Frank and Kelli

These are the final ink drawings commissions I finished last week for a coworker as a birthday present for his wife. Each portrait includes little things that were personally significant to him and to her - tea, owls, roses, a cat, space, robot, swirls, snail-and-crossbones buttons....
They were set in dark maroon frames.

Cut-Out Concept

This is by no means a final piece - in fact, I did the weird little drawing in just seconds, then scanned it in, threw on some digital color and then scanned in the cut-outs and digitally assembled them together. The paper she's holding is so awkward-looking because the only scissors I had in my office at the time were Lefties! My usual scissors have been spirited away, somehow. And I'm very much a right-handed girl.
But, nevertheness, this technique is something that I'd like to try more of soon: Two-dimensional ink or graphite or painted figures holding actual tiny paper cut-outs. Happily, I have smaller, sharper right-handed scissors at home that will be much more useful.
More to come!

My First Foray into Beeswax (And a Fresh Blog Facade for Spring!)

And here is the result!

The size is roughly 4x6 inches.
Below is the rather experimental process...
Here you see my workspace, which actually happens to be my coffee table in the living room.

I ended up using both acrylic and oil paint on the bearded ladies (which are drawn in waterproof ink on thick Strathmore paper). I understand that acrylic is incompatible with beeswax, but I used very thin washes, leaving the paper mostly exposed.
After eyeing them a while, I decided they needed a bit more depth, and so I added some oil color as well. It was painfully tedious waiting the next day or so for them to dry...
Here you see them optimistically arranged in their places.
The support was a rectangle of wood, over which I sealed aged patterned paper.
I then built up my layers of wax. The smallest figure was closest to the background, then followed the medium girl, then the largest, with flowers placed at various depths.
As you can see, I departed from the most common technique of beeswax collage - this is much thicker. I wanted a dimensional appearance, so I carved out the wax around each figure, as well as around the flowers and leaves.
This left me with a lovely blister on my drawing finger...

After a couple evenings of carving, polishing, scraping and smoothing - complete!
I welcome your comments! It's definitely a departure from my regular style, but overall, I was pleased with the final work. Rather labor-intensive, so I may attempt a flatter piece next round.

Backstage at the HighWire

Sketch and study...


I like how he's just sort of lurking behind the curtain - shy and unsure of himself.

Lion Tamer Sketches & Studies

UPDATED: Equestrian Bare-Back Rider & Bearded Lady

Two sketches and a rough color-study for the Circus pieces I am beginning. Still trying to work out which techniques will work best for which pieces.

Illustration Adoptions

Last night I finished all the additional ink drawings for the folks who signed up for them at my Gallery show last month... There were over 20 to complete! Here are a few:
(please click to see a larger image)

I've been wrapping each one in colored tissue paper as they are picked up, with little name-label stickers. As much as I enjoy these kinds of drawings, I'm really looking forward to starting on some other techniques... I have two commissions to complete this weekend - but after that - let the experimenting begin!

Gallery Opening!

I'm happy to announce that my show at Papercuts & Gluesticks will be opening on the last Friday in July! Keep your calendars open!

For this, I'm definitely thinking I'll be doing a "carnivale/circus" theme. But, NO CLOWNS! Right now, I'm considering circa 1930, bearded-ladies (of course), acrobats, sword-swallowers, dancers, lion-tamers, wolf-tamers, bear-tamers... Lots of costumes and patterns.
I'm excited to experiment with some new mediums and techniques, as well. Painted cut paper and wood, beeswax... We'll see.

I'll have some examples to post some time later this month!

I was hoping to start my Slovak mythology project for this show, but I think I still have quite an amount of research to complete before I delve into actual Slovak-mythology pieces. So, I'll save it for another show.

Papercuts & Gluesticks in Burning River Arts

The lovely little gallery in which I have some work was featured in a few different local papers and magazines. In Burning River Arts, I was surprised to see not only my work, but myself and John both in some of the photographs! I had no idea we were being "snapped" at the time. Can you find us?
(Hint: I'm wearing red shoes, and John has the beard.)

It's great that our "neighborhood" gallery space is getting such nice coverage!

New American Greetings Cards Out!

This one is at Target Stores


Music card


Another music card - I actually really like how this one turned out :)


Target Wedding


WalMart Father's Day


This one makes me happy! Target Wedding Shower

The sink artwork is printed on a square of vellum, with the towels and bubbles printed on the page behind the vellum.


Inside: "Be Best Friends Forever"


Target Wedding


Target Anniversary


Target wedding


Target New Baby

(I like to think that the lamb just ate a bunch of fireworks... or throwing stars. "You've Been Blessed with a New Baby. A New Baby Sheep who Eats THROWING STARS!")

Gallery Show Photos

The Seven Mustachioed Siblings!
People at work kept asking me what was up with all the bearded ladies and mustached girls...
Nothing! I just have a thing for them right now! Maybe once I do a few hundred of them, the beards will get out of my system...
But then again, maybe not. I love beards!
Above are the Blue Haired Ladies.
This is the only girl who doesn't have a "real" mustache! And oddly enough - she was the only one of the Blue Haired Ladies that sold.
I don't usually draw angels, but anything with wings makes my day.
I guess that goes for antlers, too.
Another mustached girl - I'm keeping her for myself! At least for now...







This one (above) was really difficult for me to part with - I wish no one wanted her so I could keep her for my very own!


Each and every piece was named.







Yeay! Dinosaurs and skulls and big hair - three of my favorite things...






My next post will (hopefully) be some photos of the Papercuts & Gluesticks Gallery show opening that happened some weeks ago. My apologies for the snail's pace posting! It's not easy to sift through all the photographs we took...
And! I have been offered a SOLO show in the Papercuts & Gluesticks Gallery in July! I'm very excited and will post the exact dates when I know.
So much work to do before then!