Doctor Mew?

ok, so this time I am going to show you something I fell upon that I find so very clever. I am a Doctor Who fan as anyone that knows me knows and, well I kind of like cats (yes an understatement) so I think this is the most perfect poster on Zazzle and I just had to order it. You can tell which Doctor is which and the artist did a wonderful job.

New Doctor Mew Poster by jennyparksillus

If I were a guy I would have gotten the tie too :)


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Two New Designs Unveiled!

A Kitty's Imagination Card

A Kitty's Imagination came to me while talking to a friend via the computer when I happened to look up and over to the window. Anyone that has a cat own them will know that if there is a window, a cat will surely be sitting there. It just so happened that my cat was sitting upright - unusual for she is always sacked out in a dead sleep, feet draped over the side of the sill - and her head was lined up perfectly with the tree outside. It looked as if it was growing out of the top of her little noggin as she sat there clicking away at the birds flitting amongst the tree.

I quickly sketched the scene out on scrap paper then when I was able to I completed the drawing in Illustrator. Here is a close up of the patterned background:

I am honored to say that my Kitty's Imagination Tie won a TBA (Today's Best Award) on Zazzle and that is always appreciated.

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The second design is a set of calico pumpkins and they can be used for both Halloween/Samhain and Thanksgiving/Mabon. This design was also done in Illustrator

Calico Pumpkin Trio
Thanksgiving Invitation

To view Kitty's Imagination and see the full line Click Here
For Calico Pumpkin Trio Click Here and as always thanks for looking


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Motive Behind The Smiles

Cheshire Cat T-Shirt

What is the motive behind the Cheshire cat's smile?
No one may ever know.

I sketched this out two nights ago and last night I duplicated it a few times and added various color combinations. I originally tried to stay away from the purple and pink coloring for I did not want my design to resemble a certain other famous cartoon cat but it went really well with the two other color schemes I chose so I kept it. The best color schemes turned out to be greens, blues and purples. I have to say I had fun drawing this guy. As usual my work seems to be evolving again. I now lean toward pen and ink and while I don't normally use colored pencils I dusted them off for this one. Tonight I plan on adding color to "Unity" or at least I hope to. I am not so sure if that design will lend itself to color, we will have to see. Unity is however now on Greeting Card Universe in a full range of the Pagan holidays

Right now I think I might take an example from my cat and take a nap. I haven't slept well in the past few days (or ever) because of the ideas swimming around in my head, along with daily life issues. Zazzle seems to be moving very slowly today and things are not showing up correctly via outside links.

Cheshire Cat Bag In Blue

Cheshire Cat Bag In Green

Cheshire Cat Bag In Purple

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Tiger - Silent Stalker

Well sometimes being blocked has it's advantages. Although I have managed to put out a small cow illustration I haven't painted anything really serious in quite some time. Not really knowing what to do with myself today I came across a photograph I took last year of a beautiful female tiger. The best part of the photograph was that there weren't any bars in the way and she was right up against the glass panel looking way across the other side of the enclosure at her sisters playing on the hilltop. I must say it was a once in a lifetime shot second only to photographing this beautiful animal in the wild. Anyway I kind of forgot about it until I was shuffling through some papers today and I was inspired.

I began with a rough sketch on Arches 140lb cold pressed watercolor paper, a paper I reserve for those special paintings because of the cost. When I was satisfied with that I used a small amount of frisket to keep the whiskers from disappearing. I don't like to rely on frisket to often but for this purpose I made an exception. Besides do you know how hard it would be to paint around those whiskers and still have a free brushstroke?

I began to lay in the color by layering light washes, begining with a light ochre and adding burnt sienna as I went along. When I was satisfied with the browns and ochres I began to use an ivory black (Most watercolorists do not use this color for reasons I never quite understood, I however embrace any color I can get my paws on) I started off with a wash of black in the general areas and began shading her fur. When I was ok with what I had I took a break to work on the eyes. Eyes can make or break a painting and I paid close attention to it. Bright yellow was layed in with a small amount of spring green to give them a sparkle only a cat's eye seems to have. A light shading of black to round them and carefully a painted iris leaving the highlight finished them off.

Now the fun part, the stripes. Using a wash of ivory and a relatively thin brush I lightly painted the stripes as if I was holding a pencil and sketching them in. I then softened the edges to make them rest into the fur.

Now the worst part, the background. How I hate this part, what to do? Shall I use the greens of the jungle and soften the background to suggest foliage or should I just keep it simple and compliment the neutrals of the painting so as not to distract the detail I worked so hard on or should I combine the two? At first I thought to combine the two add some olvie and forest greens to the dark sepia tones but as I began to paint I realized that keeping this simple and monotone was the way to go.

So that is how this painting came about. It took me about 2½ hours to complete, the original painting measuring 8x10, twice the size I normally paint. Hopefully you enjoy it.

Silent Stalker can be found on Zazzle, RedBubble, and Greeting Card Universe

to be continued...