Voices

An owl, a cardinal and a frog all raising their voices and singing their songs. Perhaps they are remembering a time years ago when there were fewer houses with fewer people living in them behaving badly. For Illustration Friday's word "voices." B&W photograph taken by E.A. Autrey in Santa Barbara years ago.

Rambunctious triplets

Similar

These gourds are similar and yet, very different.

Pen & ink and marker illustration cut up and manipulated digitally for Illustration Friday's word "similar."

Balloon

Circus clown and dancing dog in the big tent before the crowds arrive. An old digital composite updated for illustration friday's word "balloon."

Having been motivated by both the inspiration behind and the beautiful resulting art piece of Lisa Rivas’s Living Bridges , I thought I’d give credit where credit is due on this picture:

My 88 year old father, E.A. Autrey, at a much younger age, is the face of the clown under the white make-up (although he does not have red hair and was not quite so scary looking). Here’s a photo of him younger (in the middle).

The Circus from Toulouse-Lautrec’s lithograph portfolio (page 22 in the limited edition book I’d love to have except won’t since it costs $1,500) here was the inspiration for the circus setting. When I went to visit my friend in the Philippines a few years ago, the bedroom I stayed in had copies of these circus drawings hanging on the wall and I just loved them.

Finally, I was happy to have figured out how to make balloons using the 3D program in Illustrator and then turned them into a pattern brush in Corel Painter, which partially explains the funny outfit.

Chapter One/Purple Prose Part Two

I don't know if it was the cold, wet breeze blowing off the sea or some breaking and entering instinct from my feral youth that made me move closer but, once I noticed the shop's door was slightly ajar, I pushed it and proceeded to furtively step inside. The strobe effect of the interior malfunctioning overhead light and the buzzing noise that emanated from the fixture distracted me. It took a few seconds before I realized some of the glinting lights were bouncing off of the glasses of the shrunken man in front of me. As I stepped backwards to flee, a familiar voice called out to me in a semi-strangled gargle. "Welcome, Dan. I was expecting you."

This is part two of the exquisite corpse web experiment. For part one, written by Susan Sanford, go to the Chapter One Part One link. For part three, written by Brian aka Son of Incogneato go to the Chapter One Part Three link. Anyone can provide a conclusion at any time and can start a new story. If you don't like writing in the first person, a third person could kill off the first person narrator - it's all up to the author. This is open to the next random volunteer.

Bird Thoughts

"Birds without heads aren't much company. But that's just my opinion."

Bird thoughts for illustration Friday's word "Opinion"

Pretending To Be Something You're Not

For Illustration Friday's word "Pretend"

Wise Owl

Wise owl for Illustration Friday word "wise."
Watercolor owl composite with pen & ink & marker fish in digital fish bowl on digital stool. Framed rat on the wall (Owl's favorite food) is a china painted ceramic tile by J.L. Autrey.

Rabbit in a Vacant Lot

Illustration done for Illustrationfriday.com's word VACANT

Button Scholars

Just for fun! Inspired by Daniel Mackie's illustration (http://www.danielmackie.co.uk/)
for the article "Class action" in the new Wall Street Journal magazine.

Birdisms 2

Get your own - Open publication

Paper Mache Pig

A quick digital painting on the Saatchi website of a paper mache pig done as a project when Amber was very young. The original is a balloon with toilet paper cardboard legs and a plastic easter egg nose covered with newspaper and pink paper glued on top. Her ears are covered with pink yarn to represent hair, she has false eyelashes and painted eyes and nose.

Memories

Photo composite of me (younger) with my pen & ink & marker birds in a watercolor of Santa Barbara painted by my mother Jean L. Autrey for the illustration friday word "memories."

Birdisms

Get your own - Open publication

The Vog

"Vog," on the big island of Hawaii, is actually fog generated from the gases spewing out of the active volcano. This "foggy" entry for Illustration Friday is a view of Maui from the big island. The nearby island is seen rising up above the ocean and the Vog. Cardinals were everywhere in Hawaii (usually in pairs) so I added one here.

Baby

Illustration for illustrationfriday.com.

I did this drawing years ago when I was trying to write and illustrate a children's story about a magic ball. Baby wanted to go outside. Because she couldn't talk, she made a wish while holding her little red ball. When baby handed the ball to her mother, her mother got the message and baby got to go outside. Like most of my stories it didn't go anywhere after that.

What, me worry?

Pen & ink & marker illustration of Alfred E. Newman for Illustration Friday's word "Worry."
I wish I could be as carefree as Alfred!

Big Oaks From Little Acorns Grow

Baby oak trees from acorns that fell in my back yard. Pen & ink & marker illustration for Illustration Friday's word "seed"

Wrinkles

My hand gets very WRINKLED working in the garden!
Illustration done in illustrator for illustrationfriday.com

Primitive Weevil

Primitive Weevil for Illustrative Friday's word PRIMITIVE. This weevil lives in forests in tropical regions so I put her in a picture of a tree in Santa Barbara painted by my mother (which I altered!).

I like to draw insects. They are endlessly fascinating.

Homage to the Orchid

Orchids in a vase, pen & ink & marker (with some additions in Corel Painter and Photoshop). Done for Illustration Friday's word "Homage."

Pet Peeve

Toothpaste with the lid left off for Illustration Friday's subject "Pet Peeve. "

Heavy Potted Plant

There is a potted plant in the Jacaranda tree-lined road - a gift for Easter. It looks like it's heavy!

This is a stretch for the Illustration Friday word "heavy," but was the only image that emerged.

Garden

"Garden" illustration for Illustration Friday (which is where I should be on this glorious sunny day instead of inside working on my computer).

Hawaiian Happy Face spiders really do look like that!

Leap Frog

Entry for IllustrationFriday's topic LEAP (this being a leap year). I painted the curtains, stars & moon on the Saatchi website then added the leaping frogs in photoshop. They look like they're having fun!

Painting Sense into Statistics

I'm trying for something more relevant for this week's Illustration Friday topic "MULTIPLE."

Per the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans spent $3.3 billion $s in 2002 on Firearms & ammunition but only $6.5 million on Art goods. Per the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control, those most at risk of dying from guns are young men age 20-24. What young males that age did with those guns was kill each other (2,749 died from homicide, more blacks than whites) or themselves (2,251 died from suicide,more whites than blacks).

If more young men picked up a paint brush instead of a gun, the world would be a happier place.

Hey!

I CHOOSE to draw my mouth. While trying to draw a mouth shapped like a heart (in honor of Valentine's Day) I was forced to refer to the real thing in the mirror and what came out was a mouth that appeared to be saying "hey." This was done for fun on the Saatchi website http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourstudio/ but I thought it would also work for the weekly Illustration Friday topic "Choose" at http://illustrationfriday.com/

Blanket of Snow

Bald eagle is flying over a blanket of snow. Artwork done for Illustration Friday word "blanket." Digital painted background composited with scanned pen & ink & marker bald eagle illustration.

According to Dante, the tree of knowledge blooms with crimson-purple flowers and the eagle represents the Roman Empire. If it is true the USA is the new Roman Empire, there is much to be learned.

Brown Booby Philosophy

Fate loves to invent patterns and designs. Its difficulty lies in complexity. But life itself is difficult because of its simplicity.

A birdism from Rilke

A Stitch In Time

Digital Composite for Illustration Friday's word STITCH. Amber, in the future, is wading with the ducks in the botanical gardens in Santa Barbara in the 1950s.