February 2007 Archives

the painter's canvas is always blank, and sometimes in the end it's still blank...

So I purchased a couple of canvases the other day and got inspired to paint...

So far I have no idea what I'm going to paint. I started with just painting the two canvases with a gold metallic color for the background. I do know that I want to hang them side by side. And I think I'm going for an abstract style. I got the gold idea from a favorite artist of mine, Gustav Klimt.

If you don't recognize his name, here is one of his most famous pieces,'The Kiss.' Believe me, just go into any college dorm room and you're sure to find a poster of it hanging up.

You can learn more about him at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt

I love to shop, you could say it's my religion. Being an artist, I especially love shopping for art supplies. Living in York, there aren't too many options for a really good art store. Sure, there are the local craft stores and places like Wal-Mart. But if you want a place where the sales staff knows and breathes art, then I recommend taking a trip to Lemoyne and check out Dick Blick. The store is smaller than any of the above-mentioned craft stores, but the selection and knowledge of the staff well surpasses them all. The sales people are all artists themselves, some are graphic artists, sculptors, fine art artists, illustrators and painters, but they're all artists.

I had a great time there this weekend, and could have spent all day there. I ended up buying 3 canvases and some paint brushes, acrylics and a pack of stickers for my 2-year-old.

If you can't get to Lemoyne, then check out the Dick Blick Web site...
http://www.dickblick.com/

Yeah, I got mad Photoshop skills, I do. Check it out.

Here is an example of the typical news editor in the typical newsroom atmosphere.

Now with the help of Photoshop magic...

Can u see the improvement? I mean, really, don't the pigtails bring out Chris' eyes? I mean, his eyes just seem to follow you across the room.
There was a reason for this, but not a very good one... click on the link below to learn more

http://www.thelineupcard.com/2007/02/pigtails_pigtails_everywhere.php

I got some free time on my hands and decided to take a look back at art pieces I did at the paper from 2001. I started the end of January 2001.

Here are some of my first illustrations. Please refrain from laughing too loud...
I don't really remember what the story was about.

Teen stresses with school...

This day was pretty crazy in the newsroom. This was about the man with a machete, and how he had gone into a local school. This was a very, very long night for me...
Basically, I was drawing a schematic of the outside of the school building.

One of my favorites still... This was a cover illustration dealing with St. Patrick's Day. My inspiration came from an artist named Mucha. I love him.

I'll post more when I get some more free time...

I told you I'm a lover of all things cute and fuzzy. Especially these cute and cuddly creations by my co-worker/friend Tracey. (She's the other artist in the Graphics Department)

Aren't they cute? Don't you want to take one home with you? We'll you're in luck, she has an online store, where u can purchase them.
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=33326

I know I'm hooked, I bought a handful or so for my friends and family.

I love the colors, patterns, and textures, oh and did I mention they are just so darn cute...

Besides being a graphic artist, I'm a mom, a step-mom, wife, and lover of all things cute and fuzzy... namely my four cats.

Here we are one big happy family...

I've been bad on my blogging. Blame it on the snowy weather...

I've been reading the Wizard of Oz to my 3-year-old son for the past week. I didn't realize how long the story was. But what makes this story one of my favorites -- and my son's -- is the illustrations in this version of the Wizard of Oz.

The illustrator is Charles Santore. Here's a look at the book cover.

I was first introduce to his work when I was in art college, and have been inspired since.

Just Google him if you want to learn more about him.

Other great children's book illustrations include Snow White, and The Little Mermaid, see samples below...

Take note, he's not the writer but the illustrator who brings these classic stories to life.

I love food, I love eating it, making it, reading about it.

To see how this edible masterpiece was done, check this link out...
http://craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=111577.0

I love the snow. I like the look of it, how it blankets everything and reshapes the trees, hills, houses, and roadways. Everything looks kind of magical.

See I knew I would come up with something different for my mentoring illustration.

Here's the idea. I decided to have an older more experience business person holding a watering can and he is watering another younger less experience business man.

Here's the sketch

I got this idea from how mentor's are there to help others grow in their jobs, as good employees, and as independent individuals.

You'll have to check out the York Daily Record/Sunday News Employment section this weekend to see which illustration I end up using.

Let's get right into it. Every week an illustration comes to either me or Tracey that goes into the employment section. This week's employment illustration is the importance of a mentor.

So what is a mentor? What's the purpose of the mentor? These are the questions I begin to ask myself to get the illustration rolling. My idea of a mentor was someone who is there to help encourage you, give you boost, help you out, and to ultimately get you in a better career position. So I came up with the idea of steps, because there are the various "steps" we all face in our jobs that get us to where we want to be. And along this journey a mentor can be a great help.

So I sketched out two subjects on steps. One is climbing the other is reaching out to help the one climbing.

Now since I'm in preliminary mode of my illustration. There is a good chance I could change mind about this whole idea. But for right now here's a look at my preliminary sketch.

A close friend of the family had put their beloved pet dog to sleep. I offered to do a pet portrait for them in rememberance.

Here is the final painting.

I did a preliminary sketch of the dog using watercolor pencils. And then started painting the background in first. The dog is white and sometimes thats a bit challenging when painting a white animal on a a white background. But if you look carefully at any type of white subject you'll see shades of gray and even see colors that get reflected from surrounding objects.

Here is the final version of my Valentine's Day picture finder. You can also see it in today's paper.

When I'm designing a page alot of times I'll want to get in the zone, and I do that by plugging into my IPod and plugging out the world around.

Biggest inspiration at the moment is the song by Hellogoodbye-Here (In Your Arms)

I've listened to this song hundred of times while building my Valentine's Page

And another song is Gwen Stefani's Sweet Escape. I love that girl...

I absolutely love music and when I here a song that really gets me moving, it becomes my muse, that gets my creative juices flowing...

Happy listening...

I'm in the midst of fighting a cold. I've been coughing so much, I'm giving myself a headache. What does this have to do with art? Absolutely nothing...

Yes, I'm still working on my Valentine's Day Picture finder. I decided on hiding 14 Cupid Arrows in the scene.

Don't forget to check the final out in Friday's paper.

I love creating picture finders. They're alot of fun to come up with. This year for I created a picture finder for Valentine's Day , though I haven't exactly decided what to hide in the scene.

My boss gave me the idea for the scene, its a kids classroom and they are exchanging valentines with one another.

Here's the rough

I then scanned in my sketch and brought it into Illustrator. I started adding colors and tightening up the kids in the scene.

Here's another sneak peak...