I find it helps to organize chores into categories.
1) Things I won't do now
2) Things I won't do later
3) Things I will never do. . .

Ahhh. . .I feel much more organi zed!

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Kelly Light taught a Character Design 101 workshop at the NESCBWI 2012 conference which Jennifer Morris attended.  In the workshop Kelly had them do an exercise.  They made a grid and drew a random shape in each box, then were asked to see if they could make characters out of each one.  Jenn thought it would be fun if a group of illustrators I belong to did this. So here are the shapes and here are my really quick characters.  

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Cup of coffee in hand and breakfast finished I am out to change the way the world views my blog and website. Hoping to combine both!!! Wish me luck! I will be combining both my kids are and my fine art on this blog.  Not sure how I am going to do it yet. . .but I will!

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Somehow my blog always gets left behind.  I really want to share, and I do think about it and then just don't do it.  Got to focus. 

I have been doing a lot of traditional acrylic and oil painting  Might start showing those here too.

All the sketches are approved for the next book, Deductive Detective and I just got approval to paint the cover.

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From double page spread I illustrated for Ten for Me! Published by Sylvan Dell Publishing

There was no suspense who had collected the most butterflies that day. Ed was not into suspense at least while he was winning. . .

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Available February 10, 2012

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I have not always loved to do character studies or design.  I have often thought of it as tedious, but most recently I have found it to be quit delightful and the most fun.

Here mouse is one of the fourteen characters in the book I am currently illustrating.  More to come!

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One of the groups on Facebook that I belong to is showing their studios. . .so I thought I would share mine here on my blog too.  Notice the two dog beds under my drafting table. . .love my dog buddies. . .they are usually in there. . .they must be outside playing!!!

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Here is another one of the toy sketches. . .as before there was no wind up on it, but I love them. . .so added it. I believe this is Heckle or Jeckle, which was a cartoon about two crows when I was a very young child. 

One of my favorite pass times in working in my yard and today I spent some much needed time in my yard.  I love being outside and today was just perfect for that.  We were fortunate to have a beautiful yard already in place when we moved in here a little over a year ago, although since that time we have taken our 6 redwood trees and replaced them with three fruit trees and added a raised planting bed.  I pulled a gazillion weeds and trimmed our fruit trees way back.  Net week my husband will put some dormant spray on them.  After our recent day of rain, there are many more weeds, so I will have to spend more time out there. . .love that!

That is the green barrel for my weed and branches. . .

Also on the agenda is wrapping presents.  I still haven't wrapped on present. . .and it's only four more days!!!!

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I am finding it harder and harder to color digitally. . .since I recently started to explore traditional medium I am finding digital so clunky and hard to love as much as I did.  I will still do most of my art digitally, but have a new love. . .I believe in the near future, like maybe tomorrow, I will explore doing traditional kids art!

Here is another sketch.  Most of these are done early morning either at home or Starbucks or at night watching tv.

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I have taken the advice of Will Terry. . .so I am going to start blogging as if this were my journal.  Won't get to personal I promise, but he made a great point and I believe blogging is an important step and long been coming. I can't say that each post will be written perfectly and that each thing I post will be interesting to anyone but me. . .but I am gonna do it!!! The process of blogging always seemed so hard for me, but now that I know even if no one else reads it, it is a journal of me as an illustrations and my life.  As of today this blog is about change and progress is expected to happen.

To start the process off I am sharing a sketch done recently.  I have been sketching daily for sometime now and will post some of those sketches here. They are not perfect. . .but these are things I enjoy and I need to start being less afraid of sharing myself.  I often see others who are highly trained and or have huge talent and I find it makes me shy in showing my work sketches.  Here we go. . .I have been really loving wind up toys as of late. . .

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Another Newly released Book published by Sylvan Dell Publishing. . .An incredible publisher

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Whew I just finished the animations for my latest books.  Here is the first one, Hey Diddle Diddle, published by Sylvan Dell Publishing.

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People have been asking for these and I am so sorry it has taken me a long time on the last few books. All I can say is I have been so very busy with my daughters wedding and life. For anyone who would like me to send them a signed bookplate for any of my books, please send me a private message either via Facebook or email me.

 

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Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
By W.B. Yeats

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Sadly there is a lot of misconception about artist and their creativity.  I know I am blessed to be able to be an artist for half my adult life, the other half I worked in the banking industry, I am sure most artists feel a double edged sword if they have chosen to try to eek a living out of their art.

Before becoming an artist for a living, it took me many years of practice and going to college before I started on my art career, I used to think that artist were given their talent by God . . .and some are. That alone is probably the reason I didn't become an artist in the first place. I didn't feel I had enough talent to succeed so I didn't give it a go. My talent needed to be developed through classes and many hours of study. I believe that in most cases God has given the artist the desire to learn how to paint and draw. It takes many hours of long hard studying and work. Once I did get through art college I found that the daily structure of having to do it for a living with long days and nights of hard deadlines, somehow hurt that romantic flavor of creating. Not saying I don't enjoy it, I do and I do feel blessed to do it, and I am thankful to God for giving me the drive to succeed. But it is hard. . .it's a lot of hard work. . .and it's just that work. I feel that those who do succeed in having art as a career succeed not only because of their talent but because of long hard hours that other artist may not have put in. Some are given a gift from the get go of being able to create beautiful illustrations, but for most of us it's a long hard journey. One last note. Most artists also find it hard to turn the art machine off, which might be the reason so many of us burn out. It's an addiction to create.

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Dear Starbucks Friend and Fellow Citizen:

I love our country. And I am a beneficiary of the promise of America. But today, I am very concerned that at times I do not recognize the America that I love.

Like so many of you, I am deeply disappointed by the pervasive failure of leadership in Washington. And also like you, I am frustrated by our political leaders' steadfast refusal to recognize that, for every day they perpetuate partisan conflict and put ideology over country, America and Americans suffer from the combined effects of paralysis and uncertainty. Americans can't find jobs. Small businesses can't get credit. And the fracturing of consumer confidence continues.

We are better than this.

Three weeks ago, I asked fellow business leaders to join me in urging the President and the Congress to put an end to partisan gridlock and, in its place, to set in motion an upward spiral of confidence. More than 100 business leaders representing American companies - large and small - joined me in signing a two-part pledge:

First, to withhold political campaign contributions until a transparent, comprehensive, bipartisan debt-and-deficit package is reached that honestly, and fairly, sets America on a path to long-term financial health and security. Second, to do all we can to break the cycle of economic uncertainty that grips our country by committing to accelerate investment in jobs and hiring.

In the weeks since then, I have been overwhelmed by the heartfelt stories of Americans from across the country, sharing their anguish over losing hope in the strongest and most galvanizing force of all - the American Dream. Some feel they have no voice. Others feel they no longer matter. And many feel they have been left behind.

We cannot let this stand.

Please join other concerned Americans and me on a national call-in conversation on Tuesday September 6th hosted by "No Labels," a nonpartisan organization dedicated to fostering cooperative and more effective government. To learn more about the forum and the pledges, visit www.upwardspiral2011.org

America is at a fragile and critical moment in its history. We must restore hope in the American Dream. We must celebrate all that America stands for around the world. And while our Founding Fathers recognized the constructive value of political debate, we must send the message to today's elected officials in a civil, respectful voice they hear and understand, that the time to put citizenship ahead of partisanship is now.

Yours is the voice that can help ignite the contagious upward spiral of confidence that our country desperately needs.

With great respect,
Howard Schultz

chief executive officer, Starbucks Coffee Company

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Here is my next painting.  Not sure why it looks washed out a bit on the right side. . .it is 24 x 25 acrylic on hardboard with a crackle medium undercoating before painting. Odd size I know, but it's that size, because that is how big the guy at Home Depot cut it.  I had asked to have the board cut in half. . .the other one is not square either. That's okay. . .I like it. These are totally not real plants or birds. . .felt very creative so I invented my own. 

I love that crackle finish!!!!! 

Now onto the next painting.  I am going to try my hand at more of a painting collage with maybe some other things attached to it. Onward and upward! Might use the crackle finish again. . .but maybe not.

I do have a smaller canvas 12 x 12 all crackled and ready to go too and I might do that one first.  Square. . .I am attracted to square art at the moment. 

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