Feathered & Dithered

Valder-a

Gingerbread House

I am currently painting Christmas, and have been for some time now. As preparation for this project, I did this illustration last year. Happy Holidays!

Here Comes Santa

It's getting to be that time of year again. Anyone else a little nervous?

Illustrator's Day

It's late notice, but I'll be speaking on a panel in San Marino for LA's SCBWI Illustrator's Day. Come check it out!

http://www.scbwisocal.org/events/la_illustrators_day.html

An Adventure in Deepest Darkest Sunroom

I fully expect to build miniature treehouses in my potted plants someday.

give what ya got

Is there anything more hated than a clown?

Washer Woman redux

I guess I have a thing for washer women. Don't tell anyone.

catch you later

I was asked to sketch out a few entomologists some time ago for a friend who works for the USDA. They wanted an Indiana Jones type to demonstrate a new bug catching device for African scientists. I gave them some options, but I think the action bugs are probably my favorite. Well, I like the fly swatter guy too.

perched and poised

It's been more of a paint month than a pencil month, so tho it's time to post something new, I had to comb the sketchbooks looking for a post-worthy image not related to what I'm working on. Years ago I made a sculpture of a little princess holding out her hand, ready for a fat bird to be perched on her finger. I never got around to sculpting the bird, so she's spent the last decade waiting. If this drawing is any indication and the princesses are related, then this bird has been a long time coming.

calipering your pipe

I'm slowly coating myself in paint out here as I plod ahead on a future release. In the mean time, here's a sketch I produced about a month ago but didn't get to scan. I love it when a scribble surprises me. I'm not sure if our reluctant hero is giving a gift or receiving it, but he's definitely nervous about the whole affair. I read a short story as a child about a creature who desires a better voice, so he goes to a blacksmith for a new one to be forged. That's probably what's in the box.

Multiples

At the library, I ran across a copy of the HMS Penafore using a photo of a teddy bear as its cover. Why? I suspect it involved some conceptual thinking one step too far removed. BUT, it inspired a fun image of my own.

This is the second in my short series of formal animal portraits. All three paintings have been earmarked to be sent in different directions, and tho the three may never meet again, somehow it sparks my imagination to picture the disparate futures they'll observe. And who hasn't fantasized about their own twin, separated at birth? Maybe it's my gift to over-conceptualization, but I'm secretly hoping for some soap opera-worthy reunions of framed silence.