(Colored Pencils on Paper)
Wow, this is a weekend of holidays! It’s Chinese New Year this Sunday!!! Yay for the year of the Tiger! It’s also Valentine’s Day, then President’s Day, then Mardi Gras…and the Winter Olympics just kicked off! What a blast of fun! So, have a Happy Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year, President’s Day and Mardi Gras everyone!
My Halloween illustration this year (see post below) was completely inspired by our halloween personas created for the Muse Halloween Costume Ball at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The ball was filled with elaborate, creative, clever costumes. My personal faves were a beekeeper with bees affixed to the outside of his bee suit, a venus fly trap whose plant parts encircled his head, Rainbow Brite, Clark Griswald with a squirrel on his back from Christmas Vacation, Green Lantern, Moses and the Golden Calf, and space travelers with full sized astronaut bubbles…I need to get one of those next year so I can recreate one of my paintings and have my floating goldfish inside around my face! Anyway, it was a blast! 
HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY!!!
colored pencil & ink on paper
Inspirations: Irish luck + shamrocks, Moulin Rouge + absinthe, Thumbelina + Peter Pan
Wheatley_SbrideHoliday08.jpg "Holiday Card for Southern Bride Magazine digital")
I had the opportunity to create this festive card for Southern Bride magazine this season. I had been playing around with sketches for my own holiday card featuring a girl in a candy cane dreamland, and thought this wonderland would be beautiful with a happy bride in her gown and veil, decked out in diamonds, with diamond snow drops falling all around her. This is how it all turned out!
Wishing everyone a fun-filled holiday and a totally fabulous 2009!
“Candy Cane Wonderland”
Watercolor on Paper, 18″ x 24″
Inspirations: Candy Canes, Watermelons, baking sugar cookies and funky cupcakes, “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Mele Kalikimaka” (the Hawaiian Christmas Song)
This year my custom illustrated holiday card was spotted by the editors at Kartika Review…who liked it so much they contacted me about featuring it with their publication…so all holiday visitors to their site were greeted with my illustrated card 
wheatley_xmas07.jpg "Merry Christmas!! digital")
I finally completed my illustrated version of the twelve days of Christmas! The project got a bit out of hand with all the detail work….but at least I was able to get it finished before Christmas! Click on main image to get a close up look at the illustration. Have a very happy holiday!!
Here are some close-ups…
