Weekend circus

While pondering whether balancing on the back of an arrogant mule is really what she ought to be doing with her life, an unhelpful squirrel comes to offer his perspective. Satchel Cat could not care less.

-this one is watercolor and graphite, 8" x 10"

Lillypad book

I illustrated another book with author Kelly Fischer earlier in the year and have somehow neglected to post about it. So here you go, folks! You can grab a copy on Amazon.

Transatlantic pelican

Recent personal commission, watercolor and ink.
"Harper O'Dandy the seafaring mouse journeys home via transatlantic pelican"

Soggy Saturday sketchbook

The weekend here in Memphis was full of endless rain,





















tornado dodging,





















monsters,





















and May flowers.

Bertha, The Child-Flower

This was my entry for another interesting illustration contest on A Journey Round My Skull. (a month ago, ha. I've been blog-lazy) Check out the results, people submitted some really impressive work!

Art show tonight!

I have some work in a show at Nashville's Studio 83 and the opening is tonight. The show, titled "5 Themes 15 Artists" features 15 individual artists each contributing 5 pieces based on a set of themes. You can read an article about it here.
*EDIT* here is another write up of what turned out to be a super fun show!

(click images to enlarge)





















Dorothy and Co. Encounter Manyface Skyfish, the Fickle Purveyor of Lots
theme: "further down the yellow brick road"























Snow White and Seven Natural Poisons
theme: "Snow White and the seven..."























Willy Wonka's Garden Shop
theme: "Failed business attempts by Willy Wonka"

Happy birthday turtle party!

This was a commission from a friend, she gave it to her girlfriend (who has a thing for turtles) as a birthday gift. I had fun doing it and they were both really happy with how it turned out. Yay!

I love commissions by the way, so if anybody out there would like something special drop me a line!

Ink Sphinx

Playing with ink and watercolor again, this one is about 8" x 8". I may have finally found an approach to painting that doesn't leave me feeling unreasonably irritated. Still working out the kinks though. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Interview

I did an interview for the website MemphisConnect, check it out! There is even a video of me babbling about something or other in my apartment.

new paintings

Did these recently to practice painting and think about a different approach (click to see 'em bigger)






















Ink and watercolor, 13" x 17"






















Acrylic and colored pencil on masonite, 8" x 8"

Album Art

Art for Kingdom Come, upcoming album by Tom Maxwell (former member of the Squirrel Nut Zippers)

Ink and digital color

Prints!

I am now offering prints of my paintings in the Etsy shop. They are little ones mounted onto wood plaques, and so very affordable. If you see one of my paintings on the blog that you would like a print of but it isn't in the shop yet, drop me a line and I can most likely fix one up for you!

Shop update

New stuff in my Etsy shop. There's still time to order for Christmas!






































Made a plaque based on my bookplate design.
































I also added my medallions from a while back.

Holiday art show next Friday

(click images to enlarge)





















(lovely poster design by Mr. Hildebrand)

Hey Memphis folks! Still looking for that perfectly unique gift? You can put an end your fretful search friday December 4th at Odessa. There will be live music and great art by local artists for sale (including me with an armful of plaques). So swing on by and say hi!

Speaking of plaques, here's some new ones. All of you non-Memphis folks can get your perfectly unique gifts at my shop.

New plaques and new website!

Fresh plaques in the shop.

At long last I have a website! And boy, if it ain't a beauty. My eternal gratitude to the fabulous Michael Hildebrand and CustomSIMPLE!

Plaquin' it up

Another lonely little plaque looking for a home. You can adopt it at my shop.
Oh and what's this? Why its a second feature on AJRMS! (Thanks again, Will!)

Also, perhaps you will notice I finally made a header for the blog. Only took me about three years to get around to that.

Fresh new plaques and a fresh new store

(click for larger image)









































More plaques!
Due to popular demand (aka a handful of people saying "yeah, you should do that") I have opened an Etsy store! I just have the plaques available at the moment, but prints are in the works. So check it out and stay tuned for more!

Happy (late) Halloween

Ink drawing colored in Photoshop.

I did this for a contest on A Journey Round My Skull (a really great blog you should visit frequently if you don't already). To my surprise and delight, Will very kindly offered to feature my work. Thanks to Will and all the new faces who have been visiting and leaving comments!

And then...

... there appeared another experiment in Photoshop coloring.

Plaques

(click for a much larger view)

















Little wooden plaque things I painted on, the large ones are about 6.5" across at the widest point, smaller ones about 4".
I'm planning to make a bunch of these to sell at the Memphis College of Art Holiday Bazaar. I have also been contemplating opening an Esty store with things like this and prints. Though until then, if anyone is interested they can contact me via email at flyingduckworth(at)yahoo.com.
Why, just look how cute they are haphazardly arranged on a wall.

*EDIT* The Etsy store is up and running!

New book!

Santa Delivers Presents in the Big City now available on Amazon!

and so...

...more Photoshop coloring experimentation

24-hour comic (sort of)

Did this as part of the 24-hour comic challenge earlier in the month. I say "sort of" because I only hung in there for about 16 hours and drew 12 pages. Also did most of the inking later at home. So, yeah, doesn't really count. I enjoyed doing it, though, especially since I haven't done anything with comics since college.
As for the comic, I was mostly just having fun introducing the characters.
(click to make bigger!)