Afflatus Acrylic painting on text collage on canvas, 6"x6"

Afflatus: Acrylic painting by Leah Palmer Preiss depicting an angelic muse breathing inspiration to Shakespeare

I didn’t know this word until Anu suggested it for A.Word.A.Day, but once I looked it up I knew it would be great fun to illustrate! There’s something delightfully Shakespearean about the definition of “afflatus” in the old dictionary I used for the background text– any word that could evoke both “an exaltation of soul” & “belching” would appeal to the bard, don’t you think? Still, I hope his expression conveys that it’s divine inspiration he’s receiving here & not digestive vapors, however angelic. It was a technical challenge even to get a likeness since his face is barely the size of my fingernail!

Here’s a work-in-progress shot showing the scale of the painting. (If you’d like to see more of this sort of thing please follow me on Instagram.)

Afflatus-In-Progress

Original & prints available in my Etsy shop, Curious Art Lab!

Succulent words this week! Acrylic painting on text collage on canvas, 6"x6"

Succulent: Acrylic painting by Leah Palmer Preiss of a green monster resembling an aloe plant in a succulent gardenNothing is more delicious than a good, juicy word, & A.Word.A.Day provides one every morning. I’m honored to be illustrating for Anu Garg’s succulent site again this week, & especially delighted to be given this word this year. In June we visited The Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, & saw the most astonishing collection of succulents there in the Desert Garden. My East-Coast eyes couldn’t get enough of their curious shapes & colors. There were a number of lizards enjoying the landscape as well, & I would not have been very surprised if an aloe-esque creature like this “S”-shaped fellow had appeared in one of the beds. Even an alien or a dinosaur would have seemed right at home!

(By the way, the Desert Garden is just one of many, & we were so entranced by all of them that we barely had time to pop into the Library at the end of the day before it closed– which was a pity, because their collection of rare books & manuscripts is as spectacular as the collection of plants.)

Original sold but prints still available in my Etsy shop, Curious Art Lab.

Advice from a Bunnipillar Acrylic on text collage on canvas, 12"x9"

Advice-750-Leah-Palmer-Preiss

I thought I’d posted this painting when I finished it last summer, but it appears I never did! I’m glad Illustration Friday’s topic this week was “smoke” because it made me think of this hookah “smoking” white rabbit/caterpillar chimera. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of my all-time favorite books, so much so that “Curiouser & curiouser!” is the motto I’ve painted on my studio door.

Bunnipillar-Fur-Detail-Leah-Palmer-PreissBunnipillar-Watch-Detail-Leah-Palmer-Preiss

Bunnipillar-Hookah-Detail-Leah-Palmer-PreissEnchanted Spot

p.s. Above are a few in-process shots from my Instagram account. The last photo shows the cover of Enchanted, published by Out of Step Books, which includes this painting as part of a large collection of folk, fairy tale & Wonderland illustrations (& tattoo art!) 

Communication Arts Invasion!! Acrylic on collaged paper on canvas, 12"x16"

Invasive, Acrylic painting by Leah Palmer Preiss of creepy-cute monsters in a fantasy landscape setting. Pop surrealism art style.

Yesterday I found out that these crazy creatures will soon be invading the Communication Arts 2016 Illustration Annual! To say this came as a happy surprise is putting it mildly– I think I alarmed my normally imperturbable husband by emitting something combining a shriek, a whoop, & hysterical laughter.

The news came at the perfect time, too, because I had just that moment been pondering my next painting & wondering if I ought to tame my ideas down a little. But I had so much fun working on Invasive, mostly because I had given myself complete permission to paint whatever came into my head. It seems odd really, how rarely I let this happen, when there is nothing stopping me but my own inhibitions. Now I feel emboldened to take another walk on the wild side!

The annual will be published in the May/June issue of CA, & as for the painting in my head, I’m hoping it will make its appearance before then!

Invasive, a painting by Leah Palmer Preiss, in Communication Arts Illustration Annual Addendum: Here it is in CA, woohoo!

Infinite Monkey Acrylic painting on text collage on canvas, 6"x6"

Infinite Monkey, acrylic painting by Leah Palmer Preiss of Shakespearean monkey with typewriter

Happy Year of the Monkey! In honor of the 2016 Chinese New Year, Shakespeare, the infinite monkey theorem, & antique typewriters, here’s the Infinite Monkey himself, complete with a background text from Henry IV Part 2: “Ah, you sweet little rogue, you. Alas, poor ape, how thou sweatest!” (Yes, I know the theorem usually refers to Hamlet, but who could resist that line?)

I happen to have been born in a year of the monkey (never mind which), & even though I don’t put much stock in horoscopes, I can’t help but find it delightful that nearly every description of the monkey personality includes the word “curious!”

This particular monkey is available in my Etsy shop, & also makes a fitting companion to last year’s Counting Sheep!

By the way, the typewriter in this painting was modeled on one that came with our house (which was built in 1927.) One of the many reasons I knew it was the right house for us!

 

Rudicorn Acrylic miniature painting on text collage on wood, 3" x 2"

Rudicorn, acrylic miniature painting of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer as unicorn by Leah Palmer Preiss

This little oddment began as a sketch for Illustration Friday’s “Unicorn” prompt, turned into an ornament given as a gift, & now it’s a greeting for you all: wishing you a holiday season full of rare & unexpected delights!

Xenophile Acrylic on collaged text & map on canvas, 6"x6"

Xenophile-Leah-Palmer-Preiss

Today’s painting for A.Word.A.Day illustrates a pair of elephants forming a mutual admiration society for their respective homes & customs. Just painting this made me want to travel to Africa & India, so I guess that makes me a xenophile too!