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.

Illustration Friday: homage

My submission for Illustration Friday's "homage" is one of my Marisol greeting cards for "Dinner at my place". A homage to the simple pleasures of life: Home pride and being House proud.

Illustration Friday: pet peeves

Most of my pet peeves center on nature vs. development. I don't go along with the idea that every piece of land needs to be owned and developed. I love buildings and homes but the idea of ownership gets blurred. We are custodians of land that we should nurture and love. The animals are getting pushed out, the bees are having problems and yet we continue to develop. I know the animals adapt somewhat (Hawks living in Cental Park) but as I hear them each day calling out to each other I am grateful they have a place to fly, swoop, mate and teach their young. Topanga State Park and Will Rogers State Park are threatened with closures for lack of funds. This is a small dimensional painting I made quite a long time ago "Night Hawk 2" and it is my submission for Illustration Friday's "pet peeves".

Illustration Friday: "Heavy"

My submission for Illustration Friday's "Heavy" is a work in progress. It has a little attic room that goes with it, but I am just showing this closet today. I plan on making it look old and antiqued in the end. It looks like it might be a heavy piece of furniture but as you can see it is light and fits in the palm of my hand! I will repost when this whole project is done.

Happy Birthday to the best sister a girl could have! I love you Dee Dee xoxo

Illustration Friday: garden

Pardon me while I work, but help yourself to the garden out in back. That is how life is sometimes, to busy to enjoy the garden... My submission for Illustration Friday's "garden" is a greeting card for Marisol to be used for "Some help around the house". It was deemed to dark and was rejected but they had to pay me anyway.

Illustration Friday: Leap

My submission for Illustration Friday's "Leap" is from one of my Marisol Greeting Cards and it stems from my having worked in an office when I was younger. It takes a leap to live as an artist and believe in yourself.

Illustration Friday: Multiple

My submission for Illustration Friday's "Multiple" is a dimensional painting called "The dish ran away with the spoon" and deals nicely with the subject of multiple dwellings. I have constructed the kitchen idea a few times and each is slightly different. One version was called "Sinkronicity" and was part of a show called "Five Easy Pieces". I love making kitchens and scenes that require furniture. It is made from wood, foamboard, salt, string, clay, acrylic paints and resin. Happy Illustration Friday everyone!

Illustration Friday: theory

Thank you to everyone that watched the "Home" video and to all the wonderful people that left such nice comments, it means so much to me and David Tobocman! I really love the song a lot because it is so hearfelt. If you missed it you can catch it at the bottom of this post. Today for Illustration Friday's "theory" my submission reflects that according to the theory of Chinese Feng Shui, there are 8 types of auspicious houses that can give people solid financial status, harmonious family relationships, good public relationships and happy marriage status. Tea house and cup made from clay and glazes.

Illustration Friday: "choose"

Most of the time I seem to choose the right illustration to post for Illustration Friday. I think the person who was decorating this room couldn't decide what to put in these frames, so many choices! But I do choose to unveil this youtube by my good friend, musician David Tobocman featuring my artwork. You can see the video here. Enjoy!

Illustration Friday: Tales and Legends

"Venetian Nite" is my submission for Illustration Friday's "Tales and Legends". It is a dimensional painting I made for a friend that I traveled with in Italy. This is a scene from Venice. We rode in a gondola every night so I have many impressions of the buildings in the water at night. Many Tales and Legends have been written and told about the beauty, charm and intrigue in Venice.

Illustration Friday: "plain"

I started delving into the idea of "Automaton" or kinetic sculpture a few years ago. I read a lot about it and admire some incredibly talented artists including my friend Rick Davis who helps me figure out how to translate the idea of movement in some of my dimensional pieces. This combines two things I find interesting, making art from paper and using foamboard instead of wood so that I can really tweak the shape.and maintain my style as well as making it function. This house looks plain at the moment but soon it will be filled with colour and whimsy. In the back I have little wooden parts combined with some screws and washers that make a panel move up and down so it will look as though the windows are winking at you. This year I plan on making more so that when you turn the cranks the door opens, shutters wave and windows blink. I will repost this once I add the architectural details, paint and resin. Plain for now but filled with light soon.

Illustration Friday: "stitch"

My submission for Illustration Friday's "stitch" is one of the little closets I made for the owners of Fred Segal Fun. I used wood, foamcore, wood dowels, acrylic paint and resin for the body of the closets. I made little dresses that I stitched by hand, little felt purses and wraps that I embroidered, hats and shoeboxes made from stonehenge paper, hangers made from floral wire and a cat made from clay. I love to sew and would like to make time to stitch up a few more things.

Illustration Friday: 100%

100 percent Prismacolor pencil for Illustration Friday's "100 %" theme. This is cute, it will be a diecut and when you turn one of the corners of the lawn it stands up as a decoration or place holder. I will post it again once it's been printed and cut. 100% home too.

Illustration Friday: soar

This image is a constant theme in my work and I have painted it many ways,colours, in different mediums, sizes and dimensionally sculpted it too.This version is from my personal stationary except my letterhead would be inserted in the sky. The unfinished illustration below would be perfect for the Illustration Friday's topic "soar" but it keeps getting set aside for more pressing work. Hopefully one day I will see it as I do in my mind in a children's book form titled "Flying Home". That would make my heart soar!


I hope everyone has a fun,safe and very Happy New Year!!!

Illustration Friday: horizon

This submission for Illustration Friday's "horizon" is a diecut gift tag that doubles as a decoration. I enjoy shades of lavendar and purple for the holidays ***

I received an early holiday gift of more time with my dog Rat. On November 28 he seemed unwell. As soon as my vet heard his breathing he said Rat was experiencing heart failure. We rushed him to City of Angels Vet hospital and they told me he probably would not live. The next night my vet called and thought I should put him down. It all happened so fast that we told them we wanted him to stay one more night. The next morning, December 1st we went to visit him and he was stable and able to come home. They saved his life with Viagra! He has born with a lung disease and it caused the right side of his heart to overwork and enlarge. It's called Pulmonary Hypertension. Viagra was developed for the heart and of course a bonus side effect was discovered... but now he takes this medicine and it has given him a second chance at life and the greatest gift for us!

Hope and happiness are on the horizon... Happy Holidays everyone!

Rat and Val 12/20/2007.

Picture of Baby Rat.8/27/1995

Illustration Friday: backwards

Some folks like the bright lights, big city. nightclubs and swanky eateries. Call me backwards, but I love a small town any day. My submission for Illustration Friday's "backwards" prompt.

My Scribbleguild group is sending out a winter mailer and this is the image I made for the project. Acrylic on Canson Airbrush paper. Please click on image to view it larger*

Illustration Friday: Little Things

Here is my submission for Illustration Friday's "Little Things" prompt. It is a little painting 2.5" x 3.5 titled "First Snow". It is a little child standing in the doorway watching the first little flakes fall. It really is the "Little Things" in life that help us understand what's important.
A few of my friends asked me to put some gifts in my Etsy shop for the holidays. I used to be big time into gift making. When I was 19 (29 years ago) I started my own hand printed greeting card business here in Topanga. I would silkscreen in my studio, a limit of 3 colours and I would hand deliver, wrapped with a ribbon in a paper bag. I had tons of takers, they were all wonderful people and all of their friends would hope to receive one of my cards. They were printed on hand made paper, limited and signed editions. It was a unique little business that made people happy at the holidays.