Perfume Fairy

Just finished my follow-up painting to Absinthe Fairy - Perfume Fairy. Using the classic artist trick of a mirror to show both back and front of the figure, she was really fun to paint. With this composition, I was able to really have a go at the wings.



Step-by-step:






I think I'll be painting a series of these naughty cuties. Maybe calling them "The Bordello Fairies" - hehe!

"I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way" - Jessica Rabbit

Blowfish Dreams - "Book It" Show

This is my entry for Pinkghost's Book It show. The submissions have to be painted on books. I felt really bad about destroying a book so I went to an used book store and found one that seemed to have been there awhile. Hopefully the book-gods won't punish me too much.

I really like the concept of this painting. I think I will have to do a larger, more detail piece of this idea. And the blowfish will have to be much bigger.

Is it blowfish or puffer fish? Is there a difference?

huladollsquidgirl Postcard Set

Available now in my Etsy store is a 3 postcard set of my tentacled cuties.



They are glossy with rounded corners. They will come in clear cello sleeves.

James Gurney workshop at the Norton

Just got home from the workshop held by one of my favorite illustrators, James Gurney. I was so excited I'm surprised I didn't giggle the whole time.



I was too shy to take photos but I did manage to have him sign my sketchbook. The workshop was about how to sketch with watercolor pencils and a waterbrush and how it can be convenient when you are sketching on location. Last part of the workshop was sketching an object, he had various miniature animals and dinosaurs, and some vegetables. I went with a really spiky dinosaur... because it's James Gurney! I ain't sketching no onions for the creator of Dinotopia! I think I messed up on the number of spikes. But he said a paleontologist got on his case about having wrong number of spikes in his illustrations too, so I didn't feel so bad.

After the workshop, I walked around the exhibit. I was surprised at the small sizes of some of his originals. After seeing Norman Rockwell's paintings, I was expecting much bigger. Especially with the amount of detail Mr. Gurney has in his work. It made me feel better because I work in a smaller scale too.

What I learned today...? I need to sketch more, that's for sure. And James Gurney and his wife are really really nice people.

Oh and there was a N.C. Wyeth's Robin Hood at the Norton. That was a pleasant surprise.