My favorite thing about Spring

We're having weird weather!

Spring came in, turned into Summer (!!!!), 

Spring went back out, and it became cold...again.

And now it looks like Spring is on it's way back in one more time. 

Flowers showed up a few days ago, 

and little leaves are starting to sprout.

I love shiny new fairy leaves -they're so sweet.

I made this a while ago,

but this is a good time to share it!

Fiddle around a little in Illustrator

when you have leaves on your mind,

and you get  this!

Illustrator is not a program I use much,

but I think I should do it more justice!

I could probably spice up the illo,

but I'm liking the clean, spare look.

Leaves really are my favorite thing about Spring,

well, apart from those magnolias, cherry blossoms, 

and crab apple tress in full bloom...ahhhh.

What's your favorite thing about Spring?

Niagara Region textile and mixed-media project - I'm in!!!

The Niagara Region Textile and Mixed-Media Project - 

sounds yummy, doesn't it?

It's going to be a permanent exhibit for the region,

and I am one of the 14 artists working on it!

I'm so excited to be part of something like this - 

it's like being part of the history of Niagara - YAY!

So these are the three pieces I had submitted 

for the juried selection.  The actual piece I'll be 

working on will be about 2 feet by 5 feet - that's big!

They'll tell us exactly what it'll be in a few days.

I do know that it will be based on the Niagara Escarpment.

I thought it would be a good idea to show a mix of techniques...

This one is lots of fabric collage and hand-stitching...

 

 

This one has beading as the main focus...

And this one is all about playing with texture...

there's paint, machine-stitching, layering...

All three pieces are in frames and behind glass,

so it's not the best pics I took...

I'll find out more about the project soon - 

April 3 is the day!

WIP

My poor camel!

It has yet to see the light of day,

although I did make ONE drawing (see below).

This is my first ever camel!

Actually, it's not mine at all...

I looked at a drawing here, and another one here

and made a sketch.

Sort of to get the feel of drawing this strange humped creature.

My own camel will have to be...my own drawing, of course,

but Google is a great help in sticky situations!

Meanwhile, more fabric!

These pics are pretty awful, btw;

it looks much better in person.

I made the bird as a brooch, originally, 

but ended up using it here.

It's painted satin, cut out and edged with cord.

I added beads and embroidery on top - it's pretty sweet,

although you don't see the colors much in these pics.

I like how the right-sized button turned out to have 

Good Luck inscribed on it.

After all, a bird in the bush is worth several in the hand :)

Seeing camels in the woods

I'm not sure why, but every time I need to be working 

on a particular thing, I find it impossible 

to stay away from something else altogether!  

Right now, I'm working on a book about a camel, 

and I need to get my brain talking to my hand 

so that plausible-looking camels spurt forth 

on my sheet of paper, since camels have not been

 part of my repertoire of drawn creatures.  

But I HAD to take a break and design a logo instead 

(not something I've done before either) 

and then I HAD to take another break 

and work on some fabric and make this ring.  

Thinking of woodsy splendors here - 

do you spot a camel? :)

For some strange reason, 

once I have indulged in my little diversion,

I do my actual task BETTER!!!

Beats taking a coffee break any day :)

Sweets for the sweet

Not edible, but candy-colored!

Good enough to eat, right?

The multicolored ones with the beads 
sewn on outside the center

were the idea of my little NanoBot.

At four, she's already a better artist than I can ever be :)

Pin-brooches sewn at the back - 

wearable happy-ness :)

All wrapped up and ready to go

Oh December, where did you go?  

And now it's 2012 and January is half gone???

At least I have a little bit to account for my time: 

my latest book with Creative Education and Publishing 

is at the printer's as I type.  Yay!

I had shared some rough drawings before.  

This is their final form:

I used a lot of greens in this one.

And this was the cover spread I designed for it.

A couple more pics from the book:

This was the first time I did a story with twins in it,

and it was twice as much fun :)

One

One...

with Nature



This is so much more clear and vibrant in person -

I just couldn't get the scanner to capture it right,

especially the lovely, neon greens :(
I'll have to use my camera, I guess.

There are details in the real thing that you can't see here,
(how the blue foreground turns into her dress)

but mainly the idea was to

integrate the girl into her surroundings.

Is that a quirky head-dress,

or are they trees in the background? sort of thing.

I also enjoyed the play of colored areas

juxtaposed with pencil drawing.

This was all done in watersoluble crayons

and color pencils on watercolor paper.

NO PhotoShop.

More boys!

Some time ago, I was wondering 

why I always get to illustrate stories that feature girls.

I've done a whole string of girl stories.  Back to back.

But right after my post about this,

I got a boy story to do.

And now I have another, and this one features twin boys.

There's yet another book waiting in the wings, and also features

 - you guessed it - a boy!

Here's a sample drawing from the story about the twins...

I made a rough sketch, scanned it, then placed the text on it

(not something I normally have to do since that's 

taken care of at the publishing end)

and then I saw a whole bunch of white space left over, 

so I drew in things with the mouse, straight on my image.

I've sent it to the publisher to see what he thinks.

Once I have the green light, I'll draw the whole thing again by hand.

Properly :)

The kid on his Daddy's lap looks like he has three legs, doesn't it?

I'll definitely need to fix that!

But overall, do you have any ideas or suggestions?

A is for...Alphabet Art!

My painting

+

a nice fat type

+

some clipping mask magic

Put them all together and you get...

this!

Nursery art, grown-up art...I'm not fussy :)

Sunshine In My Hand

Real paint (YAY - REAL PAINT!)

on paper.

OK, a tiny bit of PhotoShop too...

but mostly just honest-to-goodness acrylics.

Ditzy Doodle Day

Hey!  I like the sound of that.

That's it. One day of the week should officially be called

Ditzy Doodle Day.

So here's my ditzy doodle for today - 

ink pen and felt markers (some nearly dead but braving it)

on printer paper.

Drawing really doesn't need fancy paraphernalia 

(ah, another juicy word!),

but just a minute or two of not being afraid.

Really.

I've been told my ditzy doodles would make great fabric prints.

It's funny, but many people have asked me if I design fabric,

and the truth is I don't know the first thing about it.

By the way, I'd like to share with you this wonderful place

that sells designer fabric.

It's full of amazing talent. Do check it out!

Soup Season!

I like soup.

Carrot, pumpkin, chicken, tomato, potato, onion, 

rutabaga, wheat-and-barley...

...soup made with any of these,

or all of them mixed together, and spinach, oh yeah spinach!

With lots of black pepper, ginger, cinnamon...mmm...

Soups are wonderful!

Well, soup season is here!

Do YOU like soup?

Fully equipped

Pencil-drawn, scanned, colored in PhotoShop.

It's Children's Day in India today.

Here's to all children, everywhere, being able to

learn, discover and grow in safe, happy environments.