Penelope Illustration • Penelope Dullaghan

For this week’s Illustration Friday: clean.

Today I got out the india ink and a big brush and just went to town on a spread in my journal. Big black strokes with rough feathery edges. After that it seemed like it needed circles so I started drawing tiny circles all around the brush strokes. Quick and easy. Unthinking. The result was [...]

Sometimes the only thing that makes sense to me is a clean kitchen. When things feel like they are spinning out of control. So much out of my hands. When my head is full up and I don’t know where to turn… I clean the kitchen. There’s something really comforting about the act of putting [...]

I like to do little free form paintings in my journal as I work on illustrations for clients. They help keep me loose and I really like just doing what I feel like… whatever the color looks like it wants.

I am starting a new format for my newsletter… it’s going to be online from now on. That way I can make it prettier for you by giving you pictures along with the news. Yay! Those signed up for my newsletter got all the first one a few days ago. If you aren’t signed up [...]

As you know, my sister-in-law Alison was diagnosed with stage four cancer a few weeks ago. She is still undergoing many tests and scans, and they are working on a treatment plan for her right now. She’s being so strong during all of this, but could really use your support. Here’s how:
Christine Miller (aka Swirly [...]

My husband and I take a lot of photographs. I mean, A LOT. If you meet us on the street, chances are that we have a camera on us somewhere and most likely will take your picture when you’re not looking. As I was looking through our iphoto library, I started to notice all the [...]

What do you do when it’s 95 degrees out and there’s no pool? That’s right. Slip ‘n Slide, baby.

Yeah, we’re grown ups.

Last night I went out in search of a strapless bra. I’d been to all the usual places and none of my findings floated my boat. So as a last ditch effort, I tried Kmart. I don’t know what the Kmart by you is like, but the one near my house is a complete dumpski. [...]

I drove today with the windows open… all of them, including the sun roof, even though it was well above 90 and the sun was beating down on me. The hair that houdini-ed from my ponytails was dancing around my face and suddenly I felt at peace. The air. The sun. The movement. It felt [...]

“To have good ideas, have lots of ideas.” – Linus Pauling
Those notebooks pictured above are all filled to the brim with the loosest, crappiest sketches you will ever see. Millions of chicken scratches. A graveyard of bad ideas mixed in with a few good ones that made it to the promised land of finished illustrations. [...]

I was wondering if anyone had any music suggestions they’d like to share. I’m SO tired of my collection and need some new ideas on artists to check out. So, if you have some music that you’ve been groovin’ to lately, please leave a comment. (I don’t really care for techno or country music… but [...]

Hi there,
I’m sorry for the lack of posts lately. My blog went down… But as you can see, I’ve got a new blog thanks to brilliant Brianna, who switched me over to WordPress. I’m very excited to have some extra functions with this new platform… Thank you, B!
I’ve done a mini-update to my whole site, [...]

HOW conference photographs 2006

Noticing letterforms wherever we go.

Communication Arts Feature, Mini-redesign of Penelopeillustration.com, Baltimore Sun, Chase Bank, HOW Conference 2006.