North Creek Farm WIP

I have started my first post-Maine painting (that is, a painting from a photo that I took while in Maine). I have been thinking a lot about my whole experience while I was there, and the main thing that stands out to me was the last full day and North Creek Farm, where we stopped for lunch. It was this adorable little farm/restaurant/store--very hippy-dippy, but in the best possible way! They had chickens with fluffy, feathery legs running around free, some really cute, furry dogs and a fat cat who slept in the greenhouse. Not to mention, the food was arguably the best we had on the trip. The ham and cheese sandwich was A-MAZING, and my friends and I shared a humongous slice of homemade blueberry pie for dessert! Being unable to eat seafood (I'm allergic), this was like the quintessential Maine meal for me and the atmosphere was just perfect.

So I decided to paint from a photograph that I had taken at North Creek farm. Right before we left to return back to the house, I shot a photo of the barn, which was adorned with buoys. It's not really something you see in the Midwest. All throughout Maine, you see houses strewn with buoys and these are the houses of lobster fishermen. They use the buoys to see where they have left their lobster traps in the ocean. And each buoy is painted differently, for each lobster fisherman.

 Normally, I'm not one for architectural paintings, but I like this photograph and I like the, dare I say it, whimsy of the buoys. Plus, it gives me an opportunity to do some wet-in-wet painting, which I always love.

This is just a WIP (Work in Progress), but I still feel like I'm getting off to a rough start. I haven't done a full-rendered painting in a while because I've been focusing on my splashy icons. I think I'm becoming rusty, which kind of scares me a little. I'd like to be able to work both ways equally well.

I plan on working on this some more today.

Also, I can't seem to find my tube of Alizerine Crimson watercolor that I bought recently. I really hope I didn't leave it in Maine. This painting needs a lot of Alizerine Crimson.

Back from Maine

As many of you know, I was in Maine with the Sons of Turner all last week, Boothbay, Maine, to be exact! It was a wonderful trip. I had a great time and I will never forget it!

Art-wise, I'd say it was very inspiring. I didn't do as much painting as I would have liked, mostly due to the weather. We did a lot of outdoor painting, but unfortunately, it was cold and rainy pretty much everyday. So it became impossible to paint a full picture in the rain and sitting in the cold was almost unbearable at times. I did do most of my painting around the dining room table and I did come out of this trip with a few paintings that I really enjoy. Plus, I took a lot of pictures that can be used as references. I want to start working on some new paintings based off photos as soon as I can. As of right now, though, I'm still trying to catch up with my sleep and get back into my normal home routine. I graduated from college yesterday and so this is really my first normal day back home.

Just wanted to share a few images that I took. I also plan on scanning the paintings that I did soon, so keep an eye out.

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Emily Norton: The Official Store

I can't believe I haven't mentioned this earlier. But my online shop is up!

CLICK FOR AWESOME, WHIMSICAL, MAGICAL THINGS!


I started this cafepress store a week ago and it is going well so far. I'm still on a 15-day free trial, which will expire next Tuesday, I think...of course, I will be on vacation then. But since right now, it's a free trial, once I sell something, I can't sell it again...unless I make another duplicate, which I don't know if I can do. But after my premium account kicks in, that should not be a problem. So just be patient.

I'm selling tote bags, shirts, and notebooks at the moment, but there will be much more variety in the future. I plan on making this my #1 project this summer (aside from looking for another job), so stay tuned!

some samples (I make no guarantees that THESE products will be available when you view the website...as of right now)

 London Underground Tote Bag

I actually just did these London icons today. I'm hoping they will be popular, what with the Royal Wedding and all. Also, I just love British things.

London Phone Booth Journal

 Cupcakes Bib

"Wibbly Wobbly" Tote Bag

yes, there are Doctor Who-related items!

Anyway, please visit my store and feel free to shop 'til your heart's content!

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Illustrations

I'm on another Doctor Who kick. The new season just started yesterday and my Whovian heart is beating out of my chest. I'm so excited!

I'm also about to start my very last week of school, probably ever, and for my final illustration project, I wanted to illustrate something very near and dear to my heart: Doctor Who of course. Ha! See how I came full circle there?

So I decided to do a series of product illustrations, featuring Doctor Who-related things/characters that could be placed on almost anything that fans would buy: t-shirts, mugs, pins, teapots...what have you. I haven't done any mock-ups yet, but here are the illustrations...and I also did more handwritten fonts, which is surely becoming one of my new hobbies:

 

Dalek...with two variations of "Exterminate". lol I got really spatter-y with some of these. I was looking at another illustrator that I found on tumblr and was very inspired by her usage of spatter.

The TARDIS...of course you have to have the big blue box--complete with sound effects!

Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Stuff...that is basically what time is, according to the Doctor.

The Doctor and Amy Pond silhouettes with text inside. I liked how the silhouettes I did for Sense & Sensibility turned out, so I thought I'd try it again, but with a twist.

And some floating head icons...I'm surprised by how good at drawing Matt Smith's face I have become. I probably over exaggerated his hair, though...maybe not?

 

Whovians out there, let me know what you guys think! SERIOUSLY! Would you all buy things with these on them if I sold them?

Just a little inspiration

I just discovered this illustrator, Samantha Hahn, via tumblr, of all places! Hey who says tumblr is all bad?

 http://samanthahahn.com/

Oh my goodness I am in LOVE with her illustrations! This woman's art is everything I want my art to be. I love her sweet, whimsical style and how she uses watercolor. I am so inspired right now. It's rather late, well, not that late, but I feel like I could start a painting now. This is how I want to feel about art, how I want other people to feel about my art! Samantha Hahn, if you are reading this, your art is seriously lovely!

A Lovely Day

Well, weather-wise at least!

The thermometer on my desktop says 72 degrees! Woooooo! Normally I'm not a warm-weather person. Not a chilly weather person either, but this winter was awful and I just wanted to feel the warm breeze on my face.  I only have three weeks left of school...maybe less than that. I'm actually itching to get out. I've just been so stressed lately and I'm really getting excited for my trip to Maine with Sons of Turner! I know it probably won't be 72 degrees there, but we'll have the ocean, which is way better!

Anyway, in honor of this fresh, Springy day, I thought I'd show some fresh, Springy illustrations. They're kind of in-progress at the moment. I still need to do lots of digital work to them and maybe add some more line work. But basically, these are the illustrations I did for two Marc Jacobs perfume ads for my advanced illustration class.

Daisy:

 This is for the special edition Daisy fragrance, hence the red bottle. But I wanted to make the girl kind of sweet, preppy, a little mod (to go with the theme of the perfume). I wanted her to embody the spirit that is Daisy by Marc Jacobs. And yes, she is wearing clothing from the Marc Jacobs Spring 2011 line.

Lola:

 Lola is slightly more wild and exotic than Daisy, but judging by the classiness of the bottle, I wasn't about to make her too much in the opposite direction. I just wanted her to be kind of sassy, with a playful attitude. I think I accomplished that. My teacher said she should look "fierce". Haha, I don't know if she's supposed to be "fierce". He also said he would never say that word ever again.

I did illustrations for three other Marc Jacobs perfumes as well. I just haven't put them up here yet. Next week in class, will be all digital editing and creating the ads. Hopefully they'll look good enough to feel like they belong in the pages of VOGUE.

The Wonders of Yupo

As an artist, it's fun getting to experiment with new kinds of paper, and yesterday I tried Yupo for the first time!

Yupo is a synthetic paper. It's not made from pulp or trees, or anything found in nature, but it is 100% recyclable. It has a plastic-y feel to it, can't be ripped (but you can cut it if you so choose) and best of all, for watercolor, if you mess up, you can just wipe it away. It's pretty amazing actually! For more info on Yupo, go here: http://www.yupousa.com/paper/

Anyway, so yesterday, I did the painting above on a sheet of Yupo that my friend Leslie gave me. It's really interesting since the watercolor doesn't sink into the paper, like it would on Arches Hot Press, for instance. The paint just sits there on the surface, creating a kind of oil and water like thing. You get these amazing little swirls and forms all over the paper. If you click on the image and take a closer look, you'll see what I mean.

I just wanted to do a quick little portrait of the model using a limited color palette. I wanted it to be more about the way the paint flowed across the page rather than a realistic representation of his face. I worked with my paper vertically, not flat on a surface so some drips did occur, but I like drips. For some reason, I've always loved drippy artwork. And the painting did dry faster than I anticipated. I was also pleased that the paint isn't chipping off the Yupo. I was worried that would happen and everything seems to be staying put.

So I highly recommend going out and trying Yupo paper. It has way more uses than just watercolor, but if you do want to try something new with watercolor, I definitely think it's awesome. I might go out and buy myself a pack.