Diner Two

New Neighborhood

Music Theory

More Sketches

909 Unique Visiters!

Well my blog stats reached a new record today, and I have NO idea why. 909 unique visitors on Wed Feb 13! Wow! My statcounter only covers the last hundred, so where the first 800 came from I will never know.

Thanks for visiting! :0)

On a side note, I've caught up on responding to comments--sorry I fell a bit behind. Looking forward to visiting some blogs as well!

Pighouse Diner Final

Color Study

This paper was definitely not meant for watercolors--it buckled terribly--but I like the texture it left in the colors.

Double Page Spread - Meteor Shower

Illustration Friday 2 : Choose

More Health Food

Health Food

Pighouse Diner-rough sketch

Bakery

What Dogs Dream

Mice...Lots Of Them

Reunited

Illustration Friday : Choose

They choose to blame it on each other.

Pillow Fight!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Rob!

To my partner in crime. Rob doesn't have freckles like the boy in the glasses, but he has the same spirit! :-)

I have another sketch of these two characters pillow fighting which I'll probably be finishing/painting tomorrow.

Amanda Takes Her Lion for a Walk

Makeshift Coat

This is what I do with my blanket when the house gets cold.

Rain Shine

Elephant's Friend

The Great Frog Escape

Illustration Friday: Blanket

A three year old with ice cream is much warmer than a dusty old blanket...right?

Flip Horizontal

Want to know a trick? Want to get a fresh view of your work and see your awful 'hidden' mistakes with immediate results? Scan your sketch into photoshop and choose 'flip horizontal,' and it will give you a mirror image. Believe 'you-me', your weaknesses will jump out at you like an old 3-d movie. You may scream in anguish and frustration, but hey, you're still in sketch phase right? Better now than after you've spent time painting it. So get those 3-d glasses on.

If you were a fly on the wall during the seconds before I flip my sketch, it'd be similar to someone waiting on their chosen answer in "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire." Will it work? Will I hit the jackpot and go right to the painting stage? Or will I have to go back to the drawing board and start over?

Completely unrelated, but just one of those strange things that happen in every day life--I injured myself with a chewable tylonal. Now, how on earth could someone manage that, you may ask. Well they come in blister packs made of some very sharp plastic, and I had it in my pocket ---and when I sat down, it scratched my leg--almost a foot long. Looked like I had met with the wrong end of a cat! Reminds me of someone I knew back in school who had to get their toe stitched after a run-in with a stale rice crispy that had gotten stuck in the carpet. I think I'll keep my tylonal injury...

'Scuse the (probably) numerous grammar, spelling and structural mistakes. It's late--3 am. And there's a reason why I never became an editor.

Blizzard

A very quick color sketch. Now much time to work these last couple of days.

Night Time Snowman

The iSpot?

I checked out the iSpot today as I've been exploring more options for promotion. Has anyone used this? It's 750 dollars to put your work up there! Wow. Would love to hear your opinions.

Bummer Summer

Thank You!

Oh me, oh my! I have been just been awarded the You Make My Day award by two very talented artists : Ginger Nielson over at Ginger Pixels, and Rachelle Anne Miller. I couldn't be more honored or flattered, especially considering the company I am in. Thank you both very much!

My five picks are (extremely hard to pick just five), in no particular order:

1. Anette Heiberg
2. Alicia Padron
3. Phillys Harris
4. June Goulding
5. Monica Carnes

Here are the details:

1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the “You Make my Day Award” logo
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

Blue Monster

Sneak

This first version is a sepia effect I found with iphoto.

A Walk in the Garden

Illustration Friday 2

A tale of the odd couple.  Sammy the dog likes to have mice for lunch, but not in the way you think.

Jamie waved one last time to the kind family who had taken him in.

Bear Bath

Illustration Friday: "Tails" and Legends

Here's a tale of tails, although this is actually quite impossible. Hippo's tails are short and stubby.

Flashlight Tag

Another Color Sketch

Illustration Friday: Plain

Just plain stubborn!

The Attack of Count Neck-Crink

It's a mystery to me.  My neck is perfectly fine, I get in bed, I fall asleep, I wake up--BAM!  I can't move.  I mean, I could move if I wanted, but only if I want to be in agony.  And don't even think about looking to the left, or right.  Did I sleep-walk around my room and do some midnight head-banging?  Did I drift in a dreamlike state to my car and run it into a brick wall? What on earth happened in the night between laying down and waking up that caused my neck muscles to do a salsa, foxtrot and merengue?!  Needless to say, I spent most of today in bed--the first part unable to lay down, and the second unable to sit up.  In fact I searched in vein for a comfortable pain-free position.  I have yet to find it even as I type this.  I at least got some rough sketches done which you'll find posted here.  More sketches for this manuscript that I intend to send off in all it's imperfect glory.  I can't wait for perfect anymore--perfect never comes, and I have to keep reminding myself of that.  :-)

And p.s. the pigs are unrelated to my story.  Pigs are always showing up uninvited in my drawings--they sure have their nerve!

Sneaky

See, she's pretending to bend down and play with a car, but what she really wants to do is spy on her brother and see what he's doing.  Us little sisters are good at this kind of thing.

The World Outside My Window

This is my view from the studio today.  And usually this gets me inspired to draw--but for some reason, I just want to stare out at the falling snow and sip breakfast tea with honey. 

Taken with the 'photo booth' program of my new (and wonderful) Macbook Pro *heart*

Help!

Which is a stronger style for a story about a brother and sister? I've been trying to decide all day. :-\ These were both done fairy quickly as test images, so it's not the strength of the drawings themselves I'm worried about, but the style choice. My Kingdom for some fresh eyes!

Illustration Friday: Stitch

He's going to get a stitch in his side after eating all that food!  Click to enlarge.

Waiting

Final Decision

After lots of different styles and character sketches, I've finally decided on something that I feel fits the manuscript best.  I'm excited to be moving forward with this.  Maybe I'll actually send it off?  I've been working on stories and ideas for a couple years now without submitting anything.  I think it's time to take the plunge.