callmecaitlin

The Year of the Cactus

December 31, 2019December 31, 2019Art, Illustration2019 in review, Art, cactus, design, drawing, fauna, flora, graphicLeave a Comment

This winter has been all about cactuses for me. I had three great opportunities to draw cactuses, one leading to the next, leading to the next. I started with the cactuses above, done for bags gifted to the Museum Store Association (did you know there was such a thing??) Western Chapter conference hosts, the Phoenix Art Museum.

Someone from the Autry Museum in Griffith Park saw the above cactuses, and wanted something similar, but just for the Autry. This tote ended up being gifted to the Autry docents.

The most recent has been this Christmas cactus. I was tasked with creating something that felt like it was for the holidays, without resorting to typical holiday motifs like snowflakes and reindeer. The cactus is based off of one in my personal collection; I especially loved drawing their complex flowers!

It has been a treat teaching myself to design graphics specifically for silkscreening as these three were (the last was also translated beautifully into embroidery). I’m looking forward to tackling more flora, and maybe even some fauna, in 2020!

Time to Refresh

December 2, 2019December 30, 2019Art, Inspirationchristmas, digital art, goals, holidays, new year, polar bear, refresh, winterLeave a Comment

Now that Thanksgiving has passed and we’re more than 24 hours into December, I feel like the year is finally starting to truly draw to a close. It’s not a bad thing, quite the opposite. It gives us all a chance to celebrate and reflect on the previous 12 months, of course. But then we get the more exciting prospect of imagining and planning for the next 12 months.

Continue reading ➞ Time to Refresh

Changing Seasons

October 9, 2019December 2, 2019Art, Illustration, Inspirationaffinity designer, Art, autumn, drawing, fall, fall decor, gourd, painting, pumpkin1 Comment

The weather hasn’t started changing yet, not really (I think it hit 90 degrees yesterday) but I can’t help but get excited when the fall season approaches. It’s not just about the cooler weather; it’s the changing colors of the trees and subtle shifts of the sunlight as the days grow shorter and the sun doesn’t climb quite as high.

Continue reading ➞ Changing Seasons

Little One

September 10, 2019September 16, 2019Art, IllustrationArt, black and white, drawing, Illustration, sketch, tigerLeave a Comment

Just one of several new little guys I’m working on for an upcoming project. Sometimes you want to make things that are graceful, elegant, refined. Other times, you just need to draw a chubby little tiger who likes baseball!

Monstera Sunday

September 1, 2019December 31, 2019Art, Illustration, Inspirationaffinity designer, digital art, drawing, garden, gardening, monstera, monstera deliciosa, practice1 Comment

My first totally finished image using a tablet! There are a few others that are works in progress, but I’m really excited to have this one finished first!

I’ve become an avid gardener over the last 18 months or so, with an ever growing collection of cactuses and succulents (really the only plants that can survive out in my only outdoor space. Don’t ask my about my herbs!). I wish I had enough space for some indoor plants, but for now, I’m just happy to be able to practice drawing them.

Maybe some “portraits” of plants in my collection are in order!