13th Muse Designs

It was a good art year at least. Here's to more of the same.

2011-12-31T19:24:00.000-08:00

2011-10-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

Donating 2 pieces to charity silent Auction for United Cerebral Palsy this Saturday. It's a great thing to do. There's always more art in you to give. :)

New video

2011-04-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

This slideshow design made with Smilebox

Music: Pipeline by Nate Riddle.

Connected.

2010-02-23T09:26:00.001-08:00

Colored Pencil
14 x 16 2010
Finally, the First drawing of the year. I am envisioning a series of these. Beginning with "Pulling Apart" that I drew last year. More are in the works.

Pink and Black

2009-10-16T01:43:00.001-07:00

Colored Pencil
13 x 14 1/2
Newest piece. reworking of an old idea from probably 1992-ish wow, the technique has definitely changed! Don't know why the black and pink hit me as the background color for this but once it was in my head, that was the only option. Here is a shot from before the background went down.

My Art Gallery

2009-10-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Spiral (needs a better title)

2009-08-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

Spiral
Prismacolor Pencil
35 x 22

It's done! I started this in April, with a brief hiatus to work on The Collector. This is the biggest and most complicated piece of this type that I've attempted. I figured I would be able to work on this off and on with other pieces in the meantime. But it ended up being the only thing I could work on, and it wouldn't let me put it away! So here it is. :)
The idea for it came from a dream where the figures were moving and swirling into a whirlpool. The working title that came to me for it was 'Into the Abyss'. But it ended up not being very abysmal and not as much like the dream. But I still love it. Any ideas for another title? let me have it. :)
For the record there are 955 figures in this one. If I had known the number was going to be that high I would have added 45 more!

What I'm working on... it's taking a while !

2009-07-03T18:51:00.001-07:00

This is the work in progress. It's a monster and also the smallest figures I've ever tried to draw. Colored pencil 35 x 22. I'm now starting the people it's going to take a while. I intend on counting them as I finish them. I'm curious as to how many there are!

The Collector

2009-05-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

I finally finished it! It proved very challenging to get a full shot of this. And I just realized I'm going to have to get the mat cut for it because it's too long for a standard size matboard so they'll have to order the big ones! Nice :( !

Oh well, The next one is going to be too big too so maybe I'll just get both at the same time!

colored pencil
9 x 35 inches

I love it, she's a little different from my usual girls. I think maybe a little more anime looking? I don't know but I like it. There's lots to look at. :)

Still drawing

2009-05-01T23:17:00.000-07:00

No worries, I'm still working on various things.
Mostly concentrating on one piece in particular: 'The Collector' in colored pencil. I've come to the tedious part - leaves and flowers and sky. It's mostly done except for the girl, leaving her for last so the colors stay sharp. And the finest of details at the very end.
Then I'll start the next big figurative piece, I think I've finally got the color scheme sorted out spirals are tough and I've got 2 together in that one, it's easy to draw yourself into a corner. I've done it before where in 2 bends of the spiral the colors ended up the same which threw the entire thing visually out of whack... so I'm being very particular about it this time. It's too big and too much work to mess it up like that.

Watercolor

2009-03-31T18:26:00.000-07:00

"Watercolor"
colored pencil
19 x 22
Originally this was a watercolor that had remained unfinished. I wanted to try to redraw it so that I could change some things, but nothing worked. SO I ended up drawing right over the watercolor instead. The areas I liked I just replicated in pencil exactly, like the background. But I ended up changing most of the figures, refining and trying some new color techniques. It turned out better than I thought it would.

The Results

2009-03-29T17:56:00.001-07:00

The results. He will be getting them done any day now if he hasn't already. I think it's going to look great. That brings the number of tattoos of art I've drawn to 7. 7 this year seems to be my lucky number.
The circle one is the one he finally described to me the right way. The one I put off as much as possible. The one in color was just an extra that I kept adding to. Which he loved. I like it the best, of course because I made it up entirely and had no prerequisites. It's given me some ideas for more.

The tattoo shop loved them. Said I could draw anything I wanted for them. Now if I could only get paid for drawing the stuff. Heh, that makes me feel good though. I always knew I could draw them, it's just the 'on people -forever' part, well that and the "test" - drawing Goofy on one girls ankle, she 'had' to have it. That killed it right there, made it not fun. I think if it had been anything more original I might not have balked. (sorry Eric) Tattoos have become so generic, retail almost. It takes something amazing to really catch my eye anymore.

Unless I could do only what I wanted, (gee, I'm not a spoiled only child am I?! lol) I'll let others do the inking. There are some AMAZING tattoo artists out there, it's just all the mediocre stuff that I can't stand. I tend to pick out every little flaw. I'd personally hate to make someone live with something I didn't think was perfect.

Hopefully Wednesday I'll get to see them! I'll take pictures.
Oh, in other news I've got a date for a photography day with my friend Jim Silvas finally in 2 weeks! I have so wanted to do this for a while. It's going to be fun.

This is why....

2009-03-18T22:43:00.000-07:00

It's a good reminder of why I'm not working in a graphics business, doing advertising, painting murals or signs. And why I never followed through on the tattooing training. I'm no good at dealing with the expectations of other people when it comes to my art. To sum it up with a quote from my daughter Emily, age 4: "I want to do what I want to do!"

I pretty much hate having projects where you're attempting something and just going on a basic idea and can't read your customers mind! And they just give you a basic idea and tell you "oh anything you do will be good" Then you come up with something and it's just not it. It's just killing the creativity flow, which is making me panicky! I don't want to freeze up at this point, things are going so well!

It's funny because one piece is exactly what I do, the figures, I could whip it out quick if I had to and yet I've been procrastinating on it all day. Is it because I know it's no challenge so I'm just not interested?
I got a hell of a lot of other unartistic stuff done, things I've been putting off for months, so it's not all bad. And yet I haven't done much the last couple days on any of the art stuff. I look at them, work on ideas for the next "my stuff" pieces while I'm waiting for details on the 3 other tats lined up. But I don't feel like that's enough.

I've been pushing myself so hard this year, and it's working. I'm feeling a little too comfortable in the procrastinating arena. That hopefully is scary enough that I'm going to work on one of my pieces tomorrow night. It's a plan, If I can just pick which one!

Meanwhile I'm going to get this figure Tat done tonight, at least a rough done on it. You'd think I'd be excited about it. I was the first day, now this. I don't get it!

2009-03-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

Puppetstrings
colored pencil 4 1/2 x 19

This is an old piece I finally finished off. It was based on one of my poems, at one point I decided to try to do illustrations for some of my poetry. This is probably the only one I like enough to post. I found the perfect frame for it which inspired me to finish it. It's the only one that has come close to the mood I wanted to create.

My poetry tends to be pretty dark. I used to write a lot, in college especially. There was enough dramatic stuff going on in my life that it seems like the way to get the good energy out was in my artwork, and the bad energy in my poetry. Most of it is scarily "emo" this is before that was even a term! But it helped me a lot back then to get it out of my system. Some of it is slightly embarrassing now since a lot of it revolved around a couple of people: one I could never ever forget and one I wish I could, as well as others. But one of the lessons in life is to remember such mistakes! (and such tragedies) So I don't let myself! Besides in order to do that I would have to destroy what I think are some of the best things I've written.

I'm working on posting my poems up on an old blog I've revamped for this purpose, but I want it all posted before I link to it. 100 + poems means that will take a while, but I feel like it needs to be somewhere besides sitting on a shelf in my studio. I don't know, those years were just so full of emotion, drama and choices to be made. If anyone reads them and can relate, maybe take something from them then it will be worth it.

Do I still write? No. Sometimes I think about it, but basically I am just not that depressed or angry person anymore. Originally how it worked to begin with was - if you hurt me, made me angry, made me feel sad, desperate or out of control I wrote about you, or the situation. After a point someone came along and actually made me happy and I just couldn't write anymore! I tried but those poems are just not even comparable, I just can't write happy stuff!
And now, So much more has happened since then, that I think I've developed other ways of dealing with such things. Believe me I have every reason to be able to write more lately, everything is out of control, but I can't reign it in. I get ideas, the random formations that could be a poem but I just can't put my mind in that place anymore, I can't add fuel to the fire, so I just pack it back inside. At this point denial proves a more useful tool.

Wavelengths

2009-03-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

Wavelengths
19 x 22 colored pencil
about 46 hours total, wow I've gotten slow! used to be able to draw them in half that time, then again the technique has changed a lot since then!

Now I'm in that weird spot where I'm not sure what I'm going to start next. I've got some awesome ideas coming up, but nothing is jumping out at me yet. Give me a day or 2.

New work

2009-03-06T17:28:00.002-08:00

Everything after this will be fresh off the drafting table. Now we are certainly up to date, and the pressure will be on to keep making new stuff. Though I have to say, it hasn't been pressure at all this year. I have plenty of people and things to inspire me, especially the people. Pretty damn cool year so far. Much better than the last one!

Netted
8 1/2 x 11
inks, colored pencil and white paint marker

This one took forever. For such a small piece. The next one is bigger, I'm trying to find a happy medium size -wise.

Lessons learned

2009-03-03T11:46:00.000-08:00

well, I've learned a new thing or two today.

I've always thought, once I have one of the "people puzzles" sketched out I could just redraw it up to a larger size and it would be the same. I've even thought I could redraw the same basic outline again and just change the colorways = new picture. I've just discovered this does not work!

I'm not talking tracing, technically I could do that with each little figure, but that tends to get out of alignment too. So I don't like it and never do it.

So here I've been - rocking out , trying to resketch the watercolor one I wanted to redo and some other pieces into a larger size. And they are totally, completely different from the originals. On one I was trying to get the scale from smaller in the center to larger on the edges. - so it looks like it pulls inwards.
One isn't as small but is way larger in general, and the other, whoa, it's going to be trippy, it's big in the middle (the exact opposite) then it kind of bends in and out around the sides, and it's all radial symmetry (-pretty much there are always a few extras floating around in there. I don't like them too perfect.) I think it's going to be awesome I think.

This one is 8 1/2 x 11. I am just going to work on top of this original ink piece and see what happens since it is proving impossible to redraw to the size I would like it.

Green Glow
8 1/2 x 11 colored pencil.
This is the completed piece.

This is the other sketch I'm trying to figure out what to do with, if I can redraw it.
It's gel pens and ink so I can't simply pencil on top, won't stick. That's the other lesson learned today.
8 1/2 x 11

So now I'm thinking about all the dozens of sketches in my books, I might as well try to make them their own pieces instead of thinking of them as only sketches to be redrawn, because obviously that's a lot harder to do than I thought. Which is good in a way. It's not something that can be easily replicated, like I've always thought. I end up making something entirely different each time.

So now I've got 4 things in the works right now, I must be out of my mind!

Elicio Spiritus (calling the spirits)

2009-02-26T21:56:00.000-08:00

This is a small watercolor for me - 11 x 14.
I originally drew this on a piece of lined paper as a doodle. I loved that sketch and tried hard to recreate it. It had something special, that I'm not sure I captured here. But I tried my best. I find it hard to work this small.

The original concept was the elements, earth, air, fire, water.
Soon the symbolism of the senses was included. As well as a few personal symbols thrown in. I think I really need to pick my brain a little more as to where all of it came from and what it means, sometimes I think these things just flow out and then you have to figure them out!

This concludes our update programming, we are now in Current mode.

2009-02-25T21:26:00.000-08:00

Alright.... that took quite a while, now it's on to the future and all the things I'm working on currently. So this blog will probably change a little now.

I am going to use it now as much to upload works in progress as anything. As well as to vent a little from time to time. Basically it will take the place of my livejournal which I only use now to keep up on some of my favorite artists who have blogs there.
This blog does much more than that one feature wise.

So now for a little venting:
Tonight I'm exhausted, it was a very long and stressful day. I took my grandmother to the doctor it was just one of those days where everything was off center. She had left her phone on so I couldn't get a hold of her, didn't know if maybe she had canceled it because she thought Em and I were sick instead of Bill. Or if something worse had happened so I called Art to check on her and I rushed down there.
Then Bill wanted to keep Em since I was going down there so I had to get all Ems stuff and her ready last minute. Then they moved grandmas doctors office to a new building and no one told either one of us so we had to search for it. then her health just keeps winding down, she's forgetting stuff, not eating right, messing up her medicines. The doctor basically tells her every time she's too weak to have any kind of surgery on her knee and hip, which is true, but it depresses her and it would solve so much of her pain. It's a vicious circle.

I feel like I'm witnessing a car crash in slow motion and there's nothing I can do about it when it comes to my grandmother. Put that with everything else going on and it's just exhausting. It makes me angry and resentful that I am the only one left. This should not be all up to me. Why did they all have to die? Life just isn't fair, and it's not fair that my grandma should have to go through this all either. Why did she have to lose her husband and all her children and now have to go through this too? With just me? Hell, this is why religion is such bullshit. I'm starting to think sometimes that it's not such a good deal to grow old.
Quem di diligunt, adolescens moritur- whom the gods love die young.
I could think of a few others but I'm going to try to get out of this train of thought. Just had to get it out somewhere.

I'm trying to get a second wind tonight so I can get some more progress on the new piece, I actually took a nap a bit ago. Now I have 3 days to myself, though I miss having Emily with me, she's my only companion pretty much these days.And it's not that I don't have a couple days alone a week anyways, but usually I work and then am just too tired to really work on art. This week was really messed up. So now I get to just do what I want pretty much, which is draw of course! So yeah, I'm going to so sleep in tomorrow, then I'll start posting new art! Yes! That's a good thing.

Pulling Apart

2009-02-24T18:27:00.000-08:00

This piece originated as a doodle, as many of them do, in my sketchbook. I colored it in on a whim, with markers of some sort. I've liked it enough to take a picture, but never thought much of it.

Pulling Apart
prismacolor colored pencil 8.5 x 11

Then in a unique turn of events, I was reunited with an old friend of almost 20 years ago, someone who had inspired me at the very beginning of this long artistic journey of mine and whom I had always hoped I would be able to maintain a friendship with.
He pointed out some things in this that opened my eyes to it. And so I decided to redraw it the way I thought it should be. And now it's his.

This turned out pretty good for being so small, the more I look at it the more I love it. Hopefully I can do more like it. It was fast and fun to do.

(I still haven't mastered taking a picture without catching a bit of glare. You have to fixative it to prevent bloom. I think next time I'll try taking the photos before I do that last step. So it will be shiny but it's not that shiny.)

Microcosm

2009-02-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

Watercolor. - size 22 by 30 inches.
Big, too big really, It proved hard to get a good picture of and I'm afraid a lot of the details will be lost.

I'm thinking of putting it on my myspace page: [link] - I'll add a lot of close ups there with the detail so they can be seen, since I don't know how you would do that here.

Kind of a self portrait, kind of not It's got a lot of personal symbolism for me which is in essence the portraiture.
The blade of grass in the hand is what started the whole thing, it's from Stephen Kings concept of our universe being a single cell in a blade of grass, in an ocean of grass.
It also brings to mind Blake's eternity in a grain of sand.
Basically it has a lot of my favorite Boschian imagery, animals, the Frida Kahlo thorn necklace, the fairy wings, a bit of vampirishness, a bit of tarot, etc. I can always think of more things to add. But it will have to wait for the next one, this one is pretty full!

Hollow Muse

2009-02-19T17:57:00.000-08:00

Watercolor sky in background, all else is prismacolor pencil.
Size 18 x 24.
Idea popped into my head and wouldn't leave!
If I were to change it, the face and the hollow part are just not quite right. The cut away water is a vague reference to Daniel Merriam that I particularly liked but ended up harder to recreate than I expected! It's flatter than I wanted but as a whole I love the image! The title came about much later and is now my favorite too. On to the next one... I'm on a roll now!

The Tower

2009-02-15T18:09:00.001-08:00

Colored pencil.
22 x 30
This is the first branching out of my personal symbolism style that I actually finished in colored pencil, my baby so to speak.
I've been told it's a self portrait but I don't see it. maybe the eyes? whatever, that wasn't the intention. What I wanted was to incorporate as much of myself symbolically as I could, my likes, and things that signify a lot to me. And of course my references to what I think is one of the best stories ever written - The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

I could go into horrific detail here but won't. Any questions? ask away I'll answer them.

Reflections

2009-02-13T22:27:00.000-08:00

Reflections of Carnelian Wings
Watercolor and colored pencil. Size 16 x 20.

I have no idea what it means but it's something that keeps popping up in my sketchbooks. Totally open to interpretation!
Usually it's only the top half of the head and she has pointy ears. I've been also adding this seaweed/ flame to the bottom third of a lot of sketches as well.... Once again. no idea why.
It's odd but I really like it now it's done.

Same piece but with a digital reflection added via imageplay a kind of cool but glitchy art program. I really like this effect.

Secrets Amid The Mushrooms

2009-02-07T22:58:00.000-08:00

Watercolor 18 x 24

This took forever!!! But I love it. There are tons of little tiny details in this one, I got out the itty bitty brushes for it and while it is technically done I may find myself adding to it from time to time as I think of more things! But for now it's done. On to the next one.

This was originally started for a competition. - Lucia's Princess with a Secret Competition

As for the mermaid princess I'm not sure what HER secret is, obviously she enjoys hearing them but she's not telling me anything so she's a pretty good confidante!

more "old school style"

2009-02-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

Heart number 1
watercolor with ink outline. 5" x 7". This is kind of old and is about the smallest I've attempted. I usually work at least 11" x 17" and lately 22" x 30".
I have a hard time working small I always want more detail than I can fit in a small space. and I admire those who can work small. Maybe that's why I haven't finished much in the way of computer graphics, I need a big screen computer!!

Spiral
this is, of course, colored pencil 12" x 14"
This is a different version of the next one down, "Family"
I was just playing with the background, color combinations, techniques etc. It's alright but off balance. I like the figures in the corners with the "spots" something different, but I like them.

Family
18 x 24
This is a watercolor I painted for my friends Darren and Rhonda when they got married in June 2001.
The photograph isn't that great but it's the only one that I have of it. Actually the colors are a lot more blue tones but because of the darkness of the photo this is how it turned out. Not bad. but I'd like to get another picture of it someday. I may just have to make another version, that's what I like about these no two are ever the same.

Powerhungry

2009-02-02T23:37:00.000-08:00

This is pretty much my favorite of this style that I do. This particular piece has much significance to me.

The idea behind this is that the boxed figures have a power, a vitality that the unboxed figures don't. The colors of the outside figures change as they absorb and destroy the boxed figures. It definitely has a cannibalistic mood to it. I don't think it feels dark until you actually look and see what the figures are doing. I put every emotion I was feeling at the time into this second version.

This is one picture I feel has been perfectly "solved".
I call it solving because these pictures in what I call my old style. are very much like puzzles, in that I have to get the colors I want but they can't blend with the background plus they have to have an emotional intensity as well. It can get very complicated and I've messed up more than one! This piece has something I hope desperately I can continue to achieve.

Powerhungry original pastel version 22 x 30 (shown below)
This was the first draft of the drawing.
Mixed media: Colored pencil and paint marker for the outlines
The whole surface was sanded down to get the mottled appearance.
I can't really recall the mood I was in when I came up with the original sketch but it wasn't a good one.

I ended up not liking the thickness of line and the color scheme when I was done with it, so it got stashed away. Then one night Chad and Darren came over for some reason. Bill and Chad were talking business, Darren (a former artist himself) and I ended up talking about art. He was great at pushing me to keep at it: "persevere, keep at it, what do you have to lose? Don't procrastinate. Work past the fear." That sort of thing.
So I was showing him a stack of stuff, I'd been looking through just out of frustration at not knowing what to do with any of it and he pulled this one out and said "This would be F-n awesome, what's wrong with you! You have to work on this one. Persevere, you have so much talent don't waste it."

So I started the second version soon after because I couldn't not look at this one and think of that talk.....A year later one of my favorite people: Darren Farwell was dying of skin cancer. he was 32 and it was way too soon.

It all happened so fast and yet once we knew it was going to happen it was agonizing for me. He was the first person I've known (besides my grandparents) who was going to be taken from us and there wasn't one damn thing you could do about it, I just could not deal with that. Not that it's ever easy.

Everyone else in my life had been taken suddenly with no preparation and no idea it would ever happen how it did. Boom, you're hit with it- deal. Shut down, fall apart, start over. This I didn't know how to handle, I remember crying almost every day the last few weeks.

It's not like we were best friends or anything really, just people with an extremely strong common interest and some wonderful conversations.
This picture was the result of our talks. Of his belief that I could do it.

In Memory of Darren. Wear sunscreen.
We love you and miss you... (I am persevering!)
June 25th 1969 - september 14th 2001

DLF Foundation for skin cancer awareness!
http://www.dlffoundation.com/pages/darren.htm
http://www.uvskinz.com/articles.aspx

Faery Thoughts

2009-02-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm still alive, sick as a dog, about to lose a lung from coughing myself crazy, you can live with only one right?
At least it doesn't hurt, no tonsilitis, sore throat, I HATE that. It's just f-'n annoying! And wearing me down. I haven't been sick in a long time, I usually take pretty good care of myself, pretty run ragged the last 9 months or so, so I knew this was coming.

Well, I at least have to post this, then I can veg out tonight and try to go to work in the morning.

Faery Thoughts
Colored pencil 10 x 17

I've had a running fascination for faerys for a long time, I'm kind of moving out of it at the moment though, there's just so many artists in the market now, that it's kind of ruining it, not much originality anymore. It takes a rare artist to catch my eye now in this genre. I have ideas of what I'd do, and they're nothing like how this turned out. So this is the only one I've attempted except for Microcosm (coming up soon).

Dive Deep
Colored Pencil
About 11 x 17.
This is one of my favorite newer pieces. Took a long time to get the background figured out, but once I did it just flew into or should I say swam into shape! I really like how this one turned out, I havent' found a frame for it yet. I have probably a hundred (I'm serious! ex- professional framer here!) and none of them fit, I'd hate to have to take it to a frame shop! ;) But I will have it on the wall someday!

2009-01-30T16:14:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-30T09:38:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-27T20:27:00.000-08:00

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.....

2009-01-25T18:38:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-24T11:03:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-20T17:39:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-19T20:23:00.001-08:00

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

2009-01-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-17T20:59:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-16T21:57:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-16T15:18:00.001-08:00

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

2009-01-16T14:51:00.000-08:00

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.

Some fun stuff

2009-01-16T14:05:00.000-08:00

Alright, I'm going to put all this silliness in one post. So I can get to the real stuff. I had some fun looking through all of my old art folders. Like I said before my mom saved everything, so of course I can't part with it either. Even if some of it is horrendous! It's good to gain some perspective.
I'll spare you my unicorn drawings from 6th grade, and the silly comics my friend Debbie and I made our freshman year. (she was quite good, very inventive, me? not so much!)
But here's a few glimpses, just for laughs.
I'll throw one unicorn in here just for good measure, circa 1981 or '82. (age 11 or 12)
Next is one from a little bit later. A bit of Rackham influence in the cliffside. Very cartoony for me. But it was completely out of my head.

Here we go...

2009-01-15T16:51:00.000-08:00

Well, here's to starting over. :) I've got a game plan this time. I think I'll start out with a little fun. This is one of the first "pictures" that I know of. Besides all the basic scribbles and things that kids do. I found this in my moms things she saved it all that time. I must say I like it too. Must have been 1st grade probably. I like that it has a story with it.

Starting over... SERIOUSLY this time

2009-01-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

Ha, I just looked at this and realized how long it's been. Life has been crazy, and not in a good way. But it's on a bit of an upswing at the moment, so I'm going with it, updating, renewing everything. And this page is in need of a big update, or else.

I've been posting on DA but I'm kind of annoyed with total lack of feedback. It seems like if you don't do Anime, manga, or some kind of photo-manipulation, you don't really exist. It's not like I'll get much from here either but at least it's something I can direct people too. I tried Livejournal too, but not really happy with that one either.

So this is a transition sort of thing, until I figure it out at least I can update this.

Lets start with the old.

2006-02-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

I'm going to start with some of my older works and work up from there. My husband says "Well, it's not old to people who haven't seen it before." Which I guess is true! But to me it's old stuff. I've been debating recently on whether or not to get back into my older original abstract style, if I should attempt doing that which I know how to do well and is less challenging, as well as doing all my current ideas that are seemingly so challenging that I'm somewhat intimidated by them. (and if I can do them justice or not.)

So we'll start at the beginning and work on to the most current. I do appreciate any comments or critique, since that's basically what this is here for. Those who have seen all this stuff before, bear with me, I'm working on lots of new stuff at the moment!

Here's another one!

2006-02-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

Boy my friend Jeff finds the neatest looking sites, so I figured I'll try this one too, (I'm such a copier!)
Anyways may take me a bit to put my stuff up on here, I try to not spend so much time on the computer and more working on my actual drawings and paintings (and Emily keeps most of my attention as always nowdays!) So bear with me and I will get some stuff here soon! Gotta go feed the baby right now!