Illustrations
Illustrations of various mediums- pencil, charcoal, painting, collage, etc. Drawing is my favorite thing to do and pencil is my go-to tool of choice, as you'll see!
Oh how I adore Bill Hader. Love his work on Saturday Night Live and many of his movie roles; I find him easy to relate to because he openly discusses his struggles with anxiety that is amplified by his career in show business. I just love it when he breaks character on SNL, it’s considered unprofessional but I think it makes the skit more hilarious personally! What’s awesome is that he’s actually from Tulsa, AND I got to meet him last Christmas! I was at Starbucks on Brookside when I noticed a man that looked eerily similar to Bill Hader and realized it had to be him. Since he did grow up here, it wouldn’t be the most unusual thing in the world for him to be here for the holidays. I talked with him for a few minutes, he was very polite to give his time since he was getting coffee with family. It was such a joy to encounter him in our hometown versus if it had been in Hollywood, the celebrity center.
Ray Charles, the legend himself. His inspiring story was one of my favorites growing up and I read his son’s biography of him this last summer. The energy and joy that he radiates, especially through his huge smile, makes it impossible not to admire this larger-than-life figure.
The man, the legend. Been reading books about Walt Disney since grade school and...
Gone too soon. You are forever missed Diana. I’m not satisfied with how her eyes turned out, but when I have time I can do another study of her. Her hair alone took 3 hours! So intricate, but she’s worth it.
To an individual that is highly missed. I was choosing from several pictures of Robin Williams, but when I came across the photo below, I knew it had to be a study of this one. I felt it represented him and also thought it would be a fun expression to undertake since most of the other portraits were smiling.
Ahh Stevie Wonder, I so hope to attend one of his concerts one day. My whole family has seen him perform except me so it needs to happen!
My favorite character on The Chosen show, chronicling Jesus’s ministry with his disciples. In this depiction, Matthew’s alienation as a tax collector is highlighted and after witnessing Jesus’s early miracles, his logic-based thinking is rattled and he struggles to make sense of what he’s seen. I easily relate to his feeling misunderstood and that he doesn’t belong with the others. Yet, Jesus doesn’t care about what our backgrounds are or what we struggled with- He wants to use YOU! One of my favorite verses is 1 Corinthians 1:27-29- But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” It doesn’t matter what the world thinks of us or even what we may think of ourselves, because God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.
So much admiration for this strong woman. She was one of my top role models growing up, having read many books about her over the years. She had such zeal and passion for life that serves as a powerful example to everyone, especially those who have felt limited by their differences.
My favorite scene from The Outsiders, when the three Curtis brothers are reunited with each other after the youngest, Ponyboy, ran out after having an argument with the oldest, Darry. The book and film are set in Tulsa. The portrait’s title is taken from a song of the band Lawrence, “Come On, Brother”. The lyrics involve the lead singer, Clyde Lawrence, reassuring his younger brother that everything will be alright if they hold on to each other. Originally I was going to name this as “Stay Gold Ponyboy”, the book’s most famous line. But this song, which I listened to repeatedly in the process of this drawing, just seemed the more fitting choice in relation to the scene depicted, the brothers coming together again.
Jon Cryer of Pretty in Pink fame. This was the first of a celebrity portrait series that I did in summer 2019; it was the first serious portrait I had worked on since college graduation and I enjoyed it so much I decided to make it into a series.
The master of improvisation and a sneaky one at that! Tim Conway, best-known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show, would perform each skit faithfully as according to script during rehearsal. However, when it came to live shows, he would ad-lib mercilessly usually causing his fellow cast members to try in vain to stifle their laughter.
We had many assignments of simply picking a spot in the arts building and drawing it. This is a basement hallway.
This still-life consists of my TU hat on a bandana with my Theta pin box. I did this in charcoal at my sorority house and put a do not disturb sign on it. That bandana pattern took forever!
An older work, we had to choose an endangered species to write and base a work of art around for the annual Sutton NatureWorks competition. It is a statewide contest that students enter artwork in to support awareness of wildlife conservation. I selected the blue poison dart frog and using colored sharpies, the scene came to life through the form of pointillism, an approach I used for the Cactus Parable video. It is quite tedious, but I enjoyed the process of making the scene. It went on to place in the top ten and winning $750. I love this piece because of how vivid it is, easily the most colorful of my 2D artworks.
This was made at Willowbrush Studio + Gallery of Tulsa run by the wonderful Rachel Wimpey. Thank goodness for her summer art classes because I would’ve never made the ONLY watercolor that I’ve produced and been satisfied with!
Image of my Kanakuk cross figure poised in front of a rock with the word Love on it. Jesus is my rock and His death on the cross is the ultimate act of sacrificial love.
Still-life of a bone on a piece of cloth.
This was one of my final large drawings for my Life Drawing class. I was so jealous that the rest of my family had gotten to visit my newborn nephew quite a bit at the time while I had school! So I used a photo of him as a reference for a drawing- having him as a subject helped for a while!
A study we had to make for my advanced drawing studio class.
For my collage studio class, we had to choose a Matisse work and create a collage out of it. This is a work of his painting, Still Life with Green Sideboard.
Our assignment was to create a collage of two famous paintings. I chose Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and Edvard Munch’s The Scream. The concept is the girl is torn between darkness and light. Demons try to withhold her from going forward and try to keep her in the shadow of death. But the light always comes through in triumph and shatters the darkness in our life.
One of my best friends had recently got engaged in a hot air balloon during Albuquerque’s International Balloon fiesta weekend. As both a project and a future wedding present, I made a collage based off a photo I took of their memorable ride while we followed them in a car. Of course the most colorful, fun balloon in the center is theirs! It was such a great experience to celebrate their engagement with so many friends there.
During spring break in college one year, I had to do a number of studies at Philbrook Museum of Art. I found a beautiful Indian sculpture and sketched it. Took about 3 hours!
Sweet friend of mine from college. I am always beyond grateful to my friends that model for my drawings and photography. Thank you everyone for putting up with me and supporting my artwork!
Another study from Mark Lewis’s drawing studio class.
For an “edible” still-life, I set up a glass of wine and hung grapes on the rim and around the base. Done in chalk pastels, my favorite means of color when it comes to artwork.
We had to make a self-portrait with quick mark-making. I enjoyed this one, making silly faces always adds to the fun!
For a photoshoot narrative, I took some friends downtown to pose in front of murals. This is a drawing of one of the photos I took. Unfortunately some of the proportions are off, namely in the head region but otherwise I’m satisfied with how it turned out. I liked working on his coat, I love shading with charcoal.
Our professor instructed me to use pen and quicker mark-making, something that doesn’t come naturally for me. I like to take my time with drawing, and the ability to erase mistakes. But artists need to experiment in order to grow in their skill set so I’ve tried to sketch more in pen lately. This was an early sketch in college of Sharp Chapel on TU’s campus. We were told to explore campus, pick a spot and and start drawing from observation. Always loved these assignments when we could go outside!
In ceramics class, we were told to create a self-portrait through a pair of shoes. I chose my “Jesus” sandals because they can be worn with both casual clothes like T-shirts and with dresses. I am generally a laid-back person and I love that these shoes can be dressed down or up to a point. Unfortunately they turned out rather dirty in appearance, even after I re-glazed them 3 times in an effort to get a ‘cleaner’ look/color out of them.
Painting in general is a difficult medium for me, it typically takes me longer to complete those works than others. I am very detail-oriented and this piece I probably took it to the extreme, drawing every last leaf shape of the trees’ outline in the original photo. To finish it on time, I brought it to the Theta house in Stillwater to work on while I watched the football game on TV and my family went to the stadium. It was quite tedious, but I did enjoy making this acrylic forest scene.
A project from high school; our teacher always had students make a brown sack still-life each year.
A still-life of the corner of our living room