Nashville Skyline

This is an illustration that I did a while back of the Nashville skyline. I started painting it this evening and am not quite finished, but I am trying to post more often so... I accidentally spilt coffee at the ink drawing stage and I kind of like the way that turned out.


I have never been to Nashville but I had an opportunity to illustrate the skyline for a project.The final piece that we used for the project was a digital version that I illustrated.

Separated - Illustration Friday

The theme for Illustration Friday this week is "Separated" and here is my take on it. "Separ" apparently finds "D's" particularly delicious.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

A brigade of Kilts_Illustration Friday

I can't believe I haven't participated in an Illustration Friday entry since May! This weeks theme word is "Brigade."

I was going to draw a brigade of kilted men, but then changed direction and just went with a brigade of kilts. This illustration was done with pen and then I scanned it in and finished the color digitally. I myself love plaid so wish my closet look like this (minus the kilted man : ).

Wednesday Doodle

I am SO looking forward to Fall and (soon) having fires in our fireplace and outside in our backyard. Tonight I felt like doodling. While mindlessly watching TV that I was not interested in, I realized how much our treasures on our mantle mean to me.

Random fact about me: starting in high school, my doodles typically consisted of small lines. For some reason, drawing lines is relaxing to me. It's interesting that when I sketch I do not use crosshatching more to shade. Hmmm...

I also love cutting things out with scissors (which I have had the opportunity to do quite often in my line of work). I find cutting paper with scissors stress-relieving. I know - I am a nerd.

Snowcap Pie_Cooking 4 Kids Recipe

Salli and Nate over at TDAC are holding a kids cooking contest for allrecipes.com. Here is my submission.


This is one of my favorite meals because it is so easy, as healthy as you want it to be, and the combination of flavors just takes great. So simple yet so yummy!

Tugboats

A quick ink sketch of some tugboats in Portsmouth, NH (from my husband's recent business trip). I have no idea what any of the stuff on the boat is for, but I am sure it all serves a very important purpose. I think I could look at boats all day. Why do I not live on the water again...?

They Draw and Travel - Fayetteville

I cannot believe it has been so long since my last post, and yet I can because I have been pretty busy lately.


They Draw and Travel is having an illustrated guide contest so I sent over my entry today which was the deadline. Click here to check out all the fun maps.


Here is my entry of Fayetteville. Below I also included a few snapshots of enlarged elements to show details.

One of my favorite restaurants... so far

It feels like it has been forever since my last post. Life has been pretty crazy for me lately, but here is a really quick illustration.

I was in Chicago for work maybe six months ago now, and for dinner one night we ate at an Italian restaurant in Little Italy called Davanti Enoteca. The decor and environment was warm and inviting. The menu offering, which was surprisingly affordable, was probably the coolest that I have ever seen. It was difficult to choose a dish, but I loved my meal.

I started with a roasted squash, farro, whipped goat cheese, hazelnut and watercress salad. If you like goat cheese, whip it! It takes it to a whole new level.

For my main course I chose "Ricco di Mare e Granchio" which is linguine with sea urchin and crab. Oh my yumminess!

I loved some of the sayings that they included on their menu:

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not eaten well"

"You don't ever age while seated for a meal"

"Eat and it will be over, you'll feel better"

I hope everyone is doing well and had a wonderful weekend!

Illustration Friday - Safari

If Animal Crackers had their way...

What I ate yesterday...

Happy Mother's Day

I have the most amazing mother who, by the way, is the most creative person and talented artist I know. Happy Mother's Day mom - I love you so.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful day, and that all mom's feel truly loved and appreciated today.

No Reservations - Haiti

One of my favorite television shows is Anthony Bourdain's 'No Reservations'. I illustrated this a couple of months ago while watching his show showcasing Haiti. It is kind-of a visual recap of the show, and I chose aspects that really seemed to impact him or strike me. I plan on painting it this weekend, and illustrating more of his shows in the future. 

Making up for lost entries

I am trying to get back to posting more frequently, so I wanted to post a small, quick sketch of a building on the U of A campus that I did this past weekend.

They Draw and Travel - San Sebastian, Spain

Nate and Salli over at They Draw and Cook have expanded their brilliance to a new website called They Draw and Travel where artists illustrate maps of cities that they love. Basically the idea is to illustrate the must see and must do places of a city...


Go check out my illustration for San Sebastian, Spain as well as some amazing illustrations submitted by others.


I have enlarged some aspects of my "map" below so that you can better see the detail.

Illustration Friday - Bottled

I start each week saying that I need to drink more water, but sometimes that tends to ween as the week goes on and flavor takes priority.

Oh happy day!

A little realism sketch of a mouth and nose... Although I drew someone else, I will be wearing a smile all day because today is my Friday. I am taking tomorrow off and am very much looking forward to a 3 day weekend!!

It's Farmers' Market time!

This is an illustration/painting that I did last year of a blue grass band at our farmers' market. The market starts this weekend which I am really excited about. We have decided that we want to try and buy most of our vegetables from local farmers this year.

Illustration Friday - Toy 2

I had originally posted a digital illustration, but decided to remove and post this instead after todays happenings. My husband and I bought a "squirrel-proof" pole to hold our bird feeder, as well as a few planter containers so that we could plant our herbs.

Well, the little creatures in our back yards decided to use our new purchases as toys. It was too funny watching the squirrels jump the pole and then slide down as if they were little firefighters. The big-bellied robins sat on our new planters and watched it all go down. I could have sworn they were smiling with me.

Fig Recipe Illustration - They Draw and Cook

So, 2011 is the "Year of the Fig", and Nate and Salli over at They Draw and Cook have provided another recipe contest, this time with their sponsor The California Fig Advisory Board. I love figs (especially with wine and cheese), and California Fig's website has tons of wonderful fig recipes and information on figs.


My husband and I picked a recipe from the California Fig website and prepared it over the weekend. My illustration of the recipe is posted on TDAC's website along with over a hundred other fig recipes. Click here to see all of the fig recipes entered into the contest. There are some really fun and beautiful entries.


UPDATE: Check out the winning illustrated recipes here. Thank you for the Honorable Mention! 

Snapshot of Spain - Tres

So, these are actually snapshots of France. We went across the border to Biarritz, France for an evening. I loved the food, architecture and storefronts in this town - so different than Spain...


We took a walk on the beach one morning and there was this lady in her 70's in a one-piece swimsuit/shorts ensemble. She simply stood there with here feet invisible, firmly planted in the sand. She just stood, watching the waves, completely fulfilled and happy to just be in the moment. It reminded me to do the same.

The waves were enormous where we stayed and there were huge hydrangeas everywhere! It all made for a beautiful environment both sound and sight. 

Illustration Friday - Stir

It's been a crazy past couple of weeks for me, so I am so happy to finally have a weekend at home. I am so excited for the time change and longer daylight!

I always draw my illustrations by hand, but this week I finished both in watercolor and digitally. Which is your favorite?

Doodle time

I don't really watch movies that much any more, but I do enjoy seeing the dress choices at the Oscars so I halfway watched on Sunday while doodling.

Illustration Friday - Swarm

Swarms of birds and fish freak me out a bit... Sailboats on the other hand...

Illustration Friday - Layer

If you have not yet had a smore this winter, I highly suggest you consider making a run to the store to purchase the goods to build these magical layers of goodness. There is not much better when it comes to simple, sweet comfort food.

Illustration Friday - Reverse

I work on a Mac at work and also in my free time at home. I am so used to "undoing" or reversing my steps on the computer with my command Z shortcut (or apple Z depending on your keyboard), that sometimes when I am drawing and erase something that I wish I wouldn't have, I immediately think COMMAND Z! Of course this does not work in the non-digital world. Anyway, when I saw the theme "Reverse" for Illustration Friday, all things that help "undo" came to mind.


Still have a couple of spots for my "Pay it Forward".

Pay it Forward

Last weekend, I happened to encounter the blog of the incredibly talented Penelope Neal (go check out her blog, it will make you smile) where she had a great post about paying it forward.

Here is the concept: “Pay it forward” is the idea that random acts of kindness are given without expecting anything in return. It’s passing on a kindness hoping that your recipients will do the same, and forming a never-ending chain of goodwill, that’s what this is about. But it isn’t only kindness, it is also a means to connect and share instead of just keeping it to ourselves.

Here is how it works: You’ll have to comment on this post and the first three people who comment will receive a handmade gift from me within the next few months. But those three people will also have to post the idea on their blog and commit to creating something for the first three people who comment and so on and so forth.

SO, the first three people to comment here will get something handmade by me, but you have to do this on your blog as well. I’ll be reading your blog to make sure that you have posted about your "Pay it Forward!"

Winter weather - Bundle up!

So, I haven't submitted a design to Smashing Magazine's monthly wallpaper since October. I decided to submit one for February and was inspired by our impending inclement weather. We are expecting up to 12 inches of snow tomorrow! Stay warm this month and go check out my submission and all of the other February wallpapers (with and without calendars) at Smashing Magazine. (Note: The image below is low res so if you want to apply it to your desktop, you will need to visit the SM website. The 320 x 480 resolution is for iphones)

My husband made the rack out of wood from an old table from my mom's former cottage, and he made the "hooks" from branches that he found in our backyard.

Illustration Friday - Surrender

I love the mountains and being outdoors. In high-school I went on a 30 day alpine mountaineering course with Outward Bound - one of the best experiences of my life. I learned to respect nature and that sometimes, you have to surrender to its volatility. 

Snapshots of Spain - 2

One thing I loved about Spain is that each apartment building was unique. This illustration is of the first city we stayed in (Durango) - a street on my walk to the downtown area.

There were picturesque views between the buildings on the side streets.

I walked to the local grocery store. It was so crazy seeing eggs not in the refrigerated section. I suppose they are just that fresh... 

Contents of my purse (inspired by Anthropologie)

I love Anthropologie. I know - who doesn't, right? I love their creativity and innovative use of objects in their window displays. The propping choices, composition and lighting in their catalogs makes me feel like I should be paying a subscription. I was inspired by the catalog I received most recently where they showcase purses with the contents emptied (below is a scan of one of the pages).

So I thought it would be fun to empty the contents of my $20 purse. I try not to carry a lot - there is my iphone, my favorite sunglasses, my wallet, and my favorite lip balm (Kiehl's). Then there's my key chain (yes I only have one key) which contains a silver pine cone from my sis and an orange carabiner  - for those days when I find myself in need of belaying down a mountain. And of course, my daily vitamin: a Dove chocolate (dark chocolate is good for you, right : ). 

Illustration Friday - Dusty

My husband recently purchased his dream car - a 1970 full-sized jeep truck (he asked that I say "full-sized"). He takes it out on the dirt roads in the country to get firewood for our fire-pit in the backyard. He creates quite a dust storm : )

Illustration Friday - Chicken 3

Poor chicken - excluded from the age old children's game "Duck, Duck, Goose!"? I got your back Mr. Chicken.

Clocks with color

Here are the clocks that I illustrated with pen/paper and then applied color in photoshop. In the next couple of months I plan to convert these to vector art, revise the color and make into a pattern. 6:00 AM will come all too soon...

Illustration Friday - Deja vu

I illustrated this before I left for Chicago (for work). I didn't finish applying the color, but I wanted to get it posted for Illustration Friday before the new theme came out. I'll finish this when I get home this weekend.


When I think of deja vu, the first thought that comes to mind is every morning when my alarm goes off at 6 AM for work. It feels very deja vu - "didn't I just do this?".