Will you Marry Me Cupid!

I've been street painting for about 10 years and love each painting for a different reason but this one has to be my favorite.

I came home after work one night to find my driveway lit up with tea lite candles surrounding a street painting of a cupid.
My boyfriend, Remmie was standing beside it with champagne and chocolates & he proposed.

Remmie has assisted me with the backgrounds in several of my recent street paintings...Santa Barbara, Denver and in Holland where he is from. This was his first attempt doing it all on his own and he did an amazing job.  ;)

 I'm so happy to finally be able to offer this DVD on my website!  I worked on this and Photoshop Top Secret with Mark Monciardini a few years ago and Painting a Fantasy Portrait in Photoshop was originally only offered as the 'secret' Bonus DVD with the purchase of the entire PhotoshopTopSecret DVD set.  Now photoshop users can purchase it solo.

One of the most important parts of any portrait is the eyes. If they are not painted well and convey emotion it can ruin the whole image. With the following series of images I will show how I paint an eye with soft pastel on rough asphalt.

Step 1. Draw your eye in a light blue. (avoid using white or black) This should just be a contour drawing.

Step 2. Color in the white of the eye with a midtone gray chalk, Iris in olive green, and pupil in black. These should be applied in thin consistant layers and rubbed in so that the surface is covered.

Step 3. Now add a brick red to the inner and outer edge of the eye and also the eye lids. This will add a bit more depth and realism to your eye. Outline lash line with dark brown.

Step 4. Begin to apply skin tone on the eye lids. You will layer this over the red you applied in step 3. To create the illusion of light reflecting on the eye, apply a yellow ochre to the left side gradually fading to the olive green. Using a white, bring up the highlight on the white of the eye. You want to begin at the iris and fade your way out to the gray before reaching the red in the corner.

Step 5. On the bottom right, add pale blue and brick red to the upper right. Now your iris should gradate from yellow-green-blue-green-red. Blend lightly with your fingers and reapply each given color by lightly scummbling over surface a second time. With black pastel outline your lash line and iris. This line should be soft but clear so you can blend over it with your finger to soften slightly. Around the iris, blend the black outline inward toward pupil. You can now add small white highlights on the eyeball; one over the yellow ocher, one small dot in the pupil, and one slightly larger dot on the right side between the red and blue.

Step 6. The flesh surrounding the eye can now be painted in working your way out from the center.

Last weekend I was in Nice for their first Street Painting Festival...Les Craiez d'Azur. Though small, the community really embraced the event held at Cap 3000, an upscale mall in Saint Laurant du Var. I designed my piece based on a recent sketch I did called Tug with a dancer and a pig playing tug of war. It was perfect - the theme of the festival was games. The painting made the 'Nice Maden' regional paper and won the peoples choice award!

My sixth year painting in the Denver La Piazza del'Arte Festival I chose to paint an image from my new series, Avant Garde. Following 'Spellbound' in Santa Barbara, I was excited to paint another original. I'm happy I took this pic of the eyes on the first day of painting. It rained Saturday night and though the painting was saved by my shade tent, a stream of water ran through right through the eyes making it look like she was wearing a masquerade mask. The effect was really quite provocative until it dried ;) The collar is my favorite part of this painting. It was one of those things I was worried about doing but had the best time creating it when the time came. It is really simple to do but the result is very intricate.

At the I Madonnari Festival in Santa Barbara, I had a great time recreating one of my new fine art paintings titled, Spellbound. I'm really excited to be painting another original work for a new street painting festival in France. I will have the special honor of traveling to Nice this June to be a featured artist for their first street painting festival titled Les Craies d'Azur. We believe the name, which loosely translates to Chalks of Blue is descriptive of the events location which will overlook the Mediterranean. While there have been many street paintings done in France since the tradition's origins in the 1500's, this is their first official street painting event.

I have had the great honor of being chosen as the Artist Speaker for an intimate evening of fine dining and conversation at 'Lon's at the Hermosa Inn' of Scottsdale, Arizona. The series, who featured actress, author, and painter Jane Seymore last month, showcases critically acclaimed artists and their work. To give guests an actually street painting experience I created a 4 x 6 foot street painting on canvas which I displayed at the entrance. My presentation included images of my work and an interactive discussion on how street painting became my career. While in Scottsdale I also held a workshop for local artists participating in the cities first Via Colori Street Painting Festival. I will be returning in September for a second workshop and in October as the festivals Featured artist.