New christmas card design

I have revealed my Christmas card illustration /design for this year. See it here on my portfolio :)

My latest project complete!

Self-published author Elisabeth Hurley and I have finished her latest book: Here are a few of my favorites out of it... I also had posted more here. The book is available on lulu.com !

Light house bathroom

I re-decorated the bathroom...

after! lighthouse soap, trash, even toiletbrush!

Love the lighthouse curtain hooks. I have a good place for mister Otter now too.

Here is one of the wall art I stuck to the wall (just cut cardstock, glued on, painted over)...

another shell on wall and lighthouse toothbrush holder...

more shells on wall above sink and all over...

in that frame (above) is this that I made (below)...

we're very happy with it all.

tooth fairy design

tooth fairy costume: $2. 1 skirt and 1 pair of wings at dollar store. tooth design and ribbons on shirt. old sock with coins and tooth design on it for pouch.

tooth design on back of wings, tooth design on crown.

milk jug for tooth bucket! "property of the tooth fairy." 1 funny theme = happier kid who doesn't have to be "just a fairy."

my latest: recipe illustrations

My latest illustrations; this is a recipe at the end of a book. Cinnamon almond stars...

This is the very last illustration for the book! Working on the cover and page layouts to finish it all! Stay tuned...

Fall Collage

Collage made from magazines, tea bags and old cards! Got to help some kids make this at a booth one day at the Art Museum too-- fun fun.

Current work: ad design

I designed a flyer for an upcoming performance by this musician. Just interesting to also see what I made it out of: I made use of two photos (below). I decided the first one was the most attractive...

And this second one showed just a great face/smile & showed her with her instrument (important), but obviously it didn't need that background...

Here is the ticket design as well:

(Come on out and have some "downtime" with Melissa Eason. Buy tix here, and/or see & hear Melissa here.)

Serendipity Stencil

The Squirrel and I set out to make a stencil. I grabbed a file folder because of its thickness. She drew a cat on it and I cut it out.

The file folder worked out great for a stencil because of the way you can set the paper inside it-- the bottom edge helps with aligning and keeping it in one place.

And when we decided to do a second color (the cat's stripes), I could easily trace the shape onto the back of the folder when closed, then open it up and cut out the stripes...

...and if she aligned with the folder's bottom edge when painting the second color, it turned out pretty good.

Cute, huh?

Feet Painting

Using the fingerpaint we made, I set up a sheet in the yard (next to the kid pool to wash off!) for feet painting...

well soon the brushes proved to be still more fun...

but this was an adventure on a very nice day...

Current Work: Hope Ills

posting something I'm currently working on (more stories by Elisabeth Hurley). The first sketch of this particular illustration:

The final line:

The final colored illustration. I use scanned textures and photo textures.

It was interesting to have to research and draw specific various ethnicities.

And here is the title illustration for this particular story, about cleaning up their neighborhood.

Homemade Fingerpaint

funny how one kid can work like this:

and the other kid can work like this:

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup cornstarch 3 Tbsp. sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 2 cups cold water food coloring (added after cooking)

In a medium pan, cook over low heat 10 to 15 minutes. Keep stirring until it is smooth and thick.

(ours was goppy like pudding! adding water afterward thins it if you want...)

Old Card Sets

Going through these card sets was not only nostalgic for me but very fun to see, as an artist. They were always at my Grandma B's camp-- my brothers and I played with them and I see now how the art influenced me, who grew up to be an Illustrator/Designer! :)

Love the patterns on these ones; they're like the textures I use in my art now:

The retro style in these are very fun-- I see a lot of current illustrators reproducing this style:

I see my style in these ones: