Summer hasn't officially started yet, if you go by the calendar, but if you go by the weather, its definitely here! It was 107 one day last week, and if that's not a reason to break out the popsicles, I don't know what is.
This is a little promo piece for my children's book portfolio. I thought I might break out the watercolors, but at the last minute reached for my colored pencils after all.
This was done with Caran d'ache Pablos (oil based) on Fabriano Artistico Hot Press paper. I'm still getting used to the grain of this paper. I love it - but its very different than Stonehenge, which I've been using for so long. Stonehenge has a kind of 'over all' bumpy, sandpaper-like grain - except its not at all like sandpaper. Its just an even, more 'dotted' texture. Fabriano has a more 'grid-like' back and forth, woven sort of grain. So the pencils make a different kind of mark on each of them. I work in a circular stroke (mostly), so there's been a bit of a learning curve in getting them to work the way I want them too. No complaints! Just sharing fiddly details.
Last night I found myself thinking about Christmas art. I know, right? Every year I wait until the last minute to get my act together, but not this year! I'm going to start right now, as soon as I finish typing out this blog post. Really. No, I mean it.
OK, but seriously, there's a lot on the board - some in the planning stages, and some half or more than half done. The new website is almost there, but not quite. There's a whole new line of art for a whole new 'thing' that's gestating in various stages around the studio. I've been doing a good deal of purging of old stuff that's been taking up space in file drawers for too long, and it feels really good! The tax people are never going to audit me for 2006, so good-bye old receipts; and no one must ever find the art for those old projects - the ones you do for the money but never admit to or show the art from. Every now and then I watch an Episode of Hoarders, just to keep myself from 'going there' (don't worry, I'm nowhere even on the same planet as that, but when I get even a little bit of clutter starting on a desktop or drawer, I think, "this is how it starts . . . ").
I'm also knitting, getting stuff ready for my little etsy knitting shop for Fall and Winter. Every evening my kitties come out on the porch with me and hang out while I knit a bit, after a day of coloring and cleaning. The rest of the day they do this. If they're not hunting. The one on the left caught a huge lizard yesterday - omg - but I was able to rescue it and put it back outside. Never a dull moment . . .
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YAY! I have never heard of this but hoarders? this is definitely interesting. LOVE your review, Shelley
LOVED reading Sound, by the way
Your reader,
Soma
http://insomnia-of-books.blogspot.com/
Followed the link from BlogHer, so..."Hi!" I stopped watching Hoarders awhile ago, but what an impact it made on me. My heart hurt for these people, and their families, every time I watched the show. The book sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out!
@Soma - Thank you, thank you! :)
@Alien - Yes, this is like looking at the show from a different angle; the focus is on the teen child of the hoarder rather than the hoarder herself. And of course this is a fictional work, but the actual hoarding part and the emotional toll it takes are very realistically portrayed. Not a hard read, but a deep one for YA.