Bathilda's Unseemly Bloody Mary Recipe

Here's my entry in this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge. Bathilda is a purist when it comes to her Bloody Mary's. You can see all the entries and vote for your favorites here.

Bathilda's Unseemly Bloody Mary Recipe Tea Towel

I'm hip! tea towel

This is my entry in this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge. This week's Challenge Theme is "The Illustrated Animal" and voting ends tomorrow. Yeah, I'm a little late posting this! :-)

I'm Hip Tea Towel on Spoonflower

Hippos Tea Towel

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Welcome to Scary Town

This map will prevent you from getting lost and possibly... disappearing.

All the sights in Scary Town are waiting to be seen. 

Assembly line at the Stinky Sock Factory

It looks like Hazel is late again. She'd better watch that, even if she's the daughter of C.P. Cousins & Sons.

Assembly line at the Stinky Sock Factory

Sea Town fabric for Spoonflower

While I'm on the subject of seaside gothic houses, here's another fabric design for this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge. The theme is "Victorian". You can see them all and vote for your favorites here.

Sea town on Spoonflower

A salty sea town fabric

The wide, wider sea

Here's a wider version of my "All at Sea" print now available in the shop. Sometimes you gotta see more sea. All prints, cards & paintings are 20% off this weekend! Have a great Labor Day!

All at Sea No. 2

Florian is ticklish

Florian meets some curious new friends.

Ticklish

Psychedelic Kitty for Spoonflower

This week's groovy theme for the Spoonflower Design Challenge was the 1960s. I came up with a few, but these are the main two. If you hurry, you can see all the designs and vote here.

Psychedelic kitty

Psychedelic daisy

Kitty Seance Halloween greeting cards

Just added these to my Etsy shop. Three kitties dabble in the occult. I wonder if they've bitten off more than they can chew... These guys were originally part of the Black-Cat-A-Day challenge I did a couple of Halloweens ago. MEEEOOOW!

Halloween will come again, you know

So I've been wanting to add more greeting cards to my Etsy shop. Do people send halloween cards? Here's my first one, along with a second version where I adapted the card into a fake book jacket. Killing 2 birds with one stone is very Halloweenish, I think. Don't you? Ironically, a tiny spider dangled down from above my computer as I was adding the final touches. Please try not to notice the fact that I misspelled "Psychedelic" about five times in my file names...

Here Comes the Bride Halloween card    

DIVORCED, Book jacket for a A Non-existent Novel

Ironically, a tiny spider dangled down from above my computer as I was finishing this. See top!

VHF fabric on Spoonflower

Another fabric for the Spoonflower Design Challenge. This week's theme is the 1950s, which makes me think of the dawn of the television age. You can vote for your favorites here starting today.

"VHF" the dawn of TV!

Ghost ship

Here's something I painted while pondering ghosts, the ocean, icebergs and the Titanic. Though I never much cared for ghosts, I've grown quite sentimental about them of late.

And by the way, it's time for another sale in my Etsy shop. Until Friday, all prints and original paintings are 15% off plus free domestic shipping.

Ghost ship, where are you going?

Twentysomething

In which I riff on the roaring twenties with more gestural drawings of some stylish dames for this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge. You can see all of the designs and vote for your favorites here.

Twentysomething fabric on Spoonflower

Bat rink

I was wondering if bats ever roller-skated...

At the bat rink

Swamp song fabric

Here are my fabric designs for the recent Spoonflower Design Challenge on the theme of "Emerald Forest."

Swamp song on Spoonflower

A family from New Jersey

Here's something I forgot to post. It's another family portrait commissioned through my Etsy shop this Spring as an anniversary present from a hubby to his wife. The Steen family love to picnic in the park and dad is known to play his ukulele on occasion.  Thank you Andy, it was amazing working with you on this!

A family picnic

Soup run Part Deux

Daisy packs up the kid and the dog and hops in the car to get some extra-delicious soup from Ida's. It's just down the lane. I started with a painting in my sketchbook, & added a storefront and, of course, a bear! This illustration is now available in my Etsy shop in 2 different sizes, 8 x 10" and 11 x 14".

Soup run! Ida's is the best, and so close by.

Soup run sketchbook painting

Opportunity

Here's a little photoshop sketch I did this afternoon when I should have been vacuuming and throwing out papers. I wanted to do a monochromatic piece using a trapezoid shape with lettering, and well, I've been watching a lot of "Orange is the New Black." Maybe they shoulda been women, but I like drawing burly dudes, too.

Opportunity, from the American Pik-Axe Company (Established 1897)

Lessons from Ludmilla

A lass must be proficient in the finer arts, after all. Here's a messy one from last week. Mondays are my most productive days because all of the promises made to myself are fresh and the distractions of the week are not yet winning. I think I've accidentally drawn an actress. Looks familiar to me but I can't place her. Hmmmm.

Lessons from Ludmilla

Summer days: Creamsicles and traffic

Creamsicle/Florian's day job drudgery

Gorilla in the mist

I'm making a set of monkeys-on-the-go icons for Creative Market, and got sidetracked by the desire to make an illustration outta a couple of them. Here it is.

Gorilla in the mist

A very expensive cat jacket

...with a faux fur collar & numerous zippers, not exactly the most appropriate beach attire. But pretty!

A very expensive cat jacket

Florian's bus ride part deux

And... here's the finished painting of the sketchbook I did in May. Florian and Jewel are glad to get out of town, even if the bus service is a bit iffy.

Florian takes the bus

Florian's bus ride: the sketchbook painting

Happy Fourth!

Happy Independence Day! Throw a veggie burger on the BBQ and join us poolside for an old-Hollywood-style birthday party for the good ole USA. Ain't independence awesome?
We've got new stuff in the shop and the sale continues thru Friday: 20% off and free domestic shipping! Woohoo!

Hollywood, Ca, July 4 1941

Swamp song

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SALE! All prints are 20% off plus Free Domestic Shipping! Today through Friday, July 6th in my Etsy shop. Happy Independence Day! Hooray for independence!

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Musical creatures in the marshlands. Some sketches for an possible upcoming fabric design.

Swamp song

Passengers on the subway of life

The Halloween before last, I did a series of sketchbook paintings called "Creatures of the night." As with all of the paintings I do roughly in those journals, the intention is to create a full-sized, finished  piece. The question is which to rework and what medium to use for each. It's always a little hard to decide. I decided to do this one digitally since I've already got 2 paintings in progress. I used stipple and spatter brushes in photoshop.

Passengers part deux

Tales of Childhood

That time Mom and Dad took us to see "True Grit" at the Drive-in Theatre. I think it must have been cheaper to go to the Drive-In with 5 kids. The movie choices were somewhat odd. I seem to recall also seeing "A Patch of Blue" which featured a bit about Shelley Winters and her Gal Pal opening a call house... We took our blankets, got into our PJs and climbed all over the car. I usually leave out most of my siblings because... laziness... but this time I tried to get us all in.

That time we saw True Grit at the Drive-In

Look both ways!

Time to take another stab at a fabric challenge from Spoonflower. This time, the theme is
"Four wheels." I couldn't resist drawing some cars and traffic for this one. And some black cats, too. You can see all the designs and vote for your favorites here!

Look both ways

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Dema & Kiki love sushi, finished painting

The last in the series. Finished on Saturday, it's packed up and ready to go!

Dema & Kiki love sushi

Dema & Kiki love sushi!

Here's the sketchbook painting of the 3rd and final custom pet painting for my Etsy client, Jess.

Dema & Kiki love sushi

Cleaning house

Here are a couple of my little paintings before I sent them off to their new home in Germany. Hate to see 'em go, but paintings are piling up around here. I'll be selecting some more originals to post to Etsy over the next couple of weeks.

Tiny paintings

Hiya!

Here's another fabric design for spoonflower. This is for the challenge "Animals by land." I've been thinking about elephants lately, an animal I don't often draw. They are amazing, though, and their plight in this world is dear to my heart.

"Hiya" elephant & monkey fabric on spoonflower

Another pet portrait completed

Just finished the second in a series of portraits of Dema & Kiki. The painting is on its way to a loving pet mom in Olympia, WA. Thanks for the fun project, Jess! For this series she asked for three scenarios, each with its own fantasy "creature". You can get one made of your favorite fur babies in my etsy shop.

Dema & Kiki at the lagoon

Florian's bus ride

A horse and his buddy negotiate mass transit to head out of town.

Florian's bus ride

Air traffic jam

here's my entry for this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge on the theme of "Animals by air".

Air traffic jam on Spoonflower

The further adventures of Dema & Kiki

Here's a sketch for one in a series of paintings I'm doing for an Etsy customer. This time, we find Dema & Kiki frolicking at the lagoon.

Dema & Kiki at the lagoon

"Pedal Power" fabric for Spoonflower

Here's my entry in last week's Spoonflower Design Challenge on the theme of cycling. I'm a bicycle freak so had to pull something together for this one. It also includes the first hippo I've drawn since maybe never? It'll be available in about a week as fabric, gift wrap, pillows and lotsa other stuff.

Pedal Power fabric on Spoonflower

Dema & Kiki from Palm Springs with love

Here's a pet painting just sent off to a loving critter mom in Olympia, Washington. Dema & Kiki enjoy their desert vacation! Thank you, Jess! More adventures to come.

Dema & Kiki, Palm Springs, CA

Al, Aussie Shepherd Mix Extraordinaire!

Here's a painting I did for an Etsy client of her best bud, Al. Barb was such a pleasure to work with! Thank you!

Al, an Aussie Shepherd Mix

Endangered Snow Leopards on Spoonflower

For this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge, the theme is Endangered Species. Here's what I came up with for my design. You can vote for your favorites here through May 1st.

"Go away"