It's Spring and Art is Blooming

Like a lot of people, I’ve had some extra time since mid-March. Luckily, extra time means extra art! I’ve been able to draw much more often than usual, so I’ve created a wide range of pieces, from floral still lifes to whimsical characters in a steampunk universe. I hope you enjoy them.

“Sunflowers” Colored pencil on Strathmore paper. Summer is just around the corner, and I wanted to make something bright and cheery. I enjoyed building the yellows and oranges in this piece, especially during the grayer days of March and April.

“Spring Dragon” Colored pencil on Strathmore paper. I do love this dragon character. It would be wonderful to be walking through a meadow on a bright spring day and see a dragon with a stack of books, all camped out for a day of reading.

“Sleeping Moon” Watercolor pencil on Bristol board. Since I was a little kid reading picture books, I’ve loved the image of a cozy crescent moon sleeping above the world at night.

“Crescent Moon” Watercolor pencil on Bristol board. Another cozy moon keeping watch over the world.

“Pilot” Colored pencil on Strathmore paper. This piece is part of a Steampunk show that two local artists and I are putting on in August of this year. I finished this piece first and began sketching others soon after. I did a couple of other portraits and ended up making both of them redheads, sort of accidentally. Then I thought it would be neat to show this same pilot through the years as she went on adventures and grew up. My goal by August is to have a wall of drawings documenting her escapades, so that viewers at the show will feel like they’re in her house, walking through her memories.

Commissioned Fan Art!?

A cool commission!

Recently I had a unique and fun opportunity to collaborate with the author of the series Mazes of Power. I met Juliette Wade at a party that one of my friends was very kind to invite me to, and we all immediately fell into conversation about our creative projects. She started telling us about the novel she just had published. With the book’s release date a couple months away, she had an idea to promote it by commissioning artists to create fan art of the characters. Once she told me that part of the story was a love triangle, I was sold! She commissioned me to draw the three entangled characters (and one of their bodyguards) and through a series of detailed emails back and forth, she guided me through her vision to portray the characters down to the last button on their jacket!

I really enjoy bringing someone else’s imagination onto paper. The collaborative process is a magical one, and when you’re working with someone as dynamically certain as Juliette Wade, you know the end result will be magical too.

You can order Mazes of Power and find out more about the author Juliette Wade here.