Another version of the flying books … I wanted to make the girl a little different. The original illustration in the book (William Joyce) is very prim and proper. My first attempt to re-imagine this was pretty similar in that way, if a little freer. This one I wanted to like better, with the girl in her stripes and with her curves, but somehow I didn’t find it worked as well. That’s okay, it was fun to draw anyway.
It’s a double feature day! (Scroll down and check out your throwback thursday if you haven’t already seen it).
This piece is a gift for a friend. We both read Divergent recently and loved it. We are both impatiently waiting for the movie to come out. When it came time to think of Christmas gifts, I just knew I had to do something Divergent for her. (I’m known for my book gifts – a couple years ago I shredded pages of Twilight and filled a clear glass ornament with all my favorite ones).
So I may have bought a copy of Divergent just so I could cut pages from it. I am a book destroyer! Four specially selected pages mod podged onto canvas, then the Dauntless symbol painted in black, and a little quote at the top (oh, wait, I added the quote after the pictures … imagine it there).
Merry Christmas!!
Throwback Thursday. It’s been a couple weeks since the last throwback (darn flu). Here’s one for you.
I think I did this right after buying my first “nice” color pencil set. Honestly, even after all this time, I still haven’t figured out how to use them, or shade nicely. Oh well.
I did this girl as a pencil drawing months ago. Then I set out to remake her into a watercolor – cue a learning experience in using the *right* paper for doing watercolors. (Cardstock: it does NOT work). I started this gal at least a month ago. Then life got in the way (an acrylic painting as a gift, school work, etc). Now that I’m over the flu, and now that the hubby is home for the holidays and able to play with the kiddos, I finally finished her!!
Next step: Adding her to Society 6, so you can order a print. 🙂
I had the flu! Â I’ve been fighting fever and cough for over a week. Â Misery!! Â I’m all better now. Â
Plus now that it’s Christmas break, I should have more time for doing the art thing. Â Yay.
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My mother in law sort of kind of asked/hinted that she’d like a painting for Christmas. That’s cool. Art is the best one of kind, made specially for you, thoughtful gift I can think of. The request was a purple butterfly (or at least that’s what I heard from my husband).
At first I thought, sure, easy peasy. Then I couldn’t land on a single idea that was appealing. I looked at hundreds – thousands – of butterflies. Photos, drawings, paintings, illustrations, any and every image I could find googling and on pinterest. Nothing sparked for me – you know, lit that “I want to paint it like THIS” fire.
So I started drawing. And I started with my fall back: tattoo design. haha
An old school gypsy face with the butterfly wings framing her face. I like the drawing, but decided it wasn’t right for the recipient of the painting.
This one came from a photograph of an actual butterfly that my own mother shared with me. It helped give me some idea on the wing shape I liked, but it seemed to simple. I didn’t like the leaf and struggled to fill the space.
Similar butterfly with lots and lots of greenery and stuff. I swung in the other direction and decided this one had too much. (At this point everyone was fairly frustrated with me and my wishy washy indecision).
New idea! A fairy! A fairy with little butterflies. This one I love. However, I knew that this one was destined to become a watercolor. I had canvas in mind for my mother in law’s gift … and this would be beyond tedious for me to attempt with acrylics on canvas. So I put it to the side and started looking … again … for the perfect idea.
Finally, I found a picture of a black and gray tattoo of a butterfly on a rose. It was very simple, clean lines as shading. I loved it. So I drew my own version. Then decided to paint it.
The final product isn’t really similar to the tattoo inspiration at all, but that’s cool. I like it pretty well. The butterfly being purple was obvious, given my request. For the roses, I went with yellow for two reasons: I think it looks pretty with the purple, and I get get tattooed at The Yellow Rose Tattoo Club. ha!
Close up! What do you think??
“Currently …” a list I did in my sketch book, the old sketch book. This is your throwback ladies and gentlemen. This isn’t a picture I drew. But I like it. It’s a look at what I was doing and feeling the day I did this, and it’s fun to look back and see how things have changed – or stayed the same. (Feb 2012)
A festive squadron of flying books. This is based on a William Joyce illustration, from his book, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Excellent book. It’s a book nerd paradise of a children’s story, really. The original girl is much more tight laced librarian, and I wanted a girl with hair down and flowier dress. I had fun doing this sketch and am seriously considering getting a version of it as a tattoo on my calf. (2013)
Bee Girl Art 