Special Feature on DeviantART - Love Rescue Me

I made this digital painting a little over a year ago, and today it was picked as a "Daily Deviation" on deviantART! I had received a Daily Deviation once before, and was not expecting to get another, so I was pleasantly surprised when this happened. It made me even happier that they picked this picture.

This picture was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid and the opening lyrics from a U2 song.

Love, rescue me
Come forth and speak to me
Raise me up
And don't let me fall.
- Love Rescue Me by U2

Prints of this picture are available through my print shop.

Retro Citrus

This is my first submission to Illustration Friday. The theme was "citrus". I didn't really know what to draw at first, but I had recently spent a really frustrating day trying to find a new dress for the spring and summer. Everything right now has an empire waist, which I can't stand. What I'd really like to find is a retro inspired sundress - something from the 1940s or 50s.

That thinking led to me doodling dress styles, and that sketching eventually led to this picture. It was a fun picture to draw, and I had a blast looking through old retro fashion images for inspiration.

Anyhow, this was all drawn in Photoshop with my tablet. Completed in May of 2007. This can also be viewed right here in my deviantArt gallery.

Prints of this are now available!

Shipwrecked - New Image & Prints

I finally finished my shipwrecked sailor picture. Much thanks again to AilinStock for giving permission to base my picture on this photo from their stock gallery. I drew this picture in brown pencil and then painted over it with ink washes on an 18"x24" piece of watercolor paper. Then I scanned it into my computer and painted in the rest of the colors in Photoshop. The finished picture measures 20"x30". This picture can also be seen right here in my deviantArt gallery.

Prints of this picture are now available!

Breeze - New Image & Prints

With warmer weather comes the simple pleasures of sun on your face and the wind in your hair. Perfection.

Ink on watercolor paper, with an oh-so-slight color adjustment in Photoshop.

Prints of this painting are available right here.

Watercolor Sketches

I was cleaning out old papers and artwork today and I came across some quick watercolor samples that I'd done for the children's art classes that I taught last summer. Since they're a little different from what I've been posting here, I thought they might be fun to share.


The kids liked this project a lot, and it was easy to do. You just paint on the paper, going a bit heavy on the water, and then you blow the paint and water around on the paper with a plastic straw. You can get some really neat effects that way.


Nothing too terribly exciting, just a quick watercolor sketch of the boats in the harbor. I had taken the kids over by the docks to do some outdoors painting and drawing.


This is actually ink and not watercolor. I use ink painting a lot with the pictures that I make, and I thought the kids might want to try painting with it as well. Just a simple alternative to watercolors. One of the kids wanted me to paint a pirate ship, but the paper was a little too wet so the pirate ship is a bit on the blurry side.

Lady's Profile - Sketch

Just a sketch done while I was watching a movie tonight. I like drawing profiles.

Shipwrecked - In Progress Part 2

Well, I haven't gotten much farther on the Shipwrecked picture, but at least the color scheme is worked out and the composition is fixed. It's moving a little slower than I had planned, but it'll get done eventually.

Shipwrecked - In Progress

This is my newest picture that I'm working on, inspired by some stock photography by AilinStock on deviantArt. They've given me permission to do an illustration based on one of their sailor/pirate themed photos, so a big thank you to them! And you know me, I love piratey stories and pictures. Howard Pyle is definitely also an influence here.

Anyhow, this image is measuring about 20"x24" in Photoshop but will probably end up being wider than that. I drew it in brown pencil on watercolor paper, painted over it with watered down ink, scanned it into the computer, and now I've started doing to the digital painting with my tablet and Photoshop. As you can see, I only have the very basic colors painted in at the moment, but it gives you an idea of the atmosphere that I'm going for.

In other news, this sketch blog now has a syndicated feed on LiveJournal, so if you're on LJ feel free to add this sketch blog to your friends list to stay updated. :)