Happy Holidays

Wishing you all a cuddly and happy holiday season <3

Sketching at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

One of the many joys of living in Monterey is community week at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  My sketch group gathered there to draw the fascinating fishes and plants exhibited there.  I wish I could have stayed all day!  I'll definitely be returning to sketch again soon.

Warm-up sketch of various fishes at the Monterey Bay Habitats exhibit.

Common Mures are lovely birds. They are in the same exhibit with lots of gorgeous puffins, but these little birds called to my paintbrush instead.

Various fishes of the Open Sea exhibit include a Pacific Bluefin Tuna and Ocean Sunfish. They are HUGE and incredible to see if you ever get the chance. Very humbling.

Sketching at the Fisherman's Wharf

Hello everyone! I haven't blogged in a while - it's about time I picked it back up!

It's been a lovely sunny day in Monterey. Our local painting group gathered to sketch at the Fisherman's wharf. The liveliness and activity of all the tourists was energizing. That being said, it isn't easy to capture people when they're moving around all over the place in a big crowd.

My solution? Keep the pen moving fast, and don't stop too long for details!  Lots of fun :)

In Progress: Fairies

I recently started getting my stuff together, and I'm ready to start working on a whole new portfolio.

Here are my goals...

• Illustrate three to four pages each from four stories
• Illustrate several spreads and several single pages, including text
• Limit theme to little hidden folk and fairy tales

My first project is a spread from the tale, "The Ivory Cups", which appears in the book The Hidden Folk by Lise Lunge-Larsen.

I started by selecting a good section of the story to illustrate. Next, I quickly sketched out a few thumbnails.

Then I did some practice with grass, oak leaves, mushrooms and fairies! So much fun...

Finally, I moved on to a full size sketch and transferred it to watercolor paper using a light box, scanned it in and added text.

I am so excited to start painting this scene! So here we go again, adventure waiting ahead...