scenes from the weekend. and a work-in-progress. 500th post celebration!

dear-hearts, hello again!
i am back to relay some of the wonderful goings on of our weekend escape to portland. sigh. our visits to portland are always such happy times. this weekend, we celebrated an upcoming wedding at a fun party. our hosts had amazing taste in wine, food and art: immediately upon walking into their condo, i spied a whole series of prints by one of my favorite creative souls: Friedensreich Hundertwasser! we had a positively delightful time reconnecting with old friends at the party and meeting new ones as well.



bk & i stayed with our gracious friends zephyr, Apollo & zoe. we stayed...er... lived there when we first moved back to the northwest from denver, and bk & had a big laugh when we realized that we've slept in the guest room there more than anywhere else (besides home) over the last seven years. so sweet they are to put up with us.

i met the lovely & amazing mrs. french of bliss! what a sweet soul. i can't wait until we move back to portland and can have her over for potlucks and the such. {i have ridiculous allergic reactions to Apollo--he's a cat; hence, my eyes look puffy beyond belief.}

now i'm back to work on my big piece... here's a sneak peek. she should be finished by week's end.

i love thursday.

another peak at what i've been working on lately. it's been one of those weeks where i could live in the studio! i love that. i created this piece using rubber-cut blocks that i designed and cut myself. my plan is to offer these in the shop starting next week. although the blocks themselves remain the same, i'm randomizing their placement and colors.

can't wait for the big launch.

xoxo
kel

right on. right on.

it's all good in the 'hood.

back on my bike. big hills last night.
yoga! meditation. good things, these are.
work. work. work.
ideas brewing.
signed up for two classes this fall. apparel design and drawing. i love school.
that's all for now.
peace.
love.

p.s. did i mention we are vegan now? it's an experiment for the month. i'm also taking a break from the sauce-booze-hootch. more on that later. xo

just being me.

hello there, dear-hearts! happy wednesday to you. i have a huge day with my job-job, so this post will be quick and to the point. for awhile now, i've been wanting to create some graphic pieces for cards and a tote bag. here is a prelimary design. step one, check. next step, figuring out the printing.

we'll talk more soon.
loves.

happy thursday!

Spring is in the air!! Good things are happening all around us. The Dalai Lama is coming to town next week, and I hope our paths cross.

This was a special request for my mister. We have been singing a lot of Fresh Prince songs lately. Here's the video that started this little obsession. Could this get any more AWESOME?

A little beluga explores.

a lighter note.

dears,
do you know what you are wearing to the opening of "Sex & the City: THE MOVIE?" me either, but this sounds like a great polyvore assignment. who's with me?

the backstory for those of you not inside my brain:

and if that's not enough, click on over to Design for Mankind for another genius installment of Double Take, in which Kylie re-creates Carrie's bachelorette boudoir for the masses. Check it. This is almost too much fabulousness for one day!!

back to the assignment: if you are in, let me know via email: kellyloveswhales {at} gmail {dot} com with a link to your idea and we'll have a premier fashion preview here on the blog!
xo

I LOVE making stuff.

Although this might seem a bit random, I really do like making new banners and mastheads and buttons for the web. I just made this new banner for my shoppe, and I am so happy with it!

illustration friday (take one): blanket.

This week's illustration friday topic is "blanket." I have gobs of ideas on this topic, so I'll be putting a couple of these posts out this week before I choose which one to actually submit to the site.

Presenting..... Blanket.

Layered by a blanket of barnacles, lady whale dreams under a blanket of stars.

Unihorn. Just for fun.

Dears, Here is another piece that is just for fun. He'll gallop his way onto the walls, I'm sure.
Unihorn is acrylic and marker on canvas.

Not for the portfolio. Just for me.

I had a little realization the other day: aside from the pink powder room, the first floor of our house isn't very *fun*. I mean, I LOVE the architechture, the furniture, the crystals and (of course) the buddha, but it feels a little stuffy to me. Especially when you compare it to upstairs, where we have technicolor walls, lucite mixed with mango-wood, and a crazy fun mix of artwork ranging from Alex Grey to Chris Weber to some of my more whimsical pieces. So, I decided to start making some fun pieces that are just for us to go in the sitting room downstairs. Here is a little portrait of a pygmy right whale. He's pen & ink on acrylic on cardboard.

illustration friday: tales & legends.

Mr. Unicorn, the subject of many tales & legends, sits for his portrait. Pen & ink on layers of acrylic paint upon cardboard.

I like the idea of stately animal portraiture.

Have I mentioned how much I love illustration friday? Well, it's true!

Illustration Friday: Stitch

Stitch. I imagine this little bird is helping Cinderella sew some wonderful dress for her fancy night out with prince charming.

Illustration Friday rocks.

narwhals.

happy new year, dear-hearts!

i have been locked up in the studio: cleaning, painting, sketching, working, staring into space, meditating, yoga-ing, and the such. in other words, true loveliness. two little sketches of female and baby narwhals found their way onto the paper and i just had to share them with you. These two will be in the the shoppe oh-so-soon!

The baby:


The adult female:

Staying open to surprises.

Hello hello,

Have you ever made a huge mistake, only to have the mistake lead to an even more wonderful surprise than you expected in the first place?

I imagine you have, and in many different circumstances, too. Well, I made a huge "mistake" on a painting this week, or series of "mistakes" I should say: first, I used a water-soluble ink instead of my indelible India ink; second, I forgot to lay down a layer of medium on top of the ink before adding another layer of watercolor paint. Whoops. What resulted was a bit of messy, streaky ink mixed with my pigments. Instead of tossing the whole piece into my file of scrap paper, I decided to keep working with it. And am I ever glad that I did! After letting the ink-paint smear dry out, I went back to the piece. Now, I like it more than I did before I messed it up! I love life's ways of reminding us of the power and inspiration that open minds and hearts can offer.
Here is the piece!



Now, I love this mistake so much I don't even want to part with it.

Sketches.

Hello, dears. I am starting to feel a little bit better. Can you tell? I'm actually back to work and blogging twice in one day! Hoorah for vitamins and juice. I thought it would be fun to share some sketches with you today. These a pair of whales that I happen to think are pretty rad.

These ladies might swim their way into a painting sometime soon. I think I would like that very much!

In other news.

Here is another little peek at what has been happening in the studio. I know, it is completely different from the other pieces that have been pouring out lately, but I have just been flooded with ideas and I don't want to discriminate right now. The ideas have been keeping me up at night. Normally, when I have lawyer-related thoughts keeping me up at night, I have a little yogic ritual to calm my mind. But I am really relishing in the art-inspiration thoughts, so I just let myself have them and watch the thoughts fly by.

Blue Whale

I write this from the throes of crazy-mad work work. Though I know I will emerge (victorious) in about two weeks, my morning yoga and watercolors are the keys to some sanity here at casa de kelly loves whales. Hope everyone else is having a glorious week.

Brollies

Umbrellas. Who came up with such a wonderful idear?

And umbrella stands! How happy they make me-- just sitting there waiting to protect the Doug fir floors from an umbrella-induced deluge!

Pure genius.




This is a sketch of umbrellas that will make their way into a larger oil piece sometime soon.

For Bekah

My friend Bekah is having a baby. She and I used to drink wine and paint while sitting on her living room floor. She loves watercolors and paisley prints. This little sketch is for her.

Chicky ducky

This is chicky ducky. I am working on adding a bit o' whimsy to my work, since it traditionally has been quite serious and even heavy at times.