peace

A cozy little village where animals roam free and everyone is friendly.

mask

I went to a masked ball a few years ago and have to say, it was fun being in disguise outside of Halloween! So here is a girl in a handheld mask. Have a great week. :)

might

What is mightier than the mighty lion? Or in this case, a sweet, unassuming lion that looks maybe a little more light than might...

Thanksgiving

Well, the holidays are already here. Hard to believe. I am still in Halloween mode and can't give up my light up pumpkin just yet. So, each night, when it grows dark, it sits glowing in the window in an orange haze. I decided to do a turkey for this assignment, even though I don't eat turkey. Still a fun icon. Have a good holiday everyone!

clear

I did this one rather quickly and intuitively. Not sure what it means, but maybe it doesn't need to mean anything, really. Maybe it is just an image for the pure sake of imagery. (I'm quite the introspective one tonight, hmm?)

smoke

wind

Suitable topic for this week. The winds are picking up here in the Northeast and knocking what's left of the fall leaves right off the trees. I watch the birds in the sky as they flutter and coast and wish I could see the world from their vantage point. But instead, I am down here. Sketching, writing and trying not to spill my coffee. Avoir!

ghost

My version is a ghost on the streets of Paris. Of course! And her little dog too! :)

smitten

Kind of whipped this one up. Working on sketches currently for a wedding line and incorporated one into a painted background and added some ephemera layering. Ah, Amore.

trouble

Territory wars between cat and dog equals t-r-o-u-b-l-e!

quiet

Here is my post for quiet. I am not sure why I painted this in response, but to me, it represents silence. quiet autumn. everything dying toward winter.

change

ahh, the ever going struggle with a maniacal sugar tooth. just had surgery on my shoulder, so this piece was sewn together digitally using old illustrations. it was interesting trying to do art without my dominant hand.

Farm

match

Even pooches need soul mates...

play

capture

Capture. I immediate thought of animals. I hate to see little creatures in cages, deprived of flight, freedom or quality of life. Today in Chinatown, I saw tiny turtles spending the bright afternoon hours in plastic crates stuck between the Louis Vuitton knockoffs and cheap baubles. I wanted to set them free, but couldn't. I had a turtle when I was a kid, but I guess seeing them in the sun, teetering on the edge of the table like some dispensible little inanimate object, made it seem all the more inhumane.

clean

opposites

Didn't know what to do for this one. Figured I would show two different places side by side. I used to think I was a city person, but now I think I perfer the scene on the left. I guess the heat has me dreaming of fall!

Aging

This was a random assignment for me. I had this melancholy face and decided at the last moment to rant on about aging with the typography. I have a lot of childlike curiosity and I see people who act a certain way JUST because they are a certain numerical age. There are times we must be mature, but part of life is letting go, too.

skyline

Oh to be in Venice again! I still prefer Paris, but there is something so intrinsically romantic about this city too! Did the linework by hand and then played with it in PhotoShop, incorporating a few painted layers and some light collage.

Sticky

I used to hate it when I was forced to eat my peas as a kid. I tried to hide them in my napkin, spitting them out when my mother looked the other way. Then I got caught. And from then on, she hovered...

rain

I think of rain and I think of a day in Paris in the Spring of 2004, when the sky turned green and this odd, ominous light came over everything. After the storm, the birds fly with abandon...

dance!

I had fun with this. I actually put together bits of some of my old illustrations and played with them in Photoshop to create something new. I am really fond of collage lately, so I broke out the old Victrola for her to dance by. Probably some Bossa Nova or old jazz records. Too bad she'll have to stop soon to crank it up again...

Jungle

My immediate impulse was to create a botanical illustration-lush and thick with wild animals, but then I thought about the word jungle and the tightness and heat of the city came to mind. Think NYC in August...

Portrait

Cake

This is always a fun illustration assignment for me. I did some drawings and played with them in Photoshop a bit. I am a big lover of Paris and its patisseries, so I used some of this ephemera as a backdrop. Auvoir! :)