3 inspirations this week

1. I really could be a Ted Talk junkie. The shaking occurs and then I go running to find that cool wow so interesting yes of course thank you for saying it like that FIX. This talk hit the target, a target for me.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_lewis_embrace_the_near_win


2. Studio time this week was so delicious. Ha, i inspired myself. Gave myself some free just play make flow with your hands and see what happens time. collages came in this new form. layered like book pages with a notebook spine. Here is one.

3. Jenny Offill's book. Department of Speculation.Beautiful writing. http://jennyoffill.com

something a friend told me once

I know it really doesn't make sense but then at the time it really made sense.

Too tired to elaborate but lets just say it's the heart bursting out like rays in every way possible.

All ways some how become one.

Lilla Rogers Bootcamp June

This month the assignment was to create some wall art with a loose ship in bottle/ nautical theme.
Being a Pisces, I love the water and anything that flows. So I played with some of my favorite colors, blues, almost sea green and my favorite medium, collage. Here are some images from this play creating time.

you can check out what others created at the link

http://bootcamp.lillarogers.com/wp-content/plugins/lilla-rogers-gts/view.php?post_id=908&order=chrono&p=0

The Great Outdoors

http://www.emlr2.com/view/?c=209050725&i=21050

This image was selected for a promotional collection from FoundFolios

 for the collection The Great Outdoors.

3 inspirations

1.John Rives, a poet, artist of true delight performing "If I controlled the internet" http://tuesdaypoem.blogspot.com/2011/09/rives-controls-internet-by-rives.html
AND this one, the museum of 4 am....must listen.
http://www.ted.com/talks/rives_a_museum_of_4_o_clock_in_the_morning

2. Documentary Tim's Vermeer, love this five year obsession. http://boingboing.net/2014/06/10/vermeers-paintings-might-be.html

3. Quotes on my son's school wall inspired by the book Wonder by RJ Palacio. Wish I hadn't ignored the temptation to take a pic of one of them; even just the quote so I could remember on a dreary heart heavy day, the power in words pieced together and written on a poster board.

Lilla Rogers Bootcamp May

 Here are some images from this months editorial assignment which was about beginning meditation.

Collage

                                                           Have been collage happy!

collage

woke up with the words blue star blue star chanting my mind. Perhaps it was the result of some crazy dreams I had trying to replace them with something brighter. i attempted to decode, without success. Instead I made some collages. Much more fun.

3 inspirations

I am inspired by many many artists and people. There are books I read, images, paintings, music. It is everywhere to breathe. Sometimes it is actually overwhelming, there is so much amazing creation created and being created all the time. I am in constant awe intrigue wonder and delight with artists/ writers and their devotion to their work. Once read something from the artist Annette Messenger who also has fed me visually with her mixed media. She writes:

 "Influence-I think it's a sort of nourishment you take from other artists-its like the little sparrows, they are needy like that. When you're young, you take in from a lot of sources; and afterwards, with all you've seen, you never know where it all comes from, where you stop and it begins."

One day I may make a real list of all the artists that I feel have fed me. Until then since I have been focusing on creating children's picture books I thought I would share 3 illustrators whose work definitely delights me and sends me grabbing for my pencil again.


1. Beatrice Alemagna  LOVE!  http://www.beatricealemagna.com
check out this video http://vimeo.com/86654508

2. Anne Herbaut http://www.ricochet-jeunes.org/illustrateurs/initiale/H/auteur/900-anne-herbauts
3. Isabelle Arsenault http://www.isabellearsenault.com

ok 1 more
4. Oliver Jeffers  http://www.oliverjeffers.com
just 1 more
5. Kveta Pacovska http://www.minedition.com/en/illustrator_detail.php?id=26

Mother's Day, always.

                        For my mother's birthday I made her a photo album to celebrate her 70th.
                       She is an amazing woman, full of life, light, completely stylish and always giving.
                       This is the cover for the book. I never met my mom's mom. She died when my mom
                      was a teenager. The hand in the image above is taken from a picture of the grandmother
                      I never met but feel I have some how known.
                       She is waving, as if to say, I am giving my love too.

collage

having some collage fun

here are 2 to enjoy

3 inspirations

1. Love Ted Talks. Just listened to this one.
http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_success_failure_and_the_drive_to_keep_creating?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button__2014-04-25

2. Great Documentary. Finding Vivian Maier.
 Guy buys locker of old negatives at an auction and then goes on to discover
this amazing unknown photographer. The images are beautiful, and her story well....watch it!
  http://www.findingvivianmaier.com

3. Ceramic artist. all I can say is YUM!     http://katharinemorling.co.uk

 

Hop in.

               today I finally felt it. the air has shifted and I am ready to soak it all in---------Spring!

Silkscreen

I did a silkscreen class this weekend. This is the image I worked on.

Learned lots and lots, especially since I was the only one in the class.

One thing is silkscreen, well atleast mulitcolor silkscreen is not so easy.

No, no, no. There are all kinds of technical mishaps, alignment issues, 

things called kiss marks which sounds like something you would want but not when it

comes to ink on your beautiful paper.

I am a messy maker and not sure if silkscreen is for me or not.

Will have to ponder that for a second or two more.

hmmmmmm.

this image below is the one I worked on in photoshop before the class.

Dance today

                 This image is a color study to accompany a picture book manuscript/ smartie-dummy
                                     I recently finished thanks to the support of 12x12

.

Bolt- This smartie has been on the shelves for a bit.

Bolt- is a concept/picture book. A boy who likes to makes up stories, makes up this one of how he lost
his left BOLT (the fastest sneaker on earth) The manuscript is spare but I still like it's simplicity.
Really would like to make this one. My goal is to have a more completed smartie by this summer for the Princeton SCBWI conference which I have been attending for a few summers.
                               Here are sketches from the BOLT smartie (dummy) on my drawing table.

3 inspirations this week

1. Love this book http://www.theartoftheidea.com
     Have had it hanging around for awhile and just picked it up again. All his observations are
     both so true and funny. Also really enjoy the collages, If you are intrigued at all but ideas:
    the where, who, what, how to them, check the book out.

Read the above, I couldn't believe it either. 

showed this to my son who has trouble spelling 

and he too was amazed and maybe a bit relieved. It seems all we really need to get right is 

the first and last letter of a word for others to be able to read what it is.

2. this Ted Talk, loved not only what he had to say but how he said it. My favorite phrase from the talk
           was ROARING SILENCE. yum, going to have to use that one
http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_hadfield_what_i_learned_from_going_blind_in_space

3. This Picture Book. I heard it read this morning in my son's classroom. It's hilarious.
      By Bob Shea and Lane Smith, a great duo.
        http://geekdad.com/2014/03/kid-sheriff-terrible-toads/

   

something new

must be all this rain 

playing with this today

An old Smartie

My kids do not like to brush their hair. And I see the point, lately I have felt the same. It's like making your bed, it's just going to get messed up again. This smartie (dummy) titled HAIR I COMB AGAIN
 was perhaps inspired by me chasing my boys to brush their hair. It is something I made awhile ago and I don't think it will ever get published but it still makes me laugh. Here are a few pages from it as it is, I made it fast and never went back to refine or redo the illustrations.   It was a one draw collage deal. Kind of like a quick comb through, nothing fancy.

Happiness quote

Found this in an old notebook tonight. Before I glue it to a collage and paint, draw, scribble over it
thought I  would click click post. Don't remember where it came from, some book, magazine, or article, from Deepak Chopra.

old Coloring Book Smartie (actually it's so old that it's stored on a CD)

Lilla Rogers Boot Camp month 2

Jello Mold fabric. Here are two versions, the bottom one is what I submitted. 

Went Jello rainbow color crazy.

Jello tends to remind me of watching Love Boat

and Fantasy Island with a metal spoon

in my parents bed with a sore throat.

Had to make a new association to Jello, and Chill-o it is.

Promo

I just sent out an illustration promo postcard. There is a punched hole which was fun to do.
I held it up over my computer screen and the opening on the back fell over the word PLAY....its hard to see in the photo but it made me smile.

something about happy

I don't know how it works but something about making this brought me

closer to happy

or happy closer to me

more lettering magic

Studio time....letting it happen to make it happen

This week in my Studio:
 It was Wednesday and it had been awhile since I just let myself go, draw, paint, scribble without an idea as to what I wanted to create or what it was for. And I suppose I REALLY needed this because I had this surge flow through me. This glorious thank you this is what I come for, this is what I am for, this is what YES the word is for. I have had this feeling before but like I said it has been awhile to give myself free draw time. Of course now I want more. But this is what came out of those few hours I gave myself to dance my hands open to some yum yum color line fun.

           
                         these are both mixed media, watercolor, marker, oil pastels (which I just rediscovered),
                          and few pencil dashes on 22x30 rives BFK (my favorite) paper

This weeks 3 inspirations

1.  Just discovered the work of Thomas Campbell
     and found this video of him creating a mural.
     Love it, his process, his sharing, his mixing of materials, his colors, feel inspired, check him out!
     http://vimeo.com/67152221
     http://www.thomascampbell-art.com/

2. Read the book

Show your work by Austin Kleon

Hence this sharing about what inspires me.

There is so much great advice and inspiration

in this little big gem witty filled with many aha yes of course moments book. 

Thanks Austin for reminding me to open what I love 

to share it in anyway I can. 

austinkleon.com

what do I want to learn? hmmmmmm 

maybe I want to learn what it is I want to learn

that and how to create what I long to create and to know what that is

and to be able to speak it, write it, color it wildly while whistling.

3. Have been pondering over word Dharma

     and this quote "If you bring forth what is within you, it will save you; if you do not bring forth what   

     is within you, it will destroy you." Just realized this is what I want to learn, how to bring forth that which is within me. Or more basically like the above Austin is saying, get your stuff out there.

     

     Quote from a book I'm reading titled The Great Work of Your Life by Stephen Cope.

     Haven't read one of these self guiding spirit seeking books in awhile but must need it now.

http://kripalu.org/blog/thrive/2012/09/19/the-great-work-of-your-life-a-guide-for-the-journey-of-your-true-calling/

lettering fun

                       In my studio I have a few quotes hanging up for that every so often remind myself
                 what I am doing. This is one of them, think it is Rumi. Haven't really done much lettering
                    outside my sketchbook so Last night I scanned something in from a notebook and began
                                   playing around with it in Photoshop. Here is what I have so far!

Having fun with collage

every day holds little jewels

sometimes at night i search for them

  

Lilla Rogers Bootcamp KOO-KOOliscious Assignment 1

To check out the Koo-Koo Gallery go here:

http://bootcamp.lillarogers.com/bootcamp-feb-2014-gallery/

It is amazing how everyone created something different yet still Koo-Kooliscious

After I posted my first boot camp assignment it bothered me that I 

submitted it without placing the koo-koo image in

the phone case template.

So here is a quick version of what it would look

like as a phone cover. Voila!

Have a Koo-Kooliscious DAY!!!!

In the Fall I took Lilla Rogers art making course. It was really fun and helped me to create some new unexpected illustrations. I am now taking her Boot Camp online course. Our first assignment was

Coo-koo (still can't figure out how to spell that ) clocks. She gives you the mini, which is to draw, draw, draw. I love this part and could still be drawing koo-koo if there wasn't a deadline.

There are too many to show all but here are some of the drawings I did.  I began with marker black and white,

and then moved on to some collage.

Below is the final assignment which was to create a phone case.

It would have been helpful for me to place it in the phone case template. hmmmm, next time.

I decided to go with the collage feel and focus on one lovely koo-koo bird. 

As you can see I used some images

directly from my sketches. 

Looking at the sketches again I am thinking I 

want to create another one inspired by the black and white drawings.

Have a Koo-Kooliscious DAY!!!!

What is the best thing that could happen?

Facing my post it note at the bottom of my computer.

It makes me smile. Reminds me of a friend. 

 Encourages me to imagine then articulate what I imagine.

This little note some how powers me on.

New illustration

                                               been playing around with this image.
                            Have many versions in the works but here is one for the moment.

HOW WOW NOW

I signed up for this challenge. 12 x12. Write or rewrite one picture book a month for the next year. Saw it and said Yes! Didn't want to ponder too long. I will figure out the HOW as I move through the year. Coming up with ideas is not the challenge for me, but making the ideas into a physical reality is, giving them what they need in order to thrive and delight beyond my hand heart holding. So I am feeling that I will focus more on the rewrite and smarty (also known as dummy) making for this year. Making the ideas real. Real meaning, have a shape, a form, a back front, seen, heard, experienced, pages exciting between. Breathing life into them, lots of warm wonderous wacky wild WOW breath.    I don't know HOW I will get there but WOW, I am setting my heart sails into the delight of picture book readers NOW.