Just a little hippo crush
Animals
Mentoring with EB Lewis
Recently my friend and fellow illustrator Alice Ratterree mentioned that she had begun a mentorship with the awe inspiring EB Lewis. She was enjoying the one-on-one class so much that I just had to check out what she was talking about. Mr. Lewis offers one-on-one tutoring sessions for a very reasonable fee and I right away snapped up the opportunity to work with a true master of watercolor. My experience with Mr. Lewis has been wonderful, I’m learning new things every week and I can’t wait to see what I learn next! Here’s a little taste of what we’re doing. Mr. Lewis saw my small black and white sketch of a boy and alligator and liked the drawing, he suggested we work on it and take it to a painting.
So, I painted it… and he didn’t really like my painting (that’s one thing I LOVE about Mr. Lewis, he doesn’t just tell me it’s good if it’s not, he tells me why he doesn’t like it and makes me do it over again). His critique, too flat, not enough depth, not looking at good enough resource…
He suggested I go back to the black and white, make some changes and try a fully rendered pencil drawing… so I did…
Then he suggested painting over my pencil, to see what happened. He liked this one better, but his critique was that there was a background and foreground but that there was no middle ground and he felt I was still just “coloring” with my watercolors. Plus the pencil muddied things up too much. As usual he was right.
Try number four, he liked it! Now there’s foreground, middle ground and background and I’m not just coloring with my paints, I’m using them as watercolors should be used!
Yay for EB Lewis and his wonderful mentor program. I’m continuing my work with him and can’t wait to see where I end up!
Naughty Nana Book Release
The children’s picture book, Naughty Nana, is being launched this month, just in time for holiday shopping. Written by former teacher and administrator, Saralyn Richard, and illustrated by veteran artist Rebecca Evans, it tells of the mostly-true exploits of an irresistible Old English sheepdog puppy, who just wants to have fun. Her laugh-out-loud adventures will give readers many hours of memorable and thought-provoking pleasure.
Reading is so important to the development of children, and this book is not only entertaining, but also presents a positive message for young readers. It will be of interest to adults who have children or grandchildren, as well as all of the dog lovers out there.
The book is available in hardback and softcover through the website: https://palmcirclepress.com. Purchasers can opt for autographs by the author and by Nana, herself!
Pesky Alligators
Just playing today…
Illustration Friday “Underwater”
The Bear in the Shop
Meet our main character for “The Shopkeeper’s Bear”! The sweet and ever lovable….
Illustration Friday “Forward”
This week’s Illustration Friday theme is “Forward”. My idea was inspired the other day when my oldest daughter was giving her little sister a piggy-back ride. They looked so funny flying through our living room. She reminded me of a little monkey clinging to her sister’s back and screaming “GO!” Then she tried riding her brother’s back, but this time they didn’t so much fly as creep through the rooms with her still yelling “GOOOO!” and giggling uncontrollably. Somehow, when I sat down to draw it became a tortoise with little mice riding on his back yelling…. FORWARD! Gooooo!
Jasper is finally finished!
After three months of hard work on the children’s book “Jasper Finds a New Home” the illustrations are finally finished! Now comes the hair-raising part where I ship all the originals to the publisher and pray nothing happens to them along the way! I thought you might like to see a few more from the finished product to be printed this July by Folded Leaf Publishing.
Jasper Moving Along
My illustrations for the book are moving along slowly but surely. I thought you might like to see a few of the finished products!
Befriending a Panda
I realized after I finished my Sleeping Pandas drawing that I skipped a piece of the story! A little girl can’t just go sleep with giant pandas (that would just be silly), she has to meet them and become their friend first. Then they would let her cuddle up on their fuzzy belly and sleep. After all, you only have sleepovers with your best friends…
