I love gouache.

Buddy Beauchaine

Buddy Beauchaine is a Plott Hound. This is a portrait of him as a puppy. I sketched it from a photograph and then painted it using gouache.

Brainstorming

(watercolor pencil on paper)

Pier at Oak Island

May the mighty Cthulhu devour you last!

Lost at Sea

#7. Mr. John Dirtfellow - a beetler

#10. Miss "Bronzeface" Millicent Scumly - a frequent surface-traveler

#113. Monsieur Jean Valjean Valdustbuster - a fugitive

#238. Mr. Albert Crayfish Crawfish - a Declarationist

Meet Mr. Albert Crayfish Crawfish. He is #238 in the list of John Hodgman's 700 mole men.

Mr. Crayfish Crawfish is a bayou-dwelling mole man living on and under the soggy soil of Voodoo Town marsh. He's a Libra. He likes escargot, swamp grass, and wearing silly hats with great distinction.

Look at the list and draw your own mole man, or just peruse the gallery. Lots of fun!

IF: Clutter

The city is cluttered with mice.
How nice.


(Incidentally, this is a draft of a painting I will donate to the Wake County SPCA's Fur Ball. The Fur Ball is an annual event and a great way to support our four-legged friends. Please consider supporting your local SPCA.)

I wish every day were Halloween

These are some card designs of mine
for my favorite day of the year!

A drought

I've been in an art drought.
I need to get cracking.
I've promised to donate art
for the SPCA Fur Ball auction.
In the meantime, here is a little bird in a tree.

A bit about Bunny

This is the latest frame in a cartoon strip that I've been slowly creating called The Adventures of Pig and Bear.

IF: Detach

IF: Late (aka A True Story)

I found out too late the truth about the donuts.

IF: Sail

I brainstorm a lot on paper before beginning any artistic endeavor. Today I was thinking about how to illustrate the I.F. challenge of the week: sail. Above is the third idea I came up with after 1) a mermaid in the bathtub with a toy sail boat, and 2) Cthulhu about to devour a real sail boat (both hastily drawn in ink on post-it notes, like this one). Both had potential, but neither amused me so much as Kramer sailing out a window to catch a bird.

My plan had been to come home from work and create the "real" I.F. drawing on nice paper with a nice pencil and then paint it nicely with nice watercolors. That, I thought, would make a great I.F. contribution! But once I got home and brought out my art supplies, I realized that this is the real drawing. I created it spontaneously and without any expectation of greatness, and I just love it.

I wish art always happened this way.

Nerd Girl color experiment

I've recently started playing
with digital art software.
The sketch of my lovely Nerd Girl
is pen & ink, but the colors are one
of my first attempts at layers.
I've resisted the urge for a long time
to "get into" digital art, but who knows.
This may be the beginning
of a beautiful friendship.

IF: Poof!

IF: Canned Can-Can Girl in Cannes

During a performance in Cannes,

Desiree accidentally kicked a patron in the face.

The can-can dancer was later canned.

Mermaid

Princess Kiwi: Prettiest Cat in the Land

Here's a colored pencil sketch of Kiwi. She's not actually blue, but she is blind, as the drawing of her face might lead you to believe.

IF: Fierce

Though the mice


were not fierce,


she had what


one might call


a phobia.

IF: Hoard

After days of pillaging, at last Margeaux was alone with her hoard.

F is for Flounder

Déjà vu

This is a pencil sketch from a cartooning class I took last month.

Ballerina Star

This is an intaglio print I made a couple years ago.

IF: Punchline

IF: Forgotten

Everything was perfect
until it occurred to Lydia
that she had forgotten to shave.

Grand Odalisque

I painted this picture for my friend Sarah who shares my birthday. In fact, this painting was a birthday present for her. I used watercolor and pen to create it.

This picture and all other images created by me are copyrighted by me and may not be used without my permission.