Introducing my new illustration portfolio website, DebraStyer.com!

I have been busy working on my new website, DebraStyer.com and would like for you all to check it out.

Of course, it is still a bit of a work in progress, but I am pretty happy the way it has worked out so far.  What do you think?

I will admit it is really strange to have something with my name attached, I have always been a bit shy about shouting my name out to the world, but I suppose at a certain age, you need to start thinking of yourself more seriously as a artist, so DebraStyer.com is born.

On top of creating a new website, I have also been really busy making new work. Here are a few new pieces...

I just finished this illustrated custom portrait for a lovely East Coast woman, her sons and their fabulous tuxedo cats. It was really fun to get to know her and learn about her family, furry and non-furry. There is always so much of a connection when you look deep into someone's eye enough to draw them. It is also pretty wonderful to watch a person seemingly come to life with a swish of a few pigments and some water...

Closeup of the custom portrait painting.

My latest Custom Portrait. I love the Victorian Gothness of this portrait. You gotta love those cats.

If you are interested in me creating a custom portrait for you find out more here.

Next up is my latest Literary portrait, Ms. Dorothy Parker. She is such an incredible writer. I fell in love with her work about twenty years ago when I picked up a copy of her short stories. "Big Blonde" has a been one of my all time favorites, and I hope one day to illustrated it and the fabulous Hazel Morse.

Dorothy Parker Literary Portrait Art Print

“In youth, it was a way I had,
To do my best to please.
And change, with every passing lad
To suit his theories.

But now I know the things I know
And do the things I do,
And if you do not like me so,
To hell, my love, with you.”
― Dorothy Parker, The Complete Poems of Dorothy Parker

Debra Styer, Here Lies Dorothy Parker, 2016

View fullsize

Dorothy Parker 1943 portrait by George Platt Lynes

You can purchase a print of my Dorothy Parker Portrait here.

So much more to come, alas, I better get back to work and finish up my latest custom portrait. 

I hope you enjoy the new site!

3 New Lovely Literary Portraits: Fitzgerald, Kafka and Lovecraft

Wow, time sure has flown by. It's time to rip off my band aid of procrastination and get writing again. So sorry, it has been so long.

In the last 6 months, I have been finishing up a book project and working on a bunch of new portraits. In case you missed them in the shop, here are a few of my favorites.  I hope you like them!

F. Scott Fitzgerald!

F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Portrait

F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known for works the "Great Gatsby", The Beautiful and Damned" "Tender is the Night" and "This Side of Paradise" as well as many short stories. As a reader, Fitzgerald opened my eyes to the incredible hidden world of the 1920's. He will always be an inspiration to me and I am so happy to paint his portrait.

He is available here in the shop!

Next up, The incredible Franz Kafka!

Franz Kafka Literary Portrait

Franz Kafka Literary Portrait

Kafka is another favorite writer. He brings out the goth in me. Kafka is most know for his stories, "The Trial", "The Metamorphosis" and "The Castle". Kafka is regarded by critics as one of the most influential writers in the 20th Century and he is beloved around the world.

I drew him here with a Metamorphosis homage to his Dung Beetle self (Gregor Samsa) wrapped around his neck.

He is available here in the shop!

Last but not least, Say hello to the incredible and strange H.P. Lovecraft!

Lovecraft is such a inspiration to me, although I came to know him later in my literary life. I love the way this mind works, digging deeply into the psychology and heart of reader. His life was full of tragedy which influenced the way the wrote. Although he became most known after his death, I couldn't imagine the world of horror with out him.  Below is my illustrated ode:

Debra Styer, The Call of the Lovecraft, 2015

Isn't his little Cthulhu cute? You can find them both in my shop here!

Now that I am officially blogging again, I promise not to take so much time between post!

Thanks for reading!

More Literary Love: Gertrude Stein and Nathaniel Hawthorne

Here's a little catch up to what I am doing lately. I love been busy spreading more literary love on my watercolor palette.

Here are my latest Literary Portraits: Ms. Gertrude Stein and Mr. Nathaniel Hawthorne

Debra Styer, A Stein is a Stein is a Stein is a Stein, 2016

“You look ridiculous if you dance
You look ridiculous if you don't dance
So you might as well
dance.”
― Gertrude Stein, Three Lives

Gertrude Stein Portrait Framed

Say Hello to Ms. Gertrude Stein!

Gertrude has always been one of my literary heroes. Her writing about Paris is the early 1900's is incredible. It seems like you are right there in the thick of things. Who wouldn't want to live in that world filled with artists and writers? My favorite book is "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas",  written in the point of view of her love, Alice.

To me she is a visionary, anactivist and a woman with a hell of a sense of humor.

Carl Van Vechten, Portrait of Gertrude Stein, 1934

“It takes a lot of time to be a genius. You have to sit around so much, doing nothing, really doing nothing.”
― Gertrude Stein
 

Print available in the shop!

And now presenting...Mr. Nathaniel Hawthorne!

Debra Styer, The House of the Seven Hawthornes, 2016

As a New Englander, Hawthorne is in my blood. I remember visiting the House of the Seven Gables in Salem Massachusetts as a kid and I was fascinated. Hawthorne is best know for writing the novel, "The Scarlett Letter",  a scathing look at life, love and religion in the Massachusetts. His work is known to be Dark Romantic. I am currently reading, "The Whole History of Grandfather's Chair" (written in 1840), which is a surprisingly funny and truly satisfies the history nerd in me.
 

Nathaniel Hawthorn Art Print

Nathaniel Hawthorn Portrait Framed

 “Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”
― Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

Nathaniel Hawthorne by Brady c. 1860

Now available in my Shop!

Right now I am working on a portrait of the wonderful writer Dorothy Parker, I will post her as soon as I can.

After that, who should I paint next? 

My Illustrated Ode to Arthur Rimbaud!

Here's my latest Literary Portrait...the 19th Century French Poet, Arthur Rimbaud!

Rimbaud has always been one of my favorite poets, he was a true, Enfant Terrible.  The I was so excited to create a portrait of him with all his teenage angst. He was truly a wild one!

Sadly, he did all of his incredible writing between between the age of 17 and 20, after that he seemed to fall of the face of the earth. He traveled extensively throughout the world, working at very non-writing jobs such as an accountant, mason and coffee exporter.  Rimbaud abandoned his life of the libertine,  never recording any of his any dark dreams or surreal verses again.

He remains one of my literary heroes...

I hope you all enjoy my portrait of him. 

 Arthur Rimaud in Sketch form.

“I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still.”

―

Arthur Rimbaud

A Season in Hell/The Drunken Boat

Debra Styer, Arthur Rimbaud, Soleil et chair ("Sun and Flesh"), 2015

“A poet makes himself a visionary through a long, boundless, and systematized disorganization of all the senses. All forms of love, of suffering, of madness; he searches himself, he exhausts within himself all poisons, and preserves their quintessences. Unspeakable torment, where he will need the greatest faith, a superhuman strength, where he becomes all men the great invalid, the great criminal, the great accursed--and the Supreme Scientist! For he attains the unknown! Because he has cultivated his soul, already rich, more than anyone! He attains the unknown, and if, demented, he finally loses the understanding of his visions, he will at least have seen them! So what if he is destroyed in his ecstatic flight through things unheard of, unnameable: other horrible workers will come; they will begin at the horizons where the first one has fallen!”

―

Arthur Rimbaud

Rimbaud Framed

Arthur Rimbaud, age 17.

“By being too sensitive I have wasted my life.”

―

Arthur Rimbaud

If you would like to learn more about Rimbaud, I highly recommend the book, "Time of the Assassins, A Study of Rimbaud" by Henry Miller. It is one of my all time favorite books. 

So here's to the young rebel in all of us....and here's to Arthur Rimbaud. 

A limited edition print of my original watercolor painting of Rimbaud is now available in

here my etsy shop! 

p.s. Who should I paint next? Who is your favorite writer?

Lovely New Literary Love: Dostoyevsky & Wharton

Here are the latest portrait illustrations in my Writers Portrait series.

Say hello to Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Best know for his works, "Crime and Punishment" "Notes from Underground" and "The Idiot".

"Crime and Punishment" has always been one of my favorite books. It has just the right amount of darkness and suspense and also all the psychological intrigue anyone can want in a really good story.

Debra Styer, Notes from Dostoyevsky, 2015

Dostoyevsky Sketch

Mr. Serious Eyes

My Dostoyevsky are print is now available here in my shop!

Next up is my literary portrait of Ms. Edith Wharton. She work literary classics such as "The House of Mirth", "Ethan Frome" and "The Age of Innocence". She had a incredible sense of irony and classin Victorian society. Growing up in the gilded age of America, Wharton had a first hand look at all that was good in bad with the people of privilege.

Debra Styer, The House of Wharton, 2015

Edith Wharton Sketch

The under drawing.

Edith Wharton, The House of Wharton, 2015

Edith Wharton Art Print now available here in the shop!

I hope you like these two new literary portraits. I will be working on a bunch of new ones soon. Any one that I missing?