IF~Soar

Since Illustration Fridays word of the week didn't change from last week it gave me a chance to post a pic. This was mainly done using photoshop except for the line drawing of the ship and martians.

This piece was really fun to do using the PS effects.

Illustration Friday~Unicorn

Illustration Friday~Wet

I'm cheating today. Just too many things to do before going to work. 

I am reposting this art with only some slight changes made in photoshop. Originally I used it in December of 2011 for the IF word of the week sink. Apparently we were having a lot of rain that year. Here's what it looked like before the changes. http://inthelandofwhimsy.blogspot.com/2011/12/if-sink.html

I hope everyone has a good week. And I will try to do better this coming Friday. 

PS I did a very nice illo for a friend at work this last two weeks and I am so happy with the results. I will be posting that soon :)

IF-City

Since they haven't taken Illustration Friday's word of the week City down from last Friday. Here's a quick one to sneak in before the new word comes out. This is called Angel Play.

IF-Animal

It's good to be back to posting my art, even though this piece is not newly created sometimes just getting back in a groove counts. I've been trying to get another piece accomplished these last few weeks. It's a piece for a friend and one of my kid's room pictures. It's really not a hard piece to do, I just have to finish it! But life has been a bit chaotic as of late. First preparing for a craft fair, which by the way was a total bust! I don't think I will give anymore energy to that venue. On the other hand it was a great motivator, I got to spend time with 2 of my cousins and I got all my art in order! Plus since doing that event it motivated me to send out 2 submission. So it wasn't really a waste, I  just didn't make any bucks! But a couple friends ventured out to support me (thanks Bethany and Nance) and it's that kind of things that just makes it a bit more worthwhile.

Then last Friday my husband went in for rotator cuff surgery. He's doing really well,  yet it was a challenging week! He'll be off of work for a couple of months, and I will continue picking up extra work on my job as long as it's offered. The holiday season 

is here!

The piece I am showing today is part of a series of illustrations that I created for a poem. I have thoughts of making a book of my children's poems and maybe when I get some of my other work completed I will do just that. As of right now I have two things on the table and first things first. I'm still holding out hope of participating  in the SCBWI's Tomie dePaola Award, but time is 

getting tight!

So for today I give you these two animals for Illustration Friday's word of the week!

Wishing you all a lovely Thanksgiving! 

And for all my friends near and  far "Peace"to you!

IF Whimsical

 These are my gals that represent my "In the Land of Whimsy header" I originally did this sketch for another IF word of the week, and then changed it up to the piece below.

   

This illustration is titled Catherine and Viola, the middle names of my two sister in law's. I realize once this piece was done just how much they resemble the girls. 

This piece was done in pen and ink with a bit of colored pencil and then enhanced in photoshop.

IF-Bouquet

This is a piece that's close to my heart. Creating it was quite enjoyable. It's a piece that adds both my love of children's art and love of drawing trees!  This was done a couple of years ago for  SCBWI's Tomie dePaola Award. Since the trees are flowery and it feels like spring I thought it a good choice for Illustration Friday's word of the week. 

Here's the link to the 2016 Award. I think it's time to give it another go!

2016 Tomie dePaola Award Prompt

Illustration Friday~Nature

To me nature is my church, whether it be a walk in the woods, sitting in the sand by the ocean or floating down stream in a canoe, that's where I feel most in touch.  Even as a small child I remember my aunt had a small patch of woods in her backyard, I can remember taking my dolls there and quietly playing.  I loved the silence.  I still do. I need silence in my life.  As a teenager I took long walks around the apartment complex where I lived.  I felt the closest to God on those walks.  I sometimes think I said my best prayers on those walks.  I never really felt alone.  Maybe it was all those moments that helped me when I needed it the most in my life. When drinking too much, and drugging too much were becoming the norm. I remember vividly the moment  I ask God to help me, waking from a dead sleep as the words formed in my mind, "please help me" it was a quiet thought and maybe a little desperate. Nothing horrible had happened, it was more a series of events that needed to stop, a lifestyle that needed to change. There's a saying, "when the student is ready the teacher will appear." I believe in those words. You can have all the interventions you want, and yes maybe it pushes you down the right course, but you need to be ready to make that choice, sometimes over and over again.

I wasn't planning on talking about these moments in my life when I started to write this today, sometimes I just let the words flow as they will, and thoughts of nature have always mingled in my mind with thoughts of God and spirituality.


Maybe it's the reason I draw so many trees or make kids art,  it just make me feel more in touch, happy. Drawing was another way that brought me back, when I struggled not to pick up a drink or smoke the joint, instead I picked up a pen.

The art I'm featuring today was started as a practice piece. It was sitting in my studio for over a year, and every now and then I would pick away at it. I never intended it to be a piece that I would frame and show. I even lopped a chunk of it off in the corner because it was too dark. A small cave with eyes peaking out.

Last week I put up a display at the Willoughby Library to feature staff art. It was a lot of fun designing it and lots of hard work!  As I was setting up I noticed most of the comments where directed at this piece of art and how much they liked it. I like it too.

I was also able to hang my daughter's photos ( she also works for the library) and that made me very proud. I love her nature photos and a her quirky style.








Here's more pics from the show.

Illustration Friday~Airborne

I thought this to be the perfect illustration for the word of the week "Airborne" This is not the first time I've posted this art, and for some reason folks like to click on this one according to my stats in the blogger settings. I guess there's quite the fun factor about children being shot out of magical castles through rainbows?

When I made this illo I was preparing for an art fest. I remember one of my friends laughing at me for "cooking" my artwork! Since the frame was made of Sculpey, there was no way around it. There were a couple of blunders along the way, but all in all I got pretty good at it.

Currently I am preparing for the Art Walk in downtown Willoughby.  I will be the guess artist for the Willoughby Library--Thanks Deb! So if any of my friends want to stop by, Deb will be promoting the WE-Libraries and I will be promoting my children's art and my tree spirits.

Wishing you all a great week!


  

IF-Wiggle

The word of the week is Wiggle…So what comes to mind?

Well, when I was a kid we would drive to my grandparents house in Cleveland. It wasn't a long drive, although when you're 10 or 12 it felt longer than the actual half hour or so that it was. On one of these drives I decided to let my pencil wiggle about my paper on the drive home, just to amuse myself I guess. I remember just relaxing the pencil on the paper and letting the road do the drawing. It looked something like this

It was more jaggedy than wiggly. Looking back I think it was an experiment in self control--could I keep the pencil on the paper the whole way home? And also the curiosity to see the final outcome. Nerdy artist even back then.

As I think about this word, and look over my art, it seems that my art is just filled with wiggles…

I have wiggly castles, and wiggly trees.

...and more wiggly trees, along with strange rooster creatures and wiggly haired cave women.

And here is one of my favorite wiggles, this cute little snake basking in the sun. I could go on and on with my wiggle art.

Doing fun kids art makes me happy. I go into a zone that I really like. It brings memories back of days that felt lighter and simpler. Days when you would play outside with friends until the street lights would come on. Days of chalk on sidewalk, or whirling finger paint onto large sheets of paper, just for the joy of how it felt and the colors it made. Warm summer nights filled with catching lightning bugs, or piling into a station wagon to go to the drive-in-movie.

...Or times when you did funny things, like holding your pencil to your paper for an entire car ride just because.

IF~Window

Hello~

For this weeks Illustration Friday I give you Jaxson's Room. Can you find the 2 windows in this illo?

pen and ink with watercolor pencil

This piece was first meant for the little guys mom, Bethany. She is a friend that I work with at the library. She has a thing for mushrooms and gnomes, and she seems to really like my artwork too. So I said I would draw her a gnome. She made me a quick little sketch (darn I wish I had it to show, but I left it at work) of a gnome reading a book, by a mushroom. Simple enough. And after all we both work for a library so a "reading gnome" seemed quite fitting. As it was, time got away from me, and no gnome to show for it. More time passed, and I learned Bethany was with child. (Jax--the little guy) I then decided to alter the piece and add in a little boy gnome and give it to her for her baby shower. --On a side note the name Jax comes from the show, Sons of Anarchy. It seems Bethany and Nick (Dad) are both fans.

Bethany, Jaxson, and Nick

I don't know why this piece hung me up so much, but I just couldn't seem to get it going. Sketch after sketch and nothing felt right. Then I lost interest in doing any art at all for over a year, one long dry spell. Needless to say the piece did not get done. Move ahead to Jax's first birthday, and I'm thinking I gotta get this going before the kid out grows gnomes! Although I know his mom won't outgrow them!  So last night I was finally able to give this long overdue picture to my friend! She was happy and I was soooo glad to get it off my plate!

I also wanted to share this book with you...

I took this out of the library and decided I needed to have a copy of my own ( I couldn't keep renewing it) It has really helped me to view time differently, and how I can make better use of it in order to create on a regular basis. It's funny how "out of shape" you can get when you're not practicing your craft. I know when I'm in the mode that even if there's a struggle the struggle isn't nearly as hard as when I'm not in practice. I guess that's pretty much true for many things.

There's been some interesting things that have been happening since my recommittment to my art...

1. The manager at the Willoughby library asked if I would like be their "guest artist" for the Art Walk in downtown Willoughby (All the stores have a guest artist that evening)

2. I sold 2 pieces of Artwork after a friend saw them on FB--Thank you Cindy :)

3. My cousin asked if I would like to hang my work in her fancy hair solon--Thanks Amber!! Looking forward to making new art for that. Thinking new Tree Spirits for her shop.

So it looks like I will be busy. Plus I have 2 more kid's room pics I need to make. Feels great to be working again!

And to close with on more Illustration Friday "Window"  I love this piece!!!

 "Cats in Windows" from my daughter Annie. She holds my heart  :)