it's been a sleepy June

After May's felting marathon, I'm so happy to have come back to paintings for a while. It's always really nice to switch mediums after a long time in one mode. My adhd brain loves the novelty.

I made one big painting from scratch this month, Rosewood, where I really focused on soft lighting and loose brushwork and speed, not getting caught up in the details. I usually pick one area of my fundamentals to focus on- lighting or anatomy or composition or what have you- and it's been a long time since I've done one focused on speed and ease.

I'm quite pleased with how the lighting in the petals came out, and the texture of the dryad's skin, and the loose brushwork of the roses. And I have a full timelapse video for it!

I'm a self taught artist, and videos like this were a huge part of how I learned to approach digital art and larger paintings in the first place. This type of recording takes a bit more editing effort than the zoomed out timelapses that my drawing software provides automatically, but I think it's worth it to better see how I'm actually approaching a piece and moving around the canvas.

I also finished this portrait of my fiance, which I began a few months ago. It was really just the final border and tiny details that I got hung up on but they're finally done! And I've made a similar timelapse video for this painting!

It's tricky drawing a specific person, especially when I care so much about their own self image and insecurities. It needed to be perfect, and recognizable, and make them happy to look at. A difficult balancing act but I'm very happy with how it came out.

This portrait will be part of my tarot deck (some day I'll illustrate the whole deck, some day.....) but I've decided not to sell it on its own. It feels a bit too personal.


Ok, now looking forward to July!
I'm honestly a little intimidated by the number of events I have coming up this month. It's going to be busy! I'm trying to stay excited but it's kinda stressful! aaaaaaaa!!

I'm taking this first weekend off for a trip to the coast and some much needed relaxation.

On Saturday the 13th I'll be at the Portland Saturday Market.

On Saturday the 20th I'll be at the Gresham Festival of the Arts.

On Sunday the 21st I'll be at the Portland Saturday Market.

On Thursday the 25th I'll be at Last Thursday on Alberta
(pending some schedule adjustments at my day job).

On Saturday&Sunday the 27-28th I'll be at WasabiCon PDX!

And as always, my online shop is open every day! Here's a little coupon for July, as thanks for reading to the bottom. And a little reminder- I only stock limited amounts of my prints. 5 of each painting in each size for the whole season. So if you have your eye on a particular painting, don't wait!

Thanks for reading!