Catching up ...

Wow, I feel we have a lot of catching up to do. Posting on the old blog seems to have taken a backseat to.........well, life. I have been busy after all with the new baby and trying to find a new family rhythm. I am finding the transition from two to three children to be a little more challenging than when Solomon joined us. Now I have three children, all at totally different stages who all need to be parented differently. It is a juggling act and we have added a new ball, and I am not good at juggling, but I have faith that with some practice I will find the rhythm.
And it is a new season, new life everywhere, not just our new little soul.
I welcome the spring with open arms. A time for a fresh start and new beginnings.
In the meantime I wanted to share few moments of the last several weeks...




We took many walks in the woods...

...and in our neighborhood.


We made faerie ships and sailed them down the river...


and drew pictures in the sand.


We found treasures by the river too...


And I got a fun illustration gig, it was great to be covered in paint again.

Illustration Sunday...a work in progress, and stars of both kinds

I tried to finish this one, I really did. I listened to the GreatfulDead marathon on the radio yesterday on KBOO from the afternoon on into midnight. Didn't quite finish but thought I would post anyway to show what I have so far...
I learned that Robert Plant was walking around in my neighborhood last week! No kidding! I live near a kind of funky trendy shopping street and he was spotted hanging out before his concert. How cool is that? I would have followed him like a huge dork if I saw him, that would have been fun. I remember watching a Led Zepplin show at the Planetarium at the college campus in my home town when I was just in middle school. The professor who ran the shows was an old hippy and would show videos of Pink FLoyd and other concerts mixed with celestial stuff. It was fun, anyway. ..
It is way too nice to paint today. One of the warmest sunniest days we have had and I still have a few seeds that need to go in the ground. I will post this next week Finished along with my next drawing. You understand, right? Thanks friends, enjoy your Sunday!

This Moment......mama time

This moment may not look like much , but to me it really is. My paints have been put away for most of the past three years since my second child has been born, almost four years since I graduated art school, and four years since I felt obligated or inspired to paint.
It is so nice to see them out cluttering my work space once again. Good to remember a part of me that is aside from being a mama.
This is truly a moment to cherish and savor and hopefully continue regularly through out my life.
This moment inspired by Soulemama.

Illustration Sunday....."Pure Joy" in color

I somehow found a few minutes in my week to work on my painting. It was a little frustrating only being able to paint in small chunks at a time, but that is part of being a mom. Speaking of Mama artists I also got the documentary, WHo Does She Think SHe is? in the mail and watched it

immediately. It was so worth the wait, truly inspiring and I am sure to watch it over and over again for inspiration as I do Tasha Tudor's Take Joy.
This painting like I said last week was inspired by the birth of my second child. Pure Joy is what I felt for several months I was just so amazingly happy and content.
I was sort of robbed of this joy with my first child. Ben I were young 19 and 20 and not married when we found out we were pregnant the first time. I was terrified, my family was angry and disappointed with me. I felt a bit envious of first time moms who are met with nothing but happiness and joy for their news. Even when I found out I was pregnant with our second after Ben and I had been married for 7 years, I was hesitant to tell my family and didn't tell anyone for several weeks.
I am happy I got to feel mama joy the second time around.

Illustration Sunday......"pure joy"

I wanted to share what I have been working on. This is drawn out onto tracing paper so I can transfer the image to a nice watercolor paper and then paint it for next week.
I have been playing around with this idea for a few years but never really work it into a complete illustration. This was inspired by the joy I felt with the birth of my second child.
I am really hoping this painting turns out. If it does I was thinking It would make a sweet card for an expectant mom or any mama really so I would possibly get them printed into cards. We will see, I am getting a little ahead of myself. It is good to be back on track with my Illustration Sundays after a few weeks missed due to illness and Birthdays.
Thanks for stopping by!

Illustration Sunday.....dancing birds in color

Last week, during a very monsoon-like morning, my son and I dressed head to toe in our our rain gear, waterproofed the jogging stroller with the rain tent and headed up to the park near our home that is an extinct volcan0. It is a very good workout for me pushing the stroller up this mountain , and a beautiful leisurely ride for my little man. He was dry and cozy, eating pretzel sticks and singing to himself. I was doing my best to ignore the rain, focusing on the music from my ancient ipod(Amadou &Miriam) and happy to get exercise and fresh air. We continued on through the wind and rain and mud and when we reached the top of the mountain the clouds broke open and the sun came out in full force. We noticed several birds happily singing and they seemed to dance in the sunshine. It was the inspiration for this illustration, and a sweet memory that I wanted to capture.
I was also hoping it was a sign. To keep pushing on and working hard and not giving up during the hard times, that there is so much beauty to be found in the future, to stay positive and hopeful and to have faith that it is all going to work out. That things will get better financially for my family. That there are puddles of sunshine to dance in, and a break in the clouds.

Illustration Sunday.....dancing birds

I was hoping to have a little color to show you this week, but time got away from me and all I was able to do was a few sketches. I did get my drawing transferred onto some nice watercolor paper. Sorry It it very hard to see, it is very dark and rainy here today.
So my goal for next week is to finish this little drawing in watercolor. I will tell you more of the story behind it then...

Illustration Sunday.....the ugly sweaters

This little illustration was inspired by my Ugly Sweater Birthday Party last night. The markers were a gift I received and my kids and I had fun breaking them in this morning. I dreamed up a few ugly sweaters, but none of them come close to the one I found for the party..... but more on that tomorrow.

Illustration Sunday.....

This is a sketch I did this week using a photo of Tasha Tudor for a reference. She is a huge inspiration for me, a real mentor. I watch the movie Take Joy whenever I need a boost of inspiration. I only recently discovered Tasha, after art school when a mom at the park asked me if I knew of her work. It is just amazing how similar she is to the character I created in my story(the one I am working to get published). The character in my story is an elderly woman named Dahlia and she has a love for gardening and preforms secret marionette shows at the farmers market for children where she sells her flowers. After finding out about Tasha and leaning about her life it was as if Dahlia came alive. Now I have a perfect real life reference for developing Dahlia's character.


Speaking of inspiration,I came across this beautiful book at a church sale this weekend.

Aren't these illustrations just lovely?

Illustration Sunday.....

I am guilty. It has been many months since my last Illustration Sunday post, but let this be the start of a new beginning. A few of my friends from Art School and I are getting back together on a regular basis, to motivate each other and to hopefully be more productive. I know I really need to make drawing a priority again, and it really hasn't been since I graduated 4 years ago.
Finding out that I was pregnant with my second child just a day after presenting my senior thesis project pretty much removed my priorities from Illustration on to more important things. I think this might partly be because I was so burned out from school. Art school kind of killed my passion for drawing,especially after illustrating and entire book in 6 weeks.
But, my son is three now and I am getting older too. I set a personal goal to get the story I wrote an illustrated published before I turned thirty. In the 4 years since graduating I only wrote to one publishing company. The bright yellow envelopes that I made with an illustrated logo, have faded. I could have done better.
But there is still time(not before thirty mind you, because that is less than a month away now). How can I ever be an illustrator if I don't draw anymore? In the past few years the paintbrush and pencil have been replaced with knitting needles and a sewing machine. I found it much easier to make money sewing...and so that became the priority.
Spending time working on a book that may or may not ever be published seemed sort of like a waste of (precious)time, when I could earn money almost immediately for my family by spending that time sewing for my shop.But it makes me sad to give up on a dream. So I am not going to do it, I am going to find a way to make it happen. I am going to give it my best shot so even if it doesn't get published at least I know I gave it my all. It would be great to be a published illustrator while my kids are young too, so that it could better our lives financially, even just a little. But a little these days would be a great improvement as I am sure is the story for many families in America these days.
Then I wouldn't watch the trailer for this movie and bawl my eyes out, or maybe I still would because it speaks to my soul in such a huge, huge way.
Anyway, I am back. Holding myself accountable here on my blog to work harder for that dream, for myself and for my family and to hopefully get a little feedback along the way.
The above illustration is for a logo contest that I just entered for this years Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. Here are photos from last years festival. This was just for fun. Gotland sheep and drop spindle are the focus of next years festival and the diamond is the festivals overall symbol. I may have gone a little too straight forward with the sheep spinning his own wool, but it was just the idea that stuck with me and was great fun to draw. One of my rough sketches showed the sheep with lacy panties on, but then I realized I drew a male sheep and needed to make a slight adjustment..he, he. Anyway I just mailed it off and the deadline for entries is February 1st. Wish me luck :)!

Illustration Sunday.....

"The music poured like sunlight from the belly of the box..."(from the story I wrote and illustrated in art school called "The Music Box")

Illustration Sunday...

This is a work in progress that I would like to turn into a painting. Sophie at the Oregon Country Fair with the daisy crown that she made herself...I will update this again in the future when the painting is complete.
Please join me if you also love to draw and paint and need a little motivational boost.... and leave a comment with a link to your art for all to see.

Introducing: Illustration Sunday

I am starting a new blog tradition. Each Sunday I am going to post an illustration. It may be just a sketch or possibly a fully worked, finished piece.
This is just to motivate myself to draw and paint again on a regular basis, and most importantly to motivate myself to work towards getting my Children's book published that I created as my senior thesis project in Art school.
I am ashamed by how little I have done to achieve that dream in the past few years since graduating. I was however, very completely distracted by the birth of my son.
So here I go....trying to get on it again.
After all nothing burns out an artists passion like 4 years of art school....

Gypsy Rose Cover contest...take three!

(click image for detail)

Hi, I just wanted to share my entry for the Gypsy Rose Magazine cover contest(sorry for the bad photo). This is my third try. It started out as an art school joke...but now I am determined to keep trying until I win. I tried to make it as hippie dippie as I could, they seem to go for that.
Wish me luck...third times a charm right?