Orchid

Very recently, I had a friend reach out to me requesting that I paint an orchid for her, in the same format of my envelopes, (with a blank place or placard for a name) so that she could have the image somehow put onto the urn that will be used for her mother's ashes.  I was sorry to hear about her mother's passing, but intrigued with the request to 1)- do something for an urn, and 2)- paint an orchid of some kind.
Ashamedly, I'll admit, that I have never given much attention to orchids, having never really been around them much.  Yet, as I reviewed the multiplicity of types of orchids, it was impressive to see just how delicate, yet how beautiful of a flower an orchid can be.  This is the first time trying to paint such a thing...normally I stick with the critters or animals that are either climbing upon a flower, or that will eat one as lunch.  Hopefully, it does justice for the intent of the final image.

This was done in gouache and pen and ink, with a background of acrylic.

L Train

Recently, a gentleman I know from work, was browsing through some of my doodles and asked if I would do something for him.  Apparently, his brother is getting married this week, and has an infatuation with the mass transit system in Chicago, particularly, the L Train.  He asked if I would do something on an envelope so that he can put his gift inside of it for his brother.  I don't normally get many requests, and frankly, shy away from them somewhat.  However, I was intrigued with the chance to do something a little more industrial, a little more linear, than what I normally play with.  Here is how it came out.  I put in some foliage to try to balance the mechanized with nature.  This is done in pen and ink, watercolor and some prismacolor to accentuate some of the colors.

I hope he likes it....