I have just finished my latest portrait of a Gentleman Squirrel. Since I love food and entertaining so much I thought I'd picture him serving up a tray of his finest roasted acorns to his guests. It is done along the lines of my other victorian inspired animal portraits but I amped up the color a bit as I thought the grey suit complimented his grey fur. As with my other squirrel portraits I've used my "pet" squirrels from my courtyard that feed daily on my fire escape as my models. Prints and also portrait brooches of the Gentleman Squirrel are available in my Etsy shop, Curious Portraits!
New Vintage Inspired Kitchen Towels
I am pleased as punch to introduce some new products in The Curious Kitchen shop - Kitchen Towels! It has taken quite a bit of research and experimentation to get them right but I have finally gotten the kinks worked out. First I had to find a place to have them printed that has good fabric and isn't unrealistically priced. They are 100% cotton, washable and the colors are nice and rich. Then I had to figure out the best way to photograph them which took a bit longer than I expected but I wanted them to be crisp and color accurate. I tried natural lighting, tungsten bulbs, photo flood bulbs and just about every setting available on my camera! It was actually quite fun "styling" them with a bowl of eggs for the Breakfast Towel, a croissants on a plate for the Desserts and watermelon for the Barbeque Towel, all of which had to be consumed in the end by yours truly. I also thoroughly enjoyed designing the labels which I wanted to be cheery and express the vintage feeling of the shop. I think it all works together and I hope you agree.
www.thecuriouskitchen.etsy.com
The Perfect Anodyne for a Worrying World
Are you having a bad day? Are the pressures of everyday life getting you down? Then let these cheerful anthropomorphic bottles help! We have anti-depressant and anti-anxiety pills topped off with a nice bottle of vodka, just what the doctor ordered... Seriously though, this is a parody of the golden age of Mad Men when it seems everyone was popping Seconal and Phenyl Barbitol and drinking heavily to boot. Think of it as a nostalgic romp through the 1950's and 1960's! Prints are available at The Curious Kitchen.
It's Breakfast Time!
We can all use a little encouragement in the morning to begin our day on a cheery note. I'm hoping my newest anthropomorphic print will do the trick. This combines two of my favorite subjects: anthropomorphism and vintage kitchen! It is now available in The Curious Kitchen shop on Etsy and I'll soon be adding small prints of the individual characters . Next week I'll be running a contest to win an 8 x 10 print simply by sharing the link on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest so check back for details.
The Curious Kitchen
I am so excited to announce the opening of my new Etsy shop The Curious Kitchen! I have always had a soft spot for anything anthropomorphic and have been painting these retro illustrations inspired by my own collection of vintage collectibles for years. Since they are such a different style than the work in my Curious Portraits shop I decided to give them a spotlight all their own. The images here are from my archives but I am working on a new series of paintings to continue the tradition. Now I have so many more items in my collection to inspire me, I hardly know where to begin.