More new illustration
Cinderella
Sometimes I've run into bumps but I love the process of brainstorming to smooth out the bumps.
I've also been doing some unrelated paper quilt collages. I'll post a few before long.
Meanwhile here's a "new" illustration. This time I used an old drawing but gave it color. It may be hard to tell and I'm not sure if it really matters, but pretty much all the color in this image is scanned from paper (why I still call it collage).
Hey Diddle Diddle
More experiments with collaging directly into photoshop. If this is tiny on your screen you can click on the image to see it larger. I'm experimenting with some changes with my blog and website to fix this. *Update: Yay! I think I fixed this.
Meditative drawing
I posted this on Facebook but thought it might be nice to post here too
:
A combination of too much chai yesterday afternoon paired with anxiety from reading way too much about the Paris attacks before bedtime left me wide awake in the middle of the night last night.
Usually if this happens I get up and write in my journal or read a book or do some yoga and I can manage to go to sleep again.
I don't often draw when I wake in the night because my inner critic rages at the midnight hour (unless I've stayed up in a manic obsession over a specific project). But I've been teaching art this fall and I showed the kids I teach how to draw Indian Rangolis a few weeks ago. Turns out Indian Rangolis are pretty therapeutic to draw when my brain is in overdrive.
It felt like a quiet rebellion to use my anxiety as an excuse to focus on beauty for beauty's sake while I cozied up to the stove in my studio. Here are my prayers for Paris and the world, drawn mostly in the anxious hours of the early morning, myself like so many: striving in the face of fear to turn toward the light.
I'l
l add that I've had a lot of requests for coloring sheets.
Good idea. The
se aren't great pictures because they are just s
napped with the scanner app on my phone but I'll put some up so
on for anyone i
nterested.
Trying collage in a new way
More to come...
If drawing is the balm, I’ll take it
A partial pile of drawings from the last couple weeks. |
After the bike crash
Art Show at the Washington State History Museum
We also have an opening this Saturday, November 22, from 11:00am-2:00pm. Come stop by and meet the artists!
Here is my piece for the show:
It's called Dreaming of the Summit, Mt. Baker, Early 1900s.
Here's what I wrote for the show about making the piece:
New Studio
The last few months I've had a surprising development...
My new studio will have a view of the bay.
Unfortunately I'm under a bit of construction in part of the studio as you can see here. But I have a nook with a sink where there are no construction plans.
And basically...
I'm back in business.
Hooray!
It is always hard for me when life chunks out some of my work time for a month or two (or sometimes three). But I'm hoping that this move will be worth it. This is an amazing new studio (even though I'll miss my old tiny colorful studio that I've cherished for the last decade).
And now I'm bursting with pent up art on the to-do list. I'm flooded with half finished projects (or nearly-finished projects) that are pestering me to tend to.
So here I am again. Butt in chair once again. Loving what I do and anxious to be back at it.
PiBoIdMo
And best of all...
This year I've already written two new picture books as a result of PiBoIdMo. Woo hoo!
Cheers to anyone else who took the challenge.
Happy Thanksgiving! Go see some art!
I have a piece in the show. Here's a cheesy picture of me with my piece:
I also posted some pictures of the family event from the end of October on the SCBWI Western Washington Website (I've joined their blogging street team as a part of getting back into the swing of things after having my baby).
Anyway, especially if you happen to be in downtown Seattle this weekend enjoying holiday festivities, swing by the convention center and enjoy our show!
I look forward to catching up with many bloggy friends soon. I just started getting a good childcare schedule going and I've been enjoying the last few weeks of Picture Book Idea Month (more on that soon!). Still, babies are sooooo fun to have around. I have so many things to be thankful for this year. I hope you do too.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
My photo in the NYT
A day of fun at the Eric Carle Exhibit, Tacoma Art Museum
A Mother's Day Treat
Delicious Spring
This is my nephew, Richard. |
Whew! A whirlwind month of new work
I'll try to post some fun process pictures in the upcoming few weeks.
Meanwhile you can check out my updated portfolio here on my website.
This week I'm taking a deep breath and catching up with regular life. But I'm looking forward to sorting out what my next big goal will be too.
Cheers to working hard and making fun new art!
Kjersten's photo on the NYT website
Check out the submissions page. One of my pictures is an example! (You can't see it from a mobile device). Can you tell which one is mine?
(For anyone who doesn't know me personally, it's the one with the mom and her kid with the sun streaming in behind them).
A few new black and white portfolio pieces
This second one was an experiment in play. I used a rough sketch from about a year ago that I had already turned into a color piece (in fact the color version is still in my portfolio over on my website).
I felt compelled to play with the sketch from this piece because while I liked the drawing a lot, I thought the tones were a bit off in the color version. So I decided to play and see how or if I could improve it in black and white. I tried drawing some of the patterns I used in my collage papers. (Something I'd like to do more of in the future).
The unexpected result: I think I like the finished black and white piece better than the color version.
It's fun when play leads to work you really like.