with these little treasures!!!
so, i thought i'd combine my love of winter with my other love of Christmas by making these precious holiday ornaments featuring PRINTS of my three whimsical winter girls...
Icelyn,
Crystal and
Glacia.
the ORIGINAL DRAWINGS are also FOR SALE. links posted under the photos below.
pick up one (or all three) of these one of a kind little lovelies to add some sparkle to your tree!
The book is arriving soon. Really soon. Before you know it, I'll be asking you to fork over some of your hard earned cash to read it.
Until then, here's some free stuff.
16. TEMAZCAL
The heat was sweltering. The summer had been particularly rough and dry, and altogether uncomfortable. This was an angry heat, tailor-made for the suffering of those forced to live through it. In the backyard of the Jarvis family, tucked safely beneath the shade of a thick-trunked Oak Tree, sat the house of the family dog, Mr. Button. Built when Button was a pup, the years were noticeably rough on the modest dwelling. The rain had warped its walls and rusted the nails holding them perilously in place. Once a crisp, almost blinding shade of white, the paint had been peeling away for quite some time, exposing the worn and damaged wood beneath in softball sized clumps of pure ugly. The roof was little more than ragged jumble of partially rotted materials, and the likelihood of the structure's collapse grew substantially with every passing day. So pathetic was this shell of a once proud doghouse that Mr. Button had taken to lying outside rather than in. Even he was capable of understanding it was a disaster waiting to happen.
Despite the heat and the ever-present fear of being buried beneath a heap of rotted wood, jagged sheet metal and copper colored nail chips, eight year old Tommy Jarvis had been sitting cross-legged inside the funky-smelling piece of construction for hours. His hair was soaked with perspiration, his clothes drenched so thoroughly they could literally be ringed out. The dirt beneath him transformed into a moist, muddy-wet stew of yellow-tinted sweat and soil that smelled as bad as it looked. His throat was dry and his lips cracked to the point that that act of running his tongue across their surface no longer accomplished anything at all.
Despite his aching bones, and the fact that his vision had begun to blur, young Tommy had no intentions of leaving.
He was determined to remain exactly where he was. He wanted to sit there, and stay there, and keep himself angry, because anger was what he was feeling, and because it was all he wanted to feel. Would it have been possible, Tommy might have sat in that exact spot forever, until his skin peeled away, caught the breeze and fluttered off, until his bones turned to dust and became indiscernible from the ground beneath.
This book was put into my hands by a colleague who said that it was a much buzzed about title. The cover was cute enough to get my attention, and since I knew I was going away for the weekend, it was perfect timing as well.
Petra's father has just been returned home from the Prince's castle broken, bandaged and bloody. She cannot understand what has happened. Her father was to go to Prague to build a beautiful clock for Prince Rodolfo...what could have made the Prince steal her father's eyes, of all things?
Petra knows that she must get her father's eyes back for him. He needs them in order to work and support his family. He is, after all, a magician when it comes to metal, and besides regular things like clocks, he has made a virtual zoo of animals out of tin. Petra's own pet spider Astrophil was made by her father. Astrophil not only moves independently, but he can also talk to Petra. She keeps him up in her hair, and consults with him on many matters.
Petra comes up with a plan to go to Prague and work at the castle. She figures that she will be able to steal her father's eyes back. What she doesn't count on is Prague itself. She comes from the country side, and it is not very long before she is pursuing a gypsy boy (Roma) who has stolen her purse. As fate would have it, she catches Neel, and is soon befriended by his family. She quickly finds out that her father's magic is not the only kind of magic. The Roma have many different types of magic themselves. With the help of Neel's sister, Petra is soon in the castle, and that much closer to her goal of finding her father's eyes.
What will happen if she gets them? Prince Rodolfo is a vengeful man, and while Petra is only thinking of her father, she is certainly not thinking of the long term.
Marie Rutkoski has penned a magical tale filled with adventure, fantasy, exploration, and drama. I do admit, I had a slow start. The mechanics of the metal animals did not grab me at first. Once Petra was on the road, however, I was hooked. Petra is strong willed and clever, and Neel and his family add intrigue and danger to Petra's adventure. Astrophil is endearing and a scene stealer himself. As a reader I found myself both disappointed and excited about the subtitle of "The Kronos Chronicles: Book I". Sometimes I yearn for stand alone stories...I am a bit impatient that way. The Cabinet of Wonders certainly gallops toward the end, and readers will anxiously await the next installment. An equal opportunity read that will be eagerly snatched up by girls and boys alike.
I just finished this illustration to go with a poem a friend wrote to submit to Highlights magazine. How could I not post it this week? I'm actually going to get to the studio at some point today or tomorrow to paint something else for this word. Still, I wanted to share this one...especially for my good pal Ms. Froggie! Here's the poem by my friend, Richard Robins.
Some frogs are green.
Some frogs are brown.
Some are skinny,
Some are round.
Some are big with
bulging eyes,
While others are a
miniature size.
For Illustration Friday's prompt : Leap
acrylic and colored pencil on Canson pastel paper
See other Leap post here!
I made this,
and these,
and this. That's all. I'm just sayin'. :)
Just a few Christmas frogs.
My boy frogs have been known to go pantsless.
Some fancy frogs for the monthy challenge.
Acrylics, cut paper, and fancy flower and bows.
Sounds interesting--I'll look for it!
I enjoyed this book, and I especially liked Astrophil. I hadn't heard of the Prague Astronomical Clock before reading this book. I'm looking forward to reading the next installment.
Angela: I hope you like it!
Charley: I hadn't heard of the clock either. So cool!
I checked this book out of the library, then returned it, then heard good things and checked it out again, then thought I had too much to read and returned it once again, but after your review I might have to give it a third shot.
So many good books, so little time.
And I totally agree with your take on series. Sometimes it is so nice to have a stand alone where there is a definite conclusion.
Hi Casey: Give it a go. Once they get to Prague, it's quite exciting.
I was lamenting the death of the stand alone with a friend the other day. Hopefully the next 2 books will be super!