Textures

As the daughter of a computer engineer, I grew up around a lot of computers.  I loved drawing on the computer with a mouse as a kid, because it made me feel really cool (in that "budding art geek" sort of way.)  But, as my training as an artist developed, I realized that I also have a strong love of tactile materials in art.  While I admired ultra-polished digital art, I also swooned over canvas paintings that were thick with paint, texture, and collage elements.

I think my current style is starting to reflect both of these two admirations.  I love Painter 11 on my Mac for its versatility as a digital tool, but also for its enormous library of simulated art materials (especially the pastels!).  In my latest work I have been creating textures with traditional paint mediums, then scanning them and incorporating those textures into my digital pieces.

For example, this is the texture I created for the cereal O's for my "IF: Rescue" piece:

  
And this is the earth texture for "IF: Subterranean":

I love painting these textures and have a few that I did "just for fun", like this one:

Happy painting, everyone!

IF: Dip

I thought I'd post the sketch this week. The girl was angrier in the sketch but I decided that realistically, she would be a little envious of her little brother, so I softened her expression in the finished piece.  I doodled the sketch directly in Painter (using a baby blue canvas) and worked directly over the sketch to make the finished painting.