Florida is a nice place

Hey everyone. I'm going to be posting these from sunny Florida for a while. I tell ya, the weather has been warm and fantastic here. I joined a new gym and have been working out, and I go through auditions for a new part this week. It's exhilarating to be in this environment again.

I've been doing ~some~ art, but much of my efforts have been spent getting acclimated to my surroundings. Still, I haven't been completely loafing. :)

Today's post has some NEW art, Yeah, you heard me. I got off my keister and did something. This is a preliminary concept drawing for an illustration assignment for school. The theme is fantastic voyage, and since I miss my cats enough to make my spleen burst, they are the heroes of my adventure.

I sketched the rough out first and then did some touch ups in Adobe Illustrator to get a feel for the line work. I'm still working with this, but I wanted to put something on my blog that hadn't had a chance to age quite so much.

Click to see a larger version



The next piece was also done in Adobe Illustrator. I even did the preliminary drawing using the program. This is a mock up for a book cover that a client commissioned. I can't say a lot about this one except that I am fond of the results.

That's about it for today. Thanks again for all the prayers.

I Sat by the River Today, Had a Chat, and Found Peace

Ahhhh.... Today has been a true blessing. Deep waters have the power to calm my soul. I am finally starting to relax a little, although I admit to missing my cats and my home terribly.

I think the best part of today was the good conversation and exercise. It's nice to spend time with people who care about you, see old friends, and talk about faith, life, and looking ahead to a bright future. It was also nice sharing my art with others who hadn't seen it, and watch them connect with it.

I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such goodness in my life. Talking so openly with God again and leaning on him makes me feel as if an open vessel of healing water has been poured on my head. I remember a few years ago at New Destiny, a church I attended, I experienced that same feeling as I was praying one night. I need to investigate this feeling further, and travel down an old road that I diverged from some time ago. I am reminded of a line from an old song I used to listen to by Jars of Clay called, "Grace". It says some thing along the line of, "Break the floodgate down and carry on."

I have hope and confidence that, despite hard times, things will continue to work out for good. Like I said, I've been talking to God, and I feel better as I walk with him. I hate losing friends, and I recently lost the closest one I've ever had. Talking to God helps me persevere and hope.

Since this is an art blog, I'll post some art. This isn't new art, but it also hasn't been posted here before. This is an excerpt from a comic strip I used to do, starring a cat and dog who ride in a truck. I think it's fitting since I've been back in the South, to post this now.



Thanks to all who read this and thank you for the support and prayer!

Mighty Huntress Revisited

Today is a great day for change in my life and I'm feeling good. I am proactively doing something with my life that I am very proud of.

My faith has aided me through this, as I am by nature, usually cautious, but I think the risks are worth it. To show this confidence, I thought I'd pull out a classic or two depicting some of my more confident and triumphant characters. I also do this because it will take me a bit to scan in some of my newer art and I wanted to let you guys know I was still kicking and ticking. :)

My cat, Punk'en is one of the most inspiring personalities I've ever had the pleasure to know. She is simply confident that people will love her for who she is. I really admire and love that about her. She knows she is strong and that no foe is insurmountable. I think everyone would benefit from a little more Punk'en in their life.

I miss her so much right now, and Skelly, as well. I guess you could say that I miss my family in general. My kids, of course, are very important to me.... even if they happen to be cats and not human children. I guess I wanted to post this because Skelly and Punk'en are very much on my mind and having this art here makes me feel like they aren't so far away from me.

This piece is digital, made in Adobe Illustrator, and colored in Adobe Photoshop.



I also post this because I'm going to work with the cat and robot series again really soon. The first piece is coming together nicely, and I hope to get it up here.

The next retro post is of good ole Dennis the Delightfully Destructive Dinosaur. I post this pic because Dennis always makes me smile, even when he's ruining a sweet little girl's tea party. Poor Dennis can't help destroying things of such delicate daintyness. The poor guy was born to be evil.


Well, I hope this post was enjoyable despite the recycled content. I'll post some new stuff soon. I have some doodles I'vve been working with.

A Watercolor From My Last Day

This watercolor I'm about to show you is a landscape that I completed on my last day of class, Wednesday, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art gardens. This is the last piece of art that I have done here in Indy. I don't know if I'll do anymore before I go. The next watercolors I'll work on will be in sunny Orlando, Florida and I hope to post those here as soon as I complete them. Hopefully, the days I go to Epcot will be hospitable for this kind of work.

It's enjoyable working on a piece and getting lost in it a bit. I tried to work as loosely as possible with a big flat 1" brush. The limitations of brush shape and size caused me to make painting choices that I might have otherwise have strayed from. This experiment worked better for me than the tight strokes I've been trying to incorporate into my work recently. What can I say? I like working loose.

The medium is professional grade watercolor on paper.

Click to see a larger version



Thanks for looking! Thanks to all those who have been there for me and who have prayed.

I'm excited to do more of these and would like to experiment with masking fluid soon. I'm gonna try to post here as often as I did the last two months, but my adjustment period may slow that rate down a bit.