20130726

SHADES OF THE SIXTIES - Retro Art meets the 21st Century


SHADES OF THE SIXTIES
Give Peace A Chance

This is actually a redo of an acrylic painting I did about 20+ years ago:

Shady Characters
 I've often said I believe in re-purposing and that applies to my art as well.  Sometimes I just want to revisit a piece and put a new spin on it that reflects changes in myself and my views. Or, as in this case, I look at a piece and see a new way to have fun with it!

Someone asked me once if the original painting, Shady Characters, was a portrait of John Lennon.  It wasn't, but once asked I could see the resemblance in the bottom face a bit, especially with those round glasses:


I came across the image again recently and remembered that comment and in my head I heard John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance" and that was enough to set me off on a little trip to "Strawberry Fields".  I scanned the photo image in my portfolio and took it on a "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Imagined" a new pop art version and titled it "Shades of The Sixties" The Walrus and Sgt. Pepper would be proud.
You'll notice I used the pop art design from my Guitars below. I thought it fit into my theme nicely and I love those shooting stars, it's a little "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".

This is a nice melding of two of my creative eras and a nice blending of "real" art with digital, something I really enjoy doing.  I plan on doing a few more re-purposed pieces!






OTHER DESIGNS IN THE
POP ART OBJECTS SERIES
All are available on
a wide range of art and gifts:
 


Follow me on Twitter

Friend me on Facebook


 

20130720

New! The POP ART HORSE - A Prancing Pony of the Colorful Persuasion


  
As a teenager in the sixties, I grew up surrounded by the poster art and illustrations of artists like Peter Max, Heinz Edelmann (illustrator of The Beatles Yellow Submarine), Milton Glaser and the like.  Before that, as a crayon addicted kid, I was influenced by Disney cartoons and movies.  Later I fell in love with the surrealists like Dali, Magritte and Ernst, then in college, pop culture artists like Wayne Thiebaud (who, like Dali, once worked for Disney Studios!)

There is something delightful and happy in the sixties art and the Disney renderings which speaks to the child in my soul. The surrealism and the pop culture art, is just a bit this side of normal - much like me.  I can really appreciate melting clocks and gigantic images of gumball machines, cakes and pies as well as the sheer beauty of the gorgeous watercolor backgrounds you used to see in Disney movies.  As for the sixties art, well, it was just all about color and freedom and joy.

In this series of what I call "pop art" for want of a better description I bring the color and joy of the sixties and a little bit of "normal challenged" to normal, everyday things.  If you want sociopolitical art go somewhere else, I'm not into shoving my views down anyone's throat by way of a piece of art.  I just like playing with design and color - and I like to feel happy when I look at my art.

My Pop Art Horse is #5 in my series of Pop Art Objects.  This is a digital work, done in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet and a lot of processor power.  I created an outline of a horse that I liked with some nice movement to the figure then I went in and overlayed classic pop art style imagery to fit the silhouette.




OTHER DESIGNS IN THE
POP ART OBJECTS SERIES
All are available on
a wide range of art and gifts:


 
Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook

20130719

MAD ABOUT TEA PARTY Colored Pencil Drawing Food Art


MAD ABOUT TEA PARTY

The pretty in pink Tea Pot tips her lid to the fantasy flower that winds through her Wonderland Tea Party while the tea cups swirl and dance about in colorful motion as the Dormouse peeks out from his tiny doorway. A happy tea bag begs you to "Drink Me" next to a magic mushroom with the invitation to "Eat Me".

MAD ABOUT TEA PARTY for me was all about the wild tea pots and cups at this particular "Unbirthday Party", they seemed to have a personality all their own.  When I drew my teapot I also drew a little on Mrs. Potts, the teapot in Beauty and the Beast and gave my teapot it's own way to tip it's lid by turning the handle into a hand (get it "hand-le/hand"?) The teacups were mini versions of my Cool Beans Coffee Cups Illustration with just a bit more mad color and attitude.


The original sketch I did (when I was inspired by Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland movie version) had the teapot handle behind the pot but I had to rotate it to fit into my vertical format:

 
I thought this was the perfect piece to add the "Eat Me" and "Drink Me" references to the magic potion Alice drinks in the book so added those next to a bag of tea and a magic mushroom. I also added a visual pun on the "Dormouse" behind the teapot for a little extra eye candy.
 
Then I decided I had to bring in some Wonderland flora and drew in the sunflower with it's vine as a border - yes, that's a teeny little ladybug on the petal:


BTW, here's the original black and white rendering of all these original sketches put together. I hope make it available as a poster and canvas prints soon:

THE ORIGINAL
is available for sale (shipping included!) at my Etsy Store!
where you can read more about the original piece and get the specifics.

is also available on

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE OTHER POSTED PIECES IN THIS "ALICE THROUGH THE COOKING CLASS" SERIES:
THE WorCHESHIRE CAT

“Mad Hatter: Would you like a little more tea?
Alice: Well, I haven't had any yet, so I can't very well take more.
March Hare: Ah, you mean you can't very well take less.
Mad Hatter: Yes. You can always take more than nothing.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

“Well that was the silliest tea party I ever went to! I am never going back there again!”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook

20130718

The WorCHESHIRE CAT Original Colored Pencil Illustration - Fun Food Art


The WorCHESHIRE CAT
A Saucy Little Feline Foodie!

A grinning, purple and pink cat pops out of a bottle of WorCheshire Cat Sauce while Alice stands atop a magic mushroom waving a skillet and spatula and the Caterpillar weaves atop another mushroom swinging a sauce pan, a salad bowl and a cooking whip, all against a backdrop of fun fungi.

What did the WorCheshire Cat say to Alice when she asked what to cook for dinner? "It doesn't matter what you cook if you don't know how to cook it." And what did the colorful & cagey cat tell Alice to use in her recipe? Why, WorCheshire Cat Sauce, of course!

Perfect for the cook or chef with a sense of humor and a savory addition to any kitchen. Also fun for a children's room.

This food themed adaptation of the Cheshire Cat presented one issue in illustrating and that was how to show his disappearing act in a clever way.  I finally decided that the sketch I had done (inspired by Tim Burton's version of Alice In Wonderland) below should be simply superimposed over the background of my illustration.  I took it one step further and made the interior of his mouth transparent as well.
 
While I was contemplating this technique I was mulling over how to turn the Cheshire Cat into a food related character when suddenly I thought of Worcestershire Sauce! Bingo, a little wordplay and he became the WorCHESHIRE Cat popping out of a bottle of sauce!  I giggled madly and proceeded with the sketch for the colored pencil drawing:


I had to surround him with a few of the magic mushrooms from Wonderland and I added Alice waving her pots & pans atop one of the mushrooms, then, just before I started the color rendering I decided the Caterpillar needed to make an appearance as well.

I have to say I LOVED drawing a magenta and lilac vanishing cat and had some serious fun with the colors on the magic mushrooms. This piece (and the series) is almost a culmination of everything I strive for in my art - colorful, humorous, creative design and a little bit of merry madness in the subject matter.

THE ORIGINAL
is available for sale (shipping included!) at my Etsy Store!
where you can read more about the original piece and get the specifics.

is also available on

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE OTHER POSTED PIECES IN THIS "ALICE THROUGH THE COOKING CLASS" SERIES:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
"I don't much care where –"
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

20130716

YOU HAD ME AT MERLOT Colored Pencil Wine Art


 YOU HAD ME AT MERLOT
Yes, I had a little fun with the wine label, I couldn't stop myself from the pun.

A colorful colored pencil illustration of an open bottle of Merlot, a glass of the red wine and the deep purple and burgundy red grapes of the vintage against a striped peach and sage background with a border of deep blue violet and lavenders. Perfect for wine lovers, wineries and vinophiles who appreciate the art of the grape.

YOU HAD ME AT MERLOT presented some fun challenges for me, both of them involving the rendering of glass. The wine in the wine glass wasn't too difficult but getting that wine in the bottle was a bit more of a challenge in color mixing as I had to show the deep burgundy of the wine through a deep green bottle.  I solved the problem by doing both the wine in the glass and the bottle together then rendering the green glass bottle over the wine.


Believe it or not, the grapes took nearly as long to do as both the glass and bottle of wine!

THE ORIGINAL
is available for sale (shipping included!) at my Etsy Store!
where you can read more about the original piece and get the specifics.

 
YOU HAD ME AT MERLOT on a Customizable Wall Clock


20130715

MARTINI TIME Colored Pencil Art


MARTINI TIME
A little Colored Pencil Cocktail Fun

A contemporary colored pencil illustration of two over lapping martini glasses with an olive garnish against a cocktail shaker in brilliant colors for the happy hour enthusiast. Perfect for the bar and sure to bring a splash of color to cocktail time.

I had to take a little break from my "Alice Through The Cooking Class Series"  so I decided to do a little cocktail art. I approached this drawing a little differently than usual.  I had several elements of the illustration overlapping which meant I had to do some calculation of the colors and I did it as I worked on the piece.  It was a challenge and fun exercise in color theory.

Here's a view of the work at the beginning of laying down the colored pencil.


THE ORIGINAL
is available for sale (shipping included!) at my Etsy Store! 
where you can read more about the original piece and get the specifics.
 

Martini Time on A Set of 6 Coasters

Cheers!

Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook

20130713

THE QUEEN OF TARTS Colored Pencil Art - A Foodie Twist on The Queen of Hearts

 All images on this post are © by PopArtDiva.Com. All Rights Reserved. No permission is given to share, distribute, copy, print or post.

THE QUEEN OF TARTS
#2 in my Alice Through The Cooking Class Series

Off with their stems! The deliriously dangerous Pink Queen wields a sharp chef's knife and a fork as she slices into a cherry tart she made herself in the castle kitchen. Alongside the queen are all the ingredients for a ton of tasty treats to take to the Happy Hour Tea Party and tempt her fellow foodie residents of the Wonderland Cooking Class.

As I said yesterday on my MAD PLATTER post, this series is my little foodie twist on "Alice Through The Looking Glass", a childhood favorite of mine. Continuing my edible ode to the creative madness that is Tim Burton, I have taken The Queen of Hearts and put a knife in one hand, a fork in the other and showered here in all the baking ingredients required for a tasty tart or two.

 The blue bowl is a little homage to my mother who had these two huge crockery mixing bowls that all sweet things in our house started out in.  I can remember my mother using the edge of that bowl to sharpen a knife as well as for mixing up goodies and it is such an iconic kitchen image to me that I had to include it.

As for my technique, I do a multi-layering effect with my Prismacolors to achieve the colors and the depth of saturation that I want.  It's a tedious process but one that gives colored pencils a "painterly" feel as opposed to having the look of a drawing.  I also use a ton of white pencils for blending the colors - I buy the white pencils by the dozens!

The Queen of Tarts started out as a sketch for the Queen of Hearts, ending up with a pastry twist for this "Alice Through the Cooking Class Series". Here's the original ink sketch I did - notice how I was playing around with different eyes and mouths on the right and then defined the crown I wanted for her:


When I started my Food Art series for The Diva of Tiny Foods Shop I morphed my Queen into the kitchen and shoved a tart tin in front of her, lol:


Here's a couple of images of the Queen of Tarts original colored pencil illustration in progress:


I start out with the lighter colors on my colored pencil drawings first and I work with a tissue under my hands so I won't smear work already laid down.  I also work with a completed sketch underneath my paper and use a light box to see the sketch instead of laying down a pencil sketch on my final piece.  That way if I change my mind or screw up I have wiggle room to make corrections without the original sketch lines damaging the piece.


This gives you an idea of scale. I have to say I had a great time with the whisk and the measuring cup, lol - and, of course, I adore my slightly menacing, tiny waisted, big bazoomed Queen!


PRINTS AVAILABLE:
QUEEN OF TARTS COLORED PENCIL DRAWING
is available for sale here. 
where you can read more about the original piece and get the specifics.


THE QUEEN OF TARTS Design
 is also available on
Prints, Gallery Wrapped Canvas, Clothing, Stationery, Decor & Gifts at
 

"I warn you dear child, if I lose my temper, you lose your head. Understand?" ~ Queen of Tarts, Alice in Wonderland


20130712

THE MAD PLATTER (Mad Hatter) Original Colored Pencil Art Drawing

All images on this post are © by PopArtDiva.Com. All Rights Reserved. No permission is given to share, distribute, copy, print or post.
 
THE MAD PLATTER
#1 in my "Alice Through the Cooking Class" Series.
 
THE MAD PLATTER is a colorful and imaginative character whose adventures in the wonderland of cuisine fill his mad top hat full with plates of tiny foods (aka appetizers) and magic mushroom munchies. A humorous whirl through the magic world of cooking and food led by a slightly mad chef who loves his bite sized tea snacks.

This "Alice Through The Cooking Class" series is my food oriented twist on a favorite childhood classic, "Alice Through the Looking Glass and The Mad Platter is my quirky take on the Mad Hatter.  I think you can see I was totally inspired by Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland, being a huge Burton fan and a big Johnny Depp fan as well.  No, this is not a portrait of Depp, I just liked the wildly creative characterizations Burton applied to these literary classics and was immediately inspired to sit down and sketch my own interpretations them. Below is the first Mad Platter Sketch.
 

I did all the main characters (which you'll see in later posts) and then at the end combined them into this the black and white drawing below.  I went back and forth as to whether I should add color.  I also never really knew exactly what to do with these, marketing wise, so they have languished in a file for several years! But I never really toss out a good design, I've come back to ideas sometimes decades later!


When I decided to do food themed art I was shuffling through my files (I have tons of sketches and drawings in manila folders I've kept forever as fodder for inspiration), I happened upon these and I knew immediately what I had in mind for them and the Alice Through the Cooking Class Series was born!

I took my original sketch for the Mad Hatter and turned his hat into a serving vessel for some truly mad platters of appetizers and The Mad Platter sprang to life:

Then I did the same to the others, which I'll be posting up within the next week.

I don't know how popular these will be, but frankly, they are some of the best work I've ever done and I love them.  They have also inspired me to write a tea party cookbook!

where you can read more about the original piece and get the specifics.

 
 
 The Mad Hatter: Have I gone mad?
Alice Kingsley: I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are. 


Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook

20130710

FOOD FOR LIFE COLORED PENCIL ART - Farm to Table Inspired

 

 FOOD FOR LIFE started it's journey as a logo design for a company (who shall remain nameless) that never finished paying me for the work.  I have contracts with all my clients and one of the provisos is that "you don't pay, I don't play" - in other words, if I don't get payment in full they don't get anything at all from me and I retain all rights to the work and keep all payments issued. (Hey! I did the work I can't help it if they didn't need or want it!) Such was the case with this design.  I later found out the company never really got off the ground - bad for them but good for me as I got paid half my fee and still got to keep the work.

I always loved this design, it was elegant and I kept it around always planning to do something with it.  When I started this food art series a few months ago I realized it was absolutely perfect for the sustainable, farm to table movement and I took the design and turned it into a full blown illustration.

The nice thing about this design is the Tree/Fork is beautiful all on it's own in stark black and white so it can still be licensed on limited terms to any natural, farm to table brand/restaurant!

where you can read more about the piece and get the specifics.

 

 
OTHER DESIGNS IN MY FOOD ART SERIES:


Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook

20130709

COOL BEANS COLORED PENCIL COFFEE ART


COOL BEANS is the second colored pencil illustration in my Food Art Series. After martinis, coffee is my favorite beverage.  I'm a coffee freak from way back in the days before gourmet coffee shops and baristas.  I've ground my own beans for decades and would brew only one cup at a time for ultimate freshness then add fresh cinnamon, vanilla and chocolate. I even bought a special frothing tool for my milk.  In those days everyone thought I was a bit crazy but today I'm just another body in the line waiting for my "half double decaffeinated half-caff, with a twist of lemon" like Harris (Steve Martin) in L.A. Story.

Cool Beans is my Ode to Coffee and all the coffeeholics who worship at the exotically grown, perfectly roasted bean like me.

where you can read more about the piece and get the specifics.

OTHER DESIGNS IN MY FOOD ART SERIES:


Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook

20130708

CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRY FOOD ART


Even if I haven't posted in a while it doesn't mean I haven't been busy making new art!  In fact, I've been so busy I haven't had much time to post the new pieces here but finally I have a few spare minutes to get my new art up. Get ready, I have quite a few pieces ready to share with you in the upcoming weeks.

I've been missing doing some "real world" art for a while. By real world I mean, non-digitally created art.  One of my favorite mediums is colored pencil.  I adore Prismacolors and just a while back I broke my piggy bank and invested in two new sets of colored pencils - one from Berol (Prismacolors) and one from Dick Blick (Prismacolor clones).

Because I do so much social media revolving around food, cooking, cocktails and recipes I decided to do a series of food themed illustrations.  This was my very first one, started the night I got my set of Prismacolors.  It's one of my favorite desserts - Chocolate Covered Strawberries.

where you can read more about the piece and get the specifics.




Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook