Art: “Just Raining”

I’m kinda proud of this one. Most of my pieces I sketch out before hand and paint around the white. This time I painted the background and freehanded the rest. I was scared the whole time, but I love the way it came out!

Acrylics on watercolor paper. Click to see the full size.

Art: “Swinging”

My new favorite piece. I highly suggest you click to view it at its full size.

Acrylics on watercolor paper

I think I’m going to make this into a much larger piece on canvas

Art: “Little Bird”

Click to view full size.

Acrylic and watercolor and micron pen 005 on watercolor paper

Today is my birthday and I’m going to spend most of it in my pajamas.

Today is my birthday. I have turned 29 years old, which means only one more year with a 2 as a prefix and then….well then my girlfriend of the same age will be going on a cruise to the Mediterranean for a little “reinvention” which is done largely with big hats and bright cocktails.
Tonight Ryan has planned a birthday party for me, of which I only know a smidgen about. Enough, pretty much, to dress properly. We’re going to a resteraunt with friends, the resteraunt I had already picked out. Since I was 21 we have gone to the same resterant for my birthday, a Japanese Steakhouse called Kobe. I love Kobe more than any other place to eat, I think. But I’ve broken tradition and this year we are going to Genji Japanese Steakhouse. I enjoyed them about the same but for a bonus they have sushi. I can get lost in a plate of sushi.

Afterwards we are going to my dear friends’ house for a birthday party, at which I have no idea who will be there or what will be done. Though I am not above playing the “It’s my birthday and I want to play Rock Band” card I’m super excited about the party because I know nothing about it except that, when asked by my husband what kind of cake I like, I told him I won’t eat any cake that’s chocolate anything. That’s all I know I won’t have.

So, for my birthday, I have a bunch of new art to post. So with no further ado, here’s the first:

Art: Doing what we know we should not

Recently I was inspired by the idea that we, day in and day out, do things that we know we should not do. It’s compulsory, we do it though we know we must not, must stop; know that it will bring is more pain than pleasure. We’re obsessed and ridiculous. We are our own menace.

I worked on four small paintings following this idea, and the four pieces are called, collectively: “Doing what we know we should not” and feature four heroines either on the cusp of, or engulfed in the aftermath of our very poor decisions. I’m slowly beginning to develop a style of my own and I’m kind of excited where it is going. I’m proud of them and I hope you enjoy their plights.

Each piece is sketched by me using Micron pens in sizes 005 and 02  and painted with Golden acrylics, both heavy body and liquid.

I highly recommend clicking on the pieces to see them at full size.

Enjoy.

“Foggy” art, last week’s Illustration Friday

Last week’s Illustration Friday that I never got posted. Oops.

Click on the picture for the full size.

Illustration Friday: “I’ve had enough.”

My friend L. has had more bad luck in the past few months than anyone I know. Probably every black cat, broken mirror, and full moon has come her way, making some emotional and mental damage nigh irreparable. And oh, she’s so sweet and soft and lovable that it nearly breaks my heart. The sorts of things that have happened could be best sellers. They really could.

So when I sat down to do this week’s Illustration Friday with the topic “enough,” I thought of her. In a few weeks she’s jetting off to grad school in a new state, a new world, a new adventure and she can (and I really do hope this) leave behind the people and things that cause the most trouble in her life. So this is dedicated to her.

It is a large piece, please click on it to see it better. It is acrylic on watercolor paper.

“I’ve had enough,” she said. “We’re flying away from all this.”

A treehouse and a little shop on a little road.

While I really got no art work done over vacation (and to be honest, very little since I got back) I do have two small pieces to share with everyone. One of them was actually finished before I left, the other was finished just today.

The first one is titled “Home Sweet Treehome” and features one of my favorite things in the whole world, the tree house. If I could, I’d move my husband and cats into one this instant. I’d climb rope ladders to my front door, oh heck yeah.

The second piece is titled “Storyville: Take 1″ I haven’t talked about it much but I am about to open my very first Etsy store. The store name is Storyville Designs and this was the first try at my new banner. Unfortunately it really wasn’t a good scale for the banner so now it is just a pretty nice piece of watercolor painting. The second attempt is coming along at a better scale and will work wonderfully as the store front (both figuratively and literally. ha!) If you look very closely, you can even see my store sign in the painting.

Both of these paintings are done with watercolor and “Home Sweet Treehome” has a little Sakura Micron Pen in there for good measure.

Both are copyrighted by me, S.L.Wiegert 2008. Please do not copy, steal, borrow, or destroy. I do not have a problem with people sharing it (like on their blogs) so long as I get total credit and a link back to this site. Don’t steal, be inspired! Create your own!

IF: “Escape!”

This week’s Illustration Friday (IF) topic is “Heavy.” I was so excited about “Garden Party” last week and those awesome little insects, I decided they needed to make another appearance.

“Escape!” is about every insects worst nightmare- the torrential appearance of water. Whether it is a small drop to us or an avalanche of a garden hose unattended, every water hole is a potential doomsday for the garden folk. Here, the group flies to safety with

the strength of the ladybug, the tenacity of the ants and the inventiveness of the caterpillar. Who knew bugs could be so handy? He’s a modern Inspector Gadget, that one.

My only complaint was that the background scanned in a weird dark gray instead of the light green I painted it. No idea why but attempts to fix it were met with failure. Ah well. Now it sort of looks like the rain showers haven’t passed yet, and danger still looms.So it works!

We are going to the house, “But who lives there?” Isn’t that always the question?

I’ve been working on some special art projects lately and have neglected my watercolor journal. This little piece actually took me several days. I’m starting to branch out and am even opening up an Etsy store soon. The pieces I’ve been working on to sell are very nice and I like them very much, but I feel that they are missing something. More on this later.

I really love the colors in this piece. Most of it was done freehand, which is something I almost never do out of terror. I like the roundness and the simplicity and yet the colors are incredible. It makes me want to tell a story. maybe I will!

If you could paint a story, would it be for children? Adults? I always thought I’d like to do a Pop-up book.