Illustration Friday: The Blues

had an almost instant image in my head for this one. Of course the end result isn't much like that preliminary image, but it is close enough. I didn't want to go down the emotional path of what "The Blues" means. I know that a fiddle is not a traditional Blues instrument--but for some reason that was part of my image, that and Australian Aboriginal inspired design elements. (That and I'm much more in tune with Bluegrass than The Blues...) Probably I was mostly inspired by this other painting I did a while back about musical instruments. It went with this poem:

Babalinka and Bitsy Boo
Go on a trip to visit Baboo.
Baboo plays the didgeridoo.
The dobro, the oboe,

And ukulele too.

Illustration Friday: Juggle

Wow. This one really took the wind out of my sails. I struggled (juggled?) with ideas all weekend. And then had to juggle energy reserves to carry any of them out. My husband is a video game designer and he's been crunching (serious overtime for you video game novices) on a project for months now, which leaves the kids and me on our own pretty much. When I tell people what he does they are always amazed and think, "oooh glamour job." Yeah. Glamour job with really serious slave hours...

Juggling all that in my head--I had to do a more conceptual piece.

Illustration Friday: Wedding

This illustration was an experiment to see if I could get the ink resist effect digitally. Thanks to Scott E Franson for his tutorial: http://scottefranson.blogspot.com/2007/08/scratchboard-linocut-tutorial.html

What kind of illustration for children incorporates a wedding? Oh I know, "Froggie Went a Courting" I was raised on at least two very different versions of this song. One is much more Disneyfied ( http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/f024.html ) The frog and mouse go to France. The other was the Pete Seeger version where the whole wedding is upset by a snake and a cat. Miss mouse got swallowed on the spot. (I can't find a link for those lyrics. But it is on the Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Fishes album http://www.folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=2412#) I'm not sure if my frog and mouse will escape to France or get swallowed--what do you think?

Illustration Friday: Momentum

Momentum is a tricky thing. Especially when you don't have any. I couldn't seem to get going on this topic so I just have a quick sketch. It has something to do with mass and velocity and squares (or was that ellipses?) I know! I would've learned that if I'd taken Physics--thanks Dad! (Or so he said. I did take Physics (for artists) in college; and another "low calorie math" Physics on Semester at Sea--but I guess if you don't take it senior year in high school, it just doesn't get started and there is no chance to build up any momentum...)

Illustration Friday: Alphabets

This week's topic seemed like a good one for the Egyptians. (If you missed the Egyptians before see February and March from my Blog Archives.)
I don't think she got them in quite the right order and she's probably missing a few. Older brother is horrified by the number of repetitions and renditions that have already transpired... (with no end in sight.)

Illustration Friday: Visitors

My first thought on this topic was aliens... But then I thought about the amazing Jeweled spider that moved into our back yard about a week ago. I've noticed that suburban Texas sports many more critter type visitors than life in suburban Colorado. (I grew up in rural New Mexico and we had critters dropping in all the time. Top of the list was the bull snake in the greenhouse sink!)
This is an ink resist. I paint white tempera where I want to have white and let it dry. Then I cover the whole paper with India ink. When it is dry I wash the tempera off and then apply watercolor. Many people ask me how I have time with my children underfoot to get this stuff done. The answer is I have abandoned art school training where bigger is better and now work relatively small. (This one is smaller than usual at 6" by 7")

Illustration Friday: Captain

Mommy is the Captain

Is he acting odd or is it ODD? (oppositional defiant disorder.)

Actually my son had great fun posing for this illustration and was quite compliant when I asked him to help me. But there have been times when I have had to utter the phrase, "Mommy is the captain--not you."