Three Little Pears

Lately I'm trying to make my Photoshop creations lean more toward the fine art side of things. I don't know if it's working, if the latest images you see here do in the end look more fine art than illustration, but that's ok, it's a fun thing to try anyway.

Random thought for those of you who like the musician Greg Brown:
The title of this blog reminds me of a Greg Brown song, "Two Little Feet." I keep singing in my head the words "three little pears" in place of "two little feet." It makes me laugh. Greg Brown is really a great musician, one who doesn't get nearly enough attention, but, maybe that's the way he likes it. If you've not heard him, check his music out, it's great.

Pete Black Jack Ketchum

At home, we live with a monster, really he's just a cat but he SEEMS like a monster sometimes. He plays war games with my husband like he's not 11 pounds but at least 200 (he's also a sucker for lap sitting, so we aren't completely fooled). He's tough and has the attitude we all should, the attitude that he's completely awesome. He's probably so tough because he's named after an outlaw who lived some 150 years ago. Sometimes he sits and stares at me and because he is black all I can see are his eyes; they shine greenly at me. I love the symmetry of his little body when he's just a shadow silhouette. Here is my version of Pete being a tough staring cat.

Uintah Mountain Meadow

On Sunday my husband and I took our first trip to the Uintah Mountains here in Utah. We try to go at least 2-3 times a year. It's only possible to drive through these amazing mountains between June and September. We saw many beautiful sights yesterday, meadows, lakes (some still frozen, really neat), wildlife and amazing vistas. It was really cool to see Mirror Lake still frozen, the ice made pretty patterns on the surface. We saw an amazing meadow filled with tons of color, wildflowers, and moose; we watched them through our binoculars, they still had velvet on their antlers, really cool. There was still quite a bit of snow up there at 11,000+ feet but it was a warm day so it made a nice mix. This is my attempt to draw the scene as I remember it.

Walking in the Desert

I don't think that many people dream of escaping to the desert, (I could be wrong), but it's something I'd like to do right now. Having spent the majority of my life in Utah, I've come to love the quiet grandeur of the deserts in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho. My husband and I often find ourselves escaping the crowded hectic city where we live to desert areas close to us, areas like the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island, Stansbury Island, Horse Shoe Springs, unnamed places. They are quiet and beautiful. I made the mistake of walking around the building where I work just now. It's an amazingly hot beautiful summer day and I found myself dreaming of where I'd like to go, this picture is the result. Maybe it doesn't look like much to those of you out there who've not discovered the beauty of empty desert places, but to me, this is landscape looks like heaven.

Trees and Roots

For this drawing, I collaged together lots of images from all sorts of old drawings and created some new things as well, this is the result. The colors here are more surreal than the other two in this series. I intended to leave the tree white in the first picture of this series, like the one in this picture, but it didn't end up that way. Finally the image I had in my head originally is down on paper, somewhat anyway. Something that I enjoy about this picture is how there are little tiny places of interest all over it, (birds in the upper corner, dark root bits, etc.) which makes this picture one I could sit and look at for a long time, fun.



Portfolio Image.

Can't Escape That One Thing

This picture is very similar to the last one I posted here in a lot of ways, I even reused some of the imagery. The complex textures, colors, and placement of things in that picture really appealed to the sort of mood I currently find myself in, artistically at least. This picture didn't start out the way it ended up at all. It started as a simple picture of a man in a suit scrunched up in a small space. In the end, I think of it as more of a landscape of sorts. I love the tree roots growing out of the man's calfs, the tree growing on his ankles, the lost and found quality of his face. As I studied this picture after I finished it, I started to think that I was saying something awful about working in an office, about how it kills us slowly, and then, as happens literally when we die, we become part of the earth again. But, as I looked at this longer, I really feel that it doesn't say that at all. I think it says something bigger, something about being a part of our surroundings, our planet, nature; about how no matter where we find ourselves, nature is constant, it just won't be pushed aside. If work, traffic, bills, crowds, etc. drive us to the brink of insanity, nature, the beautiful planet we live on, won't let us go, gives us an outlet for peace. Nature always calls to us, just won't let us escape it no matter where we find ourselves. It's always around, waiting for us, keeping us sane, grounded, even when we're inside far more that we'd like to be if be.

More Monumental?

In my last post I mentioned wanting to create something more monumental than pictures of frogs. As time went on I decided I really liked the frog and lily pad picture, but still, is this picture of a tree and it's roots more monumental, more meaningful than that one? I'm not sure about that but it does appeal more to the "fine art" side of my brain. It's more artistically interesting I think; more art, less illustration. Oh boy, does that open a sticky can of worms -- fine art v. illustration. In that light, I don't think either of these pictures is more successful than the other, just different. Still, I really like this new picture, I like the layers and how the different colors, transparencies, etc. play on each other; also how the tree trunk runs into the roots.

Water Lilies Plus a Frog

A frog and water lilies. Why? Who knows. Seems really random to me. This was fairly fun to draw though. I enjoy how the frog's eye turned out, the many different specks of color there. The color of the water is a bit more gray in tone that the last picture of water lilies that I drew, which I think is nice, less Mickey Mouse somehow. I do like this picture, it's simple and fun. But, I must admit, it makes me want to draw something a bit more weighty, something a bit more monumental somehow. Stay tuned.

Fields of Gold

Sometimes I add an element to a picture as I create it just as an experiment, something that wasn't originally supposed to be there; but, once that element is in place, I can't imagine the picture without it. An example of this is in the picture you see here. On the right side, toward the top of the mountain range I added a yellow cloud just before I finished this picture. I thought for certain that it would be erased right after I put it in, but it stayed because I really think it adds a balance to the yellows of the picture. I also love the purples here, the dark purple of the mountains is accentuated by the lilac of the clouds, I think it feels rich, warm and inviting.

Water Lily

I'm feeling a bit restless today so I drew another one. I like the colors, they are bright yet still feel like they reflect true colors of nature. Normally when I create pictures I fill in leftover white specks with colors around them. Today for something different I decided to fill them in with black and then leave the colors as they were rather than blending them all together so the edges would be not look as soft as they normally do in my pictures. I think it ended up fairly exciting. It reminds me a little bit of a woodcut print.

The View From Here

This is a picture of an imaginary spot that looks like it'd be a wonderful place to be; pretty surroundings, pleasant looking weather, nice sitting spot, lake, quiet. I think I'll go look for somewhere like this and go for a swim right now.

Fish Eye

I saw someone on tv or in a photograph recently that was shot using a fish eye perspective. I thought it was really interesting. An image started to develop in my mind of a man, older, lots of white in the picture, fish eye distorted perspective, blue eyes. The image you see here is the result. Not much stayed from the original idea except the perspective. I like the way the hair flows in this picture, that's my favorite part, the messy hair ends. I also like the sweeping motion of the picture, how it sways from left to right, it feels like water moving to me.

Pete "Black Jack" Ketchum

Like all pet owners, I feel that my cat is the most beautiful cat that ever was. Even though he had a head shaped like a yield sign as a baby, I still wanted to get him into modeling. I read that "perfect" black cats are supposed to have yellow eyes. My Pete doesn't have yellow eyes, but in my mind they are better. They are a beautiful shade of summer green, at least most of the time. Here he is, strutting around like the bad dude he is.

Creativity and Leaves

I heard an interesting discussion on NPR the other day. There was a woman on who is a cartoonist, has been for a long long time it sounded like. The discussion was about whether or not you could be creative on the computer. They seemed to lean towards the answer being no. That the computer has in fact squashed creativity, be that in writing, drawing, and you name it. Do you agree? I don't. I think the computer has opened up another avenue for creativity. I don't think it takes away from drawing with a pencil or writing on a pad of paper. I wondered as I listened if the woman on the NPR program just didn't find that her personal way of creating comics to be compatable with computer creation or is it that she is uncomfortable with creating on the computer. Personally, I love drawing on the computer. I love writing on the computer. I have a bachelors degree in art and currently work for a graphic design firm. These two worlds, fine art and graphic design, have melded just fine. About 8-9 years ago I learned to draw on the computer and have loved it ever since. Drawing with a pencil or brush is fine but really, why would I throw out the new or the old when they both have their place? I really feel like not only do computers not diminish creativity, I think they make more creative possibilities open up. What do you think?

As for the picture here, it was created using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and this is why I drew it:

I stood by a beautiful tree this morning before I walked into work, just to feel its bark, to feel the peace that comes from holding onto or being by trees. It worked again as it always does, a sense of peace and belonging flowed over me as I held onto that beautiful tree. I looked up into the spring green leaves and at the big blue sky and felt renewed and wonderfully peaceful. This picture in no was captures the amazingly beauty of looking up into the leaves of a tree but it's a try and I do enjoy the simple spring colors. It will also remind me to hold onto trees and look up into their beautiful leaves much more often.