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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

unusual holidays featuring a penguin, puppy, birds, and a bear - plus art for ABFE auction

In my last post, I made art to celebrate Pig In A Blanket Day, and Arbor Day.


Since then, I've found there are lots of daily celebrations I've never heard of before. I decided to make art to celebrate those holidays too!

Saturday was World Penguin Day, and National Telephone Day. It seemed like a good opportunity for a penguin to catch up with all her friends and family on the phone:


Sunday was National Pretzel Day, and National Kids And Pets Day. This puppy is happy that his girl shared her pretzel with him!


Monday was Tell A Story Day. These little birdies are telling a story, and reading a story (EWE AND AYE). This painting is also going to be at the ABFE auction at BEA* (note: the colors look better in real life than in the scan).


Today is National Blueberry Pie Day! This little bear has a powerful nose that can smell blueberry pie from miles away:


Tomorrow is bound to have another celebration I can illustrate too! (And the next day, and the next day, and the day after that ...)

* I have a second painting for the ABFE auction at BEA. This year they're honoring Judy Blume. I had several ideas about what to draw before deciding to paint a girl reading a Judy Blume book (ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET), with a stack of her books to choose from when she's looking for another book to read.


Friday, April 24, 2015

Happy Pig In A Blanket Day! Happy Arbor Day!

You might know that today is Arbor Day (yay trees), but did you know it's also Pig In A Blanket Day? I didn't know that until this morning. Once I found out, I couldn't resist drawing a pig in a blanket:


I remember planting trees for Arbor Day as a kid, and thought that my piggy might want to plant a tree too. She's the sort of pig who likes to share her good fortune, so she gave the little tree her blanket to help prop it up (the blanket and the little tree remind me of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree):


For the people who like to know how the art was created: Both these images were done with my new Pentel Pocket Brush Pen (which I'm still getting used to) and watercolor. Here's how the Pig In A Blanket looked in ink vs. color (ink picture taken with cell, so it's not quite as clear):


And here's the Arbor Day Pig in ink vs. color. She's missing her tail in the ink picture - it got added after (ink picture taken with cell again).


If I had a yard to plant a tree, I probably would have celebrated Arbor Day that way, but since I don't, and it's also Pig In A Blanket Day, I decided to get creative to celebrate.

Did you celebrate Arbor Day or Pig In A Blanket Day?

Have you ever heard of  Pig In A Blanket Day?

Me neither, but it was fun to draw!

Monday, April 20, 2015

seagulls dancing in the rain, Judy Blume tribute, and windows for IF

The prompt for Illustration Friday this week is window. I decided to do a quick painting today of the view outside my window of seagulls dancing in the rain (flying, actually, but the soaring and swooping looked like dancing):


I also sketched an image which I might turn into a painting for the ABFE auction at BEA. This year they're honoring Judy Blume. I thought it would be fun to paint a girl in a window seat enjoying Judy's books. Here's the sketch (note-this is a cell phone picture and not a good scan):


The weather outside the window is wintery in the sketch. Thinking about making it rainy instead.

Monday, April 13, 2015

thoughts about spring weather, illustrated with sketches

In honor of the new sketch section on my website, here are some thoughts about spring weather, illustrated with sketches:

Spring has sprung, like a cow on a pogo stick!


When the spring weather is nice, you can pretend to be a superhero, just like when you were little (all you needed was a cape):


It's not amusing on days when the weather still thinks it's winter (so says this owl):


Days that are rainy aren't too bad when you have an umbrella to dance with:


If it's too rainy (or windy, or pollen-y) to go out, you can still stay in and dance around the room, read a book, and then dance around the room again:


When it's dark and stormy out, it might sound like an armadillo is bowling:


But don't worry, it will be warm enough to go swimming soon!


No matter what the weather, or whether you're inside or out, there's a chance that you'll come up with an idea for a story about the weather:


If that happens, try to write it down so you don't sleepwalk through the day, trying not to forget your story:


Happy Spring Everyone!

I hope your spring weather is wonderful! Or if not, I hope you get to dance with an umbrella or stay inside with a good book and an occasional dance break.

p.s. There's more art on my website, including the new sketch section, and a few of these images too.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

art blast from the past: a bunny juggling eggs ... and creatures in eggs

I've been going through old art this week while working on my website. Apparently I draw a lot of cows (nobody who knows me will be surprised by that), and dogs, chickens, rainy scenes with umbrellas, and bunnies! Some of my old favorites will be on my website soon (could be as soon as tomorrow).

Until then, here's an art blast from the past (2009) that probably won't make it on the site this time, but since I've always wanted to do a story about this bunny, she could be in my portfolio in the future!*


I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

If you're celebrating the holidays and/or the season, I'd like to wish you a: Happy Easter! Happy Passover! and Happy Spring!

*I'm working on new portfolio art now, so this bunny could be seen again soon! Maybe. Will have to see where my pencil takes me. :)