Three Moons Studio

Have you any wool?

2011-07-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

The wool theme was a hit, so why not go full sheep right?
I know, let's show a woman sitting on a sheep? No, doing Yoga on a sheep! That absolutely says Joint help, right?
(It is so fun being an illustrator!)

Just like the grapes, that increased with each review in the first illustration... this illustration I had to add more swirls on the joints. With each review I was asked to add more glow and highlights behind the swirls on the joints. You know, MORE!

I have to say, I love my corn. I love my sheep, too. The client soon requested "more corn" and a smile on the sheep, so there you go. MORE!

Also, the woman has changed. The client decided all the women in the product line should be based on the same woman, so we went with my original 'goddess' woman with flowing hair... only her hair could switch from left to right, and from auburn to brown and black. This is the final illustration.

Do your knees crack?

2011-07-19T18:23:00.000-07:00

The second product line for the packaging illustration project was for Joint help... so I came up with a woman in a yoga pose, highlighting the major joints.

Here is the original concept sketch on a thumbnail of the packaging shape. One of the main ingredients in the product was derived from wool ;) so a later sketch showed a woman, in a yoga pose rising above a fluff of wool. Yeah, wool.

Neither of these sketches would make it to the final illustration.

Closer In

2011-02-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

A closer peek at the illustration. You can see the texture I've layered over the vector art as well as some of the added details like apples on the trees, striations in the sky and, of course, more bountiful grapes!

It is always a balance between what the client wants in the illustration and staying true to your vision, your style, your experience with what makes a good art. I really struggled with the ongoing issue of grapes with this client. It was the only sticking point between us. My work is generally large shapes, "bad-tangents" and the play and movement between positive and negative space. I'm not an artist who fills an image with detail. As an illustrator I know, and enjoy, creating art for a purpose, for a client, for specific sizes... at what point do you let go? at what point do you fight for what you think looks good/better?

I decided in the end to add as many grapes as the client wanted, knowing I could remove them later for my portfolio. Still, I can't look at the final art without thinking the grapes seem too busy and out of balance with the rest of the illustration. Sigh.

Adventure Continues...

2011-02-17T10:28:00.000-08:00

My "great opportunity" has proven to be a wild ride. Not that it isn't still a wonderful project but it has had so many twists that just like life, you think you know where you are headed and then you find yourself someplace else :D After concepts and sketches were approved and designs explored it was finally time to begin illustrating! The fun part!

I've been working digitally for years but rarely do I get the opportunity to create a real painting completely digitally. I was excited! (I create artwork in my day job digitally but they are either icons or vector spot illustrations, and not 'painterly' or as fully developed or high res as you would want for print.)

The job was for a series of products in the health and beauty industry. There would eventually be 5-7 product lines the client imagined. Yeah! I love working in series! We began with the first to debut, a product that contains Resveratrol... a powerful antioxidant from grapes. Each time I showed the client the illustration, she asked for more grapes. I'd add more, submit and hear "great, but can you add more grapes?" This was going to be a Gilligans Island vineyard! I created the artwork almost completely in Adobe Illustrator. I did add a layer in Photoshop of texture, a screen of a photo I took of a plaster wall. This added a softness and a 'toothy' feel like it was painted on a heavy rag paper. I liked the effect a lot.

Sketches for layouts

2011-02-02T14:06:00.001-08:00

It's one thing to sketch out an idea for a painting and then if you are an illustrator you have the added confines of space, layout, overlays of text or graphics.

I always start with a very rough sketch of what I'm picturing in my head. This is simply a communication between my imagined painting and my hand. I only need to quickly let a rough image flow from my head to my hand and paper and then I can move on to a more refined sketch.

Left sketch is the initial pouring of my idea to paper and then on the right I've refined it more and placed it on a thumbnail template of the most limiting conditions of the layout... which for this project was the product pouch. Very tiny. Also the client wanted to see EVERYTHING on the pouch. (Personally, I would zoom into the character so the image was larger on the pouch... but it was the client's decision.)

Illustration Adventure

2010-11-15T21:05:00.000-08:00

A great project came my way this summer and it has truly been an adventure. So many parts of it have been new... it's a totally digital illustration, it's for the food-beverage-vitamin industry and I got to design the packaging as well! Crazy cool, no?

The concept in the beginning (that's some of the adventure part, things kept-a-changing, but more on that later) was a strong, beautiful woman, a Goddess. She would be admiring a bounty of grapes on a rolling hill vineyard.

After a bit of loose sketching I did some funny photos, trying to capture how the Goddess might sit or kneel in a vineyard. I'd set the timer on the camera and then dash over to grab the grapes and pose. Many of the photos have my dog walking past me or sniffing the grapes! Let me just say how happy I am that we have digital photos and I did not have to send in film so some photo tech could look at all these ridiculous shots! To be cont'd....

Going Big

2010-10-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

Breaking away from my original intention for this Blog, just for a bit. This Blog is for my personal art, my Three Moons Studio work...

But this project is just too cool and exciting not to share!

I've been creating icons and illustrations for Yahoo! for the past 10 years. Recently we wrapped a semi-truck with my front page iconography and it looks so fun! so cool and colorful! I love it!

Mini Moos are here

2010-10-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

For the longest time I've been meaning to get new business cards made... then I found Mini Moos!

Aren't they cute! I like that you are able to put multiple images within one order of cards, it becomes a miniature portfolio.

They make great bookmarks too and I'm sure I'll find some other uses for them. Check out their site: http://www.moo.com

Cutting boards! They make great gifts...

2010-10-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

My favorite product from my artwork is the cutting board.

I use mine all the time but I always hear from people "ooh, it's too pretty to use!" Well, forget that... use it! It's dishwasher safe and because it is tempered glass it doesn't cross contaminate if you cut veggies and meat on the same surface.

Okay, it is also really pretty ;) and I leave mine out in the kitchen standing up so I can see it. It's like stained glass!

The holidays are around the bend and a cutting board with a bottle of wine and a wedge of good cheese would make a memorable gift.

The Illustration Conference! ICON6

2010-07-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

Spending 4-5 days with some of the most talented and hard working illustrators in the industry always leaves me inspired, awed and ready to paint!

This was the 4th ICON conference that I've attended and each has had it's own personality and focus. The industry changes; evolves with advancements in technology or reacts to politics and culture and this conference had a bent towards animation and the advent of the iPad ;)

Session speakers and workshops varied from Tim Biskup, Thomas Blackshear, Todd Oldham, Dreamworks and Disney, to the Clayton Brothers. Something for everyone and all were generous, informative and inspiring.

Pasadena was lovely beyond words. Anything in the Bungalow/Arts and Crafts movement/cottage realm and I'm in heaven! Plus a block of time to saturate myself in beautiful art with concepts and cleverness is a true gift.

Fair Weather

2010-06-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

Still putting paintings and products away, stepping over lights and step stools and wondering how I'll ever put the studio back together again. I'm craving order!

The Marin Art Festival was this past weekend; a beautiful venue with really good art and some stellar people watching! My first 2 day fair, this one is especially nice because the tents and the walls are set up for you. How amazing is that? All you do is show up, set up shop and hang out for 2 days of great live music, sunshine and ideally sell, sell, sell.

I enjoy listening to the different (or same) comments about nice color, strong women... all the different things people enjoy about my work. The cutting boards were once again a major hit but oddly not a great seller. At a past Festival, same price point but 2 years ago... I completely sold out of the cutting boards - so you just don't know!

Thank you to family and friends for making it to the Festival! We'll see if I do this again!

2010-06-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

Just spent another wonderful weekend creating art! June 12-13 was the Youth in Arts, Italian Street Painting Festival and my 13th year as a Chalk Muralist.

It was HOT! and for once I was grateful to have been placed in the 'wind-chunnel' as we call A Street in San Rafael. There are tall buildings on each side of the street and each year around 2pm it becomes a flurry of trash, wind and a lot of chalk dust. But THIS year, it was just a nice, refreshing breeze!

I have 2 fabulous nieces who are each wonderful little artists. One began 'assisting' me when she was 6 months old. This year though, the younger of the two helped for the first time. Here she is with the proof on her hands. Both of them helped me on my mural, creating lovely mottled wild flower hills in the lower corners of the mural.

I heard a lot of "wow, look at the colors" and "oh, look, an owl!" over the weekend... I am pretty happy with the piece and look forward to painting it again, in oil, in my studio.

It's Show Time!

2010-05-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

Well, Showsssss Time!

Coming up soon, careening towards me is what it feels like, are 2 wonderful art events.

June 12-13: I'll be in San Rafael at the Youth in Arts Madonnari Festival. This is my favorite Chalk Festival and it is always a magical weekend. http://www.youthinarts.org/ispf.html

The following weekend I'm up in San Rafael again!

June 19-20: I'll be at the Marin Lagoon Festival, selling paintings and goodies!!
http://www.marinartfestival.com/

Here is a picture of a past chalk mural I created in San Rafael, I'm currently finishing it up in Oil on Canvas and will have it at the Lagoon Festival!
So come check out my new work!

Graffiti gone, Painting Restored

2009-09-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

I've already dumped my frustrations on Tagging in a previous post. It's clear, I'm sure. I hate it!

It was quite an experience working on the restoration of the painting underneath the Tagging. Finding, choosing, matching, buying the house paint to match, that was fun!

Paint swatches never really match the dried paint, so I supplemented the paint colors with my own acrylic colors and this worked really well.

Mimic-ing another artist's paint style was tricky and rewarding. The muralist had a very loose, watery style and since my work is so structured and bright and strong I found it really freeing. At the last minute I grabbed an old wide and pretty battered brush from my studio and thankfully I did because it was the perfect 'texture' brush for this impressionistic and loose feathery mural. Hoorah for impulses.

Cleaning up Graffiti

2009-09-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

I actually like Graffiti. You know the kind that is imaginative, colorful, has interesting characters or social commentary and is under a freeway perhaps.

Tagging though... this is not graffiti. This is immature. It's hardly creative.

A local restaurant has a three panel mural on their patio, which was recently tagged. Each panel had black spray writing across it. The owner of the restaurant asked me if I would clean it up and restore the painting underneath, and was it even possible?

I've never cleaned up spray paint, graffiti or any tags but felt so badly for the artwork the taggers defaced, I thought I'd give it a try.

I read up online on Graffiti clean up. So, my first purchase was Mineral Spirits. This did nothing.
Did some more reading, stopped at the local Orchard Supply and found a spray of Graffiti remover. I sprayed that on and used a nylon brush to scrub loose part of the tag, then I lifted it off with the power-washer. LOTS of scrubbing! Not much progress and I was sore! There had to be a better way.

I knew I needed a tougher and longer handled scrub brush, so visited the Ace Hardware in Los Gatos. They happened to have a spray can of something called Goop Off, Graffiti remover so I bought that too.

Now Goop Off WORKS! Spray that over the tag, use a scrub brush and move lightly in small circles over the tag then spray it with the power-washer... and it comes up pretty well.

Next up was the restoration of the painting underneath. Not that the restaurant has kept it in great condition, but it still needed touching up. I fixed up the sky with a mix of house paint and Liquitex acrylic to get the colors just right. Next up is to fix a bit of the greenery and finally, I'll varnish the entire thing!

Goodnight and farewell

2009-09-14T07:46:00.001-07:00

I had a commission to recreate one of my Chalk Murals as an oil painting. The piece is called 'Goodnight Sun' and it was always one of my favorite murals. The original was 9'x12' and created for the San Rafael Italian Chalk Painting Festival.

So I was asked if I would paint in on canvas in oil, something I'd already planned on doing down the line, but this would certainly make it happen faster ;)

I still love the piece. My favorite bits are the hands coming from the penumbra, holding the blanket of stars. If this wasn't a commission it would definitely be in my bedroom! (So probably best I sold it!)

This was the first time too where a client is out of state! Usually clients come to my studio to pick up the work but this time I had to have it professionally packed and it was FedExed to New York City. Not a calming experience... I knew it was packed well and being sent by a reputable company but still, what if??? I was super nervous until I received an email from the client saying it arrived safely. Phew!

I will miss this painting. I love it. I think it has a good home now and I was sure to get it scanned before I sent it away. Now I can have giclee and greeting cards and who knows what else made out of it down the line. Farewell beautiful painting, I miss you already.

Chalk Mural Interview

2009-06-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

A friend found this for me. I remember the interview and know the people who run streetpainting.tv but I hadn't seen this version!

More from Sedona

2009-06-19T12:58:00.001-07:00

I'm pretty pleased with my little paintings from Sedona. Thought best to put more up!

This was a morning only piece, we painted from 8:30-noon and then met at the instructor's Studio for a critique.

A snake slithered under a tree to the right of me and behind me was bus after bus dropping off tourists to take photos of Bell Rock (to the left of this formation.) Nothing like painting outdoors with the sound of a diesel engine roaring behind you!

Sedona in Plein Air

2009-05-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

I've always loved Santa Fe and the red rocks of Bryce and Zion in Southern Utah. But I'd never been to Sedona, Arizona which seems the obvious hybrid of the art and southwest vibe of New Mexico and the natural, unearthly beauty of Utah.

That is how I found myself enrolled in a 5 day Plein Air painting in Sedona workshop through the Sedona Arts Center.

I'm glad my first visit to Sedona was to paint. Meeting in secluded rock canyons or in the early morning at the river, I know I SAW Sedona. The real Sedona. The town of Sedona, the hodge-podge of tacky T-Shirt shops and fake Native American homages or woo-woo-psychic crystal nonsense... that's was a complete let down. What a disservice to the beauty of the land. What an insult to the power and energy you can't help but be humbled by when you stand beneath that incredible blue sky.

Sadly, even the galleries were bad. Super disappointing - I might as well have been walking on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Tacky, irrelevant, print after Giclée after poorly painted half dressed Indian maiden. UGH.

Thankfully, I was with talented painters for the week, exploring the natural beauty and being challenged to do justice to what we encountered. It was a gift to myself to paint consecutively for 5 days, from 9-4. It was exercise!

I'm pleased with my work and inspired to tackle more. I painted what I saw and what I felt... I painted with rhythm and color, shapes and mood. I can't wait to frame my little Sedona paintings so I can remember the 'real' Sedona, not the commercial 'Disneyland on Patchouli' version.