These stand alone illustrations are the products of my excited whimsy and imagination, in addition to the cumulation of all the stories I want to tell but don’t have the discipline to sit down and write.
Enjoy.
The last fish of the feast
This piece was a turning point for me that I often look back on and think about all the people who peaked in high school and how my version of that is this piece. Which, in the strictest sense, is entirely untrue. I got burnt out in college and am now functioning at 20% capacity, so I’ll out do myself eventually.
I love this drawing. I had a completely different story in mind going into this piece. I wanted to draw a grand coronation of a bear overlord witnessed by different kingdoms across the bear world. But I was captivated by brown bears in kilts and then this piece was born.
$20 for 9”x12” prints.
First place winner in the illustration category of Pensacola Christian College’s Commencement Art Competition.
Road trip
Road Trip was born out of frustration. I was in the middle of illustrating my first children’s book and had hit a wall. I needed freedom, a change of pace, a different color scheme, era, world, story. Everything and anything was clawing its way out of my head and I needed to let it out somehow.
My solution? I drew a funky bird thing with a camel saddle, Inking directly onto my sketch and free handed the entire fore and background with a dip pen. No sketches. Only desperation and excess energy.
$20 for 9”x12” prints
The Creation of donut.
This piece was the second or third illustration I attempted immediately after I graduated college. I was completely burnt out, recouping from a double lung infection, and desperate to like something I made. I was contemplating abandoning all notions of artwork with deep, rich contrast and chiaroscuro (a fancy art term for having shadows with blendy edges.) In some ways I have abandoned those ideals that drove my decisions for my earlier works; however, I still look at them with longing like one looks at a favorite cookie recipe that takes 2 weeks to make. It won’t happen anytime soon, but eventually.
All that being said, I do really like this piece. The movement, shapes, colors, and contrast really tickle my fancy. *Chef’s kiss.* I can see how I got into Lino printing not too far after this. It also touches on a story I tried writing long ago and still return to every once in a while.
Grandma loo
This was a fun piece. I made this a month or two after “The Creation of Donut” piece. I was sitting through an especially boring Wednesday night church service after work. For context, I had drank a cup of coffee, a Diet Coke, and a giant big gulp of diet Dr Pepper from a gas station. That was apparently too much caffeine. Both my legs were bouncing, I was mentally debating the pastor, his sermon, Bible reference choices, and his outfit, when something smacked my left leg. My boyfriend had graciously given me his notebook and a pen. I furiously scribbled out three illustrations, including the concept for this one.
It is around 4”x5”? I have no idea. I kind of just cut up a piece of paper to a size I was happy with and ran with it.
Mrs Maisel and Daisy vs the six eyed beast
I made this after I got my tonsils out and was on pain meds. I have no IDEA how people can get hooked on opioids. I gave up taking them early and dealt with the pain because I nearly gave up the will to live. On the plus side, this illustration was a lot of fun to draw. It is based off of a story I work on on and off about two elderly heroes called in from retirement to deal with the big bad enemy who they thought they had defeated, but *DUN DUN DUUUUH* he lived.
This is a 9”x12” water color and India ink illustration.