8/15/13

Lucky Cats and Stickers


Black Maneki Neko |  3x4 | Gouache & Watercolor | Watercolor paper


White Maneki Neko |  3x4 | Gouache & Watercolor | Watercolor paper



Of course, I couldn't resist making stickers :3

I really needed to make some mini paintings and I thought maneki nekos would be perfect! Really, I was testing to see how quickly I could paint these. My idea was to paint mini same-day requests at craft shows, but I need to get faster first! I hope you like them :3

8/14/13

Bunches of Cute: New Paintings!

Pigeon Boots | 5x7 | Gouache, watercolor, & ink | Stonehenge paper

Bear Training | 5x7 | Gouache, watercolor, & ink | Stonehenge paper

Little Narwhal | 5x7 | Gouache, watercolor, & ink | Stonehenge paper
~SOLD~
The Best Slushie | 5x7 | Gouache, watercolor, & ink | Stonehenge paper

Original sketches for these cuties.

Made some sticker packs too since stickers are way cool!

I'm baaaaaaack! Sorry it took me so long, but I was hiding in the shadows these past couple of months preparing for a craft show. Not surprisingly, my momentum and productivity increase significantly when I'm not internet-ing. My apartment is also TONS tidier...which is nice. The above paintings were super fun to work on. Turns out I really enjoy making small, simple stuff between larger projects! Hopefully I can make more like this and possibly make a zine? But we'll see! 


6/14/13

WIPs and Things


 This drawing is taking me a looooong time to finish. I had sketched out a fabulous background, I couldn't be happier with how the mama cat and her kittens turned out (black and fuzzy!), I'm reminded of how much I love using colored pencils, but when I started to focus on coloring the background, it all came crashing down. So, even though it'll take even longer to finish, I'm going to wait for some new ideas for the background to float on by before it's ruined beyond repair.

 I started this painting a couple of days ago and I'm rendering with ink washes before I apply watercolor, and I'm in love with this method so far! I'm also using Stonehenge paper for the first time and I don't ever want to go back to watercolor paper. So smooth and creamy, and pigment doesn't travel with too much water! Finding paper that's effortless to work with is such a relief.


My birthday was in the beginning of May, and as a small gift for myself I painted a teeny Hellboy portrait and placed him in a hexagon necklace base :)


Apologies for the long lapse without posting! I've been making an effort to distract myself less via the internet and so far it's working! I'm planning for two craft shows in the upcoming months and working on some new painting ideas that I should be able to show you soon if all goes according to plan. I update my instagram regularly with little drawings, so follow @twoblackcats if you so desire! If you don't have a smartphone you can also follow online here :) 

4/30/13

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

4/17/13

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!