Biker Doodle: Isla

Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays Isla goes for a two hour bike ride. Then she meets up with her man at nine p.m. and they go out to dinner.

101 Florals : We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher.

You asked for it! (Well, not you, but, you know... the song... nevermind).



I spent about two last night coloring, drawing, working and swearing over this one -- then I scrapped it. Pitcher plants are weird. They kind of look like snakes, a little bit like those tooting pipes (anyone know what I'm talking about?) in old Mickey Mouse Cartoons, and sort of creepy.


Here she is in her full glory!

My second attempt at this pattern went a lot better and I tried a technique I haven't used in patterns for a while. I have this really nice brush pen that I used on a rather bumpy piece of drawing paper. The effect was a little dry-brushy and looked a lot more rough than I usually draw. I like it.


AAAAnd a closeup!

I'm getting ready to head somewhere tropical next week -- St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands! It's been non stop craziness between the work we've been doing, teaching and the couple of shows that we're getting together for Light Grey Art Lab. (Which I am ultra excited about!)

I know there is never a good time to take a vacation, but you've gotta get one in where you can fit it in. Just book one and go. I know that as fall gets closer things will just get crazier. So, while I made this one from a fairly tropical plant, I'll hopefully have loads of new inspiration for my florals when I return from paradise!


The Scan of my ink drawing! Unedited!

cross-posted with 101florals blog!

Biker Doodle: Jonathan

Jonathan runs in marathons. He likes to spend his extra money on lawn ornaments, which he switches out biweekly.

101 Florals : The End-of-spring Tulips

You know it's spring when the tulips come up, but you know it'll be summer soon when they start to fall apart. The petals droop strangely on the stem, and they slowly peel open.

I love tulips, but I really love them when they're in that weird state.

This one was inspired by a gouache study I did earlier in the week. I wanted to get back to doing some things that were very human-looking and really expressive. I absolutely love gouache and don't use it enough. These days it's hard to get out all of your paints, set up, and sit down for more than a couple hours -- so, when I do, I savor the time.

I am sure that some of the inspiration from this one came from the Fairytales and Florals art opening I was at on Friday. Everything there was pastel and dainty and there were more than a fair share of flowers.

Also featured on 101florals blog

Biker Doodle 2: Randy

This week's biker is Randy. He plays the trumpet in a marching band. He says it's just for fun, but secretly he'd like to make a living from it somehow.

101florals : Chrysanthemum Wallpaper

Good morning, internet!

As I write this, I'm groggy and still trying to make sense of how early it is for me to be at work. If you're looking at the time stamp, you must be thinking: "Yeahhhh...... right..." -- but, seriously, waking up is hard to do. (especially when you're a night owl)

I waited til the last minute to make this one, but went the extra mile to make it into something I loved. I spent my day yesterday waking up late, running over to St Paul and going to meetings -- then getting a moment of solace at a coffee shop with good friends.

So, as I stared this pattern around 10pm last night I cursed myself for procrastinating. Mondays are tough and today is no exception. I've finally transitioned to listening to the 50's station on pandora, which made working late so much easier. I spent a good 5 hours or so drawing, re-drawing, and singing at the top of my lungs into the wee hours of the morning while I finished this guy.



Chrysanthemums are fun to draw. They're weird and curly and yellow (one of my favorite colors). They remind me of outdoor, spring weddings and of vintage wallpaper.

My plan, today, is to walk over to the coffee shop next door and buy myself a giant latte in celebration of late nights, getting things done and waking up early the next day!

(cross posted with 101florals blog!)

Biker Doodle 1: Penny

Project officially starts now! I wanted to try painting a lot of these and work on fleshing out some people-illustrating techniques. Tuesdays will be my official posting days.

 This first character is named Penny. She has great interest in the economic and ecologic impact of food culture.
 

Biker Doodle

It's summer and therefore it is time to start a new time-consuming, all-encompassing, totally fun project. I love the stuff Lindsay and Llew are doing for 101 Florals. It inspired me to work on a weekly art challenge about some things I really really enjoy: bikes and drawing characters.
The Twin Cities are loaded with bikes. They're chained up onto anything a u-lock will fit around. So I'm going to put my phone to use and take some pictures of some bikes I see. Then I'm going to make up the character that they belong to, and post'm every Tuesday.

This first post is a freebie (for me), because the first bike I took a picture of is mine, and the first person I drew isn't a made-up character, it's me.

101florals: Banana Flower Pods

Seriously -- you could have fooled me. After last week's temperatures, I would have sworn that I had just taken a vacation in the tropics rather than a stay at my parents' house in Mequon, Wisconsin.

Temperatures were in the 100s, and I was wilting under the summer sun.
It's been a while since I've been on a real vacation and this was as close to a week of rest and relaxation as I was ever going to get.

I spent my time swimming in the pool, eating vegetables from my parent's huge garden, and bumming around the house with Francesca.

Both of my parents are go-getters. They have an incredible amount of energy and they never skip a beat. This year their project-pride-and-joy was their 30 x 45 foot vegetable garden. I spent some time in the sun while I was there - picking radishes, harvesting beets, (delicious, I know.) and taking the occasional instagram photo of a head of cabbage.

I was definitely impressed by their inspirational gardening efforts and even more impressed by the dozens of canned, pickled radishes and beets my mom made after the harvest. (I'm almost positive no one will want to hang out with me over the next month as I finish all these off.)


Here is my pattern in repeat. Pods! Everywhere!

I actually had a great time just being.
It was also awesome seeing my brother, Brian. I don't get to see him much - seeing as he's in a different state - but when I do, I'm reminded of how funny and awesome he is.

I really miss all of them a lot. It's great to go home, but I'm always a little melancholy as I leave. It never seems long enough.

This one is dedicated to my family. Here you guys! I made a pattern for you!

So, in honor of hot days and relaxation. Here's my 101 florals pattern of the week, the center part of the Banana Flower in repeat.

Cross posted with 101florals blog.

101 florals : Clematis, forever zen

So, yes, I took a couple liberties on color here with this Clematis, but I think this pattern is better for it.

The whole time I was making this pattern I was practically in a trance- fueled by streaming meditation music from one of my new favorite channels on the radio. I walked around Uptown with my good friend, Francesca, doing the coffee-shop tour of Minneapolis as she snapped pictures of colorful fixies.

We crawled around Uptown, Minneapolis, handing out flier after flier for an upcoming show at our gallery, when we finally stopped into a store I had been wanting to visit for nearly a year.


Detail shot of the color-against-color work

My sister laughed at me later when I told her that I stopped in to Eye of Horus, a local shop for people interested in the occult, tarot, and things of the like. Though I got a chuckle or two from her, I was super excited that I had finally gotten the chance to go in. The place was filled with crystals, tons of books on all of the subjects I'm interested in right now, and all sorts of neat things. The women that ran the store were awesome, and calming.
Francesca told me afterward that one of the women had "one of those voices" - where you just want them to talk at you for days.

I had a 10 minute Reiki session with one of the ladies at the shop, and went on my merry way with a new deck of Tarot Cards and a book about Witches in 1800s Europe.


The sketch that started it all

I guess the point of me telling this story is to explain the feeling I got while making this piece. It was meditative, to say the least. I'm sure after a day of being in zen mode, I was ready to make some art that reflected my thoughts. And here it is!


(cross-posted with the 101florals blog! )