Sketches and Mini Paintings

Necklaces with super mini original paintings!

Hey! How've you been? I haven't been up to any large projects recently. Motivation was really hard to find this past week for some reason. Sometimes lack of motivation is worse than a full blown artist block since I have ideas but no interest in doing them! :(  But thankfully, that feeling is gone now! The puppy painting and watercolor/gouache paintings above kept me from being entirely inactive, and I was inspired to make some necklaces and add something new to my shop! I've also reduced the price on my heart pins from $16 to $12. Hooray for progress! 

Also, if you still haven't visited Light Grey Art Lab's Macro & Micro show, you should get on that! So many great artists! I have a painting in the animal category. All pieces are available as high quality prints in LGAL's shop. 

Cuties in Teacups: Finished!

All the Cuties in Teacups!

Barn Owl in a Teacup

Black Cat in a Teacup

Scottish Fold in a Teacup

Puppy in a Teacup

Bunny in a Teacup

Squirrel in a Teacup

The original gouache paintings!

The Cuties in Teacups cards are finally finished! Whenever a project takes longer than I anticipated it's easy to get bored, uninspired, and question my worth and career choice as an artist. Those feelings are amplified when I'm not happy with the result, but on the other side I wonder how I was ever upset in the first place when I'm really proud of the finished product! (The preferred feelings, of course.) As I was painting these I was reminded that I do this for fun (cheesy, I know), and it's easy to focus too much on the business side of art and make artistic choices based on the most money savvy decision. I was hesitant to paint the owl's cup black because it would be slightly more expensive to print than the others with so much black ink, but then I thought, f*ck it, I do what I want, and couldn't be happier with it. And those are my deep artist thoughts of the day. 

The greeting cards are all available in my shop individually or as a group! The originals are also for sale! If you're interested, contact me at darlaokada.art@gmail.com. Thanks for looking and have a fabulous day!

Free mini print!

Because I'm feeling nice and I want to spread the love!

This sneaky kitty was painted with watercolor and gouache, then outlined with a black micron pen.

Leah and the Giand Red Panda

Leah and the Giant Red Panda | 13"x10" | Gouche & Ink | 140lb Cold press watercolor paper | ©2013 Darla Okada

Leah and her red panda companion, Lore, begin their travels at dusk since red pandas are nocturnal. Leah is sure to keep plenty of bamboo handy for Lore to snack on as they begin their trip to the next town. 

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Macro & Micro: A Celebration of the Natural World

Macro + Micro Exhibition is a collection of work by 90+ international artists who have embraced their inner scientist, making work about the most fantastical and interesting species, specimens, and systems on earth. The show is divided into four categories: Mineral, Vegetable  Animal, and Everything Else. The subjects range from microscopic bacteria, to Icelandic glaciers, to stars in the sky. It is a wondrous exploration of natural world.

This exhibition also features the work of Mary Jo Hoffman, photographer and founder of stillblog, who photographs natural specimens in simple and beautiful compositions.

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This piece will be amongst many others at Light Grey Art Lab’s upcoming show, Macro & Micro: A Celebration of the Natural World. The opening is this Friday, April 19th, and I regret I won’t be able to go!  You can purchase an archival print here for $30.