Meticulous Maiden - Fair Flora

Hi!
It's been a while since I've posted some art along with my steps.
After acquiring a hand injury this piece was particularly challenging, especially since it's likely my most detailed illustration thus far.

I present to you my vision of the goddess Flora. This piece was inspired by various interpretations of flora I've seen throughout my life, and from quite recently a description of the Welsh goddess Olwen. In my version though, she is adorned with red clovers (for stylistic purposes) and she her hair is made from spring flowers. (Flowers include: clovers, dandelions, crocuses, camellias, magnolias, periwinkles, catkins, bell flowers, baby's breath, hyacinths, hydrangeas, lisianthuses, daisies, snow drops, lilies of the valley, morning glories, and perhaps some more flowers which I've forgotten.)

Oh, and this piece was for as set of promotional postcards.

Here's how it all came together:

The humble, little thumbnail

Rough sketch

Loose pencil. Really, if I penciled in all the flowers at once I would have gone bonkers.

Colour study. Ended up taking a different approach in the end

Inked line-work, stage 1. (I worked in chunks penciling and inking, one right after the other)

Inked line-work, stage 2. I decided to try out a method less familiar to me - 'silhouette inking' certain vines and leaves

Here, I coloured most flowers. (Still needed to paint her face and add more depth to certain sections)

(click to enlarge) Finished piece! Front and back of my postcard

close ups

Materials:
`Bristol Smooth Paper
`Micron pens
`Koh-i-Noor waterproof colour inks
`Gouache
`Watercolour

Approximate Size:
7.5 x 10.5 inches

Firebirds of Night and Day

I painted a skateboard deck last winter for a gallery show, and I was pretty happy with the design so when I got a bit of time this summer/autumn I decided to render it on paper=) I called it "Carpe Diem, Carpe Noctem" because "Seize the Day" and "Seize the Night" are some of my favourite sayings. And these Firebirds are reminiscent of night and day, so there we go - a Latin title for a Russian fairytale inspiration. :)

"Carpe Diem, Carpe Noctem"

Here's a close up of some details

And the original deck:

The deck was painted with acrylic paints and Staedler markers for the linework

The work is inspired by Russian folk tale of the Firebird
Original was about 7 x 17" (I think, I'll double check later)
Painted with waterproof inks
  
Prints on Society6{here}
and RedBubble {here}


Happy Monday!

Plum Cake

While I'm completing some art, why don't I share a dessert I've made a couple of weeks ago. This is a recipe which I modified from my mom's recipe, and it's a perfect one to celebrate the start of the autumn season.

I give you - Plum Cake!

I also tossed some blueberries in :)

Plum Cake

Ingredients:

- 3-4 large eggs

- ½ cup of sugar

- 2/3 cup white flour

- 1/3 cup of whole wheat flour

- 10-12 small plums

- 1 tablespoon of almond butter

- 1 teaspoon of baking powder

- 1 teaspoon of lemon zest

- ½ teaspoon of cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- ½ teaspoon of lemon juice

- pinch of salt

-unsalted margarine for greasing

- bread crumbs for greasing

Directions:

1: Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the pie pan with some unsalted margarine and dust it with some bread crumbs.

2: Slice the plums. Set the sliced fruit aside in a bowl. Feel free to add any other stone fruit, like apricots into the mix too – it’ll be delicious! This time I thought I’d add some blueberries.

3: Pour the sugar in a large bowl and whisk it together with the eggs using a mixer on low speed until the two are well combined. Add the almond butter, a pinch of salt, lemon juice, and vanilla, then mix for a few more minutes at a medium speed.

4: In a smaller bowl combine the cinnamon, flour, baking powder and lemon zest. Now, slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, a little bit at a time, while the mixer is at a low speed. Mix until the batter looks creamy and smooth.

5: Pour about half of the batter into the baking pan. Arrange about half of the sliced plums on top of the batter, and set the rest aside to decorate the top. Pour the remaining batter as evenly as possible over the fruit. Finally, take the last of the fruit and arrange them nicely on top.

6: Cook for 30-35 minutes at 350F until the top is lightly golden. Check to make sure the pie is baked by taking a tooth pick, bamboo skewer, or knife and piercing through the middle of the pie. If it comes out clean, then the dessert is ready. However, give the cake some time too cool before attempting to take it out. If it’s too warm, it will stick to the sides and break as it comes out.

Enjoy! It pairs perfectly with tea :)

Miscellaneous Mexico

Here are some miscellaneous photos from my trip to Mexico :) I didn't edit too many, just a few that caught my attention=)

seashell on the beach

A Snowy Egret that I stalked one morning

It was quite photogenic and I think enjoyed the attention

I think this was a little blow-fish that unfortunately didn't make it

Some fancy tentacle shoes from a statue down at Puerto Vallarta center

Me, pretending to meditate with a pina colada in one hand and a strawberry daiquiri in the other

Me, whilst stalking the egret

And now for some videos and animations!

Stingray wipe-out!

wipe-out 2.0

Lastly, is a video of a baby turtle heading for the ocean. ("Division" by Moby)

Sketches by the Shore

This past week I've been spending my time on a vacation of sorts in Puerto Vallarta/ Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Of course I had my sketchbook with me and in the afternoon I doodled on the beach.
Here are some pages:

The 'e' looks really odd but I'll just say it reflects the reclining position I was in as I drew.

For this doodle I even wrote a little poem:

"What this small kitten wanted most of all,

Was an escape to a a place where she knew no one at all.

Where she'd have luxury and simplicity at the same time,

One hand with a pina colada, and the other on a tree she could climb.

She wanted to sit still and gaze at the sky,

See stars glimmering and airplanes fly by.

She wanted to sit there all day and all night

Without receiving a single bug bite."

A super lazy attempt at drawing from life.

Inspired by storm that came in the afternoon

This is another lazy attempt at drawing something realistic, this time a photo from a magazine

I was feeling poetic again

Now I'll try to use 7-8 sentences to describe each day of my trip:

1 - Saturday - After arriving at the hotel I did, in fact, get caught in the rain and have a couple of pina coladas.

2 - Sunday - It was the first time I had ever fallen asleep on the beach.

3 - Monday - The highlight of the night was getting dressed up and going to the Italian restaurant at the resort

4 - Tuesday - It turned out that swimming in the ocean was not really an option due to murkiness and sting rays popping up, so from this day I resorted to swimming in the pool each day for as long as possible - that is until too many people got in.

5 - Wednesday - It really baffled me why in an almost empty pool, people would prefer swim into the small section of the pool I was using, only to stop and tread water in place (at the most). "Move! I'm actually getting exercise here!"

6 - Thursday - Took a bus trip to the downtown of Puerto Vallarta to get some souvenirs and later that night I saw sea turtles hatching and going into the the ocean.

7 - Friday - Got my overgrown hair braided.

8 - Saturday - I've never seen so many Duty-Free stores in an airport that REQUIRE you to go through them in order to get to your gate. Kahlua and Baileys it is!