Illustration Friday: Trick or Treat

"Bring out the candy!"

This was an illustration I did for the MOMS Club Round Rock South October newsletter, and it fits the theme perfectly. The story it accompanied, a Halloween memory from one of the members, told of a little girl practicing for her first night of Trick or Treating. When asked what she should say she said, "Bring out the candy!"

Illustration Friday: Grow

This weekend was my son's Cub Scout Campout (Pack 345) I did this sketch from our tent. What can be more about growth than Cub Scouts?

Illustration Friday: Extremes

I suppose there were a lot of ways I could've gone on this one, but a favorite motif of mine, three enmeshed faces, came immediately to mind. Then it took some time to gel.

Last night, as I was trying to fall asleep, I came up with the idea of different rendering styles. I'm still not quite satisfied with it (but as they say in the Costume Shop, "Done is pretty." Though I don't have a real deadline here like you do when something must be on stage.) Maybe this will be a rough sketch for something else...

Desktop Meme

I've noticed various types of tag games going on in other blogs, and suddenly I've been tagged! Mary has asked that I show what my desk/workspace looks like. Uh oh. (This is sort of like having people over to my house without getting a chance to clean up...) But I do find it fascinating to see what kind of atmosphere other artists create in. So here is my corner of the world where a great deal of creating goes on. (I'm currently working on brochures so no work in progress is visible.) In reality I tend to create all over the house. My neighbors once discovered me painting in the garage with my table top easel set up on the dryer!

This is where the easel lives (when it isn't in some "exotic" location,) along with portfolios, and I'm not sure what all else tucked in there. I also have a stand of clear drawers in the garage filled with sundry supplies: paints, ink, pencils, an apron, oil pastels, quilter's plastic to make stencils...
So that's it. My little corner of chaos.

Illustration Friday: Open

Who was she? And what drew her through the open door?

Well it's been a crazy weekend around here. So this is the first time I've posted something that wasn't done specifically for the topic, but just happened to fit. This is an Illustration Friday special topic where people will vote and the winners will have the option of displaying in a certain gallery. The whole concept was very stressful for me and I found myself resistant to creating something specifically to be judged. Worry about whether or not it would be good enough just sapped the fun right out of it. But I found I couldn't just ignore the fact that there is extra pressure on this topic and just do something fun anyway. It just brings up all the tension of the juried art show process (and the repeated submission and rejection of the publishing process) that I've gone through. I've never been very good at compartmentalising that aspect as the business portion of creating and therefore lack a protective detachment.