Clint Eastwood Sketch

I'm watching Gran Torino tonight and sketching Clint at the same time! Yes, I do have a photo reference on my phone. I am mostly just enjoying myself and trying to get that stare that we have all come to love just right. I'll probably go back in later and add so black sharpie to make it all more dramatic. I love this movie!

Gone Fishing...

When your boyfriend is constantly talking about fishing and tying flies, use it as inspiration! At least now I know what a brown trout is and a wooly bugger thingy... Ok, maybe I need to draw more!

Dakota's Painting

Now that it is officially Christmas, I can finally show off the painting that I created for Dakota! He was very surprised by my gift to him and his reaction to it is something I will cherish forever.

There is a story behind the important people in the painting that are fishing and the truck that they drove in. Dakota recognized these things right away and I was so worried about it! What kind of painter/illustrator would I be if the viewer in mind didn't understand what was going on?

It absolutely killed me that I couldn't tell Dakota all of the struggles throughout the painting, so I took lots of in progress photos so I could easily show him all that had gone wrong. First there was a tree that I loved, but just didn't seem right.

So I had to paint over it. Then those mountains in the back just didn't seem far away enough. But the biggest, most horrifying mistake I made was the color of the truck. He still owns the truck and from what I know of it, it is blue.

BUT the time that this story takes place, the truck was brown. And I only found out by accident four days ago! I'm thankful that I found out but when I did, my heart sunk. All that work... but it was easily fixed and I am so happy with this. My first oil painting in a few years!

Hunting Fleece Hats

It's hunting season and I am experimenting with sewing new hats! By law, and for general safety, there needs to be at least 20 square inches of bright orange on your head when you are out in the woods. For obvious reasons, you want to make sure that other hunters can see you. I bought the fleece for the hats on black Friday for a less than the cost of a fleece hat you could buy at a store. The best part is, that I bought enough fleece for at least 20 hats! How great is that! Sure it may take some time for me to do this, but I am double layering and taking my time and making a sturdy warm hat that I know I can use for a long time.

Brooke #28!

Here are the before and after photos from my adventure with Brooke (about 3 years old)! Brooke loved using every single brush I had, which was about 30 different brushes and sponges. But I am glad she did because she used more and more colors that made her masterpiece really exciting! 

Chameleon Markers

Decided to try something new! Here is my first attempts at using these new markers. They are super fun but it will take some time getting used to. I also found it appropriate to draw a chameleon as my first drawing with this new medium. It's a little punny, you have to admit. 

Halloween Birthday Party

This was such an awesome experience! A 7 year old wanted a painting party for her birthday so I was commissioned to create "paint by numbers" style canvases for the kids to fill in. The kids all chose their own colors, because you know how kids know exactly what they are doing when it comes to painting. They did not need any kind of navigation or instruction when it came to actually painting. All in all, it was a successful experience and I can't wait to do it again!