OoO Baby It's Cold Outside... Seriously, it is

   

           'Tis the season!  Now that I am sufficiently stuffed with Thanksgiving goodness I have enough food to energize me to spend countless hours working on illustrations.  Challenge excepted!

Before I get too wrapped up in that, it isn't December until there is a tipsy reindeer.  So lo and behold the first reindeer of the season!  His drink of choice, martini!

I made this little guy as little thank you goodie for my Etsy orders, but of course I couldn't just leave it at that.  He had to move around with his drink a little...

It just makes me happy :)

Happy Holidays!

Announcing Her Royal Highness!

           The holding cell in the Land of Fantasy is getting crowded!

The newest member of the Disney Villain Jailhouse Rock Gang is her gloriousness... The Queen of Hearts!

I can only imagine how much of a hissy fit she'd throw confined in a small space with a bunch of other stubborn, snide, grouchy villains.  Endless hours of entertainment right there!

Feel free to hop over to My Shop to see the rest of the prisoners!

Up next ... Dr. Facilier
Here is a rough sketch of the early stages of his mugshot

He's got friends on the other side... of the BARS!

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

And Away We GO!

                     If you couldn't tell by the subtly of that doodle, we're going to Disneyland tomorrow!!!  So excited!  It's been a couple years since I've been to the happiest place on earth so this is definitely exciting!  Joe and I decided this trip will be a belated one year anniversary for us.  So as a reward of making through one year of marriage with each other we are going to stuff our faces with churros, fill our ears with Disney music till we're numb, and right the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to my heart's content!

Before I go I wanted to share a little piece I did for a friend of mine.  It was a very emotional little creation but it was worth every minute knowing how much it meant to her and her husband to have this image in her home.

A Day For Dailee

Til next time!  TTFN, ta-ta for now!

Life Is The Bubbles!

             This past weekend friends of my husband and mine got married.  I usually try to make my gifts to people as unique and personal as possible.  So I decided instead of the typical slow cooker or blender, I would make her something with what she is obsessed with, Ariel.

Ever since she saw my other shadow box mermaid piece she's been talking about how awesome it would be if I could make one for her... Well her wish came true!

Don't worry!  We got a little something for the Groom too, he wouldn't be too thrilled about a Little Mermaid picture like his wife would.  Though it would be fantastic to see a 240lb buff man get excited about The Little Mermaid and bubbles.

Here's the other mermaid shadow box that inspired this little gift

 And now on to the new creation!

Just had to pop a frame on it (that is why the coral isn't flush with the edge of the background) and Ta-DA!  Here's to a lifetime of love, happiness, and ADVENTURE Donny and Jess!

Always remember... Life is the BUBBLES!

They're Creepy and They're Kooky

Happy Halloween!!! One of my favorite holidays!  And in honor of they're greatness, I give you An Addams Family Portrait

Even though Halloween is going to be over tomorrow (*sigh) I've decided I'm still going to keep this painting out, it just makes me Happy... I mean, perfectly miserable.

The 2014 Livermore Artwalk was a success!  Met a lot of awesome people and found a bunch of good homes for my little creations!

Here's a little shot of our booth
 

And the production line I had going on my dining room table the night before!

Now that the fair is all over and done with it's back to the grinding stone... Commissions!
Here's a little taste of one I just finished...

'Til next time!  Happy Autumn!

2014 Livermore Artwalk

It is official I will have a booth at this year's Livermore Artwalk! Saturday Oct. 11 from 11-5pm in Livermore, CA.  Here is a link to their Facebook with all the info!   Livermore Artwalk

I'll be showing in booth #12 in front of the Bankhead Theatre along with Ashlee Petrilli of Sincere Snapshots, and Jennifer Salas.

Here is a little preview of what will be available

I'll also be doing live paintings!

Come on by and say hi!

Quick Post-Mugshots Galore!

      So I was rummaging around Instagram (as I do) and noticed that a bunch of artists do daily warm ups.  I've never done them because I felt that that was time I could have spent on the piece I was working on.  Well an hour into working I'm going back and changing everything I did that day cause it was stiff and annoying!  Well DUR!  The hour I spent drawing, getting frustrated, then going back and re-doing could've been just me warming up, then starting fresh on whatever piece I was working on.  So I decided to stop being stubborn and tried some warm up faces the other day, and honestly, I'm hooked.

This new found "frustration free" way of working got me on a roll doing a series of Mugshots I've been wanting to do for probably a good year now.   Disney villains!  I'm in a frenzy trying to get pieces finished and printed for an upcoming Artwalk in Livermore this October, hopefully I'll get enough of them done in time!

Ok!  Now back to work!

A Summer of Paper

Realized I haven't posted in a while ... Oops!  Wanted to post the completed cut paper pieces before I get waist deep in more paper trimmings...

I had to resist just covering this one in sparkles ... 28 years old and I still can't resist sparkly things!

Lagoon Love - 10x20

 

 Sweets Shoppe -8x10

Summer Birds - 11x17

And here's a little sneak peek of my next post ... COMING SOON!

 

Silly Old Bear . . .

So a friend of mine is having a baby and I wanted to make their future little boy something special.  The theme for their nursery is Winnie The Pooh so it was only natural that Pooh's butt makes an appearance.  So I recreated one of my favorite scenes from Disney's 1966 film Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and attempted to mimic the film's artistic style, but in layers of hand cut and painted watercolor paper.

It was a great excuse to watch the movie again, but frankly I never need an excuse to watch Disney movies!  Hopefully their future baby boy loves this movie as much as I do someday!

Paper Fiend

Just wanted to post a lil update on what I've been working on this past month.  What started out as wedding and baby shower cards has now become a full blown production!

I'll be participating in an alumni art show for Academy of Art University in SF this upcoming fall (I'll include details in a later post) and decided that I wanted to take my cards to the next level... FRAMES! Shocking, I know.

No matter how much my fingers hurt I am addicted to this method!  My over enthusiastic self wanted to enter 5 pieces in this style but seeing that the entry deadline is July 23rd I may have to limit myself to just 3, but I don't think my stubborn side will let me surrender like that.  We'll have to see!

Here are some snap shots of my process.  I'll have another post when they're all shinny and finished :)

Of course there has to be a mermaid :)

Love Birds

'Tis the season for weddings!  My cousin got married last weekend and I thought I would make them a fun little piece instead of a typical card.  Love is in the air!

And a close up!

Thought I would share that I'm going to be part of an upcoming alumni Art Auction in October for AAU and I decided I'm going to do some more intricate pieces in this style.  Let the explosion of paper begin!

Paparazzi Princess- Rapunzel

Ever have one of those days where you want to lop all your hair off?  Well that was me this past week, and who better to understand this annoyance then Rapunzel!

She may be a princess with all the finer luxuries in life (like a personal hair dresser), but even she can have a bad hair day.  Here is Rapunzel picking up a quick cup of coffee on her hair dresser's day off... she doesn't seem to be coping too well-

Sometimes a girl has to surrender to the hair gods, and sometimes the hair gods are very angry!  

Thrift'n

Just a quick lil post! Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' video for Thrift Shop came on tv the other day for the millionth time, but this time I saw the opening sequence and thought "OoO!  That would be fun to illustrate!"  So I did!

Now back to the 10 other pieces I have randomly started before I was distracted by shinny things!

Adventures in Bristol!

I happened upon an enjoyably interesting article on the Huffington Post today that talked about things that creative people do differently.  Here is a link to the article if you want to have a peek!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/04/creativity-habits_n_4859769.html

One of the bullet points was PEOPLE WATCHING and it dawned on me, "I haven't done that in months!  I need to people watch/draw today!"  So down to Barnes and Noble I went armed with watercolors and a Bristol pad.  After a couple hours of daydreaming and people stalking I left with these little beauties!

The two Baristas working the Starbucks Coffee counter, they were definitely the most entertaining of the people I saw today.  Michael was cracking me up with the random things he was saying to customers.
 

The old man sitting next to me patiently waiting for his wife to finish looking at the magazines

And a fellow daydreamer admiring the people outside.

I've been so wrapped up in learning new things on photoshop that I've almost forgotten how much fun it is to go out in public and really observe the people around me.  I will definitely try to make this a more frequent exercise!

Now back to Paparazzi Princess illustrations!

Paparazzi Princess- Belle

It's time for our next princess!  This week for Paparazzi Princesses- Disney Princesses Without Makeup I give you

Belle!

Disney's Beauty and the Beast was released in 1991, a time of rad patterns and fresh beats!  So of course Belle, being the beauty that she is, would promote and model Walt Disney's Casual Wear line of clothing.  Both hip and comfortable to wear around the Beast's castle for a girl that loves to dance!

And nothing says fun like rockin a Bartman comfy tied off tee!

Belle is definitely now a girl on the go with her new found fame and wedding in her new castle to plan.  A beauty like this needs some sugar and her favorite books on cassette so that she doesn't miss a beat!

Tune in next week for Jasmine!

Paparazzi Princesses- Cinderella

Next installment of Paparazzi Princesses- Disney Princesses Without Makeup!

Cinderella!

There's no denying that Cinderella was the ultimate "housewife".  This is fitting considering that Disney's Cinderella was released in early 1950, she was clearly a victim of her time.  So I decided to stay with the 50's theme for her installment.  I found a bunch of ads that reflected the gender roles of the time (inappropriate according today's standards), but couldn't pass up this one as inspiration

This could easily be offensive, that is probably why it caught my eye.  So lets take this as lighthearted as possible.

Being a celebrity, it's only natural that Cinderella would pose for household cleaning products ads... In this case for Bab-O Cleanser with Bleach!

Just because you're a Disney Princess doesn't mean everything is photo shoots and parties.  Cinderella's allergies are really hitting her hard this year.

10 + years of dusting your evil stepmother's mansion can take it's toll on your sinuses ...

Tune in next week for Belle!

Paparazzi Princesses- Ariel

Over the weekend during the football game I got suckered into coloring Disney Princesses with a 6 year old.  I'm not going to lie, I loved it.  A friend of mine started joking while she colored Belle, "You should draw up these princesses without makeup!"

Thank you for the awesome idea Ashlee! She creates the most beautiful natural light photography, please take a minute to have a look at her work! Her website - Sincere Snapshots - click to link



Ok back to the Princesses!  I had 4 hours to stall today so I decided to get started.
I decided to call this series Paparazzi Princesses- Disney Princesses Without Makeup. 

I absolutely LOVE Disney, and I figured I would start off with my favorite Princess Ariel!

Each Princess' "glamor" photo will be as we are used to seeing them, flowing hair, perfect makeup, and a smile of glowing royalty. 

Their "paparazzi" snagged photo will be of them being caught in the act of being normal women doing normal things.  Like in Ariel's case ... getting coffee.

I can imagine these photos being in "PEOPLE of the Happiest Place on Earth" magazine.
"Ariel was seen coming out of Starfish Coffee on her way to film a scene in her new movie Love's Undercurrent, coming summer 2014.

I'm going to try and be productive and do one princess a week.  Tune in next week for Cinderella!