First of all, I want to offer a HUGE HAPPY THANK YOU to everyone who came out to the Garden Party last week! It was a lovely afternoon, the weather was perfect, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to share my work in person with so many friends, family, patrons, etc. etc.
I owe a special Thank You to Kathy Hayfield for opening her house for the occasion, my mom for letting me lean on her hardened event-planning skills, and some particularly helpful and patient friends who set up, played music, acted as tech support, and more.
Finally, congratulations to Sarai Alvarado who won the door prize! She gets to choose between a mini-mural or initial/mural painting, gratis! I'll be posting here about how her prize turns out~ All of you who entered and didn't win, I am available for commission for both of these lovely options, ideal for those who can't commit to a full mural but would still like a hand-painted decorative touch to their space.
Now, I just finished drafting ELEVEN networking and client emails and I am pooped. I think this is the time to review and share some lovely relaxing reference pictures from The Files, and then tell myself to go play outside and build some character.
Here's the first post about accumulating reference photography. I think now I'll just call them Reference part III, IV, etc.
Sometimes the reference isn't about capturing a beautiful moment - instead it's a way to take notes. My note here is "what the heckity heck is that bug? and is that a thistle? is that what thistles look like?? whoah."
From KCMO, on a wandering I took while attending the Illustration Academy.
Not sure exactly what trail this is from, but both pictures were taken near Blacksburg, VA.
I'm always on the lookout for landscape and foliage reference, especially in terms of how to fill an unusually shaped space. These are quite the vertical layouts for forest scenes, and I'm waiting for the perfect opportunity to come along to use it.
This place was hard to get a good picture of, so they fall into the 'visual notes' category. The note they represent is: holy cow, a place like this exists! Also, this is what cave water and looming depths can look like.
And finally, inspiration from within the art world can be just as powerful as from without. Who wouldn't be inspired by this guy? Feeling crushed by the weight of the world, or by horrible hell-beasts? Crush those problems under your mighty heel!
"No problemo" he says. Thanks overconfident dude. No problemo indeed.
Unfortunately I have no idea who painted this, or when. All I know is that it's from the Louvre, and I probably was breaking a law by taking a picture of it.
Next week I'll be starting a mural in Connecticut! 8+ hours on the road, here I come!
Don't forget to 'like' or comment when you read - you know it warms the cockles of my heart.