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So, I think I can safely say that today, I was one hot chick!

Anything over 75 degrees is too hot for me. So let’s just say today’s weather topping off at 109 really ruffled my feathers!

I don’t want to count my chickens before they’re hatched, but IS IT FALL YET?!!

A snazzy, jazzy daddy and no grander salamander than Zoot Suit Newt!

Sketches from Drawn to the Night on Friday!

If you’re in #Detroit Metro and you like to draw, you should come out! (Bonus: best snacks ever included!) Events are once monthly in Plymouth!

https://www.facebook.com/events/484547991677737/?fref=ts

Mitzy, Manny and Mo took eagle lookout duty very seriously.

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The Illustration Friday word of the week is “search.” I had a hankering to draw meerkats today, so these little goofballs showed up.

This here fella is a redraw from a couple of years ago… or a re-gnu-ed drawing, if you will. He seemed eager to return and join in the last party of 2013. So I threw him a bone.

Along with 2013 ending, so too concludes HoHoDooDa 2013! A hearty thanks to all of you talented participants for the camaraderie, encouragement and fantastic art you have put forth this December. It’s not easy to commit to a sketch a day at any time of the year, but around the holidays… hoooooo boy! What an inspiration!

A big thanks also to everyone who followed along and cheered us on. You can’t know how helpful and incredibly uplifting that is!

All y’all really made this holiday season heartwarmingly special! May 2014 bring each and every one of you all the love, health, prosperity and creative inspiration there is to be brought!

Happy Happy Happy New (and Gnu) Year to everyone!!!

P.S. Why not take one more peek at all the cool HoHoDooDaers right here before dipping into the cheese ball and pouring that celebratory glass of bubbly!

Another wee redraw of last year’s  “Mice Skates”

Skate on over here and check out my fellow HoHoDooDaers!

Didn’t get a doodle done today because I was finishing up my holiday cards. (Yeah, it’s tradition to be this late, thank you very much!)

So although it’s a bit of a cheat I decided to repost this from a couple of years ago. Thought it might be appropriate.

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I love holiday cards. I love getting them, but most of all I like making them.

At least it starts out that way.

There’s the initial concept. Fun!

Sketching it up. Fun!

Drawing, painting, tweaking. Fun! Fun! Fun!

But then, there is the whole standing in line at the post office because I absolutely must have those special snowman stamps.

Followed by an attempt at addressing the cards and the subsequent admitting to people that I wrote their address on a scrap piece of paper last year and my cat batted it under the couch and apparently a spider drug it away to it’s nest, so could you pleeeeeeease give me your address for the fifteenth time… and I promise I’ll key it safely into my iPhone this time!

Couple that with the fact that I waited until pretty much the last minute, even though I promised last year and the year before that and the year… ok, the past ten years that I would start in August.

Before you know it, I’ve got a holiday card meltdown on my hands.

Does any of this sound familiar? Am I alone with this?

Anywho, fun? Not so much.

But despite the griping and moaning, after all is said and done, the truth is, it’s just not Christmas until I’ve sent off all my cards and, of course, I receive that very first card in the mail, be it Christmas, Hanukkah or Festivus (I’m still waiting for my first Kwanza card.)

I just love holiday cards!

It’s tradition! Every bit of it, from fun to meltdown and I hope it never goes away!

Now get yer elfin shoes over here to see what the other doodlers have in store for you!

(Click to enlarge.)

Nothing says Holidays like a wiener dog. Am I lying?

Anywho, why not stroll on by here to see what the other HoHoDooDa Doodlers are doing!

Undaunted by his recent breakup, Murgatroyd continues to troll for love.

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Murgatroyd and myself wish y’all a Merry Kissmas! Also a Happy Egg Snog (for our friends in the UK!)

Ok now, if you can tear yourself away from these groan-worthy puns, come on over here to see what my fellow HoHoDooDa doodlers are doing.

“Christmas Rapping”
(Click for larger view of Santa and his crew gettin’ down with their bad elves.)

Why not hip hop over here and see what the other HoHoDooDa Doodlers are up to!

“Snow Bank”

 I’m not at home tonight. So I doodled with an actual pencil instead of my Wacom stylus, took a photo of it with my iPhone and am now agonizingly posting with said iPhone using WordPress app.

Way cool or horribly obnoxious? You decide.

Aunt Anna’s Anise Cookies

I made anise cookies last night. I made them to share at my Illustrator monthly meeting’s holiday cookie exchange extravaganza today.

I chose to make anise cookies and this sketch (from last year), in memory of my sweet Aunt Anna who passed away last year, at this time and who’s recipe this is.

It was passed down to her from her mother-in-law of German decent. So they’ve been a family tradition for ions and my family became part of that tradition somewhere in the 50′s, I believe.

I suppose they are an acquired taste, what with that licorice taste from the anise and all. In fact my husband and niece both called them poison cookies until those lovely, seductive, little holiday shaped biscuits finally grew on them. But to say my family loves them is an understatement and now they’ve become an even more important part of our holiday tradition.

Anise cookies.

Anna’s anise cookies.

Aunt Anna’s anise cookies.

Thank you auntie, for being such a wonderful, loving person, my godmother and for leaving us with such a lovely, sweet tasting tradition. You’re always in my heart.

“Cookie Sheet”

The puns are baaaaack!

When you get a chance swing on by here to see what my fellow HoHoDooDa doodlers are doing!

Announcing (last minute as is tradition) the beginning of HoHoDooDa 2013!

As nutty as November was, what with PiBoIdMo (thank you so much Tara Lazar!) and SkADaMo 2013, it was just what the doctor ordered as far as a shot of creative, mojo-inducing stress.

A couple of Decembers ago, to keep the momentum going, my fellow doodle pals and inspiring muses, Marion Eldridge, Laura Jacobson and I engaged in yet another month-long sketch-a-thon we dubbed HoHoDooDa, short for Holiday Doodle a Day (hmmm, not really that much shorter. Is it?) We did our best to create a holiday-themed doodle a day… or even every other day… or as often as humanly possible, throughout December.

What with the holidays and all, I admit it’s a little crazy and there may be some gnashing of teeth and tears shed, but overall, I’m sure it will be a blast and very rewarding, as it was last year. So, doin’ it again this year!

Just like SkADaMo, anyone who wants to join in is more than welcome! Regardless of what winter holiday you celebrate!

Rules for HoHoDooDa

“What are the rules for HoHoDooDa?” You may ask.

1. THERE ARE NO RULES! NO SIGN UP! NO REGISTRATION! NO GIVEAWAYS OR GUEST POSTERS!  No regulations, themes, daily words, Facebook pages or anything else resembling organization. Just lots of holiday doodling, commenting back and forth and hopefully lots of inspiration and craft honing!
HoHoDooDa Doodlers are scoff-laws and Mavricks! (Really, I’m just not that organized.) The only code we live by this month is Doodle! Doodle! Doodle! Doodle everyday from December 1 to December 31, or at least try to.
You may not Doodle every single day, but by golly you will have tried and you’ll have more doodles in your sketchbook at the end of December than you might have otherwise.
So, there’s that!

2. If you send me a link to your blog, (or wherever you are posting your HoHoDooDa doodles) I will keep a running list of all the participants and their links on my blog. This way we can all keep in touch and root each other on and enjoy the sugarplum fruits of each other’s doodle labors

If there are any broken links, bad links, I forgot anyone, misspelled anyone’s name or any other heinous act was performed, please let me know and I’ll do my best to correct it.

3. Smile, this is fun!

Doodle on my fellow HoHoDooDa Doodlers, (should there be any!)

“DOG AND PONY SHOW”

When all other ideas fail me I can always depend on my trusty animal idioms!

It’s really been fun and the SkADaMo list continues to grow. There are some really kick-butt sketches going on! Check out the list of participants (at least the ones who sent me their links) here.

With my work, everything begins with a sketch. Characters come alive. Their personalities appear with each line. Their story develops with the addition of each line.  Sometimes lines must be erased before I move on. It’s a wonderful thing to sit with pencil in hand and play with ideas. All things are possible!

But, what if real life was the same? With the stroke of a pencil we plan our future? Our personalities change? Our destination is discovered? What if with the eraser we could re-chart our course or re-do something in our past?

Actually, I truly believe this is possible!  Take a pencil and make a list of what you would like to do. Be specific. Is it a trip somewhere you have never been to?  Is it to become someone you are not?  …YET?  Is it to meet someone? Is it to accomplish something?  Allow yourself to dream a little. Imagine that whatever you write out or draw, really could come true! It will free you up.  It might unlock a place you are stuck in!

Writing it down on paper is only the beginning.  On paper you can try it out.  You can sketch it all out. You can erase and start all over. If it is to change, do a character sketch of just who you want to be.  A person who does not smoke? A person who loves others, someone who is NOT shy?  Try on all the possibilities. See yourself fly!

You may not be able to draw, but you can dream!  Write it down with your trusty little pencil!  Get yourself a brand spankin’ new sketchbook and give it a try! … and then let me know how it comes out!!