Little Owl

I'm so excited to share this... my cousin and life-long friend Sharon is having a baby soon, and I was honored to be asked to paint something for her baby shower invitations!! Her shower is going to be book/owl themed and will probably be the cutest thing ever. This sweet baby owl is on top of a stack of Sharon's favorite childhood books. I can't wait to meet her little girl :)

30 Day Monster Girl Challenge: Day 13 - Insect

Little moth girl. She is drawn life sized, about 4 inches tall.

30 Day Monster Girl Challenge: Day 8 - Octomaid

Lovestruck Octomaid. "He loves me, he loves me not..."

30 Day Monster Girl Challenge: Day 3 - Slime

It's hard to pet cats when you're a slime :(

30 Day Monster Girl Challenge: Day 2 - Centaur

My Little Centaur ♥ Inspired a bit by Zambicandy's stylish ponies.

Brother and Sister, two years later

My most recent personal project, a rework of an older piece. Brother and Sister has been one of my more popular paintings, and though I loved the concept and held the painting dear to my heart, I've felt for a while that I should revisit it. The difference is profound, at least to me... I look forward to seeing where my work is in another two years! Here's a side-by-side comparison of the two: 

But her brother was already kneeling by the brook and bending over it to drink, and, sure enough, no sooner had his lips touched the water than he fell on the grass transformed into a little Roebuck. Sister cried bitterly over her poor bewitched brother, and the little Roe wept too, and sat sadly by her side. At last the girl said: "Never mind, dear little fawn, I will never forsake you," and she took off her golden garter and tied it round the Roe's neck...

After they had gone a long, long way they came to a little house, and when the girl looked into it she found it was quite empty, and she thought. "Perhaps we might stay and live here."

So she hunted up leaves and moss to make a soft bed for the little Roe, and every morning and evening she went out and gathered roots, nuts, and berries for herself, and tender young grass for the fawn. And he fed from her hand, and played round her and seemed quite happy. In the evening, when sister was tired, she said her prayers and then laid her head on the fawn's back and fell sound asleep with it as a pillow. And if brother had but kept his natural form, really it would have been a most delightful kind of life.

- Lang, Andrew, ed. "Brother and Sister." The Red Fairy Book. New York: Dover, 1966. 

(Original published 1890.) 

Wednesday WIP: An Assortment

Works in Progress

devil girl

a rework of an older piece... any guesses?

and now for something completely different. 

100th Post: Tote Bags!

 

Totes are ready! 

hannahbird.etsy.com

These are so much fun to make. Still working on the other designs, but for now here are these cuties. Cute animals. Forever. This also marks the 100th post on my new blog - a fitting celebration, I think!

Wednesday WIP: Tote Bags

Fun stuff - lately I've been working on tote bags! I've been converted, so much easier than a purse, and fun to put super cute things on. I've got plenty more in the works... you'll see them on Etsy soon!

Friday Final: The Waxwing

The Waxwing (Study from Life)

Earlier this week I found a couple birds in our backyard, lying still on the ground. I was walking with our dog and I gasped aloud. The first one I saw looked fake, like those birds you would buy at a craft store, and for a split second I wondered if I or someone else had dropped one outside somehow. It was real, though, and I wondered if it had simply fallen from the sky or a tree, dead. But then I found the second one and realized they must have flown into our sunroom window. They were so beautiful, I'm sure they were waxwings (Cedar?), they each had these bright yellow and shiny red tips on their feathers. I am so softhearted and couldn't stand to leave them be... I picked them up and put them in a box to keep them off the ground. They were so soft, and still limp. I decided to paint them but I could only finish one before it got too dark and cold outside. The one I finished was the first one I found. The sketch of the second one is below.

Waxwing Sketch

David buried them somewhere safe in the backyard, and though I feel guilty over it, I also feel grateful for the chance to have studied such beautiful creatures from life, up close. It's not a chance you get often with animals. 

While on a walk yesterday we saw a small butterfly resting in the road. Assuming it too was dead, I touched its body to pick it up. It fluttered between my fingers and flew up, circling with a twin, leaving me startled and smiling. Excuse me while I get a bit sentimental here... but it was a comfort. 

Monday Mix: Arty Stuff

Some sketches I worked on during the first night of our monthly Arty. I think this is one of my most successful attempts at drawing young boys, with different faces even, without using references. Progress! These are for a collaboration with a friend. 

I also worked on painting my (admittedly unused) roller skates: 

Bats and sweets ♥_♥ Now I just have to learn to skate again... in the meantime I can't wait to finish these! 

Monday Mix: Sketchbook

I've been sketching more than usual lately! Mostly they are interiors and buildings drawn from various photos from tumblr - I rarely draw anything architectural, so I've been devoting myself to practice. I dislike using a ruler (it feels like it takes a lot of the fun out of drawing to be so exacting and angular) so the perspective in these is far from correct, but it's been a fun challenge nonetheless. Working my way towards an illustration set in an architectural interior with correct perspective.

(view larger)

Monday Mix: Friendship is Magic

PONIES as human girls. Yep. Something fun as a break from working on serious stuff. Coincidentally these are almost in order of my favorites... though my very favorite is Fluttershy. Who's yours?

Monday Mix: Quick Portrait Sketches

Over the weekend my boyfriend and I took part in a 24 hour Art-In/Art Party/Arty with some friends. These are a few quick sketches I did of the people (and cat) in attendance...

Quite fun and much more productive than I thought I could be! I used to hate working in front of people in a classroom, but working with friends under blankets and purring cats is much more relaxing. Looking forward to doing it again.

Wednesday WIP

Oh, the usual. Cats, bats, witch hats. 

Monday Mix: Sketches, Scariest People, Snack Art, and more

Just some sketches, both serious and silly. 

Neat things of note...
♥ If you live in the Northeast Florida area, I have some news about the big project I've been working on... the next issue of Folio Weekly's Scariest People of Jacksonville features the five "winners" as illustrated by me! Look for it October 25!

♥ I'm also thinking of offering custom portraits through Etsy, as well as new prints (Goldfish Queen?) and other new items (tote bags in the works) ... be on the lookout for these sometime very soon.

♥ Oreo Cameos by Judith G. Klausner: I love Oreos, I love cameos, I love weird art. Be sure to take a look at the rest of the website - she does some amazing work.

♥ And a cute something: baby bat with the hiccups. I died.

Hope you all are starting your week off right! Since I'm done with the Scariest People project I've had Halloween plans on my mind, girls with cats and witch hats, and a special project with my dearest Angie B about ghosts and trees and unsolved murder. I've also been sewing up little plush ornaments and I'm thinking of making some little bats to hang around the house. Perfect fall projects <3

Grey

Grey; canary yellow ink and graphite

Other than flying creatures (birds and butterflies) I practically never draw animals, so this was something of an experiment. 

sharks and sidewalk arts

a little something my boyfriend requested... a shark howling at the moon. 

there's not much to share this week... planning and practicing for the upcoming Sidewalk Arts Festival has been taking up most of my creative brainpower. if you're in or around Savannah you should definitely come out, it's huge! there's also the Cyberwalk Art Contest if you can't make it in person; i particularly like this submission by Chloe Mooberry, super talented artist and former SCAD roomie: 

 

she did this with a mouse. 

Kaleidoscope

another acrylic piece for sale at the Riverside Arts Market art gallery.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The Silver Doe

my very favorite scene in deathly hallows, maybe even in all the books. between 's reread and discussion posts, visiting wizarding world in august, and the movie coming so soon, i only recently have calmed down from a big HP brain-takeover (and it's not over yet! glad to have gotten this done before part one). this is the first real fanart i've done since back when i was a middle-schooler obsessed with sailormoon... that is something!  


i think this got it out of my system a little, which will hopefully last for the next week and a half leading up to the movie, because i have no time to be thinking about anything other than art. i have so many projects to work on... still in the midst of commission work, but i also have a couple of small canvases to think of ideas for and complete for the arts market's newish gallery area (hopefully at least one by this saturday augh), and i need to finalize some ideas for holiday-themed illustrations (hopefully completed sometime this month, i want to add new items to etsy!)... november is going to be so busy, and then most of december will probably be devoted to gift paintings and things like that. ahh! but i like it.


Harry Potter, etc etc belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros., etc etc