Baby Mantis

This tiny mantis was hiding in my garden buganvillas. I snapped the picture and converted it to a digital illustration enhancing this deceptive baby.

Beauty in Black

Beauty in Black was completed using colored pencils and black ink on illustration paper. The illustration was created using a linear design similar to that used by a well-known 1980s artist. Where I varied my illustration from that of the 1980s artist is that I included color blending and shading in some areas of my illustration such as in the model's eyes and background. This was the first illustration where I used shading and color blending in a portrait.

California Spring Blooms

This is a digital rendering of the Southern California wildflower blooms that appear in the Spring in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs.

Coming to Get Me?

This is a digital illustration of my beloved Yorkie, Natalie, who lived with me for 12 years. She's no longer with me because she passed away in 2022. I have a collection of her images to remember her, and in this image she is literally waiting for me to pick her up from the arm chair. She persisted until she finally was in my arms.

Downtown Los Angeles Black & White

Downtown Los Angeles in black & white is a digital rendering of a photograph I took of this unforgettable skyline. The Los Angeles skyline was built on a hill which makes it visible from several miles away including throughout the city of Las Angeles and its nearby suburbs.

Downtown Los Angeles Skyline Southern View

This digital rendering captures a view of the downtown Los Angeles skyline with views of the skyscrapers from the southern edge of the skyline. It's abstract detail leaves much to the imagination about the skyline's details and is suitable for display in various settings.

Downtown Los Angeles in Color

Downtown Los Angeles in color is a digital rendering of a photograph I took of this unforgettable skyline. The Los Angeles skyline was built on a hill which makes it visible from several miles away including throughout the city of Las Angeles and its nearby suburbs.

Duck Flying in the Evening

This illustration is of a duck flying in the evening near my home on a warm Spring day. It was created using blue ink on illustration paper.

Ducks Flying in the Evening

This illustration is of ducks flying in the evening near my home on a warm Spring day. It was created using blue ink on illustration paper.

Echo Park Lake

This is colored pencil and ink on paper. This illustration depicts Echo Park Lake, a famous Los Angeles, California landmark, with a background view of the Los Angeles skyline. I had taken this as a photograph, but it was blurry so I decided to illustrate it instead.

Is My Coffee Ready?

This is Natalie, my beloved Yorkie who was with me for 12 years but sadly passed away in 2022. She was very comfortable sleeping in my bed and at times took liberties to use my pillow and blanket. However, she had to get out of bed to serve herself her own coffee. Just kidding, she didn't like coffee, she did like the bacon and eggs though.

Is This Pose Fine?

This beautiful creature is Natalie, my Yorkie who was with me for 12 years before she passed away in 2022. Natalie was fond of the camera, seemed aware of it and enjoyed posing for pictures. Here she is posing for the camera from one of her favorite places (besides my lap), the sofa.

Isn't This My Pillow?

This digitally created illustration was designed from an actual photograph of my 2 Yorkies. Their names were Natalie (on the right) and Keoke (on the left). Both of my beloved dogs passed away recently. This is a rare photograph of both of them lying together because Natalie was very independent and did not like sharing her pillow or toys with Keoke.

Jupiter Eclipse

This is colored pencil and ink on paper. This illustration originated from a concept I created whereby Jupiter could be seen rising behind the darkened sky of a solar eclipse. The castle was added to enhance the colors in the background.

Let's Dance

This couple is enjoying a great performance of the Charleston dance circa 1920. They are presented on poster illustration paper and drawn with colored ink and colored pencil. This piece was drawn for young dancers who showcased their performance of the Charleston.

Los Angeles on Fire

This illustration is colored pencil and ink on drawing paper. It depicts the 1980's Los Angeles, California skyline on fire after a major earthquake. California sits on major fault lines and is prone to many earthquakes. The idea for this illustration came after I lived through a moderately strong earthquake in Los Angeles in 1987.

Mission Inn Digital Illustration

The Mission Inn, in Riverside, California, is a historic hotel and landmark. It is visited by many tourists and visitors because of its classic hacienda style architecture and collection of shops and restaurants in the area.

Mountain Forest Night Landscape

This illustration is black ink on paper. The simplicity of pine tree silhouettes against a moon lit mountain range is what is depicted here. This drawing is completely imaginary and was not inspired by any actual landscape.

Muerte with Sunglasses

Muerte is Spanish for death. In Mexico and some other Latin American countries people venerate their dead by celebrating a special day for them, usually Dia de Muertos or Day of the Dead. I have made my rendering for Muerte, or Death in Sunglasses, in black ink on illustration paper.

Peaches on Branch

These peaches were drawn on illustration paper with a drawing pencil. For me this was a study on the effects of shadows an object. The peaches were in a tree in my backyard, and I had to contend with the Sun's movement which changed to positioning of the shadows on the fruit as I sketched them.

Sacramento, California Capital Building

This digital illustration of Sacramento, California's Capital Building was taken from a photograph of the building. During a visit to Sacramento, the capital of California, the cherry trees lining the front of the Capital Building were in full bloom. Those cherry trees are seen in front of the building.

San Jacinto Mountains Sunset

The San Jacinto Mountains are located by Palm Springs, California. They create amazing views of snow covered mountains during the winter months as shown here. They also form beautiful sunsets as the sun sets behind them.

Seduced by Music

This is colored pencil and ink on paper. The inspiration for this illustration came from several different sources including photographs of my mother, Liz Taylor’s eyes, and Adele’s cleft chin. The wedding band was inspired by my own. The Japanese calligraphy on the headphones emphasize her love of music.

Shoreline Village Sunset

This is colored pencil and ink on paper. The illustration depicts a waterfront escape named Shoreline Village in Long Beach, California at sunset. Several photographs I took were the inspiration for what I drew on paper.

Space Shuttle Enterprise

The Space Shuttle Enterprise was the first shuttle built. It was designed to perform atmospheric test flights after it was launched from the 747 which carried it. It used the 747 as its launch vehicle because it did not have engines nor a heat shield which made unable to conduct space flights. This drawing was completed with blue ink on illustration paper.

Star Linked Woman

This model was photographed by me at a Palm Springs shop. Her fair skin set a fascinating contrast to her dark make up and dark goth clothing. The shop is an astrological shop, so it only seemed fitting that she be drawn with starts linked to her from behind. This illustration was completed using colored ink on the face and clothing with colored pencil on the stars and sky.

Tweet Tweet

This colorful bird landed on the fence in my backyard, and I took his picture. He remained for a while tweeting with me while I digitally enhanced his picture, and once he was satisfied with the results he flew off. This is a true story. Tweet Tweet.

Unicorn Against Blue

I drew the unicorn on blue using colored pencils on illustration paper. This was once an offering for a friend who had a fondness of unicorns, however, that friend never got to see the finished unicorn (she moved).

What Tan Lines?

This illustration was completed on illustration paper with colored pencil and ink. It is created from various sources but the final illustration was from my imagination. The man in the illustration was composed from a collection of over 30 photographs that were collectively used to depict each part of the body accurately. The face was also created from a combination of photographs to produce the final look. The background, however, is from a photograph of Laguna Beach, California, and the sky was completed from a collection of several pictures.

Whiskey Woman

This is colored pencil and ink on paper. This is my depiction of a woman enjoying a good glass of whiskey as she plans her next shot at the pool table.

Woman in Red

This is colored pencil and ink on paper. The inspiration for this illustration was a photograph of a Mexican actress I saw in a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I quickly illustrated the photograph on a napkin and created my depiction of what I recalled when I returned to the United States.

Woman in Stripes

This is colored pencil and ink on paper. My inspiration here was an ad by Avon, a cosmetics distribution company that delivered cosmetics to women some years back. This is my rendition of one of their cosmetics models. An alternate title for this piece is “Avon Calling” which was Avon’s marketing pitch.

Woman with Dog

This drawing is colored pencil and ink on paper. A friend is depicted holding my dog. Both the friend & my dog’s images were taken from separate photographs and combined here for this illustration.