The Sketch Book — sumi ink

Rawrrr! Today I am excited to share something rather exotic with you. An eight foot long painting of an alligator that I created as a custom project for a client. Blair and her husband wanted a statement piece for their home in Louisiana, so this giant sumi ink and acrylic alligator was just the critter to fill their new space.Inspired by the chunky and ferocious alligator tryptic of Yvonne Hanriout Giraud and Blair's southern roots I set out to wrestle a piece of very curled up, very unwilling to un-curl-up paper that was taller than myself into submission on my garage floor and...

 Hello! I am so excited to share these new paintings with you guys! I spent the last few days painting something a little bigger for a change...  really big. Like three x five feet big.This sumi ink & acrylic matador was a commission for the lovely Loren of Loren Hope Designs - stay tuned for pictures of it in her living room once it's framed! I hear she has some Society Social design elements that will compliment it beautifully too.I also confronted my fears of the sea and painted some sumi octopi (octopuses?). Did you know about my sea phobia? I am deathly afraid...

hello! here is a quote painted in sumi ink for you to ponder this weekend. i've been thinking about phrases that are good enough to paint lately and couldn't find one i loved. and then a friend of mine found this one while reading an in-flight magazine. isn't that an unexpected place to find a good quote? happy friday!

Trying out mixing sumi with watercolor... does anyone know if I'm doing this right?! I'm a little frustrated that I don't know anything about this new ink but its also exciting to see what I can figure out on my own. Today is my Grandmother's birthday, so I decided to try a shocking pink in honor of her. She always loved pink, and "palm beach pink" in particular - the brightest of the bright. She wasn't your typical grandmother. Glamorous and aloof, the closest she came to baking me cookies was letting me dress up in her collection of Pucci...

another sumi ink sketch! so, i've been at my parents house for an extended easter visit. and on every trip home i read the same book. its called "simple abundance" and it is a collection of 365 daily chapters about some small way to enjoy and rediscover the simple beauties of being a woman. it was given to my mother years ago by a wonderful, eccentric friend. it somehow wound up on my bedside table and every time i pick it up and flip to the day it is in the calendar it, almost uncannily, sheds light on exactly what...