(Inside A Black Apple)

Floraphilia Originals

Just a note to let you know that the summer's worth of Floraphilia originals (including the newest one, below) will all be in my shop tomorrow, Thursday 9/28 at 12 pm Pacific!

The Garden of Eden / 8.5"x11" // watercolor & gouache on paper

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Floraphilia

Ever week this summer, I've been making a new flower (or flower-related) painting.
Shameless mixing Greek & Latin, I've called the series Floraphilia...

Now that I'm about halfway through the project, I though it would be nice to have them all in one place, so here are the first six pieces!

(If you want to follow along on the installments, I post them on Instagram & Twitter)

 

Floraphilia / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper

 

The Serpent & the Bloom / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper

 

Love Will Tear Us Apart / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper

 

 

 

Rose of No Man's Land / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper

The Hidden Garden / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper

 

The Emperor's Peonies / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper

  

The series will be available in my shop when summer ends & the flowers are gone for the year!

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Littlest Family Process Art

Do you want to see what one of my books looks like at the beginning?

Julie at the great Seven Impossible Things has posted a bunch of process art from The Littlest Family's Big Day --  click over for storyboards, cover sketches, etc. There is even more, but I pared it down to a good overview of what it looks like behind-the-scenes.

I love these two early cover sketches so much. I think they were the first thing I ever made, when the idea was just percolating. Anyway, there's a lot more to see, along with art from two other books, The Lizsts & The Bear Who Wasn't There included in The Sweet & the Surreal, a post from her Kirkus colum last week.

I love seeing the beginnings of things, all wispy and rough.

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Saltwater Fabric Collection

Do you remember these seafaring designs from earlier in the year?
They were for my first fabric collection! Full of mermaids, sailors and sea monsters, we named it Saltwater. 

It's slated to come out next year (2016) and I'm so excited.

You can visit the entire collection here at Birch Fabrics -- and here's a peek at some of my personal favorites:

  

  

I can't wait to make a dress of constellations, or little sailor guys...and cut & sew dolls! (!)

 

Kimonos Postcard Set

I just got this Kimonos postcard set back from the printer and I'm so happy with how it came together. Already works on paper, they just seemed so right for stationery.
You can find the set in the shop!
(I've squirreled away a big stack for my own purposes)

I'm currently working furiously all hours finishing up my next book, nestled away painting and painting and painting while wintery rain falls outside. So the rest of the new things (more Wolves & Wonders prints and postcards) will come to the shop in the new year.

I hope you are having a wonderful December!

 

Leopard Odalisque

Leopard Odalisque     14"x11"

Wolves & Wonders has officially come down and now I'm setting to work making postcard sets (there will be two sets from this show!) and prints soon. 

This piece about visiting the gallery's street had this nice photo of the show, up in its hideaway attic-y space:

 

A Monkey

A Monkey      8"x10"

I liked this monkey so much, and I kept thinking "I'd like to paint myself another monkey after the show." Then I thought, why don't I keep this buddy as a souvenir? And there are a handful of paintings still available (including another of my favorites) even if the monkey is spoken for.

And this is the last week to see Wolves & Wonders at Land!

A Peacock Kimono & A Tiger Kimono

A Peacock Kimono      11"x14"

A Tiger Kimono      11"x14"

I really love making companion pieces and I think I always will.

The Tiger's Bride

The Tiger's Bride   11"x14"

Another look at Beauty and the Beast, named for one of my favorite Angela Carter stories.

Wolves & Wonders is Open

Over 30 paintings & nearly 100 lanterns later, the show is up & the opening was lovely. Thanks very much for everyone who came by to hang out under the paper lanterns with us!

Wolves & Wonders runs through November 9 at Land gallery (open seven days a week, 10-6)

Available work will be up for purchase online soon (really soon, actually) and I will let you know when it is all in readiness!

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast    20"x16"

Beauty & the Beast is one of my favorite stories. I think it is such a lovely metaphor for reckoning with the savage & civilized parts we're all made of. And even if it was originally a an instructive parable about arranged marriages (this is the word on the street), I also think it holds a lot of significance about the contemporary idea of true love.

I have a lot of thoughts about this story, but it will have to wait for another day, hopefully not too far off. I'll just leave it at this: most of the new show amounts to Beauty & the Beast, and I hope if you're in Portland, you'll come see us Friday night for the opening!

A Tiger & A Peacock

A Peacock    14"x11"

A Tiger   14"x11"

These weren't really created as companions, but I think they're nice together like this.

A Savage Beauty

A Savage Beauty   14"x11"  

This is another favorite for me -- I wanted to do my own version of the classic Odalisque painting.

I'm going to try to preview a new piece every day 'til the show goes up on Friday!

A Lady and A Monkey

A Lady and A Monkey    11"x14"  

This portrait (or double-portrait) is one of my personal favorite paintings in the upcoming show!

I'll be previewing work from Wolves & Wonders up 'til the opening on Oct. 9, although there will be some pieces that will remain under my hat until after it has opened (I like a little element of surprise.)

Kimonos on Paper

I've been painting these small kimonos on paper for my (rapidly approaching) show in October. I love painting these -- it's nice to work on little pieces interspersed with larger, more involved things. I hope that by some magic, I'll conjure all these dream kimonos by painting them & they'll arrive in a trunk on my doorstep. At the very least, I'd like to make my favorites into a set of postcards...they seem just right for notes.

I've been posting them on Instagram as they come along, and I'll keep posting peeks & previews of the show both here & there!

Bird of Paradise

Bird of Paradise    9"x12"

This fancy little bird is part of Wolves & Wonders.
I'm going to try my best to preview more of the show here before it opens Oct. 9th!

The Company of Wolves

The Company of Wolves    16" x 20" 

I think I posted a progress photo of an earlier incarnation of this painting -- it's changed a lot since then! The painting is part of my show, Wolves & Wonders, which opens at Land on October 9.

The show was inspired by Angela Carter, variations on Beauty & the Beast, the East & the West...lots of things. Stay tuned for more lions & tigers & wolves & ladies!

PS: And thank you for your lovely and kind comments on the NY Times list post. So exciting and so unexpected.

 

Back to the Sea

I've gone back to the sea for a project I'm working on and my mermaid heart is very happy about it.

I can't wait to share more as I'm able to!

Lion Disguise

Lion Disguise   8"x10"    Acrylic on wood

Sometimes Eleanor wants to become something very fierce.

Eleanor & Claude

Eleanor & Claude    11x14    Acrylic on wood

Costume Party Thumbnail Sketch

A little sketch for something of some somethings at a party.

Alistair

Alistair     8"x10"

Alistair is Eleanor's other cat.
The three of them live together in their little apartment with drafty windows.

Alistair is gentle and shy and quick to steal the warmth from laps.

Claude

Claude     8"x10"

Back in Eleanor's world, this is her black cat, Claude.

Claude is a girl-cat, though her name has caused much confusion. Eleanor named her after Claudine, the troublemaker heroine of her favorite novels by Colette.

Claude is mercurial and clever and quick to steal unattended dinners.

Little cat, Big cat

Little cat, big cat, sketchbook, painting.

I've been painting more in my sketchbook this year (rather than just drawing with pens & pencils). I like it so much, for planning & just for my own personal little tangents.

These are some more bits from Eleanor's world...

Eleanor

Eleanor     11"x14"      Painting on wood

A portrait of the heroine in an imaginary story about a solitary girl & her interior world.

I'm hard at work on my next picture book, but a small series of these Eleanor paintings has been accumulating. More of them soon, including her cats!