Elephants on Parade

One of my projects this month included a large gouache painting for a nursery. The patron who commissioned this piece is about to give birth to her fourth son and requested a line of elephants to represent her boys. She also requested that I use a specific technique, which I will happily share with you now. First, I draw the image (outline and some value) in graphite. I use spray fixative to keep the graphite from smudging before doing large washes as under painting, usually in burnt sienna. In this case I did the sky in purple.

At this point the painting looks terrible. My husband suggested I start over, but I thought to myself "It's not dead yet!" and pressed on. Here you can see I added top layer of gray on those brown elephants…

but it isn’t until I lighten the value with the blues and greens that the muddiness goes away. After both layers of paint, I go back with the drawing pencil. The backlighting gives the illusion that the sun is starting to set. Go to sleep sweet baby.

Illustrator's Day 2013

Here I am in Atlanta, with illustrator, Will Terry, who gave an insightful presentation on the future of our field.  Scholastic Books Executive Editor, Diane Hess and Abrams Books Art Director, Chad Beckerman, also gave helpful advice about how to get noticed.

As one of the first twelve to register for Illustrator’s Day, I got a chance to participate in a mentorship assignment. I usually do the assignment multiple times as a way to hasten my growth as an illustrator. This year, mentor, Mark Braught had us to choose from a list of animals, time periods, and places.

I did one painting of Victorian gibbons in Egypt 

and another of 1940's Asian rodents.

One of my first scribbles in deciding which animals to choose, was part of a bunny. Since rabbits don't technically fit into the rodent option, I didn't use it. I later went back to the sketch and spent the two weeks after completing this project doing several dozen bunny paintings. There was no underpainting or physical texture to these new pieces. They were more gestural and generally more energetic. It was such a breakthrough for me! You never know where you'll end up when you get to work and follow your heart. Thanks for the springboard Mark!

Sketchbook Project 2013

Another year, another Brooklyn Art Library Sketchbook project.  This year I chose Dwellings as my theme. Here’s what I made last week before popping it in an envelope and sending it off to meet all the other sketchbooks. It will spend the year traveling to places like Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles. 

Solo Exhibition at Theatre Macon

My solo art exhibit entitled The Stories of Objects is now on display at the Theatre Macon gallery space. It consists of 15 mixed-medium works on paper. The show will hang through December, which is also when the musical Meet Me in St. Louis is running. Enjoy!

My Drawing Students at Work

I am wrapping up my Art Education and Beginning Drawing classes at Wesleyan College.  I have really loved my students this semester! Wesleyan is a women’s college and the classes are small so I’ve had a chance to get to know and work with each student. They’ve come so far that it’s hard to believe that these are beginning art students. Here are some of their super large drawings.

My husband Dennis, set up a highly reflective still life for his class, and so my class used it too. I love that he teaches mornings and I teach afternoons in the same room.

My Studio Tour

Some of the SCBWI/ Southern Breeze illustrators are showing short videos of their studio. I have been invited to be the third artist in this series. Welcome to my crazy art space and my crazy life.

Writing and Illustrating Conference October 2012

I love attending the WIK (Writing and Illustrating for Kids) conference in Birmingham, Alabama every October. This year I went early for the writing intensive with Donna on “Voice” and I stayed until the very end when Kevin Lewis, of Disney, critiqued my manuscript.

I felt extra blessed to recieve awards in both the annual illustration and writing contests.  This was my first shot at non-fiction for kids with my piece called Three Cheers for the Chair!