Introducing Wyatt

In Fall of 2014 we decided that our 2 year old Springer Spaniel, Ruby, would benefit from having a friend. We knew we wanted another English Springer Spaniel for sure, the debate was to rescue or buy from a breeder. With Ruby's history we decided to get a pup from a breeder. We contacted Springville Springers, in Ontario, Canada. We made arrangements to go meet the parents of our pup and place a deposit. We found our Springville Wild Wyatt; a black and white male field type English Springer Spaniel. We made arrangements to bring him over the border and brought him home in January of 2015.

    

Wyatt is my barking alarm clock who is always eager for breakfast. He likes to stand between my legs and the kitchen counters and has done so since he was a baby. He likes to shred paper goods and dig holes outside in the yard. He is eager to please. Wyatt likes to cuddle after 7pm. He makes the "derpiest" of faces and makes me laugh all the time. He loves to chase assorted toys, cotton wood puffs on the wind, Ruby, and butterflies.

Ruby became nurturing, shared her toys, and eventually let him sleep near her in the month after bringing him home. He is now taller than her and soon will be heavier. This is typical of field Springers. Ruby is a mix between the show and field variety. They are buddies and I can't even explain the love I have for them.

 

When ruby was about 7 months old I did a portrait of her for our home. Puppies rarely stop moving except for when they are sleeping. This is when the are angelic! So I snapped a snoozing picture and used it as reference for the oil pastel portrait. 

To see Ruby's portrait, click the link:

http://wildatheartillustration.blogspot.com/2013/10/introducing-ruby.html

This is the picture I used for reference of Wyatt:

Normally, a black dog is a tricky subject. Lucky for me, Wyatt's coat is shiny and I had a good picture for reference. I started with a line drawing on an 11x14 inch mixed media paper. 

(This is the half way point.)

I used a variety of colors for all shading. For black I typically use blues and purples. I clean up edges and lines with colored pencil. I have to say the yellow background was a nice change for me. The shadwos are once again a combination of blues, purples, and browns, but there is even some green and maroon in there!

"Wyatt" The finished piece. 

Both of my furbaby portraits are on the wall now. They are one of the first things you see when you walk through the door besides the models themselves who rush to greet you.

My handsome goofball in more recent photos. 

Thank you for stopping in. Stay tuned for future works. 

Sweet Chalk Festival 2015

The Sweet Chalk Festival in Lockport, NY was once again a great experience! This was my 3rd year as a featured artist. Seeing this event grow from the beginning has been remarkable. This year it was easily tripled in size. Ellen Martin and event organizers were once again amazing and I'm so proud of them! There were so much talent present this year. I took a ton of pictures!!!

This year I chose a marine subject. My piece this year was 6ft x 8ft in size (the biggest one I have done to date). I illustrated an under the sea view of two seahorses. I love doing ocean scenes because it allows creative liberty with dramatic lighting. Sea horses come in all shapes and sizes and some even look alien. I will be drawing a Hippocamus Erectus or "Lined Seahorse." 

Here are some images I drew inspiration from: 

(I do not own or claim to own these images. I Googled them.)

 

Some fun seahorse facts: Seahorses mate for life, they can camouflage, males carry the eggs in their pouches, they are slow swimmers, and the Lined Seahorses in particular live all along the East Coast from Nova Scotia, Canada to the South Americas. I have found myself envious of the sea horse, the males can carry the babies, I am 21 weeks pregnant and find this an intriguing concept. 

Due to the size of this year's piece I decided to forgo a full size trace. Last year we had wind issues and I didn't want to repeat that frustration either. I did however measure out my grid on a normal piece of paper and then did a trial run in my driveway. I found that I completely miscalculated how many squares I had. Oops. 

I used a 9x12 grid. Each square was 8 inches.

July 11th, 2015-Day 1 of the Sweet Chalk Festival

My super fan (Mom) helped me get the grid down. We fought with the awning/shade tent (I didn't want to burn this year-still did anyway somehow but it definitely helped with the temperature) We measured out the grid and use a chalk line to set it straight. Once it was in place I went over the lines with a brighter chalk. This part of the process is easily the most difficult and not fun.

My Mom kept me company for most of the day as I laid down the base color. I used Prismacolor NuPastels for most of my piece. I did have some Master's Touch brand pastels left over from last year as well. The difference between the too is the dust factor. Prismacolors stick easier and hold pigment. Master's Touch can create a "wash out" look but will crumble quicker. 

End of Day 1-Base Color Down

July 12th, 2015-Day 2 of the Sweet Chalk Festival

My husband, Tim, helped me set up. Artists got their official shirts for the event. I didn't waste much time, after stuffing doughnuts in my face, and jumped into shading. I started from left to right to stay in the shade as the hours ticked by. I deepened shadows, created spine texture on the golden sea horse and brought dimension to the weeds. I had family stop in to say hello throughout the day. My Dad, sister and her boyfriend also stopped to keep me company around lunch time. My muscles started to ache and it was helpful to have someone else hop around and get me chalk pieces. 

I raced to finish the right side of the piece. I added spines and fin to the larger sea horse, brought to attention the light filtering from the surface making the coral above a silhouette, and added texture the the lower coral. I set the piece with good ol' Aqua Net hairspray. You may still see this days from now.

The finished illustration:

I still managed to get sunburn on some of my legs and arms and was extremely sore but it was worth it. 

I got to be placed by my friend, Debbie Franco. We enjoyed each other's company as we worked on our pieces. She did Calvin and Hobbs!

Some of the other pieces from various artists:

Winner of the student contest!!!

Upper level of the parking lot.

A special thank you to our friends and families, the people who support the arts and this festival, and to my sponsor 

Diversified Manufacturing Inc. 

The Painted Horse

I have always had an appreciation for South Western art and history. I have traveled to and around Arizona. My maternal grandparents live near Phoenix. I have been to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Every time I return to the state I am once again in love with the vivid colors of the landscape and the mystical feeling it inspires. Bright colors from all over the spectrum are consistently used in South Western art. So, it was only a matter of time before I created my own piece with the influence of the region.

American Indians would paint their war horses with symbols of protection, wisdom, and stories of victory. Some painted symbols that would tell of the affection between horse and warrior or personal achievements of the warrior much like medals on a military uniform. Other decorations were beads, feathers, and medicine bags tied into horse's mane. You can google the symbols and their meanings. Some may surprise you.

"The Painted Horse" is an oil painting on a 18x24  inch canvas.

The most difficult part was the eye. The moment I realized I got it right I felt like I ran a marathon and won. I really enjoyed the texture of the background in contrast with the flow of the horse's mane. I used a variety of colors, bright blues and deep reds, coppers and grays too. The photos never really compare to seeing the piece in real life.

As to be expected, I fell in love with my painted war horse. I will have a hard time letting it go. This piece has quickly become a personal favorite. I hope you enjoy this piece too.

"The Painted Horse"

Sweet Chalk 2015 Prep Begins

The Sweet Chalk Festival in Lockport is July 11th and 12th this year. A month earlier. My planning efforts are starting earlier too. 

The first part: Measurements

For the last 2 years I believe I did a 5x6 piece. I can't remember the actual size but looking at an outline in my driveway that would be my guess. I want to bigger this year. After a couple emails with Joe and Julia (Fellow chalk artists) I decided to make a few rectangles in my driveway today.

The size that appealed most to me was a 6x8 ft piece. My brother, Cory, came over to help me battle the wind and get a feel for the right size. 

My Springer, Ruby, was naughty and escaped the fence to come help too. She really just wanted to cuddle her Uncle Cory though. 

I did some really rough sketching of an idea I had for this year. Also, to better get a feel for the 6x8 ft size.

I am getting more and more excited for this year's festival!

We will have to see how my ideas developed through more sketching. Stay tuned! 

Awaiting Finishing Touches

I have been painting in my new space at the new house. The room has fantastic light for being on the lower level. This piece is not yet finished but I wanted to share a sneak peek or two. I am currently waiting for some warmth so I can open the window for better ventilation. So hopefully I will be writing again with all the details by mid May. 

The 2nd Annual Sweet Chalk Festival: Hedwig

I know, I know, this post is LONG OVERDUE. I moved from the apartment into our first house a week or so after the Sweet Chalk Festival and lost my Nikon cord to load pictures. I just now found it.

This past August I was invited back to be part of the Sweet Chalk Festival (2014). I absolutely loved participating in it the year before so I was excited to do it again. This year I wanted to draw a beloved hero that is an animal. I absolutely love Harry Potter, my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Kelly, read us The Sorcerer's Stone. I would hang on every word and loved the characters. I have read all of the books, reread them, and went to the movies with my family. I have a very special place in my heart for a certain snow owl and she was a hero in her own right. Hedwig was going to be my piece of chalk art.

I did some simple sketches first. Then once I narrowed down the composition I moved to sketching it on a giant grid of papers taped together.

I chose to do a 4x6 foot piece, next year I will do a bigger piece. I did this same method the year before with the Lockport Lion. I used tracing paper once that sketch was complete to lay down on the asphalt. The drawing is transferred when I cut long the lines on the tracing paper and use basic white chalk to draw along the cut edges.

The weather forecast was not in our favor for this event.

My easy drawing transfer process was not easy this time. Usually the process takes about an hour, this time the wind had other plans. The tracing paper would lift and the tape and heavy objects holding down didn't seem to do me any good. Eventually an angel named Jill jumped in to help me break the paper into smaller sections so the wind couldn't grab it and have its way with my sanity. When the piece was finally transferred I went to work on getting the base colors down. 

The weather changed from windy to raining. We scrambled to get tarps down. The flimsy painting plastic I had was not going to cut it so I drove over to Home Depot to get a blue tarp to better protect what I started. The feeling of camaraderie was awesome, we all worked as a team. The volunteers and artists all helped each other out, even some onlookers joined in.

The next morning we started to uncover our works and unfortunately, Joe's piece was vandalized when we were gone the night before. He had to start over. Mine only got some water damage. I did need to redo the diamonds of the glass windows  and reinforce the edges.

People recognized this beautiful bird and the kids loved her!!! I had great conversations with young artists and took a moment to capture what I found throughout the day, here are a few:       








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I can't express enough how awesome my coartists were with their talents and with their personalities! Everyone is warm and helpful and I am going to share them here:

The fan favorite Joe Mahley.

http://www.eastniagarapost.com/search/label/Sweet%20Chalk%20Festival

Deb and I, a friend and old coworker, who joined in this chalk event for the first time this year! 

She will be back for more. 

I learned a few things things from other artists and will be investing in harder chalks. The asphalt tends to wear chalk down fast and the pigment doesn't stay on as easy. White chalk was incredibly frustrating to use. So next year you are not going to see a white animal. Now the finished piece:

Ellen (The Mastermind of Sweet events in Lockport) and I with Hedwig

A little boy who looked a lot like Harry Potter himself said it was his favorite. My heart could have just exploded right then and there. I'm so happy that I make people smile the way he did with what I can do. 

A tradition now is to celebrate with Lake Effect Ice Cream! Friends and family came out to see the festival and stuck around for the end. My husband, Tim, and my fur baby, Ruby, loved a day in Lockport. I look forward to more Sweet Sweet Summers. 

Tim and Ruby

Curt, Megan, Myself, Jay, Cassie, and Aiden

Nick, Jeremy, Myself, and Tim

I already picked my subject for next year. 

You will just have to see it at the Sweet Chalk Festival 2015!

More information about Sweet Sweet Summer Events can be found here:

http://sweetsweetsummer.com/sweetsweetsummer.com/Sweet_Chalk_Festival.html

Other article links:

http://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/sweet-chalk-festival-continues-today-on-canal-street/article_7667ea35-7d43-58c2-98cd-31f1ef8ae1d4.html