a house under the sea

The beginning stages of 'a house under the sea'

 This is the second mixed media drawing for the Dreamy Dreamhouse series I am creating for the art & light gallery's April exhibition. 

 'A house under the sea, for you and me' 

20" x 26" graphite, colored pencil, text stamps and acrylic ink on paper.

Concept for the series:  My family's house in Ohio has been sold and I am preparing to leave the southern town I’ve called home for eight years. Inspired by impending relocation and thoughts of migration, this series invites you along my search for a place to belong.  The mixed media drawings are daydreams of new beginnings in graphite, colored pencil and acrylic ink.  

My Grandmother’s house had a patterned wallpaper in the kitchen, peach colored shells with pink and outlined in green, stacked one on top of the other.  In my bedroom, a soft pink paper with clusters of white polka dots would spend many years covered entirely in posters and pictures. The kitchen from my family’s house in Ohio had blue and white checked walls that matched the couch and a living room with one wall covered in large maroon, green and blue flowers.  These papers have long since been removed, the walls painted in solid colors, but the lingering image of the colors and repetition remain.  The patterns allude to the familiarity and comfort of past places.  

Close-up of the background pattern, shaded using a variety
of graphite pencils (3B, HB, 2H, 7H) & dots in acrylic ink.

This scalloped pattern is one of my favorites to use 
and appears in my drawings & prints quite often. 
Angelfish have been the subject matter of my 
recent collages and are rendered here in graphite.

Aqua, dark metallic blue, neon pink and
pastel pink inks were used in the background.