IF: Sweet/Children

Well...I am a week or so behind, but I did finish my 'Sweet' illo for the Illustration Friday -5/31/13 theme. And I have a sketch in the work's for this week's CHILDREN theme...just in time for Father's Day!!!!

(that's a National Geographic they are looking at, btw :)

IF: Liquid

*Brain Freeze*

IF: Future

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt

Hug A Bug...

Or a tree... 

Or a cat...if you prefer.

Haven't had much time to do anything other than doodle but I am keeping the pencil lead sharpened and this chipper gal keeps popping up in my sketchbook.

Hope to be back in the studio this weekend...now that all the bits and bobs are hooked back up and put back into place.

Can't wait to incorporate elements of these two techniques into my process:

Digital Watercolor by Tracy Bishop

From Sketchbook to Screen by Renee Kurilla

*the world feels wide open and full of possibility*

HUG IT!!!

Stuck...

I won't go into the details...but I am stuck...been stuck...trying to become unstuck.  Ever get that way in life? Creatively?  How do you become unstuck w/out becoming unglued?

Still sorting out this one...Dad's arm needs to move, need to add a moustache, I don't like how the bed blends into his pants and the negative/white space is driving me batty.

Spring Break 2013

Is over... :(

I did a lot of this...

Spring cleaning and repainting rooms that haven't been retouched in 11 years.  Phew.  2 more big rooms to go and lots and lots of trim work.  But I figure it's better to get it all done this Spring so that I can devote the summer to doing lots and lots of this...

Oh...and remember when I said my daughter won Regional Gold in the Scholastic Art and Writing Contest????  WELL, she went on to win a NATIONAL GOLD MEDAL!!!!! Thanks to my loving parents we will be able to see her receive her award at Carnegie Hall later this Spring.

IF: Yesterday

"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut, that held its ground"

~David Icke

Working on painting a commission piece based on one young lady's many yesterdays with her dad

who died a few years back.

Who Am I?

And what am I doing here?

*I am an ILLUSTRATOR*

*experimenting*

A Piece of the Pie

"Simple Simon" snapshot.

I want a piece of the illustration industry pie so badly I can't stand it.  So I keep cooking up kooky illustrations, concocting portfolio pieces, & baking up my style brand.

here is a peek at a piece I just completed for the 4th Annual SCBWI-Carolinas Art Contest.  I am stoked because Lucy Cummins, Art Director, Simon & Schuster, is this year's judge. She critiqued our portfolios at the 2011 regional conference and I just fell in love with her infectious enthusiasm for children's books and her uncanny sense of humor. I've grown tremendously since that review and I can't wait to gain further feedback from her professional eyes.

Simple Simon - WIP

sim·ple·ton

  [sim-puhl-tuhn]

noun

an ignorant, foolish, or silly person.

Origin: 

1640–50; simple + -ton

Synonyms 

dolt, fool, numskull, blockhead, ninny, dope.

*think I've got it covered?*

Let Them Eat Cake...

No PIE!!!!

I'd forgotten how liberating working on tracing paper can be.

Also, how liberating loose leaf can be.  Something magical happens when you feel free to turn the paper around...or wad it up and pitch it out.

I become less married to the sketch and and less afraid to start over when something isn't working.

Why do we feel the need to memorialize our sketches?  Does the author feel compelled to save every first draft?

So Proud.

My daughter earned a Regional Gold Key Award in the 2013 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. There were a whopping 39 award recipients from her school alone, out of 2500 Regional entries. What a talented group of kids. They are our future and I am so proud. I am wishing the best of luck to all the Gold Key Award recipients as their work now goes up to NYC to be juried by Scholastic for the Nationals.

Cat-Dog Doodles

Cat.

Dog.

Behind the wheel for this week's Illustration Friday theme.

Funny thing, this one. My Ridgeback, Rufus, LOVED to go bye-bye in the car. The day he died we spent the morning hours, before he crossed over, just driving.  I bought him chicken nuggets.

I miss him very much.

But as I doodled this sketch the brain started to stretch and it gave me a funny PB idea...let's see where this one takes us.

Chicago Love Story

*Sighs*
It's February, the month of LOVE!!! Don't get me wrong.  I love. I really do.  Just not this whole notion that we need a singular day in which to celebrate that singular emotion. Probably stems from my grade school days when I got shafted on the Valentine tally.

So I thought I'd show you some sketches for commissions I've been working on.  They are for a young lady, living in Chicago with her hubby, chubby white cat, two chocolate labs, and one bun in the oven, whom I respect and admire (and love) for her positive spirit, generous heart, inward & outward beauty and the wicked tattooed sleeve she sports on her left arm.

I posted earlier sketches of the pups & elements from her second commission request here.

IF: Wings

I remain mum on the topic...of Cupid & Valentines...not wings. Those are pretty cool. I wouldn't mind a pair or two, well glued, and not capable of carrying me too close to the sun.