Lantern

Two sisters take a magical walk at night. Are those fireflies or something else...?

I made this watercolor painting in monochrome brown, then took it into photoshop for some fun color and lighting effects.

Sweet Dreams - Underwater Scene

This is officially my first published piece! I just completed this painting for a picture book called "Sweet Dreams" published by Tiger Stripe Publishing.  I am so excited and happy.

Here's the final piece:

And here are a few in progress shots.  Because there's so much detail, I drew everything at 1.5x the final size.  First, I transferred my pencil outlines onto the watercolor paper using a lightbox (I'll post about this process soon). Here are the original pencils before transfer.

I did a light blue-green wash over the background, adding drops of water and dabbing away color to lighten up areas I want to make stand out. I layered the same wash over the castles in the background to give an appearance of distance. I also started painting in the characters.

Filling out the characters and starting the background with wet-in-wet techniques. Behind the queen's shoulder piece, I watered down and dabbed away the background colors so the colors appears to be showing through a white transparent cloth.

Finally, I scanned in the painting into Photoshop. I took 4 scans and stitched them together (another process I'd like to share with you sometime in the near future.  Here's the painting mid-process for color editing in Photoshop. This closely resembles the actual painting. I did further edits to push forward and highlight certain areas, particularly the turtle - he tends to disappear in the mix and I love him too much for that to happen! The effect is subtle but it makes a big difference. If you're curious about how I achieved the final look using photoshop, you can view this post.

The final painting again:

And just for fun, my friends and I exploring Monterey this weekend :)

Thank You Cards - Free Download

My husband recently had a very successful surgery.  Life is feeling wonderful right now thanks to some very skilled doctors at Stanford and a generous donor.

In the spirit of Thanks, I want to share these cards with you - please feel free to download and print them for your own use. Just click the card to download the full resolution version.

Lots of love,
Sarah

Efflorescent Vines

 

Experimenting with dimension in watercolors. They are mostly imaginary, but I was thinking of these lovely little purple pinwheel flowers in front of the office where I work.

Red Fox

I had a great time painting with a group of friends this weekend. The time flew by. I was excited to try out a few new paints and new techniques!

Photoshop Tutorial: How to make scanned artwork look more like the Original (featuring a cute little tinker)

Achieving a pristine digital copy of your artwork isn't easy. Scanning artwork is just the first step. (For advice on scanners, you can view my post here.) Even a good scan will look quite dull in comparison to your original vibrant, colorful work.

But don't be discouraged!  Once you have tried these tricks a few times, they'll be like second nature to you. I hope this tutorial is useful for anyone struggling to make their digital copies the best they can be.

 

The Ivory Cups

Remember this post? Well, I finally completed the illustration! I had so much fun painting these fairies, from the Irish fairy tale, "The Ivory Cups."

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...

Arabian Nights

I recently completed a new portfolio piece, based on The Arabian Nights. This was part of an exercise for my watercolor class. I painted the scene three times, making tweaks and adjustments along the way. It wasn't easy, but I am so happy with the results!

My first version used a limited palatte, and while I liked it, I wanted it to have more movement and darker values. I also wanted the bird and the tree to stand out a bit more. 

I tweaked colors and composition, but the result wasn't working. The foreground stands out more, but the colors look off and the window scene still feels too distant.

Finally I changed the perspective a bit, and shifted things around. I had fun with the sweeping water, too. And I arrived at the final piece! 

 

I never put much stock in re-doing things before. But being forced through this exercise really opened my eyes to the value of making subtle tweaks and approaching the same scene from new angles.  I think it was a valuable lesson!

Painting the Costumed Model

I've been away from blog-town for way too long! That's not for a lack of artwork, however... I'm currently enrolled in four art classes, so I'm doing TONS of painting, and I'm excited to share with you.

"Painting the Costumed Model" is first on my list to share. Models dress in comfortable or interesting clothes and sit in a single pose for three hours.  This gives artists so much time to refine drawings and paintings! I know it isn't easy to sit stone-still for three hours... I'm so grateful to these amazing models for their perseverance.

I'm sharing 8 paintings, beginning with my first week in the class and ending with the most recent. In a few weeks, I'm planning to post a tutorial on how I complete these paintings step-by-step, so stay tuned.

Dr. Sketchy's Figure Drawing Show

Every month, our local art cafe hosts Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School. The atmosphere is fast-paced, with music, improv acting, cute costumes and amazing models. Not your typical figure drawing session! 

You can check out the Dr. Sketchy's website to see if there are any events like this in your area: www.drsketchy.com. And if you live in the Monterey area, check out The Alternative Cafe. 

Right now, the cafe is featuring Dr Sketchy's artwork. I have four pieces up in the show - my first public art show! So exciting. Here are the pieces I have up, and a picture of the show.