Sepia

Painting in the sketchbook. And I can't recommend "Creative Illustration" by Andrew Loomis highly enough. It's a classic and I'm really enjoying pouring through the pages. It covers everything from basic form/shape all the way through illustrating magazine ads and the like.



We took pizza to the beach Saturday night. Ocean air and french fries are delightful. I wish I could say the same for the seagull that was tracking me - it made me feel vaguely Tippi Hedren-esque. Scrambling around the tidal pools was fun though and looking into the pools yields some great discoveries. Minnows sometimes get trapped in there during lowtide and there's oodles of other plants and creatures.

Illustration Friday - Visitors

Colored pencil and watercolor. The local artstore went out of business (sigh...) so everything was 80% off on the last day. I bought some watercolors and pencils that I normally wouldn't have ($!) and am thoroughly enjoying trying them out.

Shining in the tree

Painting some more lanterns.

Quintin

I think he means business.

Way up North

And some links...

*Agata Raczynska's illustrations are really charming

*Gareth Hind's sketchbooks

Illustration Friday - Captain

Missing

This had been for Illustration Friday the other week, but I didn't post it in time.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Last night I got back from camping. A few days in the middle of nowhere were quite pleasant. Diving into bitterly cold water, poking around in the woods, and sitting by the campfire at night listening to the loons made for an awfully nice few days. S'mores don't hurt either.



It's hard to come back from this. Not exactly where I'd want to be in the middle of February, but in the summer it really doesn't get much better.

Arabella

First Birthday

My youngest niece turns one year old tomorrow. My sister has been cajoling me for awhile to draw something for the girls and I just haven't gotten around to it. No decent excuse except for the old adage about the carpenter always builds their house last.

Anyway, this is watercolor with some gold gouache painted over the lanterns to give them a glow. The little girl is meant to look like my niece. So one down, another to go as the second niece has her birthday at the end of the month.



Marshmallows! Home made! Sticky! Yes, and I do mean sticky. There was much scrubbing to be had after finishing these up Saturday night, but it's worth the mess.

*Jen Stark makes some incredible paper sculptures

*Penguin Books lets you create your own book covers

*The Dying Art of Rotulos

One In Ten

Here are details of two pieces which will be a part of the One In Ten auction. There's tons of beautiful art and crafts on the site and is worth a look around. The auction will begin August 19 and you can go through the archives to see what's been created by so many talented people.

And now off for a Saturday of iced coffee and swimming!

Let's Consider

Sketchbook doodles.