LOVE IN THE JUNGLE

Ah, the inevitable Valentine’s Day-related painting.

As a snarky lady with a highly… unsatisfying love life, I’m not a fan of making earnest, heartfelt, touching paintings. Paintings of people in love with no dark humor or clues that it won’t turn out well. Which is why whenever I get the urge to portray love, it turns out like this.

They’re brachiosauruses (brachiosauri?)! In love! They’re like the Jack and Rose of the dinosaur world.

I had so much fun making up their markings (loosely based on this guy) and coming up with letter designs. This was actually my second attempt at this painting; there’s a 1/4th finished version hanging around my workspace, still waiting to be thrown out. I’m glad the letters came out so well- it was very stressful, freehanding them without a sketch underneath to guide me.

Anyway, these lovely creatures will be in the “Hard Love” show at The Hive Gallery in downtown LA next month; I normally hate doing anything around/relating to Valentine’s Day, but I’m secretly excited to go to a show of all cynical paintings and to meet the people who made them. Unless everyone else interpreted “hard love” as the genuine difficulty that comes with sticking by someone you love. If that’s the case… awkward!

And if you’re a horrible person like me and think your loved one really needs this painting, it will be available at The Hive Gallery on Feb. 4th, and there are prints available here.

COMPETITIVE SPIRIT

Last night, I submitted my entry to the House of Illustration’s and Folio Society’s book illustration competition. After mistakenly assuming the deadline was a later date (as there are two other competitions with deadlines towards the end of the month), I rushed to paint all four of my entries in four days. Even though I am now a bit tired, I’m glad I pushed through and finished.

The competition was to illustrate Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. I happened to have picked up the book a few months ago on a whim. I was quite taken with Jen Munford’s cover illustrations, and decided to give the book a chance, even though highly prosaic short fiction really isn’t my cup of tea.

Jen Munford's cover; image from designrelated.com

The stories turned out to be wonderfully dark and full of beautiful imagery. So I was excited when I heard about the competition back in October.

But I stalled. I was stalked by doubt. The winner of this competition gets their work published by the Folio Society. What chance did I have of winning? People like Sam Weber and Robert Hunt get chosen by the Folio Society, not unknowns like me. Some hotshot like Chris Buzelli or Tomer Hanuka is probably going to sweep in and clean up anyway. Perhaps that’s why I forgot the deadline- maybe it was an act of subconscious self-sabotage.

And then I remembered- I’ve entered competitions before and come away empty handed. Hell, that’s the way most competitions go. And even if I don’t win anything, I’ll have a few nice paintings and a few more hours of experience under my belt.

I have only three images to share; the fourth, a mock-up of a cover for the book, I would like to keep to myself for now.

First, an illustration for the title story, The Bloody Chamber.

“The bride, who had become that multitude of girls I saw in the mirrors, identical.”

Second, Puss-in-Boots. This is the only one I would do again, if given the chance. But that’s what happens when you don’t give yourself enough time to do things over; you turn in things you aren’t very proud of.

“A white hand fragrant as Arabia descends from the black cloak and reciprocally rubs behind his ears at just the ecstatic spot.”

Lastly, In the Company of Wolves. This one is maybe my favorite.

“Their eyes reflected the light from the kitchen and shone like a hundred candles.”

So that’s that. I have a week or so to rest until I need to get started on my next piece. I’ll hopefully forget about my doubts, be pleased with my work, and when the time comes, not be too displeased with the eventual “we thank you for your entry, but,” letter. It won’t matter by then; I’ll have already started pieces for another competition.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE

Well, now that that’s out of the way.

The last three paintings I did in 2011 were gifts for my family, which I would like to share here. It was fun to take into account their likes and dislikes, to consider what I knew of their taste in art, and to come up with something they wouldn’t absolutely hate to have on display out of obligation whenever I visit.

So, for my sister, a corgi (the family has two) dressed in her school colors and cheering the team on.

For my mom, some koi swimming by.

And for my dad, my interpretation of Ren & Stimpy, which, if you haven’t seen that show, go find it. Now. Here’s a small taste.

 

So happy holidays, and have a fantastic new year you guys.

DINNER TIME

I realized yesterday that I teased a while ago (a long while ago) at a painting I was working on; then promptly failed to post the finished piece. Here it is:

It’s my girl, Isabel, having dinner in her home with Prince Gilbert as a guest. There’s a few things I would change if I were to do the painting over again (aren’t there always things we would do over again?), but then I remind myself that I did this piece as an exercise. And I move on to the next painting.

THE FEAR GIRLS

One of my dearest friends, Sophia Rowland, recently took the plunge and turned her blog, The Fear Girls, into a honest-to-goodness .com. The concept and execution of her blog is wonderful- she’s gathered together a group of young women (myself included) and given them a place to post articles on feminist issues near and dear to their hearts. Sophia encourages her authors to choose subjects that mean something to them, and fosters discussions inspired by the articles. Topics include body image, watching porn, dealing with harassment on public transportation, the Kardashian sisters, and the minefield that is talking to men about feminism.

I’m a writer for The Fear Girls, and I’m also their in-house illustrator. Because I have known The Fear Girls for so long- from being an idea rattling around Sophia’s head, to her choosing a name (trivia time! The Fear Girls is named after Lily Allen’s song The Fear), to there only being a few articles, to the site flourishing and housing the opinions of 7 authors (soon to be more!), it was important to me to treat my work for The Fear Girls as a real job.

This was my initial sketch for the banner:

I sent the sketch out to Sophia and another writer for the site, Siena, for feedback. The items on the right and the ladies in the center passed, but the baby and the books had to go. I agreed.

Gone are the books and baby, and in their stead, a scale and a woman wrapped in a measuring tape. Much better.

As the site has grown, I’ve been making little portraits on the authors to go along with their articles. Here are the icons so far:

That’s me in the bottom-left corner.

Anyway, congratulations to Sophia; I know The Fear Girls is gonna go far, and I’m honored to be along for the ride.

 

 

OUT IN THE WOODS

“Out in the woods it’s sad how grossly misunderstood we are.”

Click to view the piece a bit larger at my website.

“Out in the Woods” by Birds & Batteries is a pretty great song, and it was stuck in my head the other day… so I just ran with it and did a painting. And It came out pretty nice, I think! I love hand-lettering things, even when I’m not that great at it.

One of my former professors, Dugald Stermer, recently passed away. He was a masterful illustrator who gave both his art and his students immense amounts of care and patience. One of my fondest memories from my time at school is how Dugald and I would butt heads over the fact that I insisted on hand-lettering my work in his poster design class. He was of the opinion that that hand-lettering (and he was an expert at it) should be done only with the utmost attention to detail and precision, while I was a bit more… lackadaisical. I was over-the-moon thrilled the day I came in with a hand-lettered piece which he deemed “okay.”

I struggled in the two classes I took with Dugald, and he was one of my most honest critics. But that just made me trust him even more when he told me he thought that, with enough perseverance, I could make it as an illustrator.

I won’t pretend I knew much about him (for instance, his intense political activism), but for the short amount of time I knew him, he was one of my most staunch supporters, and dearest teachers. He will be missed, not just by me, but by the entire CCA Illustration community.

Dugald’s work can be seen here.

FLOTSAM AND JETSAM

Van Gogh and Millet crackers from the Korean grocery (mysteriously named Zion Market) near my apartment:

I’ll have to remember to buy some the next time I’m grocery shopping…

Anyway, the piece I posted an in-progress shot of (here) a few days ago is going to be in a show at the Hive Gallery in Los Angeles! The show is titled “Price…less” because nearly all of the works featured are available to purchase for $250 or less. Which is a great idea, really, making art much more affordable around the holiday season.

Here’s how my painting turned out, but the scan didn’t do justice to the richness of the colors.

Birds featured: gold finch, pine grosebeak, zebra finch, Chinese phesant, long-billed corella, Mandarin duck, ibis, wood pigeon, scarlett rosella.

Here’s all the information you need about the show:

I’d love it if some of you SoCal residents could make it out! If you do stop by, be sure to say hi- I’ll be the girl sitting in the corner, nursing a beer, making awkward conversation.

WHAT IS A WEEK-END?

I’m a huge Downton Abbey fan. Huge. I love the upstairs-downstairs aspect, I like cheering on Anna and Mr. Bates, and I like hissing whenever Thomas comes on screen. Because I knew I couldn’t spend all of my time rewatching the show, I worked out some of my fan energy by drawing a few of the characters instead of doing any of the paintings I’m supposed to be doing. Oh well.

These little portraits are all based on the characters during season 2, so if you haven’t watched that yet, beware! There are a few major spoilers ahead. I’ll also sort them from least to most spoilery.

Dr. Clarkson, in his WWI getup. It seems more and more like he just isn’t a capable doctor, which, combined with the way he speaks, reminds me of Dr. Spaceman on 30 Rock.

I actually really related to Edith in the first season, probably the most out of all the characters. But girlfriend has turned into suck a fuck-up, she can’t even carry a plot line for more than two episodes. This is one of her outfits from when she helps out Mr. Drake with his farm work (wink-wink, nudge-nudge).

O’Brien grew on me this season. The accident she caused last season seems to have really changed her; she even tries to be Thomas’ friend instead of just a whining partner. I loved seeing her talk to Lang, and care for Lady Grantham to atone for what she did to her.

Daisy, in her wedding outfit. Poor, poor, stupid Daisy. I’m not sure on how I feel about her. I understand that she felt like she was doing something wrong, but I’m sure the thought of her back home really helped William out. Marrying him was maybe a step too far, but good on her for not taking the widower’s pension.

Sybil and Branson, united at last! Although Branson really did all the waiting while Sybil made up her mind. But it was worth the wait, their so cute together! I hope their relationship can survive Sybil’s transition from pheasant shot on the family grounds to bubble and squeak.

THE BIRDS

Painting birds is pretty relaxing. I love details, and with their patterns and feathers, birds are basically made out of details. So- one down, eight to go!

I’ve been meaning to do a painting like this for a while, just a big collection of some of my favorite birds. So I’m glad I’ve finally gotten around to it!

LAST GASPS

I’m a little dismayed by how close to death my favorite brush is. I mean, it is about 5 years old, and I do abuse it, but…. still sad.

See how loose the head is? Sigh.