Follow the Leader

Hey everyone, so sorry for not posting for quite some time.  Many distractions come my way and my illustration work always gets put to the back burner.  Well with thoughts of the kiddo's heading back to school my attention turns toward my favorite activity to do when the house is nice and quiet.....you guessed it.  Also I have a new goal.  I would like to start really working hard on putting together a nice portfolio and website.

This piece I have titled "Follow the Leader".  My original drawing did not include the cute little dog and I decided to add it at the last minute, right before I was getting ready to paint.  I really love the addition, I can't think of anything cuter! The type of dog was an easy choice.  It had to be Katie!  We lost our beloved dog of fifteen years this summer,  sweet little "Katie."

We dearly miss her and my family was excited to see her in one of my paintings.  We have a new furry bundle already and I will need to find the right illustration in which to include her.  Maybe one where she is tearing into the bathroom garbage or peeing on my daughter's bedroom floor!  LOL  It has been an adjustment for this family to get used to a young and mischievous little dog, we love her just the same.  I will share pictures of her later.  Ta-Ta for now.

Holding Your Horses

A wonderful friend of mine wrote this cute little book that she hopes to get published one day.  This is what I did for her as an example of my work.  Self-publishing can be quite expensive if you are not able to do your own illustrations.  I really hope that she is able to self-publish or find a publisher one day because this book is super cute and educational. Good luck to her.

Dreaming of Warm Weather

The weather is so cold!  I think that must be why I decided to paint a picture inspired by the last time we vacationed in the tropics.  This is the first time I have ever painted a picture of my two kids, the two cuties in the middle.  For those of you who know my son, this painting says it all! He is a leader for good or bad, but mostly good.  He loves calling the shots, making the plan, picking the teams, and in this instance, these plans do not include his little sister!  She remembers this day very well, the day the boys would not let her play. These are the trials of being a little sister and that is why I titled this one, "Little Sister".

I will say, it was fun to see my kids cute little faces while I worked on this painting.  This has inspired me to take my work in a new direction.  This year I would like to focus on "portraiture".  I just bought a book by Jan Kunz, titled "Watercolor Portraits That Glow".  The reviews were really awesome so I am  super excited for it to get here.    I have been feeling a little stuck and unfocused artistically, so it will be great to get some new inspirations and a new focus, right along with the new year!  That being said, "Happy New Year" everyone!

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".

Taking Flight

This week we have had a lot if snow and so it is hard to believe that spring is around the corner.  This painting is a "nod" to spring.  We are ready!! This work is titled "Taking Flight".  I tried a few new things with this painting.  First, I drew some swirls in the sky to add some movement....she needs some wind to fly that kite, am I right?  And then after the watercolor was finished I went back in with a drawing pencil and added some more shading,  cross hatching, and outlining. 

Stay warm until next time!

Work in Progress

I thought I might show you what I have been working on lately.  I also thought I might show you a bit of my process along the way.  Since my last post I have actually worked on a few paintings that I have since abandoned.  It is kind of the way it goes sometimes, maybe I might finish them up at a later time but for now I really like this one that I have titled "Taking Flight"

Here is a sketch I have decided to use for my watercolor. I have gone over the lines that I want to use with pen and have even added a bit of shading.  I usually don't take my sketches much further.  Next I want to transfer this sketch to my watercolor paper.

I turn my sketch over and use the side of a very soft drawing pencil (I used a 6B) to cover the back side of the sketch.  This will be like making your own carbon paper.

Next I tape the sketch to my watercolor paper right side up and centered.  Tape it at the top and start going over the lines with a harder drawing pencil (I used 2H) or pen.

I will periodically lift my sketch up to make sure I am getting all the lines transferred to the watercolor paper.  As soon as I am satisfied with results I will remove sketch.

Notice that her left hand is missing, that is because I didn't like it in the sketch.  I will fix it later. Now I am ready to prepare my watercolor paper to begin painting.