Monthly Archives: October 2013

Gateway Creature Acrylic on vintage catalogue page

Oddment103-Otoroshi-LeahPalmerPreissLately I get the feeling that Illustration Friday has been making up topics just for me! I love painting creatures of all sorts. I’m actually working on a new piece that fits the topic AND the last, but until that’s done, I’m offering Otoroshi, as previously posted in my Oddments blog (which is chock-full o’ creatures, by the way):

“This week’s entry for AlphaBeasts is Otoroshi, an exceptionally hairy, tusk-bearing, gate-guarding monster. Normally he hangs out on temple gates, but this time he’s gracing a Marvel-ous wire number from Jim Brown’s Catalogue, 1939.”

 

Namazu Acrylic on paper, ~6.75" x 4"

Oddment99-Namazu-LeahPalmerPreiss

I painted this last year as part of the AlphaBeasts! series.

From my old Oddments blog:

This week’s critter for AlphaBeasts! is Namazu, a giant catfish monster who causes earthquakes & tsunamis whenever he manages to wrestle free from his usual captive state. I thought it was interesting that catfish do tend to abandon their normal bottom-feeding habits when they feel tremors; their unusual activity at such times probably led to this legend.

Acrylic on illustration scanned from Cornell’s Primary Geography, 1873. (And yes, I know catfish don’t live in the ocean. Namazu is a river-beast. But I figured he might wander seaward when he’s in mid-mischief.)

Prints are available in my Etsy shop!

Dunny Ultramarine Acrylic, collage, polymer clay & found objects on vinyl toy (front & back)

DunnyUltramarine-LeahPalmerPreissThis little guy is a commissioned 3-inch Dunny (actually more like 2.75 inches in real measurement). I was lucky enough to have a free brief, so I made several different sketches & the client chose this concept. The text on his back is from an old dictionary, & includes the chemical formula for synthetic ultramarine. The little trident is made of polymer clay and a “stick” jewelry finding I picked up at the flea market. I rolled gold leaf onto the green polymer clay before cutting the fork, & painted the back of the brass handle with diluted green paint so that the metal resisted it a bit. I thought it was quite interesting how similar the two textures turned out in the end. That’s why I love Nature’s chaos!