13 years blogging and growing strong!

Kenobi 2009

 Today is year 13 of blogging. My very first post was June 5 2009. As you can see through the years the art came in waves. From starting small with happy snaps and going to college for painting digitally with Painter X and photoshop to running and operating a part time pet photography biz-to currently obsessing about Procreate and it's level of painting sophistication. Besides showing off this photo of my dog from back then-I don't have much to add other than I'm busy with daily painting mostly digital using procreate but also teaching myself to be more disciplined with traditional art. Finishing off this post with a favorite quote by Vincent Van Gogh: 

If you hear a voice within you say: Do not paint. Then by all means, PAINT! And that voice will be silenced. 

Mountain Lion Cub 2022

Wildlife series in progress!

Tasmanian Devil Soft Pastels & Charcoal Block

 Starting off the wildlife series with a slightly melancholy Tazzie. They tend to fight a lot but this shy guy is a newbie and seems just unsure yet. Obsessed with soft/oil pastel and and charcoal block for depth and texture-also the big eyes are here to stay as I am super absolutely inspired by Margaret Keane's art. The animals need some depth and mood and intensity because all wild animals have to fight for their life every single day. Plan is to draw every day while working my way up to the top wildlife animals to draw/paint-such as the one and only most spectacular -- elephants. Joy! Committed to this journey toward becoming a full time animal artist very soon. 

Improving an old piece

Number 2 - FINAL - It is deeply satisfying to improve and shift your mind set the second time around 

                     

Number 1- Pekka has sort of a monkey vibe about him

The real Pekka the pug

I overworked Pekka portrait painting number 1 and was NOT satisfied with the end results. So I changed things up a wee bit and started my painting with a vibrant color palette and took off from there which created Pekka portrait painting number 2 which is now moving forward my go to color palette. Abstract and quirky style. Modern with a pleasing palette that strikes a conversation immediately. This one spoke to me. I did not over work it. Each stroke and color choice was intentional. Cute pets with colorful style. 

Baby Bighorn-first procreate painting of wild animal-April 2019-taking a look back

3 years ago I began the digital painting journey using my apple pencil on my iPad Pro. Procreate is the most intuitive and sophisticated drawing program on the planet and I never imagined I would be able to create drawings of critters and cuteness digitally. This baby bighorn was an attempt in April 2019 and I’ve been hooked since then. My plan is to keep honing my dog and cat drawing skills everyday with a bit of wild forest critters then graduating to even wilder animals. I have a fox painting that’s in the works-traditional acrylic on canvas-poor guy has been pushed to the wayside but I will pick up my brushes very soon to complete. In the meantime I look at this sheep and am pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish with the minimal training drawing on a tablet. I love it so much. One day I’ll trade in for a 13” which would be mind blowing when I get there. Bigger is better when drawing and painting. (Soon I’ll paint on 20x20 or 30x30 canvases) big art is my dream project…..
 

Only Cute Art work in progress

 These are the the cuties I plan to use in a series of nursery art/modern pet art for display in nurseries, kids rooms and the like. The whole process of this is definitely consuming my valuable time. Working on these forces me away from current world events which are indeed beyond my control. I only want to create cute and small things. Since I was a small child growing up in the states, my first favorite book that has inspired me and brought pure joy and safe cozy feelings is a book by Gyo Fujikawas Baby Animals,1963. 1980’s baby animal stickers and Hello Kitty toys at It’s A Small World at the westroads mall was my LIFE!

 Ultimately to make this art sellable as digital downloads available to the proper target audience. Which does not make them limited art-I’m ok with that-custom commissions is possible although the lengthy process of a final print from digital drawing/painting worries me simply because of the print output would be inconsistent. I’m focusing on traditional painting of commissions. That way I can really take the painting process a step further from semi realistic to abstract modern. Which is my ultimate goal. Currently I’m completing a 30x40” acrylic/mixed media-trusting the lengthy process that it is and all of the important steps that need be taken throughout the creative painting process. 

Above image of a nursery snapshot I copied and placed my image within the room. These sophisticated wall guides are from Ariana Falerni. I purchased the couch set years ago and added some final images on display on my up to date website-today I wanted to play more but since I’m working on a newer computer I’ve lost the downloads and just have to make a purchase of the new and improved newborn/kids room templates-it’s superior wall guides that work flawlessly with photoshop. This is my goal for 2022. I only want to make cute stuff. That’s all.