Latte Art

Latte Art, espresso, 12x12" ish, 2010

This painting was done using espresso as paint.  It was a wedding gift for a close friend of mine who loves coffee :-)

watercolor: Wren

Wren, watercolor. ~8"x11". winter 2008.

This watercolor painting was a gift for my dad.

Spaceships, dinosaurs and aurora borealis

Spaceships, Dinosaurs, and Aurora Borealis.  16"x24" ish.  Acrylic on canvas.  2005

The story behind this piece is as follows:
A coworker of mine (we were caterers) claimed that the three primary colors were not red, blue, and yellow, but were in fact magenta, cyan, and yellow.  I called b.s. (being an art major and all, I should know, right?).  According to his theory, the color known as "red" could be mixed with two other colors--this was contradictory to everything I had been taught in art classes.  I told him the only way I would be convinced would be to try it out for myself.  The agreement was that I would make him a painting using acrylic paints using only the colors magenta, cyan, and yellow (and white since white can't be mixed with primary colors of paint; interestingly, primary light colors will make white light).  I asked for a painting topic; he said, "I dunno.  Spaceships, dinosaurs, and the northern lights".

It was fun coming up with images that mixed two drastically different time periods: prehistoric and present.  I was particularly pleased with pangea at night as it would look with present day lights.

Of course, in the end I proved myself wrong concerning the primary colors.  I am now convinced that the true primary colors are not red, blue, and yellow, but are in fact cyan, magenta and yellow.
Mixing red and mixing blue was certainly strange at first... But I feel I became a better artist after this painting experience. 

Part of me wishes I still had this painting.  It's one that I feel very proud of.  I think I'll always wonder where it ended up...

triceratops detail

t-rex detail

right side detail

Spirit of Max

Spirit of Max.  20" x 16" ish.  Acrylic on canvas.  2001-2003

Back in the days of film (wow that seems like a long time ago), on the rare occasion a roll of film would get used twice and result in double-exposed photos (and a feeling of surprise).  This happened to me at least once, and I felt very inspired by the photos that resulted.  I work from some of those photos to create this piece.  Max, my childhood dog, was a wonderful family member;  Just like the double-exposed photos, his spirit could be found all over our house and lives.

watercolor: Mr. and Mrs. Jones comic book cover

Mr. and Mrs. Jones comic book cover. 
Watercolor and micron ink on watercolor paper.  6.75"x10.25". 2010

This was a wedding gift for a friend of mine, Ande.  She and I occasionally get together to make art.  At one of these hang-outs, we spent time trying to learn how to draw comic book characters.  Ande's now husband, Erick, is interested in comic books, also, so I figured the theme would be appropriate for a wedding gift.  My husband, Chris, helped me with the initial character drawings (I was still pretty bad at cartooning back then)--which was perfect, because then it really was a gift from both of us!

Watercolor: A different kind of sub-art

A different kind of sub-art.  Watercolor.  8"x11"ish.  2000

My first paid job was at a sub shop, Cousins Subs, in high school.  I used to say that I wasn't a sub-maker, I was a sub-artist.  This is a watercolor I made as a gift for my boss.

Painting: Man's Compromise

Man's Compromise.  Acrylic and a variety of natural and man-made stuff.  2004

Acrylic on wood.
(sorry photo is blurry; is only original one I have)

Acrylic on woven grass.

Acrylic, grass, dirt, hosiery on canvas.

Acrylic on roofing shingles.

Acrylic on sheet aluminum.

This piece, which I called "Man's Compromise" is meant to be read from the edges to the center.  I made this piece for a 2-D class; at the time I was very bitter about human's relationship with nature, which I saw as heartless, domineering, and void of respect for the other organisms in which we are supposed to share the earth. 

My idea for the piece was a clash of nature (represented here by a possum) and mankind (represented by development).  Other than the painting medium, acrylic, the materials I used were supposed to be a gradient.  On the far left, pure nature (wood/bark), on the far right, pure human (aluminum sheet metal).  You then move a step in: on the left, nature with a touch of human (grass, but woven, which is a human invention); on the right, human with a touch of nature (shingles, which I believed to be basically tiny rocks glued together--I don't know if that's really what they are.  but when you're trying to get a huge project done, you don't worry about details like that.).  

The center piece, the clash of nature and humans, uses both natural and man-made elements: real blades of grass have been painted into the grass, the guts of the animal are made of hosiery, and I'm pretty sure I threw some dirt into the guts.  I also painted on a blood drip, which hangs off the bottom of the canvas next to the guts.  (I was going for gory).

In terms of painted subject matter, the pieces on either end are meant to be the beginning of each party: a baby possum on the left, a house being built on the right.  Moving in, we see progression: a full-grown possum, and a street of white houses on the left.  The clash in the center is the endpoint for each party and depicts man's compromise with nature, which is really no compromise at all.  Man has run nature over--and smeared it on the road.  Humans are the clear victor of the clash, with their paved roads, towering city, and a smeared possum ignored on the outskirts in a haste to reach the city.

Watercolor pet portrait: Lila

Lila.  Watercolor.  10"x11".  2011

detail

I love watercolor!  I find it to be a very challenging medium, and is therefore satisfying when I've finished a piece.  This is a portrait I did for my mom of her dog, Lila.