Contemplation
It started out as a colored pencil drawing, then I started playing with it in photoshop.
Unfortunately as a working image it got too big memory-wise to finish it on that computer! It wouldn't let me work on it, so I transferred it to the mac via email and was able to make it smaller but I haven't worked on it since.
Oh well, I think it turned out kind of neat on it's own and maybe someday I'll finish the actual drawing.... though it will look nothing like this!



















Spiral Girl
It's one of very few acrylic paintings I've done. 16 x 20 One of the few that have turned out well, don't know why, I've just never had too much luck with painting on canvas. I start them and never finish. Even this one I don't think is finished.
no model, all out of my head, one of my weirder moods I guess!
The hands on both of these are decidedly messed up! Oh well, you learn by doing.






















Just an experiment with a noise filter in photoshop, kind of sparkly, I like it!

Figures and Perspective

Reveries
colored pencil. 11 x 14.
This is a companion piece sort of to 'falling out of a dream'.
They were made at the same time anyway. I was playing with color, trying to see what effects I could get with the solid application I usually do. Now that I'm finally starting to break out of that solidity, I'm starting to see more of the effects I want. I think the whole "no paper showing" technique is a result of the puzzle pieces where it works really well to layer colors that way. I've since discovered that a lighter touch is necessary for the symbolistic pieces where a more realistic effect is what I want. The HARD part is getting my hand to agree to not overwork it!





















Falling out of a dream
Colored pencil 11 x 14. 2004

Just working on shading, perspective, color and composition. I like the background with the ironwork on this one. The face needs work, but oh well.

Finally catching up

We're getting closer to the present time, a few more posts maybe, then the fun will start as I am going to try very hard this year to produce more. I have lots of things in the works right now. And lots of inspiration. Plus I just got a new monitor. Gee the internet looks so much different - the way it's supposed to! Instead of on an old outdated gateway monitor!

Alright, here are a couple of pictures that defy categorization.



Poppy Girl
Ink, and metallic leaf pen
This was the design for a poetry book. It was based on a piece of art nouveau clip art that I liked the design of but I ended up changing almost everything in the end, the eyes, the flower, mouth etc. one of my favorite ink pieces. I love Dover clip art books, get unlimited inspiration from them.


















This is colored pencil on the front of a manilla envelope I made for my friend Darren who died in 2001 of cancer. He was only 32 and was a great friend who always did his best to push and inspire me to keep drawing and doing art no matter what. He is very much missed.

He loved tattoos and was getting some beautiful sleeves done of water and fish etc at the time, hence the inspiration.The sad thing is he never saw this.

(This description was given by a viewer on DA, I like it, I never see such things myself, but this very aptly describes it!)
This one is great too. Strong color, bold delineations, no nonsense composition. Just by the title, and not knowing it is actually drawn on an envelope, the title gives it a mysteriousness that is bolstered by the treacherous water (as a symbol of the subconscience) with the fish caught half above and half below the surface (like most people's motivations for behavior).

















This was basically just a doodle drawn on some 8 x 10 green scrap matboard, with gel pens and a little bit of white and blue paint marker for the highlights. I liked gel pens a lot, they seem to have fallen out of fashion, so I'm hoarding the ones I have now.! (at least 60!)

More.....

More assorted drawings.

This was a doodle that ended up pretty cool to me. I am not a ink artist and crosshatching has never been my forte. But I still have a huge collection of pens, gel markers, paint markers, you name it!
I used one of those 4 color ballpoint pens, the ones that click, in the neon colors to do this.
Kind of interesting to do.

















Peach Portrait.
Watercolor
This is the only piece I have every sold outright. This is the only photograph I have of it. It was at the annual Gallo arts show and someone bought it for $250.00! I never did meet the person who bought it, it was a big shock to go pick up all my works that were there and to get a check instead.


















Just a simple sketch with watercolor pencils.





















Anissa - portrait
pencil 16 x 20
Haven't worked like this in pencil in a while. Usually everything is full on watercolor or prismas. Made this for Anissa (I ended up with it back for safekeeping after her house burned up!) But I guess it's kind of weird to have a portrait of yourself hanging in your own house these days too. Didn't think about that till after I gave it to her.

Collage Phase

This is something I tend to do on occasion. I have a big 4 drawer file cabinet full of references from magazines etc. Anything that catches my eye, imagination, gets thrown in, and on occasion I go through it and come up with ideas. Mostly I used it as a way of honing my skills on more realistic subject matter. I haven't done any in a while. They turn out pretty good, I think, but they don't mean as much as what comes purely out of my head.

Beauty
colored pencil 10 x 17

This is the more realistic style I've done the last few years though it's changed even from this which has a lot of symbolism in it to a more personal figurative symbolism. But this is still one of my personal favorites.



















prismacollage
colored pencil 22 x 30

This is my husbands favorite picture, It's on our fireplace, place of honor.














Prismacollage 2
colored pencil 22 x 30

This one is in the same mode as the first. On this one I've included the drawing that extends out onto the matboard. Funny thing whenever I mat something with black matboard it seems I get compelled to draw on it!

Assorted

Some odds 'n ends:

This was done in watercolor.
On an art field trip to Stanislaus State.

I think I always try to find an interesting perspective. I SO didn't want to just paint landscapes. I'm terrible at them! :)




















My attempt at a logo. paint markers.



















Crouching Figure
colored pencil 11 x 14
This is exactly middle of the road, when my art started changing again. I still worked on my figures but everything started changing into two distinct styles. This is a merge of a couple of different things I was working on at the time.

Some experiments

I started getting a little restless with my usual imagery. The options really are limitless as to what I can do with these figures it seems. But I still try to break out of my self imposed style at times. My teachers also found it somewhat restricting and would try to get me to think outside the box. Some ideas worked, some didn't.

Catch. Watercolor
This is an experiment that I rather like but has had mixed reviews. At the time the demand was up for more design centered pieces, radial symmetry like Kaleidoscope, Family, etc. I was wanting to break out from that a bit. So I added the Net, one of my favorite doodles that I tend to do often. Once again the design goes out onto the mat. This was the first time I attempted it in watercolor though, it was very challenging to get those colors to pop on the matboard! If you can't see it, there's a monster chasing figures underneath the net. ( Bill never liked this one so it's been hiding out in the garage / studio for a while.!)

















This was a classroom experiment that didn't turn out. I'll probably redo it soon. I still like the original concept. My watercolor Teacher didn't like the ink outlines in my work. So he asked me to try one without them, he also wanted some of the figures to remain clear. So I tried it. But it's just never felt right to me. I even tried outlining with watercolor paint and a TINY brush, it's just not right.... I need the ink! The white figures make me feel it's not finished, there's nothing that gives it that movement that I like to give them. So we'll see what I can do with it soon.



















Grasp. Watercolor with colored pencil.
Basically the only watercolor is the figures in the background.
Most art teachers when I was in school were definitely purists. You just didn't do mixed media, it could ONLY be one thing at a time. Colored pencil and watercolor mixing was a big "no - no", just like mixing acrylics and oils or acrylics and watercolor- no way. And they instilled this in me, I still get this guilt when ever I attempt anything like this, like I'm cheating or something.
But I'm noticing more and more artists are doing this mixing. Daniel Merriam is one of my favorite artists and he's been mixing acrylics into his watercolors for a little while now. I have to admit, though I love his work I tend to not like the ones as much with the acrylic mixed in. Is it a prejudice, or simple opinion? I don't know anymore!
But I'm determined to experiment more. I figure if everyone else is, the times must be changing!
This is one of my "puzzle" pieces where I'm trying to fit contrasting colors into different sections of the piece. I've always liked this one but may redo it at some point because there are some things that I definitely could improve upon.

















Flight
colored pencil with paint pen outlining
This is a merging of my more graphic style and more realistic drawing in the face. I have always done faces and portraits alongside whatever other style I am in at the moment.
This is a remembrance of my friend and former muse Vannies face merged with the bird elements that often pop up in my work.

Brighter Paintings Ahead

Here are some of my best pieces

Kaleidoscope
colored pencil 29 x 21
This is kind of like a trademark image for me, something I think has no limits with what I could do with it.



















Karma
Colored pencil 24 x 26.
I've had this hung in my garage (someday to be studio) and I never realized that I hadn't posted it anywhere. I only had one poor quality file image of it, so I always put it off. Then I guess I just forgot. Funny, what having a toddler does to the memory!
















Drop
Colored Pencil about 20 x 24
Another of my moodier ones. I'm kind of thinking I should do more of these, I like the brightness with the darker subject matter,..... Of course it's different to create something darker if you're not in that state of mind.....

Dark Times

It's funny to me if I think of it now, that I don't do darker stuff. I really am quite morbid. It's pretty much a fact of my life. I'm always drawn to the darker side of things. Darker art, music, poems, etc.
But I don't, I may think the thoughts, but they don't come out in my art. I tend to do this bright psychedelic "happy" stuff, and I don't know where it comes from. Maybe it's the antithesis of what should really come out? I'm trying but it just doesn't seem to happen.


The years of 1988 and 1989 were very very rough. I lost a good friend, one of the best I've ever had. He died suddenly May 9th 1988, while coming from the bay area to see me. I had a hard time dealing with that and just acted out in all sorts of ways.
I was really pretty severely depressed for a long time. But I put on a brave front and got through it pretty much, eventually.
A lot of people in my life didn't really know what was going on, It was kind of like having 2 different lives. The ones in Palo knew what was going on, the ones at home didn't because I kept the two separate. It's really the only way I got through it. I had to close the door on Palo pretty much, and never look back. I think most of us did that, it was the only way.
My mom helped me through it, if it hadn't been for her I probably wouldn't have.
And, time has made me realize that each thing that happens in your life, prepares you for the next. And that maybe if that hadn't happened the next crisis would have been the one I didn't survive. Each one has made me stronger. I keep fighting, this life is all you get, this is not a dress rehearsal. Live through it all. Be your best.

These pictures are from the worst of those times. And I love them now. I put all of the emotion at the time into them.

A Morbid Fascination
colored pencil 24 x 36
The mat for this, I have a hard time getting photos of, is cool, it's black-core with red spiderwebs drawn on.















This is the original drawing for the above.




Nicolas Raines.
R.I.P. 8-8-67 to 5-9-88.
-"Love is forever"

"Life is eternal; and love is immortal;
and death is only a horizon;
and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." -R. W. Raymond

Some printmaking

Here are some of my attempts anyway. I took printmaking, as well as gallery operation and management from Robin Bernstein. She was an awesome teacher. I learned a lot from her classes.

Individual
This is 4 x 6 from an engraving on a metal plate, from my printmaking class back in college.


















Transformation
this was a linoleum block print - 11 x 14, from printmaking class back in college. The idea was to make prints of the image as you carved it, which my figures made very easy. I just made the bars first then the people as they go up and become birds. I have a big book of the project in one of my folders somewhere but I especially liked this one print.




















This painting is the original I based the print on.
Around 18 x 24. watercolor and ink.




















This is just me playing around with color inversion.

First Watercolors

These are the first ones I liked. I did plenty of landscapes, boats and houses first semester, didn't like many of them though. These are still some of my favorites.

The Dive. Watercolor 11 x 17, ink outlining.












Psychadelic. watercolor 11 x 17 with ink outlining.
This is one of the very first pictures of the style I came up with in college, with homage to Keith Haring for certain. (especially in other works) In actuality, I must have been seeing his works for some time - it was the late '80's after all! I never thought of him specifically as an influence until someone else pointed it out.














Psychadelic II
watercolor 11 x 17 with ink outlining
This is a second version, done on a different kind of paper which made for a very different effect. I like the first one better.

The Beginning

Art classes Watercolor I, II and III. Oils and acrylics I, II, and III. Though the 3rd class was more of a teachers aide sort of situation. I didn't have too much fun until the second semester when I got to pretty much experiment as much as I wanted. I got tons of encouragement from instructors Dan Petersen and Jerry Reilly. Sometimes I think I'd like to go back just to get all that beneficial critique and input from fellow artists.



Living Color. Acrylic 24 x 36
















Untitled. Acrylic 16 x 20






















Astronomy Notes. acrylic 18 x 24
(the sketch for this was done during a film in my astronomy class, hence the title!)

I don't know what I would do without the psychadelic category on Deviant Art! It seems like everything fits there, even though I don't consider myself a "psychadelic " artist!!!!

This painting won Best of Show for me one year which surprised the hell out of me because I never liked it! That year I had 8 other items that I all liked better! I won a second place in painting and a third place in drawing as well. That was a good year!

Transitional

These are the first pieces where I started to break out of the portrait mode. Started to find my own thing, so to speak.

Birds. Colored pencil 22 x 30
This was the break out picture. The first one I ever did that was completely all my idea, it's where everything else came from. It started out as a doodle on the back of my drawing pad. (History class if I remember right.)
There was an earlier version done with only a 24 color prismacolor set - classroom issued. That one was given to a friend. This one was done with the 72, before they had the 120 set!




















Birds 2. Colored pencil 11 x 14
This is kind of the second in the series, kind of ran out of inspiration with this one so it never made it to the larger size.




















Sirens
This is a big drawing 22 x 30. Colored pencil, (prismacolors, what else is there! I love them!)

Before it's too late. More High school stuff

Whew, almost did it again. These are some that I know were tail-end H.S

Ledge. colored pencil
This was started in high school and has gone through many changes, the tattoo was an afterthought. I know the hand and shoulder are wrong. But there's something I like about it. The girl was Vanessa, my first muse.


















Make-up. pencil 10 x 13





















For Vanni. pencil 10 x 13
This is sort of a portrait but mostly drawn from my head since I didn't have any sort of reference, Of my old friend Vanni.

Early College Works

Last one for the day. More later. This was the start of my college training, the usual, basic drawing, still lifes, perspective, landscapes. I have to say it was no fun, I was rebellious but still went along with it. It was tedious but I did learn what I was meant to learn through it. Leaving out the early paintings though they were truly terrible!

That's all for tonight, back to the drafting table!

A little more

Just found these. These were done for Nicks band just a fun thing that quickly got stashed away. I always liked them though. I never have been much good at more graphic imagery, comics etc.
Now, I know something I saw influenced me in these, some illustration I saw somewhere but I can't for the life of me remember where. Oh well, it's all in fun anyways.

More fun... High School

Here's where it all began. I had always wanted to be either an entomologist or a novelist. Novelist being foremost, but it was very frustrating. I always tend to emulate my favorite author of the moment, and I just knew that it would get me nowhere.
So, due to the influence of a few key people in high school art classes I got the inspiration and encouragement to try my hand at art, and that's when all this insanity started, I love it.
I started drawing people, most often from magazine photos. The few I did sans reference always had the look of the one eyed beauty in pencil here, that is until I figured out how to balance the face right. The pencil / colored pencil portrait, is me Circa 1988. That got me an Artist of the month at school. The next one: After Hours was my first attempt at realism via colored pencil. It got good reviews at the time... from then on I was hooked on art.