Teaching Comics- Holiday Card

New original watercolors for sale!

I've added more small (5 x 3.5) watercolor illustrations to my Sanctuary series on the BUY ORIGINAL ART link. If you're interested in purchasing one you can e-mail me at alexnall0@gmail.com

I'm starting to include illustrations referenced from photos of a trip I took to Europe nearly six years ago. I studied in Florence and London on a study abroad program while in school, and took many photos during my time there. I got to looking at the photos the other night and figured I might as well put them to some use and reference them for some drawings. I've been having a lot of fun revisiting this time in my life and remembering all the places I went all those years ago.

I moved to Chicago the year after this time in Europe and my habit of exploring followed me there. I still enjoy finding places that have some certain charm or character to them. The Sanctuary series has its roots in the activity of exploring the city you live in or a new place you're visiting and finding somewhere you feel like you might belong or just feel comforted by.

Taqueria Moran in Logan Square. (I defy you to find me a place that serves a better burrito under two minutes.)

The corner of my living room. Lots of board games and books (Chris Ware's Building Stories is there next to Settlers of Catan), art work and prints hanging on the wall, and this weird pseudo-couch from Ikea that no one ever sits on.

The vineyards outside Villa Medicea di Artimino. I remember this small province outside Prato to be a great trip mostly because our study group got to tour a winery and have a free wine tasting at the end. 

I lived in Florence for three months in 2011 and crossed through this archway on my way back to the home I was staying at. There was usually a bustle of activity here including protests, carnival rides, and merchants selling to tourists. 

A cemetery in Stratford-upon-Avon. During the London-portion of my study abroad experience we spent two days in Shakespeare's birthplace. Walking through the graveyard near the church of his burial site was a highlight for some reason. There was a tombstone here that read R.I.P. Samuel L. Jackson, which among all the old-English jargon and medieval history was a source of idiotic delight for me and my friends.