Happy May, friends! My allergies are in full bloom. If you saw me you’d think I’d been crying but no— it’s just pollen ruining my life.
I’ve been in the studio working on stuff for fly.io, but I also have made progress on my B. Tull story (more on that soon) and I even did a little spring study today. I plan to do more larger studies, and post them up for sale in my web-store.
Here’s what I did:
I drew four rectangles, and reflected on things I’ve loved about this Spring so far. Orange blossoms, Abby’s raspberry birthday cake, making lemonade with my son, and bouquets of garden flowers. I made quick painting sketches of three of them…still need to finish the orange blossoms. Then I did a larger study of Abby’s cake, adding in more detail and fixing the composition. I like who it turned out, but I think I’ll use hot press water color paper next, so that I have less texture.
Small studies in my sketchbook
A larger study of raspberry cake. mmmmmmm.
The title got weird when I painted it, so I cut some paper and redid the lettering. I used gouache and watercolor, then pencil to finish the details. It was fun, simple, and had been a WHILE since I sat down to play so it didn’t feel second-nature. But that’s ok! It feels good to not know what I’m doing sometimes and just make art for art’s sake.
I’ve also been working on some art for fly.io. Here’s a new hero image for the website:
Part of me wants to go even more psychedelic, but we’re not doing a full rebrand right now, so we need to stay consistent with the current style. We’re getting a new designer soon, so I’m anticipating changes and some fun collaborations in my future.
The garden is lush and the veggies are in the ground. The kids and I have been playing a lot outside and enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. My husband is happy and we’re all just trucking right now. I feel very thankful for that. The ebbs and flows of life bring so many things, and sometimes, once in a while…it’s peace and quiet ;)
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If you’re in the Napa area this Thursday, May 8th, I’m doing an event with Chad McComber to talk about his latest book, CamShaft10 that I got to illustrate. The Napa Bookmine is a fabulous bookstore, so please come and check it out. Event starts at 6:00pm.
Wishing you lots of wildflowers and sunshine,
Annie
