Val-hal-lelujah

My friend and i are watching Christmas movies in the midst of being snowed in, and also drawing. I did this little viking dude who is eating a drumstick and celebrating the Christmas season (at the same time, yes).

Medium: graphite

warming the bits

As I come home to Wisconsin I am greeted by 0 degree weather. I welcome it, truly.
The pale blue beauty of snow covered farmland is enough to keep my heart warm.

I do, however, require leg-warmers. This is not a 'want' but a 'need' in the life of Steph.
Medium: ink

Merry Christm...

It's a slow day at the IT department. Happy Christmas cartoons ensue...

Sad Fork

Thom York says 'Be constructive with your blues.' And so I shall.
I've been writing my boy over seas and drawing him 'I miss you' pictures.
Life takes funny turns sometimes, does it not? I know that many artists press
on an create despite what they feel. This artist shall pause and let herself
react to her circumstance and create from that. I hope you don't mind.

This picture! Ben and I always share dessert. I found myself eating apple crumb cake all by myself the other day. He needs to come home so I can be around him and also so I don't gain excessive weight.

The
Medium: ink

Good Excuse

Dear Blog-readers,
Thanks for your patience. My blog hasn't been up to snuff lately. A while, in fact. I haven't been drawing. I've been making a greeting card company, which should initiate drawing, but I'm not doing a very good job of fun whimsically things to put up here.
My husband left to defend our country and all its interests and I'm left to ... keep busy? Wish time to go by? I dunno. I know that I've found a rarity in life- someone whose absence unhinges me. Part of the reason I've loved drawing is because it gives me a space and time to think. I find that as I await his return, I find myself not wanting to think about things a great deal. Lately when I pick up a pencil I put it down, as I don't want the mental space that a drawing would allot me.
Give me a week or two, please come back and check in!

Medium: working on that one

Bad/Awesome Jokes

I am helping a friend of mine piece together a website. I tried coming up with a 'contact us'
page, and this is the image I came up with.
So I ask you, the public, is it understandable?
Medium: ink and photoshop magic

Family Fun

I've been in a state of transition- or two states of transition, considering I've moved

to Illinois. I've been drawing- this is something I've made for a flyer for m'church

back home.

I hope to be able to sit down and spend some good time drawing in the near future,

and thanks for still checking in!

medium: ink and prisma color

Mother Ship

This is a piece from the past. This little boy imagines
he is connecting with the mother ship in speaking to
his belly button, the communicating mechanism.
Odd, yes. Fun, you bet.
Medium: ink

Buns Of Steel

After a week and a half of a virus with an unfun bout of hivey rashiness on my arms and legs, I am recovering. I smell like oatmeal (compliments of Aveeno oatmeal bath) and GoldBond cream. I'm thinking of selling the aroma to Vera Wang for a new perfume line. I think she'd like it.
I go for a short run today, which is torturous after lots of couch time. This is one of the cards I may put into production here soon- I can use it myself.
medium: sweat, tears, colored pencil, ink

Really?

Unemployment + cold + hives = no fun for Steph

hives? hives?!!

While an oatmeal bath sounds like the epitome of luxurious living, it is not. Anti-itch cream, while a good good thing, has a hearty ben-gay smell attached.

Happy thought: my online-store, in which i will sell cards and calendars, etc, is soon to be up.
Stay
tuned.

Good aim = bad idea

I drew this picture when I worked in an office. I took the idea
and painted it. I like the results. It seems as though
many of my paintings are about something going very
right or very wrong. This, although comical, is potential
doom for the little girl and her faithful small woodland
creature side kick. I wonder what happened to them...
medium:oil

- on a side note, i've begun painting on old pieces of
a torn up house and am very excited on seeing how it
turns out.. I may be teaching cartooning here in
my little town, and I may be a bidness proprieter
soon. So many 'may be's' - we'll see what pans out, eh?
There is nothing like doing what you love and having
people actually give you money for it...

Foxy Painting

I made this picture this past week while listening to good old Ira Glass on NPR. (BTW, if you go to www.thisamericanlife.org you can give them some money to keep them streaming podcasts to the lot of us American folks. Good cause and all...)
I've sat back and thought about this particular diptych. The Bible discusses 'foxes in the vineyard' in Song of Solomon. What the author was speaking of, were the things that steal our joy. I've had a number of things here in California trying to rob me of my sense of purpose and happiness here. Yet as one of the foxes shines his electric torch on his fellow foxes- I think we can begin to see the crummy things in life as just that; an attempt to steal our joy. I think this is the point at which I can choose to see the foxes for what they are and decide that my joy comes from a place much deeper than the circumstances of life.
Medium: oil

Holding Fire

I have been painting fiendishly lately. This is one of my recent paintings. It started with a mask. It ended being this- what is this? Ah yes, I asked that myself.
Everyone is wearing a mask- and no matter what expression the mask takes on, the faces underneath are all the same. Except one- there is one who is crying as he holds his pot of fire. I have heard before a warning about playing with fire(who hasn't heard that?)- these fellows think they are doing fine holding their pots yet they are in a very dangerous situation.
Medium: oil and graphite

Waves of success... or paddling pool

This is a very timely card for myself at this time. As I'm working and praying and waiting and drawing and hoping for a card company to evolve, I can't help but think that the 'waves of success' may be slow in coming. I don't think any experience to be completely for naught, however, and will continue on with eyes wide open and pencils sharpened.
Medium: ink and prisma colors
p.s. if anyone feels the need for me to post them a card (post card, yes) here on the site, please let me know whatcha need and I'd be happy to.

X marks the spot

And so it still stands that a certain fella is certainly still away. The artings of the artist formerly known as Steph Larson can't help but reflect that...
It also is an image I may be using for a line of greeting cards. I am excited at the prospect of being able to color for a living (finally!) and am going to do my best to see it through.
While unfun circumstances may meet you (missing someone, boredom, kidney stone), they do offer up new inspiration to art. Van Gogh would agree.
Medium: prisma and ink

Good job

Some days are hard, and it makes me want to make a card for myself.
It's odd, but maintaining normalcy takes a great deal some days. That may sound
odd, but I think it actually just makes you human.
Here is my pat on the back, to myself. If you need a pat on the back, print it out and give it to yourself.
medium: ink and prisma colors

NavyWifeLife

So I am home whilst Ben travels the world this week. I am not twiddling my thumbs, however. I have been working on a line of cards(yes, cards! like, Happy Birthday and all) and funny enough, about half of them ended up being "i miss you" cards. Ben better have a birthday soon, that's all I have to say.
Medium: prisma colors and ink

Don't Bite

I made a drawing of this a little while ago, with a public service announcement on the side:
"Don't Bite."
Medium: Oil

Up, up, and away

I finished this piece a few weeks back and finally got it on the computer. It is a little girl, not seen, being lifted by a bunch of stitched balloons. Why?-you and I also ask. After the work is done do I reflect. The balloons are of the girl's own making - I think sometimes we try 'lifting' ourselves, but usually it is in a way that is patched up and imperfect. It is a good effort, but in the end I'm not sure how far she will make it.
medium: oil

Beach Day

It always comes back to unicorns in life, doesn't it? Actually, I consider that to be a byproduct of growing up in the 80s. It's true- unicorns were everywhere back then.
My blank page told me it was high time I drew another unicorn picture. I agreed.
Medium: colored pencils and ink and unicorn magic

Also Also wik

and our friend, Quantum Physics...

ImpendingIllustrations

Hey and hello! I'm painting quite a bit these days- to be posted soon. In the meantime I am illustrating for a Californian magazine. The articles are 'Humorous essays 'bout the best pizza,' Interview with Quantum Physics,' and 'the human tendency to personify plants, animals, and things.'
Mind you, I'm submitting it to be considered, so it's not a sure thing- yet it's a great exercise. It'll be very handy when I begin my master plan to take over the world using brochures with cute small woodland creatures on them.

Medium:colored pencils & ink

Swine and Dine

Here is the final painting I made for the chocolaterie. A trio of pigs whistling amidst a gooey messy cavern- no idea of any meanings hidden within the cavern yet... just had fun making it.
I'm working on pieces that fall into my brain while reading articles in the Economist. It's a news magazine- and I'm rather proud of them for having great illustrations in their magazine. I will post those later on (when done and dry).
Pigs- medium: oil

Covering eachother's back

I had my first art show here in San Diego
this past week. It went well and I hope I can
sell some paintings and make some friends.
This piece is another brown and pink piece
for the chocolate shop. In viewing them afterward,
the animals look a little devious in their
doings. This one is of two squirrels
knitting eachother's sweater. Friends do their
best to help eachother out and 'get eachother's back'-
but in the end what we as humans do
is imperfect. Perfect help comes from God,
hence the hole-y and imperfect sweaters.
medium: oil

Hanging Up

I went to a chocolaterie a months or so ago and saw a fellow putting his paintings up in there. I asked the owner if they hang paintings made by local artists- and sure 'nuff, they did. I decided to go and create some brown and pink paintings (the color of the store) and come back with them to show him. The following pieces are made with the site specific intention of going into this establishment- it was a good challenge and they are hanging there today.
medium: oil on panel

Awww...

Sometimes I make art out of the depths of me. Sometimes I just want to make something fun to look at. This piece I did for an artist promo and durned if it's not just cute.
Medium: colored pencil and ink

Roses are red, violets are blue

I had the phrase 'roses are red, violets are blue' in my head when I began this piece. Everything was normal and pleasing to the eye and then I bound them up with rope.. it was almost a normal diptych(that is, two paneled piece)
Instead it's more like.. hmmm...
Roses are tied,
Violets are bound,
Now I've met you,
I consider myself found.
Ah well, i'm a painter and not a poet.
Medium: oil

Magical Creatures sans magical wings

I finished a couple of paintings today, for which I am very happy. I painted this as a re-do from a couple of years ago (a painting that I liked very much), but I changed it up a bit. The unicorn is suspended, along with a mess o' boxes, from rather fluffy clouds.
A magical creature that cannot fly, hung up with rather ordinary mundane objects. Can it be that the mysterious is caught up with the banal? In life, I mean- can it possibly mean that the bits of our life that are full of wonderment and magic are dangling around us amidst the average everyday things? I'd like to think so, and I think that's what Senor Painting doth speak to us today.
Medium: Oil

Pretend

I finished this one today after drawing it some time ago. Playing pretend is so much more fun when you're a kid because you're doing it for fun and not because you actually wish your circumstances were different.
For me this week I'm rather missing a certain 6'2" someone, and I find that pretending he's around just isn't a 'fun' thing to do. Perhaps I should pretend I'm in England or something, just for the fun of it... *sigh*
At least fun art comes of it, y'know?
medium: colored pencils and ink

Thoughts from the Couch

Today I've been well enough to sit up and hold a pencil- which is saying a lot. The creepin' crud attacked me this week and I've been out of commission, feeling like a bump on the log of existence.
I was sent flowers today by a fella- which inspired this drawing called 'Marriage'.
Marriage has a lot of things involved that people who are married don't bother to tell you about- not that they're heartless, but they know that you really oughtta experience it for yourself to really understand. My fella's much better at putting things into words, but this is how I explain marriage.
Medium: Graphite

The Easter Funny

Easter is a very special holiday to me, as I'm a Christian.
Easter is very funny to me, too, as I look at the consumerism madness surrounding a holiday having nothing to do with bunnies, eggs, baskets, candy, etc. Toons are a must in such a case.

Unicorn Madness

I had interest expressed in a painting which sold a long time again. I decided to paint it again and thought I might as well make two. As I make the same painting as I did several years ago, it strikes me that there is improvement in my painting and composition.
It may seem like a big 'duh' in life, but it's rather an epiphany- I wasn't excited to repeat something I've already done; yet in the repetition I find a satisfaction that I am progressing as an artist. I hope this leaks into other areas of life, because sometimes the Lord finds it fit to have us repeat lessons we thought we learned long ago. Perhaps he wants us to be clued in on the fact that we have grown as people. Perhaps...

Uniform

I drew this picture on the El in Chicago one hot summah day. I like it- odd and quirky.
medium: graphite

Have you seen?

I was waiting for someone in a cafe, sitting in close proximity to the pastry case, when this cartoon popped in my head. Scary and yet i think there's some kind of deep life truth here...
medium: graphite and colored pencil

Cutlery through and through

I painted this when I first moved here. One of the many that leave me a little verklempt.
medium: oil

No Soft Soap

This painting I started only with the thought that I like the way soap gets bubbles on the outside. This turned out being a pretty involving and heavy piece about salvation. I don't take great pains to wear my Christianity on my sleeve but my thoughts are saturated with my faith and it's bound to leak out somewhere. I will let this painting finish anything else I might have said about it...

Sweet thoughts

I drew this picture in a Starbucks in Hawaii, began painting it in Chicago, and finished it in San Diego. I think kids have such sweet and innocent thoughts sometimes, and wanted to create something showing just that.
medium: oil

And class let out, once again

Hi there!
I have been extremely busy putting together a wedding and moving and arting. Good news is that I am back to the site with lots of art and will soon have a regular web site(aiming to go for www.brainchildrenrecess.com...).
Take care, and enjoy.
medium: oil, mixed media
- this piece was done when i was struggling with unemployment and it seemed like everyone was settled in life and job and having a fine time...

Public service announcement

I apologize for the lateness of the latest post. I have been moving and very busy. Here is a fun little piece I did several nights ago. I had this funny picture in my head and, well, just needed to get it out.
Medium: colored pencils, ink

Orange You Glad

Wow, you know it's orange season in California when you can buy SIX pounds of the stuff for a dollar. A DOLLAR. Man, what do they think, that oranges grow on TREES?
Medium: ink and colored pencil

A case of the Mondays

I've never known what it is to like someone so much that their absence makes me feel like ...
like I packed up my right arm and sent it off with them (and I write with that hand). I had a good
grasp of this feeling last night(grasping with the left, of course...) when I drew this.
And the broken vessels?
Could be an old Christian reference to how we are all 'cracked vessels'. I'm not sure.
Medium: colored pencils and ink

Emerging Artist

Sometimes it's good to call the baby ugly. Sometimes it's good to call the baby beautiful in the hopes that perhaps you are saying something wonderfully prophetic over them. I drew this picture in light of the latter.
medium: ink and colored pencils

Californians; first impressions

Any time you go somewhere you are told what people are like and carry preconceived notions like a bad habit. Ever notice that? In moving to California (especially southern) I had big misconceptions about what the folks are like here. Granted, there are some people who fit the Cali mold, but there are many who are warm and friendly and nice.
I have a cartoon of the former...
medium: ink and prisma colors

Monk-y-ing around

This picture is in honor of the soup my fella made
for me lastweek. It was from
a cookbook of soups made by monks.
That's right- fantastic monastic soups.
It tasted great, but reacted interestingly with...er..
the g.i.system...

It's a kicker

I found employment here in San Diego at a cafe. Trying to make the best of it,
but happy thoughts aren't coming too fast right now. A cartoon is in demand during such times...
Medium: ink and prisma color

Randomness

While speaking to my niece on the phone last night, I asked her to tell me what I am to draw. After a brief bout of randomness, a Pearbear is looking and pointing to the sky, where it is raining cats and dogs.
medium: prisma and ink

NewYearsNuttiness

I was allowed the great privilage of watching a scad of preteens play hours and hours of video games this past Christmas. While it was enrapturing in the extreme, I utilized the time to make some New Years drawrings. Enjoy!
Medium: colored pencil