Window

There's a sunny spot in my studio from about 2:30–3:45 in the afternoon this time of year. If you sit in it long enough, it actually warms your face a little bit. One cheek at a time, but still. At night the window becomes a giant mirror.

Tug-of-War and Other Bits of Inspiration

~click on the image to view it larger~

This drawing has been in my head for a month–what a relief to get it out on paper! In the photo that inspired this piece, the figures are wearing "US"-emblazoned jerseys. Since I have no interest in making some sort of bizarre and ambiguously patriotic statement, I decided to give my characters snazzy blue jerseys instead;)

The little animal-headed athletes that I've been making lately are inspired by this book that Dawn gave me about the 1919 Inter-allied Games.

My copy of Uppercase's book on Swedish artist/illustrator/blogger Camilla Engman arrived yesterday! I'll spare you the hyperbolic raptures that I've been experiencing and say only this: you need a copy too. You really do. The arrangement of items above (including the Camilla book there on the bottom right) is my little ode to Camilla's own collections and arrangements. At first it was an accident that my worktable was so color-coordinated, and then I helped it out a little bit;)

IF:Hatch

Click on the image to see it bigger.

This little ink drawing (with a hint of gouache) is my submission to this week's Illustration Friday topic: hatch. I always work very quickly when I draw with ink. Each mark is so definite. You make a line and there it is: black on white, no hiding, no fussing, no second-guessing, no going back. If I didn't have such a strong aversion to cleaning out pen nibs I would draw with ink every day. Curse my laziness!

I spent the better part of today working on this illustration. I'm very happy because I successfully pushed myself over the psychological hump that I like to call, "almost almost finished." This is the stage in each painting where I suddenly see 1) how I want to resolve the image, and 2) exactly how much work will be required to do so. In that instant all of my motivation flies right out the window. So I spent today fighting against my gnat-like attention span, but ultimately getting over the hump so that now I am really, truly and simply "almost finished."

I get a lot of inspiration from my mom's and stepdad's garden. I keep pictures of their dahlias on my desk to use for reference, and to help get me through the winter months.

Ordinary Things

Sage is so lovely. And fuzzy.

I spent yesterday at home while the car was in the shop. It was glorious! I can actually see the top of my desk, walk across the kitchen floor without getting crumbs stuck to the bottom of my feet, and sit on the actual surface of the couch instead of having to perch high atop mountains of unfolded laundry. I even had time to make bread. I'll have to remember to give myself permission to stay home once in a while so that I can beat back the squalor a little more often.

It's not even officially winter, and yet I am officially finished with winter. Preemptively over it. My old nemesis, "Wintery Mix" a.k.a. "Frozen Wet Muck" made an appearance this week and abruptly ended my seasonal honeymoon phase.

Weekly Update

Here's a peek at the still-in-progress illustration that I've been working on this week:

This image will be part of my children's book illustration portfolio. A while back I sent little booklets of my "fine art" work out to children's publishers. I had some great responses--constructively critical rejections and even a couple of "we're keeping your portfolio in our files" style "acceptances." Several of the art directors who wrote to me said that they would like to see me create a sequence of images showing consistent characters within developed settings. Gosh, that seems so obvious. But at the time, I wanted to get the ball rolling quickly by using images that I had already created. To be fair, this wasn't the worst idea ever. My fine art has a rather illustration-y feel to it. But it was kind of an amateur move. In any case, the responses I received prompted me to create a coherent sequence of illustrations that reflects the way that I would approach a children's book. I came up with a story about two fireflies, Marcus and Petunia, who establish a friendship and have a little adventure. I've been working on the illustrations for this story off and on since September. Now that my pre-holiday teaching hiatus has begun, I'll have time to finish up the last remaining images and get everything packed up and ready to mail. My plan is to wait until late January/early February before I actually send them. Otherwise, I'm afraid that they might get lost in the post-holiday shuffle.

As I get closer to finishing this project, I've begun the absurd (but characteristic) process of stressing out over every little thing. My latest obsession is that my characters might not be consistent enough from one image to the next. I've reworked some of them quite a bit, but

I continue to freak out about it. So here are some zoomed-in details of a single character as he appears (so far) throughout the sequence. I want him to look very buggy, but also relatable. His emotions/expression are also changing from page to page. Any thoughts? Does the consistency get jarringly lost in his changes of position and expression?

Oh yeah, and yesterday was my birthday:)

There were lots of good wishes and little surprises throughout the day, including this delicious and labor-intensive present from Mary that was waiting at our doorstep when I got home from teaching. Thank you everyone! xoxoxo

First Snow

The season's first snowfall still feels magical to me.
The lacy trees.

Morning moons in the crisp, clear sky–something to like about shorter days!

And cozy comfort foods.

I know that in three months I will be sick of shoveling and freezing temperatures and streets covered in gray slush. So for now I intend to bask as much as possible in the novelty of it all:)

Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?

I made this little collage at the end of the day yesterday, as part of ArtSpark Theatre's illustration challenge. Susan Sanford, who writes ArtSpark Theatre, posted the following photograph: and challenged readers to alter it. I created my collage with a graphite drawing on vellum sewn together with a few loose bits I found around my studio. I was having a nice chat with Deb while I made it, so it ended up becoming a picture about camaraderie.