Erika Thorpe

chameleon beginnings

Erika — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:13:30 +0000

just an incomplete beginning, more on this later….

of Dry Spells and Science Illustrations

Erika — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:04:48 +0000

I haven’t painted in months. I’ve had paintings living in my head but no ambition to let them escape on to the canvas. I don’t know what is wrong with me. Perhaps it is all the major changes that I’ve been involved in the last year career-wise that have left me creatively frozen. My moods have been down, my heart torn between challenges, and the art is just stuck inside behind a clogged creative artery.

In the meantime I’ve been trying to sketch as much as time allows between design jobs and training for a new career. Nothing terribly exciting or imaginative has come from any of it, but sometimes just the act of drawing can loosen the mental knots. I have always been very fond of classic Science illustration, having found an amazing natural history book in my grandmother’s house as a child with wonderful illustrations. I found the delicate line detail of the drawings so beautiful. I remember trying to copy them. My renderings were clumsy approximations at best, but I found quiet comfort in the process. So when my creativity is dragging this is the type of work I find myself drawn to.

I’ve been studying photographs of insects, reptiles and sea life, slowly transforming what I see into line drawings. There is a moment of zen I reach in the process as I discover the beauty of each creature that I try to explain through each intricate articulation and organization of lines. Lines are the ultimate indicators of personal artistic style, and like a signature or a thumbprint, they define each of my drawings (no matter how mundane the subject matter) as uniquely mine…hence the entire process becomes an exercise in self reflection.

iguana

Erika — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:08:32 +0000

In my next life I’d like to be a fat Iguana lounging in the sun eating guavas.

bee

Erika — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:09:07 +0000

I like bees

Fly Sketch

Erika — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 14:54:58 +0000

just a little sketch on a piece of scrap paper. It started out as just a doodle, but before I realized it, it had become a very involved rendering of our friend the housefly. I was happy with the outcome, less happy with the fact I had used a torn scrap of paper… but nonetheless I was able to pull a few good prints from it, as well as use it in a skateboard design.

below a print from the drawing on a pillow cover

The Spelling Bees

Erika — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 23:45:34 +0000

This is an old one I dug up from the archives. I used it collaged with a photograph in one of my lithography projects, so hopefully I’ll be able to find those prints somewhere.

Musca Domestica

Erika — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:15:24 +0000

And continuing to follow my latest trend of insect inspired designs, here is a mock-up of a T-shirt design featuring our friend the housefly derived from one of my pencil sketches. These T-shirts will eventually be on sale at ukastyle.com

Pink Katydid

Erika — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:05:02 +0000

These must be among the coolest and rarest insects out there. You can take a look at what a real one looks like here: http://bugguide.net/node/view/32354

Lately I’ve been inspired by the color pink, not your typical bubblegum pink, but that really funky fuschia and hot pink that conjures images of 60s mod fashion. My friend Daniela was the first one to suggest using the color when I was redecorating my living room, so I blame her for planting the seed. It’s a really cool color, and not one I tend to work with at all in my paintings. I tend towards the oranges and red-oranges on that side of the color spectrum. So as I was planning out my new living space color scheme I started looking for subject matter to paint that was this curious shade of pink. Lo and behold the pink katydid. Such a cool insect, (and I do love insects), and such a fantastic shade of pink.

Pink Katy 16″x20″ aqua oil

Manduca Sexta

Erika — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:51:23 +0000

16″x20″ acrylic painting on collaged surface. The collaged layer is comprised of random slices of subway maps, mostly Tokyo, although I believe there are some Paris maps in there as well. The insect silouhette is of the manduca sexta moth also known as the tobacco hornworm. It’s no secret I have a fascination for insects, they are so intricate, and beautiful like living jewelry.

Free Flying

Erika — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 19:31:31 +0000

If the energy and spirit of flight could be captured in paint I doubt this painting gives it justice but I had to try. “Free Flying” aqua-oil 16×20″