhance the paintings with added details, using my "artistic license". This is an old painting. You can tell because the woman is talking on a land phone - ha!

Cootie

Another layout for the catalog - remember that old game called Cootie? It's still around and still just as much fun.

Vintage Hair Dryers

I'm going to be sketching a retro-style illustration of one of my Fashionistas sitting under a hairdryer, so off to the Internet I went in search of inspiration and reference. I discovered these great photos and many more on Le Blog de SoVeNa here.  Do check out this blog for some amazing photos of what we ladies used to do to torture our hair in the name of LOOKING GOOD!

 Closer to my time is this sparkly red chair with attached plastic dryer in BasementBlastoff's online Etsy shop: here.

I do remember my high school days, sitting on the edge of my bed wearing a bonnet similar to the one below found in another Etsy shop ForEclecticSouls here.

Today we have many more gizmos and gadgets to make our hair do what it ultimately doesn't want to do. Some things never change!

2013 Begins

So....did you have a nice New Year's Day? Or Party Animal that you are, did you spend it lying on the couch recuperating? I had a very short list of fun things that I wanted to do on New Year's Day - (1) sort through some old photos in the basement, and (2) make a family tree, and somehow I never got around to doing either thing. So much for New Year's resolutions, I can't even get through the very first day of the year without breaking them!

Season's Greetings

Wishing you peace and happiness and all good things for the New Year!

The First Snowfall

It was snowing like crazy when I snapped this photo, but you can't see the flakes. My backyard gate has a quilt of wet snow covering it. Just in time for the holidays, we got plastered with a storm that left between 10 to 15 inches of snow in Minneapolis, depending what part of the state you live. It started around eight o'clock on Friday night, and snowed steadily for almost 24 hours straight! Over a thousand cars slid off the roads throughout the day, and the usual fender benders occurred. I was so happy I didn't need to leave the house yesterday. I am not so happy today because I DO have to leave the house. SHOVEL SHOVEL SHOVEL!

Catalog Sketches 3

 

This is quite an elaborate play setting for our little princesses, one of which has just read the fairy tale about an enchanted frog who turned into prince with a kiss. This fairy tale has sent a lot of girls into couples therapy when they grow up. A frog is a frog no matter how many kisses you give it.

Catalog sketches 2

Another preliminary page of the catalog, sketched out in black and white. The treasure chest and other toy in the background mysteriously vanished in the colored version. What is that girl on the right doing?? ......IT'S NOT HER TURN! Do kids still play hopscotch? They must, since I was instructed to illustrate it.

Catalog sketches

Catalog Cover (rough layout)

PAGE 6 sketch

Page 6 mock-up

Now that we are through digesting the turkey, the December holidays are fast approaching. I decided that I would get a jump on my usual New Year's resolution to clean up my act, and began sorting through old papers, sketches and the general collection of ad layouts that I keep until I'm sure I won't be needing them anymore. I guess I can throw out this 2005 layout for a catalog I did for a very familiar company headquartered here in Minneapolis. After 8 years, I suppose they won't be needing any revisions - hah! These sketches were for a Christmas catalog advertising toys, and I (and many other artists) contributed the preliminary black & white sketches for product placement purposes. I absolutely love sketching kids. The world needs more cute! So this assignment was my cup of tea! This is page 6, and I'll be showing you some additional pages in the next posts.