Red-Eared Pond Sliders

Poster created in Photoshop and Illustrator featuring my own acrylic paintings. 

Dog Portrait

This past this week I worked on a commissioned dog portrait of cute little Bailey. I documented the whole process from sketch to final product. It is acrylic on a 30" x 24" canvas.

Belmont Community Art Show

This past weekend I had a great time participating in the Belmont Community Art Show at Christ the King School. I really enjoyed meeting the other artists, learning about their career paths, and hearing the stories behind their wonderful artwork. I got a lot of feedback that will help me in both my creative process and my professionalism - I'm looking forward to future shows!

 My booth for the weekend.

I had some great visitors, including my friend Gloria :)

 

Wood-burned painting of Christ the King Church

Frogs and Toads

I've been illustrating all kinds of TN wildlife again, and along the way I've learned the differences between frogs and toads.  I have illustrated one of each:

American Toad

 watercolor

(for those interested.....)

Frogs:

• Need to live near water
• Have smooth, moist skin that makes them look “slimy”.
• Have a narrow body 
• Have higher, rounder, bulgier eyes
• Have longer hind legs 
• Belong to the family Ranidae
• Have many predators

Toads:

• Do not need to live near water to survive
• Have rough, dry, bumpy skin
• Have a wider body
• Have lower, football shaped eyes
• Have shorter, less powerful hind legs
• Belong to the family Bufonidae
• Do not have many predators.  Toad’s skin lets out a bitter taste and smell that burns the eyes and nostrils of its predators, much like a skunk does.
  
   

Illustrating in Illustrator

These past two weeks I have been playing around with Adobe Illustrator and a Bamboo drawing tablet. My project has been a Great Blue Heron, continuing my work illustrating different Tennessee wildlife.

Starting up the blog again

It's been a few years since I have updated this blog, but I'm excited to keep a better record of the art I have been making. Since graduating in the spring of 2013, I have been pursuing art as a career, painting and drawing on a daily basis.

One of my goals is to grow in the skills of scientific illustration. I created lots of detailed illustration of all kinds of birds and variety of TN wildlife. Here are some of the highlights:

Male and Female Cardinals

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Great Horned Owl

Song Sparrow

TN Plant life