Wild Irises at Sea Ranch

This is another oldie that I painted from a photo I took when I was walking in the beautiful seaside community called Sea Ranch, along the Northern California coast. I have always had a fascination for how the edges of things meet and crop each other- I think it started when I developed an interest in quilting. My favorite part of that was choosing the fabrics and laying them next to each other, choosing the most interesting, or even most subtle combinations to border one another. I started playing with that in my paintings- it really makes it interesting for me to pull out edges and shapes where I "find " them.

Some more drawings

How I love drawing the figure! Life drawing class is something I miss so much. I have attended drawing workshops that are a lot of fun, but they tend to focus more on costumed models, which I do also love to draw, but I really do miss life drawing. These are some from a class a couple years back. I get started again, and then life intervenes...

Sorting through some drawings today and thought I would post these. They are both rather quick sketches with marker- The nude was a 3-5 minute warmup, and the clothed model was a little longer, 10-15 minutes. I really must get back to more figure drawing!!

Poisons and Pottery

A few years back, I started relearning how to paint in acrylic. I have spent most of my time over the years painting in gouache and transparent watercolor, and I was interested in getting into background painting for animation. I was told by everyone that I would need to hone my skills in acrylic painting, since that was the medium in demand at most of the studios. Ok, fine, never one to back down from a challenge, I actually started getting used to the slippery texture , the way the color dries darker, as opposed to gouache, which mostly dries lighter- having to be much more fastidious in my brush cleaning- no just setting those sables down to rinse out later! Anyway, I pulled together a nice new book of samples to trot out to the studios-and was very happy to get my first test from Disney. Of course, they wanted it to be done in GOUACHE! Oh well, still had my gouache chops, and I learned a lot about acrylics. Note my little tip of the hat to Mel Brooks in the top piece-got one of those books from Frau Bluecher(horses neighing in the distance).

Iris

This is something I just finished. I have always loved Irises, and have painted them many times. This is mostly transparent watercolor with a little gouache helping to define the elements in the foreground.

It almost feels like an underwater scene to me- I like that!

Still going through the older pieces, scanning and getting everything on file digitally. Here is another watercolor- just something I pulled out of my head. I always liked the idea of beautiful fans piled up- all of the different patterns and colors intersecting. Something I think I may want to revisit, time permitting!

Lullabye Forest

I am spending some downtime in the studio scanning artwork, and trying to get organized. I came across this piece I did when my son was two years old. I was trying to build a portfolio aimed at illustrating children's books, I also enjoyed including my boy in my paintings. This is a combination of all that, with some of my fascination with Rousseau tossed into the mix! My son is 21 now-amazing how the time flies!