Mawwidge!

Two days ago, on March 27th 2011, I married my sweetie Chris.

There was a light dusting of snow when we awoke that morning. Not enough to hinder any travel, just enough to make the ground pretty. It was quite appropriate in our eyes: in light of the blizzard in which we were engaged and my affinity for snow!

We held our ceremony and reception at The Lodge at Little Seneca Creek in Boyds, MD. It turned out to be the perfect venue for a wonderful day.

The setup crew of friends and family did an absolutely stellar job of transforming the room into cozy and magical setting, complete with roaring fire (the high was only 40 degrees that day!) and lovely heart-shaped woodland wreath over it.

The turn-out was amazing, at just under 100 in attendance it felt inclusive, yet quite intimate at the same time. The outpouring of support and love from our friends and family was incredibly touching. And nothing can put into words how wonderful it is to be married to Chris! =)

Below are a few photos of the rings I took the day after, as I was resting and playing around with Chris' camera. We are eagerly awaiting our Photographer's photos of the event! I will share our favorites when we have them!

Tides of Avarice - Cover Remake

A few months back I worked with author John Dahlgren on two book covers. The first was a remake of Tides of Avarice, a piece I had originally created for him in 2007... The book had been since picked up by a Singaporean publisher and he needed the art updated and made into a wrap-cover format. It was quite a fun challenge to remake one of my own pieces in this manner! =)

New (amazon.com link):




New (image only):






2007 Version:

Moss Dragon - WIP4

Haven't forgotten about this piece. Today it underwent a bit of revision. Namely, I changed the woman to a much younger girl. It had been bugging me that this didn't quite fit into my children's art portfolio, making the character younger was the obvious solution =P

Also looking at TONS of photos of mossy forests around Ireland as inspiration. My goal is to have this one done for St. Patrick's Day -but we shall see! ;)

The Princess and The Spaceman

In a little over two weeks I am marrying my wonderful fiancé Chris!!! =)

In honor of this: here is an image I created a couple months back (as a Christmas present) for him and our parents. It's a fantasy portrait of the two of us as kids! Me as a prairie princess wielding a golden paintbrush and him as a little boy wearing a tron-inspired suit...with a castle and rocket ship behind us respectively. The likenesses are referenced from old photos, and are pretty much spot-on =D






This is one of the 16"x24" canvas wrap prints from Costco. They turned out really nice!

Moss Dragon - WIP3

Made some more good progress on the 'Moss Dragon' piece today. I got a number of good critiques from my wave group yesterday evening. I found Cynthia's suggestion to go more "wide-angle" with the forest background especially helpful.

Also, trying to make the greens work in a more harmonious manner. I darkened and desaturated the background, shifting the hue, and adding bits of red-ish tint here and there. I do want this to be a primarily green piece, but I don't want it to feel like a war between greens! =P

Moss Dragon - Sketch & Color Rough

Trying to get better about posting updates as-I-go for pieces (when I can). Today I started a new personal piece. The idea is an ancient moss-covered well in a magical forest. In this well lives a friendly "moss dragon" who enjoys sunning himself and having his chin scratched. =)

I've been listening to the Princess Mononoke soundtrack as I was working today ;)

Deeper Darkness - Book Cover - Final

Actually finished this up a few days ago (though still awaiting confirmation of exact book dimensions before I send the author final files).

Much has happened since the grayscale painting. I've gone through many many different color options, tweaked a number of things, and actually sat down and painted each element in a finished fashion.

Quite please with how this one turned out! =)

Final Wrap Cover Painting:


Final with Title Text:


Color Rough: