Whimsicalities

2011-07-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

...three more sketches for the Sketchbook 2012 Project...

2011-06-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

"Build Your Foundations"
9"X12"
Colored Pencil
$100

2011-06-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

"Alien Ride"
8"X10"
Colored Pencil
$100

2011-06-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

"Dreams Are Seedlings"
8 1/2"X11"
Colored Pencil
$100

2011-06-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

"Dream Big"
8 1/2"X11"
Colored Pencil
$100

2011-06-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Page 4...Sketchbook Project

2011-06-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

Page 3...sketchbook project.
You can click on the label at the bottom of this post to see previous pages.
thanks!! =)

2011-06-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Enlarged version of the "Pencil Tip" for another art exhibit...

2011-05-18T12:02:00.001-07:00

Page 2...Pencil Top

2011-05-18T12:01:00.001-07:00

Page 1...Lemon

2011-05-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

This is the cover for the Art House Coop Sketchbook Project I am currently working on. I have until Jan 2012 to finish and mail it back to them. All the sketchbook will then go on a world tour and finally reside in a permenant collection at the Brooklyn Library...cool huh?

2011-05-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

Embarking on a new journey...a sketchbook given through Art House Coop.
This project starts individually with artists across the globe each creating their own sketckbook.
These endeavors will all tour together around the world and find their final destination at the Brooklyn Library in a permanent collection. whew!!! for more info you can visit...
The Sketchbook Project ...www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject
I have recently finished my cover and will post it shortly.

2011-04-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

complete!!

more steps of layering...

2011-04-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

Max...line drawing

2011-04-01T11:48:00.000-07:00

Blushing Daisy

2011-03-06T16:37:00.000-08:00

Mel's turtle...line drawing

2011-02-18T11:12:00.000-08:00

Layers

...illustration Friday topic of the week...the horse is from a set of two that were commissioned...

2011-02-12T10:49:00.000-08:00

1st stage of second horse... (Madie's horse)

Horses commission... Hannah's horse

2011-01-26T09:32:00.000-08:00

2011-01-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

...continue flowers series...

2010-12-31T07:17:00.000-08:00

A daisy is smile from God!!smile back.

SOLD

Nate's Cross

2010-12-28T09:43:00.000-08:00

He insisted that he would get a tatoo...he is legally old enough to choose...he asked me to design it...I must admit that I have mixed feelings on this "project" as any mother would, I'd imagine.

2010-12-22T09:26:00.000-08:00

Short story adaptation ...
'Laslo, the Foolish Rabbit" complete!!

2010-12-05T13:36:00.001-08:00

final drafts for Spider magazine submissions...

2010-11-28T12:47:00.000-08:00

Two entries for a greeting card contest...

2010-10-29T10:40:00.001-07:00

Laslo page 4...

2010-10-29T10:17:00.001-07:00

Laslo page 2 and 3 layouts...

2010-10-29T09:22:00.001-07:00

Laslo 1st page layout...

2010-10-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

It's the green pumpkin!!!

even more mazes!

2010-09-01T12:34:00.001-07:00

more mazes!

2010-09-01T12:32:00.001-07:00

It's amazing!!!

2010-09-01T12:29:00.001-07:00

Karen's tatoo

2010-07-13T12:27:00.001-07:00

working on a monkey for a friend's tatoo...

Having one of those days?

2010-04-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

The early bird gets the worm if the turtle didn't get it first. ;)

Advanced Doodling...

2010-04-20T16:43:00.000-07:00

2010-03-09T15:43:00.000-08:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

new cards

2010-02-13T11:45:00.001-08:00

"Love notes"

Adding these new cards to the list...

...alittle late for Valentine's Day, oh well.

2009-08-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."
"True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist."
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."
"Imagination is everything. It is the preveiw of life's coming attractions."
"If the facts don't fit the theory change the facts."
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination"
*Albert Einstein

(Colored pencil)

2009-07-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

New Card...

Inspiring, I hope.

thanks, Jenna

2009-05-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

Spring sprung!

While some are venturing outdoors, others are still hooked on electronics that keep us busy all winter long.

Texting has become quite contagious!!

(Illustration Friday's word of the week.)

2009-01-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

...a couple graphic ideas...

The heart one is a Valentine's Day card online.

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/susanscardshop

2008-12-29T14:47:00.000-08:00

Entry for Monday Artday...speed.

2008-12-11T17:02:00.000-08:00

“The most sophisticated people I know - inside they are all children”

"Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending.”

“When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there.”

...Jim Henson

Christmas Cards

2008-11-16T11:19:00.000-08:00

check out these cards and more at... http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/susanscardshop

2008-10-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/susanscardshop

Check my card shop!!

9 cards and soon to grow!!

2008-09-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

“Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
Henry David Thoreau

...or pumpkins.

2008-09-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

Two for "CLUTTER".
Illustration Friday entries...

2008-09-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

More pumpkins...can't have too many.

*Some men see pumpkins as they are and ask why, I dream pumpkins that never were and ask "Why not"? U.S. President John F. Kennedy dreaming about a 1500 pounder in the oval office one January.
*The Pumpkin is always oranger on the other side of the patch.
*I would rather sit alone on a pumpkin than crowded on a velvet cushion
*Ask not what your Pumpkin can do for you, ask what you can do for your pumpkin!

*People with glass Pumpkins shouldn't throw gourds.
*I never met a pumpkin I didn't like.
*Give me pumpkins or give me death(a bit extreme don't you think?)
*A rolling pumpkin gathers no moss.
*As happy as a pumpkin in manure(and you thought only pigs liked this stuff)
*Pumpkin light, Pumpkin bright, first pumpkin I see tonight. Wish I may, wish I might, Wish I had a prizewinner tonight.
*If at first you do not succeed, sow, sow(or grow, grow) again.
*Which came first: The pumpkin or the Pumpkin seed?
*A Pumpkin by any other name is still a pumpkin
*To err is human, a pumpkin is divine.
*That's the way the pumpkin crumbles.
*A pumpkin(Pie, cookie or Ice cream) a day, keeps the doctor away.
*Win one for the Pumpkin
*It's vite-vity-vitie-vidi-pumpkin!!(Lucille Ball)
*This is one small step for pumpkins and one giant leap for pumpkin-kind.
*I can not tell a lie, I cut down the Pumpkin Patch( Contrary to cutting down Cherry trees, damaging pumpkin patches in any way is simply inexcusable)
*You must be out of your gourd!
*"A man my age has nothing left to do but move to the country and grow big pumpkins" President Chester A. Arthur

A few wonderful quotes from the PumpkinNook, http://www.pumpkinnook.com/fun/pquote.htm

PUMPKINS...

2008-08-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

Pumpkins are best loved when detached...from the vine.

Entries for Illustration Friday (detached).

Long Forgotten Treasure

2008-06-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

Illustration friday entry..."Forgotten".

I did this after completing yet another an art history class, a while back.

It never really fit into anything...until now.

If you like patterns...you'll love ancient Egypt.

The "Supernatural-ests" of all

2008-06-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

(Another posibility for Artday Monday's weekly theme of "supernatural".
This is an excerpt from yet another endeavor. It started as a statement told to me by a small child years ago (he graduates from high school this year.) I didn't know what to do with it until my niece died. Then the story and images just seemed to fall onto the pages. That was three years ago...I guess I'd better stop sitting on this one and get it published.)

...Each pulled out a list.
Each checking it twice.
Each saying a prayer
for the naughty and nice.

...They talked about the old names
and names that are new.
Discussing each one...

...So watch what you say

and be careful where you walk.

May you be alittle wiser,

for you now know...

2008-06-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

"supernatural"...so many ways to go...

(Artday Monday theme for the week.)

2008-05-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Art by committee entry...Gurney Journey blog.

"Stone emitted a kind of bark -- ha! -- and showed his teeth again."

Alien Castle...

2008-05-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

Alien Castle...

"It may have been a castle, but it was unlike anything you'd see in history books. An alien hand had drawn the blueprints; I was willing to bet on that."

James Gurney's Art by Committee blog challenge...for last week actually. I didn't complete it on time to enter, but I wanted to finish it still. It's must visit blog, especially if you like science fiction.

2008-05-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

“The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.” James Allen quote
SEED...entry for Illustration Friday.
The original is small. I'm considering enlarging the drawing and adding more detail to the tree for an upcoming colored pencil exhibit. I did this last fall and it's been on my mind lately. Funny how it fit this week's theme.

2008-04-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

A very condensed version of "No gum Allowed".

Always in progress...someday it will be complete and published.

Right now it fits Monday Artday's topic of the week...Dinosaurs.

Yet Another Kind of Pirate

2008-03-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

"Fortune knocks at every man's door once in a life, but in a good many cases the man is in a neighboring saloon and does not hear her." Mark Twain

A funny guy that Mark Twain...very cynical, but funny.

Entry for Monday Artday...Pirates

2008-03-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

Illustration Friday entry..."Heavy". A page from a book that I'm working on
called "Lord of the Dance". It is taken from a shaker song written in the 1800's.

"I danced on Friday when the sky turned black;
It's hard to dance with the devil on your back;
they buried my body and they thought I'd gone,
But I am the Dance and I still go on."

"Dance, then wherever you may be.
I am the Lord of the Dance," said He.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance,"said He.

more monkey

2008-01-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

"Whose with me?"

Transition

2008-01-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

"What happened to you?"

Entry for Monday Artday...Transition.

We all go through transition in our lives.

Sometimes we don't even see our own

while we're caught up watching someone else's.

2008-01-19T08:02:00.000-08:00

"Stitch"...finally complete and scanning properly...technical difficulties with a new scanner or most likely operator error. So much to learn. Anywho, a Bonobo is an extremely intelligent mammal who is so genetically close to humans that it's mindboggling. At the zoo near me, they have tried many times and ways to escape their habitats. One time they actually picked the glue off the windows and hid it. Fortunately the keepers discovered the plot shortly before the window was completely removable. While the window was reattached, the Bonobos were kept in a meeting room where they watched soap operas, lounged on couches, and played video games.
Oh, since their arms are longer than their legs (they hang out mostly in trees) they hold them over their heads when they run on flat ground!

Beyond

2008-01-18T11:42:00.000-08:00

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."

*Lewis Carroll

Zoom-out

2008-01-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

Entry for Monday Artday...busy town.

This is an example that I use for a 4th grade one-point perspective project. It is taken from a drawing called "Urban Blast" by Hans Georg Rausch in 1966. It's a great way to practice perspective with endless possiblitites.

"The axis of the earth sticks out visibly through the centre of each and every town or city. " ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

2007-12-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

"Children's Book"...this week's topic for Monday Artday.

The dinosaur is from the first book that I began working on called "No Gum Allowed".

Not content to stay just within the pages, he has escaped to find himself in a series of drawings that I created of him playing brass instruments. He is quite the animated guy.

2007-12-18T06:50:00.000-08:00

This is my first entry for Monday Artday.

The topic was your favorite things about Christmas. I try to focus on the calm instead of the hub-bub.

Soon after the bird feeder is filled, they come. There is a whole heirarchy among the birds and of course...the squirrels. Different birds go for different nuts and seeds. I found out that if I add walnuts to the mix, I'll see the woodpecker in about 1/2 an hour. And the only guy who scares the Bluejay is the squirrel.

2007-12-08T12:46:00.000-08:00

Discoveries are not made with new eyes, but with new views.

This is an illustration for the "D" in yet another children's book I'm working on.

Ants are "Little Things" with adventure on their minds.

2007-11-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

Drawing for Illustration Friday...Zoo.
This drawing is a condensed version of a one that I drew for a children's book I'm working on about a tale from India. In the tale, a rabbit thinks that the earth is breaking up and sends all the animals into chaos before he really knows what has happened. Similar to the "Chicken Little" story except the trouble comes from below instead of from above.

I also aded in the "JR. High" sign.

Zoo=Jr. High...it's interchangable.

Chess Set

2007-11-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

Susan Pevensie: Are you saying we should believe her story?

Professor Kirke: Why not?
Susan Pevensie: Well, it can't be real, logically.
Professor Kirke: Logic? What are they teaching at schools these days?

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

2007-11-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create."

*Albert Einstein

Illustration Friday entry..."Scales"

2007-11-04T13:36:00.000-08:00

Entry for Illustration Friday..."Hats"

2007-11-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

Harold's Purple Power

2007-10-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

"[Harold] left his yard, taking his purple crayon and the moon along...
He was ready for anything." -- Crockett Johnson, Harold's ABC.

With his crayon and his imagination, Harold can go anywhere.
As a child, I always thought that Harold had immense power and freedom through his purple crayon. Now, as an adult...I think so still. Go Harold!

2007-10-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

“Meddle not in the affairs of the dragon; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.”

Impossible Things...

2007-10-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said. "One can't believe impossible things."
"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
*Lewis Carroll, 1865

This quote has been a great source of inspiration for me. I try to combine unrelated objects into one artwork and see if I can pull it off. Making the impossible, posible.