AND I managed to get most of my website back up and running yesterday so you can check it out again by clicking the portfolio link over there to your right.  

AND thanks to the lovely suggestions and my own research I finally decided on this little guy for my new digital camera: 

I got a super-great deal on Ebay and it arrived on Thursday, so portable and tiny and cute and very make able to take excellent pictures.  It's now tucked safely away in it's cute hedgehog pouch in my purse for easy inspiration pictures.  Woohoo! 

So assignment #1 - notice gremlins and start naming them.  I got an excellent book on this and am looking forward to reading it today and/or tomorrow.

Assignment #2 - go do a plein air session on Sunday.  I described to Molly a very industrial spot near my work that I thought might offer up an interesting composition, especially in early or late light, so that's my target.  It'll at least get me to unpack the box with my Easy-L in it and shake the dust off the painting person!  Here's a great example of someone who took a similar subject and created a piece i just love!!  Found him through "Daily Paintworks."

Also excellent visitor news!

Porter is coming (sans bebe) the first weekend in October to visit and relax.  Can't wait to show her around, introduce her to Jake, maybe eat some migas.

And then ALSO my buddy Gardner is going to be living in Palacios for 3 weeks while her hubby works at the "Bay City Nuke" so we'll get a chance to hang out again.  I don't know if I can afford it, but it'd be nice to stay at the Peaceful Pelican again.

Then I opened the cover of the book and found this:  

And I though to myself 'well, that's weird I wonder why the cover page is in black and white instead of color.'  And then I turned the page again and discovered this, to my absolute horror:  

Yep, that's right all of the books are printed entirely in black and white!  I can't even express how disappointed I am, especially since I went back and checked out the order and guess what?  It's my fault.  I got so excited about everything that I forgot to check the box for full color printing.  But I uploaded full color images so part of me really wishes that the folks at Lulu would have checked with me first printing in black and white.  Oh well, such is life.  

So I've contacted Lulu and an currently waiting to see what the deal is.  I have a feeling I'm going to be stuck with a stack of black and white books.  No worries though because I will be putting in an order for the correct color version this weekend so those of you who requested copies will still receive them but it will be about another week before I get them in my clutches.  

On the plus side, the printing is really good quality and I am very happy with it except that whole lack of color thing. . . .Sorry for the added delay guys :(

UPDATE:  So I spoke with the folks at Lulu and of course I was right, it was my mistake so I get no refund or replacement.  But we did fix the problem so my books will now print like the proof shows them, all in lovely, bright colors!   Printing in color does however increase the price on my end which means that it's sort of silly for me to double-handle the books when you can order direct from Lulu.  And by having you order direct from Lulu I can keep the price at $12 instead of raising it because I'm having it shipped to me first.  

Here's the deal:  Click here to order the book direct from Lulu.  The whole black and white fiasco was my slip up but the printing was great and I feel confident in continuing to use the service although I will be more careful in the future when working on new projects :)  Anyways, if you order the book from Lulu I will offer you free shipping in my Etsy shop.  Just include your Lulu Order number in the Message to Seller box of the order form.  And you can still take part in the Buy 2 or more and Get 1 Free print sale that I'm currently having in the shop.  

Now I'm off to salvage what's left of my day ;)

So while I don't have anything new and exciting for the shop I do have this little piece to share: 

My father's birthday is tomorrow and I figured now would be a good time to give him his first gift of art from me.  He's an avid birdwatcher-the hill behind my parent's country house is filled with birdfeeders and birds of all kinds-so I decided to illustration my favorite bird, the Eastern Bluebird.  It's definitely not my usual style but I couldn't imagine my father enjoying the cutesy stuff I normally do :)  Anyways it's just an ink illustration with Photoshop coloring and it measures 4 x 6 inches in a lovely little frame. 

That's all for now!  Enjoy your day/evenings :)

PS-  Last night we released a new clear stamp called We're Not Scared over on MFT Stamps it's chock full of owls and scarecrows for the change of seasons :)

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think I spent more hours in relationship with this book than maybe any other in my life, other than some spiritual texts.

I was fascinated by all the things people did for jobs, all the detail in the illustrations, the sense of humor inherent in all of it. I would gaze at just one page for something like a half-hour, like it was television, but the stories were ones I was telling myself about the characters.

Soon I began drawing the characters (pigs were my favorite), first copying exactly and then getting the feel for how a pig was "constructed" and drawing the characters in new poses, outfits, etc. One of the first "lightbulbs" to go off for me about how much I loved to draw and paint.

So thank you Richard Scarry!!

View all my reviews.

We were supposed to go on a two mile nature hike that night but the rain was coming down in buckets and Pam discovered she didn’t have the proper equipment for a hike in the rain, so we cancelled that.  Here is a totally random and unrelated to anything pic I got at the conservation center, it was an accidental pic but I think it turned out kind of cool in an artsy sort of way

Tonight's agenda: a one-hour play aboard the floating sculptures sponsored by the much-loved, Swoon, as part of her "Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea" project. As you may recall, the Going Places (Doing Stuff) tour paid a brief visit to the docked pieces upstate for a sneak peek a couple weekends ago - which was, to say the least, a pleasant surprise since we didn't know where were headed on the tour (a k a the point of it all). The project will make its way along the Hudson River and open at Deitch Studios in Long Island City, Queens on Sept. 7th.

Tonight:

Riverside Park Pier 1, 70th St. and Hudson River

8pm, FREE

Previous collaborations by Swoon:

Miss Rockaway Armada

Swoon, Chris Stain, The Polaroid Kidd in Paris

Swoon and Monica Canilao

What's in the mysterious box you ask?  Well, Zazzle has a new little something they call profile cards and you guessed it, they are pretty much a knock off of the cute mini Moo cards.  They are a tiny bit bigger than Moos, measuring 1 x 3 inches but it's generally the same concept:  print of your work on the front and business info on the back.  So I decided to be brave and give them a try for a couple of reasons.  Number 1 although I love Moo, they are in the UK and shipping is a bit pricey and takes well over a week.  Shipping for the Zazzle version of the cards was just $1.99 and it took two days for my cards to arrive which was awesome because I had about 5 Moo cards left. 

Number 2 Zazzle allows a bit more control over the design process and gives you the ability to use many different fonts and colors for the back side of the cards which I really liked.  And Number 3, the Zazzle profile cards are just a bit cheaper.  They are sold in packs of 20 for $6.99 but if you buy multiple packs you get discounts, so I bought five packs of 20 and with shipping and everything ended up saving about $7 off the Moo price.  And I mean hey, I run a business here, so saving money makes me happy. 

Anyways I got them today and each set comes package in its own tiny little slide box for easy storage and removal:

As you can see I've decided to go with the Owls of the Seasons series this time and that will be the theme for my packaging, etc :)  Here's what the cards look like out of the packages:

The final judgment? The printing is good and I'm fairly happy with the consistency of the colors when compared to my original illustrations.  I love the little individual packages and of course the price was fantastic as was the shipping time.  My only beef with these is that they lack that nice little laminate finish that Moo adds so these aren't quite as sturdy but in the end they are still super cute and super keepable so I hope you guys enjoy them! 

Onto slightly boo-ish news:  I will be raising shipping charges in the shop although just slightly.  Domestic orders which includes the US and Canada will now be charged $2 for small items and $3 for larger prints etc although originals and stuffies will still have higher shipping charges all around.  International orders will now be $3 for small items and $4 for larger prints etc.  Inflation inflation ;)  I'm definitely not raising prices to make money off shipping or anything like that, I'm honestly raising them to ensure that the cost of packaging and shipping is easily covered.  And seriously, those are still pretty darned good shipping costs compared to a lot of places.  Since I am raising shipping costs now there will probably be a few days out of each month that offer free shipping for everyone though, so that's a good thing :) 

That's all for now I'm off for painting painting and more painting.

PS- Miso, my sweet little studio buddy pictured above, says Meow ;)

i broke out my small toaster oven that i have not used since moving a year ago and wrote on the top in large permanent letters: CRAFT OVEN ONLY so not to poison toast lovers that may be tempted to use it. i set it outside, of course, and got to sculpting feet and teeth. i wanted donny to be eating a chicken foot, but i don't do well felting small objects so i decided to make a human foot out of polymer clay for him. i started off using gloves (so the phtalates wouldn't get me) but threw them out as soon as i started blending browns to get a brown that would match my skin color. three feet later i made the perfect foot for donny and threw it in my outdoors craft oven while holding my breath( so the phtalates wouldn't get me). i ran inside and sat by the window and watch for smoke. fifteen minutes later the foot was born and donny got his personality.

i searched for a tiny bottle of ketchup...but the tabasco works better, i think.

my sister would like me to remove his nipples, but bunnies have nipples too!

i went all stamp happy today. i was trying to create a logo for licorice tree and got side tracked making candy and sugar foots. i made...

a peppermint...

some candy corn...

a lollipop...

some random wrapped candy...

a possible logo...im not so sure i like him.

AND

a cherry.

its break time, but i still need to clean up the edges a bit and mount them. i dont think i will ever use the candy, but they were fun to make. now...back to felting the sugar foots.

The update will occur around 2pmish EST and the Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale continues.  In addition to the prints I have one new bookmark release and a new plastic pendant to add: 

Cute right?  So that brings me to this week's giveaway!  It's a Shrink Plastic starter kit which includes:  three sheets of inkjet printable shrinky plastic, an instruction sheet, 5 cell phone charm straps, 6 keyrings, a bunch of jump rings and several little flower and heart shaped charms.  So if you've been curious about shrinky plastic or if you just remember how great the stuff was when you were a youngster and want to share it with others, I encourage you to leave a comment here to be entered into the drawing.  Contests will now last from Monday to Monday so each winner will be announced in each post about the next giveaway, this makes life a little easier on me and gives you guys a few extra days to register. 

Enjoy the giveaway and drop by the shop at 2pm EST for the new items :)

Finally got around to posting our Monhegan Island pics from our trip back in July.  Highlights included high cliffs, fairy houses in the cathedral like woods, Artist's at work, Poets and stunning hikes.  You can visit for the day, but we found it was worth a longer stay.  For more details of the island visit the Monhegan Maine wikipedia page.  A highlight for me was viewing minky whales from the shore. We were lucky to have beautiful sunny weather most of the time, but found it was great when foggy as well.  Below is a picture of the amazing rock pilings that can be found near an old shipwreck:

If you go you may even have the opportunity to purchase a handmade buck toothed clam from local kids.  I think it is the only souvernir that we purchased as there are very few stores.

DeDefull

Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

This is the beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback who is going to be my next commission subject - lucky me!

Thinking a lot about the goal of daily painting and hoping my energy returns. Spent about an hour this morning looking at the web sites of daily painters I admire. Found a new favorite in Mark Adams - amazing what he creates, especially on these smaller sized supports!

I was so inspired by the Tim Horn seminar but then had a bad cold slam me for nearly 10 days right afterward, such a frustration!! I did some sketching of Lulu sleeping (a handy and cooperative model!) that I was happy with the other day, and nuking the television and kicking sugar has GOT to help with this goal too. Maybe can set up the Easy-L in the backyard this afternoon and do some veggies or something.

Got a nice voicemail from the gal who was the highest bidder on a pet portrait from this year's MSW fundraiser - excited to see what her critter looks like and get going.  I also have some preliminary sketches to do of Catherine's beautiful dog.

Step 1.  This is my initial sketch.  I draw most of my ACEOs directly onto an Arches hotpress watercolor block.  The paper has a relatively smooth finish for tight inking and the watercolor block is sealed on all four sides so I don't have to worry about messing with tape.  I use a little template I made to trace out a 2.5 x 3.5 inch rectange and then I use my trusty mechanical pencil to draw with I would like to paint which in this case is a cute Victorian-ish girl with a raven.  I know I want her to be black and blue like a raven's feathers so I make myself a little note under the image. 

Step 2.  This is my favorite part of the process and something I really miss when working digitally:  inking.  This is the first part of the inking process.  I use my Rapidograph .30 pen for this because it provides constantly line weight and the ink flow is phenomenal.   These are pricey pens and it takes a while to get used to them but now I don't use anything else.  Anyway during this step I just outline most of the drawing including the roses on the wallpaper background I designed.  You'll notice that a lot of my line run outside the bounding lines of the rectangle, I always try to carry my lines slightly out of the lines just to keep them looking active and strong.  It makes a surprisingly difference :)

Step 3.  More inking, this time with a .35 pen which is slightly larger because I am doing darker areas this time.  Now I fill in the parts of her dress that need to be black like the stripes and the pattern on her skirt.  I also add some crosshatching to the bird and some delicate lines to build up hair lovely large hair style :) I avoid adding more detail to the background pattern because I really want the girl to stand out against it. 

Step 4.  Now I do the first painting.  For most of my ACEOs I like to use watercolor pencils mostly because they are quick and don't require must mess.  I use a scrap of old watercolor paper as a palette to scribble the color onto then I just wet it and brush it directly onto my image.  I use a round no. 2 brush for almost the entire image and then I use a tiny script liner for fine details and highlights at the end.  During this step I just lay down a base coat of a smoky blue color on the background, dress, hair and bird.  I also add a few blue shadows to her skin in the same color.  This base coat will unify the entire image. 

Step 5.  Using the same color of blue I darked some of the details on her dress and hair.  I also color in the flowers on the background using the same blue and light wash of dark green.  I also do skintone during this step using a light wash of raw umber with a bit of a pale pink mixed in.  And I go over her hair and the raven using a light wash of grey to give them a bit of dimension.

Step 6.  Now I select a dark violet color and add additional shadows to the image.  It looks sort of goofy right now but we'll be painting over this to diminish the brightness of the violet.  So I paint the bird entirely violet so ravens have violet undertones to their feathers.  I also use violet to create shadows on her hair and dress as well as additional shadows on her face. 

Step 7.  We're almost done now!  First I select an indigo blue which I dilute pretty heavily so it's fairly transparent.  I use this wash the blue areas of her dress and on the accents of her hairpiece.  Next I use a diluted wash of ivory black to do a light wash on the whole bird and then a darker wash toward the underside of the bird which I dab lightly with a paper towel to keep in place.  I also add a light wash of ivory black to her hair and then after allowing it to dry for a few minutes I go back with a slightly darker wash of ivory black to a few shadows.  I also grab a red lake violet to add some slight color to her skin and add her rosy cheeks and rose.  I like to make rosy cheeks fairly obvious on my paintings, it gives my girls a super sweet look. 

Step 8.  This is the final step.  I grab some white acrylic and add some highlights to her dress, her hair and the raven.  Then I add some tiny white dots to the wallpaper, to the trim on her dress and to the pearls in her hairpiece.  And now I'm done :)  This final image is a scan so the colors are more spot on than the photos taken above.  I hope you guys found this interesting!  Thanks!