Third Time's A Charm

There's a bit of a back story for this painting. Rita commissioned someone to photoshop a portrait of her family a few years back, because her son had passed away. Her granddaughter was not in the original picture but her daughter was. The picture was less than flattering as her daughter was hung over that morning, so Rita had asked for a different picture to be put in. Somehow there was a miscommunication and the hungover picture remained. A few years later, Rita's daughter begged her mother to have the picture redone correctly. She commissioned my brother to redraw the image and add her granddaughter. Somehow, my brother still ended up drawing the wrong picture of her daughter! Still hungover! Rita told her daughter that her brother was looking over her with a sense of humor because he apparently would not let the fact that she was hungover that day, pass. Years later again and Rita called me to see if I would be up for the challenge. I'm happy to say I have succeeded in at least ridding the drawing of the dreaded hangover. I haven't shown Rita her picture yet, but I am hopeful she will like it. In other news, Riley's due date is only 2 weeks away! We are anxious and excited and the nursery is complete. Now it's just a waiting game.

Riley's Nursery

It's a girl! Haha. Yes, Dan and I are expecting our first child in June. We are very excited for our little "Rabbit" as we called her before we knew her sex. I had a rough first trimester and found I could only really stomach salads and fruits so I nicknamed her Rabbit and it's basically stuck. haha. Riley Rabbit. Has a pretty nice ring to it. Anyway, I've always wanted to do the artwork for my kids nurseries and I found this really cute picture online. I did add the "Highlights" magazine (Dan and I both loved that magazine as kids) and I added "Pickles the Rabbit" who is sitting by the basket. Dan bought me that stuffed rabbit right before our first ultrasound and she has been my company through the whole pregnancy thus far. I think for my next paintings I will continue to sneak Pickles in random places, just to keep the theme.

The Year Was 1912...

Coincidentally it's been one full year since I drew a movie scene. It certainly didn't feel like that long and yet it was. Rather odd how time has been escaping me lately. Nevertheless, here is Jack and Rose from Titanic-same watercolor and conte as usual of course but maybe it's just me but I think it's better than Becoming Jane or even Singing In The Rain. Still, I apologize for the low quality of the image, I never really bothered to compare my photos to another camera until recently and boy is my camera...basic. There is so much the camera doesn't pick up in this piece but I'm going to Staples to get it scanned so that I can have a better copy. It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison at any rate. I've been trying to think of other images I would like to paint-not necessarily movies but poses or expressions that evoke some kind of emotion in me. I like works that I can look at for long periods of time and still find new things I hadn't noticed about them, even though I painted them and that sounds quite impossible. Anyway, I hope something comes up soon because I've been itching to paint but because my process of finding images takes so long, I'm usually not up to the work by the time I'm done my research. That is, if I find anything I can be obsessed with for a few weeks. It's similar to finding a good book, I feel like I double my efforts to make sure I have an interest in the story just to fall in love with the characters and undoubtedly be disappointed by the ending. Needless to say, I am a very cautious person...or perhaps overly paranoid...then again, what's a week in the world of art, hmm? Bonne Chance!

Bernadette Peters

I found this picture of Bernadette Peters online and I love it! So I decided to paint it with watercolor and conte, as per my usual. Haha. I watched "Into The Woods" the other day and she is amazing in that show. My brother got a chance to play Prince Charming in his high school rendition of the show and I remember I helped him learn his lines and the songs during that time. We had so much fun, dancing around the living room, singing "Agony." I thought for sure I'd get into acting after seeing that show. I wanted to play the witch, Bernadette's part, or the Baker's wife. I saw Bernadette Peters once live at Symphony Hall in my Junior year of college, I skipped work that day I was so excited to see her. I had terrible seats but you'd never know with Bernadette's outstanding performance. It was amazing. Anyway, after I found this photo I knew I had to draw it and I hope I gave it justice because she is not a face you wanna mess up on. haha.

It's A Wonderful Life

Here it is! The painting that took me about a month to complete. I painted this for my dad for Christmas, we watch It's A Wonderful Life every year around Christmas time. This is the scene George Bailey and Clarence are at Nick's Bar for a drink. I'm very proud at my dad's reaction to this painting, he thought I bought it, because it's so different from the work I usually produce. Really good feeling. The canvas was about 24x30 and I had a lot of fun painting this, as exhausting as it was. I'm happy with the outcome and I'm glad my dad is too.

Finished Product

Here it is! The finished "Jeff's Angels" Truth be told, I'm putting this image on a few t-shirts for my friends in time for Christmas. I really think they're going to like it. I never imagined it would come out this good but I am very pleased at the overall image. I was originally going to paint this on each shirt by hand but I figure an iron on transfer would work out just as good, if not better. Still, very excited.
In other creative news, I've been working a lot with baked goods lately. I've managed to make turkey cupcakes for Thanksgiving and a golf course (including sand traps) for my dad's birthday. I've been just buzzing with creative energy these days so expect to see some more outrageous ideas by the end of this year! Happy Holidays!

Jeff's Angels

Hey, hey! It would seem I have dropped off the face of the earth these last few months. Truth is, I started my first full time job about a month or so ago and it's taking up a lot of my time. Good news is, I've made quite a few new friends at the work place and we sort of have a few outrageous jokes going on. I decided to draw a couple of them and this is the beginning process for it. To briefly explain, I will start with my friend Jeff, whom I have not drawn yet, but believe me he will be in this picture. He had made friends with Shana, Jennifer, and I and refers to us as his angels. Now, Jen and I love bagels. We always have a bagel for breakfast every day so we started referring to Shana as the cream cheese, since she sits in between us. Shana is a very spontaneous person so sometimes she just gets up and leaves to wander around or to find food, so one day I asked "Hey, where's the cream filling?" (Between you and me, probably my finest hour. haha) So to wrap this up, here is Jeff's three beautiful angels. Also, this is going to be a Christmas present to each of them once I put it on a t-shirt. Also, not entirely sure if I like how I came out, might change my wardrobe before the final piece gets put on a T. Who knows but I'll try to show the progression. Oh and also, Shana loves her accessories so I made sure to deck her out and Jen loves to wear plaid on casual days. We'll see what I turn into as I go along.