Waiting room sketches

I've spent many hours over the past few days waiting for things - my plane, my Canadian social insurance card, my new driver's license, etc. I've spent most of that time playing with my iPod, but I also whipped out the sketchbook and tried to surreptitiously draw people (which is actually fairly difficult). Here are a few of the quick sketches - you can guess what a joy the kid in the lower left was! Very poor quality because our scanner is being shipped to us right now and won't arrive for another couple of weeks.

A history of my early years: Birdmouse creature

This was another drawing I found from when I was little. I drew it when I was about four and a half. I thought it would be a fun thing to try to redo kind of like I did with the fish dream drawing (see yesterday's post).

I should be posting more recent creations soon! Stay tuned.

A history of my early years: Fish dream revisited

Ok, so when I was at home a few days ago I searched through my old artwork and found the image on which the piece in this post was based. It wasn't as detailed or imaginative as I'd remembered, but I think it's still pretty cool, if I do say so myself. I drew it when I was four.

A history of my early years: Blue and Orange Face

I painted this several years ago using blue and orange tempera paint. My understanding is that tempera paints all contain egg, so I haven't used any since I became vegan. Do any of you know whether there are vegan tempera paints? Are the cheap ones now made from synthetic materials? I had trouble finding information on this when poking around online.

New work coming soon! I'm flying to Toronto today and will start posting new stuff once I get settled.

A history of my early years: Fingerpainting

This was something I made with fingerpaints in first grade. It's about 12" x 18". The colors of it have always reminded me of the Big Stick popsicles we used to be able to buy at school for $.25. Mmm...

Blue Sky Collaboration

We got all of our things packed up and they're on their way to Toronto right now, as I will be tomorrow afternoon. Today's post is the first part of a collaboration with my mom. I bought a large (30" x 30") canvas at Goodwill for a couple dollars a few years ago and began a painting inspired by Magritte's "An Empire of Light." It couldn't be sent to Toronto on the moving truck without special extra packing materials (at extra expense), so I drove it up to the Bay Area and my mom decided to add onto the painting and create something of a collaborative painting, though I think I got the easier end of this deal, since the bottom portion will probably end up being much more detailed and elaborate. Check out her blog for progress photos over the coming days/weeks! My portion was painted with oils, but hers will probably be painted using acrylics.

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #13

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #12

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #11

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #10

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #9

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #8

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #7

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #6

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #5

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #4

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #3

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

Semi-hiatus: Faces in Places #2

(See the August 13 post for an explanation of the temporary change in format)

A change of pace: Faces in Places #1

I am not going to have the kind of time I'd like to devote to the blog for the next couple of weeks. During this time, I'm going to be posting a series of quick sketches I created with a black ballpoint pen using the Faces in Places blog as inspiration. I'll be moving to Canada soon, so once I get up there and get all settled, I'll start posting some more elaborate items. Keep checking in!

Cave lurker

Today's post is s a collaboration of sorts. Sean took the creature from July 23rd post and placed him in an environment from a photograph he'd taken on his recent cross country road trip. Coincidentally, he happened to create this on the same day that I drew August 9 post, in which I also placed a hand-drawn character in a real photographic environment. It's on his blog this week. I like how it turned out!

Happy bear

This is a little drawing I did a long time ago in blue pen. I've updated it with a little bit of digital color.

Old fashioned face

Illustration Friday: Impatience

This week's Illustration Friday theme is "impatience." This girl can't wait for the comic book store to open and is having trouble hiding her frustration.

Girl

More BeNice art

Here's a part of another illustration I created for the BeNice website (see my post from August 4).

Pig pandemonium

I guess it's not really pandemonium, I just liked the alliteration and I'm a fan of that word.

This is a painting that Sean designed that we both ended up painting. We wanted something fun and whimsical and large for a wall in our old apartment that had been naked for far too long. We took a large piece of very thick high quality foam core, covered it with Papier-mâché, then painted over that with gesso, then painted over that with acrylics. The project made me remember how fun art classes were in elementary school.

We're not taking this with us to Canada, so if you live in LA and you want a giant 3'x4' painting of goofy pigs, I'll barter it for a meal at the Vegan Joint!

[the post was late today due to internet connection problems]

Blossom

I've always been really drawn to spring blossoms. This is an apple blossom or something similar, but my favorites are quinces:


Since I'll be moving closer to the East Coast soon, I hope to visit Washington DC in March or April for the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Of course, I also hope to work in a visit to Sticky Fingers Bakery for a cinnamon roll (and a few other things)!

BeNice

This is an illustration I produced last month for an ad (you can see it now on page 37 of Pregnancy & Newborn magazine) for a great new product called BeNice.

Paint Chip Art

I have some business card-sized paint color samples from Restoration Hardware and I thought it might be kind of fun to do a series of drawings on them. I didn't realize that the ink would smear, but maybe it adds to the look of this one anyway.

Smug

Here's a sketch of a smug guy.

In other news, I saw (500) Days of Summer tonight and really liked it!

Dog

And here's a dog. I'm pretty tired, so no writeup today.