Hairspray

I recently completed this poster for Waubonsie’s spring musical.  The challenge was to pay homage to the original broadway poster without totally plagiarizing it.  So, I began with a pencil sketch of girl and title lettering, then scanned it and built a vector graphic.  I must give kudos to my student, Brett, who did most of the grunt work, creating the vector version over top of my drawing.  We worked together with our “art director,” aka the theater director, to figure out the rest of the layout.  At one point we had 4 artboards going in Adobe Illustrator.  The nice thing about that program is that once you’ve created your vector graphic, it’s simply a matter of drag, drop, click, to change colors and rearrange the layout.  It was a busy poster (more text than usual to incorporate), but we simplified as much as possible and are happy with the result.

Flooded

Today’s post was inspired by my adventures during last week’s flood.  Trying to drive to school, I kept hitting road-blocks and small lakes (where once roads had been).  Eventually I found myself a block or so from my friend’s house and decided to seek refuge there.  As we waited out the worst of the storm, she checked her basement and found that the sump pump couldn’t keep up…water had begun to creep across the basement floor.  Thankfully, it hadn’t reached the finished area yet.  Her kids (elementary and middle-school age) sprang into action, quickly turning what would have been drudgery into some sort of adventure.  Max (a very prepared and practical boy) appeared with rubber gloves up to his elbows, and swimming goggles, to run investigate the sump.  Elena joined me in the basement with beach towels and a trash can.  We immediately started sopping and wringing…trying to keep the water from getting any further.  Max and his mom, meanwhile, found the wet-vac.  Max exchanged his goggles for ear plugs, tore off the rubber gloves, and spent the next 40 minutes like one of the heroes from Ghost Busters!  Elena, never short of energy herself, ran back and forth with towels until her feet were frozen and stomach was grumbling (all of this happened before breakfast).  An hour or so later, we collapsed upstairs to enjoy a much-earned breakfast and hot tea, grateful to hear the storm lessening outside.  Our story ended well…we managed to hold off serious flooding until the sump could catch up.  Many friends’ stories (and homes/basements) didn’t fare so well.

So, this post is in honor of Towel Ninja and Sump Buster  (aka Elena and Max).  In this world of grown-up responsibilities and natural disasters, their childlike enthusiasm made my day!

Welcoming Spring

The other day I hosted a watercolor workshop at my house…nothing fancy; just a time to hang out with friends and their daughters, and demonstrate a few watercolor basics with ink and washes.  This is the study I completed that afternoon.  I liked it well enough to turn it into a card!  It’s nice to simply sit down and paint for fun, without the pressure of a deadline or desire to please an art director.  The bird and blooms reminded me of this verse in Isaiah – one of my favorite verses because of the imagery it invokes!  Whether the very rocks of the mountains are crying out in praise, or the echo of birdsong trills through the hills, it captures the joyful essence of spring.  And, I can see trees in a field, their branches weighed down with blossoms, bobbing/swaying in a warm breeze…the rustle of applause as they dance for their Maker.

Happy Spring to you! May you go out in joy and be led forth in peace.

Scottish Coo

Today’s post was a mural commission I finished over Christmas break.  The owner has a spare bedroom where grandkids sometimes stay overnight, and she wanted a mural as the headboard for their bed.  The room’s theme is children’s books, with photos of England and Scotland on the walls.  So, the mural is a whimsical illustration of Scottish hills, heather, and “coos” (Scottish cows).  While this isn’t watercolor, I did use acrylic glazing techniques in the background hills.  Glazing is a technique of “thinning” acrylics with acrylic medium, creating a thin, translucent wash of color.  It’s as close to watercolor as I can get with acrylic, and I enjoy building the translucent layers!  My favorite part of the mural is definitely the coos with their dark chocolate eyes and shaggy bangs.

New York Artist

Copyright 2008 Mollie Bozarth

About this time in 2008 I was enjoying my very first trip to New York City as part of a master’s program.  My friends and I spent the day in Brooklyn at Ted and Betsy Lewin’s home, where Ted took us up to his photo studio to demonstrate lighting techniques.  Leaving Brooklyn that afternoon, a few of us ventured a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.  Ahhh!…the sunset across the water behind Lady Liberty was gorgeous!  As we left the bridge and entered busy city streets, an old gentleman asked if we’d like our portraits drawn.  Sitting and watching him as he drew me, I thought, “I’d like to paint this guy!”  So, while he sketched the next customer, I snapped photos of him at work.  The light was quickly fading, but I managed to get a few good shots and piece them together to create the scene above.  It’s not my best painting (the skin tones are muddy in places).  However, I love the atmosphere of the piece and enjoy remembering that Brooklyn autumn day.

Poster Design

Aside

In the 10 months since my last post, I truly have been painting!  I’ve completed a few private commissions, started another oil painting for my own personal pleasure, and started work on a mural.  Today’s post is a fun little piece done for Waubonsie Valley High School’s fall play.  Title is “Get Bill Shakespeare OFF the Stage!”  The art director wanted something in caricature style.  So, I pulled out my ink, sat down with watercolors, and played!  The ink work (appropriately for Shakespeare) was all done with quill pen, enabling me to capture the fine-line details needed in lettering and faces.  Once the painting was completed, I scanned it and did all poster lettering in Adobe Illustrator.

The King

copyright 2011 Mollie Bozarth

It is finished! I finally had a chance to finish up the “portrait” a couple of weeks ago and have been waiting for a day with decent lighting to photograph it.  I took all of the suggestions/critiques people sent in and am very happy with how it turned out.  If you have any further tips or things to keep in mind for the next oil painting I tackle, let me know.  This was the first time I’d touched oils in about 6 years.  It was both fun and frightening!  In the last 10 minutes of finishing touches, I was afraid I’d ruined the whole thing…but was able to pull it back and save it.  Phew!  Will probably start another portrait for fun this month, but am definitely going back to my safety zone of watercolor.  Happy New Year to all!

 

copyright 2011 Mollie Bozarth

Here is the complete mural!

Mural

copyright 2011 Mollie Bozarth

copyright 2011 Mollie Bozarth

Well, it’s been a hectic few months with school starting, coaching soccer, and my dad going through major surgery.  In the midst of all that, I’ve had the chance to work on a mural in our downtown parking garage.  My segment is one illustrative panel (approx. 24″ x 30″) in a series of smaller murals.  Eight students and two teachers from our high school each took a panel, so it was a fun opportunity to work with my students outside the classroom setting.  The theme for our floor was “Inspiration & Empowerment.”  Immediately, I thought of a local theater group called Christian Youth Theater.  I know a number of young people in our town who’ve loved being a part of CYT, and I’ve been extremely impressed with the professionalism of their productions.  So, this was a fun illustration for me to pull together!  The above images are sections of the mural.  Color is difficult to capture on camera, especially in a parking garage hallway.  But I’ve tweaked the coloring in Photoshop to get it close to the actual painting.  Timm Etters, a professional mural artist, was in charge of the whole project.  I have seen Timm’s work around town for decades, so this mural gave me a chance to get air-brushing tips from a pro!  I hadn’t touched an airbrush since 1997 and was definitely rusty.  Playing on the safe side, I mainly used airbrush for the background, then did detail work with my acrylics and finished off lighting effects with airbrush over top.  As a bonus, each person who worked on the project received a free Badger Airbrush…very nice perk!

Recent Sketches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been working on revisions to the portrait I posted last month.  However, summer travels, a recent mural opportunity, and other responsibilities have kept me from finishing that portrait.  So, today’s post consists of a couple of sketches from my summer travels.  As you can see, I’m quite happy to study architecture if there’s nothing else around that catches my eye!  I’ve sailed past the Shedd Aquarium many times each summer, but had never noticed the detail within its roofline or facade until I took the time to draw it.  The sun was just beginning to set and cast smooth shadows across each facet of the building.  As for O’Hare airport…I had never realised how spoiled we Chicagoans are with non-stop flights.  I can get a direct flight almost anywhere – including London – and usually enjoy plane travel.  Most of my out-of-state friends have quite a different experience.  Baggage claim seems to be a universal meeting spot where everyone stands around for 15+ minutes trying to look nonchalant while waiting for their belongings to appear on the magical snake-like conveyor belt.  Personally, I’ve always wanted to take a ride on that conveyor belt but figure security guards would snatch me up before I had a chance to even think the word “fun!”.  I guess I’ll have to live vicariously through Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and Bullseye who took the ultimate airport conveyor belt ride in Toy Story II.