The March Dip-- Explained

I wrote a blog post over at the Sub It Club on goals and motivation. Even if you aren't submitting work at the moment, you may have experienced a dip in motivation in March. Back when I studied for my teaching certificate, we'd discuss this sagging of the spirit felt by our students (and ourselves) around the month of March. This year, lots of people have endured a tough, prolonged winter which aggravates this condition. Pop on over -- find out that there is hope for you in April! Click here.

Out of the Attic Lately!

I've been getting out of the attic lately and posting over at the Sub It Club with Heather Ayris Burnell and Lisha Cauthen. It's a group for writers and illustrators. There is a nice exchange of information and support for people who are trying to get there work out into the world through the submission process.

Here's a look at some of the artwork I've created for the blog and facebook pages.

The logo.

A button that links to a private chatroom.

The blog banner and facebook cover.  Click here for the facebook page and here to join the facebook group.

This art accompanies the "Monthly Goalpost," a blog I write each month about setting goals and staying on course. Click here here for February post and here for March.

This illustration accompanies a post I wrote for illustrators on postcard mailings. Click here to read the post.

This art accompanies a series of posts by Heather Ayris Burnell called "Show Your Manuscripts Some Love." Click here to read.

Stop by the Sub It Club sometime. I'd love to see you there!

Sweet Squares 22 and 23

I haven't been here in a while. The death of my Dad took me away. I miss him. The winter here has been very gray. Overcast and windy or raining and windy. Bleak. Sun deprivation is not fun so I made a square to stare at and think warm, bright thoughts.

I made another square because I'm revising a picture book text and I need to play with the images in my mind's eye in order to figure out how I'll illustrate the text.

Lots of projects going on in 2013. More on that soon.

New Interview

Joanna Marple very graciously invited me to her blog recently. There's an interview and some recent illustration work: acrylic sketches of mice, black and white drawings and a new acrylic illustration. Click over and take a look! And you might want to peruse Joanna's archive of illustrator interviews. You'll find a lot of beautiful work and great reading.

Sweet Square #21

Playing with watercolors is fun. Just when you think you've gone too far, you go further. It's play.
I used violet and prussian blue for the background. The faraway birds were drawn in with a silver pen.

Sweet Square #20

You may have noticed the the Month of Experimentation is over. I'm enjoying these little sqaures so much that I'm going to continue. I may not post every single one but I'll try and do them.They're a good warm up and a great way to keep creating, even a tiny bit, each day. Let's think of the MOE as Moments of Experimentation from now on.

Today I took a piece of a kleenex box, 2 pieces of a instant mash potato box and glued them on a chocolate bar wrapper. I stared at it and then decided to make the boy working in the field and the sun. Silly but fun.

Sweet Square #19

Today I had absolutely no idea what I'd do. I used some very old oil pastels that I found in my parents house that were perhaps mine a long, long time ago. The pinks were pretty so I started with those then added some red and the sky blue was nice too so, why not? Still had no idea what to do but these spots of color weren't going anywhere so I took the dark blue and colored over everything. When I turned the square on an angle, I saw a landscape. I scratched. And then I added in green and other colors, alternating scratching and coloring. And voilà!

Happy to have done something very unexpected today.