io design & illustration, inc.

Seasonal Wreath – Pen & Ink

Seasonal Wreath, starting from 12 o'clock position, clockwise: Violet (faithfulness), Dogwood (love undiminished), Dandelion (wishes come true), Lily of the Valley (happiness), Baby's Breath (festivity), Azalea (romance), Gardenia (peace, joy), Sunflower (loyalty), Oregano (creativity), Rosemary (wisdom), Tiger Lily (wealth), Goldenrod (good fortune), Oak (longevity), Ivy (wedding love), Pine (fertility), Honeysuckle (bonds of love).

I love working with pen & ink and ink wash. Something about dipping a pen in ink and setting it to paper, watching as you draw a line how subtle changes in pressure and angle manipulate the flow of ink, puts Zen in my day like nothing else. Weird since it is an irreversible process and one error can mean reworking an entire piece. Unfortunately, I don’t get to create with pen & ink very often, so when I do it is a special treat.

The Seasonal Wreath (actually I have created three similar images each with unique fauna) is a large scale illustration measuring approximately 16 inches across. It represents many hours of work, from pencil sketching and refining, to inking the lines and adding the tonal wash.

Each wreath represents the seasons as you move clockwise around the illustration – spring, summer, fall, winter. The piece shown here is focused on Eastern US flowers and plants. The selection of plants illustrated was a combination of requests from a bride-to-be, some of my personal favorite flowers and a book which lists the historic meanings associated with certain plants. The final image was reproduced as a wedding invitation with the wreath image on the front and the traditional meanings listed on the back.

Tropical Butterfly Illustrations

I love to illustrate and don’t get to do enough of it in my daily work, so sometimes I create projects for myself. Such was the case with the series of tropical butterflies I illustrated.

Each is illustrated full size using a mixed media technique I’ve perfected over the years that I thought would be especially effective in trying to capture the luminous colors in butterfly wings. It involves using both sides of a high quality velum, markers, colored pencils and inks.

The five butterflies illustrated are: Morpho anaxibia, Morpho hecuba, Ornithoptera chimaera, Papilio blumei, and Caligo placidianus.

Why those? Mostly aesthetic reasons. I loved how they looked together with their various colors and shapes, however I did try to find ones that were all of similar size.

Four of the five butterflies are drawn showing the top of the butterfly. Caligo placidianus is the exception where the underside of the butterfly is shown.

A limited edition run of prints was created and a set of greeting cards produced. The cards are blank on the inside and contain information on the butterfly pictured on the back.

30 Cards for $30

While supplies last you can order 30 assorted butterfly cards for $30.
Cards are packaged in sets of 5, containing 1 of each of the butterflies shown to the left. Each card is 5.75 x 5.75 inches square with matching envelope. (Please check with your post office for square envelope mailing rates.) Interiors are blank. For $30 you get 6 sets for a total of 30 cards. Shipping within continental US included.