The Portrait Party 10 - Helen Waters

Another portrait for the Portrait Party by Helen Waters. She said she saw the gypsy in me. ;)



And here is the portrait I did of her.

Portrait of Sarah DeWitt

Portrait of Sarah DeWitt on her wedding day:

Portrait of Jennifer Lee

This is another one which is 3 months old. It was one if my first portraits and along with Christine´s portrait it is my absolute favorite.

Portrait of Lauren Eldridge

There are some portraits which I drew about 3 months ago. The partners for the Portrait Party either don´t have the time to draw the portrait of me or they may have forgotten. So I´m posting them now and in case they do send a portrait I´ll post those too.

The Portrait Party 9 - Martin dibujandoarte

Martin from dibujandoarte read that I was trying to do as many portraits as possible during the month of August. And one day he just surprised me with this portrait:



Of course I had to ask for his picture and return the favour:

The Portrait Party 8 - Karen Sands

Here comes another red head from Karen Sands. Thanks Karen. I really like the way you set the blue around the red hair. And the necklace is wonderful.



This is my portrait and somehow I think I made her look older. She´s got wonderful lips too and I enjoyed drawing this portrait.

The Portrait Party 7 - Carol Huddleston

Carol Huddleston said she had difficulties with my mouth. It may seem a little big, but the portrait resembles me pretty well. And I love the way she drew the glasses.
A few weeks ago I dyed my hair a very light copper. Now it seems to get more orange by the day. I like it. It´s different and I specially like all the portraits showing me as a red head.



This is my portrait and I had difficulties with her nose. Actually she has a delicate slim nose and the portrait just doesn´t do the real nose justice.



Update:
I have two favorites now. This portrait doneby Carol Huddleston and the one by Jennifer Lee. Thanks Carol. The more I look at it, the more I forget it is only a drawing. :)

The Portrait Party 6 - Roy Mosby

Roy Mosby is my next portrait partner for The Portrait Party. The portrait is a beautiful pencil drawing. Here´s the pic he drew:



Roy sent me 2 pics of himself. They were so completely different from each other that I thought which ever I would take as a guideline, the portrait would never look like the real person. So I just made a pirate out of him.



The funny thing is that the day after I drew his pirate portrait I received a portrait of myself as a pirate. Let´s start a Pirate Party!

The Pirate Is Back ... (The Portrait Party 5)

... with lots of treasures. ;)

I came back from Amsterdam yesterday late at night. It was a great and relaxing stay - well except for the last night (but that´s another story). Today morning I drove to my mom´s place to get the kids and there is a lot to be done here. And we´ll be having guests this and next week and I have quite some portraits to complete the next week. So I´ll let you know later about my experiences and the tons of souvenirs from Amsterdam.

Damien Weighill from London sent me this wonderful pirate portrait. I love the beard and the treasure and the eye flap and the hair and the blouse and ... I could go on ...
In case you want your portrait done by him just send him a pic of yours. He plans to do all requests. He´s a little camera-shy so he doesn´t exchange portraits, but he did start a competition where he wanted people to draw him how they imagined him to look like. I think he looks like a skater-kind of guy, but when I drew him he turned out way too well-behaved and ordinary-looking. I´m sure he doesn´t look like this.

Is this Damien Weighill? BTW: He also likes to fulfill wishes.

Amsterdam, I´m coming!

I´m off to Sin City... errrr ... Amsterdam in 2 hours. I´m already very excited and should better get some sleep now.





I hope I don´t end up like this:



(ATCs I made for the "Favorite Movie swap")

I guess I won´t be online the next eight days. So I´ll answer all the emails and portrait party requests during the last week of August.

Amsterdam

When I travel alone, I spend the whole day walking around. Usually I don´t do too many museums (except for last year in Madrid with tons of Picasso exhibitions). I prefer people watching. Walking and watching all day makes me tired, so I sleep a lot too. And I really do need some rest.


(ATC done for the "Favorite Artist Swap" - Dorian Cleavenger)
So here are some of the places I would like to visit in Amsterdam:

• Torture museum - I´m not really interested, but my friend said I would like it ;)
  
• Max Beckmann exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum
• Stedelijk museum
  
• Street markets
• Abraxas Too (famous coffee shop formerly known as Chocolata) - (Don´t worry I don´t like smoking, so I won´t be trying out all the stuff they have there.)

My obligatory to-do list:

• Lambiek comic store
• sleep and rest
• Fill my new Moleskine with sketches
  
• Tuschinski cinema (famous art deco movie theater)

Any ideas what else I should do when staying in Amsterdam? Suggestions are always welcomed!

Portrait Partners Needed Badly! Puleeez!

For a while I have been practicing portraits. I actually started this with the help of the wonderful group The Portrait Party. The person who started this group is Rama Hughes, a phantastic illustrator. Besides Tommy Kane, he´s my favorite illustrator. He gets a lot of requests for portrait exchanges, but hasn´t got the chance to do all of them besides his job. So he started a contest. The person who brings the most new partners into the group in August will have the chance to exchange portraits with him.
I really do want to exchange portraits with him badly, as I admire his art. So please help me win this contest. I´ll exchange portraits with anyone. I don´t need great artists, I just need YOU to draw my portrait and I´ll draw yours. (I really don´t care about the level or skill you have, I wouldn´t even mind a stickman. Stickwoman would be better though! ;) )

Take your courage and send me a pic of yours. Please!


Update:
Thanks for the messages you all sent me. I´ll be doing some portraits exchanges this month with:
Roy Mosby (portrait already posted)
Damian Weighill (portrait already posted)
Karen Sands (portrait already posted)
Carol Huddleston (portrait already posted)
Martin Franco (portrait already posted)
Arindam Goon
Helen Waters

And next month with:
Miriam Stella - second try ;)

My Moo Minicards Have Finally Arrived

Two weeks ago I read an article about Moo minicards on the Photocritic blog (Thanks, Haje!). I immediately wanted to have a set too and ordered them a few days later.
They arrived yesterday and I´m so pleased with the results. I had almost 50 different motives so I received at least 2 of each. Almost all of them look great. I have been searching a long time for business card ideas and this is what I´m going to use. They are tiny compared to the standard business card, but I love them. It has as many motifs as I choose, the card is of a thick quality and the feel is great too. And it is easy to order them on the Moo website (In my case Moo took the photos directly from my Flickr stream).
I ordered another set right away - leaving out a few images which weren´t that good. Can´t wait to receive the next set. The only problem with these cards? I´m having a hard time giving one of them away. ;)

Here they are:





And these are my favorites:





For larger view click Moo cards 1, Moo cards 2, Moo Favs 1, Moo Favs 2.

Haje from the Photocritic blog writes:

"And that’s where the greatness of Moo cards come in. The first time someone gets a Moo minicard in their hands, the response is, invariably, Ooh, wow, that’s superb! Then, they usually run off to get their own Moo cards printed. Then, something fun happens: The second time someone gets a Moo card, they smile conspiratorially, and nod. And that’s where the fraternity of Moo begins."

You can get Moo cards, Moo Notecards, Moo Stickers and more on the Moo website.

R. C. Gorman (ATC ) (IF: missing)

Whenever there is something missing cuddle up in a huge soft blanket or shawl. It really helps! This weeks topic on Illustration Friday is "missing" (suggested by Brian Blankenship).



Rudolph Carl Gorman (July 26, 1931 - November 3, 2005) was a Native American artist of the Navajo nation. Referred to as "the Picasso of American art" by the New York Times, his paintings are primarily of Native American women and characterized by fluid forms and vibrant colors, though he also worked in sculpture, ceramics, and stone lithography. You can see some of his work here.

Glasses

Do I look a lot different with glasses? I don´t think so... maybe a bit smarter. ;)
The past year I have been having problems with my contact lenses and now I cannot wear them any more. My eyes have a corneal curvature which cannot be corrected properly with glasses.
So I really can´t see properly anymore. It´s not too bad during the day, but when I watch movies (my favorite hobby) I can´t see clearly and the text always appears twice. That makes it difficult to read something and to draw and sketch too.
I do hope that my ophthalmologist will find my corneau to be in the right condition for a surgery. I´ll know more about it in September when I have my appointment. I can´t imagine my sight being this bad forever.
I´m not a chicken-hearted person at all, but somehow the thought of eye surgery gives me the creeps. Any experience on your side with that? I could use some encouragement.

Miguel Martinez (ATC)

ATC done for the favorite artist swap

Miguel Martinez was born and lives in Taos, New Mexico in 1951. He has been a successful jewelry designer and painter.

"Still in his early twenties, Miguel found a style which has become his signature. Moved by deep respect and admiration, he began a series of large faces of women, enlarging and stylizing the eyes, endowing them with mystery of illusive and provocative expressions, created them in an ambience of everyday life, giving them a voice which has inordinately proved to speak to the hearts of a universal following.

After almost twenty years this series continues, though Miguel says, "The women have changed as time passed, and I have changed as well. In my travels around the world, the women I have encountered have all found their way into my paintings. Each face I paint, to me, has a different identity. But I feel from the beginning they have all shared a common bond -- their values, their character -- things almost forgotten in our everyday day routines. These women are upright, strong yet gentle, proud of who they are. They have nothing to hide.""
by Marilyn Foust Jones, Taos N.M.

Tes Lacets Sont Des Fées by Dionysos

Dionysos has a great video for their song “Tes lacets sont des fées” of the album "Monsters in Love". The wonderful animation was done by Joann Sfar.


Dionysos - tes lacets sont des fées
Hochgeladen von rycko35. - Entdecke weitere Musik Videos.

I discovered this little gem some time ago on DRAWN The Illustration and Cartooning Blog. I hope it brightens up all those around me who seem to be as moody und unhappy as me.
Anybody has an idea what the title “Tes lacets sont des fées" means in English?