IF- Routine

If- Routine : Rough manly beaver work cuttin' down trees, buildin' dams - secure in his masculinity - Bertram enjoys a sushi break.

I knew I wasn't going to make the deadline for another Illustration Friday- So I managed a sketch. I like the sketch so much, I didn't want to rush the color. Should I do black and white since it's an homage to this:




Or should it be color- or sepia tones?

My website will soon be redone - Hallejuha! -So I'll use this as the under construction/Out to Lunch image.

The Quest for Character .... continues ...

- How do you feel when you draw? Not how do you feel when you sit down to -tired -stressed- fine -etc...

But while you're drawing -how do you FEEL?

I feel true. I feel home. I feel ME. - I trust my head , my heart- my hand... and what comes out is not always perfect, but it's real.

I thought maybe it's an altered state - like a different level of being, but no - I'm altered when I'm not drawing. I long to draw when I'm making dinner, watering flowers - grocery shopping. I want to draw the things I see - the sounds I hear - the kooky people that exist all around me and the craziness that exists in my imagination.

Being told your art is "too" anything.. feels wrong. I can't be "too" me. Pursuing children's books has handed moments of self doubt - and those moments are vanquished -when I draw.

So - persevere. Keep drawing . Use your pencil like a machete and hack thru the publishing jungle - to reach that oasis -of exactly where you're supposed to be.

This is concept art for my book.

Cum By-yah! ;)

In the future

I shall refer to the work I do for D***** - as "the Mouse who must not be named"

It's late..

It's a lovely summer night , 11:30- windows open - everyone asleep but me up in the studio. A car turns onto my street - stereo blasting.... Andreas Bocelli. The guy behind the wheel is singing his heart out. Suddenly, I'm in a Barilla commercial.

Now it's 12:30. made some book progress. Finished Guster babies. Off to bed!

"Don't stop believin".....

This week, a 41 year old won an Olympic swimming medal. Dana Torres was asked what she would tell her now 2 year old about her Olympic experience - her answer: "Don't put an age limit on your dreams."

This week, this almost 38 year old became an artist for the Walt Disney Company. I will tell my daughter the same thing. And tell all of you too - don't give yourself an expiration date - just keep swimming.....

Here's a sketch I'm working on for the Guster babies- K

"A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view"

The title is a quote from shorty himself.

A rainy day at the zoo this week - so I finished reading a book about Napoleonic times. Nappy and Jo - 2 crazy kids - fabled romance - out to conquer the world.

"What shall we take in tonight my love? Italy? Austria? Belgium?""Name it and it's yours- the world is at our feet, Jo"

But as with most "politicians" and "celebrities" - they didn't really have their s**t together. They had affairs- divorced - died miserable. The mighty tend to fall, don't they?

These two would have been in every tabloid. I don't get into idolatry. I'm not much for "the cult of personality" - if time truly tells... things don't change.

So I doodled up the imperial couple in happier times. Au revoir pour l'instant, mes amis!

Someone told me "It's all happening at the ZOO"!

I am at the Bronx Zoo all week. My daughter is doing the one week day camp. I chose to stay all day 5 days as an animal drawing intensive. - Could someone shoot me now?

It's not the furry, feathered, beaked, slithering etc... animals that are getting to me. It's the human species that I'd like to see on the endangered list. I've encountered many strange varieties and it's only my 3rd day- 2 to go! Today was free admission day- so I'm a little over exposed to people.

Also - who should I speak to about getting the animals to stand still? - I've been doing a lot of gestures. Of course if they were all napping - I'd be bored. I saw some wild gorilla action today. The silver back was beating the crap out of the smaller gorillas - for lettuce. Hate to see what he would do for a burger.

Monday I had a great time in the Rain Forest building. I had a staring contest with a black leopard... I actually got to draw him. I loved the tree kangaroo- I don't have any drawings yet- maybe tomorrow he'll cooperate and stand still.

I love when I draw in public - the crowd watches - people ooh and ahh-"Look,look at her- she's drawing - " and inevitably, a small child's voice can be heard "I can do better than that" - usually I trip them-:)

I find the people this week are noticing me drawing them and are not at all happy about it. I usually get away with it. So here are my sketches so far this week. There's a true doodle of a mother walking the path next to the vultures- who shrieked as a squirrel climbed a branch over her head "What the hell is that!?" - her kids had a good time with that.

Cool animation

Studio Door Peeps

To see this bigger- click the pic.

Nancy - you got 4 right! Chuck, Walt, Winsor, J.K.,... Daniel Radcliffe is cute- but- not above studio door material-It's John Lennon. And (not) Hanna- is Charles Schulz.

I have a few spots open, I was going to hang Martha Stewart up - I do admire her tenacity and taste... but I have since rejected Martha and the need for domestic perfection to pursue artisitic fulfilment. I may hang my college Prof Roger DeMuth up. He's a great guy , great artist, great teacher.. inspirational dude.

So these are the people I admire - I realize they are not all perfect - but they all (follow)ed the beat of their own drum. They were (are) the best they could be- or strive to be it. That's what I'm shooting for in life. Sometimes I go all Laverne and Shirley and hit the plaques before I leave the studio.

IF "Poof"

Illustration Friday topic "poof". My daughter gave me the idea of "Poof" the Magic Dragon- "Puff's" sister.

"Poof the Magic Dragon lives by the Sea;
She invited her magical friends over to sit and sip some tea." by Maggie Light

Name these folks

- Here's the close up. There's one person I don't expect anyone to know- local NY-er. But I think you'll get most. Tom got the easy one!

Doodling is productive!

I started doodling yesterday- trying to rev up the engine with daily drawing. This is what came out. It's not too shabby. I'm working on place- will work on the window/oriental carpet/sconce. Want to work on lighting too - this is at night - with only the moonlight and a candle and a gaslight. I'm excited to color it up.

I was thinking about our upcoming camp out with the Mother/daughter group. We're 6 moms and six girls who've known eachother since the girl's were babies and we all attended a new Mother's group. Now the girls are 8/9. Last year they stayed up late, telling spooky stories in their tent, and we stayed up late listening from our tent.

So- I was thinking about that and how important books are to these girls- they have regular book swaps. Then I thought about how books were IT. No t.v., no computer, no i pods, no Wii . Imagine the impact they had. I wish I could go back in time.

Summertime and the living is..... lazy.

I am having a strange summer. I will draw and draw for a few days, then I will do , absolutely .... nuthin'.

My studio is in the attic. A few years ago, my husband turned a Greg Brady bedroom into a working space for me. This is where I spend my days, usually drawing, lately procrastinating - cleaning - finding reference on the computer.

I have started a painting out of frustration with my book. Maybe a change would spur me on.

There's an artist I like very much Ambera Wellman who I found over on Anthony VanArsdales's blog. Amazing paintings of expansive skies! I thought, I'm a decent artist, I'll paint my own expansive sky. So I did. It looked like it needed something, So I added skydiving pigs. - a clear indicator - you have to be who you are, and not try to be someone else. They don't have their parachutes on yet, I was going to paint a companion piece with a skydiving pig with a copy of skydiving for dummies... hence - no parachutes. But I may be kind and spare them turning to hash on the ground. - Apologies to C.G. Young



So - Here's my studio and all the sketches for the book I'm working on... It's going slooooow.







My husband ran plumbing all the way up and installed a small sink to wash brushes.



My daughter has her own studio space. It's my desk from when I was a kid.



You can see Jabba the Mutt and Jedi George Nibbles hanging out. My desk chair's broken - I have to get a new one if anyone has a recommendation -I'd love one. I keep a vintage Varsity sweater that used to be owned by a guy named Lenny up here. It's chilly in the winter. I listen to WNYC all day, everyday, I am addicted. I listen to it on an old AM radio.






I work mostly on a Mac these days - even drawing there - gotta get the new chair. Getting a Wacom tablet has been the best change in how I work in the last 2 years. I like drawing in Sketchbook Pro - then coloring up in Photoshop. I use painter a little but- I need more time to explore that program.




There are great built in shelves that were here from the Greg Brady bedroom - paint can do wonders- they used to be the color of bricks. I try to be organized - but I am a generally cluttered person. The boxes have helped me keep sketches, promo papers and reference almost organized.





I try to keep my favorite chachkes about to make me happy and keep me inspired. The other shelves against the stairs can't be reached easily, so I filled them with memories. You can spot a 70's me here and there, along with my fave childhood books, toys, lots of Mickey Mouse, old crayons, clay- I love anything from the 20-40's that was made for kids, coloring books, how to draw books. And there's Edna- from The Incredibles - when I need a pick me up , I just give her a squeeze and hear "Hellooo Darling!"






Down the stairs - I have the movie poster of The Iron Giant- my absolute favorite animated movie. Above the door - I've made little plaques of people who inspire me. These are people, some visual artists, some not, who followed their own paths - completely ignoring what anyone else thought. They not only have great talent but the ability to believe in themselves and trust in their own unique views of life. I try to look at them each day as I leave... spurring me on to come back to the studio tomorrow.





How many of them can you name? - I'll post their names soon!- now- this was some serious procrastination -back to the book!

Thanks to Gina Perry and Jennifer Meyer for the Web blog award! - Just when I'm not blogging so much - I get reminded of why I blog. It's because of the connections that come out of it - and the talented and interesting people you find. So the award needs to get passed on - I am honoring these seven bloggers, whom I check out quite frequently and think more people should: Anthony Vanarsdale , Colleen Madden , Jennifer Tuturro , Angie Jordan , Karen Michel , Aja Wells , Jennifer Thermes.
Here's are the rules of the game:

How to Pass it on:
1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

It's a wonderful thing to watch the art come out of all of you - it keeps me inspired.

The new sad

By now- people who come and read this blog know I'm a big BNL fan. So- I'm going to make this short. Steven Page was arrested.
I've told Maggie- my 8 year old - He's a good person; who made a bad choice - and now he has to face the consequences.

Sad for all involved. Sad for being naive. Sad for Mags and no Disney show. Sad about deciding to not go on the cruise next year.

He told me, he did read this blog at one point and liked my sketch of him. If you (Steve) ever read it again - I meant it, you made a few bad choices -but you're a good person , be accountable- and see you have so much good around you. Grab on tight to the good and don't let go- pull yourself up- dust yourself off- start all over again. 'Cause you mean a lot to many.

- and I'd like to smack you- right in the punim.

BNL+talented puppeteer= Awesomeness

Back when I won the BNL art contest for Snacktime - so many nice people took the time to stop by and say congrats. One was Noah Ginex. He's a talented guy - out in talentland-Chicago, pursuing an art form that is rare and magical, Puppetry. He made this video for Snacktime- "Pollywog in a Bog". It's just about the most awesome thing ever. Click on the post title or on the link to watch. The Owl - Steve, The otter-Tyler- The red fox- Jim- and steel drum playing fox - Andy. The Flying squirrel-Ed and the Possum- Kevin. Talk about good character design, I 'm not worthy....

Buy his art @ Etsy -Noah Ginex

Let's hear it for cute!

We have a new kitten. "Jedi" Originally, my daughter named him Nibbles, then my husband got home and could not live with a cat named Nibbles, so He renamed it- Jedi.

He's very cute and awfully friendly. Jabba's thrilled to have a little friend who scratched the black off his nose the first 2 days, but now we have Glasnost- Dog and cat are cool.

Some pics for your viewing pleasure:






Some much death around here- we need some cuteness!

The World just got too stupid for him to take

George Carlin - much more than a comedian

Really- I think there was far too much B*** S*** for him to deal with.

I never intended to have this blog be an obituary page. What is going on?