Mirror Mirror

One of the smarties (or more widely called dummies) I included in my portfolio at the LA SCBWI conference was one that used mirror paper to create the whole image.
 Here are some pics from a few spreads.

collage all day everyday

This is a collage I made recently inspired by this little character, some bits and pieces of circles hanging around my studio, and the re-occuring feeling that my imagination is swirling with oh so many possibilities.

Collage illustration

I am taking my 18minute collage practice of playing with various bits and scraps and using it to inform some new illustrations. Here is one I did last night based on a New York Times article about growth in long term relationships.

18 minute collage

Lately I have been needing some time to let my fingers play. I have piles filled with a mixture of scrap drawings, textures, sketches, random papers. I decided to use these piles to create some 18 minute collages. I choose a few from the bits to use, set the timer, then go. This is proving to be a great way to spend an hour (or two) and free things up with some unexpected combinations. It is so fun to play  with the color, texture, and portions of imagery already gathered around me. And at the end, my fingers are sticky and my heart is excited to see what will come out the next 18 minute session. Here are a few images from my new pile being created from my old piles.
Try it. 18 minutes to create something. It can be a collage, a poem, a song, a story. See what 18 minutes will do for you and your day.

 



 

3 inspirations this week

1. Discovering this podcast.  So far i've only listened to 1.5 episodes but I'm already in LOVE. This is oozing with gems to keep the creative going. During the whole time I was listening I was shaking my head going yeah, yeah, YEAH. Am excited to explore the whole library of episodes.
www.unmistakablecreative.com
http://unmistakablecreative.com/how-creative-people-get-it-done-with-samantha-bennett

2. Am reading The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
and so far am enjoying it.
This line stopped me today. "The only option for a creative person was constant motion- a life time of busy whirligigging in a generally forward direction, until you couldn't do it any longer."
Like the use of "generally" here, implies that sometimes in order to go forward there is time needed for sideways zigzagging exploration

3. Ok. I'm so loving this podcast that i'm writing it twice. Is that cheating? Maybe but i'm listing it again anyway..
 www.unmistakablecreative.com

SCBWI LA conference

and then the Little Moments, all the Little Moments held hands. 
They didn't know it at the time but by linking palms, 
they gained momentum, 
they grew a never been named shape, 
they rang sang spoke a new word.
It sounded like yeahwoooooshwooshweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
and then....

a Big Moment appeared.
Yes indeed it did.
Last night at the SCBWI LA conference I won an Honor Award for my illustration portfolio.
I am very very very very very very very excited. And I was able to meet some amazing illustrators, writers,...so much talent and passion all around.

Hope you have a little moment today...it may hold hands with some others and before you know it.........yeahwoooooshwooshweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

SCBWI conference little moment

I'm attending the SCBWI LA conference for the first time. Today I had a moment. A little moment. Well I had lots of little moments, isn't that what a day is made from. But this one moment I am referring to gave me a boost just as I needed one.  The door to doubt was creaking it's nasty hinges open into my heart. I could feel it, swingin, slappin, rising it's thunder fire doubt, all those, what am I doing here? when will I ever? why? how? and also where is an  EMPTY SEAT. I was feeling overwhelmed.
So I paused. Stood where I was. Put my hand on the stair railing to sit down. And that's when I saw it. A little gift. For me. On the railing was a tiny plastic bag pink taped. I opened it up slowly and this is what I found.

 Stay Curious. Yes. Hmmmmmm. I again breathed. I remember now. When in doubt, pause, sit down, and look what is right there, right here, at my fingertips. Curious indeed. There is magic happening. Always.

Thanks Kathy Ellen Davis for reminding me and for spreading the good vibes. www.kathyellendavis.com

Hope you have a little moment today.

little drawing - little poem

 a boat

wrote sea

a little note

or was it the sea
that wrote boat:

stay afloat

blue skies are on your spray

thank u project

i remember and 

then I forget to remember

thank u,

that thank u feeling

is always

available

for tuning my heart

bright

love you like I do

recent collage craziness happening

3 inspirations recently

1. This illustrator- Rilla Alexander... and This book- Her Idea.....love it.  I can relate to all of it.
      Brilliant. Yum- Red too.

                                         

http://www.byrilla.com/folio.html?func=viewcategory&catid=57

Video about the struggles of bringing an idea to life-http://vimeo.com/53424300

.
2. Neil Gaiman's commencement talk. "Make good Art"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikAb-NYkseI

3. swimming today for the first time this summer.

Pause

when i do take a moment to just pause and actually see feel breath notice

all that already is,

there is a powerful knowing without it being knowing

that life really is a mind googling ever changing

continuing blossoming 

wonder.

and when you feel that 

even if it's for a micro second on your way out the door in the door

opening a door,

then thank shines through

 tiny hand leaves breathing veins

and the day unfold follows

     

tiny steps

I realized that just thinking about something isn't going to make it a reality.  

Action.

 Moving towards that which you want to create.

 Every day. 

Even if it's the tiniest 

fragment of the whole. 

These steps, even tiny steps matter. 

They add up and bridge each action to the next. 

Sometimes I forget about my mountain.

I see other people's mountains. I see trails that twirl and meander around a lake. 

I ponder about trails that twirl and meander around a lake. 

Sometimes I have absolutely no idea how I will ever build a spiraling staircase around a mountain on roller blades with no map, no scaffolding, and only popsicle sticks in my pocket. 

But I keep on going.

Clarifying my mountain even as it changes day to day.

Paint your day!

                         I did these paintbrush heads awhile back and just rediscovered this image.
                                   Hmmmmmmmm, want to play with these some more.

Yep!

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.