My Animal Kingdom

I'm working on my Super Baby children's book. And I am in the process of developing the characters and the scenery. I feel a bit like a director. These are some of the characters in my life that I know best.

Reinventing the Wheel

The Life of a Watermelon

The only gardening experience I had growing up had to do with marigolds. It was sometimes my job to collect the dead flowers for the following years planting. My husband had more experience than that and thanks to him and my daughter we have a little garden going these past few years in Austin. My daughter's favorite food is watermelon, so we planted some seeds and have crossed our fingers. She saw this illustration and said, "Mama, I like your watermelon painting."

Rainbow Wish

It has been said that your body actually gets sleepy when you say you are tired. That said, I'd like to take this opportunity tell you all how awake and youthful I feel.

Golfing with Friends

My husband and I love to surf together. We even took our surf boards to Hawaii with us when we married in 2000. I think its one of the reasons he agreed to date me (long story), I told him I was going surfing and that I could teach him. Austin has us so far from the ocean that we needed to find another outlet for the competitive sports component of our relationship. Enter golf! We are both close to terrible, and more importantly pretty equal. My dad got me golf lessons when I was a kid, after I gave up my pipe dream of becoming an olympic gymnast (even longer story). I have a great swing when I manage to hit the ball. My husband beat me last time we golfed, he watched some movies on line and totally improved his swing. We are too poor and occupied with our daughter to golf often, but if we can ever get out their regular don't you know I'm buying some cool golf outfit.

Texas Oil Derrick

This illustration just ran in Alcalde Magazine. I created it using illustrator and photoshop. My art director at UT Austin,Kevin Rathge, and I collaborated on the vision.

I had to work for many years as a lone designer, I don't recommend it. If you really want to grow as an artist it is best to have other artists by your side.

Chicago, LA, Scotland, South Africa, and Heaven

Someone contacted me through Daily Painters Gallery and asked me to do a personal "Visiting family at Christmas Time" illustration. I posted the original illustration in December based loosely on me and my family. I really enjoyed the process of learning where she and her family reside. Any mini geography lesson gets me longing to travel.

At a Table with Friends

I somehow landed at the head of a table and felt a little strange. This illustration is all of us as squares at our table, the colors are based loosely on our shirt colors.

Lucky 13

Here is another of my silly abstract illustrations. I think they would make beautiful large scale paintings. This one was done on the 13th of this month. I was born on Friday the 13th, and married on the 13th. Let's just say I'm a fan of the number. I had to do some historical research recently for a logo design and learned that our country also has close ties with the number 13. The Great Seal of the United States depicts an eagle with a bundle of 13 arrows in its left talon, (referring to the 13 original states), and an olive branch in its right talon.

Snowman in the Moon—Illustration 3

Snowman in the Moon—Illustration 2

Snowman in the Moon—Illustration 1

I had an idea about 10 years ago to write a book about a snowman in the moon. I teamed up with my husband and he wrote a great story. Starting today, I'll post some of the illustrations here.

UT Austin Holiday Card from the President

This card was designed for the President to send out for the holidays. The little bird on the tower got a foil treatment, and the stars a metallic ink. The card was printed on a dark blue over white duplex paper and the tower color was achieved with opaque white ink. Holiday cards have become more and more complicated as you cannot focus on any one holiday. I did not illustrate the tower, but the rest is mine.

Grounded

A friend of mine once recommended that, since I'm a visual artist, I describe my feelings in a visual way. That was wise advice, today it got me out of my funk and left me with a new illustration.

Combing Mommy's Hair and a Tea Party

Here is another take on the favorite things painting. This time with brighter colors on a smaller canvas.

A Favorite Day: Tea Party, Combing Mommy's Hair, and Kick Ball

Happy 2010, everyone.

My 4 year old daughter and I painted this. It's her combing my hair (we have very different hair), us having a tea party with my mom in RI (via the phone), and her playing kick ball with her dad. Life's too short to paint anything other than your favorite things.

Rain drops on roses, and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles, and warm woolen mittens.....

Among other things, she made the tea in the cups green, genius.

Austin Skyline

I was hired by the wonderful Austin based Phan Law Firm, P.C. to design a holiday wine label. I'm posting the illustrated silo of the Austin Skyline that was part of the design solution.

I've been in Austin just long enough to have a strong opinion about what to include and what to omit. I especially wanted to included the Ann Richards' Bridge and Lady Bird Lake, which I hadn't seen in many other silos.

"Visiting Everyone at Christmas Time"

My mom was ready to go last night.

Me: "So you feel good, do you want to give me an idea for the blog?"

Mom: "That sounds good, the blog....'the blog,' is that how you say it 'the blog?'"

Me: "Yup, that's right, 'the blog' or 'a blog.'

Mom: "Well since we are getting ready for the holidays, how about trying to get to see everyone around the holidays? We just got a card from Ann and she said she'd like to get together, and we haven't really seen her since just after Al died, and my friend who has MS worse than me right now, her husband has cancer."

My mom is the big Christmas card sender of the family. She sits in her wheelchair at the head of the table and painstakingly fills them out and as Christmas draws closer you can see the double doorway behind her slowly fill with cards she has received in return. They seriously run out of room by the end of the season.

As she has lost her ability to write with her right hand, she has learned to write with her left and eat with her left, and she has also cut back to signing her and my dad's name on the card, instead of their names and a note.

I'm pretty good at forging my mom's signature, I remember practicing it. I would write it at her request on my late to school notes and when using her credit card while shopping for her if she wasn't feeling well. Signing her name felt like pretending I was her. While I got pretty good at it, it's never quite the same as when she signs it. I will miss her handwriting when she can no longer write.

I did a few variations of this illustrations idea. They almost look like snowflakes. I imagined the dot in the middle as the visitor, an aerial view, and dots going out to where her loved ones lived.

I did one for me, my dot is at the bottom of the page (Texas) and I thought there wasn't anyone below me that I knew and would want to see and then I remembered that my friend Andres is in Uruguay. So his line runs off the page.

The Telephone Game

Sometimes when I call home my sister is there, visiting or watching my mom. I love talking to my parents but my sister's input from the background often ads a special zest to the conversation.

A few weeks ago, I called and my mom was telling me how much weight my dad had had lost on his post surgery diet.

Mom to me: "You should see your father, he's down to nothing, he's hardly eating."

My sister from the background: "He looks the same."

Mom: "What? he's lost like 20lbs."

Sister: "Maybe 5."

Art Personified

Before my life as a university designer, I was an editorial designer in NYC. My favorite job was working at "Travel and Leisure Magazine" as an Associate Art Director. I worked for the brilliant creative director, Pamela Berry and with a group of young hip artists who were as fun and kind as they were talented. Editorial design remains my favorite to this day. I've been blessed because while working for The University of Texas at Austin a few magazine projects have fallen to me. I'm posting designs from one of my projects: "Philanthropy at Texas."