Opera Season 2012 {illustration}

Here is the last of the 2012 operas covers I got to illustrate this year. I think I love these even more than last years. Because The Barber of Seville is a comic opera with super colorful costumes and characters, I wanted the colors to be fun. Picking the right colors became the hardest part of this project. Sometimes colors come so easily. This time I played and played and played until I almost went color blind. I pretty much gathered a panel of designers and put the final color choice to a vote. Luckily, I work with a super talented staff of designers and artists so how could I lose. I can't wait until next opera season!

Don Pascuale (illustration)

Here is the third opera poster in the series. This one is for Don Pascuale, a opera about an old man who wants to marry again to produce an heir. To teach him a lesson, he is tricked into marrying a woman who makes is life miserable. This version is produced as a western. Don Pascuale's "fake wife" turns into a gun-toting bully and takes over his life. That is why I used a woman's pistol for the main image. One more opera poster to go!

Opera Posters {illustration}

I am in the middle of illustrating the 2012 opera season posters. They appear in the U-T San Diego paper with our coverage of the San Diego Opera. There are four operas every year. Last year was the first time we illustrated them as "posters" and I thought the series was successful, not to mention a blast to work on!  Here are the 4 illustrations from last year all together.

 Clockwise from top left: Carmen, Rosenkavalier, Turandot and Faust.

This year, I decided to take a different approach by adding the name of the opera to the actual illustration. I am loving how they are turning out so far. The first one was Salome - the creepy story of the woman who asked for the head of John the Baptist. She danced a very provocative "dance of the seven veils" for King Herod and he offered her whatever she wanted - dummy! I included some of my color studies, but ultimately the bloody red one won out because of the bloody plot.

Moby Dick was next and how I loved working on this one! The red coming out of his spout was a change I made very late in the process that made me think I was much more clever than I am. I was just playing around with the colors, wondering what other color the bubbles coming out of the whale could be and the red just made sense - again because of the bloody plot!

Next up is Don Pasquale!

2011 Garden Round-Up {illustration}

Here are the twelve Water-wise garden illustrations I did last year. I thought I would put them all together and in order in one place to see how they evolved. One major change I noticed was the use of black in the first two. I guess once I went without black in the March illustration, it never really came back. I also feel like the illustrations got more complex as time when on - I started layering the colors on top of each other and rendering the plants in more detail. If I had to choose, my two favorites are March and April.  If you have a moment, tell me which one is your favorite.


Below, I've added the first two Garden illustration for this year. Can't wait to see where this new series leads me...

Water-wise Garden illustration for January 2012 - Strawberry

Water-wise Garden illustration for February 2012 - Kiwi

A Pink and Green Christmas {illustration}

Here is a holiday cover I illustrated for December Nights - a festival at Balboa Park in San Diego that happens every year. I've only been once, but it its spectacular. It was fun trying out a folk art style for this one. I played with the colors way too much, but I like the pink and green we ended up with.

I tried to work the pink and green theme into this Kermit and the Grinch cover, but we decided on the red and lime-green one because the green is more natural to the characters.  I still think the pink one has more edge. The lipstick kiss was provided by one our our editors - thanks MP!

Super Owen {photo illustration}

I just have to share these photos because I am blown away by how amazing they turned out. This all started with an innocent enough conversation over coffee and the results are spectacular. Please visit my friend Nathan's blog of Padilla Bowen Photography to read and see the whole process of how these images came about. It is so nice to have such talented friends!

Flower Prints {letterpress}

We printed our Summer Garden Show prints this past weekend. We did an edition on recycled paper but decided to print them on the softer cotton and we are so happy with the results. Picking the colors to use is always the hardest part for me - so many options. I guess that's why we printed two versions. I like them both, but the orange one will go perfectly in our kitchen - plus, I like the way the orange and green inks mix to make a brown that matches our RIBBA frame from IKEA. These prints will be for sale in our shop just in time for the holidays! Have a great weekend!

Reconstruction and Construction Paper {illustration}

This illustration was one of those magical ones that happen when minds and ideas come together perfectly. Breast cancer is a hard subject to illustrate tastefully but I thought we did a great job here. Glo, the designer, sparked the idea and after some torrential brainstorming by designer, art director and illustrator - this is the finished product. The execution - the drawing and actual paper cutting - took the least amount of time. It almost took just as long to come up with a headline that worked without being too clever or punny. Thankfully, our headline writer played it safe. When you have a great idea, the rest falls into place. Do you think so too? Would you have done anything differently?

Type Drawer Shelf {letterpress}

My husband and I went to the L.A. Printers Fair at the International Printing Museum in Carson, CA a few weeks ago. It was so much fun looking at all letterpress printed goodies, meeting other printers, and drooling over the old platen presses and paper cutters. There was wood type and metal type galore, and anything else letterpress you can think of. We picked up a type drawer for $5 thinking we could use if for something - not type, since we mostly use photo-polymer plates for our printing. I power-washed the drawer with our hose and let it dry in the sun completely. Then I sprayed it with multiple coats of clear semi-gloss spray paint, added some picture hangers to the back and hung it toddler-high for hours of entertainment for our little guy. I can't help but smile every time I pass it. I also can't help trying to find more goodies to stuff into the little spaces. Too much cuteness all around!  -Happy weekend!

Good plants for good bugs {illustration}

I did this illustraton for a story on the plants that attract beneficial insects to your garden. It is in today's Union-Tribune on the cover of the Home & Garden section. The flower on the left is a Cornflower or Bachelor's Button (Centaurea cyanus) and the flower at the bottom is a Borage (Borago officinalis). Gorgeous little blooms for our little creatures. Happy weekend!

Football Wedding {letterpress}

Football season is here again and I thought it would be a great time to show off our Football Wedding Invitation. It is done just like our Baseball one - folded with a die-cut shape on the front flap so all you see is a football at first. When you open the card, it is pure elegance - no smelly sports to be found! I wish my fantasy football team performed as elegantly this week. Oh, well, that's what I get for sleeping through the draft this year.

If you love this invitation, check back at our etsy shop soon - we will be adding more wedding packages to our shop shortly.

Go Chargers!

Groundswell {illustration}

 

This illustration ran a while ago but I wanted to share it here anyway. It is an illustration for the play, Groundswell, which is set in South Africa. Read the review of the play here.