Happy Birth Day Xavier!

My cousin, Lynn, gave birth to her second son via c-section this afternoon.  A few weeks ago, she asked me to be his godmother.  Being that he was going to be my first godson, I wanted to paint him up something extra special for his room.  Lynn loves turtles, and with all intentions of nick-naming him, X-man, she requested some sort of super hero turtle.  This is the painting I made for her first son, Gennaro, when he was born. 

This was done on an 9x12 canvas with acrylic paint.  When it was all done and dry, I wrapped it up in some clear plastic wrap and completed the gift with some curled ribbon.  I love painting like this, but don't get to do it very often.  Hopefully this little guy likes it!

Merry Christmas!

...and when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse!

Hope you all are having a great Christmas!  Mine's been pretty sweet, got a WWE Daniel Bryan 'Yes' t-shirt, some Ninja Turtle slippers, and the ultimate gift of an automatic car starter!  I also scored a brandy new sketch book and a Shel Silverstein book from our holiday grab bag at work!  And with all the holiday baking I've been doing, I've only managed to set off the smoke alarm once!  

Now I'm off to spend time with my family.  Have a great rest of the day everyone! 

Snow Snow Snow

Normally I hate the snow, but since it so conveniently decided to show on a Saturday when I didn't have a single thing planned, I'm enjoying it!  There's nothing better than having an excuse to stay inside and do completely nothing while drinking hot chocolate .  Here are my snow day doodles.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

At the beginning of November, I made an early New Year's resolution to not be so grumpy around the holidays.  For those of you who remember last year's post, and this post from the year before, you know what a grump I can be, so hopefully you will be seeing happier holiday posts from now on!  

My commute to work.

This is a sketch about how I feel during my hour commute to work.  Did I mention I only work 20 miles from my house?  I think that is what makes it the most frustrating.  It shouldn't take me an hour to drive 20 miles...gah!

Molly and her side kick Mr. Spaghetti

Meet Molly.  Ever since Molly was very little, she has always wanted to be a WWE wrestler.  There aren't any other girls in her school who like wrestling, so when she's at home, she secretly dresses up as her own made up character, 'Gabriella Hart' (niece of Bret 'the hitman' Hart), and pretends she is the greatest female wrestler of all time!  She even has a side kick...Mr. Spaghetti!  (fyi: this is based on a true story.  I have always secretly wanted to be a wwe wrestler!)

I would love to say that I will be turning this into a vector illustraton real soon, but truth is, I probably never will... 

Happy Birthday Doodle!

Here is a little birthday doodle I made for my little cousin, Lily.  She turned 11 two weeks ago, and I know I'm behind on posting this, but I wanted to make sure she received it in the mail before posting!  The past few years I have been making little illustrations for her for her birthday instead of just sending her a plain ol' birthday card.  She is quite the little artist herself, so I know she appreciates it!  Here is the drawing I made for her last year.  Since I have been really into doodle art the past few months, I decided to make her a birthday doodle!  Happy Birthday Lily!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  One of my favorite holidays!  Hope everyone is enjoying the day and eating lots of candy!

Face Doodle

Here's a little face doodle to finish up the weekend!  

Free shipping on my Society 6 store!

Now until October 13th you will receive free shipping on my society 6 store with this link (some exclusions may apply)!

Hoping to add more designs to my store soon so stay tuned!

Halloween is in the air!

I'm usually not one to decorate for any holiday other than Christmas, however this fall/halloween I have been feeling a little festive!  After years of trying to perfect the art of carving pumpkins, and failing miserably each time, last year was the first year I gave up carving, and turned to painting pumpkins!  Do you remember this post, where I painted my very first pumpkin in the dark due to hurricane Sandy?  Well, I had so much fun painting it that this year I decided to paint two of them!  I prefer smaller pumpkins, for me they are just easier to handle, so I picked up two of 'em at ShopRite last week while I was food shopping.  I gathered all my supplies, including some yummy homemade cucumber water in my new mason jar (recipe here), and went to work!  (don't mind my pink striped pajama pants and polk-a-dotted slipper socks. I like to be comfy as I work, haha).

I took my time, and completed these two pumpkins in a just few days.  They were so much fun to paint, I wish I bought more!  Here are the end results...

Now the hard part is deciding where to put them.  In my living room in front of my fire place?  Or outside on my front steps?  Decisions decisions decisions...

Polk-a-dot Craze!

Pink Polk-a-dot Craze and Blue Polk-a-dot Craze are now available for purchase in my Society 6 store!

My Society 6 Store!

Now until September 22nd you can receive free shipping on any order when you click the below link!

  

http://society6.com/GinaCoviello?promo=2e2f12

Polka-dot crazy!

Polka dots are so simple, yet give a lot of character in the sense of design!  These would be perfect framed in a baby's nursery or a child's playroom.  These will soon be available for purchase in my society 6 store so stay tuned!

Happy Labor Day!

Today is Labor Day, and unfortunately it's raining and thundering outside.  In fact, this is how it's been all weekend.  Since we didn't really have any set plans, I decided to make some art!

Elvis Duran's Hello Lady! Contest

Being an avid listener of the Elvis Duran show for the past few years, when they announced they were having their annual Hello Lady t-shirt design contest for breast cancer awareness month in October, I jumped on it!  The rules of the contest were that the words "Hello Lady" had to be included in the design.  When designing this, I wanted to try to capture the over all humor of the show.  They will be announcing the winners sometime this week, so cross your fingers!

Date Night Doodle

This should be an interesting night...

             

Illustration Friday: Robot

I haven't done one of these in a while!  It was pretty spur of the moment because I couldn't think of anything else to draw!

Doodle Art

I've been really into doodle art recently so I thought I would give it a try!  I always doodle when I'm not really sure what to draw or when I'm watching tv and only half-paying attention to what I'm drawing, but this time I decided to try and make a piece out of it.  I definitely love this type of drawing and plan on experimenting more with doodle art in the future!

Happy Birthday Allie

My best friend celebrated her daughter's first birthday this past weekend with a Hawaiian inspired birthday party!  I know turning one is a huge deal, so I wanted to make her something special for the occasion.  Since I got so many compliments last summer when I made my cousin, Gennaro, these hand painted sand pails with toys inside, I decided to make her a girl version of it.  To match the theme of her party, I made sure to include a palm tree, a beach scene, and a hula girl.  After I was done, I wrapped it all up in clear wrap with some black ribbon (black ribbon was the only color I had on hand, but I kinda like the look of it), and attached the card.  Happy birthday Allie!

 

Shel Silverstein

I recently came across one of my old Shel Silverstein books from my childhood, 'Where the Sidewalk Ends'.  He has always been one of my favorite artists, so in honor of him, I did my own Shel Silverstein inspired illustration!  The top quote is a quote I found while browsing on Pinterest.  The background texture is that of my drawing paper.  I had full intentions on getting rid of the background, but after I scanned it into my computer I really kind of liked it!  

Free Shipping on my Society 6 store!

Free shipping from now until 6/16 on my Society 6 Store!  Below is the promo code!

http://society6.com/GinaCoviello?promo=b5c0b2

New Characters!

I've been experimenting with different styles over the past few weeks, and came up with something I really liked!  I've been trying to incorporate my love of fashion into my illustrations so here are some characters I drew!  For some reason the Spice Girls popped into my head after I was all done with them!  I even gave them names!  These are done in color pencil and pen.

 Ombre Girl

Sporty Girl

Pigtail Girl

Bun Girl

Short Haired Girl

Mr. and Mrs. Doodie

I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Doodie!

The Adventures of Mr. Doodie!

If you're in trouble

and need a hand

Mr. Doodie is

your man!

Mr. Doodie!

Anyone who truly know me knows that there is one word that I have a love/hate relationship with.  What is that word you ask?  It's plain and simple.  Doodie.  Probably not what you were expecting.  I hate when I hear people say it, but when I do hear it I can't stop laughing!  I dont even like it when it's used out of context, for example "it's my duty to be a good citizen".  I am even dreading the day I get a notice about jury duty in the mail.  I dont know if I'm more concerned about having to spend the day at a court house, or actually having to say that d-word in front of my boss.  I really don't think I could do that without laughing like a 10 year old!  Regardless, I would like to introduce to you my newest character...Mr. Doodie!

Green Monster

I was bored tonight so I drew a monster.

Patterns in Illustrator!

Ok, so I finally grasped the whole making patterns thing in Illustrator!  It might come as a surprise that an illustration major, who has had a good 10 years working in Illustrator, could not for the life of her figure out how to create seamless vector patterns!  I have always struggled with this, watching countless tutorials, and seeking help from friends.  But one day last week while I was on Pinterest, it crossed my mind to do a search for a tutorial.  I came across this awesome tutorial and in no time I was creating patterns!  Naturally I spent the rest of that night, and the majority of the week playing around and creating patterns!  Here are a few of the ones I made!

I guess you can say I went a little pattern happy.  I was just so excited that I finally figured this out, that I couldn't stop making them!  There is also a possibility that I might use a few of these patterns as backgrounds in some future illustrations.