Illustrated Fabrics

I've been playing around with illustrating fabrics. These designs are completely fulfilling my desire to create something and then hold it in my hand... a nice change from all my illustrations for web and apps ;D

I've entered my Desert Dots fabric into the Spoonflower "Southwest Baby Bedding" contest. If you like my submission, I'd love your vote!

http://www.spoonflower.com

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‪#‎desert‬
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@spoonflower

Big House, Little Painting

The LGAA, Los Gatos Art Association, Plein Air painters group meet on Monday mornings. We have a pretty consistent group showing up - whether we meet in town or down the coast in Monterey or up at Davenport. A good solid 11-15 painters I think. Unless it is the Monday of the year when we meet at a spectacular home of one of our members. 

The home belongs to David. I'll leave it at that. It's amazing, a stunning hacienda on many acres with a pond, many fountains, a carriage house, an adorable shed, plants and flowering trees... the works. It's like a trip to Tuscany. So, it's no surprise that on this particular Monday.... we had over 25 artists.

I love when OTHER painters paint street scenes and corner stores, storybook cottages and barns. I love it and I struggle to do it. Architecture is not my thing. I have painted David's home before and although I like that painting, it shows more of a slowly sinking, aged and wobbly adobe cottage in my rendering ;)

This time I really spent a lot of time on the drawing. Getting the angles, the windows right, the roof top... I think it paid off. I am much happier with this painting and can see a lot of areas where I improved in the paint application as well. Having the 'good bones' of a good drawing underneath the paint worked out very well. There's hope for me!

Not Quite Spring Cleaning

Sometimes you just have to do a bit of wrangling or organizing before you start on something new. I think I'll tackle that drafting table next!

Keith Haring at the DeYoung

It was such a surprise to have felt so inspired by the Keith Haring exhibit I saw yesterday. A collection of political pieces curated by The DeYoung Museum.  

There were some really smart pieces, particularly a few about technology, computers and TV. They were about the 'noise' from technology and their distraction and that they detract from life... Painted, busily, in the same value of red and green so while I look at the painting it is vibrating and shaking. Tough  to physically look at!

Thoughtful and clever and fun and disruptive- great show!

Extinct & Endangered Chalk Festival

Here's my finished mural, thinking this will have to become a large oil painting- I'm really pleased with how it came out.

Endangered Peru in Venice, Florida

Working on a 12x12 mural for a themed Street Art and Chalk Festival: Extinct and Endangered.

I chose Peru and am depicting North Eastern Amazon River basin: a Matses woman (indigenous Peruvian and Brazilian indian), a Jaguar, a Spatuletail Hummingbird, an Uaraki Red Faced Monkey and lastly a Lady Slipper Orchid.

Here are photos from Days 1 & 2.

Plein Satisfaction

Today's outing to Plein air paint with my Los Gatos Art Association group was just what I needed. 

I'd had such a shift and growth in my work from the week painting in the Escalante Canyons Art Festival which was followed a few weeks later by a no good painting attempt back home. Very frustrating but it happens. 

I was even a bit anxious for my outing today... Would I be able to keep all the good changes I've made in my landscape paintings??? 

Yes. I'm happy to say, yes.

I painted a cluster of trees along a walking trail and that's a subject matter I've not tackled before, but I loved the rhythm and light on the trees and I think I captured what attracted me to the scene.