Celebrate Oz Blog Party is getting closer and closer...

The Celebrate Oz Blog Party is now just around three weeks away!  If you would like to join in on the fun, fly away to Oma Linda's "Olde Baggs 'n Stuffed Shirts" to sign up for the fun!

I have been enjoying creating Oz character ACEO's for the past couple of weeks and have a few more ideas I want illustrate .... in the meantime I thought it would be fun to do some "eye spying"!   Following are the eyes of several Oz characters ... can you tell who the eyes belong to?

Looking forward to your response comments!   "Eye Spy" a Winkie!  Can you?????

Happy "Eye Spying"!
Karen Anne

Celebrate Oz Party on July 19th at Oma Linda's Blog!

If you would like to join in on the fun of the Celebrate Oz Party at Oma Linda's blog ... here is a link where you can sign up:  http://lindaomasoldebaggsnstuftshirts.blogspot.com/2012/06/post-about-celebrate-oz.html

During the time from now until then I am creating a new series of ACEO's as part of my Celebrate Oz ....

Wonder who these eyes could belong to ??????

 

Time will reveal all ....... on the 19th of July ....

Happy day all my little pretties!

Karen Anne

Return to Celebrate Oz Blog Party - July 19, 2012!

Well, my little pretties, JULY 19TH,  is the "Return to Celebrate Oz Blog Party!" being hosted by the ever so talented and whimsical "Oma Linda"!

Here is a sample of what you may find at my blog during the festivities!

 

I plan on having a few give-aways .... so, come back and visit for details and fun as we get closer to the magical day of July 19th!

Til then, watch out for whomever is lurking behind those evil green eyes!

Karen Anne

Blue Dragon Sea Slug aka Glaucus Atlanticus

The other day I was searching for an unusual subject as the basis of my next illustration.  While I was looking through various images on the internet I came across this extremely strange looking species ... "Glaucus Atlanticus" aka Blue Dragon Sea Slug.  Wanting to complete a drawing that is relatively simple, I decided this litter creature just fit the bill.

A little background on this weird yet exotic critter:   It is called a Glaucus Atlanticus (aka the blue dragon sea slug) and they are often found in temperate and tropical waters. It floats on the surface of the water with the aid of a gas filled sac in its stomach. Because of the location of the sac, this little slug floats upside down. They feed primarily on the  venomous Portuguese Man O' War jelly fish.  They survive by collecting the animal’s toxins and storing them in little sacs on the ends of their feather-like “fingers”, producing a much more powerful and deadly sting.

Beautiful to behold, but I don't think I'd want to come into contact with one!  Prints will be made available in my Etsy Shop.

Happy Day!
Karen Anne

Mom & Dad ... revisited ...

I have been looking at the "finished" pencil sketch of Mom and Dad for the past few weeks and something about Mom just looked "off".  After talking with my oldest brother, he pointed out that Mom's Iris's were too dark and too large.

Finally, I worked up the courage to "revisit" the sketch and see if I could make any minor adjustments to make it a bit better.  So I resorted to the use of my lighted magnifying lamp and picked up my X-acto knife and very carefully began removing outer edges of the iris's and then I lightened up the inner area ... believe me, I was holding my breath during this entire process!

Then, as a final cosmetic touch, I gave a little more volume to her hair in the back and on top.   So, here is my "final" final version ... (I'm now afraid to touch it any further!)

Hope you like the "improvements" I made!

Karen Anne

Mom and Dad "Tweaked"

After studying yesterday's completed drawing I saw areas that needed a bit more work ...
hopefully I won't find more areas or this picture may just never be completed!

Mom and Dad in 1973

I was visiting my Mom the other day and as I was leaving she handed me a part of a page from "The Hayden Island Yacht Club Roster" that had photos of each of them back in 1973.  At that time Dad and Mom owned a nice little cabin cruiser that they christened the "HannaKane".    Mom's name was Johanna and Dad's, Rickane ... so they combined their two names, hence the unusual and unique name!

She asked me if I could fiddle around on my computer and make it look the two photos were actually one photo.  Of course I said, "Sure Mom!  Happy to do it for you!".  Well, I know diddely about combining two photos but I spent several frustrating hours in PhotoShop trying to fulfill her simple request.  Finally, I thought ... why not do a pencil sketch and combine the two photos into one nice portrait sketch!

Here are the photos that Mom gave me ....

They were printed on matte cardstock and were the little bit worse for wear,   I'm sure someone else could have electronically manipulated them and corrected all the deterioration ... but that someone sure is not me!

So, yesterday I sat down at my table with my graphite and charcoal pencils all lined up along with my dependable blending stubs ... said a prayer to God, asking him to guide my hands and began.  Today I finished work on both Mom and Dad and added a kinda smokey background.  I like the results and hope you do too!

 

 I'm going to frame this and present it to Mom a bit later, Dad passed away in around 1986 but we all feel his love each and every day.

Proud daughter of two wonderful loving parents,

Karen Anne