claudine hellmuth's blog: retro * whimsical art and illustration

illustration friday: rain

When I saw the theme of rain for IF, I was excited! Little rain clouds and umbrellas are a constant theme in my artwork.

(click image to enlarge)

This is an image that I created a few months ago in an old pop up book that I altered. I've always wanted to do illustrate a children's book, so I decided to create a little book for fun and work directly in an old pop-up book. You can see me here with George, my childhood dog. In the book you can pull various tabs to move the heads and other elements.

Labels: artwork, illustration friday

:: posted @ 12:02 PM by claudine hellmuth::

COMMENTS:

what a lovely polka dot dress...so cute!

# posted by

Annie : 12:47 PM

I like your style so much! congratullations!!! It's very nice!

Marta.

# posted by

Marta : 12:49 PM

That is so freshing!!! Nice job!

# posted by

Julia Kelly : 12:55 PM

Your work is as always wonderful. This would make a great children's story George and his girl (autobiography).

# posted by

JO : 1:20 PM

I love it miss peachy keen!

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:24 PM

Cute! I really like what you do.

# posted by

Fernanda Guedes : 1:27 PM

I love this. You make my favorite flowers!

# posted by

Diane Duda : 1:34 PM

Charming image and so different. I think it's great.

# posted by

andrea : 2:26 PM

Hi Claudine, nice piece as always. I saw some of your originals at Artstream last weekend. They're even better in person.

# posted by

BAM : 2:32 PM

nice style

# posted by

Unknown : 3:09 PM

Very dainty and whimsical! Cute!

# posted by

Stacia : 3:28 PM

I think that you would have great success as childrens book author!
Your images are marvelous!
:) Abbie
thanks for the comment!

# posted by

Abbie : 3:51 PM

What a cute piece. Your colors and umbrellas and everything are adorable.

# posted by

Teri : 4:01 PM

This is darling! I love the b & w faces of you and your dog (woof!) against the colored pages. The simplicity of the artwork is very engaging. BTW...I saw a photo of your working hanging at the Artstream gallery. They look wonderful on a wall...congrats and good luck!

# posted by

carla : 4:06 PM

I just love your stuff. A fun, carefree feeling in your work that makes me smile.

# posted by

garth bruner : 4:09 PM

first of all, thank you alot for your comment.

wow I just loved your illustration! fantastic style!
AnnaC.

# posted by

A.C : 6:04 PM

Did I mention I can't wait for my book to come in? :-)

# posted by

Willie Baronet : 6:42 PM

Thank you for your lovely comment.

Your collage is adorable.
You and your dog are as cute as can be.
Even with the rain, it looks sunny and bright.
;-)

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:40 PM

very nice as usual!! you have a very distinctive and refreshing style.

# posted by

AscenderRisesAbove : 10:46 PM

This is beautiful! I love how the black and white photos work with the fun child-like line drawings!

# posted by

marcisenders : 12:08 AM

Bow-Wow! Love your art! I LOVE the name George!too... One of my Fav movie stars was George Hamilton! I still like him, he can dance pretty good too! He was on Dancing With The Stars. I hope that comes back soon!

# posted by

turquoise cro : 1:43 AM

This is charming. I like the innocence, it feels happy and wistful. Your work looks made with lots of affection. Thanks for sharing it.

# posted by

pangolin : 8:54 AM

This is so sweet. The dog is just cute!

# posted by

Weichuen You : 9:44 AM

Beautiful job on this piece! I love the soft background against the bold umbrella! That dog is to die for! He totally made me smile ;-) Brandi

# posted by

Powpourri : 11:09 AM

Bravo! I've been looking through loads of illustrations for this weeks theme, and this is the first one I really like. Very good. (: I love the flowers.

# posted by

Mette : 12:23 PM

What a great idea! Did you alter the whole book? I'd love to see more!

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:35 PM

thanks so much everyone! I always get nervous before posting for IF and so I appreciate all of your wonderful comments.

i did alter almost the whole book. The pages I did are going in be a book about altered books, so when I get it back I'm going to finish the last pages.

thanks again for all of your wonderful comments! It means a lot to me :)

# posted by

claudine hellmuth : 12:44 PM

good work!

# posted by

David Fernández Huerta : 1:40 PM

What an excellent combination - cute, nostalgic and slightly subversive!

# posted by

MjM : 1:53 PM

The photographs are a great contrast to the kid's-style drawing. Who invented pop-up books anyway?

# posted by

Tony LaRocca : 3:14 PM

I really enjoy your style this is the second piece of yours that I have seen and I look forward to your next post for IF! This is so sweet and happy! innocence is such a precious thing and you have really captured it here!

# posted by

Anonymous : 3:41 PM

I love this Claudine! What a great idea to alter an existing pop up! I love your polka dotted dress! Too sweet! Xo

# posted by

tiffini elektra x : 5:26 PM

I've really fallen in love with your work. I hope you don't mind that I bring up your website when I teach my students mixed media and collage illustration. It's visually engaging but not terribly complicated; the students can see that an interesting narrative can come from a few carefully selected images in combination with some personal hand work. It's wonderful stuff, and I thank you for helping out in my classroom!

# posted by

Rick Lovell : 8:26 PM

Claudine your work is so inspiring. The hardest thing to get right in collage is compostition and you balance your image so perfectly. I learnt alot from looking at this illo

# posted by

Ramona : 8:27 PM

Very fun and whimsical collages! I like the two fellows, one with a bird on his head, that made me chuckle!

# posted by

"Maggie & Kevin" : 10:09 PM

Nice!!!!

# posted by

Unknown : 3:01 AM

Very nice collage, the umbrella looks great against the soft background and I love the flowers!

# posted by

gudbrandsdottir : 4:33 AM

Love this!!! Perfect collage! :)

Btw, thank you so much for leaving feedback on my dance piece for illustraionfriday! I'm adding you to my blogroll! Hope you can do the same! :)

# posted by

Emily : 12:58 PM

Hi Claudine, I found your link from a friends webpage ( Abbie ). I saw this collage and had to comment on it! I love the colors and the lightness of it. My first collage book was from you and it got me sooooo hooked!!! Thanks for sharing your experiences in those books!
Anke ;)

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:58 PM

great image, and i love the idea of altering a pop-up book with your own artwork!

# posted by

murphy girl : 6:27 PM

great job!!!

# posted by

Regiana Queiroz : 7:44 PM

so pretty! thanks for droppin by my blog.. added you as a huggie now! hihi ^_^

# posted by

Anonymous : 8:31 PM

I love the rain and you and Gene Kelly are the absolutely the best at making rain look fun! I just love the collage and especially since it is a pop up as well. Double the fun!!

# posted by

Debbie : 9:21 PM

beautiful! I love the patterns and the dotted line on the horizon. Can't quite read the words there though, what do they say?

# posted by

lil kim : 10:00 PM

i love your work - delightful images and pics!
Love George the dog - what a cutie!

# posted by

Anastasia : 12:55 AM

lil Kim

it says along the horizon:

"when it would rain we would share an umbrella"

the book is all about things we would share together, ice cream, travel, etc etc. So in this example we are sharing an umbrella :)

thanks for the compliments!
xxxox

# posted by

claudine hellmuth : 10:13 AM

Great collage, there's a lot of Alice in the Wonderlnd feeling about this. Also it is like a very vivid dream. I love it.

# posted by

Katili : 12:14 PM

lov the way u used just the photo b/w faces against the simple colored pages. set up an interesting piece and good contrast. nice work

# posted by

° : 4:02 PM

Love the pull-tab function. A great image and winsome feeling.

# posted by

Karen McCray : 5:58 PM

Such a nice, light and whimsical image. Beautiful narrative feeling in this, makes me think of being caught in a light summer shower. The moving tabs are a really cool idea.

and thank you for your comment :)

# posted by

denise : 10:06 PM

I bet the book is so much fun. This is so lively, and I love the history behind it. Also like the patterns!

# posted by

Amy Zaleski : 8:11 AM

I like the "naivety" in this piece. Sounds like really fun to work on the book. :)

# posted by

Christine Lim : 8:43 AM

I want to live in that world when it rains - it looks so sweet and fun!

# posted by

Susan Mitchell : 9:28 AM

Great! I love that the dog has a shirt.

# posted by

Matt Phelan : 5:59 PM

your style is so fresh and fun. this is a really sweet pic.

# posted by

beck wheeler : 6:48 PM

This looks so whimsical and fun - love it!

Anette
www.wynlen.no

# posted by

Anette Heiberg : 1:49 PM

It's so fun. I love that it's a happy, fresh rain. And George lokks like he was a fun friend. Happy IF!

# posted by

denise : 4:24 PM

Very funny ! It's a nice illo, i love your style ;)

# posted by

Da Ghost Prod : 4:42 PM

I love this!

# posted by

Jules : 2:23 PM

very nice! such a good idea too. I like how you used the real images in this.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7:11 PM

very lovely illo!

# posted by

Unknown : 9:29 PM

like your style!

# posted by

arvindh : 12:16 AM

I really like your style! The soft retro colors and the dotted lines (a bit like embroidery). And you make the lovliest flowers=)
Thanks for your comment by the way, and to anwser your question: I sculpded the cat in clay (relief) and painted it with acrylics. The window is a cardboard box I painted and a piece of fabric for curtains

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:40 AM