Illustration Friday word is "Artificial"

The IF word is artificial but i call this "Coppelia" after the ballet of the same name.

The ballet Coppelia was written tongue-in-cheek about a crazy man that made a doll so life-like that the town heartthrob fell inlove with her and wanted to marry her. Naturally this made the crazy man even crazier and trouble ensued. This story always creeped me out, which of course made me obsessed with it.

Note: My blog's fourth year, or is it fifth year anniversary is coming up...can someone please explain to me...if it started in Aug 2006, am i celebrating the year coming up or how many years it's been alive, and...wouldn't that just mean it's my blog's 5th birthday instead of anniversary? Am i going a little crazy from this? Maybe i should make a doll and see where that goes...Anywayz, i'll be having a prizes and stuff so keep checking back if you can!

Illustration Friday - Focused

I used to do a lot of different interpretations of Botticelli's Venus - and then i sort of went away from it...but a glance at the famous painting made me want to start it all up again. And why not with Steampunk since it is a theme that is threading it's way in everything i'm thinking about. I was focused when i drew this but also she is focused because of her robotic eye...

Her arm was inspired by the incredible Boilerplate - i'm thinking she could potentially be Boilerplate's lady friend...

Illustration Friday - Music

this was a quick sketch - i love the music that comes from such small things..it's available on etsy...click here

Illustration Friday - Unbalanced

wow. it's soooo nice to be pulling the watercolors back out...so nice to just have this pan with the paint squeezed right on every few months or so, not worrying about it drying out, not cleaning up much and so forth... instead of acrylic which i've been working on the past few weeks for a show...continually squeezing the paints out, cleaning the brushes, squeezing more paint out, cleaning more brushes... can you imagine?? where is my assistant to do this stuff?? yeah, go ahead...call me the Queen of sloth...i can take it.

ok back to Illustration Friday's word of the week - Unbalanced. I had started this painting for my Oracle card deck a little while ago to represent Fertility but i thought it also went well with unbalanced. And since i'm constantly doing the OPPOSITE of Illustration Friday words, i'm sticking to that theme. At first glance a pregnant woman looks all sorts of unbalanced...but the body is an amazing thing. It adapts. Frankly i felt like a swan when i was pregnant - magestic, plump, important. Balanced. i was definitely one of those crazies that loved being preg.

Illustration Friday - Skinny

Mucha's woman were not skinny...they were what we now call plump in many instances - greek sculptors, DaVinci, on up to Rueben, Klimt, and Manet and so forth...all were inspired by plump models...when did it change? why did it change? Men's ideal bodies have pretty much stayed the same over time...You can look at male movie stars' and at male models' bodies and most resemble Michaelangelo's the David (which Michaelangelo modeled after the perfect male form in his mind - which i must confess is hard to argue with - but why do i think that???)...how do we figure out what is attractive and what is not? these things fascinate me...and i don't know why.

Anyway, this girl is not skinny. But i think she's beautiful in her way.

Illustration Friday - Magnify

mermaid's allure magnified underwater...hmmmmm....i was thinking of the delirious and dehydrated sailors that would "see" the mermaids when i made this...

Contest Winner! Thank you so much for all your comments last week and congrats to Loni Edwards who's name was picked from a baseball cap by my daughter - you've won the Queen of Hearts print - please contact me with an address and i'll mail it out this week...(i'll have pics soon of the actual name picking process - i'm just a little behind due to a minor but painful injury - and no i was not bitten by a horse like my friend she-who-must-not-be-named)

Illustration Friday - Caution - and a Contest Giveaway

i had posted this last night but felt it sort of fits with "caution". i was thinking about how the ancient Greeks thought our lives hung from a thread and that the gods had the power to snip that thread at any time - and that is not too shocking a concept to grasp...that life is delicate, unpredictable, fragile and should be appreciated every moment, even the sad broken moments...this young muse is holding someone's life by a thread, maybe it's her own. Should she use caution?

Anyways, today is my Blog's 3rd year anniversary!! I'd like to thank all who've come in to look, lurk, and comment by giving away a giclee of the Queen of Hearts...



please leave a comment on this post and then next Friday, August 28, 2009 i'll place all your names in a hat and choose a winner - wheeeee fun times in Adrienne Blogland!! xoxoxo

Illustration Friday - Impatience

it's funny. i have this idea in the back of my head...what would a certain person look like IF they were a vampire? and i set out to try to paint this. and can't. the girl never is pretty enough. so i move on. on to possibly my next and last queen? the one i haven't done yet - queen of diamonds? and then i see this great photo of a famous actress all goddessed up and i think, that's it - the next queen will be a goddess (which originally in my head was going to be India Indian) and so i start drawing...three tries until i get what leads to the final painting - "what if Bella was a vampire when she went to the prom" - yep. that's the way i go...carefully thought out and planned. never. Well anyway, i'm happy with it. this looks so much better hi rez. (Must speak in code now...the fog in the background is Forks fog)

but on to Illustration Friday... as far as vampires go they are most likely a little more impatient than humans - i know i would be the most impatient vampire alive/dead because i'm pretty impatient in human form. thank you all for being patient enough to read this far...i'll stop now...

Illustration Friday - Modify

"Go Ask Steampunk Alice"

too corny? well, ok - you're probably right but...i said a few posts back that i'm not that clever and am sticking to that... HOWEVER...this Alice inspires me a bit - she has definitely been modified...not just by Steampunk but by attitude - i'm thinking she just may not drink that "drink me" drink...

Illustration Friday - Idle

i'll admit at first, i was just going to talk about how "idle" i have been - because it's summer and my girls are home with me, i haven't gotten a whole lot of art done - and i really need to since i've actually now signed a contract to make art for a very specific project (more on that later) and yet...it's been hard to concentrate with the haze of summer and the distractions all around...however, no more "IDLE"ness up here in the house...

so here's my Idle lady...possibly she is not idle at all...perhaps she is the opposite...

which brings me to my latest fixation - Steampunk...yes this has been around since the 80's but i have always been one to jump on the bandwagon well after it has passed so here i am...my amazing friend, talented artist and sometimes muse, Amy Weber, has been making steampunk art for quite some time (please check it out) - i have one of her steampunk crow paintings that another amazing friend, talented artist and jeweler - Stacey Maddock - gave to me as a gift. This painting is something i stare at literally everyday...and a year later it has finally sunk in...steampunk has pretty much been situated in my brain for quite some time waiting to come out...i have so many ideas!! hopefully i can stop being "idle" (groan) and get them all out...

Illustration Friday - Tango

I guess better late than never...

(anyways, my blog's 3rd birthday is coming up and i'll be handing out prizes...more news on that as i post...)

Illustration Friday - Shaky

ok, i think the only way this is "shaky" is the direction this whole image went - i started out with a delicate line drawing and was picturing lovely clouds and blues greys and greens and then all of sudden she's standing just above h-e-double toothpicks (as my daughters say). And honestly i like that whole idea - that she's guarding the entrance there or not letting people out or not letting people in or contemplating whether to go in?? i don't know, it's all shaky.

Illustration Friday - Worn

IF word of the week is "Worn" - i was thinking literally about this...about things people wore. i've always been amazed by corsets and why people (because some men did) wore them. and still do. Crazy. All in the name of fashion.

i was trying for a "saloon" look with this young lady, possibly even a little steam punk but it's not quite there...need some metal and ruffles...

Illustration Friday - Drifting

The Hudson drifts behind her...

wow. Two cool words in a row...this week's Illustration Friday word is "drifting"...i kind of feel like i've been doing that myself this whole week - drifting in and out of real world vs. book world. I read The Good Life by Jay McInerney - mostly about what happened to relationships after the twin towers came down. I'm stating the obvious but many New Yorkers (as well as out of towners) were drifting around like ghosts after this happened. Many knew people that were lost, many were almost lost. On my trips to NYC right after this happened i watched the New Yorkers, their sleek urban veneer still intact yet their hearts visibly damaged. You could feel it. I will never forget it. Even as time drifts passed this terrible event.

My young woman (influenced by Tamara deLempicka) is hopeful about going back into the city, damaged heart and all.

Oh what a great word. Maybe it applies to me this week more than the actual illustration. Maybe i'll try to do one that is more apparent. i think i visualize it already.

Illustration Friday - Unfold

Lyra and Iorek

Unfold. Finally a word that really evokes meaning for me. Illustration Friday has been a challenge most of the time for me because i'm not very clever and many of the Illustration Friday words just made me almost give up. But that's the idea, right? To get your mind to work? I didn't really have to work on this one - in fact i think it has been a theme i've been concentrating on since December. To unfold. Unfolding.

That's what a great writer does. That's what Philip Pullman did with His Dark Materials Trilogy. The story was in his head and it unfolded. Into a miracle. Yes i really feel that way. Never have i wanted to be a character in a story more than Lyra Belacqua. What is Lyra's life like now? How has her life unfolded? i think of these kinds of things...thank you Mr. Pullman.

i love this word so much i might try to do more than one...might is key though.

Illustration Friday - Resolve

Resolve to begin each day in a positive way and then carry it through as best you can

more Mucha-inspired stuff

IF: Clandestine

Only she knew the bird was not really a bird.

Illustration Friday's word of the week - Clandestine

the original done in watercolor...