Chalk Art Mural

I have been very bad about updating my site and blog– but it's not because I've been lounging at the beach with a drink in my hand....ahhhhh...that sounds nice...

What? Oh, right– I've actually had a very busy summer involving screen printed wedding invitations, freelance production work for Scholastic, illustration conferences, designing, planning, scheming and more. 

One of those "more" things has been doing chalk art for Juice Generation stores in Manhattan. Juice Generation is a mini-chain providing all natural and organic juices, smoothies and food. Btw, the Peanut Butter Split with whey protein is a super delicious lunch. Eric Helms, the man in charge, has been expanding his business with stand alone stores and with Equinox gyms, and each new store has more and more chalkboard space– which is great for me!

Check out the latest chalk art wall (apologies for the poor quality iPhone photos) I created for the brand new location inside the Equinox Soho location on Prince Street, which opened today:

Capricorn

I am a little late with this next Zodiac piece, and I blame the Christmas spirit! Actually, I did get caught up in holiday hub-bub and getting my new website in order, but hey– it's still Capricorn's time. (Don't pay any attention to that "new horoscope" nonsense.) Gotta get this one painted soon though; I wouldn't want the Capricorns to feel slighted!

Kitty Pryde Kicks Ass!

So, I haven't posted in a while, due to holiday craziness and feeling under-the-weather, but I did want to post the finished drawing for my new Kitty Pryde painting– whoo hoo! I'm super-psyched to paint this– and I've gotta do my next Zodiac piece, and another Shop Your Closet post and bake that apple crumb pie, and wrap those presents, and make those brussels sprouts...and...and...

Vive la France!Charles-François Lebœuf, Eurydice Mourante

Pierre Legros, L'Automne

View of the cat at my feet, cafe on the Mediterranean.

View of Notre Dame from the banks of the Seine.

I've been a little absent from the interwebs of late, but for a very good reason: I just went on an amazing trip to France with my husband! A friend of ours currently has an address in the City of Lights and she and her boyfriend generously offered us an air-mattress, maps, milk & cookies and their company during our visit. Of course, when traveling things don't always go according to plan, which is part of the adventure. My husband and I had grand plans for doing lots of artwork on this trip. We packed sketchbooks, pencil cases, new watercolor moleskin pads, palettes and brushes. And...we barely used any of it! It was our first trip to Europe, and we definitely underestimated how tiring it would be.

After some delays (thanks, American Airlines!) we got to Paris, and got settled in at my friends' place (i.e. took up all the space in their studio apartment). We toured the city by boat ride on the Seine, saw the Eiffel Tower up close, went to the Louvre, spent a day at Versailles, wandered the Marais and visited Notre Dame over four days. Then we took a three hour train ride to Marseille, where we stayed at a little B & B on the outskirts of the city. We took it easy the first day there; then we went into the city and trekked up to the highest point (another Notre Dame) for a 360º view; the next day we hiked the calanques (large limestone fjord-like cliffs) and took a dip in the Mediterranean; then we trained it back to Paris. In Paris once again we went to the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre a second time (to sketch, finally!), saw Les Halles, did some shopping, went to Montmartre and saw Sacre Couer, grabbed macarons at the oldest Ladurée, strolled the Marais again, had a picnic on the Seine, went to a British pub and saw a real, live French bar fight, all in another four days in Paris.

In conclusion, unseasoned travelers that we are, we had a lot to learn about traveling Europe, and learn we did! For example:

• every French girl owns at least one striped shirt and loves wearing it.
• everyone does walk around carrying baguettes.
• men do say "ooh-la-la" on the street.
• most Parisiennes do have an effortless sense of style...
• and even their graffiti is neat.
• an urban public transport system actually can run on time! (and now a big F-U to the MTA)
• yes, you actually do need to make reservations for dinner before your trip...every interesting restaurant is booked every night...
• however, standard brasseries and bistros may not be exciting, but they know how to cook food well.
• unsurprisingly, New York is considered very cool...
• surprisingly, comic books and super-heroes are, too.
• the French love terrible pop music.
• everyone is friendly and helpful, as long as you are polite, too...weird, huh?

Now, back to Brooklyn living, which really is pretty cool.

Zodiac Series

One of my next projects will be a series of Zodiac pin-ups, done as vignette-style paintings. I'm doing this project for a few reasons: I love drawing and painting sexy girls with a twist, I get a kick out of the Zodiac and horoscopes (maybe because, as any of my friends or family could tell you, I am *slightly* bull-headed and I just so happen to be a Taurus) and it requires research on animals, nature and fashion.

Sounds good until I start my next musician/band illustration...will it be Peaches, of Montreal, Die Antwoord...or perhaps something a little more classic, like Springsteen, Bowie or the Clash? I dunno, but in the meantime, check your horoscope!

LOST!

LOST is actually over– I can hardly believe it! Here is a quick copic marker and pitt pen sketch in honor of the finale, which I loved. I know a lot of people probably didn't like it, but I thought is was a really beautiful goodbye to some of the most memorable characters ever on television. And of course, the story centered on Jack, who was official protector of the island only for a short time, but that short time had a huge impact. And a special note to all the complainers: please try and think of another recent piece of fiction that had you so moved, so interested and so stimulated for so long. That's extremely rare, and as a creative pro myself, I hope to achieve even a fraction of what LOST has done in the future. If the finale didn't fit your list of questions to be answered, or your specified number of fight scenes– give it a break and try writing your own perfect show! I'm going to be enjoying LOST on DVD.

Sketch Mondays!

So, I've been neglecting the blog for a bit. Busy with the yard, family, business etc. But in an effort to be more consistent with blogging, I present to you all "Sketch Mondays"! I will be posting a sketch, whether it's just pencil rough, or a more finished Copic marker & Pitt pen character study [such as Snowbird here], every Monday for sure, and hopefully in-between Mondays as well. Let me know whatcha think!
Snowbird is a Marvel comics superhero and a member of the group Alpha Flight. I grew up perusing my older brothers comics, and Alpha Flight was a book that was always around. I guess I took to Snowbird because she's a pretty girl who can turn into cool animals, like snow owls, foxes or polar bears. I just read the Wikipedia page on her and found her origin story completely convoluted (not surprising!) so I won't even try to get into it. But she is sort-of Native American, I think, so I tried to give her features a very slight Native look.

Year of the Tiger!This Sunday is Valentine's Day, but it also happens to be the Lantern Festival, the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. And it's the Year of the Tiger– and who can deny that tigers are super-cool? That's right, no one. This sketch was done with ink and copic markers.

Bringing Sexy Back......okay, I couldn't resist. Anyway, just a quick sketch I thought I'd share. I think it could definitely use some color, so I'll try and get that up soon.

My first post since becoming a wife!Well, I've tied the knot– and now I plan on posting a lot more, since I won't be consumed by wedding charts, binders, magazines and schematics anymore. Hope everyone had a great Halloween– to celebrate (late) I thought I'd do a drawing of two of my favorite characters from one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors! (That's Merv Pumpkinhead & Matthew the raven from the Sandman by Neil Gaiman, naturally.)

Traveling......I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Between watching a lot of No Reservations & Bizarre Foods, and thinking about our first trip to another country (other than the Bahamas) when we go to Costa Rica for our honeymoon– and then a few months later to Anguilla for a trip we won– I'm constantly daydreaming about traveling! I'm already planning all of our other globe-trotting adventures in my mind, and Thailand is someplace I'd love to go to. Now I've just gotta convince my fiance to come with me!

One More Time......but I didn't miss my stop this time around.

Use Your NoodleThis is a design I did for work, but it's for the employees only, not customers, so I got to be a little more crazy with it than a lot of other projects. Now doesn't that make you want to eat your noodles?

SketchesI've felt bad about not posting anything new in a while. We've been trying to get our studio in order, and it's definitely not the fun part, but it has to get done. So I decided to post some sketches I've been doing on the train to and from work. I normally like to post more finished work, so I'm kind of curious what peoples' reactions will be to rough sketches. These are all of the main character from the comic I'm working on. It's about two people who have to fight; one doesn't make it, and one does.