Updated

It's warm and springy here in Boston, and I'm getting ready for the Spring Alumni Sale at RISD. (May First! Benefit Street! Be there!)

The word I hear most at sales is "cute," and it's meant as a compliment. I'm never going to be the edgiest illustrator in my graduating class, and I'm coming to terms with this. For the sale, I've made some new paintings, intent on being as adorable as possible.

Kitten sketches!
Spring:


Summer:


Fall:


And winter:


...and winter again:

I wound up redrawing this one after I printed the first sketch and traced it onto watercolor paper. I scraped the whole composition and went back to thumbnails. The kitteny actions stayed the same, but they got hot chocolate.

I'm really happy with the final paintings. (No in-progress photos here. As usual, these pieces had an extended and awkward adolescence.) I used regular watercolors as usual, and did the linework with Pelikan Opaque Watercolors. The set I have has a great range of colors, although I do wish that the yellows were more opaque. Anyhow, kittens!

Kittens frolicking among the flowers:


Kittens enjoying lemonade (and cool shades, which might be my favorite thing in this whole series):


Kittens frolicking among the autumn leaves:


And (you knew it was coming) kittens in mittens!


These are all up on my site, although right now they have pretty boring (and pun-free) titles. Any ideas?