"Over Dinner - WV" - Marker & Colored Pencil Drawing.

Marker & colored pencil on marker paper.

Paper Size: 5" x 5"

Image Size: 4" x 4"

Exposure Therapy - Photos & An Update.

Like a lot of people, I'm afraid of spiders. As in, if I were to spot one in the car with me while driving, I'd likely kill myself and who knows who else trying to get away from it. So, we've done what any bug fearin' people would do: we bought a house in the country.

I've seen some things out there...Things that have literally haunted my dreams at night. Spiders shouldn't be allowed to get so big. That being said, after seeing wolf spiders the size of baseballs (I could seriously see the glare off of its eyes from across the shed), the smaller, more delicate fellas are starting to seem pretty harmless. Also, taking some time to do a little research alleviated some of my fears in regards to which ones could actually be a danger.

Renovations are underway and the to-do list is ever-increasing. Two solid weeks of noobish diy'ing has wreaked havoc on my body. I have to give kudos to my dad for being a contractor all of his life and not complaining 24/7 about how bad his back surely hurt. (Side note: Happy Father's Day to my bitchin' dad! I wish you were closer in proximity so that you could teach me to be less of a noob when it comes to home repairs).

Needless to say, I haven't had much time to work on anything; I've barely had time to sleep, let alone paint (unless you count kitchen cabinets). I don't want to torture everyone with photos of countless patched and unfinished walls, so here are a few non-construction photos from the last couple of weeks.

I'll share more over at the Flickr page.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Mixed media portrait + a bit of news.

Things have been super busy lately, and I've found myself in the midst of several unfinished pieces. I was finally able to wrap up this little portrait last night. I started with graphite to create a fairly refined drawing and then went in with layers of watercolor after spraying with fixative. It is 8" x 10" in size on Rives BFK.

I promise I have a good excuse for the infrequency of posts in the last month and the big news is that we've bought a house! We started renovations last week and hope to be moved out to the country sometime in the next month. In the meantime, everything is in limbo. We're mostly packed up at our current home, but have quite a bit of work ahead of us at the new place, both indoors and out. Maintaining acreage is going to be quite different than the apartment life Sean and I are both used to living.

That being said, we're super excited to be officially starting our lives together in a new home. As things start to settle down and we settle in, I'm sure there will be plenty to post about (I can't wait to set up my new studio space!).

More Brush Pen Goodness.

Another illustration in progress. Brush pen on Rives BFK.

"This & That - NC" - Marker & Pencil Illustration.

I've had a few photographs of this wall hanging around for a couple of years now, so I thought I'd give drawing it a go. Those little bricks were murder.

I like the color choices, but I feel like the details could have turned out a little smoother.

Marker & colored pencil on marker paper.

4" x 4" with a 1/2" border.

Mixed Media Portrait.

I've been working on this drawing/painting off and on for quite a while now as a surprise for a friend, but couldn't decide if it was finished or not. Now that I've taken some time away from it, I'm going to go ahead and call it done. As you may recall from previous posts, this started out as a pencil drawing. Afterwards, it received a dose of fixative followed by glazes of acrylic. I topped it all off with colored pencil. I would have liked the white highlights to pop a little more, but at least it was a lesson in process for next time.

11" x 14" on Rives BFK.

Portrait Photography - Willow Sage.

Little Willow is the new addition to my boyfriend's family, and he is quite the proud uncle. Lucky for me, this gives me the opportunity to gain a little more experience when it comes to photography.

You can check out additional photos from this session over at my Flickr account. Thanks for looking!