Busy Little Elf

This year I have been one busy little elf! Whew!  I have been making handmade gifts for those very special people in my life. There has been a whirl wind of knitting needles and paint brushes.  I love making presents for certain people in my life...you know the ones who will really appreciate the time, effort, and thought you put into their gift.....the ones who could care less how much money you dished out......the ones who will go on and on about how wonderful your gift is.... whether it really is or not! You know who I am talking about right....PARENTS!  I'm thinking they used to hang some truly awful stuff of mine on their fridge, right?

This year I had my sis look through our old family photo albums and send me some digital copies of a few pics that I knew would be full a memories for my parents.  I am not good at painting or drawing good likenesses of people, but I knew in this case it was more about the memory and less about the skills.

This one is for my Mom.  It is of the two of us snapping green beans from our massive summer garden.  This is a really fun memory for me.  I hope she likes it.

This one is for my Dad.  I like to call it Daddy's Little Helper!  This is of my dad and my younger sis...pretty cute!

Hope everyone had a joyous and blessed Christmas!  My love to everyone!

Elephant Bath

Sorry it has been so long since my last post, no excuses really.  This elephant painting has been sitting unfinished on my art table for months and finally finished it last week. I think it is pretty cute and I could probably give it a dozen different titles like....."Get Your Feet Wet" or "My Life Is A Circus",  you get the idea!   I guess what I like best about this is the cute little story that is playing out. Do you think these kids are part of the circus? or did their "circus friend" just wander over?  and why doesn't she/he want to be in the water? I thought elephants loved taking baths! Hope you like this one.

I did have some big news since my last post which was the release of my first published illustrations,  "An Okoboji Day".  I am pretty happy with the way this book turned out being my first and all. And my author, Debbie Parks was fun and full of great ideas. She had a vision for this book which was very inspiring. I hope to get the opportunity to illustrate again but if I don't I will always have this accomplishment.  I don't know which way God will lead me in my art career, I will just patiently wait on Him to direct my path.

Here are some of my favorite illos from "An Okoboji Day".