new illustrations

Have been drawing lots lately, filling many sketchbooks and then playing with the imagery.

These two are hot off my fingertips.

Enjoy a bowl of YUM

This morning my oatmeal tasted especially good. I actually heard my self go yummmmm. It may have actually somehow been extra tasty or that I was giving my bowl full attention. Wasn't reading, or checking email, or drawing. Soley enjoying what was in my bowl at that very moment. So satisfying. That bowl must have set a mood for the whole day because I seemed to enjoy everything else I was doing which was drawing, lots of drawing. My pencil went yum all the way down to the very last bit.

Whatever is in your bowl, I hope it makes you go yum too, even for a one glorious moment. 

connecting the heart from the inside out

                                                                     new illustration

mini sketchbooks

had some fun time in studio messing around with making mini sketchbooks 

(some rorschach watercolor blots)

could make these for days 

This guy is fast, but I'm not

wouldn't it be fun to be faster than a zebra driving a fancy car, or how about just being friends with a zebra. I love zebras. I love saying the word zebra. Collage above revisited today!

tell me a story

some drawing collage happening here

Something I forgot and now remember

In graduate school one of my painter teachers said this to me,

 "You are a good designer. You know how to place things. BUT DON'T DESIGN DANCE."

I don't remember what I thought when he said this but I have thought about it a lot, for over 14 years. Yup, it is one of those things that keeps rising up to tap me on the shoulder. Many times I thought I understood what he was saying only to later on realize I almost understood. Today, as I was working on an illustration for a picture book I'm working on, I remembered it again. Don't design Dance. It's ok to have a plan as to what you want to create, but let the  how come deep from within the act of letting your body do the making. Allow room for those beautiful surprises. Let the placing be like feet moving to your own rhythm. Let the image be a catcher for the making's dance.

Much easier said then done. Oh so much easier. There is a maker in me that sometimes has an idea, a grand idea, of how it should LOOK before it is made. This blocks all making magic. It also creates great frustration when the image never is able to meet those expectations.

Don't design Dance, doesn't mean, forget all about how it looks and will read, it means trust your lines, trust your hands, trust the making to place things as needed, as felt, as called to place and the image will definitely feel more alive and pulsing with freshness. Rest the thinking about how. In its place,

 get the hands moving, drawing, writing, gluing, moving toward that image that keeps shifting and grooving and pulsing with you to some how come to be. The image is that remnant, that evidence, that illustration of what when on when you were dancing.

Manifest Awesomeness

So, yeah!

I've been focusing my creative juices into manifesting what I want to manifest.

I say "It's simple" It's not REALLY that simple.

First you have to align your heart, mind, fingers, actions, with WHAT it is you want to create.

is it a book, an illustration, a blanket, a cape for superhero monkeys, What is the form?

Actually, Back up, FIRST you need to choose the feeling for the thing you want to create.  

the essence, the quality the thing evokes, the stuff that makes you go yes me likes this, 

Do you want it to be mysterious, surreal, eye popping bold, funny, entwined in story, abstract, 

what is the feeling?

then you mix the Physical Form with the Emotional Essence. 

You swirl it, bake it, toss it in a bowl and leave it under the moonlight for days, take it for a walk, bathe it, scrub it, hug it, lug it, shake it, plead with it, sing to it, feed it mountain ocean air, bow over it, 

ask it what you think may be unanswerable questions, sit with it, sit with it, sit WITH it, 

until something , that something you chose to make is sitting with you too.

essence to what you want to create +  form of what you want to create = Manifested Awesomeness

Wednesday's wondering, Vision Ball

I spend about 90 percent of my time wondering. My wondering comes in many forms and ways of being or creating. Sometimes this wondering happens with writing, or drawing, collaging, or walking on the way to somewhere I am walking. Lately my wondering has involved the topic of clarity. I notice this word lots in my journal, questions for picture books I'm working through, and even in a yoga class this morning. Clarity. Clarity. Clarity, ugh, I know I need to be specific, and ARTiculate what I want to create. But sometimes it is so hard to sift through all the swirling inside to find the vision that is truly mine.  Until I have the specifics on that one, I'm here now today clearing the space to refine align set tune my actions to meet this ever growing vision for my creations and ultimately my life. 

Voila! 

Shine Time Journal, Lilla Rogers Bootcamp

(the one i submitted)

(now: playing with new colors which i could do forever)

 

                                                 (sketches from the mini assignment)

I'm participating in Lilla Rogers illustration Bootcamp.

 I did it last year and really enjoyed it so i'm back for more exploring 

and working to create some fresh images.

One of the main reasons I like the Bootcamp is to use my skills and drawing love in new ways. This assignment was to create a journal cover with an Edwardian jewel inspired theme. This would be a dream job as I'm a notebook keeper. Have about 5 or more various idea, scribble, sketch book holders at one time. When I was making this journal I was thinking about an exercise I do often at night. It is to find the one moment in my day that for some reason delighted my whole being. It can be anything, that one second when I was writing and felt a word fly out onto the page without any effort, watching a woman in a red hat on the bus, spinning wildly in the snow with my dog and two boys and feeling completely immersed in something greater than myself, or eating a yummy soup. Sometimes that moment is easy to find, and other days I sift through the day to rediscover and acknowledge that one tiny shining moment that feels timelessly in tune with the life I'm continually creating.

to check out the other boot campers journals 

go to:

http://bit.ly/1ENeZR5

Power Pose

What would it feel to have done what I really want to do creatively?

I don't feel like waiting to find out.

So I'm conducting an experiment.

 I'm getting into my power pose and infusing a major victory vibe into my moment.

That's correct, riiiiiight now.My feet are grounded into this awesome earth,

 my arms reaching what they long to reach.

It's like a mid-morning snack. I'm fueling my day with WOW.

You can do it too.

Do your Victory DANCE NOW.

Love this Ted Talk by Ann Cuddy.

I've practiced this pose in kids yoga classes also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc

Breathing Time

when I'm in the making of whatever it is I'm making my breathing changes. It calms, deepens, in moments feels I'm being breathed by a giant breathing world wonder breather rather than me sniffing grasping for my own air. more simply said, I feel connected to something larger and in this connection, i can settle into my body and surrender.

Being in the MAKING

it's a given that I will forget. One day very soon I will trip, wander too far, look outside myself too much, and forget that this here, this time spent in the making, this is where I love to be. This morning, I sit with marker and pile of index cards and invite myself to write draw breathe. Yes, breathe with such an ease, grounded where I am, no other place I beLONG to be, right here, for this glorious moment, hour, two, this feels enough. I still don't know what I will be, or how my art will find it's place, create it's place, but for now I remember, be in the making, be in the making, be in the making, and all will flow from here.

Sketch Drawing

when i'm just drawing for the sake of drawing, to experience pen on paper and be silent in thought, thats when I find my hand drawing me closer and closer and closer

2015 tip

saw this while skiing and it made me smile.

 plan for 2015 is to smile as much as possible, 

make others smile as much as possible,  

 embrace who I am , who I am becoming, those I am smiling with,  

and to channel unicorn rainbow sky magic as often as smilin' possible!

oh and I also would like to use this channeled smilin' magic
to some how (with more focus and some universe dusting support)
sell my first picture book in 2015!

and create WOW, thank you, awesome feelings
along the way
every day...

know now!

I sometimes forget to be here in the now knowing what it is happening now. Today for this tiny moment I am remembering to just be here.

     hmmmmm, how did that shadow get there?

3 inspirations this week

1. Loved this book- The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer. She is the ultimate share it all artist and I tend to be the opposite. THis reminded me to open up and be more transparent, invite people in to the process, and ASK, be vulnerable, give someone the opportunity to help you. Its' a must read for an creative being which is everyone. http://amandapalmer.net/home/

2. This section form the NY times Magazine where writers looked back on their books.
Love George Saunders's insight. This is something I spend many moments thinking about.

 http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/pen-auction-philip-roth-portnoys-complaint-robert-caro-george-saunders-marilynne-robinson-jennifer-egan-junot-diaz/?_r=0

3. In the 30 day picture book idea challenge this is one post that I enjoyed this morning. Sometimes I'm hesitant to use a word that may be too sophisticated for the picture book reader but then I remember also that the sound of words and how they feel in your mouth are just as important as their meaning. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/149e6dc99083fef4

and this picture book by David Mackintosh makes me smile.

http://www.profuselyillustrated.com/lucky-2/

New collage

random mix

 I have never been very successful at keeping one notebook devoted to one thing. I've tried, many times. This notebook will only be for picture book ideas. This notebook is only for drawing scribble designs. This notebook is only for action lists (to do). This notebook ...yeah, it doesn't work. I tend to treat all paper as equal, and sometimes I draw in a notebook and sometimes on a scrap. Went through some piles of paper and notebooks stashed in a cabinet this weekend.

Here are a few images from the mix.

Piboidmo 2014

                          Yes, I just signed up for a month devoted to picture book making ideas.

http://www.taralazar.com/piboidmo/

collage

3 inspirations this week

from Oliver Jeffers new book

Have been devouring anything picture book related recently

1. Just discovered this podcast. Can't wait to listen to ALL of them. http://lgbpodcast.blogspot.com

2. Oliver Jeffers new alphabet book- brilliant- LOVE
http://www.oliverjeffers.com/picture-books/once-upon-an-alphabet

3. And this illustrator Kitty Crawther- WOW
https://astridlindgrenmemorialaward.wordpress.com/category/kitty-crowther/

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.