Earth Mother, Final in a Series

I started this series of illustrations a few years ago, when my friends first started having babies. I began
sketching mothers swaddling and cuddling their babies and ended up with four sketches I wanted to paint. I got through three. Then I had a baby and the last one got put on hold for a while, you know how it is.

Anyway all this twittering, blogging and chatting with my fellow illustrators is really inspiring and motivating me to get back into my paint box and watercolor papers. So here is the final painting, followed by the three previous ones. I hope you like them!

Oh, my scanner isn't working well, so I had to take a picture of this painting. The colors are close, but not as good as the scans of the other paintings.

Colorful Inspiration

I was wandering around in the garden this morning with the BeaBug and I was tickled by all the beautiful, colorful flowers blooming. Thank you, Husband. He has a green thumb, I do not. I love the beginning of springtime when the flowers and trees start blooming, the vegetables start growing, the bees start buzzing...sounds like a Disney song, right?

Anyway, the colors on the flowers are so vibrant, maybe that's why I like them so much. If you get really close, you can see the wonderfully natural palettes they display. So, I'm sharing my garden paint palette with you, for your own inspiration. I've already found a couple color combinations I can't wait to paint. Enjoy!

And the busy little bees that make these blossoms possible!

Skaters & Bikers: An Xtreme Mural

Most of the time I get murals requests for flowers, animals, a little fantasy, stuff like that. This time I got a call from a mom of two tween boys that shared a big bedroom. She said one liked to skateboard and the other like to ride dirt bikes. She was looking for a mural to incorporate both of those sports, plus a graffiti style theme.

I hadn't really done anything like that before, especially graffiti. But, I saw it as a challenge. I did alot of research looking at graffiti art, competitions, fonts (there are tons of graffiti style fonts!), not to mention finding good references to develop my skaters and biker dudes.

I started with my background. Looking at graffiti, I never really thought about it, but a background really holds it all together on a chaotic wall. I really liked the sharp shapes, solid colors and hard lines.

When it came to the boys names, I used my projector to make sure I got the shape of the graffiti type correct. Which is ironic because the beauty of graffiti art is that it's loose, immediate, and freehand. But, since I didn't have alot of practice, I wanted to make sure I got it right!

It actually turned out to be tons of fun to create. Like any piece of art you work on, there are moments when you think you really messed it up, but I'm pleased with how it turned out and more importantly, the boys loved it!

2nd Saturday in Sacramento

The family and I finally ventured out for a 2nd Saturday in Sacramento. I haven't been in while, what with moving to Woodland (not really a good excuse) and having a baby (a good excuse). It's definitely changed! There are quite a bit more stores, art galleries, restaurants, and random places involved. It was really packed and there were a few police cars down there due to a war protest. And maybe the beer garden.

Here's  a description of what 2nd Saturday is about:

Every month, art galleries in the Sacramento metro area stay open late and invite the public to the Second Saturday Art Walk. People from near and far come to walk from gallery to gallery, enjoying the latest and best of the region's vibrant art scene. There is live music, and an immense variety of art and activities behind every door.

It was really fun to go down and check out all the art and festivities. We started out with dinner at Hot Italian at 16th and Q St. They had a student art auction going on. There were about seven canvases to bid on. I even spied a couple of the artists lounging around, checking out the people checking out their artwork. It reminded me of my college days.

The husband and I took turns eating and following the BeaBug around. That's what you have to do when you've got an adventurous toddler and you want to eat at a restaurant! When Bug and I were wandering, we found a great black and white mural in the outside patio area.

After dinner, we went over to J Street to walk around. If you're a Sacramentian, you may have heard about the muralists, Hennessy Christophel and Sofia Lacin. They have been in the news alot this past year for their wonderful artwork on many Sacramento businesses. I read on their blog they were going to be doing a live mural painting for 2nd Saturday. So, the family and I wondering down there to check them out and say hi.

I chatted with them a short bit and they are very friendly. They seem like they really enjoy what they do.

We continued on a bit, but it was someone's bedtime, so we headed back home. Check your city, they probably have a monthly art walk, too!

Whimsical Tree Archway

Like most requests I get, I was asked to make a bland wall into something fun and magical. This playful mural is painted on an archway entrance to a playroom.

These whimsical trees have thick, bushy leaves on top that overlap and expands on to the ceiling and the side walls. It's hard to contain a tree top like that, it kind of took over!

I wanted to make the two pillars look like thick, twisted tree trunks with deep pockets for critters to hide. I actually painted them twice. I DID have a plan, but it didn't translate to the wall. Sometimes that happens. So, I started over and I got the tree trunks I was looking for.

Here are some of the fun critters these kids will get to discover as they play in their friendly forest.

You can click on any of these photos to see a bigger version. If you want to see a close up of a couple other critters from this mural, check out the Sneak Peek blog post.

Pig Day at the Davis Farmers Market

It's Pig Day at the market today! It's starts at 9am at Central Park in Davis. There is going to be not only baby pigs (Awwwww!) and other farm animals to pet, but lots of piggy crafts for the kids. They can make pig ears, nose, tails and faces.

And it would be complete without the Three Little Pigs!

See you there!

Sneek Peek!

Here's a little sneak peek at a mural I'm working on. I should be done in the next day or two, but I thought you might a enjoy these little critters!