This week is full of things to do! Lucien turns 3, he had a first dentist appointment, I went to the first Crafty Biz meeting of 2012, and I have been preparing like a bad woman for Arisia As I have been preserving specimens some of them have not cooperatively moved into their vessels. A couple have ended up in strange places around the house.
But that has always been the kind of house I wanted to live in so I have no problem with it! Just like There’s a Wocket In My Pocket, which has always been a favorite!
*”That’s the kind of house I live in” -There’s a Wocket in my Pocket, Dr. Seuss
I loved the time during the holidays. It was quiet, it was just the three of us home, we easily moved around each other, and I was able to get a lot done. I nestled into my own space and just started producing work. I believe I was able to complete as many illustrations as I did because I stepped away from observing and focused on making my own work. It is very easy to be swept up in the beauty of everyone else’s illustrations. I still check everyone’s work out but, I am being more careful to give myself more time.
After I got sick mid-December and realized my deadline for a new portfolio was closer than ever I stopped lollygagging and got to it. I have two big deadlines in January. The portfolio for the SCBWI Winter Conference, January 26th, and Arisia January 14th.
My participation in Arisia was only finalized at the end of December; right after I completed a good chunk of the portfolio. I knew I could take my last two days of Holiday time to make Specimens. My time spent with them was very successful. I made three new large critters and eight small ones. Then, at the beginning of Monday I knew I needed to switch back to painting.
I wasn’t completely ready to put the critters away so I compromised and decided to sketch my most playful one. The sketches quickly became a firm base for a new painting, which you can see above. I am so glad for this meeting of my painting with my sculpting. I feel like I have broken through something and a new path has emerged. I am looking forward to seeing where this goes.
Dancing constantly inspires me. Watching people that have committed their time to dancing causes my pencil to start swirling marks. The most recent video I have watched that inspired me was a making of commerical for Weetabix Cereal. Their dancer is a young girl named Arizona. She is my hero. Her dancing is fierce and her attitude is strong. She rocks!
She has now joined my sketchbook pages:
Edit: I forgot to add a quote quiz! Here’s one for Thanksgiving.
Quote Quiz: “The Sicilians are very big into Thanksgiving.”
Something about the leaves this year have me thinking fire. Last weekend we built a camp fire and roasted marshmallows. The event took me back to a weekend I spent with a group of Bluegrass musicians. All night long they sat around a camp fire continuously jamming. It was a marvelous night. I have drawn that night before and here is another version with a leaf as our fire.
Quote Quiz 2: “No self respecting southern makes instant grits. I take pride in my grits”
Currently Reading: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Currently Watching: Friends Season 2
Here is my first go at making an illustration with dots for eyes. It still needs a little work but, I am excited about this new direction.
Quote Quiz: “I’m only an elected official I can’t make decisions by myself!”
Which do you like better, the eyes draw with dots or fully rendered?
p.s. I do realize the boy is not the same age better the top two and the bottom two. I liked seeing how that played a role in different ages.
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Check out Fanartica, a group of illustrators making fan art of entertainment they love. Thanks to Ellen T. Crenshaw I got to become a contributor, here is my first submission.
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Quote Quiz:”Funny thing about this document, it was never notarized”
Currently Reading:
Hamster and Cheese by Colleen AF Venable illustrated by Stephanie Yue
Currently Watching: Kung Fu Panda
I love the idea of people riding dragon flies. When I watch dragon flies moving through the air they always look like they are having such a good time. They seem to be spinning and circling all around each other in a group.
Quote: “A gust of wind. . . . A dog barks. . . .Cue the truck. . . . Exit Herman; walk out into the bank.”
Currently Reading: Brenda Star Girl Reporter by Dale Messick Currently Watching: Blues Clues (the little one is under the weather today)
Hello September! Time to start back up with the blog and a new schedule. This week my son started preschool Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which means I have 6 hours two days a week where I can work during the day. So far I have just done some cleaning and catching up. There were many emails that had lingered in my inbox for weeks and papers had gathered since I had design work that took up the last two weeks of August.
August was a strange month with new plans for moving forward. One of my directions is writing YA. I am not surprised this has poured out of me, I have always read YA and been inspired by the authors I have heard speak on the subject. Another direction is making full illustrations with sculpey. My first approach is very detailed models of my current characters, the three boys. Here are pictures of them so far.
After the first character I was asked to take pictures of the process. Here are three pictures of the process for boy 2.
When I had reached this point with boy 2 I lost part of my vision. I can see but my right eye is very blurred to the extent of causing mild double vision. I am able to work but it makes small details frustrating. Thankfully my left eye is unharmed. My right eye problems are due to a chalayzion which, should go away with time. For now it is causing an astigmatism. My next appointment is Tuesday to see where I am at and if I will need glasses. No matter what happens my vision should be fully restored soon. I am looking forward to working with both eyes again.
I did finish boy 2 during the eye problems; it doesn’t keep me from working.
However, I did take a break from creating more illustrations. Two weeks of design work showed up just as my eye was reaching a peak in blurriness and it gave me a good chance to rest my eye to help it heal.
Now that my eye is on the mend and I have new time I am picking up where I left off. The third part of my plans from August was to fully explore the three methods I use to illustrate, trying out all the lanes and picking one. Whatever I pick will help me build a new portfolio. I am excited to see how my art grows from this exercise.
Quote Quiz: “You are always preparing, just go!”
currently reading: friend’s manuscript
currently watching: Mad Men: Season 2 ep. 4
While at the LASCBWI conference I was having loads of story ideas. Some crept up as character sketches others as written passages. I have started to focus on writing after this conference. I love it! During the morning I follow Laurie Halse Anderson’s 15 minutes a day and by night Bria Quinlan’s #Aug1k1hr.
Yesterday during my morning 15 minutes I got down half of a first draft for Silent Boy. That title will probably change but it is my current name for him. He will probably recognize himself if he looks at my blog. Write from what we know right? I think not only that but what we love/care about. Otherwise how is our heart going to be present?
It’s long overdue that I added some black and white art to my portfolio. I have been trying to get to a couple of black and white follow up pieces to my cover of The Dark is Rising from the NESCBWI Poster Showcase, since May. Any repeat viewers notice a change to my cover? I finally got two down. Although, I am probably going to make a quick change to the image of the rider, hopefully tomorrow before I fly to LA. (If you see my portfolio page after 3pm tomorrow the change is most likely made.)
Drawing in black & white turns out to be a source of joy. I had so much fun working on this that I lost all track of time and stayed awake much too late. I point the finger at the brush pen for opening up this new love. Once I am back from LA I am planning to draw more.
Yes I am going to the SCBWI National LA conference. I can’t believe it, I am so nervous. Well, I’m not nervous of being there. I am looking forward to being at a conference just as myself and not responsible for planning or presenters. This is not a complaint about working a conference, I do love that too. However, for this big conference I appreciate not having that added pressure. So, the nervousness I am wrangling is my travel anxiety. I don’t know if others of you out there get this but, I get it bad. I had a terrible time eating dinner and that was a full 24 hours before I even leave to get on my flight. I’m not afraid of flying; I worry about missing my flight or delays or the general discomfort of being too much in other people’s space for hours. I wouldn’t want to miss out on the grand adventure of LA so, I do what I can to get past it. Hopefully as I continue to challenge myself by traveling it will get better and better.
LA should be a blast! I love that a meet and greet is planned with us all in comfy pajamas. I am looking forward to meeting all the people I have only spoken with online. Be sure to come up and say hi!
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I feel like mixing things up! I always loved playing the quote game (guess what movie this quote is from) in the car with my Dad on car trips. We watched a lot of movies so it was fun trying to find the most obscure quote possible to try to stump each other. I still love to play so I’m bringing it to the blog. For the people that come back regularly. Over the course of a season, every three months, you can earn points via a guessing game. I will leave a movie quote at the end of my blog posts and whoever leaves a comment with the correct movie title first gets 5pts. After three months I will tally the points and whoever has the most gets a free print. First quote:
“Why are you wearing these clothes?”
“Because I’ve lost my clothes”
“But why are you wearing these clothes?”
“Because I just went gay all of a sudden!”
Currently Reading: Standard Hero Behavior by John David Anderson
Currently Watching: Season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
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