This is the underpainting of an idea I had for a new piece of art...

Her face has gone bad at this point, time to look and see what other paints I have in the studio...

And I found them, Golden paints.

So her face is fixed.

The key to all of this non digital art are good brushes that hold up and dont split at the ends, I have a couple.

Now I need to see if this drawing is going to work out, so I do some detail on a place I feel is important, the main character, if this feels good I can move forward, if it doesnt, I feel bad and move on to another idea. 

Actually, I like it, It feels good, I found Spa on Sirrius and am into a groove, so painting at this point is fun.

Every thing is done, all the details put in and here is my new art.
(Double click this one for a bigger picture.)

 I used to love playing hide and seek.

 And our much loved but very neurotic cat is checking things out from the window, there may be a book in that, back to the drawing board...

Heart Shaped Rocks and then some?

My husband loves to hike, I do, kinda... And then I got the idea if I could collect something? Heart shaped rocks, so hiking became more fun, and when the kids were little they became good heart  rock hunters. These are just a few, from the beaches in Rhode Island to the heather fields in Buchaltz Germany, some got lost, but these are a good examples. Then...

I heard of an artist that collected shapes of rocks, she collected  the alphabet. 

She wears the crown for rock hunting, but these are my offerings for todays day at the beach on Merrit Island.

A Dophin, a mouse(see his ears?) this was suppose to be a duck, but didnt come out like that and an armadillo?  You have to use your imagination on this one... Kept me walking and kept me non bored, now off to the alphabet...

Our day at Mozaic Arts in Orlando

My sister and I wanted to learn how to do Mosaics so I found a place in Orlando that had a day where we all made picture frames. Micheles shop is quite impressive, thousands of tiles and other things that you could use for your frame. It was funny but after we got done, the colors in our frames were so similar. A very fun day.

New favorites..

My art space is little, so I was looking for a little palette, I found this at Michaels, used my coupon, all of $6 so I am good to go, the instructions are a something to pay attention to when setting the palette up, so worth it.  It is called a stay wet palette, OMGD, pretty great. my paints blend like buda, ok, like butter, so smooth, I like just mixing those paints up, its  a pleasure. I love it when I find something that makes my life nicer.

Also  let me introduce you to my new favorite paints...   I love Jo Sonja paints, I had them sitting here in the studio for forever, not knowing how to use them, but I rediscovered them, very fun.

The Bunny Box...

My sister and I had gone to St Augustine a year ago and she spotted this bunny box in an antiques place, Lili wasnt sure if she wanted it,  so after a failed attempt to negotiate the price down, we left.
I figured I could paint her one.

 I looked to see if I  could find a box that was well made like this and I had done some sketches, I was planning to make her a bunny box.  I never was able to find one that was really well made and shaped like this.

But Lili kept thinking of the Bunny Box, she wanted to keep her Easter stuff in it.

    So, about a year later she finds herself back in St. Augustine and what is there in the Antiques store?

Yup the Bunny Box. 

  She brought it up for Easter, now I want one.

I got tagged...

I got tagged by my friend Loreen Leedy with this great award...

Here are the rules for this award...
1) Thank the person who gave you this award.
2) Share 7 things about yourself.
3) Pass the award along to 5 bloggers who you have recently discovered and you think are fantastic!
4)  Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

So, here it goes... Seven things about me...
1) I have a love/hate relationship with computers.
2) I love the word, Illustration.
3) I am easily inspired.
4) Apple Crisp is my favorite dessert.
5)  I enjoy dancing.
6)  My favorite city is Amsterdam.
7)  My favorite show is Ugly Betty and I enjoy watching it with my daughter, Emily.

Here are my top 5 blog picks...

Lorreen Leedys blog has everything from Art Quilts to tips on Photoshop. Her blog makes me want to quilt again.


Elizabeths Dulemba's blog is full of interesting information, my favorites are Coloring Page Tuesday and Monster Engine.

New Art News is Marion Eldridge's blog. I especially enjoy her posts about how she created her art Welcome Virginia being a favorite of mine.

Joan Beiriger's  blog is full of great information on licensing, I always find something new and useful there.


Phyllis Harris's blog has a nice way of blending her illustration work with her home life. She just adopted a dog Annie, which is very touching to see.

More Egg Fun

I saw these online and absolutly fell in love with the idea, of fake chocolate eggs. Very fun to make, wooden eggs, acrylic paint and fabric dimentional paint.  Hope you like them...

Easter, almost....

Here are some wooden eggs that I painted last Easter, when my camera decides to cooperate I will post eggs I did years ago for my parents. My girlfriend Sandy knew someone who worked in a place in Maine that made the wooden eggs, she came back with some for me and they were my little treasures for the longest time. I have always bought a new egg or some new eggs to add to my Easter egg collection.

And then of course there is the Egg Man here in Florida, he paints with a chicken on his head, (not a real chicken, a fake one, but still, he has a dedication to his art)  I am not kidding, he does nice work. I wont wear a chicken,but I love to paint, so here are more eggs that I did...

Gourds...

When My husband and I went to Tennesse we saw some really beautiful gourds that were turned into birdhouses. Being the terrific husband that Mark is he brought me these back from CT. 

So I used some Kilz on them, and then painted. Mark had foot surgery, which put us in the house for 3 days, he did well and slept, and I painted the gourds.  

This is what I came up with. Designs, no thinking just painting. My Mom was very artistic, and I found a  book I had that featured an artist Peg Miller that did with painting that my mom did with her rugs that she created, so that is my inspiration, I loved the no brainer part of this, the no marketing, the no selling, the no what would a publisher like thing, a just ice Marks foot every 30 minutes, we were all nestled in our house, like a big snow storm, and I painted away. Now I need to get a drill and hang  them. Joannes has a girlie drill, another thing to buy. Just helping the economy.

Cowboy Up

I was at the library the other night and saw a book called "The Best Books for Children/ 8th edition" written by Cathrine Barr and John Gillespie, and what did I find mentioned? A book I lllustrated for Scholastics/ Childrens Press Rookie Reader Series. Cowboy Up is written by Larry Dane Brimner.

It was a very fun book to illustrate as well as learning about the rodeo.

My book dummy

I started out with my interior dummy all put together with double sided copies, I sew everything together with really tough thread and a hardy needle. InDesign is so much easier, but I dont have it and am still trying to figure out Photoshop, so I am going old school.

I bought some poster board to serve as the cover for my book, I glued the color copies of the cover back and front to the outside and the end papers to the inside, I found glue runner tapes work really well for 

this task. Glue sticks and zig glue markers buckle up the paper.

 

Then I tape in the interior. I add color copies for a spread inside the book, but the rest is in black and 

white.

  

I laminate the cover with lamitating sheets that you can get at Staples or JoAnnes, to make it look finished and that is my book dummy, I hid the name, ( in photoshop) that is top secret, until it is published, then you will know all about it.

Emilys Marzipan Piggies

When I was a little kid we used to go to the German Deli and my mom would buy us little Marzipan (an almond paste candy) shaped like little bologna sandwichs. I told my daughter about them, and we used to look for them, well she finally found them and this really remarkable artist that sculpts them, I have her site on my favorites.

So these are Emilys little piggies.

New Postcard

There is one thing about having the crunch of a deadline, it really makes one work faster. The lack of a firm deadline is something I had to deal with when I was designing my postcard to send out for February. I went through at least 5 ideas, all of which I didnt have fun with half way through the finish. So here are some sketches and finally the finish.

At first after a bunch of sketches I thought it would be fun to do a floral shop.

But the finish wasnt coming together, so on to another idea. 

I went through a couple of ideas for this one, and then I thought it would be fun to add in the alligator, since we moved to Florida, I was just looking for something fun.

And here is the finish, I am happy with it.

My new love

It is Sirius radio, and for a big radio listener like me it is golden,it was easy to set up, if Photoshop was so so cooperative I would like it better. But let me introduce you to my new fun toy, my Sirius radio.

Ok, in january I need to learn Photoshop, while listening to my new friend Sirius.

Snow nuts...

We went out hiking in Christmas Florida, and I stopped in a shop and fell in love with these hand painted Santas from Russia, so naturally I looked on the internet and got the idea I want to make a hand painted Santa, so after my extensive search, I found these at Michaels, they are nutcrackers, and snowmen, but I still did have alot of fun painting them. So, guess what everyone is getting for Christmas??

Festival of the Trees in the Orlando Museum

A fuzzy picture of me in front of my JingleBulbs Palm Tree.

A picture of my sister Lili in front of the Jingle Bulb Tree. Good thing I only have 2 sisters and one in Germany or this could be one long blog.....

Windermere Postcard

I was asked by the shop that carries my hand painted ornaments, called JingleBulbs, to create a postcard for Sparkle night in Windermere Florida. It is a cute little town surrounded by 5 lakes, a suburb of Orlando.
Windermere Design is one of those wonderful stores that I have always loved to browse through. That is what made this postcard fun to do.

Painted sketchbook

My husband and I wanted to send something as a gift to a 9 year old relative. She loves to draw so we picked this sketchbook.

My new favorite art supply are these markers that paint on any surface, they are basically spray paint in a pen, they come in small fine points so they are very easy and fun to use.

And here is the painted sketchbook.