Illustration Friday- Memories

The memories clung to the walls like layers of old paint.

Recently, my grandmother-in-law gave me several old photos that didn't quite make it into her photo album. Ironically, she gave me the picture of the little girl (at the bottom) because she didn't remember the girl's relationship to the family- a child of some acquaintance. The back of the picture is labeled "Alma's youngest daughter Janice 1917."

I kept wanting to add more and more to this image and finally I had to tell myself- enough, it was getting too crowded. Somehow it still seemed appropriate because some memories are like that.

Illustration Friday - Sail

I did this awhile ago for a card design. I make my own cards for family and friends. As you can see, I love working with color. One of these days I'll have to do something in monochrome or black and white..... Nah! :)

Illustration Friday- Poof!

With a wave of the wand and a poof, the magician disappeared. He was as astonished as anyone but the crowd loved the trick.

I busted this one out really fast and am hoping to get back to work on it some more. I found this vintage magic trick book online. It had great visuals and so I sketched on top of it.

Illustration Friday- Canned

I had a tough time coming up with something for canned... canned laughter, canned ham, tuna can, canning jars? Finally I settled on sardines all lined up in a can, looking all the same. But what if there was one special one?

Illustration Friday- Enough

How do the bees know when they've made the right amount of honey? They just keeping working, diligently and harmoniously to make sure that there's always enough.

Illustration Friday - Foggy

The starfish began to get worried... not only was it a frosty, foggy morn- but the good captain was blind in that eye as well.

After I did this, I was reminded of the water in "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak which I've read to the kids over and over. I don't love the story as much as I love the illustrations. It's funny how visuals can influence you and then get re-imagined.

Illustration Friday - Fierce

I tried doing some fashion-type sketches to pay homage to Christian Siriano (the winner of Project Runway who said everything was 'fierce') but they didn't turn out at all so I had to go back to Plan B - some fierce strappy, red heels! :)

Illustration Friday - Hoard

I really enjoyed this week's topic. A crow was the first thing to come to my mind. I love watching them in the backyard- they are so smart and cautious. We throw them peanuts and watch them fight it out with the Blue Jays...

For this image I scanned in a sketch and then colored it in Photoshop. I used an old collage for the background and I was trying to give it the feeling of twilight.

Illustration Friday - Punchline

"The weather is here. Wish you were beautiful."

I'd like to raise a frosty, fruity glass to the first day of summer! Yay, it's finally here!


For this image, I started out by painting the background. Next decoupaged on some tissue paper to add transparency. After drawing the drinks on vellum, I added paint and more tissue paper to the back of the vellum images and glued them onto the background. After a quick scan into the computer, I did some color tweaking and added the text and postcard elements.