The Boomerang Principle

I got to illustrate an Aesop's Fable! This is the Ant and the Dove. An ant falls in a fountain and is drowning, when a dove sees his plight and drops a leaf down for the ant to climb on and save himself. The ant then saves the dove by biting a hunter who is about to catch the dove, causing him to drop his net.
I was delighted to illustrate this one. I wanted to try it from a fun perspective--from up high, instead of eye level. I was able to design the leaves and branches, with the sweeping curve of the fountain and the branches encircling the ant on the single leaf in the middle. I was also happy to be able to use the children's book style with thick ink lines surrounding realistic shading and coloring, similar to what I used on the Emperor's New Clothes paintings.Many thanks to Emmanuel for posing as the hunter for this shot!

Michelangelo's Masterpiece

I was not aware of this, but apparently Michelangelo's "David" was sculpted when Michelangelo was 26 out of a piece of scrap marble that someone had already tried to carve.
I used the same model for Michelangelo that I did last summer when I sketched him painting the Sistine Chapel.
Now my kids see the "David" statue on TV or in a magazine and say, "Look, Mommy, I saw your painting!"

The Good in Goodbye

This was a very sensitive topic to illustrate--the West Virginia coal mine collapse in 2006. Martin Toler (in the yellow) wrote a comforting goodbye note to his family on the back of an insurance form before he died. Thank you to all those who were able to make it to the photo shoot for this! I was only able to find four models, one of them being my husband, so I repeated one model twice--see if you can tell which one he is!

This was a challenge to paint in watercolor, since my color scheme is usually light and colorful, and this was dark (coal mines are usually black) and gloomy. I was pleased I was able to pull it off and still preserve some color.

All Is Well, Patience Loader and her father James Loader

I painted this to accompany a story of a pioneer, James Loader, who never made it to Zion, but helped his family on the way so that they would make it there without him. This story was told by his daughter, Patience Loader. Thanks tons to Eric, Heather and Erica for modeling, and to Gordon and Linda for letting us photograph your authentic handcart!