Follow Along on Instagram
 
Took a break from doing portraits (seriously friends, I’ve done soooooo many that have ended up in the bin) to paint this guy. We drove by a lonely looking lion statue in the snow awhile back and I’ve been wanting to draw him. This is the only thing I’ve done in quite awhile that feels even remotely like me, or natural in any way. I’m not sure why it’s been so hard—maybe I’m trying to force the materials too much, or I just don’t have enough space around my personal creative time right now, or both. It’s been so busy and go, go, go, for months now and I’m pretty tired most of the time, which isn’t really the best way to create. I’m trying to show up and do the work and keep hoping that somewhere in there it’ll pay off and something good that feels like me will come out. In the meantime, I’m over here going through lots of paper and paint and not even wanting to share how horrible you all end up looking when I try to paint you!
Next up is @itskamee with her beautiful spunk and fantastic glasses! I was going to do everyone in order, but have since just gone with whoever and whatever strikes me in the moment. It’s been a struggle, guys. You all are so great and I want to draw you well but it’s been hard to figure out the best way how. I’ve actually drawn several of you so far-two and three and four times over, but most of them ended up in the recycling bin. Keeping the palette minimal helped limit the number of different ways I could do Kamee’s lovely face and it helped keep me focused! Another surprise that hasn’t sped things up: I discovered not all pieces of my Ellie Pooh paper are equal thicknesses! The two I started with were abnormally thick compared to the rest, and I thought they were perfect, so I’m having to adjust.
I thought it only fitting to start this portrait project with @inandof, who inspired it all. Lindsey, when I sat down to paint you, I couldn’t get the paper mache goose you created out of my head, so I stopped trying. Perhaps you imbued her with a little of your spirit, and I had to try to capture it. (I know she doesn’t have any wings yet, but it seemed right this way.) Thank you for sharing your beautiful self with us, and allowing me to draw you!
Another quick piece on @mr.elliepooh paper, inspired by one of @mirdinara’s amazing illustrations. I’m a little behind (we’ve been spending almost every waking moment during break working on our Airstream renovation!), but I’m cooking up a fun interactive challenge for the rest ofJanuary that I’m really excited about. Stay tuned!
A quick warm up today. And happy New Year! I’ve been feeling a little dissatisfied with myself and the lack of art I’m sharing and progress I don’t feel I’ve been making in that area of my life over this past year, and had to remind myself to just do a little when I can. So here’s a start. To all you out there feeling that pressure/dissatisfaction lately: keep going. A little bit is all it takes to be moving forward. Right?
The newest addition to my Wes Anderson series! Here’s Peter from The Darjeeling Limited. I tried a new paper for this one and I absolutely love it— it’s from @mrelliepooh, a fair trade company that makes paper recycled from elephant dung. It may sound gross, but its actually such a lovely paper. This and other Wes Anderson pieces will be added to the shop soon!
I took a short break from Wes Anderson characters to do some colored pencil sketching while watching White Christmas yesterday evening! I’m very excited to see where this softer, more stylized method goes! It’s back to Wes Anderson tomorrow night for my patrons-only live drawing—I haven’t quite decided which character(s) I’ll be illustrating live while chatting away with my patrons (who often are drawing with me!), but I’m very much looking forward to an evening spent creating with friends. If you care to join us, you can hop over to my Patreon page and join any tier from $10 up before our drawing date at 5:30 eastern tomorrow! 🎨☕️
I’ve always wanted to try these and never ever have, despite the fact that they cost less than two dollars. This past year I’ve grown a lot and realized a lot of things about myself, and one of them is that I tend not to do things for myself or value my needs. While I certainly don’t *need* to try these, I want to. And that’s ok. It’s ok for me to try really cute pink food in an adorable box just because I want to. So here’s to being yourself and taking joy in little things. And sweets. There’s that too.