Project Projection...

Panels are primed and ready for the design.  Luckily, I have use of a nice projector recently donated to Town Center Gallery to make this process go A LOT quicker than drawing freehand.

I cut a photo copy of the design into 5 equal parts, enlarged it to fit the panel, and sketched the basic shapes with a pencil.  I'm mainly interested in basic shapes, placement and proportion - I'll worry about details as I paint.  I was able to tansfer the design onto 3 out of 5 panels (so far) in a short amount of time. 

Saves sooooooooo much time!

I'll do the rest tomorrow.  After that, I'll be ready to start painting...but I won't start that until next week (State Cup Soccer Tournament this weekend with oldest daughter).  So, no updates for at least a week.  Check back, though, and see how it all comes together.  Posts may not be daily as the painting begins, but I'll try to keep the pictures coming.

So, How Do You Fit a 20 Foot Mural in a 1-Car Garage...

...very carefully (and you park the car on the driveway)!

The panels are really heavy, so I won't be able to move them around without help.  I've disabled the garage door opener and lined most of them up along the garage door.  The 2 end panels are angled or turned along the side walls.  Not the ideal, but I'll make it work.

Almost ready for the fun stuff!

Ready to transfer the design, but until then, it will serve double-duty as a stage (show's over for her once the paints come out)!

The Harvest Mural Begins

Lots of wonderful things have been happening lately on my travels toward an illustration/art career: my art classes have been going well, I now have some prints available for sale on Etsy and soon-to-be at Town Center Gallery, and I was selected to do an 8' x 20' mural by the Town Center Gallery.  It will eventually go somewhere in Santa Maria, but the location is still be determined.  My plan is to keep everyone updated on the progress...

Celebrate the Harvest - Santa Maria Valley (proposed mural)

Bathing Beauty is one of my prints now
available

The five 4'x8' MDO panels were delivered a week ago (they look a lot bigger in my garage than I imagined).  I spent the past few days using a latex wood filler to fill gaps in the layered edges, and then today, 4 delightful helpers from Town Center Gallery came by to help me with the primer.  Thanks to Hattie Stoddard, Beverly Johnson, and Tom and Rella Heslop - it would have taken me a long time to get it done.  Also, thanks to Home Depot here in Santa Maria for donating the primer and rollers!

Daughter Ariel organizes paints for me

Revisiting the Old, Tweaking and Refining

Current Work in Progress

I've reached a new and exciting milestone on my path to actually being more of a participant in the art field!  I've finally had some work made into giclee prints that I hope to be able to sell!  In fact, I will go and pick them up today!  Can't wait to post them...

Anyway, while I was going through what I had to choose from, a couple of issues came to mind.  One was that illustration doesn't just fit in any house, so my selections were limited.  Of course,most of my work would probably work best in a child's room.  The other thing was that, upon closer inspection,  many of the things I had considered "done" really weren't up to the "DONE and ready to present to people" level. 

As a result, I started to consider some redo's on some of my favorites.  I'll post some of these upgrades as they happen starting with this one:

Original "doodle" from the sketchbook

Actually, the original of this one had been a doodle and nothing I would have thought to be portfolio worthy.  I guess I always new that if this drawing were to go anywhere, it would be redone - the doodle was just a "brainstorm."  But, redoing this one sparked an idea to make a series of it - all 4 seasons that I would release as a print on the first day of that season.

Another Quick Project...

This is just a quick project inspired by a lion sketch in my sketchbook.  Like the last image, I used a combination of gouache and color pencil.  I very much like this combination of materials right now - the layering of washes, the texture of of paint, the subtle shading of the pencils or the emphasis of line.

Overall, I'm not as happy with this as I was with the "rainy day" one.  I started in with darker brown washes than I had intended, so I had to rework it with a little thicker paint.  Jury is still out - but it's growing on me.  Might have to be redone before making it in the portfolio, though.

A Productive Christmas...So Far...

The cookies are baked, the presents wrapped (and now opened), and as the holiday chaos winds down I've actually been able to work on a new project.

A little doodle

Out of the many doodles in my sketchbook, I'm not sure why this child in a raincoat suddlenly caught my attention.  But, I've been trying to think of some designs (past, present, and future) that I could have made into prints this spring.

Ink with a little cloud - works alright with this drawing
but didn't hold much weight in color

Once I figured out the initial composition, I did a couple of studies.   I could picture many things so, at first, I really wasn't sure if I was going to do a moody pen and ink, tried-n-true ink with watercolor wash, or ???  Originally, I didn't have a background at all, but I felt that the child needed to be looking "at" something. The cloud started off small, but once I saw it in color, the cloud needed to be more substantial.  I can't decide if it's too big now, but it seems to work.

The end result in gouache and color pencil

But, as I've learned in the past few years, a drawing or painting will let me know what it needs - what materials are best suited for it and what direction it will move in.  It reminds me of what I need to do day-to-day when it comes to "listening" to God - I may have one vision of how my life should unfold, but if I take care to observe and address the situations that arise each day, then I tend to encounter the unexpected on my way to a beautiful outcome.  Sometimes (a lot of the time) it's scary, aggravating, or delightful, but always worth it.

Ultimately, this image called for the softness of gouache washes and the detail that could be achieved with color pencil.  I don't know how I could have envisioned it any other way.

Mural Project - ALL DONE!

What to do with a plain, white wall...click below to see

I shared some glimpses into the mural project that I was working on a few posts back.  Well, the project is complete and you can see the end result at my art business blog Doodlebird Studio.  Lots of fun to do and I'd love to paint some more murals.  Maybe I'll start in my house...with all of this "free time" I have.

So Ungrateful.! Why did I bother?

We're coming up on Christmas Vacation and I'm excited about having a little extra free time.  Maybe I'll get to work on a more personal creative project.


In the meantime, I'm continuing to sketch my sermon notes at church.  This last Sunday was a little different because the text really came together for me in a single visual.  I'd had a few sketches and notes about Deuteronomy 32:15+, but when I came home I found that a particular character kept popping into my head rather urgently.  The result is below...

Normally, my notes are what they are and don't change much from the original sketches if I revisit them at home.  However, even though this character demanded to be brought into existance, you can probably tell that he has little to no appreciation for his creator.  He's probably annoyed with how long it took me to finish (not too long, really) in spite of the fact that I took great care in expressing every detail.


For clarification, feel free to look up the verses. Note that Jeshurun is a reference to Israel in a time that they "grew fat" from the provisions from God yet had an attitude of "scornful esteem" - rolling of the eyes, so to speak, like an impertinent child.  The translation of Jeshurun as "The Upright One" I thought was a striking constrast to the the countenance of the character (which, I think, is a key point to those verses).


Overall, it was a fun drawing to do - artisitically speaking, I think I've come a long way in rendering the figure, body language and expression.

Character Study Reveal : "The Gift" - Feedback Welcome



The Gift

As promised, this is the character study that I've been working on.  Together, the images tell a story that I've entitled "The Gift."  This was done in ink and gouache

The Perfect Gift...

Done with a simple dark background to
emphasize her despair at the realization.

I guess this isn't EXACTLY simple - like I was originally planning. The character is, but I still managed to include more details in the surroundings.  I created a family photo wall (instead of having the story images stand alone) and kept the background black/white/gray so that they would stand out.  It just occurred to me that I didn't put the brown dirt smudges on her clothes that I'd intended before photgraphing this, but I'll get back to that.

Oh Happiness! (with a plan in mind)

This...is...perfect...(grunt, heave)...

I'd appreciate any honest comments and criticisms from those in the illustration biz as I'm not a part of any critique groups.

It's for you!  Don't you like it?

Character Project

One of the things I've been trying to work on is a character study.  I know for illustration I need to be able to recreate the same character in different positions with different expressions.  So, I've been inching my way through such a project using this character that appeared among my doodles.

Although she seems rather simple, she's a good challenge for me (if you hadn't noticed, I tend to get caught up in details).  Instead, I'm trying to capture a lot with a little less than usual.  I'll share as soon as I can.

Illustration Friday: "Contraption"

Well, I've been wanting to get to this all week, but I've been too busy.  So, here I am - sleepless on a Thursday night. Well, I guess it's actually Friday morning, so there'll be another topic soon.  I've posted this one before, but it's perfect for the topic.  I've been working on another project which I hope to share really soon!

Illustration Friday: "Mysterious"




Rupert was beginning to think the mysterious woman was never going to throw one of those balls...

  Since I’ve been working on a painting project over summer, the only drawing I’ve had time to do is on Sunday mornings (see previous posts). So, I was delighted when I finally carved out a little time to focus on the more detailed drawings I like to do. I worked on it a couple of days last week and then discovered that it fit this week’s IF theme quite well.
I drew this in my sketchbook and the funny thing is that I didn’t notice when I started that the book was upside down! So, it’s quite a surprise as you’re flipping through the pages. You’d think I’d notice that the wire binding was on the right and not the left, but that’s how focused I get when drawing.

Summer's Over...and So Much To Do!

We'll be starting our school year on Monday (earlier than usual) and I haven't finished the mural.  I'm grateful for the homeowners who have been able to work with my childcare schedule - if I had to have Lindy with me when I painted, then I would be guaranteed some "murals" on our wall at home.  How do you explain to a 2 year old that it's OK for mommy to paint on a wall, but not her?

"Trouble" and Friend

Anyway, it's coming along nicely, but I'm not ready for the big reveal.  And, with school, soccer games, and all of the activities that go along with fall, it'll be a little while yet.  Another thing I won't get to that I hoped I would is a redraw of some nature themed works for a show at a nearby gallery in September.  I don't think I'll make their September 5th deadline...maybe next time.

But, I have continued to sketch Sunday morning services, so I thought I'd share a recent installment.  No time for color.  But, I really enjoy the process and the challenge of having to represent an idea quickly.  Some weeks are more visually successful than others, but it certainly keeps me on my toes!

A Project in the Works...

I'm surprised that it's already halfway through July!  I feel like I'm still in "school mode" as I've been organizing and cataloging the home library and doing A LOT of planning for the next year.  I guess I'll be happy come August and I'm ready to go.  I just hope I can settle into some art, now.

Well, at least I have 2 weeks of art classes to teach starting next week.  AND, I have been working of the design for my first commissioned mural project (so I guess I've gotten a little art in).  The design was just approved and I will be ordering paints, getting it sketched on the wall (hoping to borrow a projector to expedite that step), and then making it happen.  I don't want to share too much - you'll have to wait and see the completed work.  However, I will share this little quick study from the design.

These kids are just a teensy-weensy (but important) part of the mural.  They'll appear in it, although not in that configuration.  So, there.  That's all for now - I'll share more when it's completed.

Something New for This Summer!

The bulk of our schoolwork is done for the year and now I'm just tying up loose ends to close out the year.  I've got some plans for some art projects over break - finishing some portfolio pieces started over Christmas and reworking something for a juried art show this fall.  But, first and foremost, I'll be working on my first commissioned project - a wall mural in a friend's home!  So, my creative thoughts are turning to theTuscan countryside for a while.

In the meantime, I'm still doodling here and there and "taking notes" at church in the form of illustrations.  I've included last Sunday's notes as it was a fun one to illustrate.  While the story of Moses and Pharaoh is very familiar to me, it was a fun one to put in pictures.  I worked on it some more last night, adding color.