Talisman

"Yet-to-be-Named" Acrylic

So, it was meant to be more obvious that she was gripping tightly to something at her neck, something like a talisman, but I got really carried away with the great triangular shape of her heavy-looking clothing. It was inspired by one of my clothing reference books, an 1863 fashion. It's not a period of costume history I particularly admire, but..it's so...triangular...I couldn't resist.

I'm wondering, though, if I shouldn't have made her coloring a little more subtle. I was going to have that be a scarlet cape-ish, but I pulled back. Maybe it's just that I got it done so quickly. I finished yesterday, but it felt so wrong to be done already Monday that I waited until today to take a picture of it.

Any title suggestions?

Also, the snowiness came out of the weird two days of winter we're having here, sandwiched between 80 degree weather...

Poise

"Ballerina" Watercolor, Acrylic, Digital touch-ups

So this is an oldie. I had a plan for, and started a new illo, but I'm driving down to Atlanta today, so I'm not going to end up having any time. I'll still finish it and we'll see if I can use it for a future IF post. The ballerina is another sort of Halloween costume concept.

Leiafly With Mushroom

"Leiafly" Digital Collage and Painting

Leia is my adorable and not-so-camera-shy neice who was a butterfly/angel/fairy for Halloween. I had done the original Leiafly painting for an Illustration Friday post, but then re-created it when I found the site sxc.com. The background here is a picture by Adam Jakubiak, who had posted some very nice mushroom pictures. So this was the final project that I made for my mother for Christmas.

Subtract

"Apples" Watercolor, Acrylic and Tempura

"If you have five apples and you give Suzie two..." Subtract made me think of those word problems we all used to get as kids. At first I was just going to have a sort of still life of apples with a hand taking some away, but I got a bit carried away.

Legend

"Alligators in the Sewers" Watercolor, Colored Pencil, Digital

Legend usually would make me think of mythology or fairy tales, subjects that I am very drawn to. And I did have some Greek goddesses flash to mind as well as scenes from the movies "Legend" (you know, the one with the unicorns and the glitter and a wee Tom Cruise donning armor and going after a large-horned Tim Curry?). But nonetheless, while urban legends aren't so much my thing, I thought it would be fun to illustrate one. The sewers are modeled after some really immense looking Japanese sewers because of their imensity and the columns (reminiscent of the Greek legend appeal).

As I was working on it, I sort of wished that I had gone for something a bit lighter, especially because of the warm sunny weather we're having here, but I had already committed. So hopefully something lighter for next week.

So there you go, once again trying to get back into the swing of things!