Some Good News

I've been working on illustrations for a lovely picture book by Mayra Calvani. The book is titled The Doll Violinist, and has been nominated among the finalists in this year's ABC competition. My illustrations also are included in the nominations.

Central Illustration Agency

The Central Illustration Agency reps some amazing illustrators from around the world...take a look at some of them.

Tom Bagshaw

Take a look at Tom Bagshaw's art and his recent post detailing his work process.

Steven Haulenbeek's Design Concepts

Take a look at some of Steven Haulenbeek's design concepts. My favorite is a zippo lighter that can print typewriter style type. It's called a Portotype....I want one..... I found it from the Designboom newsletter.

Happy Memorial Day

As we set aside this day to remember those who have served our country in military endeavors,wars, and combat from our country's founding, and given the ultimate sacrifice of their lives, words can't express the gratitude and respect for these men and women, and their families. We owe our freedom and the ability to celebrate and worship, work and live in comfort and ease, move around and prosper and believe what we want freely, communicate, travel, study, learn, read and protest, vote and live in a free land....so much that we can't imagine living without, and the price has been dear.
Here is a link at Lines and Colors showing some artwork created by Combat artists of WWII.

Kim Norman's Book...Jack of All Tails

Congratulations are in order for Kim Norman, whose new book just arrived on her stoop....Jack of All Tails.

Animation Mentor

Animation Mentor is an online school for animators. The list of teachers is quite impressive, and for great fun, check out the student showcase.

fair faerie

fair faerie
Originally uploaded by Vanita

I couldn't resist blogging this photo. It was taken by Vanita.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/outerspace/

jali work, sarkhej

jali work, sarkhej
Originally uploaded by prachi_

Another beauty from flickr

Architectfad.com

Architectfad.com blogs unusual and interesting fads having to do with architecture and design.

Good Friends ~ Happy Hour

Good Friends ~ Happy Hour
Originally uploaded by silverfishstudio

Here's a flickr group that many of you may be interested in. It's called Vintage Children's Books. This is one image from it. I have posted before about my flickr addiction, and can't say enough about the photography there.

John Shelley's Illustrations

John Shelley's illustrations and links are well worth the time to visit and peruse.

Dexigner.com

Dexigner.com is an online Eurpean Illustrators forum and gallery.

Illustrators Ireland

It's great fun to see the work at Illustrators Ireland. Here's an article about children's book publication in Ireland.

Across The Board-Skateboarding art contest

Check out Across the Board ...a contest to decorate skateboards.
100 International & Australian artists + 100 skateboard decks = 100% contribution to The Cancer Council NSW.

My Other New Blog

I've started a new blog of my coloring pages, puzzles and craft pages for children to print and color and use. It is called Color It In. I plan to add my own crafts, images, puzzles, coloring pages and odds and ends for children to print out and enjoy. There are two images up so far, and I hope they print out clearly and large enough. I'll be tweaking things there as soon as possible.

Kinuko Craft's Technique

Kinuko Craft is one of my favorites. Here is a section on her website where she describes her illustration technique.

SFG online Forum

I'm not sure if I posted this one before but SFG (Sugar Frosted Goodness) has an online forum for artists.

Vinylmesh

Vinylmesh is another international toy and design site. Lots of great links.

My Plastic Heart

My Plastic Heart has designer toy news galore. Check out the links to all the toy creations and newest fads in international toy designs.

The Brooklyn Art Project

Here's another online forum for artists called The Brooklyn Art Project. ......OK..now I am REALLY going to get offline....I am NOT supposed to be here blogging....I've got way too much art to be doing....but couldn't resist all of these great links today.

Catalina Estrada's illustrations

I discovered Catalina Estrada's illustrations from the MailMeArt.com site. Check out some of her designs...the skateboard designs and others are glorious.

MailMeArt

Check out Mail Me Art.com. They accept submissions of mail art...and the competition is heavy. Make sure to view the winning entries.

An Animation: Special Delivery by Stephen MacLeod

Start Drawing

Startdrawing.org is an Asian Portal for Asian illustrators. Check out the work and links.

Little Chimp Society

The Little Chimp Society is another online illustration hangout.

Illosaurus

Illosaurus is a new resource for Illustrators. Check it out.

Sunflower

Here's an image of a little girl and her grandfather, first in black and white and then in color.

The color image was painted in oils. (I LOVE oil paint..what a joy to be able to paint in oils.) For years I avoided them due to the fumes from the turps, ( and the fact that my studio is in the area of the house that the kids are in during their free time) but finally started using grumbacher odorless thinner which works perfectly and does not have any odor. My favorite oil paints are from Studio Products. The quality and amazing rich colors are unlike any other I've tried. They're a bit more pricey, but worth every penny.

I also buy my gesso from them, which is in powder form and is fantastic....easy to make and a leap above the quality of the normal gesso in stores.

Kids Discussing Angels

Here is something I received as an email message. I couldn't resist posting it...
These are kids discussing angels.


I only know the names of two Angels: One is "Hark"; the other is "Harold". . Gregory, 5

Everybody's got it all wrong. Angels don't wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it. Olive, 9

It's not easy to become an angel! First, you have to die. Then you go to heaven and then there's still the flight training to go through. And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes. Matthew, 9

Angels work for God and watch over kids when God has to go do something else. Mitchell, 7

My guardian angel helps me with math, but he's not much good for science. Henry, 8

Angels don't eat. They don't like "holy mackrel" but they do drink milk from "holy cows". Jack, 6

Angels talk all the way while they're flying you up to heaven. The basic message is where you went wrong before you got dead. Daniel, 9

When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten. And when he lets out his breath, somewhere there's a tornado. Reagan, 10

Angels have a lot to do and they keep very busy. If you lose a tooth, an angel comes in through your window and leaves money under your pillow. Then when it gets cold, angels go south for the winter. Sara, 6

Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his son, who's a very good carpenter. Jared , 8

All angels are girls because they gotta wear dresses and boys didn't go for it. Antonio, 9

My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got a big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth. Katelynn, 9

Some of the angels are in charge of helping heal sick animals and pets. And if they don't make the animals get better, they help the kid get over it. Vicki, 8

What I don't get about angels is why, when someone is in love, they shoot arrows at them.... Sarah, 7

Mother's Day Message

Here's a Mother's Day message that a friend sent. Click the page each time you are done reading and the next page will open. In case I don't get online tomorrow, may all the mothers out there and Aunts, Sisters, Grandmothers, teachers, step-moms, and women who have stood in for mothers, loved children, served them and cared for children, be blessed and honored for the mothers they have been to children. For all the runny noses, sleepless nights, dirty diapers, colick, fevers, doctor's visits, teachers visits, field trips, prayerful nights, times of anguish, times of wonder, science homework projects, crumb ridden kitchens, repeated instructions, taxi-ing back and forth, tears cried and uproarious laughter, dreams dreamt and hopes failing, sending off to camp, first day of school, worries of failure on your own part or on your children's part, first day of driving on their own, first day of college, wedding days, graduation, vacation memories, wishes made, tooth fairy and santa claus appearing and then dimming, nursery rhymes read, favorite picture books, multitudes of laundry loads, boxes of bandaids, trips to the ER, friendship issues, time outs and corrections, worn stuffed animals, first lost tooth, first hair cut, questions unlimited,
may these times fill your heart with love and hope and the knowledge that you have been blessed above all you can imagine and a blessing to those children you have cared for, even though it is never done perfectly or to the extent that you'd like it to be, but it's the loving offering you've given and you have changed those lives forever, and molded them into strong hopeful confident people, by your time, care, prayers, tears, service and unseen effort.
Happy Mother's Day to you all!

Been Busy

The reason for the spare offering of posts here lately is that I've been more swamped than ever with a variety of things. FIrst of all (and probably all that is needed to explain) is the addition of an SPCA dog to our home. He came into our lives about 2 weeks ago, and things have been more of an adventure than ever. I think he's a mix of German Shepherd and Austrailian Sheep dog, because he looks like a miniature German Shepherd. He was roaming the streets before he was rescued by the SPCA. His name was Grizzly when we got him.
On the art scene, I'm working on illustrations for a picture book, and have been attempting to pick up the pace, while also attending to needs at home with busy kids and husband....so....all that to explain the lack of blog posts. Hopefully I'll sneak a few in from time to time.

Mayra's Secret Bookcase-blog...A New Logo

Check out Mayra's Secret Bookcase-blog. She posted the new logo I've been working on for her. Mayra is a talented writer with many irons in the fire, and awards recently for her writing. I've been enjoying collaborating with her on a children's PB, by doing the illustrations for it.