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How beautiful and filled with so much wonderful detail. I love it. It does remind me of Grandmother. How special and wonderful. Great illustration.

great blueberries! they are a favourite of mine.

Very nice, I never tasted blueberry waffles. But it sound delicious! :)

How lovely and harmonious. Your blog is very entertaining!

Thanks everyone! Blueberry waffles are a lot like blueberry pancakes, but SO much better! But then anything Grandma made was wonderful!

Beautiful colors, Roberta! What a happy illustration!
I had the same idea for snowballs :-) I'll try to post the sketch first and then I'll post the final piece with color.

This is great Roberta! Snowmen are made up of all sizes of snowballs! This is such a happy picture. Great work!

wow--this is ready to reproduce into posters! very nice colors

My vote is for weekly prompts. I am currently an illustration student and working full time. I can't spend the necessary time to develop portfolio pieces here on top of my class projects. But whatever the majority want to do is fine. I will still enjoy coming here and looking at all the wonderful pieces everyone comes up with.

Can we maybe do both? We can do the weekly prompts - which are fun, and give us a chance to flex our creative muscles, but also have the chance to work on portfolio prompts (maybe as a monthly thing or every other month) as our schedules allow. I LOVE the opportunity to develop my portfolio with feedback from this group but I also miss the fun of the weekly prompts.

Lyon, Mitchowl, Michelle: I really like your suggestions. Michelle, I think that it would be a good idea to have both--kind of a behind the scenes challenge for the month or an every other month challenge, but go back to the weekly challenges again--those are fun & I think they help us relax with a bit of creativity & flex our creative muscles a bit. I really apologize to all of you--I've been out of sorts lately with a new job (teaching gifted art at a jr high) & also feeling "unwanted" in the children's illustration world after a big (to me) rejection. Let's hear from Krisztina and the others--we should decide as a group. This is everyone's site & I just want it work for all of us. :)

I also vote for the weekly prompts, with the option of posting portfolio pieces for development and feedback as an on-going feature for members. The weekly prompts are not only fun but also much more manageable for those of us with full time jobs.
This is such a talented and diverse group of artists, we can still give and get feedback even when presenting smaller pieces.
Linda, don't feel bad about the rejection... I know it's not easy, but you know it's just one opinion. You're certainly not "unwanted" in the children's illustration world! :-)

hi girls! i see that nobody has enough time or inspiration for monthly challenge except me :) but i think weekly prompts (however made for a shorter story) need as time as working for a bigger drawing, step-by-step for a whole month. i know it's a common blog so decide it together! if monthly prompts not work - we choose the weekly one. everyone has possibility to build their own portfolio without pressure :) have a nice week to all!

hi girls! i see that nobody has enough time or inspiration for monthly challenge except me :) but i think weekly prompts (however made for a shorter story) need as time as working for a bigger project step-by-step for a whole month. i know it's a common blog so decide it together! if monthly prompt doesn't work - we choose the weekly one. everyone has possibility to build their own portfolio without pressure :) have a nice week to all!

Hi Ladies, I vote for weekly prompts if you have the time to do the portfolio projects please, please show this as well. It's so inspiring. I don't know about everyone else. but I have been overwhelmed with life and family and a whole bunch of other things. I so miss the weekly prompts and right now this is all I can bare to do at this point. I will be burying a my very long time girlfriend. She was only 36. We buried her sister just two months ago. She leaves to morn her, Son Hebrew who is 7 and her Mom. It's still unreal for all of us now. I just lost my job as well. It's just crazy. I so enjoy this little piece of happiness and joy. I find support here and much healing and comfort. Thanks you all. I'm so glad to be a part.
XOXOXOXO

I vote for a bit of both - my schedule fluctuates from month to month - so sometimes monthly is easeir than weekely, then vice-versa!

You can all go ahead and decide, I'll just fit round whatever - although - I did have a double prompt for December, based on people's skeds...

With Thanksgiving and the Holidays right around the corner, I'd be surprised if anyone could comit to anything substantial until the New Year.
Cheers!

Sorry to take forever to respond. I agree that both prompts work for me. Although I haven't been posting as much, I've been taking LAST month's prompt very seriously and have almost finished my dummy to send off. Thanks! It probably wouldn't be near completion were it not for this blog. So both ideas work well for me.

And Linda, your work is too good for you to feel unwanted! Keep doing what you're doing and sending it out and I'm sure opportunity will knock for you sometime in the future. (I sometimes feel like you, too, by the way.)

Yes please (weak smile)! I do enjoy this blog and the lovely people who contribute but have felt very guilty that I haven't been able to undertake this particular challenge. I vote for 'Back to Weekly' :)

bear is so cute and I love all the faces of bear he's adorable. I can't wait to see what you will do with him. Colors, situations, and scenes. This is really a great start Jess.

Great start, Jess! I love all the faces, I'd like to see more full body examples of Bear doing different things and from different perspectives. Very good renderings.

great! good expressions & movement--looking forward to seeing what happens with him

Oh, bears are one of my favorite characters! You got a lot of different face expressions and angles, it will be fun to see more of this little guy!

How fun. I really like the two at the bottom -- their expressions bring them to life. I also like the one hugging his knees.

oh, is his name 'bear'? really?? :)) i love bears very much! so i'm curious your work. it's a great beginning, i think. have a creative week!

It is so exciting to see this beautiful bear character at the very beginning - he's just wonderful - very alive and expressive and fun. I want to know his story!! Lovely character work - hope you have lots of fun with Bear and his adventures:-)

great colors & a very happy image!

oh Jess it's so beautiful. This looks like a fun, fun, party! The colors are so full of life and after having a few birthdays, the cards do need to get a little brighter! The composition is just wonderful. You cropped it just right. Nice work.

Congratulations on your achievement... I like the tie in. Very colorful illustration, thanks for sharing.

Lovely colors and mood. And congratulations to you too on your blog anniversary! :-)

What happy balloons! Your colors are so bright and fun.

Thank you!x

So much color and movement. Good work. I wish I was young enough to have such a fun party.

Hip, hip HOOOORAAAYY - congratulations on your one year blog birthday - that's so wonderful!!! And I love this illustration too - so much fun and bright and colorful. Wishing you many more creative blog-years and lots of space and time to create more amazing artwork:-):-)

such a great party with these adorable characters! i love it all around!

what a fun various characters and nice details. love the froggie!

So sweet! I just love how the entire gang looks ready to PARTY, especially that adorable frog. Wonderful illustration.

What a fun picture! My favorite it is the guy with the bow tie. Just looking at him makes me happy.

Oh!! I'd love to be able to join in with this party - it looks like such a lot of fun - especially to dance with the frog!!:-) This is so beautiful - I love your style and how your characters feel so full of life you half expect them to start moving and dancing! Wonderful work - really lovely!!

This is lovely, so joyful!

very magical! everyone looks so happy & they're enjoying each other's company--very nice image

A birthday parade! I love all the characters, their outfits and poses -- their happiness is contagious!

I love the partying frog. And I love the party mood of this whole piece.

so much joy and life in this group! the colors are beautifully harmonious and luminescent. i especially love the frog's pants/girl's hat.

cute bears & so hugable looking! I think they see their mommy.

Cute little bears. I like the looseness of your style.

ah, so lovely bears! i hope they can see their mother!

Very cute style. I love their simpleness. Good job.

They're such lovely bears - and I love how you've so originally incorporated the theme:-) - it's fun to imagine what they're seeing! Lovely !!

Thankyou! It was great fun to do these, I might even do some more!

I really like their little faces and expressions. They are so cute I just want to take them home. Great work.

I love the bear on the left. His expression is so woeful!

Wow, what a wonderful creation. Thank you for visiting my blog and your lovely comments.

I didn't use papers, I stamped an image onto the card and coloured with brush markers and then stamped a second image and cut the petals and coloured those with brush markers, but am pleased with the results.

Great blog by the way!!

this is AMAZING! all the characters are so fun and wonderful.

Love the gesture and expression of the hippo and all the details in the outfits. What fun!!!

Vanessa, this is truly wonderful! The characters are all so much fun (that shy hippo is my favorite, though it's really hard to pick only one!) I love the way they all hold their teacups so delicately, and the colors you used, on the animals, their outfits, everything. Fantastic!

I LOVE all these fab animals and their delightful expressions. I tried to pick a favorite, but kept changing my mind. They are all great.

I, too, love it. I think my favorite character is the goofy giraffe and his spotty spots. So cool.

Vanessa, this is a wonderful illustration! Love the animals, the color, the design. Great!
Linda

I love the humor and colors and details you put into your work. It always makes me happy!

This is absolutely wonderful!! such fantastic animals...and their clothes...their expressions...the feeling of joy and delight. it's just beautifl!!! As a child I also would have adored your pictures:-)

Very nice work Girly, you did a great job. I think it's wonderful. At least you posted your stuff already I still have to come up with something. Oh well, I'm going to watch the DVD and get inspired. Again Wendy great work.
V

Congratulations! And great image!
Linda

that is so lovely, and it translates beautifully into the crossstich pattern. Great job.

That's beautiful. If I didn't spend so much time painting I might take up cross-stitch. Congratulations on a job well done.

What a beautiful image! There's a nostalgic feel to it, and you can see how it would translate well into a cross-stitch pattern. It's delightful!

How awesome is that?!? Congratulations. And, by the way, my son LOVES your mouse. He wanted to see it up close a week ago. What a beautiful picture.

I like her a lot. Very nice illustration. I think you did a fabu job. If only I could put these hips into that outfit. Great job and yes I got your email. Did you get mine?

Fun! I especially love the decorative border. It ties the piece together perfectly. Thanks for sharing.

I also love the border. A mermaid, huh? Are you missing the beach? ha ha

V- I sent a reply with a crit request.

M- Last time I was at a beach was nearly 3 years ago. Could be something subliminal, eh?

She's lovely with great hair--really like the ribbon w/fish border. Very nice illustration!
Linda

This is a scribble? It's lovely, especially the border, her hair and the fish tail!

How pretty! I enjoy the details on her tail and her hair.