"I expect you to die, Mister Bond."

"I expect you to die, Mister Bond" is available here, $69.

Everyone posts pictures of their pets on Facebook. Lots of people find it silly. Then there are people like me, who love to draw animals and think it's one of the greatest resources ever.

One of my friends posted a photo of her cat, wearing the most deliciously wicked expression. Immediately I saw him as the elegant, cultured villain; I added the bow tie and ran with that idea. It's delightful to me when I can create not just a new piece of art, but a character.

Result: "I expect you to die, Mister Bond," 10 x 8" mixed media on velvety, expensive imported French printmaking paper. Nothing but the best, you know. This fellow took a considerable amount of care and attention, which you can see better on his Etsy listing (photo quality sadly suffers on this blog). $69 for the original is something of a steal -- so I'm sure our Very Bad Cat would approve.

Prints and greeting cards are here.

Happy Sparrow #2, today's fast-and-loose original, sold

Sorry, folks, but this one got snapped up before I even had a chance to post it! It's the same bird as the first; the two reference photos I used were taken within seconds of each other. These are house sparrows that come to my balcony -- really the only species I ever see here -- plain and "boring" birds but also cheeky little things, very entertaining to watch.

While the original of this one has sold, prints and cards are available here.

Zen Goldfish for a Cold Monday

I mean, I'm in Minnesota and we'll be lucky if we make it to zero degrees today, and there's not much to do about that except stay indoors and make art with nice, warm colors.

This is another in the series I'm doing from photos I took at Josephine Geiger's little pond last summer. While most of my daily pieces are 10 x 8", this one needed a slightly more vertical format, so it's 10 x 7". The original is available on my Etsy shop at $35.

My blog site has made this photo's oranges and greens much yellower and brighter than they are, while the same photo on Etsy looks like the actual piece of art. Does anyone else see this shift when they click through, or is it just an idiosyncrasy of my monitor/browser/blog combination?

Purple Pony for Friday!

Today I have a drawing I did as a study for Bug Bite, in one of my classes. I was demonstrating how to use watercolor to create quick areas of light and shadow. Yesterday, I found the unfinished drawing and added pen, deeper washes of blue and purple, and some white acrylic for highlights. The result charmed me, so here it is. Purple Pony is 6" high x 7.5" wide, so it'll fit a smaller space and could be float-mounted in a 9 x 12" frame.

Available for $20 at my Etsy shop.

Things Going Swimmingly

Red and White Goldfish, 8 x 10"-- today's fast and loose original. I am reminding myself that the world will not always be caked in snow, so I've been looking at my photos from Josephine Geiger's goldfish pond last summer. These guys are waiting it out beneath the sheet of ice, and aren't we all? Available for $40 on my Etsy shop.

Tomorrow's daily original is a smaller one, a purple pony that was originally a quick demo in one of my workshop classes. 

Carried Away by a Raven: Original Drawing for Wednesday

SOLD

Carried away, in the sense that this was supposed to be another half-hour drawing but it took at least twice that long because, well, how was I supposed to stop?

Autumn Queen is 10 x 8." Sketched out in terra-cotta colored pastel pencil, then micron pen, watercolors, and white acrylic. I love this image a lot and will miss her when she's gone; $60, plus $5 shipping if applicable.

Click here for  Prints and Greeting Cards of this image

Big and Little Goldfish: $30 Drawing for Tuesday

Red and Black, 8 x 10" watercolors and pen on cotton printmaking paper. Second in my series of 30-minute drawings, this is based on a photo I took at a friend's goldfish pond. The fish are so graceful and calming to watch, with their colors and curves, that they've become a favorite subject of mine.

This piece is available for $30 plus $5 shipping if applicable. Click here to purchase at my Etsy shop.

Very Happy Sparrow: The $30 Original Drawing for Monday

This little guy was eating seed from a china bowl on my balcony when I snapped his picture. That blissed-out expression was more than I could resist, so he became the first of these fun, 30-minute drawings.

I used watercolor, white acrylic, and micron pen on my usual lovely Rives BFK Tan paper. Size is 10 x 8", so he'll be easy to fit into a standard, ready-made 11 x 14" mat and frame (if you don't frame a lot of art, take my recommendation and do either mat or float mount your original art so it isn't touching the glass of the frame; it's a preservation thing).

SOLD Available for $30, or $35 total if I need to ship him to you; if you'd like him, click here to contact me. I take PayPal (which lets me accept major credit cards), cash or check.