Paper Banner

Life has been more busy than ever, and I look forward to updating on all of the things I've been working on recently very soon! For now, though, here is a piece I made a while back. Yes, another peacock piece. I promise I will give the peacocks a break for a while :) I was toying with the idea of a paper header for the blog - what do you think?


Also, I just updated the shop with the fountain piece ( titled "First Sight") from my last post. you can find it here!

I hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Day weekend, and here's to a great week ahead! More updates to come soon.

Colorful Creatures

Hey, everybody! Happy 2010!

I apologize for my absence from posting. Things have been quite busy around here since my last post at the end of November, but I should be able to get back on schedule now, at least for a while. Lots of exciting things are coming up, so I will have lots to share!

I have wanted to do a dinosaur piece for a very long time, so I decided there would be no better time to do it than to ring in the New Year. These dinosaurs are having a party, but the velociraptors were not invited. You might think that is mean, but they are bullies and have been giving me nightmares since I first saw Jurassic Park in 1993. Consider this payback.






And these photos are of another paper piece I did over the holidays. Peacocks are so much fun to sculpt!

That's all for now - have a lovely week everybody!

CTN-X!

This post is coming to you this morning from the floor of CTN-X! The convention is just a few hours away, so I thought I would put up some paper work that I made for the occasion! This guys will be on my table this weekend, so if you are in the area you should certainly stop by and say hello! It is going to be a great show!


And here are a few detail shots:



I will also have the Purrrcasso piece (from the previous post) with me at the show! Unfortunately it did not sell in the auction, but hopefully it will find a good home soon and all of the proceeds from it will be donated to the Berkeley East-Bay Humane Society! I hope to see some of you this weekend!

Pegasus Commission and Post-APE Update

A little while back I was commissioned to do a Pegasus paper sculpt, and here are the final photos. This piece was a blast to work on!






APE was great! Thanks to all who came out to say hello! I apologize to those of you who were waiting for a shop update - Monday was full of deadlines and thus the shop did not get updated until today. All new prints, buttons, and greeting cards are up, and at the time of this posting I still have one paper sculpt (this lovely lady) that is not spoken for. They were a blast to make, so I will certainly try to get more in the shop soon.

Next up for me is CTN-X! I can't wait to see everyone in Burbank!

Paper!

My last pre- APE post!

I've spent the last few weeks constructing 10 original mini-paper sculpts that I will be bringing with me to APE! Here they are:

Top to Bottom, Left to Right: Snow Owl, Fall Owl, Seahorse, Canary, The Bride, The Dancer, The Good, The Wicked, Fall Fox, and Patisserie

A few detail shots!

They will be with me at tables 286 and 287, and each piece will probably be priced between $50 and $125. I'm going to split them up and have 5 to sell on Saturday and the other 5 to sell on Sunday.

Saturday's Group: Fall Owl, Snow Owl, Fall Fox, the two witches (Good and Wicked)

Sunday's Group: The Bride, The Dancer, Seahorse, Canary, and Patisserie

Any leftovers will go up in the shop on Monday! Actually, there will be a pretty hefty shop update on Monday, so if you can't make it to APE, don't feel to bad. But if you can come out, please do! It should be an awesome time!

Puppy Love

Here is holiday card #2! My pup is back East and I miss him very much! He looks just like this little guy, only multiplied in size by a factor of 100.

I will have both card designs with me at APE this weekend (with Billiam at tables 286 and 287), along with lots of prints and other things. I will also be posting mini-APE updates on twitter all week as well as during the show, and you can keep up to date with all of that right here. If you are in the Bay Area this weekend, please do come by and say hello!

Stay Warm :)

I know that its not quite this time of year yet, but I have to design my holiday cards early or they don't get sent:) Plus, they might show up on the table with Billiam and me at APE. They just might...

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Birdies!

Coming soon to an APE near you:)

Also, Terrible Yellow Eyes show this Saturday! If you happen to be in the LA area, please come out and say hi! It should be an awesome show.

More APE updates coming soon. Ta-ta for now!

Girls of Summer!

I love summer the best. In honor of sunny days, warm weather, and especially water sports, I made this poster. Sometimes I get a little bit homesick for days on the lake, and especially for skiing. There is nothing quite like early mornings on glassy water, and I'm counting down the days until my annual visit home :)

But before that...is Comic Con! This year I have the honor of being part of the Girls Drawin' Girls group and will be selling this print at their table. I'm not exactly sure what booth number it will be yet, but I do know that I will be hanging out there on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning of the Con, so if you are there you should stop by!

I will have more updates leading up to the Con, so stay tuned! And if you are in LA, go check out the opening of the Seductive Espionage Book Release on Friday! I'll be in vacation mode next week, but I promise to be back with plenty to post after the 11th.

Yuki 7 At Gallery Nucleus

Remember my little Yuki 7 fan-art painting from a couple weeks ago? Well, it turns out that she is going to be in the show at Gallery Nucleus next Friday! I am honored and humbled to be in such good company. The show is going to be great and I'm so sad that I won't be able to make it down there to see it:(

Here she is in her frame right before I sent her off to Nucleus. She seemed like she needed some pink paper fire, so I threw a little bit of that in there as a finishing touch. How will she escape? Tune in to find out:)

I'm busy working on a print for Comic Con, which should be done this weekend. As soon as I have something ready, I'll post a sneak peak. Have a lovely weekend!

After the Wild Rumpus!

All of that rumpusing can wear you out:)

This is my contribution to Cory Godbey's tribute blog to Maurice Sendak: Terrible Yellow Eyes. I have been inspired by Cory's work for years now, so I jumped at the chance when he invited me to be part of his project!
It was a lot of fun to rediscover Where the Wild Things Are. Picking up the actual hard-bound copy with the beautiful Caldecott Medal on the cover instantly took me back to story time on the carpet in kindergarten. At that age, no career could have been more glamorous than being a children's book author and illustrator. If you had that golden seal, however, it meant you were... well...a rockstar. So thank you to Mr. Sendak - we all hope you enjoy this project and that you keep on rockin'!


And just for kicks, here is my original sketch. Usually my sketches look like nothing but chicken-scratch, so the fact that this mildly resembles the finished painting is quite remarkable. So remarkable, in fact, that I decided it was both scan and blog worthy. Ball-point pen scribbles on scratch paper.

I will have more exciting things to share soon! Have a lovely weekend!

The Awesomeness that is Yuki 7

I couldn't help it, I had to join the fan-art wagon.

I try not to geek out too much about other artists on here, but I really must thank Kevin Dart for being such an inspiration. With the release of his new book, the trailer for the book (co-directed by Stephane Coedel), and planning the gallery show for the book's release, you would think that he has his hands full. Somehow, though, Kevin found time to write 3 fantastic blog posts on his process with Yuki 7 - from her first initial concepts to now. For someone like me who would like to tackle a book project in the future, these posts are pure gold!

For anyone who is interested, the show is happening at Gallery Nucleus in LA on July 3rd. I am really bummed that I cannot attend the show, but I thought I would use the blog to show my support instead. Way to go, Kevin!

Up, Up and Away!

So, I saw this:


And then I was tempted to do this:



But then I decided that painting the picture was a safer choice. Much less chance that I would have my eyes clawed out by a certain orange cat who shall remain anonymous.

All joking aside, Up is absolutely wonderful. Congratulations to everyone at Pixar for doing such an amazing job! Go see it on Friday!

I know I have been slacking - I am trying to find the balance between work-work and personal-work (oh, and life, too) and I just haven't gotten it all figured out yet. The good news is that this weekend is all about getting ready for Maker Faire, so I should meet my 2 post quota for the first time in months! If you are in the Bay Area, you should stop by and say hello next weekend! After you go see Up, of course.

Quickie Sketch and Character Design!

A Saturday evening sketch for everyone out there. I saw a woman wearing a similar coat a few months ago, and I loved it because the ruffles in the back reminded me of flower petals.

In other news: Yours truly has an interview up on the Character Design blog! Woohoo! You should go check it out if you have the chance. Be sure to read some of the other incredible interviews as well. I am humbled to be in such good company :)

I will try to get something up tomorrow to make my quota for the week. Ta ta for now!

Busy Busy Bee

Image Copyright Huckleberry Toys

So here's the scoop:
For just over the last month, I have been toiling away on a personal project. I still haven't decided whether or not I will post that artwork on this blog, but for the time being I think I will keep it under wraps. The rest of my time has been spent working on a couple of freelance projects, and the image above is part of one of them. Yay for cherry blossoms!

Now that said personal project is completed, I should have time for more fun blog/Etsy shop artwork! And that is good, because I am going to need new pieces for Maker Faire! Billiam and I will have a table in the Bazaar Bizarre section, and I can't wait! I have never been to Maker Faire before, but I hear it is awesome, and the vendor list for the Bazaar Bizarre is fantastic! If you are in the Bay Area the weekend of May 30th and 31st, I definitely recommend stopping by!

So I am going to try to get back to my 2 posts per week as of today. Hopefully it will work! Have a wonderful Sunday:)

Work In Progress...

Home

This is where I spent my summers growing up, and what I think of as home. That is my sister and me drawing and dreaming on the lawn. Whenever I'm stressed out, I think about being here and it always makes everything better.

The tree that I am leaning against was over 100 years old and had nearly been split in half by lightening before I was born. Cement was poured in the hole for support, but the tree around the cement rotted away long ago. For as long as I can remember there has been a large cement branch jutting out from one side of the tree. I left that part out of the painting for aesthetic reasons :) Anyway, that poor old tree could not make it through another harsh Pennsylvania winter and fell last December. It was truly legendary, and I cannot imagine home without it.

Rain Boots and Best Friends

Inspired by my golden retriever who I miss so much because he is all the way back in PA.

I did this itty-bitty piece as a mini-print for Wondercon and then I forgot to post it. I remembered about it today after watching the new UP trailer. ("SQUIRREL!" - hahahahah, so true and SO funny.) I cannot WAIT for this movie!
I'm working hard and would like to have some new things to show you in the next few days. Until then, have a lovely weekend!

WONDERCON!

The day has arrived! I will be hanging out with Billiam all weekend in the little slice of heaven known as SP13. Come say hello! We each have a bajillion prints, originals, bookmarks, pins, and other goodies to throw your way. I will have all of the pieces I brought with me to APE as well as these newbies:


and possibly a few more. The Sea Dragon piece will be a limited edition of 15, so you might want to show up early if you want one. I will also be listing everything that I have left over in the Etsy shop on Monday, so don't feel bad if you live far, far away and can't make it. I understand how it is :) And now its bedtime - Have a great weekend everybody!

Pretty Bird

Coming to a Wondercon near you!

I'm late (and lacking) in posts for the last week, but I promise to make it up to you even if I have to bake cookies for all of you. I'm in full prep mode for Wondercon, and I will have plenty of details to hand out in the next 24 hours, but right now all you need to know is that Bill and I will be at Small Press booth 13 (SP13), and you should stop by and say hi!

And for all of you IFers: Exotic birds are instinctively attracted to other pretty feathers. It was a no-brainer for this little guy:)