The past two years, I released a series of paintings for Mother’s Day, and both years they were a huge hit. You can see the collections here and here.
I will make a new series of original paintings for Mother’s Day next year. Would you like me to use your photo as inspiration? Email up to three (3) photos to hello@darlingillustrations.com with “Mother’s Day submission” in the subject.
The deadline for submissions is 5/30/2019. (more…)
This is a guest post by Justine Done. She is a single mom of two children. When she submitted her photos to me last year to be considered for my Mother’s Day series, she sent a heartfelt email along with the images. Her words are as follows.
I recently went through a divorce (“recent” meaning two years) but it still feels recent, and when we parted for the last time, I sent him all the pictures I had of him and the kids. Probably a few hundred. Candid. Beautiful. Every bonding moment between my children and their father.
He had none of me and the littles, which I expected. No candid pictures, no random snippets he thought worth capturing behind the scenes, not even from the day our daughter was born. (more…)
Last year, I put out a call for submissions and received dozens of heart warming snapshots, expressing moments of motherhood. One year later, these paintings are now complete just in time to share with you for Mother’s Day! (more…)
Did you know that “littering” wasn’t a thing until corporations started blaming consumers for the messes they created? I know. When I first heard about this, it blew my mind.
Why do we package our most perishable items with materials that take centuries to biodegrade? It’s not enough to rinse and sort and recycle our garbage. We are still making so much waste that the countries who used to process it for us have started turning us away.
So what can we do? (more…)
I started online dating. My app showed over 1,000 people who wanted to bang me, even though, when it came down to it, 99% of them never wanted to talk to me. I get it. A lot of us are just looking for the fantasy of something new, but meeting someone you actually care about is not as easy as a few swipes might make it seem.
I want to bang, too, but I want to bang someone I love. And love costs a lot. I wasn’t sure I could afford risking a mistake, especially not after my last broken heart. And I felt like my life was one wrong move away from spiraling out of control, and the only thing keeping it tethered was my ability to dig deep and find the will to keep going. (more…)
A couple months ago, I was sitting in church and listening to the worship band play. My mind wandered to Easter, to brightly colored PAAS easter eggs, to food coloring infused candy and I thought: why not embrace it? Why not embrace all of it and paint a series about the PAAS Easter Eggs all grown up? (more…)
This week I am sending out 5 months worth of Happy Mail perks to Patreon subscribers at the $100 level. These patrons also received an exclusive monthly art print ($50 level) and a monthly curiosity ($12 level). Here is a look inside their extra special goodie box packages! (more…)
I’m a children’s illustrator and I illustrated my Clemmy and Phoebe foxes to join in the kidlit4climate campaign. I stand with the young people striking for urgent climate change!
Raising awareness is just one small step in the direction of change, and no step is too small. If you’d like to take part with your own expression of creativity, but you feel limited by an inability to draw, I created a free coloring sheet. You can download the KidLit4Climate coloring sheet on my Patreon and post your own colored version to instagram along with hundreds of others from around the world to take part in displaying your support for kids against climate change. (more…)
For the month of March, my art is being featured at the Portage Bay Goods curiosities shop located in the hip Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. On March 1st, I left my kids with a babysitter and hopped the bus up to Seattle for the First Fridays Fremont Art Walk. Assured that my kids were well loved and well cared for in my absence, I let my mind relax, enjoying the relative intimacy of sharing space with a group of strangers as we made our way up the interstate and into the city. (more…)
“You gotta stop watering dead plants.”
– Glennon Doyle
When my girlfriend broke up with me in December, I grabbed all the things that reminded me of her and shoved them into a box. There were Lucifer DVD’s, her bag of toiletries, the vintage Frances Burney books I’d never give her for Christmas…
One thing made me pause: a Kalanchoe plant she’d sent through a local florist on one of our anniversaries. It had since bloomed with deep red flowers which withered and returned several times. Staying alive against the cold winter light, this plant felt so innocent to me. I set it back on the windowsill thinking, “It’s not the plant’s fault that we broke up.” (more…)
