Painting: Teacup

Acrylic, 16 x 16 canvas, 2008.

For me, a nice cup of tea brings me many happy thoughts.

Painting: The Little Gatekeeper

Acrylic, 16 x 16 canvas, 2008.

I like to think that this little guy protects my dreams when I'm not asleep to be near them.

Painting: I Will Protect You

Acrylic, 28 x 22 canvas, 2008.

The lighting wasn't great when we photographed this painting. It is also larger than my typical paintings. Like the others, this sat as an unfinished underpainting for months before I started adding the foreground elements, and the girl with the cat sprang out to complete the image. This painting depicts the most closely how I've been feeling lately towards my family. Happy happy!

Painting: Adorable

Mixed Media, 12 x 12 canvas, 2008.

Like many of my paintings, this one sat as an underpainting in my closet for about 6 months before I decided to add the foreground elements. My process is sometimes frustrating because it requires a lot of incubation, then sudden impulsive action. The painting asked for a leaping figure, so I happily obliged. This is one of my favourite paintings at the moment.

Painting: The Blue Roses

Mixed Media, 16 x 16 canvas, 2008.

This painting is the completed work featured in a past entry, Process 1. I added some rice paper near the bottom left, then painted in the roses and an enlarged tree. Then, I let the painting sit atop my piano for several months, deliberating whether or not it was done. A few days ago, I put my signature on it and decided that it was complete. It did not ask for anything more to be added!

Painting: In the Afternoon

Acrylic, 14 x 11 canvas, 2008.

This one had been completed about two months ago, but was sitting in my closet. It was my first time experimenting with separating layers using gloss medium. I think it makes certain elements 'pop out' from the surface.

Painting: For You

Mixed Media, 10 x 10 canvas. 2008.

(I decided to do away with the watermarks, because they were putting me off from updating this blog. Not like that's my only excuse, but it didn't help!)

Painting: The Cat's Wish

Mixed media, 16x20 canvas, 2008.

Painting: Strawberries

Mixed media, 10x10 canvas, 2008.

In Progress

Huge apologies for not updating in so long. Summer is always a busy time socially, and while I have been painting tons, I don't have much to show for it because I've just been painting layers to add depth to my pieces.
This is the state of my living room on nights when I have time to paint. I paint the large pieces on the floor, which means I wait until my 11-month-old goes to sleep. Those are her toys in the background.

I hope I have a bundle of new artwork to show you soon. They all seem to come into bloom at the same time.

Painting: The Bliss in Not Remembering

Mixed media, 10x10 canvas. 2007.

Sketches: Shiba Puppies

(We have a shiba inu and are partial to the breed.)
Out of drawing and painting mediums, I'm the least familiar with coloured pencil. Actually, pastel. But coloured pencil is a very close second-to-last.

Coloured pencil. Moleskine 3.5x5.5 sketchbook.

Drawing: Baby

My daughter at 7 months old.

Graphite, 9x12 watercolour paper

Painting: Ronin

This was a wedding gift for one of my best friends, who had been asking me to draw or paint her something for the past 13 years.

Acrylic on canvas, 18x24

Sketches

Here are some sketches from my moleskine sketchbook (3.5x5.5) this past month. I wish I had more free time to draw. (Who doesn't!)

Drawing: Tea Breakfast

Gouache and ink on watercolour paper, 12x9. 2006.

Another old one. Between paintings, I build up some momentum by doodling. I liked the way this one came out.

Process 1

I thought I might document the process of one of my paintings in progress. Lately, my work is not planned out beforehand. I work quickly and paint the elements in as they feel necessary.

For this painting, I quickly filled a 16x16 canvas with an underpainting of wet blends and spattering. At this stage I paid attention to colour balance and how I felt in the moment.

1 hour into the painting.

Once the canvas was filled, I continued to layer spatters and washes, and added several texture elements. Most of this stage was done with a round #2 brush. I stood back from the painting several times and paid attention to the balance of everything. The dark patch in the left-hand side of the canvas started to look like trees, so I brought that out.

3.5 hours into the painting.

At this point, I glazed the entire surface with gloss gel medium. I've never done that before but wanted to accentuate the 'layered' effect of this painting.

To be continued...

Painting: Untitled

Acrylic on canvas, 8x10. April, 2008.

Painting: LOL

Acrylic on 10x12 canvas, 2006.

This work is another painting I did in early 2006 as I was getting out of my year-long creative block.

Painting: Lost in Lucidity

Acrylic, 12x12. Painted in the fall of 2007.

Painting: The Signal to Start

This one was painted in the fall of '07. Acrylic on 10x10 canvas.

I think I started painting this in late '05, with just the figure, and I left it on the shelf for a very long time because I didn't know how to resolve the painting.

Painting: Untitled

Acrylic, 14x12.

After I graduated from my B.F.A. program, I stopped painting for almost a year, doubting my abilities and being very sad about my creativity in general. I think it was the effects of my schooling - the last year pushed me very hard and I graduated feeling like my paintings were stupid, trivial, and had no place in the world.

That may still be true, but after a while, I just felt like putting some paintstrokes down on something. This untitled painting was one of the first things I painted after my year-long hiatus.

Up and Running

Welcome to my shiny new sketch blog.  I hope to post creative work here once in a while.  The first several posts will likely be old artwork.  Please bear with me as I get things going!  Thank you!