Handmade Picture Books

Well, as promised in my previous post, here are the hand made picture books I made for my opening at Villa Maria College.  They are board book style, so small and chunky for little hands to love!  I printed the original art out on giclee quality rag paper and then adhered them to the boards and assembled them into a book.  For my first try it wasn't bad, but I want to try and improve my process.  So here are some images of the books themselves and also a few pictures of the art.  I won't show it all here because then you'll have incentive to come and visit my studio and see them in person!  Enjoy!!

Art Show at Villa Maria College

I'm sorry for being so tardy in making this post....I have been incredibly busy with my kids this summer:-)

This past June 20th I had the priviledge of sharing a show with Catherine Schuman-Miller at Villa Maria's Paul William Beltz Gallery.  It is a great gallery space and Brian Duffy, the Director of the Gallery did a fantastic job of organizing and hosting the opening.  We had a very nice turnout and I had a lot of positive comments on my picture book artwork which I displayed for the first time.  I also created some handmade picture books with some of my picture book art that turned out really nice.  I have some pictures from the gallery and I'll have to follow up with pictures of my handmade books.  Enjoy for now!

Sketches

I was admiring how much personality my dog has and how he uses his body language to express himself.  He never barks and yet I know exactly what he is feeling.  Here are some studies that combine him along with other reference material.

Video of my Picture Book Art

Here is a little video I made of the picture book art I will be showing at my upcoming exhibit at Villa Maria College this summer.  The opening is Thursday, June 20, 2013 from 5 pm to 7pm and the show will hang till August 1, 2013.  I thought this little video would be a nice teaser :-)

A chair for Oma

This past weekend we went to Skaneateles Lake, a small finger lake outside of Syracuse, to celebrate the life of my mother-in-law, Kay Monterville.  She died unexpectedly in February in Florida, so we decided to hold the memorial on Memorial Day weekend back in Syracuse where she lived.  We rented a house on beautiful Skaneateles lake and had the whole family come from all over the country to celebrate her life.  It was a wonderful service and there were lots of tears...we miss her so much.

So since it was a celebration we spent a long weekend at the lake and had lots of food and several bon fires.  And I found time to paint!  Since Oma loved red and always had a signature red item in her house I thought this red chair was the perfect thing to paint in her honor.  I can just imagine her sitting in this chair looking out at the lake enjoying the sun and the warmth of her family around her:)

AAU Spring Show

I was so excited yesterday when I got the news that the painting I submitted to the Academy of Art Univeristy made it into their spring show!  Every year the Academy of Art holds a spring art show that showcases all of the talent at the Academy.  It is always amazing!  Tons of industry professionals are there and the art is incredible.  I have always wanted to get a piece into the show, but with such great artists at AAU I was sure that my chances were quite slim of actually making it.  Well, this year I did!
Here is a link to the preview buzz that the Academy is doing to promote the show

Spring Show 2013 Buzz  and here is last year's show  AAU Spring Illustration Art Show 2012

And here is the painting that I submitted. I call it Summer Dreams and it is an oil painting, 16" x 20" with a wonderful frame made by my friend Richard Robson.  It's a painting I did of my daughter this past summer.

A National Geographic Illustration

So here is another illustration project to share.  We were given the challenge of developing an illustration for National Geographic on an historical subject.  I chose to do the oral tradition of the Native American Indians, specifically the Ogala Sioux of South Dakota.  My grandfather was a painter and a lover of the Native Americans and did many paintings of them.  I have 5 of them hanging in my house and was hoping to create a painting worthy of hanging next to my grandfather's.  :-)

So I did this illustration in my new technique which involves an underpainting in watercolor, then an oil wash in a mix of burnt umber, ultramatine blue and alizrin crimson over top.  I allow the wash to dry a little and then I pull back the oil wash to reveal the lights.  I go back in with more oil and then prisma color or india ink to add the details I want.  I thought I'd share the whole process with you via pictures since that is more interesting...

First the thumbnails.

Then a value study of the best thumbnail.

Then the line drawing, followed by the watercolor underpainting.

And then the final piece.