picasso show at sam

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to play hooky from working and go see the Picasso retrospective at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). It was an extensive and enlightening show. To see his work evolve over the years and how it was influenced by what was happening in the world around him was fascinating. This piece, above, was one of my favorites in the show. Titled, The Shadow, it was painted in 1953 and is thought to be a self portrait.

Another favorite in the show was this one, titled Portrait of Dora Maar, painted in 1937. Dora Maar was his companion, lover and artistic muse. She was also a painter and a photographer and somewhat famous herself. He often painted her as sad and sometimes in tears, because of the tumultous emotional nature of their relationship. The guy was a real ladies man and had many lovers, wives, muses, etc. throughout his life.

patterns!

I have a new passion (borderline obsession) to create patterns! I've always LOVED patterns and now that I know how to create a repeat pattern in Illustrator, I'm happily making my own. I have these two patterns for sale on Spoonflower. These would make cool decorative pillows, tote bags, tea towels or maybe even stuff for kiddos. I can see a cute dress out of the owls, for sure. I'm thinking of entering Squirrel Fun in an upcoming contest on Spoonflower, called Woodland creatures. Or should I enter the Friendly Fowls instead? What do you think? Which one is your favorite?

spooky

For Illustration Friday this week. I vant to drink your blood, or just give me a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup!

I was curious about how trick or treating got started, so of course, I googled it and found this (among other interesting facts): The tradition of going from door to door and receiving food originated  in Britain and Ireland, in the form of souling, where children and poor people would sing and say prayers for the dead in return for cakes.

giraffe road trip

For Illustration Friday this week with the theme word of transportation. I'm trying to work on being a bit more loose and fun in the way I lay out my elements. Not quite there yet, but I think I'm getting closer.

animal alpha progress

I've been working steadily on my animal alphabet and I'm happy to report that I'm over halfway! The addition of these four make 15 done! Only 11 to go! Whoo-hooo!

All of the animal images will be available on the Magic Murals website, (some are already there) but it takes some time for the designs to be prepared for the site, so check back every once in awhile to see if the one you want is there. Next up - K is for kangaroo!

IF - beneath

A quick little illo for Illustration Friday this week. I know, the Witch of the East actually had on the ruby slippers, when Dorothy's house fell on her. But, I didn't want to draw little slippers, I wanted to make witch boots with curly toes, so that's what I did.
What kind of a witch wears ruby slippers anyway? They wear little black boots, everyone knows that! 

FREE printable halloween treat boxes

Our October post is up over at We Love to Illustrate, and this month we all designed Halloween treat boxes that can be downloaded and printed on cardstock. And they are Freebies! Yay! Here's what my design looks like:

And you can download it right here.To see what the rest of the group came up with, visit our site, here.