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.

Illustration Friday - SACRIFICE

I struggled with this week's theme, and finally found this quote by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Stanton was a pioneer of women's rights in the United States, and worked with Susan B. Anthony to gain voting rights for women. They founded the National Woman Suffrage Association and Stanton served as president.

While Stanton is best known for her long contribution to the woman suffrage struggle, she was also active and effective in winning property rights for married women, equal guardianship of children, and liberalized divorce laws so that women could leave marriages that were often abusive of the wife, the children, and the economic health of the family.

Information from womenshistory.about.com

Black Micron pens and colored pencil.

Illustration Friday - SKYLINE

A travel poster for a fictional airline.

Micron pen, colored pencil and Photoshop.

Illustration Friday ~ STICKY and Inspire Me Thursday ~ Body Parts

A little patriotic color for the day....Happy 4th!

Adobe Illustrator.

Inspire Me Thursday ~ In Good Time

This was actually a challenge for me. While drawing I tend to get lost in the details, and before I know it, MANY hours have passed. This took about 45 minutes from sketch to final.

Happy Summer, everyone!

Yellow Pitt Artist pen, black Micron pen and Prismacolor pencils

Illustration Friday DANCE

Wow, there are almost as many types of dances as there are cakes! Anyone else have a difficult time narrowing it down this week? Well, I finally chose the Lindy Hop, one of the earliest forms of swing dancing.

Created in Adobe Illustrator.

The Letter D & Inspire Me Thursday ~ Show and Tell Art

Here is the next in my letters series, the letter "D."

Colored pencils and Micron pens.

Illustration Friday - JUNGLE

I've been into patterns lately, and what more unique and fun patterns are there than those of jungle animals?!

Colored pencil and black Micron pens.

Illustration Friday - PORTRAIT

This is my great grandmother, Lena Worrell, at her quilting table. She was incredibly skilled at fabric arts, and taught me how to crochet and do needlework. My mother claims that my attention to and patience for detail came from spending time with "Granny," who always encouraged my creativity.

Ebony pencil, colored pencils and Micron pens.

CAKE and Inspire Me Thursday ~ Word Art

When I saw "Cake" as this week's topic, I thought about just how many different types of cakes there are, and felt drawing just one kind wouldn't be too exciting. So I tried to come up with a way to incorporate multiple cakes, and wound up not drawing even one (unless you count the one being made).

Thanks to Carla at Anonyrrie for giving me the idea to use this illustration for both "Cake" and Inspire Me Thursday's "Word Art" challenge. More often than not, I incorporate typography/lettering into my designs, and it seemed appropriate that I participate.

Colored pencils and Micron pens.

The Letter C

Working my way through the alphabet...

Illustration Friday - SORRY

I just went with the first thing that came to mind...

Microns and colored pencils.

Illustration Friday - Angels & Devils

Micron pens, watercolor pencils and colored pencils.

The Letter B

I am fascinated with textile patterns, particularly those of Navajo blankets. I love the three-dimensional quality of the graphics, so I decided to have some fun with this "B."

Micron pens and colored pencils.

The Letter A

I had a couple of requests for an "A" (plus it rounds out my own initials), so here it is...

Micron pens and colored pencils.

Illustration Friday - UNDER THE SEA

This drawing evolved from a sketch I did about two years ago. Originally, this was the "Aloha Dance." For this week's Illustration Friday theme, I blatantly ripped off the name of the dance in "Back to the Future." I couldn't resist!

Unfortunately, since the original is 17" wide, the scan is showing up really small when I post it (even when I click for a larger version), so I'm including some detail shots. If anyone knows how to get larger (or wider) posts to come out close to the real size on Blogger, I'm interested to know how it's done.

Micron pens and colored pencils.

Illustration Friday - ROBOT

"As soon as she laid eyes on her Luvonline.com date, Jennifer could see that his profile had been greatly exaggerated."

Adobe Illustrator.

ANOTHER Z

While thumbing through old sketchbooks, I recently found this "Z" that I drew about 5 years ago.

Micron pens and colored pencils.

Illustration Friday - SPOTTED

I think I was looking for an excuse to doodle this week...or making a new "Z" for my logo? Either way, this was a fun topic.

Micron pens, brush pens and colored pencils.

Illustration Friday - SPEED

Baseball season is well underway, and I thought the record for pitching speed would make a decent entry this week.

I mostly used Adobe Illustrator to create this illustration.

Illustration Friday - SPRING

Happy Spring!

Watercolors, marker (outlines), Uniball pen (Microns don't like to write on watercolor paper!) and colored pencil on Arches paper.

Illustration Friday - FEET

©2019 Amy Zaleski
PLEASE CREDIT OR LINK WHEN POSTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

PRINTS AVAILABLE HERE
https://invitationsinkstudio.bigcartel.com

Reflexology is the practice of stimulating points on the feet, hands, or ears, in the hopes that it will have a beneficial effect on some other parts of the body, or will improve general health. The most common form is foot reflexology, in which the reflexologist applies pressure to points on a person's foot. The foot is believed by practitioners and participants to be divided into a number of reflex zones corresponding to all parts of the body.

Illustration Friday - TATTOO

As far as tattoos go, the old pin-up style is one of my favorites. Here's a pin-up design with a modern surfer girl twist.

Created in Adobe Illustrator.

Illustration Friday - INSECT

Maybe I still have tea on the brain...

Here is a fictional honey label I created using Adobe Illustrator.

Illustration Friday - TEA

I was happy to see "Tea" as the topic, and I had lots of ideas. However, I kept coming back to the same idea: my morning tea ritual with my cat, Maggie.

Created in Adobe Illustrator.