The Letter I and Illustration Friday ~ I SPY

I hope it's not too much of a stretch to double another letter posting with this week's Illustration Friday challenge, "I Spy." This pattern is based on traditional American quilt blocks.

Colored pencils.

The Letter H

Here is the latest letter in my alphabet. An "I" is in the works - check very soon for that.

Micron pens, colored pencils, watercolor pencils.

Illustration Friday ~ COMMUNICATION

Here is something I did for a book project...This young lady is learning the power of communication through the written word - something that seems to be falling by the wayside in the age of email.

Adobe Illustrator.

Valentine

I designed this for Valentine's Day but never posted it. I think it would be a nice pairing with my "Peace" entry for Illustration Friday.

Micron pens, gel pens, colored pencils and watercolor pencils.

Illustration Friday ~ GRAVITY

A quick pen and ink drawing for this week's challenge. Background color added in Photoshop.

Illustration Friday ~ RED

An early Valentine wish...created with numerous pens, watercolors, and red wine. Cheers!

Illustration Friday ~ Super Hero

This illustration is part of an unpublished book teaching pre-teenage girls the lessons of self-esteem.

Adobe Illustrator.

The Letter G

It's been awhile since I posted a new letter in my series. This pattern was inspired by traditional henna designs, which I also used for my "Peace" post a few weeks back.

Micron pens, Pitt Artist pens, watercolor pencils, and colored pencils.

Illustration Friday ~ BUZZ

Not a bee, but bee colors...
:-) Drawn in my sketchbook using lotsa different pens.

Illustration Friday ~ PEACE

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, peaceful 2007!

Micron pens and colored pencils.

Illustration Friday ~ HELP

I have been doing pro-bono work for the Jersey Shore Animal Center for over three years. In addition to their newsletter, I also design pieces for fundraisers, including this program cover for a wine tasting benefit. I'm always glad I can use my skills to help homeless animals.

Colored pencil drawing with digital type and background.

Illustration Friday ~ MASK

Here is an oldie created for a book project. Just a reminder to everyone to make some relaxing time for yourselves this holiday season!

Adobe Illustrator.

Illustration Friday ~ MIGHT

I completely missed the deadline on this one, but the drawing was finished a couple of days ago. So here it is...for "Might," a great quote by Satchel Paige. Drawn in my sketchbook with Micron pens, Gel markers and colored pencils.

Illustration Friday ~ INVENTION

The first mechanical slot machine was the Liberty Bell, invented in 1895 by Charles Fey, a San Francisco car mechanic. Fey's slot machine had three spinning reels, with diamonds, spades, hearts and one cracked Liberty Bell painted around each reel. Three bells in a row produced the biggest payoff, a grand total of fifty cents or ten nickels. The original Liberty Bell slot machine can be found at the Liberty Belle Saloon & Restaurant on 4250 S. Virginia, Reno Nevada. Source "Mark Pilarski's Gambling Column"

Adobe Illustrator. Information from inventors.about.com

Illustration Friday ~ CLEAR

"Spring Lake"

Watercolor.

Illustration Friday ~ SMOKE

What a terrific topic this week with lots of possibilities! I chose the route of a label for a made-up pipe tobacco brand.

Created in Adobe Illustrator.

Illustration Friday ~ GHOST

"O Death, rock me asleep, Bring me to quiet rest, Let pass my weary guiltless ghost Out of my careful breast."

Once I found this Anne Boleyn quote for "Ghost," the rest sort of fell into place. Anne was notorious not only for being Queen Consort of King Henry VIII (and mother of Queen Elizabeth I), but also for her beheading on charges of adultery and treason on 19 May 1536. Once I nailed down this concept for my "Ghost" entry, it all felt creepy and very Halloween-appropriate.

Anne's ghost was created with Micron pens and colored pencils.

Illustration Friday - SMITTEN

From Berlitz Publishing's "Hide This Spanish/French/Italian Book" series. The only one not smitten is the girlfriend at the table. I think she's quite annoyed.

Illustration Friday - QUIET

For all of you who find solace in needle and thread....

Number two pencil with color added in Photoshop.

Illustration Friday - PHOBIA

I'm wondering if anyone else was as surprised as I was to find SO many named phobias....wow! This was actually a pretty educational topic. Lots of phobias from which to derive an idea for this week's challenge, but I was fascinated by color phobias. So intrigued that I took the secondary color wheel and made those color phobias my art. Simple, I know, but I tried to make it a little more interesting with some lettering.

CHLOROPHOBIA = fear of the color green
XANTHOPHOBIA = fear of the color yellow
CHRYSOPHOBIA = fear of the color orange
RHODOPHOBIA = fear of the color red
PORPHYROPHOBIA = fear of the color purple
CYANOPHOBIA = fear of the color blue

There is also, not included in my art:
LEUKOPHOBIA = fear of the color white
MELANOPHOBIA = fear of the color black

Adobe Illustrator

Illustration Friday - CHANGE

This Saturday is the Autumn Equinox, when the sun crosses the equator, causing day and night to be of equal length. This day marks the coming of winter, when days are shorter and nights are longer. The Equinox is a symbol of balance, but also one of change.

On a somewhat related note, I found this quote about change, which I like very much:

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."
~ Anatole France


Created using Adobe Illustrator.

The Letter F

The alphabet continues....

Micron pens, watercolor pencils, colored pencils.

Illustration Friday - FARM

This is a watercolor painting of a farm in southwestern Virginia. For many years, my grandparents had their own small farm just a few miles from this one. When my grandfather passed away five years ago, I returned to Virginia and took my camera to capture the beauty of the rural area. This is one of the farms that I photographed. I thought the sign was especially neat, and had a lot of fun painting it and the barn.

Illustration Friday - SAFE

I always thought that Joeys had a neat way to travel...and a safe place to hang out.

Watercolor pencils, colored pencils and Micron pens.

Inspire Me Thursday ~ Paints

Inspire Me Thursday's challenge this week was "Paints." This is part of a flower series I'm working on. I know several people who garden, quite successfully (I'm not one of them: I'm afraid I've a black thumb), and I'm photographing and painting their beautiful flowers.

Watercolors.

Illustration Friday - RUN

This was a t-shirt design for a 5K Run Walk to benefit the Delaware-based Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research. All of the birds represented here were native to the tri-state (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey) area. I love doing work for non-profit agencies. I usually have creative freedom which makes the projects more fun, if you ask me!

Adobe Illustrator.

Tri-State Bird Rescue is a wonderful organization marking its 30 year anniversary. For more information, take a look at their website:

Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research

Illustration Friday - PLAY

This illustration of Robert Johnson playing guitar is part of a much larger project of mine that's been on the backburner for quite some time now. Someday I hope to finish the entire project, but for now it's still on hold. Oh well....that's what I get for having too many open projects at once!

Robert Johnson was an influential Mississippi blues singer and songwriter who supposedly sold his soul to Satan "at the crossroads" in exchange for his remarkable talent on the guitar. Born and raised in Mississippi, he started playing blues guitar in the late 1920s. His wife and child died in childbirth around 1930 and he is said to have devoted himself to the guitar. Part of the crossroads story stems from a report that he dropped out of sight for a while in the early 1930s and returned a much-improved guitarist. In 1936-37 he recorded at least 29 songs in Texas (San Antonio and Dallas), then returned to Mississippi to play and sing in clubs and bars. His mysterious death at the age of 27 added to the legend: on the night of 13 August 1938 something happened to Johnson in a bar in Greenwood, Mississippi and he died three days later. Maybe he was stabbed, maybe he was poisoned or maybe the devil collected on his debt -- nobody knows for sure. In 1986 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence, and his songs have been covered by several rock stars, including Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones. His songs include "Crossroad Blues," "Me and the Devil Blues" and "Terraplane Blues."

Robert Johson information from Answers.com.

Colored pencil drawing.

The Letter E

It's been awhile since I posted a letter for my alphabet. I just finished this "E" which was inspired by a Mexican tile table on my porch.

Watercolor pencils, Micron pens and colored pencils.

Illustration Friday - CAPTURE

Chameleons, along with being able to adapt and blend with their environments, also have long, sticky tongues with which they capture their prey. This can happen at up to 16 feet per second. Yikes!

Mostly played around this week, and experimented with ink, watercolors, gouache and Photoshop.

Illustration Friday - CLEAN

This is a T-shirt design I did ten years ago for Delmarva's annual Coastal Cleanup. Volunteers receive a shirt when they help clean up the waterways around the DELaware MARyland VirginiA peninsula. I created the "fishy" font for the shirt itself.

Adobe Illustrator.