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I had an image in my head that once again didn't completely translate to paper. Is this how the phrase "happy accidents" came about? That'd be my guess. You just go along creating something and it takes on its own direction. I think I'll spend more time mulling over the image in my head, fine tune it, see if I can see it a little more, then, try again some other time. I do like this one though. I think maybe the image in my mind turns out a little blurrier. Maybe like something you'd see through a rain drenched window. I'll give it a try and see what happens. At any rate, hopefully this helped clear my head a little bit. Hopefully now I'll be able to focus on work projects better, at least for 10 minutes or so....

All is Well

There is a fabulous movie called "Bubba Ho-Tep" starring Bruce Campbell that I never grow tired of watching. It is such fun and the end scene never fails to just plain make me feel good. As an old dying Elvis stares triumphantly up into the night sky, having just rescued his fellow rest home residents from having their souls sucked out by an ancient Egyptian mummy, an image consisting of 3 symbols comes into view and under the image is a message: "all is well." It always leaves me feeling amazingly peaceful. I wish there was a poster out there I could buy with this scene on it. Until I discover one, I put this little image together. Of course the only problem with a poster is that it wouldn't be accompanied by the music that goes along with this final scene of the movie- it's quiet and beautiful. So, maybe the answer is this: I'll just need to watch "Bubba Ho-tep" about a hundred more times. What a great thing to look forward to.

Hair

I love this guys hair, it was really fun to draw. I also like the red background matching the color of his mouth. I think it's pretty and makes the picture balanced.

Mustache Man 2

I love the look in his eyes. What is he thinking? Something really interesting I'd bet. I also love the bright orange red color of the background. I like the contrast between the areas that have lots of little bits of color and the areas of big smooth colors. That feels interesting to me and creates a balance that feels good.




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Mustache Man

I saw a man the other day who had round cheeks and a round mustache and the whole thing looked well, wonderfully round. I really liked the look of this man. Here is my version of him with big slabs of dark color. I'd like to crawl in the big pieces of color here and take a nap.

Winter on PBS

Last night as I lay sick with my head on my husband's lap, he flipped between the World Series and a special on WWII on PBS. As I lay there something on the WWII special caught my eye. It was a landscape of a dark mountain range in winter. I thought it was so beautiful and attempted to draw it.

Consider the Animals No. 3

Consider the Cow

No. 2 in my "consider the animals" series. Have you ever really looked at a cow? They are strong, soft looking and beautiful. I like the rich colors here. The are all strong and solid colors, I think it's sometimes fun to see nothing but strong colors, not too many washes or transitional colors, makes a strong statement.




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Soapbox For a Minute

I don't believe God created animals for man to use. I don't believe we should enjoy animals dying or being treated cruelly. I am tired of sports stores with stuffed animals on display and photos of proud hunters and the animals they've killed. I am tired of people who hunt and glory in the kill. I don't like when people disregard animals. I don't like when people disregard the idea that animals have desires, feelings, wants; that they feel pain and joy. I am tired of hearing stories in the news of people torturing and killing animals. Cruelty and indifference, it makes me sick. So, I am going to create a series of paintings with animals as the subject. This is where animals belong. They belong in artwork that rejoices in their beauty, not in cages, beaten, or on a plaque. They deserve to be respected and treated kindly, as do we all. Thanks to Pete the cat teaching me about the feline world and for being a great example of the grace, intelligence and feeling all animals possess. Thanks to Ben for understanding when I rant and always being kind to me, Pete and all other creatures.

Adding White

I've been really enjoying painting landscapes and clouds lately in a style that's fast and loose. I thought it would be interesting to try drawing a person using this approach. The first picture is what I came up with originally. Then, I remembered a picture here on my blog of a baby where there is a ton of white in the picture. I wanted to see what the man in my picture here would look with lots of white. I really like the result, the lost and found quality the white adds.

Simon And Simon-intro

This is for my man who isn't feeling well today. I hope this gives your day a boost and makes you smile. Love, K.

For You

This one is for you too. You, sweet and handsome and kind.




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Along the Way

Lately I have been completely mesmerized by cloudy skies. They are so beautiful and immense. I love staring up into the sky and getting lost in the great expanse of color and space. For the last few days I've had a particular image in my mind. In this image there is a cloudy sky, a field and a line of trees. So, I painted what I saw in my mind. I think I like the outcome. Not exactly what I had in mind but then again, that's half the fun of drawing, the surprises. Creating something and then sitting back and enjoying what came out unintentionally along the way.




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Antelope Island

One of my favorite places is Antelope Island. It is a beautiful, quiet, still place. The first time we went there was a very cold, very pretty snowy day in November. We literally saw only one other person on the island that day. At one point, as we sat on a bench watching the snow slowly drift down from the sky a deer approached stopping only a few yards away from us. We quietly watched her eat for probably 15 minutes. It was one of the most truly peaceful moments of my life. Since then we've gone back to visit the island on multiple occasions, one being this past Saturday. I was struck by the beauty of a particular scene. The lake surrounding the island appeared to be held securely from the sky above and the golden grasses covering the shore beneath. It was really very pretty. I tried to remember the scene so I could draw it, this is how my picture came out.

Pete

When I look at my cat I am amazed by his symmetry. I had this idea that it would be really neat to paint him but this time make him mostly silhouette, really show off his interesting shape. This is what I came up with. I like the large spaces, the brush strokes, and various color splotches. I also like the way the shape of the tail creates motion and keeps my eye moving through the picture.

Peace

The sorts of pictures that interest me change with my mood, I guess that's not so different than anyone else. The softness, the space, the color scheme of this painting, all really appeal to me at the moment. It feels peaceful.

Fast

I drew these for a project at DOT for Vespa. They were fun to draw, fast and simple. The colors feel really clear to me too, I love the feel of that.

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Prints of these images are not available.

Hey Man

Some time go, I created a cover idea for a magazine called "Gravetapping." The final product was very different from where it started. The original cover image involved a man with an umbrella. I thought he was pretty interesting and I think about him from time to time. I found the original reference materials today and thought I'd have another go at painting him. This is what I came up with. I love "sloppiness" lately when I draw. Ah- sloppy messy paint, it feels really nice.

Once Again

I have an image in my mind of clouds. In this scene, or image in my mind, I think it's sunset and the colors are very vivid and beautiful, simple though. I hope that eventually my cloud expirements match what I see in my mind.

Clouds

I really enjoyed painting the sky on a picture I put up about a week ago- the ocean picture. Since then I've really wanted to paint a picture of just clouds.

Unlikely

As I've mentioned here in the past, when it comes to using people as the subject of my drawings and paintings- I am ordinarily drawn to the old, the large, or the different. But of course there's always an exception. I saw a picture of a baby some time ago and for some reason I became fascinated by the idea of painting a baby's head using a ton of white and smooth surfaces; lots and lots of white- especially in the upper corner so it would blend into the baby's face. As often happens when I get an idea sqirming under my skin, I had to paint this or face going mad. I am really excited at the moment with the results. I love how the white, soft, and the dark spaces blend together.




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Wings

This is a series of wings that I just finished. I love the messiness, it makes me think of flight, wings in motion. When it comes to the process of creating a piece of art there are many ideas and theories that come into play, but sometimes "it feels right to me" is as important as anything else. This certainly was the case with these three paintings. I played with lines and colors like crazy and in the end, I think I like them. At least today.

Space

I love simple pictures with lots of space to get lost in. I painted this for a friends birthday and like it because it has lots of those big spaces I love. Plus, I think all the messy pencil lines give a nice sense that the process of creating this painting wasn't too picky, that it was just in the moment and enjoyable, which it was. The colors didn't end up too muddy either, ahhhh!

Star Trek Hands

I've always liked this one. Sometimes I don't feel like I know how drawings turn out the way they do. I like when this happens because for me personally, the drawings that turn out this way are more interesting to look at for longer periods of time. I love the position of the fingers on her right hand. But I can't help thinking, wouldn't it be cool if her pinky and ring fingers were touching and her middle finger and index fingers were touching instead? If that were the case we could wonder if perhaps angels are Star Trek fans- neat!

I Miss You

I lived in Hawaii for about 6 years and made an amazing friend, the ocean. Those of you out there who are lucky enough to have really gotten the ocean under you skin will understand the idea of it being a friend. About a year ago I went to visit my sister who now lives in Califonia. We went to the beach and as soon as I saw the Pacific Ocean it hit me just how much I had missed it. I felt like a really big geek but couldn't keep the tears from coming. So, this is for the Pacific Ocean, I miss you my friend.

Arches National Monument

Self Portrait

I'm thinking about my scooter and how much I love riding it. The reason I am thinking about my scooter is because for a couple of weeks now I've been riding public transportation part way to work and then scootering on my scooter the rest of the way. It is really really fun. I love it because:

It's better for the environment than driving my car.
It saves on gas.
It saves wear and tear on my car.
It's great exercise.

PART 2.
I wasn't extremely happy with my sketch, so I tried again (I painted on the sketch in Photoshop).

Old One

Again with my fascination of old people. I like the messiness of this one and the odd bits of light here and there on her face. I also like the way the colors create motion and the way that when I look at the woman in this painting I'm not sure what's going on in her mind. Is she about to kiss or curse someone? Who knows, certainly not me.

Too Cute

I'm thinking that everything here is too cute. At least to my current state of mind. So, here's something I created for a magazine called Gravetapping. It's a LITTLE less nice. Good.

Coming Back to Life

These drawings were created for a game called Jurassic Jumble for a company called Set. I was lucky enough to get to create many dinosaurs for this project at DOT. I first drew the dinos in pencil, really sketchy. Next I painted them using watercolors; last, I added final details and color in Photoshop. Sometimes when I draw it feels as if the subject of the picture is literally coming to life under my pencil. It's a really wierd and cool experience that doesn't happen often but when it does makes me feel especially close the subject of the drawing. This definately happened when I created these dinosaurs. So, to my dino friends, ROCK ON, it was great knowing you. (and yes, the title of this post IS a nod to Pink Floyd)

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Prints of these images are not available.

Unexpected

I love to paint in Photoshop. I love to create layer upon layer of transparent color and see what happens. It feels a bit like magic and it's always exciting. I paint and paint, and then step back and see what I've made. Sometimes, the end product isn't what I expected, and that is so much fun.

Little Lizard

Studying lizards is such fun, especially lizards who twist and turn and have really large eyes.


Side note: prints of this image is only available only sized 8.5 x 11.

UCASA

I created this for UCASA-Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault-a few months ago through my place of employment, Design of Today. It was a really fun assignment. May the fine folks over at UCASA have much success- thank you for your efforts.


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O.J. Pete and a Little Fish

Simple line drawings. I love them. The first one here is from a camping trip my man and I went on with his family several years ago. I loved the messy look of the "food, plates, cups, juice, chips" table. The second one is our cat. I love the grace and symmetry of cats. The third is, well, a dead fish. He came from my 10 gallon fish aquarium. The fish died of natural causes I assure you but on my way to "dispose" of it (ie flush) I realized how much easier my little fish would be to draw now that he was still. So I quickly drew him. I know, eeew. But, that's an artist for you-


Side note: prints of this image is only available only sized 8.5 x 11.

Gnarled Tree and a Round Man

There are a lot of us out there, myself included, who automatically begin to doodle during meetings, on the bus, on the phone, at the library, and on and on. When sketch I seem to gravitate toward two subjects: people and trees. I love to draw trees that are gnarled and people who are old, different in some way, or in this case big. I find these things endlessly interesting. I drew the tree with pencil but the man on the scooter I drew in Photoshop. I love continuous line drawings, which he is, they're quick and not bogged down by endless redrawing and nit picking.

Side note: If you are interested in purchasing prints of either of these images, they are available only sized 8.5 x 11.

Trees

I love trees. Old trees, new trees. Today several people in large trucks came and took out 75% of the trees behind the building where I work. It is really sad and changes the whole feel of the place. Why can't people slow down and think about it before they rip down beautiful things in the name of progress and strip malls- we have plenty of those.

Soccer

There are very few things more exciting than watching World Cup soccer matches. I find soccer players and their unending enthusiasm, screaming and yelling really fun to watch, that's where this picture came from. I like the thick and thin lines here, I think they feel very alive.