A finished piece and the start of a new

I just finished this tortoise painting, which took forever but was completely worth it!

Now I'm working on the below piece on Bighorn Sheep. I'm just about ready to paint!

Where I've Been...

It's been almost 2 months since my last blog post, I know. The husband and I just moved, and the house is still in boxes, and a few rooms are still in need of painting. My studio is one of the rooms that is still in pieces, and I can't wait until everything is back together.

In the mean time, let me share a few of the illustration-related podcasts I've been listening to during this process of moving and renovations:

Christ Oatley's Art Cast

Your Dreams My Nightmares (hosted by illustrator Sam Weber)

Big Illustration Party Time (hosted by illustrators Kevin Cross and Joshua Kemble)

Illustration Age (hosted by illustrator Thomas James)

All of these podcasts are invaluable resources for people wanting advice about breaking into the illustration industry, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I am!

I just got home from being here:

Which was awesome. And sunny, unlike where I live. But, it's back to the real world. I don't have any finished work to show right now, but I've been working to get some drawings done for a few self generated portfolio pieces.

This one is ready to paint:

This one not so much yet:

But it's getting close. This is just a cropped section.

Horses horses horses horses....

I've been doing lots of sketching lately and less painting, and it's been a refreshing change of pace. As you can see here, I've been doing some studies of horses from animal anatomy books and other references. Fun!

Shiny New Postcards!

My promo cards came in the mail yesterday.  

They look great, although next time I will definitely spring for offset printing instead of digital.

I'm kind of nervous to send them out. This will by my first big round of promotions, 

so I am anxious to see if it produces results.

Wish me luck!

I'm working on developing one of the sketches from my previous post into my next piece. It started out as this scribbly little thing....

.....and I started messing with the composition a bit. And then drew the lady to make sure I had the pose down. I would like to take a reference photo before I paint it though.

CIties, etc.

Because suddenly, drawing buildings is fun for me. Who knew?

Stumbled upon this great video during my internet travels this week. Very inspiring.  Check it out!

I hope to be back posting some new art very soon.

Before and After

I am really very excited right now. I gave this piece a bit of much needed digital therapy, and created a piece that I am very happy with! If you'll look here at the original version of the piece, you will see what I mean. It's a vast improvement, and I think it is good that I took a couple of months without looking at if for a while. I was able to come back to it with a whole new perspective, and now I can use it as a portfolio piece. 

Dragons?

A baby dragon!

I haven't really done any dragon drawings. So this is new. 

Still trying to figure out how I want them to look.