Koi Pond

I love koi fish! It was just a matter of time before they ended up appearing on a card. My boxes of photographs have been filled with snap shots of koi fish from garden ponds for the last several years. Drawing koi also gave me the fun excuse to work with a very exciting shade of orange. If you like this card it is available on my Etsy page at http://www.etsy.com/shop/danieljosephdurkin .

Although this is an illustration of koi, I have to admit that lobsters and seaside port towns have been on my mind following my recent trip to Maine! Please stay tuned for new sketches and artwork!

(Titles for this posting that you will be GLAD that I did not use; "Koi to the World", "Let's Hear it for the Koi", "Babes in Koi-land", "Koi-es Don't Cry", "Koi Vey!")

2011- Year of the Rabbit

The Lunar New Year is almost upon us! For the last several years it has become a favorite holiday of mine. My birthday is on Valentine's Day and my boyfriend and I have thrown parties at our apartment in the past. We figured out that if we called it a Valentine's Day Party single people would feel excluded. I also felt that throwing yourself a birthday party is self-indulgent... we finally decided it would be easier and more fun to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Last year was the year of Tiger. Any thoughts? I thought it was an okay year... But now we are heading into the Year of the Rabbit. According to the dependable people at a web site called theholidayspot.com we can look forward to a relaxed year in which, "Good taste and refinement will shine on everything and people will acknowledge that persuasion is better than force." Sounds good to me!

This illustration is something I've been itching to do since the year of the Horse! I have a fasination with paper lanterns and I've wanted to try to create the warm, beautiful glow that you get from them when they are lit. Thanks to my buddy Jen who approved the rabbit illustration in advance to make sure he was cute enough... You can't quite tell but this little rabbit is thinking, "This is going to be my year!"

As always this card is available on my Etsy page. Best wishes to my friends!

Holiday Card for 2010!

Hello Friends!

I am pleased to post my holiday cards for 2010! After I posted the Thanksgiving card on Etsy.com I received the greatest response possible; People bought them! I'd like to shout out to my friends Opera-John and Shawn and thank them for buying. Also, Jordan on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Rose in Florida, Jen in Maine, Melissa in Texas, and the Parsons Family in South Carolina! The boost to my confidence was incredible!

Here you see images of the card and two images of the envelope. My initial idea was to create a three image joke. The front of the envelope serves as our "establishing shot" and shows Grand Central Terminal, here in midtown New York. The person receiving the Holiday Card will (hopefully) flip it over and will see an image of an invitation, inviting someone to a Holiday Party that evening hosted by Orion. Upon opening the card the viewer will find that the Holiday Party is being thrown on the underside of the ceiling of Grand Central Station, with all of the Zodiac signs invited. (Taurus the Bull has a present, Pegasus has three gifts, and Cancer the Crab is bringing gifts and wine!)

The illustrations were created from scratch board and they are printed on a natural toned piece of recycled paper. I used a gold marker to try to recreate the gold leaf and stars in the Grand Central Ceiling. It is disappointing but the gold is impossible to scan into the computer. (Please pretend that each figure shimmers a bit!)

If I don't get a chance to post a message before the Holidays, I would like to wish everyone my very best for the last few weeks of 2010 and joy and peace for all of 2011!

Things I am thankful for

I have attached an image of a Thanksgiving card I am preparing to send out to friends and family. Everyone who reads my blog (all five of you) will be receiving a card from me. If anyone else is reading this and would like to receive a card please just send me a comment with your name and home address!

This is an image I have wanted to create into a card for several years. Over the years I have filled several sketch books with doodles in which I planned out this card. The sketches have never worked to my satisfaction and I always question myself and ask, "Does anyone actually send out Thanksgiving cards?" Each year Thanksgiving has passed me by making all of this moot. Happily, this year I managed to find one day to get all of the drawing done. Now I just need a few evenings to paint the white details.

The Thanksgiving Parade in New York was one of those things that I LONGED to attend when I lived in Chicago. Now as a New Yorker I just try to keep it in mind and avoid Times Square and Broadway on Thanksgiving. Often it is very cold and the street is always packed like a sardine can. One has to admire the Radio City Rockettes. Rain or shine they show up every year wrapped in short little fur coats and hats, but only wearing nylons and tap shoes. I'd have thought they'd have learned from the previous years and said, "Hey ladies, how about we wear pants this year?"

The card above is a scratch board illustration of the Dakota on Central Park West and 72nd in New York. This is the famous building where John Lennon and Yoko lived and where Mia Farrow as Rosemary cried out, "His eyes! What have you done to his eyes!?"

The large balloons in front of the building are stand-ins for the cartoon characters who float down the parade each year. I expected to run into legal trouble from The Networks if I put in Sponge Bob or Kermit so here is Nicky the Simple Squirrel, Georgie the Over-Indulgent Turkey, and Wilhelm the Aggressive Penguin. (All the names come from a non-fiction book I'm reading on the lead up to World War I.)

Later this week I will be posting some of these cards onto my Etsy site. Please check them out there along with some of my other work. I am thankful and proud to say that I have sold two items off of Etsy. The two images of the vegetables below were sold and will soon be hanging in someone else's kitchen.

Making me want to cry...

This is a second still life of red onions and garlic. The artichokes told me they were lonely and suggested that I get them a friend. For the last three days these onions have been sitting in my bedroom. It is an odd thing to come home from work and smell onions and garlic as you sit on your bed and take off your shoes.

I'm pleased with the onions but less pleased with all of the random garlic bulb paper to the right of the illustration. Perhaps I will warm to it as I stare at this picture day after day. It is now listed on Etsy.com and available, like the artichokes, for purchase.

Now that I am finished with this illustrations these onions are no longer under my protection and free to become dinner. Perhaps onion soup tomorrow evening!

Twas a Lovely Dinner

Recently my boyfriend, David, and I had my sister, Kathleen, over for dinner. We were inspired to make artichokes from a cooking show that David loves. I was inspired to paint the artichokes, based on their interesting shape and color variation. Thinking myself to be terribly clever I looked at Etsy and found a HUGE number of people who like to paint (and sell) pictures of pears, apples, and artichokes. (Perhaps the Holy Trinity of fruit for still life paintings...)

At some point soon I shall put these three artichokes up on Etsy and perhaps in cyberspace they will meet up with other artichokes and discuss what it was like sitting for a portrait. (Exciting? Dull?)

Tomorrow I am back at work at my sales job but in less than two weeks, I will be taking a week off and flying to Paris (with the aforementioned boyfriend and sister). These next few days will be a flurry of tying loose ends up at work, Parisian research, packing, and stress! Please wish us "Bon Chance"!

Stinky!

This is Jen's baby Wyatt! (As this is his modeling debut, we decided not to do the runway shoot with wind machine as planned. Next time, kiddo.)

I am thrilled that Wyatt is wearing the very fashionable skunk onesie, lovingly drawn by his Wanna-Be-Uncle Dan, and painstakingly silk screened by his Momma. We had a lot of fun, although it was quite a chore to get the registration correct for the two colors that make up this pesky little skunk. With luck these will be available for sale on Jen's Etsy site soon.

As a co-creator of these onesies I cannot over emphasize how important this garment is to your baby's peace of mind. When Parent Number One says, "Ohhh! Somebody stinks!" baby just thinks, "Probably just the skunk... Silly Mommy." No embarassing situations. No hurt feelings!

Spring is Around the Corner

For the last few days New York has been hit by terrible rain storms. I even heard on NPR that in New York City during the worst of the weather, there were the second highest number of phone calls placed to 911 in the history of the emergency hot line. (The only time more people called was during the black out a few years back!)

I am hoping that March Showers will bring April Flowers. (A little earlier than usual, but I am optimistic!) Tons and tons of water has fallen over the past forty-eight hours so I believe there should be tons and tons of flowers. Even today, I am pleased to report that on a brief trip to the bank, I swear I could smell Spring, getting closer and closer. In honor of the impending pleasant weather I have set up this blog and a new Etsy page. It is my goal to place a series of illustrations I have completed on their web site for everyone to see (and buy?). I also have made a firm decision that this year I will become a member of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It is the most beautiful spot in all five boroughs when the cherry blossoms begin to bloom. I have always felt inspired to sit and draw at the Botanic Gardens and I am eager and willing to take recommendations from any one else on great locations to sit and watch Spring arrive. (Hopefully someplace I can get to on my MetroCard. Or Bolt Bus.)

Thanks for reading my new blog!