SUIT
is the theme of this week's Illustration Friday. I was initally stumped. I don't have a lot to do with suits as a general rule, business suits that is. Then my mind relaxed and my thoughts widened and I realized Oh yeah: suits of armor, lawsuits, suits of cards and... bathing suits! And I had done this piece just days before. How I enjoyed painting the red stripes on the little guy's bathing suit!

Some back story: I'm in a group of local artists that meets once a month for mutual encouragement and critique. The last meeting was a few days ago, and I decided to bring in a print-out of this piece and a couple of others like it. As soon as I stood up and cheerfully announced "I'm doing some illustration now!" I realized I'd made a big mistake. The pieces circulated to awkward silence. Finally someone cleared their throat and asked "Why are you doing this?" People then started chiming in with suggestions for alternate ways for me to make money: teaching, web design etc. ANYTHING, it seemed, except illustration! I was taken aback, didn't say much, and resumed my seat quickly.

Later I spoke with a friend who is in the group. "Is the work really THAT bad?" My friend said "No no! You've got it all wrong. It wasn't the quality of the work the others were objecting to: it was the fact that you used the dread word Illustration!" Her insight shocked me, but mulling it over, I suspect she is right. I myself don't think that way: fine art v. commercial art. It is ALL just art to me! So it never occurred to me that other artists would have any issue with it either. But these, apparently, did.

Before the art group debacle, I'd queried a little children's magazine and yesterday I got back an e-mail from the art director telling me they love my work and are going to find an article for me to illustrate in an upcoming issue! It is not a sure thing, or even that big of a thing, but I'm thrilled. The praise felt like balm to my wounded confidence! Has anyone else ever run into similar peer issues working in both "fine" and "commercial" art? It just seems so silly to me...!

Little Lake, micron ink pen, watercolor, Photoshop "neatening".

MY PARADISE
is the theme this week at Illustration Friday. Last week it took me so long to get it together that I missed joining in the fun, and I can see there is a danger for me with this theme as well. But for different reasons! Last week I didn't instantly get in the Cars groove because I have about zero interest in anything automotive. (I did eventually complete the assignment though!) This week I have almost too many thoughts and ideas on the subject.


I can see myself over-thinking this all the way till next Friday...so I am just going to enter a painting I did a few years ago called In the Chestnut Grove. I started the painting while on an artist's residency. I got to stay in a small secluded house/studio on the grounds of a wealthy estate, and do whatever I wanted. Which of course, for me was read, draw and paint 24/7. I also cooked myself lovely little meals and took leisurely swims in the estate swimming pool. It was literally heaven on earth. My family and a few friends came out from time to time to pose for me and partake of my temporary good fortune. This is my friend Katie and her little daughter H who were amazingly obliging about posing. I did another painting of Katie that I think was more successful than this one...but it's darker. I think this attempt, despite its flaws, caught a tiny glimpse of a mother's paradise: a golden afternoon in a beautiful grove of trees with one's beloved child...

In the Chestnut Grove, oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches, 2005

PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP
Last week's Illustration Friday theme was Car. I groaned when I saw that, and since I was busy with the big holiday weekend, I made no attempt to try it. I am notoriously uninterested in automotive subjects. My sons love to tease me by asking me the make and model of various cars we've just seen. They want to hear me say "Um, I think it was a blue one. Right?"

But then just a few days ago I looked out my window and there was my little two-year-old neighbor going for a drive down the sidewalk in his shiny new pedal car. I raced outside with camera in hand. "Hey, honey, what kind of car is that?" I asked, snapping away. Little guy replied "Mine!"

Micron pen on paper, with watercolor, and photoshop "neatening"

SIGNS
is the the theme of Illustration Friday this week. For whatever reason, upon seeing the theme, protest signs flew into my head and had to be exorcised by being drawn out. I am still digitally semi-illiterate: this is pen on paper, colored with Prismacolor pencil, and then scanned in and cleaned up a bit in Photoshop. My color penciling scans terribly: it looks like moth-eaten tweed! I'm getting better at fixing it in Photoshop, but any ideas on how to correct this in the scanning stage are very welcome.

Micron pen on paper, Prismacolor pencil, Photoshop "neatening"

QUICK SKETCH
I love my tiny little sketch book and never leave home without it. I have a bigger one, for if I am going someplace where I know sketching and note-taking will be possible, but I also keep a tiny one in my purse for drawing emergencies! Such as this. Friends Molly (a painter) and Sigmund (a doctor) invited us to dinner last Saturday and afterwards Sigmund treated us to some pretty fantastic piano playing. Knowing what was on the agenda for the evening my husband Paul brought his flute, and it was great to hear the guys jam together for a while. Sigmund is a neurologist, but could probably have become a professional pianist if he'd wanted. Musical talent runs in his family: one of his nephews is the Rap Champion of Norway!

This was just a minute of quick scrawling with a ball point pen...I knew I'd be interrupted and I was. One of the kids needed something, then Molly wanted my opinion on one of her newest paintings, and then it was time to head home. But I was glad I got this done: I love my sketchbook, even if it is not full of carefully rendered scenes, but mostly is a bunch of croquis, doodles and lightning sketches. (Plus phone numbers and names of books and movies people recommend!) It's my funbook, and we can all use a little fun!

CITRUS
is this week's theme at Illustration Friday. Making me realize that although I am a still-life painter, I very rarely paint citrus. I find limes and citrons useful little notes of color, added to a larger painting, but rarely are they the focus. Here is the one piece I could dig up that fits the bill, a painting of grapefruit. They were waxed to a high gloss, and I was fascinated by both their shiny surface and the feeling of weight: heavy and juicy. I was looking at a book about William Bailey when I painted this and you can see I am indebted to him for the color scheme.

My ten-year-old son H just walked by and said "Why are you posting that to your Illustration blog? That's a painting not an illustration!" Yikes, this topic is too big for me to even know how to begin to reply to it. My brain frantically fumbled around for a moment and then I said "Well, people think some illustrations are art, and paintings are certainly art, so maybe paintings and illustrations are sort of the same, too. Sometimes. " He looked a little confused by that (so was I, truth be told.) Then he shrugged and said "OK, Mom, whatever!" Whew, saved by quick thinking up of baffling art theory! I'll be writing for ArtForum any day now.

Plate of Grapefruit oil on canvas 16 x 20 inches 2003

NEIGHBOR
is the current Illustration Friday theme. This is a painting I did last year, a small quick oil sketch of a neighbor who dropped by with a huge bunch of white lilac from her garden. I had my camera close to hand and snapped a quick shot. The painting was in an exhibit and I invited the neighbor. She had not seen the painting completed, and when she came to the show, I think she was surprised and even somewhat horrified, a reaction I simply had not anticipated. I felt pretty bad, she is a very nice lady and a great neighbor. But she has never again stopped by with flowers from her garden...alas!

Neighbor with Flowers oil on canvas board 8 x 10 inches