Inspiration: Yuki Atae

Yuki Atae is a Japanese doll maker.  His creations are exquisitely made.  I was introduced to his work years ago by a coworker from Japan.  She let me borrow a book on how he makes the dolls. Their base shapes are wire and then, I believe he adds clay and covers them with fabric.  They are amazing.  There are a lot of images on the web but they all seem to be the same so I've scanned these from postcards I have, except for the last image which is from the internet. In Japan, there is a Yuki Atae museum.  Their website is in Japanese but there are a few photos where you can see his dolls.  There is a series he did where he created a story using the dolls from the these first two photos about this elf.  He posed the dolls in a real forest.  Those photos were influential in my development as a photo illustrator.




Staceage: Feast for the Senses

I recently took a quick day trip to Atlanta.  I often go with a few ideas in mind of stores or places I want to visit.  This trip's plan was for fabric stores.  I had found Staceage online and was fascinated by the look of the store and the bright colors that adorned the racks.  It is a fabric boutique.  Most of the fabrics are out of my price range but I haven't seen anything like them available anywhere else.  They also upholster furniture.  You may also purchase most of their fabrics online.










Secret Book Covers

I love finding embossed images underneath book jackets that are very different from their paper jackets.

The Night Circus jacket

The Night Circus cover


Jo's Boys jacket


Jo's Boys cover


Exploring the Deep Frontier Cover
(The reused the jacket for some art)


The World's Whales cover
(Jacket was in bad shape)


I don't know if these books ever had jackets but they are amazing on their own.





Lonely Robot

This guy was originally a prototype for an installation I wanted to do.  He was going to be remotely hooked up to a computer with an artificial intelligence software controlling his voice and his movements.  He would interact with viewers and other elements in the space.  He would be about 4 years old mentally, but stand around 10 or 12 feet tall.  His mother would come to him as a Greek goddess and his father a bead of light.  Maybe someday.





Lizzie Thomas Web Images

A little over a year ago I was asked to create some images for my friend Lizzie's website.  Some of the images were tweaked a little from the images I'm posting but you'll get the idea.  The theme was Art Deco.  I did a bunch of research into Art Deco jewelry and graphic arts before setting down to illustrate.  These were done 100% with Adobe Illustrator, which is unusual for me as I like to draw ideas out by hand first.






Bedroom change

I recently redecorated the bedroom.  I filled it with a host of lovely friends.



I added more colors to this old print to make it more vibrant and added a gold halo.


 This is branch is made from metal wires that have been wrapped in rag ribbons.



This is a geodesic dome I assembled and then added little birds inside.  The connectors and the birds glow in the dark.  I love falling asleep staring at it.  You can purchase the kit at Ikoso.  It's very affordable but takes a while to build.

Gift: The Palace

Last year for Valentine's Day I gave my true love a poem made into a palace.  Each room of the palace has a part of the poem written inside and an illuminated scene.  There are 12 tiny scenes and 1 large on in the middle.  It is very hard to get good photos of the rooms because they are so tiny and the lense of my camera is way bigger than the windows.  The palace is made almost entirely out of paper.  It is based loosely on the shape of the Taj Mahal in India.  I even watched the documentary series, "India" while making it.  We still haven't found a place to put it.









Illustrator Favorites: Fritz Eichenberg

A couple of years after I first moved to Nashville, I attended an exhibit entitled,"Witness To Our Century: An Artistic Biography of Fritz Eichenberg", put together by Vanderbilt University. Seeing this exhibit was one of those moments in my life that has given me the desire to work hard at making excellent art and always seeking to allow my work to express the complexity of emotions and meanings I feel are present in my work.  I still feel I struggle with getting that full expression communicated.  Much of my work is very light-hearted but in my head there is so much more drama and depth.  Alas, for me, my work will never be perfect, but every artist finds room for improvement for themselves.  Here are some illustrations by Fritz Eichenberg from books I have collected in the years since that exhibit.
Wuthering Heights

Tales of Edgar Allen Poe

Heroes of the Kalevela

Heroes of the Kalevela

Reynard the Fox

Gulliver's Travels

Crime and Punishment

Funny Old School Book

I have a few old school books ranging in age from 1908 - 1948.  Some of them have very funny mistakes or miscommunications in them.

As far as I know and have found, neither Kangaroos, nor tigers, NOR LIONS, nor camels, nor many of the other animals listed here actually live in jungles.  Neither the tiger nor the kangaroo even exist on the African continent.  Hmmm...

This is supposed to be a picture of people preparing to teach people who are blind.  

This particular book from 1936 is very open minded.

I don't know what to say about this one.  It's just strange and makes me laugh.

Lamp reject.


This started out as a pendant lamp for the bedroom.  I wanted to have a beehive on the ceiling.  The lamp turned out to be too heavy for that.  I decided to change it into a table lamp.  Well that didn't work either.  It was too dim.  Now it sits on a table and just glows.  The bees were also a little too larva like.  I still like it though.  Thought  I would share.