Palm leaf up close

SO I woke up pretty early on a weekend a few weeks back and just really felt the urge to go outside with my morning tea and draw something. At around 6:30am, it's really bright and sunny, but the birds are still singing, and it's still "moist" outside. So I sat on the steps leading to the upstairs apartment of my neighbor's, and saw this palm leaf through the steps that was backlight by the rising sun. I thought it would be both challenging and fun because it has all these little lines in the leaf, as well it does have an odd shape from this angle.

UnEmployed and loving it.

Hi Everyone,

I'm sure you could tell by the scarecity and randomness of my blog posts that I was a little busy with other stuff. Well after much thought and discussion with the hubby, I have decided to quit my job. I had no idea what exactly that meant until having a few days of not working under my belt. (Tomorrow starts my 2nd week of not working.)

With this new-found time on my hands, I have many projects that I will be working on, including an art fair, an article, and some commisions. Included in that is more dedicated time to sharpen my drawing skills, blogging and other ways of "getting the word out" about myself, and the development of a new concept I have in my head for a series of work. So do not worry, I have not turned into a bum, couch potato, or a housewife.

I want to thank you all for your support and interest and remind that I am available to answer questions or receive comments from you all. I will keep you all informed as more developments happen.

-Jackie

PS. The image below is a self portrait in pencil on white paper. It's about 10 inches in height and 6 across if you include the big fancy signature at the bottom of it.

Graphic Design-H&H Gardening

I did this flyer for my neighbor, Harvey. The economy is definitely hitting hard, and his regular work (construction) is being cut back. But he is taking advantage of the housing market to start a side business, focusing on lawn maintenance for REO properties. However, if you are in the Inland Empire (CA) area, Harvey can also do your yard work, landscaping, and even building custom fences and BBQ's. If you could use his services, please give him a call.

Canape' Show

Hello Everyone,

I am participating in the Canape' show at the Progress Space in Pomona's Art Colony. This is a group show, with many talented artists. All of the artwork is under 14 inches in size. I have two paintings in the show. The artists' reception is this Saturday, August 9th from 6-10pm. Click on the image above for more info.

Graphic Design- BEI

This is a sample of what I'm working on now, for client BEI which stands for Better Energy Ideas. We are working on creating a Promo Pack, which will be a handy little booklet for her salesmen to use to inform their client of the company and it's products. I started with this page, because it's relatively simple but serves as a good example of the entire promo pack (all the pages will relatively look like this. It is also a way to insert into the conversation what the content should be and in what order.

Diamond Logo

So I have been talking to someone who is interested in opening a retail clothing store. She wants to sell the brand as well as the merchandise. Of course, the best way to do that is to have a cool logo and sell t-shirts and inexpesive goods with the logo printed really big on it. It goes over especially well if you put sparkles or glitter on it too. So these are my initial sketches for the logo.

She wants it to have a diamond in it, and then some frilly detail that will offer up plenty of opportunity to cover it with sparklies. The first one here is me playing around, and is probably to detailed to be the best choice for a functional graphic.

To be honest, I don't think that any of these will make the cut, but they could be used as secondary design for shirts, etc. I don't think of these as a waste, the process of making these is what I really get out of it. It's a way to see "OK, this line works here, and this curve works there." And besides the possibility of being used later for something else, it is yet another something to show people that want to see my style, as well as can serve as a springboard for future visual concepts.

Lemons in Paint

Both were painted in Super bright daylight. These were in the sunshine. Even though I was in the shade, the sun was bright enough to illuminate everything. It also causes an influence on the colors. The white appeared superbright when painting, but when I took it inside the whites of the rind looked more like a very pale yellow. Also the yellow of the lemons has a bit of an orangy-ness to them. Still fun to paint, and these were quick: 3 hours from set up to clean up, and I got two paintings out of it.

Oil paint on 4x4 inch gessoboard.