Red Spotted Newt

The idea of drawing a newt has been on my mind since the summer of 2009. I tend to want to draw wildlife that I have an attachment to, and newts certainly have a special place in my heart. When we were little, my brother and I would walk along the dirt roads in Alstead hunting for newts. We would carry a plastic bucket & slowly check the roads for the orange beauties after a rainstorm. Newts always seem to come out after it rains.

I have to admit that I did not take the reference photo for this drawing. I did try to photograph newts during the summer, but I could never zoom close enough to capture the perfect picture. In my head, I kept seeing the newt face-on, crawling on rocks. So, I scoured morguefile.com and found reference that ended up fulfilling the composition in my head. Photoshop helped me fuse background and subject photos together to create the best reference.

The drawing is rendered in soft pastels on smooth, white vellum. It is 8 x 10" in size.

Introducing... Hershey (and other new news)!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted artwork or random musings on my blog. In the time that I've been away, life has sort of completed a 180 degree turn. A month ago, all was quiet on the art front. I was a bit unsure of which direction to follow in my downtime. I was offered a fantastic job at MoCo Arts in Keene, NH. MoCo is a performing and visual arts company that holds fun & inspiring classes. I am a Front Desk person part-time and absolutely love my day job.

I am still working on portraits and giftware. It is my passion and is not going anywhere. I will be printing a new design for spring in the coming weeks. My bunny portrait will appear on cards and magnets. It's the perfect time, with Easter on it's way!

Also... we have a new addition to our family. We adopted a 22 month old chocolate lab named Hershey! Hershey found us through a co-worker of my father's who was fostering him. He is absolutely sweet and gets along perfectly with Sasha. We are still working on introducing him to the cat slowly. He's absolutely polite and ignores her when we are holding her. However, once she is loose, he is very interested in placing the chase game. We've read up on how to introduce a new dog to the family cat and are taking our introduction slow and with patience. Molly, in the meantime, is enjoying her vacation on the top floor of the house and is spoiled with extra kisses and love.

I've posted some pictures of Hershey above. There will be more posted in the future (and of course lots of portraits)! Hershey is my first labrador retriever and I am loving every bit of his personality!

: )

Mia

The Brightest Bulbs

I hope that everyone had relaxing holidays. I've been offline for a while, spending time with my hubby and family. Now that the holidays have passed, I can post some of my commissions that were presented as gifts!

I'll start with this pastel portrait that was given as a gift to my in-laws for Christmas. This particular piece has meaning to them, as they belong to a hunting and fishing club in Pennsylvania. The club has a few tame rabbits that wander the grounds and children are offered 5 dollars teasingly if they can catch one. The rabbits are released if they are caught, of course. I thought it would be fun if I captured three of the rabbits in a portrait. I think that the club owners owe my in-laws 15 dollars!

This drawing is 11x14" in size and drawn in soft pastels on smooth, white vellum.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my blog readers! May your travels be safe and your holiday filled with memories and yummy food!

I took the photographs above in my yard this fall. My hubby and I returned from a shopping trip to find a couple of turkeys poking around our lawn. The amazing thing was that later that evening, we were visited by four deer. It was a super day for wildlife-viewing!