IF Late

This picture reminds me of my two boys when they were small. They finished trick-or-treating very late. Before they head in, they want to check their treats.

Marmalade

Here's Marmalade day-dreaming about her long name. She keeps wondering what school will be like. In the second picture, Marmalade is getting ready for sleep. She's a quiet, sweet girl.

I love the way that this illustration shows how shy and timid Marmalade is, while Zoe is so outgoing. They are the two characters in the children's story I'm currently writing.

Classroom Dance

This is another illustration for my manuscript. During a session with Virginia Freyermuth I added pencil line shading to refine the details.

First Day of School

This is an illustration I'm working on for my manuscript. There are pieces that I'm very happy about in the composition. I hope to refine some datails eventually.

Lighthouse on the Maine Coast

While I did use an actual photograph of the Nubble Lighthouse in Maine to compose this illustration, I decided to improvise a bit with the style and details of the setting. My Niece wanted a painting for her dorm room. I decided to give her both this painting and the one of the stone railroad bridge (below). I photographed this one while it was in progress, but there were very few details left to complete. Both paintings were great fun to compose. Getting them up on my blog has taken longer than I'd like.

I keep hoping I'll get better at uploading my work and publishing to my blog.

Railroad Bridge

This illustration is done in watercolor and colored pencil of the stone bridge on Dean St. in Norwood. I was pleased with the way that it came out. Rather than pay a lot of money to have it scanned, I photographed the original using my Pentax *istDL SLR Digital Camera. This camera is a marvel! It is an amazing tool.

Monday Artday

This is my first post for Monday Artday. The challenge was to create an illustration for a children's book. During a Picture Writing workshop in New Hampshire a few years ago, I created a story about how this dragon found her way into the world. It was such a fun workshop. We all left with an illustrated collage book.

Illustration Friday: Horizon

As the racing sailboats appeared on the horizon, Abby spotted her brother's spinnaker. She excitedly called over to her friends that Joel was in the lead and headed for the finish line. This was his moment of victory and she was so pleased for him.

Illustration Friday: Backwards 2

Here's another picture for last week. I have drawn a lobster dancing backwards. I wish I had thought of it before I did the plain one. I find these challenges fun to try. I'm hoping my skills improve as I work on each trial.

Illustration Friday: Backwards

Lobsters crawl backwards to move. Once they enter a lobster trap, there is no escape for them. A blue lobster is rarely caught.