Do you ever talk with fellow artists about how much fun it would be to share tools and techniques and just play for an afternoon? On Saturday, several Austin illustrators got to do just that when the talented and organized Marsha Riti made a good idea into an afternoon of craft at the lovely home of Luz Marie Iturbe. So much fun to try out media that you might never invest in just to play! With everyone bringing in a little something to share, you realize which tools are worth getting for your own studio.

I am now in love with liquid watercolor. I had one bottle that I never really used; but getting to play with the whole set of colors suddenly opens up possibilities. I will be making a Jerry's trip this week.
The effect when you drop the color onto wet watercolor paper is pretty divine. On the right, some liquid watercolor had dried on Yupo watercolor paper (propylene) and reminded me of Fiver's visions in Watership Down (saw the movie at a young age, and it stuck with me).

Another artist brought in tools to do impressing on paper, which adds line and texture under the graphite or colored pencil that follows. I had some fun making wave patterns. The alligator is done in watercolor pencil.

Trying out some liquid frisket to create texture on an orange. And after using a piece of the Yupo paper as a palette for the liquid graphite I was playing with, the resulting spot reminded me of a gorilla head.

Thanks to Marsha for organizing us and to Luz Marie for being such a wonderful host (with a totally fun trampoline)! And thanks to the other illustrators for bringing and sharing your tools of the trade.

Part of a promo with my fellow Girllustrators. A bit of Valentine's silliness.

This post could be subtitled: "How I learned That I Know Nothing About Acrylic Paint Or Painting On 3-D Objects." So, I had this idea several months ago that illustrated nesting dolls might be a fun project to do as a silent auction donation for the upcoming SCBWI Austin Conference. A couple of other illustrators decided to take on the challenge, too (you can see an adorable set by the talented Marsha Riti here). Things with my set started off promising enough. The robin and the key were a pretty straightforward choice with The Secret Garden theme (one of my favorite books). The largest nesting doll, which is the garden in bloom, ended up being the most challenging. After ditching the randomly placed flowers I pencilled in, I decided to use a lamp from my grandmother as an inspiration point. I went on to repaint sections of this doll at least 4 times. Lesson: opaque acrylic craft paint is nothing like watercolor and wants to clump up on your brush any chance it gets. Above you can see the attempt at translating a 2-D sketch onto a 3-D object. And the completed set, after two full afternoon sessions and lots of revisiting. This was taken just before they got their clear coat, which made them look super-glossy like real nesting dolls! They're drying for the next 24 hours, and I hope to post some photos of the final set before conference. Overall lesson: while these did turn out to be fun, they would have been even more fun if I had built in a little more learning curve time.

This week I'm doing the final illustration lap of the Round Robin collaboration with Marsha Riti and Diandra Mae. Marsha kicked it off with a beautiful setting of the scene, and Diandra created some wonderful characters and drama. Decided to add a little atmosphere.

So, it's my week to kick off our round robin collaboration.
Check in with Marsha Riti and Diandra Mae over the next couple of days to see what else develops in this scene. Happy drawing!

Conducting a little art experiment with illustrators extraordinaire Diandra Mae and Marsha Riti where we collaborate on a piece every week round robin style. Diandra handed me the most adorable, forlorn fox, and here's what I added.

Marsha, over to you for the last leg of storytelling/artmaking!

Costume idea for the manatee with a sense of humor

Joined up with other SCBWI Austin illustrators on Saturday and tried to capture the scene at "Barking" Springs: part dog park, part swimming hole. Lovely morning to sit beneath the sycamores and watercolor.

Applying the landscape style from last week (outline in indigo watercolor) to animals.

Let's start with my photo reference, a shot of Lake Como in Northern Italy from several years ago. Side note: this is one of the most beautiful, dreamy places I've ever been. I start off with a minimal sketch in HB pencil and a light pink wash for this one (I don't recommend having cat hair on your paper, as I have done, but when you've got a kitty in the studio during shedding season, it's tough to avoid) Three layers of color here More layers, lots of viridian green and prussian blue in the mix And voila. Finished sketch with watercolor and some graphite detailing on the boat and houses.

Just playing around with watercolor approaches. I posted some progress shots of these last week, but here they are "finished" and scanned.

Watercolor, charcoal & graphite
Outlines in thick indigo watercolor, filled in with transparent watercolor layers
And landscape detail outlined in softer watercolor of different colors My photo reference (the amazing Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC) and a postcard of Toshi Yoshida's woodcut "Linnoji Garden", my jumping off point for experimenting with technique.

Working on a Victorian gothic piece for this weekend's SCBWI conference in Houston, but the images in my head are more influenced by the subtle textures and earth tones and blazing blue skies of the desert. Took a trip last weekend to Palm Springs with some high school friends that I rarely get to see, and it was a lovely time filled with desert hikes, swims in a saltwater pool, delicious food (still thinking about that tender porkbelly and buttermilk onion ring sloppy joe at the ACE hotel restaurant), and the wackiness that is Palm Springs.
Joshua Tree

Indian Canyons

Palm Springs

Alpine woods at the end of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

Marilyn, larger than life

I just read last week's 7-imp post on David Ezra Stein's Ol' Mama Squirrel, which is going on my book wishlist straight-away. Love how he captured their fierce, chastising nature, even when dealing with creatures many times their size.

I recently drew several pages of squirrels, trying to figure out the look and personalities of some that are going into a story I'm writing. Thought these guys ended up looking like what might happen on squirrels night out.

The Austin SCBWI conference kicks off tonight, with an exciting event at the Children's Museum honoring Patrice Barton, Crystal Kite winner, and full of readings by E.B. Lewis, Liz Garton Scanlon, Cynthia Leitich Smith and more. Conference also means this week has been chock full of illustration and printer wrangling. Lots of new pieces in the portfolio this time! The above sketch is a work/possible story in progress... Read the rest of this post

I feel like this guy has a story, but I'm not sure what it is yet...
My nephew stopped by while I had out the bright fuschia liquid watercolor and wanted to try it out. His snake (he's 2 and everything he draws is a snake) looked like a flamingo, so I embellished and then did one of my own. I'm partial to the energy of his! Might have to use it as inspiration to stray a little from my own comfort zone.
Do you ever feel like you hold the year in the palm of your hand? You might be right
...or maybe you just ordered a mini-calendar online thinking it would not be quite so mini.

Walking with my dog this morning out at the Walnut Creek trails, I was struck by the beauty of the glittery dew and frost and subtle golden colors of winter. My brain kept mixing watercolor paint to capture those shades, but the only tool I had on hand was my phone. And now I have my painting inspiration for the week... The frosty abandoned tennis ball might be my favorite moment.

Just thought I'd share a peek at my studio table in the last week before heading to the SCBWI conference in LA. This is an image based on a dream that I'm using for a postcard promo. Back to painting...and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Yep, more birds. Sunday evening I met up with various members of the Girllustrators and Armadillustrators in the garden of Eastside Cafe for some drawing, socializing, and lemosas (refreshing mix of frozen lemonade, champagne, and raspberry). When I first sat down, it was hard to tell the chickens apart (about a dozen birds of the same breed, with all reddish-brown feathers). But they're are pretty expressive when you hang out with them for a while. Some have puffier bits. Some just want to take dirt baths. I'm kind of into drawing chickens now...and lemosas.

Saw a green heron catch a minnow and a kingbird catch a caterpillar this morning at Shoal Creek. And yesterday an oriole was eating ants from inside the trumpet vine in the backyard (photos here).

So lovely to start off the week with a clean desk! Spent most of yesterday and some of Saturday organizing, cleaning, and paring down in my studio. I'm half minimalist, half collector/packrat, and the minimalist half got tired of all the paper monsters taking over my workspaces.

Here's what my desk looked like around lunchtime yesterday:
And this morning:

Work table before:

And after:

My studio mate, Lloyd

View from my desk chair of the trumpet vine in full bloom...dreamy!

A day full of sketching, swimming and enjoying nature at Hamilton Pool. What made it even better: got to hang out with various Armadil- and Girl-lustrators and a couple more fine folks. Seriously, if you have not been to Hamilton Pool and you are in the Austin area, you must go! Floating on your back while looking up towards a waterfall and a cliff wall covered in ferns and the daub-y nests of cliff swallows...amazing.

Inspired by all the crazy kustomized hot rods in town over the weekend (my favorite had a Chewbacca head on the top of the gear shift), and people who drive them. The eggmobile is what happened when I tried to draw this car without looking at the photo for reference.

This is what you don't want to find when you walk back to your lunch! Dedicated to Harper and her dinos.

It's Lonestar Round Up time in Austin, and yesterday I joined up with Shelley Jackson, Jeff Crosby, and their daughter, talented artist/dinosaur handler Harper, for an afternoon of sketching the South Congress scene.Shelley and Harper enjoying music at the end of the sketch day. More pictures of cars here.

Some fish that didn't end up getting used on a recent project.