Illustration Friday - Perennial

This illustration has a larger format than most... I just finished up this mural this afternoon. Funny that the word of the week would be perennial. I work on a golf course as a gardener and deal with perennials all the time. Wish the course had a few more perennials and a few less annuals. It would male the up keep a whole lot easier.

The mural is located in the back yard of a residence that backs onto a natural park setting. The home owner had the yard scape designed with multi level decks and lots of pea gravel. There are a few asian statuary pieces. It's not exactly a zen garden but you can see the influences. The mural does a great job of tying the cultured space and natural space in together.

It looks like there's a lot of detail in this painting but in this case I'm more of an impressionistic painter. Sometimes you have to let go of the control and just let the brushes do what they do. Every mark is perfect just the way it was created. There's no need to keep working it.

Hi jensdesign772. It's interior latex / acrylic paint. Benjamin Moore, Berr... whatever miss-tints appeal to me. I buy the odd primary so that I can mix my own colours. It's the shady side of the fence so there is less environmental wear. The surrounding trees will provide some protection from weather beatings too.

Illustration Friday - Swept

"Having Just Swept"

medium: watercolour

This painting was done on location at my girlfriends farm. She has all manor of critters hanging about. The goats enjoyed sunning themselves on the porch. For anyone who has ever sent any time in the proximity of a goat you can appreciate the humour in the title of this one. Goats defecate with the efficiency of a granular fertilizer spreader. It's like having some one throwing around handfuls of Glosset Raisenettes all day everyday. Sweeping the poach clear of goat pooh 5 times a day is just part of the daily routine down on the Smith farm.

Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Shadow

"Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work I go..."

medium: graphite / digital colour (self portrait of a gardener)

Last year is in the past and now it's time to get back into shape. A year of sitting on the couch has left me all soft and gooey. Every morning when I would wake I would say to myself, "today is the day that I start getting back into shape." And then the day would go on with emails to check and websites to create. And I'd use excuses like, "I just went grocery shopping. I'm tired. That must count as a workout."

I went back to the golf course where I had gardened part time the summer before last thinking maybe I could just ease into the work. NOPE! The very next day I was put to work. The head of the greens department was literally gleeful as he booked around the course telling everyone that the gardener was back!

As of yesterday I got all the gardens planted. Whew.

My fingers ache. My back aches. My knees ache... oh heck, my mitochondria ache. It's been 10 days so far and I'm feeling stronger (under all that ache). I can work longer and harder than I could only a week earlier.

Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Duet

Medium: graphite with digital colour

Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Warning

"WARNING: I'm armed and I'm not afraid to use them!"

I wasn't using any visual references for this illustration, just the memory from childhood of having seen a mantis displaying bold coloured wings in a children's book about animal behavior. It wasn't intended to be anatomically correct. I did want this little critter to be goofy looking though. They tend to twist their heads at odd angles to get their sights lined up and have dark spots on their compound eyes that look like cross-eyed pupils.

Medium: graphite & digital colour.

Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Layers

The Princess and the Pea
Hidden beneath many layers of matrices, pillows and quilts, there lies a single pea placed there by the queen. If this strange girl truly was a princess she would toss and turn all night, kept awake by this hard, irritating object.

Medium: graphite & digital colour.
Click to view larger image.

Original Art
© RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Sweater

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!