Illustration Friday: wrinkles

This is Rothschild and he is an English bulldog. He is my Aunt Hattie's dog and I included him in one of my paintings for my HomeMade calendar. He has a brindle coat with lots of wrinkles and we think he is beautiful. Rothy is my submission for Illustration Friday's "wrinkles" theme.

p.s. below is an x-rated shot of Rothy, I know this might embarrass him but it is hilarious! He is happy to see his Mom.

Illustration Friday: Primitive

Flaming "O"'s are a primitive tribe of birds known to love a good show tune. "Flamingo Follies", my submission for Illustration Friday's Primitive theme.

sorry for the fuzzy pix, this painting is large and behind plexi-glass.

Illustration Friday: Fail

When you paint happy pictures you generally don't have a lot of pieces that pertain to "fail "so I can only reflect on my own failures and there have been a few. Some are too personal and painful but the sting from this project has long dissipated. I talked about this in a post quite a while back and submitted a different illustration because I had to come up with several illustrations in a 24 hr. period. This illo was for Celine Dion when she got her gig in Las Vegas and was securing art for merchandise in her gift store at Caesar's Palace. This was something I thought she might like as she was a new mom, so I put a little boy in it and my goal was to create these vintage-like-Vogue-like covers that would emulate her and her passion for fashion. Obviously different from my usual fare, but the good part was she really liked them and I received an email telling me so. It was a very long drawn out affair and after a certain point I took a pass. It was good to know I could still stay up all night and crank out some art. For Illustration Friday's "Fail" theme

click on image for a closer view..

Illustration Friday: Save

Some of my time is spent painting "Houscapes" portraits of private homes. A few years ago a woman came to my studio tour and she asked me to paint her home. She lives in Malibu in a gypsy wagon and a tent with her two dogs. This was not just any old gypsy wagon, this is one that was used in the original "Dr. Dolittle" movie starring Rex Harrison. It came from England, when the movie rapped and it was no longer needed a family brought it to their property out in Malibu and felt it was worth saving. The lady I did the painting for has been living in this wagon for 25+ years. She is an amazing person, living simply, she works with Martin Sheen and has been arrested over 100 times for protesting nuclear armaments to help "save" the planet. The area she lives in is absolute paradise. Bob Dylan lives next door and he has a gypsy wagon too. I loved painting this for her and it was a way to "save" the memories and to commemorate the anniversary of her 25 years living there. As a young girl I read all of Hugh Lofting's books and they always transported me to a wonderful place. This is my submission for Illustration Friday's "Save" theme.