IF: Beneath

Here's a little ink and scratchboard drawing that I made in response to this week's Illustration Friday prompt, "beneath."  I think beneath is kind of a creepy word, don't you?  Creepy swimmy things hidden beneath the waves, slithery snaky things hidden beneath the rocks, etc....  What a perfect word to celebrate October's beginning.  I decided to create an illustration of one of my worst childhood fears (there were many): freaky tentacled things hidden beneath the bed.  I was a terrible sleeper as a kid.  It wasn't until I went to college that I stopped being afraid (I'm talking panic-stricken) of spooky things in the dark.  

In other news, my Etsy shop is almost ready to launch.  Almost!  I just have a few more policies to work out and little things to tweak, and then it will be up.  We've been utterly consumed by birth and baby preparations these days.  And napping.  Well, I've been consumed by the actual napping while Charley's been consumed by the act of continuously telling me to take a nap.

A New Cast of Characters

 I'm working on a new mini egg portrait series that I'm going to put up on Etsy along with listings for custom orders.  I'm planning to list some of my small drawings as well.  My goal is to launch my shop by the end of this week, so stay tuned!

 With two months left to go, I'm in the home stretch of my pregnancy (holy crippling exhaustion, Batman!) so it's the perfect time for me to be making small, more immediately gratifying things.  I have a hard time pulling myself away from my work table when I'm in the process of working through a problem.  And since making little things inherently requires less problem-solving than making big things, I can pull myself away more easily in order to give myself little rests throughout the day.    

IF: Proverb

Here's my interpretation of this week's Illustration Friday theme: proverb.  The silver lining came out a little more gray and mushy than I intended, but I didn't want to let the perfect be[come] the enemy of the good [enough].

And here's where I am with my tentacle illustration.  If you click on the images you can get a better look at the details.

I think that tentacles might be my new thing.

In the Beginning

Yesterday I came up with the idea for this new piece and began working on it.  I'm sort of in love with the drawing.  We'll see how it translates into the finished painted version.  I was tempted to leave the white ground alone and only paint the suitcase and tentacles, but I decided to take a leap of faith and see what happens:)  If this turns into a flaming failure, I'll just redraw it.  

Here's where I left it yesterday afternoon.  Today I'll start by calming down some of the blooms and salt effects, and lifting some of the darker areas that are interfering with the composition.

I've been remiss in my blog reading lately.  It felt good to check in with some of my favorites this morning and find these lovely bits:

• Fish Soup, a poem on Chocolate Chip Waffle.
• Cathy Cullis sharing a delicious work in progress.
• A new Missed Connection by Sophie Blackall.
• An enchanted cravat on ArtSpark Theatre.

IF: Dessert

This little watercolor and gouache number is my submission to this week's Illustration Friday theme, dessert.  Delicious!  Tragically, I'm allergic to strawberries, so Justice Strawberry Shortcake there on the right would make my tongue itch and swell up uncomfortably.  But how she tempts me!

Et voilà!  I finished this self-promotional piece this morning as well.  Also painted in watercolor and gouache.

Dancing light in the kitchen on Sunday morning:

And a self-promotional illustration that I'm working on:

I'm making a series of mock book covers and other illustration-y things to build up my portfolio.  I'll probably finish this one today.  Here are some details:

IF: Immovable

It wasn't that he couldn't take a hint.  Or even that he didn't want to leave.

This week's Illustration Friday submission for the theme "immovable," is inspired by real events.  Here's the uncropped version:

And here's a little in-studio self-portrait that I shot today.  For posterity.  I've discovered that my enormous pregnant belly makes a pretty good little table when I'm working on tiny things:

The only trouble is that it jumps occasionally;)

These eggs are a commission that will be a gift for someone who is pregnant with identical twin boys.  I'm thinking that I might put some of my eggs up on etsy, and also take custom orders.  I really love making them for specific people, even if I don't know the peeps personally.