ghostkitten: drawing

Showing posts with label drawing. Show all posts

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Art Every Day Month: Creative Flow

This month, I am participating in Art Every Day Month ( #AEDM2015 #AEDM ).

Follow my progress on instagram, facebook, tumblr, or twitter.

After traveling for almost 5 months, it is time to immerse myself in the creative flow again. This can be scary at first but the more you do it, the less you notice the fears and creativity just become part of your life enriching each and every day.

Here are a few sketches and paintings from this week.

Last night, I needed some free-form, no-plan intuitive painting , so I lit a candle and just let paint bleed onto the paper swirling together in the water. I had no idea what it would be and for a long time it didn’t look like anything but colors. For a moment there was a girl wandering through the meadow but she transformed into the tree on the right. The last bit to pop up was the little bunny to be the peaceful observer.

This is a Fennec Fox. I'm so delighted that such creatures exist in this strange world. I am excited to draw and paint other cute and unusual spirits like the red panda and the dik dik.

I made this quick sketch late Sunday night after an amazing Halloween camp-out forest trance party and have been dancing away the last 24 hours in the trees, under the moon, and alongside the colorful wildlife human and otherwise that joined in the strange and wondrous celebrations. This sketch was how I felt in the moment… Adrift in the magical sleepy afterglow.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Los Angeles Underground Map Art Print Release

This is my love letter to the Los Angeles Underground scene filled with misfits, dreamers, artists, twirlers, and music-makers.

I am taking orders for my LA Underground print Now through Dec 8.

Then, I will be doing the print run in time for Christmas. I may not do a second run so if you want one, now is the time. I decided to do 3 colors because I just a know a few of you would be sad if the purple was left out.

To Order a Print, click HERE.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Wandering through the World: Watercolor Paintings and Ink Sketches

Fairy Tale Watercolor Painting by Nicole Piar

In the Winter Wood by Nicole Piar

I have been making a lot of intuitive watercolor paintings where I just begin to paint and see what scene or creature emmerges. I have doodled and sketched like this a lot in ink but doing this in watercolor has been a fun way to expand and explore. Also watercolor occupies this liminal territory between intention/order and accident/chaos.

Ink Sketch doodle flowers girl meadow nature Nicole Piar

Through the Meadow by Nicole Piar

I have noticed a theme starting to reoccur (aside from magical cats which I will share later :) It is of a figure traveling through nature and discovering what lies beyond each bend, each hill and each grove. This theme of entering and wandering through contains such a sense of wonder and mystery for me. It is a perfect metaphor for the creative process as well: I enter my inner world, peer inside, and journey to imagined lands.

If you would like to see my watercolor and ink doodles as they are created, I often post them on my instagram. You can follow me here: http://instagram.com/ghostkittenart

In the Last Light of Day by Nicole Piar

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Into the Sun: My Painting for the Doggie Wonderland Show

Into the Sun by Nicole Piar media: digital painting

I was so delighted to be invited by Hana Kim of Suphacute to be part of the Doggie Wonderland show at Leanna Lin's Wonderland. However, I was presented with the challenge of drawing a dog. I have drawn many many cats, birds, fish, and owls but very few dogs. I just didn't know how to connect with them. Then, I thought of the absolute sense of freedom, exhilaration, and contentment of a dog running full throttle. Now that is a feeling that speaks to me and I wanted to capture it in my piece for the show.

Here is the original pencil sketch that I drew and then scanned in. It was a loose sketch to give me the feel of characters.

I don't often paint digitally because I love the way real paint feels. The tactile and sensory experience of painting is so seductive to me but I was feeling called to try something new. Some fellow artists suggested these amazing photoshop brushes from Kyle T Webster. These brushes have a very natural feel. They are very pressure-sensitive giving you beautiful thick/thin lines and some of them have lovely organic textures. It was so much fun to experiment.

Work-in-Progress Here I begin to paint digitally right over the pencil sketch.

I decided to move the dark decorative shapes and branches to the bottom in the final piece to create a more open composition. I really wanted the girl to feel like she was traveling swiftly into the light without any obstacles. Another great thing about digital work is that you can make changes like this super fast. Sometimes, I will even work out a composition and color study in photoshop before going to my paints.

Doggie Wonderland Show: Postcard Art by Joey Chou

My piece Into the Sun will be available as a framed Archival Fine Art Print in the Doggie Wonderland show for $30. This is an art benefit for the Ken-Mar Rescue. So you can get some really lovely, playful, and fun art and help a sweet abandoned doggie. After the show, I will also be selling prints of this piece in my Etsy Shop. If you would like to buy this piece, please inquire at Leanna Lin's Wonderland.

Doggie Wonderland opens on May 10 (reception 6-9pm) and runs until June 29th. If you are in the Los Angeles area, come by for a visit. Here are some more lovely pieces by my fellow artists that will be in this show.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Sadie and Zee Freebie to the Rescue

Meet my two new friends that I spotted in the wilds of my imagination and made these quick field sketches. Sadie is on the left and Zee is the blue mischief-maker.

They love to make LISTS! Lists of their favorite books, and of silly things to do before sunrise, and of all the colors in a particularly special rock they found behind their house.

To help you make your lists a bit more magical, they are gracing each sheet to be Your Little List Helpers.

Sign up here to download your FREE Printable List Sheets: http://www.ghostkitten.com/freebies/

Sadie and Zee love to make new friends, so please share this link and feel free to post them on your blog or tweet about them. Thank you!

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Sweetpea and Bunny fluff Calendar

Hello friends!
I want to share the New Moon Calendar I made for 2013. Many of you probably already received this little piece of magic in the mail but for those of you who missed it, here it is.

This year's calendar features a gentle lavender loving flapper named Sweetpea with her little friend, Bunnyfluff who enjoys taking naps in her soft hair. I love her silvery dress and can imagine her dancing in the moonlight by a glittering lake. I am still selling these in my Etsy shop here if you are interested: https://www.etsy.com/listing/120834982/sweetpea-flapper-wall-calendar-marks-the?

Sweetpea helps remind me of the magic in the world even when I am rushing about and under-slept.

She reminds me to walk with a little dance in my step and a little warm fluff in my heart.

Friday, January 13, 2012

New Moon and Full Moon Calendars

As many of you know, each year I make a 11x17" calendar that records the new moons and full moons and is graced with an interesting character and usually her favorite fuzzy, furry, or feathered friend. I thought it would fun to take a look back in time and see all the cuteness that came each. Yes, 2011 is missing, the moon girl just didn't have time to make an appearance that year but no worries, she's back. The 2012 one is for sale at $10 including shipping and handling, just contact me and i will send the paypal info.

This first one is actually from 2007 but I updated it in 2009 to sell on etsy.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Define Dreamer

I cut out the definition of everything related to dream and then made this drawing with it. I am very fascinated with dreams... the kind we have a night when sleeping. Every since I was a child I felt almost half my experiences and some of the most memorable and real took place in my dreams. I choose the theme, In Flight, for my sketchbook project because flying takes such a prominent place in land of nod. Flying in dreams feels so natural and true that sometimes I think the experience of gravity on earth is more the anomaly or the exception. I have many pages of my Sketchbook Project that I have not shared on this blog yet so expect to see them over the next month as tomorrow, I mail the book out.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Illustration Friday: Deja Vu

Some how, looking up at the starry sky always gives me a sense of deja vu. Maybe it is the vastness of space triggering a sense of something beyond what i can comprehend, something beyond linear time where everything has already happened and not happened yet simultaneously. it is very familiar and yet hints at something so strange and unknowable that it jolts me out my quotidien experience. Or maybe, I have lived on another planet in another life and I have been somewhere out there before.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Sketchbook Project: In Flight continues

Wow! What a whirlwind my life has been. I went to Chicago for a week to visit my boyfriend's family. Then I came back on New Years and had to move the next day. I am in the new house now and finally have my studio somewhat set up. Or at least, my desk is built, you can see the floor, and most things are plugged in. :) Yesterday, was my first day of creativity in the new place and what you see above are the results of that. I love that there is a big eucalyptus tree out my window that sings in the wind. These are all pages in my sketchbook that I am racing to finish. I have 5 more pages and the cover left to make before mailing it in on January 15. I never finish anything before the deadline. I don't know why but that is just how I am.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

In the mail....

The theme for illustration Friday this week is "Mail." My favorite kind of mail is a letter with interesting tid bits and surprises hiding inside. It is rare and special to receive a little bit of wonder in the mail that connects you to someone you love who is far away. Emails are convenient and fun too but there is nothing like knowing this very paper was handled by your friend and lovingly written. My least favorite type of mail is obviously unsolicited credit card offers or circulars. Why so many? No matter how many times I try to opt out of junk mail, these still sneak through. oh well. poor tree.

Picture Frames

This is a stream-of-consciousness doodle drawing in ink that I made in my sketchbook. I have always been intrigued by framing because it signifies a portal into a distinct world. It also is often the barrier between the world experienced through the senses and the world as we interpret it or "frame it." Something to explore more perhaps.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Balancing and The Masked Peppermint Posse

It has been a very intense few weeks trying to juggle meltdowns and transisitions in many areas of my life. When I read the Inspiration Avenue theme, "Believe" I thought about believing you can accomplish something even when it seems almost impossible. The first illustration is all about the balancing act that is everyday life. There is some magic that helps keep it together even when it seems like it should come crashing down. Of course a few things do get lost or damaged or fall off the balancing tower but it is still amazing what we are able to do. I definitely believe in that magic.
The second illustration is of The Masked Peppermint Posse. They are on there way to an enchanted ball. At least, I believe they are. ;)

Friday, December 10, 2010

The Things that Bring Me Back

click image to enlarge

I will be moving to a new house in the beginning of January so I have started some packing. As I was going through my art supply closet, I found an old journal and it fell open to a page where I had made a list of 12 things that bring me back to appreciating and really experiencing the beauty of life. When I read it, I found that everything I had written still applied to me today. I had also wanted to experiment with some hand-drawn type and participate in List-It Tuesdays, as I have loved list making since i was a little girl. It is amazing how a list takes all the chaos in your mind and heart and crystallizes it into something understandable and attainable. So, I started just drawing in the words from the original list in my new sketchbook and adding doodles. I still had more space so I added 12 more things. 12 from the past and 12 from right now. It was a great mediation on the things I love about life.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

What I found in the forest...

I wanted to play with the old books I found at the topanga swap meet again and mix in some of my drawing and painting. I was planning on having this image go right after this one in my sketch book but after it took shape I think it feels better after this one. This would be the girl's log of what she discovered in the forest. Maybe it's in her sketchbook. :) I have never really liked yellow and green but change is all around. This is one of the reasons I am glad that I didn't approach my sketchbook linearly from beginning to end. I have just been randomly jumping around the pages. I thought it would make it less intimidating to finish and more fun... and now their are interesting and unexpected juxtapositions emerging.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Once upon a time...

I made this little fairies really quickly today by swishing around some water color and then, inking in the faces and details. Recently, I read that it can be interesting to draw whatever you would choose to draw if you knew no one would ever see it. The first thing that came to my mind was... fairies! I guess that is what my 6 year old self would want to draw so I usually avoid them. When I heard the Inspiration Avenue's Weekly theme was "Once upon a time," I figure this is my chance to enter the fairy realm. I tried to give them a ephemeral quality... at any moment the could flicker out of sight.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Sailing in the Cold Wind

Just wanted to do a little collage drawing that could go on the opposite page of the fishies (below) in my sketchbook. I decided to use light colors, white space and focus on the above the water world where the wind and air are prevalent in order to contrast with the other picture on the same theme. I actually like them together for some reason. It makes me think of how two entirely different worlds can be residing side by side.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Tight Rope Forest

This is a page in my sketchbook. Once again, I just started drawing the idea emerged. I love the idea of living up in the tree tops.. the feeling of being vaulted in the air and weightless. I always wanted a tree house. some day, perhaps.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Dandelion Seed Winks

I have always been fascinated with wind-carried seeds. They seem like fluffy soft creatures traveling like fairies through the air. So, I made a little doodle in my sketchbook to see if I could capture a bit of them.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Twirling then falling into the flowers...

I went to a swap meet over the weekend and found a old dictionary from the 70's. i tore out some of the graphics and pages to collage together with my drawings, then painted over it. this was a fun experiment.