Friday, July 27, 2012

Ursa Major & Minor

ursa major and minor Just thought I'd share a peek at my studio table in the last week before heading to the SCBWI conference in LA. This is an image based on a dream that I'm using for a postcard promo. Back to painting...and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Drawing Chickens

IMG_4874 Yep, more birds. Sunday evening I met up with various members of the Girllustrators and Armadillustrators in the garden of Eastside Cafe for some drawing, socializing, and lemosas (refreshing mix of frozen lemonade, champagne, and raspberry). chickens1 When I first sat down, it was hard to tell the chickens apart (about a dozen birds of the same breed, with all reddish-brown feathers). But they're are pretty expressive when you hang out with them for a while. Some have puffier bits. Some just want to take dirt baths. I'm kind of into drawing chickens now...and lemosas. chickens2

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Bird snacks

birdsnacks2_w birdsnacks1_rev_w birdsnacks3_rev_w Saw a green heron catch a minnow and a kingbird catch a caterpillar this morning at Shoal Creek. And yesterday an oriole was eating ants from inside the trumpet vine in the backyard (photos here).

Monday, April 30, 2012

Studio Clean-up

IMG_4419
So lovely to start off the week with a clean desk! Spent most of yesterday and some of Saturday organizing, cleaning, and paring down in my studio. I'm half minimalist, half collector/packrat, and the minimalist half got tired of all the paper monsters taking over my workspaces.

Here's what my desk looked like around lunchtime yesterday: P1020880
And this morning:
IMG_4429
Work table before:
P1020878
And after:
IMG_4424 IMG_4427 IMG_4417
My studio mate, Lloyd
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View from my desk chair of the trumpet vine in full bloom...dreamy! IMG_4407

Monday, April 23, 2012

Drawing Day: Hamilton Pool

4.22.12_Hamilton Pool 4.22.12_Hamilton Pool 4.22.12_Hamilton Pool A day full of sketching, swimming and enjoying nature at Hamilton Pool. What made it even better: got to hang out with various Armadil- and Girl-lustrators and a couple more fine folks. Seriously, if you have not been to Hamilton Pool and you are in the Austin area, you must go! Floating on your back while looking up towards a waterfall and a cliff wall covered in ferns and the daub-y nests of cliff swallows...amazing.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Mac Crack of Dawn & the Eggmobile

Mac Crack O'Dawn Inspired by all the crazy kustomized hot rods in town over the weekend (my favorite had a Chewbacca head on the top of the gear shift), and people who drive them. The eggmobile is what happened when I tried to draw this car without looking at the photo for reference.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Please don't feed the dinosaurs

dinos in drink This is what you don't want to find when you walk back to your lunch! Dedicated to Harper and her dinos.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Cars, Music, Dinosaurs

IMG_1293 IMG_4312 It's Lonestar Round Up time in Austin, and yesterday I joined up with Shelley Jackson, Jeff Crosby, and their daughter, talented artist/dinosaur handler Harper, for an afternoon of sketching the South Congress scene. IMG_1314 IMG_1311 carsketch1 IMG_1308 IMG_1322 IMG_1312 IMG_1321 carsketch3 IMG_1316 IMG_1320 IMG_4314 IMG_1319 Shelley and Harper enjoying music at the end of the sketch day. More pictures of cars here.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

One fish, sketch fish

fishcombo1 Some fish that didn't end up getting used on a recent project.

Sunday, April 08, 2012

Bunny hop

bunny hop It's just that sort of day. A couple more in this series here.

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Alien Boy

alien at play
Trying to work out the look of an alien character. And not have it look too creepy... aliens

More poppies

april poppies Still painting wildflowers, this time for a garden blog banner update.

April Flowers

April flowers: moneywort April flowers: poppies
I keep forgetting to take my phone when I walk the dog and miss capturing photos of the wildflowers along the trail (poppies backlit by the morning sun and shady masses of dayflowers). So, the past couple of days I've tried to fix in my mind, Frederick style, how I would paint them in watercolor.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Lena, noooo!

Lenanooo_door_white A day in the life with a spicy kitty who knows how to inspire action. Below is the back door trim where she hangs from. P1020803

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Web Update & Conference Prep

Finally brought my portfolio site up to date! Feels so good to get that off the list. And here are a few scenes from today, getting ready for the SCBWI-Houston conference. IMG_4227 Painting some graphics for the info page of my site. IMG_4237 Trying to get the right order on the portfolio. IMG_4228