When I saw the word of the day, I thought this would make the perfect picture. I'd started the drawing back when the word of the week was Hollow-- but you'll need to Magnify this to see all the little creatures Wrapped up inside here, and away from the storm. We've got a cold dreary day today, so it was a perfect time to work on something cozy! Looks like the mousie has a cold, but fortunately, his friends are taking good care of him.

Updated to add- This print now available in my Cafepress Shop

I started this drawing back when the word of the week was Impatience. I've been waiting on a number of important things, and my first thought was to draw a clock... and then that idea spread to the concept of time more generally.

Time is such a frustrating thing. It speeds up when we want it most, and hangs around when all we can do is count the ticks. It comes in signatures, seasons and sunsets, all of which are present in the clock face above.

Yes, it really is a clock face-- but I made it every bit as twisty as time feels to me this month. I decided to pick out the numbers in the colors that constitute my synaesthetic worldview. I'd never drawn them in their "correct" colors before, and it was fun. They're actually a bit more saturated in my mind's eye. I was afraid they'd blend together if I made them darker!

You'd have to use plenty of caution if this were a real clock; it would make you dizzy, so forget about using it on the dashboard of your car.

Still, you could do it. Dan thought it might be fun to build and program a real model. We might have to give that a shot-- with chips and lucite and LEDs.

Not sure what kind of modifications the kid is making here, or where that bridge is going, but it looks like it might be fun to find out.

Experimenting with a new wacom pen... idle seemed pretty appropriate.

File this under better late than never. Did the sketch here sitting in an airport terminal, one of life's less-than-green locations, which probably accounts for the leafiness. I'll let you work out the tango connections.
:D

Life craziness has prevented my drawing lately, but this topic reminded me of a drawing I did a couple months back, so I scanned and played with it a bit.

This is an image from a dream I had-- someone held a small doll's house out for me to see, in the kitchen of my childhood home. I peered inside, and suddenly was there, in a room with someone playing on a piano, and dark blue thunderclouds and a brilliant white horizon over a plain outside the windows. Within the dream, every time I walked in or out of a door, I was somewhere completely different-- and a hundred years had passed.

I still mull that one-- makes me think about all the layers of the world, large and small, that spin along around us, unseen. It would be so interesting to be able to walk through them at will...
and then come home.

We're assembling the course schedule this week... and then I'm going to be spending some serious quality time at the library.
I have a feeling that there will be books on our list from all the various responders on my last post-- great suggestions!

Coming up with a reading list for an intro to YA lit class this fall.
There are sooo many good options to choose from, I know-- maybe you can help?

Let's say you've got a kid who isn't familiar with the genre, and about ten books to assign.
One slot is already taken up by Twilight(yeah, I know. But we're succumbing to pressure from the kids). Other definites are Speak (LHA), I am the Messenger(Zusak), and Persepolis (Satrapi).

That leaves 6 other books to show this kid the best of the genre...

What would you choose?

I guess it's a bit of a stretch, combining these two topics...

But I think you could say that this lizard has an instinct for celebration.

The Graphic novel Winners were:

Midgrade:'



Rapunzel's Revenge-- a delightful reworking of the fairy tale by Shannon,Dean and Nathan Hale

and YA:



Emiko Superstar-- a tale of art, and love and finding oneself from Mariko Tamaki and Steve Ralston-- on of the last of the Minx publications.

I loved both of these stories, and am very happy that they won-- will be posting about the others we reviewed this week. We had so many good stories-- I'm really excited about the new developments in this genre!

Click on the Cybils image above to see the other winners on this year's list.

Congratulations to everyone!

This is a detail from a picture I did some years back when Dan and I did a lot more climbing-- he'd requested that I do a cliff. Of course, I felt compelled to add a little more story to the picture than just the story in the layers of stone-- though that's a pretty huge story all by itself.

When I saw that today's prompt was "time", I got to thinking about this image... and then about last week's "flaw" prompt as well.

Time batters us, like ocean batters the shore. The weakest structures are the first to rejoin the sea, while the strongest remain, twisting interesting shapes into our faces.

Are we shaped more by our weaknesses, or our strengths?

It's been a crazy month, and I have really missed having time to do illo friday. This one was kind of cathartic for me-- one of those times when I connected with the word and an image popped into my head immediately.

Maybe it's the economic crisis, maybe war, maybe something closer to home-- but I bet you've been where this guy is. The walls hold a lot of shadows, some nights...

We're all hoping that rumors of livejournal's demise are premature.
Just in case they aren't, and if you like this journal-- in the event that lj goes belly up, I will be switching to my back up space over at blogger:
http://lizjonesbooks.blogspot.com

I really like lj, so unless it disappears, this will remain my blog. I would really miss the friends page on the other platforms... I like facebook well enough, but it's no replacement. Here's hoping none of this is necessary!

I wish everyone a year full of good news crowding out bad news, love, friendship, and good health.

Harry and Thelma were so similar.
Both loved dancing barefoot in the moonlight, for instance.

And the last of my black friday images--

I always think that milkweed seeds look like tiny balloons, floating in late autumn winds.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Here's an owl composed of the things that owls like to eat. If you click in for a closer view, you'll see a lot of birds, and mice, and bats, and the occasional weasel...
Wise old owl? Or just a hungry one...








Image now available on My Cafepress Shop

It is this sheep's considered opinion that berries always taste better after a hard frost.

Mama bear found a vacant tree, just in time for the first real storm of the winter.

In honor of Black Friday, I'm going to post a bunch of images I've done over the past few weeks and had no time to post for Illustration Friday.
(the black is for the black ink of the originals)

I doubt I'll post these in order, but I think I've got one for each of the prompts.
Four of these five are postcards I did for an online exchange.(the owl is the exception)

Why "Pretend" for a still life?
When I think of still life, I think about how we're pretending that we can hold on to the ripeness and beauty of things at their peak. Stillness is a lie, in a world of perpetual transformation.

I am thankful for friends and family near and far, time to spend, and stories to share. Hope you all had a wonderful day!