For Brianna

A few years ago someone I know bought a painting of an iris from me and apparently her daughter kept "stealing" it from her room. So, with her daughter's 17th birthday coming up, she asked me to paint another iris for her, only this time with purple and green to match her daughter's room. Here is the result (which she loves).

Too Pretty to Eat!

Here is a little drawing I just did in the spirit of the upcoming holiday, but they're too pretty to eat...

3.5" x 3.5", pencil and ink on paper

It's feels like forever since I posted anything. Being the mom of a competitive athlete is wonderful but very time consuming! I have been making some time for my art in the last little while though with a number of projects on the go. Here is something I did in response to a monthly painting challenge but I was too late so I didn't submit it.

8x8, acrylic on cradled wood

Year-end Challenge

Here is my piece for the Different Strokes From Different Folks year-end portrait challenge. It's done with pastel pencils on black sanded paper. The most challenging parts were the eyes (looking up and away) and the lack of definition and contrast above the lips in the photo . I could have used a few more color options in my pastel pencils too...good thing I got that art supply store gift certificate for Christmas. The last month has been crazy busy so a little more time would have been nice but I didn't want to disappoint Karin the other artist!

Rooftops

This is my submission for the latest DSFDF challenge. I painted it on unstretched canvas with the idea of using my sewing machine to do some detail work but didn't quite get that far. While this is not exactly one of my favourites, I learned a few things and got some ideas for some options to explore like these...

Tea Cup #1

I've been thinking of persuing one subject in a number of different ways in the hopes that it will help me to paint/create on a daily basis. So, I'm going to try that with a tea cup theme. This one has a little of everything in it, fabric, paint, paper, wax, and a the cup is from a printing plate I made from very thin styrofoam. I quite like the soft quality of the end result.