June 2022 Planetary Alignment

 

Over the course of the entire month, it was either too cloudy, rainy, or hazy to see the stars. Today, I finally got to see the grand planetary alignment. It was early in this morning about 4:30, and I do not have a camera sensitive enough to see it, but here is a screenshot from the software called Sky Safari 6 Pro. 

The visible naked-eye planets were Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The planets that require a telescope were Mercury, and Uranus. Pluto as a planet is a touchy subject for many, and even in this software I had to look it up to show it on screen, but regardless, you'll need the most powerful telescope to see it. 

Since it was near morning, the planets were shining, but not as impressive as it would be at night. But it was still really fun to shake things up, and see something that will not be seen again until 2040.

Snootle In The Scream

 

Snootle in The Scream, watercolor by Tia Petty

Snootle in "The Scream". Funny, this watercolor was actually one of the most difficult pictures to paint. I have much more respect for Edvard Munch... and watercolor artists.

Silver Sporks

 

Title: Silver Sporks

Medium: Oil

Size: 12 inches wide by 9 inches tall

Support: Stretched Canvas

I love sporks, so I painted the ones from the kitchen. Who doesn't love sporks? Right now, this painting is on my kitchen wall. I love this painting, but if you want it, it is available. 

Little Dragon

 

It has been a few many years since I've picked up a good old fashion Wacom tablet pen for completing a digital painting. It took about two hours to get back into the groove after many exercises and remembering how things worked. 

I had stopped drawing on a computer, tablet and otherwise after completing the Snootle books. The main book took an entire year with little breaks to complete. Both books were completed on the iPad Pro first generation. You can find them on Amazon at this link Snootle. Writing those books took a toll on me, but it was worth the effort.

This digital drawing is called Little Dragon, it is a still life created on Clip Studio Pro on a Mac. Why and I doing this and not oil painting today? After two full years of not painting in oils, I found that I had lost all of my skill set, my body did not remember how to even smear the paint! So, in order to keep the skill going, practice, practice, practice. 

Spice of Life

 

The Spice of Life

Oil painting on canvas panel

8 inches by 6 inches

Knowing when to stop painting sometimes is difficult. I was planning on noodling this painting until forever. Doing that would risk an over-worked look. This is more of a painterly impressionistic style, and like how the bulbs turned out. The whole painting looks pretty good on its own, so that is where it was left. 

What I love about this oil painting, called Spice of Life, is that a different palette of colors were used. My main palette consists of five pigments including titanium-zinc white, ultramarine blue, burnt umber, Winsor Yellow (Hansa PY74), and Winsor bright red (pyrrol red PR254). But in this case, the colors are titanium-zinc white, burnt sienna, viridian, yellow ochre, ultramarine blue and ivory black (all Gamblin). These colors were easy to work with and had no trouble mixing the reds from mixing burnt sienna and yellow ochre. It was magical!

The Editors Comic Book

 

The Editors, Chapter One: Can't Burn It Down. This is a comic book written by Miles Curtiss at Dreaming Ansible, dreamingansible.com. He hired a team of artists to realize this comic. I was honored with being hired to do the colors!

The coloring is different from most comic book colorists, as my background in the art world is traditional oil painting and comic strip art, as seen in my Snootle comic strip and cartoons. I really wanted to mix the two styles and bring full dynamic colors to the comic book world. 

The poster was a surprise, as I thought it was going to be a back page. But seeing this artwork in full size is a treat. Different from my usual color work, I was looking to give a bit of a nod to the older generations of comics, with flatter colors.

The story in The Editors is unique and profound. Here is a teaser: Best friends Brad Lee and Gabe Quesada go on a bloody road trip through time! 

If you are interested in this comic book, please visit: 

https://www.dreamingansible.com/shop/p/theeditorschapterone

Snootle

 

Snootle™ was created by Tia Petty, and debuted in 2004 via Snootle.com Snootle is about a melodramatic puppy who teams up with an over-opinioned garden snake in order to keep their human out of trouble. The book is jam packed with colorful comics and nearly 100 pages long! It is available on Amazon: Snootle by Tia Petty.

Mystic Sunflower

 

Mystic Sunflower

Oil on canvas panel

8 inches by 6 inches

Cherries and Blueberries

 

Cherries and Blueberries

Oil on canvas panel

8 inches by 6 inches

Welcome

 

Welcome to my website! For those of you who are used to my artwork under Anawanitia, I am in the middle of a re-branding effort. Tia is much easier to say and spell, and I've been using that name for my cartoons for decades. Anawanitia.com will remain up for my older paintings. More fun art to come!