IF - Climb

"He climbed to the top of the mountain to rescue his princess, quite the hoist for such a bear prince."



"At last they were together, and they lived happily ever after."

ACEOs back in town!

Remembering the good ol' days of posting ACEOs up for sale on eBay, and missing my high end fantasy work, I have decided to go back to the wee cards and start creating. They're quick, perfect little getaways from projects (as a break mind you, not because the project is painstaking), and allow me to paint what I can not right now. I miss having the time to do large, highly detailed, and magical pieces, yet am so fully blessed and grateful for all of the work I have today. :)

So I have two original ACEOs up for sale in my Etsy shop, "Essence of Spring" and "Tangerine". I just finished one this morning and it's part of a series. I love doing the seasons. I did the four seasons in 2005...and wow, what a difference! Here's the first spring next to my new spring. It's interesting how you can see progression in your work when you sit them side by side.



I have also placed up a few new originals that were created for IllustrationFriday, except the mouse...that was for fun and enjoyment:
"The Quilting Mouse"
"Let's Go Fishing"
"Bedtime"
"Movie Night"

IF - Containted

"Yeah...he's not coming out to play today."

Just for fun :)

The Quilting Mouse

Been working on objectives for work (all day yesterday including an evening faculty potluck), and work all day today on the book project. I'm pooped. But...I still got something running through me because I painted this lil' one. About 3.5 x 4, so very small. I thought after all the work for others, I'd be selfish and paint something of my own. I've been sketching all day long, so wanted to paint. I'm surprised I did color tho, was planning on just sepia. But what fun is a quilt when it's b/w?!

Ugh, I may just go to bed early tonight. That was the last of my energy. :P

IF - Resolve

Sometimes it takes mom to resolve the bedtime jitters.

Resolve - wip

I've started to take a different approach to my sketching, inspired by another illustrator, Anthony VanArsdale. I love his sketching style and thought I'd give it ago to try sketching with a colored pencil first. To my surprise (because I did this long ago and never stuck with it), I enjoyed it maybe a little too much. It was so easy to lightly sketch and find my points of perspective.

I still drew on tracing paper, and to my astonishment, colored pencil erases off of tracing paper! I knew I loved this stuff for a reason. ;) So here's my new approach...

Sketch how I want the original to look. Usually I have to draw it flipped so that when it comes to transfer it's "moving" the right way. Since drawing with blue pencil I would have to go over it with graphite anyways, I can flip the tracing paper over, draw in the detail n' what not with the graphite, then flip it back again to transfer. Still with me? I'm so excited about this! Also the blue pencil doesn't smear nearly as much as the graphite! An added bonus!

My image relates to "resolve" because mothers usually have to settle or sooth the toddler to get them to sleep. Otherwise the toddler tosses, turns, and squirms around instead of sleeping. Plus, toys are always distraction. :P A resolution to the bedtime problem.

IF - Clandestine

Oh what a sneaky, up to no good otter....