Sunday is Market Day in Brest

These are some random sketches and photos from Sunday when I took the tram into town to pick up this and that for lunch.

This is pain au cacao. OUi! Chocolate bread. Not cake or pastry but organic bread made with cocoa powder and a few chocolate chips. It is divine which is fitting since I did buy this on a Sunday. The little loaf behind it is pain au conté et noix (cheese and walnuts). It's good too but it's hard not to take second billing to cAcaO!

After buying fresh turkey breast and a beautiful stainless steel pot and lid (opportunity knocks and you've got to answer), I headed over to the little square where parents take kids to play. I sketched.

 

 

 

 
While I was strolling around, Gemma was running a 5K with her friends from lycée to benefit breast cancer research. Bravo les filles!

This café sketch is from Friday when I had a day on the town with my friend, Sue. We hit the art supply store and I tried out my new colored pencils right away. Sue tried out her new pencil called "The Shaker" and a crisp new pad of drawing paper.

Improvising

These drawings are all from a sketch book wherein I decided to use marker only and ban erasing. That's right, no erasing allowed. I just wanted to have fun feeling the ink slide on the paper while I drew anything that came to mind. I love black and white, contrast and texture, so I played with them.

When I was a kid, we used to do what we called "designs" all the time. We'd fill the space with a freeform shape and use every crayola in the box to color it. Here's a grown up black & white revisitation.

It was fun so I did another.

Oops! Color! I had a set of color ballpoints that I'd always wanted to use and this ban on the eraser
proved the perfect moment to break them in.

Lace, buttons... I love them.

Guess I had candy on my mind. No surprise there!

Bowties! Noeud papillons here in France which means butterfly knots.

Neckties. Cravates.

Picture Book University

Pam Calvert, author of Princess Peepers, is taking us through the ins and outs of picture book writing this summer. Whether you're a beginner writer or experienced, this free picture book mini-workshop is too good to miss. Storyboards, character driven picture books, analysis of successful books and more... great topics! I'm revising some of my manuscripts right now and these point-by-point blog posts are reinforcing what I know, reminding me of things I've forgotten and enlightening me with Pam's insight. Just click on over to her blog. You can catch up on past posts at your own pace. No pressure!

 You can click on this logo or the PBU Participant badge in the sidebar to get going. See you there!

Over at the Sub It Club

 I've been busy over at the Sub It Club. Here are the links to my two monthly columns there:
 
The Monthly Goalpost for June at the Sub It Club

The Postcard Post for May with illustrator Jennifer Thermes

The Monthly Goalpost is where I keep myself motivated and try to motivate others. Whatever your goals are, there's something there for you too.

The Postcard Post features an illustrator each month. It's an inside peek at an artist's self-promotional tools and how they made them. Worth a detour just for the artwork alone.

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.