SOPA, No Thanks
18 Jan 2012 No Comments
Happy Holidays!
23 Dec 2011 Comments Off
Quote Quiz: “Merry New Year!!”
Above is a second for November 22
A Leaf Fire
03 Nov 2011 Comments Off
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
Happy Halloween!
31 Oct 2011 3 Comments
We had a great first time trick-or-treating with our son. Now we are back inside with a fire going because there is snow outside! Snow on Halloween, that’s the first for me.
Last Quote Quiz before the first Winner!
Rules, 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. The tallying is why I need you to leave me a comment on the blog.
“I’ve worked in the private sector . . . they expect results”
What’s still unanswered:
October 26
October 20
Oct 19
Oct 11
hint 2 “Swing away Merrill Swing away.”
Oct 5
hint 2 “My ex-fiancé doesn’t remember me”
We have a bunch of folks with 5pts and one person with 20pts! Who’s gonna win?
I will announce the winner next week get your answers in by November 6th at 11pm EST. So, you have one more week to come up with answers.
International Dot Day
15 Sep 2011 Comments Off
Lucien and I made a trip out to Dedham, MA today to visit the Blue Bunny Bookstore for Dot Day. Peter H. Reynolds came and helped a bunch of kids including Lucien make their own Dot to celebrate. Mr. Reynolds also read The Dot to the kids. We had a great time.
Here are our Dots:
Happy Dot Day!
Until After Labor Day
17 Aug 2011 Comments Off
I have been deep in thought since I got back from LA. Trying to write and playing with my favorite mediums with an end goal of picking a lane. With all of this going on, I think I need to take a little time off from my blog. There may be a post here or there about a couple of projects but my theme posts are going to take a break until September.
Until then!
Flying Bike
21 Jul 2011 Comments Off
I am trying to juggle a lot of projects right now. Somehow this week got very busy! I love busy, it keeps me on my toes and sometimes I think it actually helps me to be more productive. However, it is putting my timing off for the blog, as you regular readers probably noticed yesterday!
A piece of kids is still owed but I thought I would throw in something a little different first. A friend of mine, eHawk was making an awesome piece of art for a fundraiser with the theme Flying Bikes. It sounded like such a fun theme and I like the cause so I offered to donate a piece of art too.
currently watching : Make it or Break it season 1
currently reading: Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings
The Dark Parts of Books/Movies
13 Jun 2011 Comments Off
As a mom I often hear the discussion about how books and movies meant for kids are too scary. Meaning there is always some horrifying part in the story that so disturbs the child they are never the same.
My two cents is, it is not the storyteller’s fault if a child is introduced to a story before they can handle it, that is the fault of the parents. We as parents should be in tune with our children enough to know what they can and can’t handle. (note: slip ups will happen that doesn’t make you a bad parent!)
When I was a child, I watched Ghostbusters when I was 7 and Tremors when I was 10. They scared me but I loved the feeling and I never experienced nightmares or trauma from them. I was entertained. As I grew, still in my teen years, I always challenged statements about how movies were too scary or dark for kids.
Now as a Mom of a sensitive 2 year old, who has a hard time with anything that is of high emotion or intensity, I still don’t believe stories with dark sections shouldn’t be available to kids. I as the parent am responsible to know my child isn’t ready. I don’t show him those films or press upon him the books that unnerve him, but boy do I eagerly await the day he is ready for them. I know he will love the movies and books that currently scare him. They are good stories worth publication and wide audience viewing.
I have never agreed with people that say dark stories shouldn’t be available to kids/teens. I do not agree with any statement that says said publishing house or movie studio terrorizes children. Life is hard and it holds troubling situations for children to handle. I prefer that my child get a first glimpse at them in fiction where he has some time to process those circumstances and think what he would do in the situation.
“Until mankind is peaceful enough not to have violence on the news, there’s no point in taking it out of shows that need it for entertainment value.” -Cher (Alicia Silverstone), Clueless (1995)
These thoughts are sparked by the recent article in the WSJ and the enormous outcry from the publishing world.
This is a great rebuttal article and it lists others.
My blog post is my response. I also wanted to add a bit about movies because of a recent experience I had while watching a new animated film.
I watch a lot of animated movies so there are few that I have seen for the first time as a parent. Since becoming a Mom I notice that on most new-to-me movies that deal with parent-child relationships where something bad happens, I feel very strong emotions. Sometimes to the point that I want to stop watching the movie. I do not in anyway believe this means the movie is bad or should not be seen by others, it just means it is not for me. To bring this around, I recently had very strong pain while watching a movie for children that had to do with a parent-child relationship that dealt with loss. I think this was a fabulous movie but I won’t watch it again until my son wants to watch it. It hurt too much. However, I am sure that my child will have no problem with it once he gets past being afraid of everything. I do not believe he will have such a strong reaction to what I felt.
This is where I think parents get confused. They themselves are so hurt or troubled by the conflict of the story they believe their child must be experiencing the same emotions. Therefore, the child shouldn’t be exposed. We are grown ups we understand life differently than a child does and we feel differently than a child does. I feel as the parent it is my job to help my son find what he does and doesn’t like, not press upon him my choices.
And in a wider reach it is not my job to say any book isn’t right for teens or kids. Everyone is different and capable of handling different kinds of books. Let’s keep our world free enough that each person can make their own choice of what to read or watch from a vast selection of stories.
(in a frivolous note in comparison to above, this is taking the place of Matt’s Choice this week)
Lots of Little Sketches
26 May 2011 2 Comments
With arm pain yesterday that didn’t relax until the afternoon, then a newly scheduled artist meeting time I blew my day plan. I have sketches for a new Wednesday Animal but not something anyone but me can understand. Although, I’m posting it anyway:
To make up for my delay I have another spot illustration I have been working on. A spunky little girl from a trip to the Museum of Science who had no problem playing with my toddler.
from my sketch capture to the color sketch
to this feeling like the motion got halted
to this – I liked the face above better.
going to draw this again because I love the movement of it.
–
If you follow my twitter feed you know I got a Kindle. I am acting like Matt whenever he gets a new piece of technology, pouring over it for endless hours. This item excites me because it’s all about books! My first two purchases were Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund and Bossypants by Tina Fey. I needed some laughs so I am reading Bossypants first. It is rejuvenating my creative mind and soul. (it will be great to read Ascendant next, I will be all ready to draw the terrific unicorns)
Tina Fey has something special. She can make me laugh like no one else. By page ten I was in tears laughing. The description of her make over for college had me dying. I know she has basically dressed in the attire on 30 Rock but I wanted to make a little drawing of her reformation. Tina Fey does have some rocking calves, I’m not sure I did them justice. Also I don’t think anyone that was alive during the 80′s and 90′s can say they didn’t put on this outfit at least once.
Other things about the book have me thinking pretty deeply, her list of rules from improv and people’s reaction to her scar. The list of improv rules, are wonderful ways to live life. I am thankful reading that list was not my first time hearing of them. In high school I had the actress dream, best thing I did was an impression of Jim Carrey, only A I got in drama. Apart from that acting didn’t grow into much for me but, I got improv lessons.
Reading BossyPants reminded me what I learned from improv and how often I think about applying them to my everyday. Thank goodness art was in my elementary, middle and high schools!
Then her thoughts on how soon people bring up her scar. I don’t have a scar across my face but I do have a birthmark up my neck. When it used to reach across the majority of my neck and crawled up my check it had more of an eye catching affect. People stare at things like this. I believe even more so on a child. Not just looking they will make a face if they find it gross. It has always baffled me.
From my experiences I would prefer a person to ask what my birthmark is rather than gawk at me. Mrs. Fey expresses feelings that this indicates people are trying to show how awesome they are for accepting the mark. Perhaps our difference in opinion is all in where our marks came from, a scar that was inflicted verses a mark you were born with and our levels of celebrity. I think scars, moles, birthmarks or anything that makes you different is something to accept and not hide. I would be a person that would ask quickly within a conversation, perhaps using it to start a conversation. I find this topic worthy of further discussion and will probably spend more time on it in a later post. Including bringing up North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley. . . .
This has been a week of much introspection. It’s been great to slow down and find the new pattern since the wildness of spring is finished. I am hopeful for a productive summer.
Winner of Spring Giveaway
16 May 2011 Comments Off
What a week leading up to an even bigger weekend! I don’t know if I made this clear, I only stated in the post comments, that the giveaway winner announcement was extended to today. I crazily planned that to end in the middle of the NESCBWI Conference. I don’t know what I was thinking! Excited beyond reason.
Now onto the winner. Chosen with random number counter, adding in facebook and twitter retweets, our winner is
Lauren
Congrats!
Her choice was the Jelly Fish, so he is happily adopted and named Louisa by Lauren.
Lauren, I will email you shortly to get your mailing address.
Thank you all for participating and stopping by. I am sure there will be another giveaway in the future so be sure to check back!
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