Drawing/painting Today...

Pens, pencil, ink wash, just mixing it all together in this Sketchbook project that's due in like a week!!! Why do i put it off? As you should have noticed i got my book back in October. Will post all the in-progs once I send it off!

Stamps

So I decided to cut linoleum. And make my own Christmas card linoprints! I did cut myself a bit. I followed the rule, cut away from oneself. But I neglected to move my other hand out of the way. I gotta hand it to block printers who cut linoleum or even wood! (hand, haha) Congrats to you on your patience and details using such a resistant medium to make art. Anyway, I forgot to take a picture of the best prints. I stuffed them in envelopes and shipped them off! But here's a pic of the block and the stamp I made for the back. So you know it's original. I have one more block that I will tackle soon. Maybe you can buy a print when I'm through, although just know that it is still my first block print!

Sugar Bugz...They Live on Your Teeth

 

The Book is Here.

In 2009 I illustrated a book for my friend Stacy Piper. It's been a while. And it took a while, but finally, it's here! In book form I present Sugar Bugz, written by Stacy Piper and illustrated by yours truly. It is about brushing your teeth! and comes with stickers for the kids for the calendar when they brush every night. Soon she will have the website up and ready for you to get your own book. As of now there are a few copies at our local Chico Lyons Books. Speaking of which we were invited to their Holiday Author Open House THIS Thursday, Dec 1st. from 6-8pm. Short notice, but come if you see this! So, a big thank you to Stacy and her story for making this awesome project come together!

Real Paint!

It exists in the real world! I got dirty. Take that Photoshop...
I know it looks very similar to an existing painting of mine, but that was the point. I like painting knowing that someone in particular will soon own the painting. If I'm painting for someone else it is easier to give it up! Otherwise I will just assume I'm painting myself a gift, then if someone wants it, I'm like, "No, it's mine..."
So, there you have it. A gift. Kiss it goodbye. Muwa!

Entertaining Ones Self

When I was young I had a dollhouse and loved everything miniature. I created little stop motion videos and built small scenes and furniture for the dolls. In college I continued playing in clay. And I still do now. Nobody really sees my little creations, but I decided to create a tumbler with one of my characters, Craig. Just for fun. So see what he's doing periodically. My mom said he looked lonely, so maybe he will meet someone new soon.
Http://Craiginclay.tumblr.com

Sketchbook is in!

My sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project has arrived! It is smaller than I thought... My theme is Monochrome. So I'm thinking, black and white. With shades of grey. And maybe a random page using only one color.
There are rules about glitter and smelly chemicals, but it says I can rebind the book as long as the dimensions are the same and the spine doesn't exceed 1" thick. I think I'll rebind it as the flutter style book and make a video of the drawing process.

The Chico Palio update

The building of the lagger horse can be seen here: The Laggers blog. Or on my YouTube channel. All came together nicely. But it was a lot of work! I've never built anything with paper maché that big before. I built the horse and my soccer team helped decorate and run the horse at yesterday's Chico Palio. We didn't win the trophy, but it was good. I knew we wouldn't in the race when I saw that some horses had recruited young track team stars to sprint for the finish line. One super-fast team did have a spill at the end. The Peoples Choice went to one of the high school teams as well as Judges Award. All the little girls loved the pink sparkly horsey. I was so sure we would have won. So perhaps next year!

Watching TV

Just watching Chopped on the Food Network and couldn't think of anything to draw, so i made a little sketch of the man who won. He was pretty laid back and not a pompous chef like some on previous shows. Since I was busy sketching his likeness I missed the dessert round. Must draw more.
This is a new brush i made that looks kind of like ink or charcoal. I'm pretty pleased with it. It had to have some tweaking but I think it works awesomely for the look i want.

Chico Palio

I want to really build a horse for Chico Palio this year. I am going to make up some designs this week for a cool horse and look for two good runners to make her fast. More soon...