two feathered sailors, a plaid dinosaur, and a cow with a moostache

I'm experimenting with a new style* for my portfolio this week. It's based on the painting process of three of the art for fun images I blogged about last week (umbrella boat, cats, and sheep and giraffe). Even though they're all very different, I used some of the same processes to make the picture (amazing how art can be so similar and yet turn out so different). Still working on how I want the new style to look, but I like the pieces this week better than the ones last week. Here's the progression of paintings:

First, are two feathery sailors for the Illustration Friday prompt (sailor):

Next is a plaid dinosaur, or a Plaid-o-saurus Rex, just for fun:

Finally, I painted a cow with a moo-stache for Colour Collective (the color this week is Portland Orange):

So far I'm liking the new style, even if it's not completely there yet. I think it's getting close though (or at least I hope so)!

What are you working on this week? Have you ever changed your art style? How did it go?

*This is not the first time I've changed my art style. It's never easy, but hopefully in the end it will be worth it! It's always been worth it in the past for me. Fingers crossed it will be this time too!

patterns, personal art themes, and illustration friday

The Illustration Friday prompt this week is: nostalgia. I've been going through old art lately and looking at themes, or things in my art that I return to again and again. One of the themes I like to play around with is patterns. The nice thing about patterns is they can be different every time, so they can fit in to almost any piece of art without looking like you're doing the same thing over and over again. The patterns can be bold so the viewer can't help but notice them, or subtle so the viewer might not even realize there's a pattern until they look again.

One of my old pattern pieces that I really love is one that hardly anyone has seen. It's an illustration of swirling mail (which is also nostalgic because people don't send or receive as much personal mail these days, and because it reminds me of my mom, who loved to write and send letters):

Makes you want to write and send a letter, doesn't it?

Another nostalgic image is a painting I did of sea turtles for Ripple in 2010. I love sea turtles and even got to swim with them once! Was happy to be able to paint this piece to help support ocean animals.

A more recent example of pattern mixed with nostalgia is this picture of a cat in a field of flowers (trying to get the birds, while a bird above is about to dump a hive full of bees on the cat). It's nostalgic because it's an updated version of the stuffed animal friend I had as a child (my alter-ego Kitty, who was mischievous):

 Speaking of bees, several years ago, I was working on a novel called, Path Of Bees. The novel didn't go anywhere (yet - working on picture books now), but this is one of the images inspired by the story:

Speaking of picture books, EWE AND AYE by Candace Ryan, illustrated by Stephanie Ruble, had a couple of pattern pieces in it. This one is the pattern of the tree leaves and vines (each set of two leaves forms a heart - most are upside down, just like Aye in this scene):

Here are four more patterned images (both new and old) with more obvious patterns:

And finally, let me leave you with a song. It's about carrots:

Do you like to make patterns, either obvious or hidden in your art? Or do you make patterns when you doodle? (I do.) Do you have themes you return to again and again? If not, maybe this trip down my art memory lane will inspire you to take your own trip through your old art, or inspire you to make new art with patterns. Happy art making!

dogs in Hawaiian shirts, pugs in tulips, and hippos with tattoos and sunflowers

Today is a "Dogs In Hawaiian Shirts" kind of day. From the art archive:

Makes me want to break out my watercolors!*
(Update: Got out the watercolors! Two new paintings at the end of the post!)

Or maybe it's a "Hippo With A Tattoo" kind of day (also from the art archive and for the Illustration Friday prompt, tattoo):

Maybe those dogs are wearing Hawaiian shirts to hide their hippo tattoos!

Or maybe the hippo and the seagull have Hawaiian shirts, but took them off to go swimming!

So many possibilities!

That's how stories start, with a silly idea.  

(Or at least that's how my stories start. YMMV.)

What kind of day are you having?

* Couldn't resist pulling out the watercolors and painting! So much fun! Apparently it was a "Watercolor Painting" kind of day, inspired by the two images I posted above. :)

#1 - It was also a "Pug Puppies Tiptoeing (and bounding) Through The Tulips" kind of day:

I've never drawn pugs before (not even the year I drew a dog a day all year). Fun to try. Might do it again some time!

#2 - And a "Tiny Hippo Stops To Smell Giant Sunflower" kind of day:

Hope you have a wonderful and creative day, whatever kind of day it is for you! 

birds, Kitty, bees, ruckus for IF, and a new postcard

The prompt for Illustration Friday this week is ruckus. It just so happens that I've been working on images for a new postcard, and the events of the first image lead to a ruckus in the second one!

Image #1: Kitty is hiding in the flowers, hoping that by holding very still, a birdie will land so she can catch it (in her mouth).

One of the birdies is having none of that, and is going to fight back, with bees! A close up:

When we turn the page (or the postcard), we see the ruckus in full swing!

These two images are for the new postcard I'm going to send out soon (off to the printer early next week). Here's how they look on the postcard - the front:

and the back (not sure why blogger made the background grey - it's white):

and look, there are bees instead of dashes in the text!

Will be working on more art for my portfolio while I wait for the postcards to be printed!

Hope your day is ruckus free, or if not, that it's a fun sort of ruckus, and not a swarm of bees chasing you sort of ruckus!

cows and ghosts and elephants, oh my!

I planned a whole different set of art this week for #inktober ... but the art had other ideas. I showed my dad the art.

Dad: "Wow! These are really great!"
Me: "I think what you meant to say, was weird."
Dad: "No, I really think they're great. Maybe a little weird, but I like them!"

So, here are the seven #inktober pictures I did this week, including on for Illustration Friday. They're a little weird, but I like them. I hope you do too!

October 8: No idea what happened. This picture WAS supposed to have a cow and elephant, but no clue where the flowers came from, or why they happened. Then I added a ghost in the middle, just because.

October 9: This drawing set the tone and subject matter for all the rest of the art this week (and is also a nod to Tim Conway on The Carol Burnett Show).

October 10: I had the idea that the ghost could transform into things and the cow and elephant would wear Halloween costumes, and they'd all say or give a clue to what they're supposed to be.

 October 11: Clearly there are no costumes in this picture. I blame the spider.

October 12: This is where things start to go off the rails. I blame the elephant (and Illustration Friday - the theme this week is octopus). Originally the cow was an owl and said, "Who!" but the owl costume looked awful, so I made her wear an eye, in a nod to the book I have coming out in December (EWE AND AYE).

October 13: Now the elephant is just being silly.

October 14: And finally, the ghost and cow are once again dressed up for Halloween, but the elephant is not. (He's too distracted by the pumpkin pie, which he will probably share. Probably.)

So that was my crazy #inktober week! What are your characters (that you're writing or drawing) doing this week? Did you know they were going to do those things? Or was it a total surprise like my ghost, cow, and elephant?

I wonder what surprises the drawings for next week will bring? I guess I'll find out ... stay tuned!

Want to see my other inktober images? Click here to check them out.  

You are the background in other people's pictures.

The prompt for Illustration Friday this week is yesterday ... as in, "Yesterday the world was full of color. Today, *looks out window* there's snow, snow, and more snow, and everything is white!" So, my picture for IF shows a world full of color and no snow, and there's also a story, not from yesterday, but from yesteryear! Though I did draw it yesterday.

Several years ago, I was walking down the street with a guy I knew, when we saw someone taking a picture. He told me that we were the background in that person's picture. I was thinking about this yesterday and sketched a bunny who inadvertently got caught in the background of a picture when he stopped to look at the butterfly landing on another bunny's head:

The two bunnies in the front are frozen in place with their hands at their sides so the butterfly doesn't move while their picture is being taken. Or at least that's how it would have gone when I was a kid. "Don't move! I'm trying to take your picture with the butterfly!"

If you've seen my other art, you have probably noticed that I usually use black outlines. This time I tried not to use them. It works, but I miss the outlines. I also used a different brush that has more texture. Here's a close up, where hopefully you can see some of the texture:

This is just a color sketch for fun. I don't think I'll be changing my style just yet. Also, the colors on the textured art aren't as bright when I save for the web, compared to the colors of my regular style ... or at least that's how it seems!

Here's the original sketch. It makes me want to do the image again in my usual style with black outlines and see which one I like better, but I'm not going to (at least not now).

The idea of being the background in other people's pictures has always stuck with me. I think about it whenever I'm in someone's shot (I have been known to make bunny ears - thus the bunnies in the picture, or smile really big, or even turn away). I think about it when I'm creating the background for a picture book spread too. Who is in my character's neighborhood? Do they live there? Are they friends or family? Or are they visitors from out of town? And I think about it once in a while when I'm creating characters. Everyone is the star of their own pictures, and we're all the background for someone else. I wonder if my character is in the background more often, or is the subject of the photos. Then I try to figure out who is taking the picture.

Have you ever thought about being the background in other people's pictures?

Want to win a signed copy of the picture book When A Dragon Moves In written by Jodi Moore and Illustrated by Howard McWilliam? Click here to enter!

Strange Happenings

I looked out the window this afternoon, and it was snowing! Big flakes of snow were whirling and swirling outside. There were so many that it looked like a snowstorm was rolling in. That may not seem too unusual for April, except that it was 88 degrees outside (I knew that because I watched the weather channel a few minutes earlier).

So if it wasn’t snow, what was it? It looked feathery and there used to be a bunch of pigeons roosting in the apartment building next to ours, but pigeons don’t just lose feathers and I hadn’t heard any shots.

Maybe it was butterflies?


Nope, not butterflies. When I went to the window, I saw that it was flower petals floating and flying around outside! We have lots of flowering trees where we live and it was windy outside. Still, we’ve lived here for many years and have never seen a flower storm like this. Maybe it happens every year, but since we’re not near the ground floor, we don’t see it. Or it could just be one of those things that rarely happen.

What kind of trees did the snow come from? No clue, but here’s a picture:


Luckily, it “snowed” again after my husband came home, so he got to see the blizzard too. :)