Bluebird Inspiration

Sighting of a pair of bluebird, at the crack of dawn, got me into my studio.

Blue on Blue, nature's never ending supply of new color palettes!

BEHIND THE SCENE: some oldies

Love to paint, but some days, it's hard to get going. Revisiting some oldies...

via Photoshop!

fine art with winter holiday elements

NEW DESIGN, THE PROCESS

This Japanese temple was painted from a trip to the Orient in the 70's.

Peacock pattern came from an illustration that I painted in  my college days.

Apple blossom branch was painted in the 90's

This little wren was on my deck this week

This new design spans 35 years of painting!

Botanical Inspiration on a grey Monday

I love botanical for its own sake. This little white Ranunculus from last week is the inspiration for a little brainstorming on the computer this Monday.

Different elements are layer onto the little painting to create a new design. These 2  butterflies are on separate layers. As seperate layers, I'm able to freely play with the arrangement & position of them in my composition... till I found a combination that works.

working up some hand lettering

Some mornings, I can work up an entire new collection. Other mornings, I can't make anything happen on the computer.

MORE SUMMER INSPIRATIONS

Came to Photoshop very late in my career. It took forever to learn. Since then, I dont remember the last time I actually complete an illustration. By not fuzzing over one single painting which could take up to a month to finish, I can dream up many variations working with a few images.

It always starts with a sketch. This seaside cottage sketch came from Noank, CT.

The sky & water is from my archive. I've been painting forever, so there are tons of painting I can use.

I started this with watercolor, but the ethereal watercolor just can not express the colorful garden. An impressionist painting can come together pretty fast.

I then pulled some sailboats from another painting, just need to seperate it from the original.

Layer on a flag...

Viola! A new design for my Summer Collection. For someone who cant seem to stay focus on finishing a painting, the magic of photoshop is a real blessing.

New Design for License

Much has been written about the process of creativity. For me, it's time on my bike that's the most creative. Ideas kind of flow together. Putting different elements together is a big part of creating an illustration. This design is a perfect example: my rep always sends over a wish list on what's trending. 

Cloud was on the list recently. I have tons of cloudscape in my archive. They are all fine art paintings, not exactly commercial art.

There's also this dreamscape, it's too muted to be license for anything. It has been in the closet for years. For whatever reason, combining these 2 paintings just came to me while I was biking.

With the magic of photoshop, I created a new design for license, by combining 3 paintings.

ANGEL COLLECTION

Got angels in my head over the holiday, nice to have the time this week to start working on an angel collection. 

Combination of old fashion painting and photoshop magic

from sketch to B&W drawing

digital creation