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I recently got the complete DVD movie collection of Indiana Jones. Last night I was watching the bonus disc and thought... now there's a LEGEND. So I did a quick drawing for the Illustration Friday LEGEND theme.

I decided if I am ever going to learn anything about Painter, I need to start SOMEtime... so I picked a hard pastel brush and scribbled on some color. There are just so many brushes I don't know where to begin. It's overwhelming. Might as well pick something and try it out this week. I hope to use Painter more this year and try to figure it out some.

One thing I learned from the bonus disc was that George Lucas originally named his movie Indiana Smith. When he pitched the movie, they liked the whole thing... except the name. He said, OK... how about Jones? Jones was fine... of COURSE! :0)

I'm looking forward to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull coming out this year.... woo hoo!

I'm just going with the flow. I've noticed a lot of mermaids for this one, so here's mine.

IF- Tales and Legend

A folklore about the eclipse from Indonesia, the details is from Bali, and the one that I know is from Java :). Peoples used to play 'kentongan'- a traditional alarm system made from bamboo, that can give a very loud sound, it was meant to scared the 'Kala' and make the moon free again..


Kala Rahu’s head, angry at the Sun and Moon for reporting the theft pursues them through the sky and swallows one or the other, since Kala Rahu has no body the sun or moon will reappear after passing his mouth.
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and I'm happy about the happy ending.. :)

My, my-- the things we'll do to appease our children! Though sometimes you just have to admire their spunk... I posted a sketch for this piece a while ago.

A question for all of you illustrators who participate in Illustration Friday-- if you're creating a new piece rather than using one that already fits, how do you schedule it in to your week? What sort of time do you leave yourself for sketches, finish, etc.? Do you always post an image to the site, or do you just use the prompt as an exercise? (Okay, that was a few questions, but I really am curious!)

Finally got a change to do Illustration Friday again! When I think "tales and legends", naturally the Legend of Zelda comes up. I had to give it a chickeny twist, of course.
-Claire

Finally got a change to do Illustration Friday again! When I think "tales and legends", naturally the Legend of Zelda comes up. I had to give it a chickeny twist, of course.
-Claire

The tale of cupid's elephants...a pair of love-struck elephants who pass their magic to unsuspecting humans on Valentine's Day! Are you ready to be tapped on the shoulder by their magical trunks?!

© Kathleen Rietz
I am working on this preliminary sketch this week for a new piece that I hope will make it into my portfolio. I am open to suggestions about what you think it "needs". It is in the very preliminary stages. I really want my illustrations to tell a story. Not just be pretty pictures.
Last Friday I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down at a local Starbuck's with children's book illustrator Kristi Valiant, who stopped through town on her way to see family. I had such a nice time with her, and I also learned so much from talking "shop" with her and leafing through our portfolios together. I am hoping that we will catch up with each other again in the not-too-distant future. It was so great to see such an established illustrator with over 20 books to her name! Bonus: she is a very nice person! Thanks Kristi!
Then on Sunday Kathy Weller and I talked on the phone until our ears pretty much turned into soft cauliflower. : ) I have always been such a BIG fan of Kathy's. Funny to find out she is also a big fan of my work. We seem to have similar personalities and I get the feeling we would be a dangerous pair if we lived anywhere within 50 miles of each other! You know you are a dangerous combo when you have talked so long that your phone's battery dies and you have to switch to your cell phone. heehee... Thanks Kathy! You crack me up.
I also want to thank Alicia Padron for our valuable email exchanges about illustration, promotion, and just plain "life".
I am realizing how blessed I am to have "met" so many terrific artists while blogging (some virtually and some in real life!). Rubbing elbows with you all is what makes my day, every day. I have learned so much from your comments about my work. I do not take for granted anyone who stops by to have a look. I always hope you like what you see and will that you return again and again.
O-O-O-Oh!!! By the way, I am going to try to put together a new blog showcasing my art students' work. I hope to work on it this weekend. Stay tuned. I will announce the blog once I have it up and running.

I'm cheating a little bit this week with something I did for MacMillan/McGraw Hill-the three little pigs story cards!

Here is the finished piece from the sketch I shared last week. It also works well for this weeks I.F. theme, "Tales and Legends".
Here's more on the legend of the mermaid.

Legend has it that this abandoned house is haunted!

Just some ideas I'm tossing around for another kids' story.  Very different than the style I normally use, but a lot more free.  I do tend to get a bit anal about line for some reason, then all of my illustrations look like a coloring book page. 

Here's a fine young reindeer from Santa Claus's crew -- it's Cupid! enjoy!

Hey, where have I been?? I 'fell off' my blog. There is no other way to put it. And certainly there's no *pretty* way to put it. It's sort of like falling off a cliff, but there's no cliff...anyway, here I am, and I am happy to be here!!! I've missed posting the past couple of weeks!!

This one's for you, jamarattigan!



So, the Grimm Brothers didn't really write this one down, but I swear it's true.

When he was young, Tom Thumb harbored dreams of being the Indiana Jones of evolutionary biology. When he read about primordial soup, he figured he knew just the spot to begin his research-- so he got on his scuba gear and prepared to get a first hand look at some  soupy flora and fauna.

He didn't realize his mistake until the nearsighted giant (a recently minted vegan) mistook him for a lump of eggplant, and slurped him down.

The scuba gear got him through the worst of it, and he went on to have other, largely non-scientific adventures.

The giant(who had bad indigestion) decided to leave off the eggplant when he made soup in the future.

This is an older painting of mine, from way back when I did my senior thesis show for my BFA.  At the time, I was obsessed with 1" flat brushes.  I guess I just liked wide stripes for some reason!   But anyhoo, this was a wall of an old train depot at the museum where I worked at the time.  I loved the long, plain wall, and the way the door just kind of hanged there.  I'm sure it had actual steps at one time, but since moving it to the museum, they stopped using the door and so they probably never felt the need to build a step there.

The whole idea of my thesis was to highlight plain, ordinary spaces that most artists wouldn't choose as subjects.  A lot of walls, mainly!

Well, it finally got kinda cold here in Tennessee... but nothing like it was in Green Bay last night. My face hurt just watching the game on TV! If you want to get a feel for being cold... just add a scoop of ice cream to your head like SocMo. Of course... you would have to be PLAIN nuts to do that!

She takes her coffee plain with no frills. Caffeine--straight up! This illo was inspired by a friend of mine who loves her coffee and caffeine, but really can't handle it. You know when she's slipped and had coffee. She talks a mile a minute and can't sit still.

I usually like mixing them myself.  A ratio of 2 plain to 1 peanut is the perfect combo.  Haven’t tried any of the ‘exotic’ M&M’s flavors.

An illustration done last week for Illustration Friday's theme of stitch. So why a painted bunting for this theme? Well, there's an answer to that here – if'n you want it. Access to a more detailed version can also be had here.

I think this is the longest I've gone without drawing an illustration friday challenge since I started, back in 2005. My excuse is that I was coding my website and I had to figure out how to do that before I could work on it. But it's all done now, except for the very important step of having Dan-the-computer-guru make sure it all works, so I'm back.

Maybe it's the Pennsylvania in me, but when I thought of Stitch and Plain, I knew this was the image I had to do. Amish women are usually quilting something when they aren't working, and I can't help but think they're quilting their world into every piece they make.

And of course, the people who live in the houses at the base of the seam she's stitching must have some Tales and Legends of what she's doing up there....
(I know, that's cheating. I'll do another Tales and Legends image this weekend that's more on topic!)