Illustration Friday "satellite

Today's post is my 100th for this blog! I started blogging last July as a way to participate in Illustration Friday and to challenge myself to create new work on a regular basis. It's been great receiving feedback as well as being able to view the work of so many talented artists. It feels like a small world even though we are spread out around the globe! Just thinking, satellites must play a part in this.

The beginning of summer vacation

This illustration is a tribute to the beginning of summer and the break from my school schedule. Looking forward to a productive time of focusing on some new (and old) projects. I've got my summer studio set up---card table on the screened-in porch, some sharpened pencils, and a pile of blank paper. The possibilities always seem endless on the first day of summer vacation!

Illustration Friday "paisley"

Last week, a little girl was gathering creatures in a tidepool. For this week's IF I thought they should be returned to the sea.

Illustration Friday "ripple"

This week's Illustration Friday theme ties in with illustrator Kelly Light, and her effort to raise money for The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, and the International Bird Rescue Research Center. Illustrators can donate their artwork to Ripple (If we all do small acts together - we can cause a ripple - and it can grow). One can donate $10 to either organization to help the animal victims of the Deep Water Horizon Gulf Oil Spill, choose a sketch card on Ripple, and the illustrator will mail out a signed copy of your chosen card. It's a win-win situation for everyone---inexpensive art for the buyer and money to a worthy cause.

This little girl "tidepooling" on the New England coast is a reminder of how devastating it would be if an oil spill happened here. We love and appreciate our beautiful beaches and coastline with its wide variety of wildlife, birds, and sea creatures. It's so hard to watch the news and see the continuing crisis unfolding in the Gulf.

Illustration Friday "trail'

One of my students suggested that I do an illustration from the story of Hansel and Gretel for Illustration Friday's word for the week. I used a smooth Strathmore paper with watercolors and prismacolor colored pencils.

Dog portrait

I was recently commissioned by a colleague to do a pencil drawing of her friend's dear departed yellow lab. I hadn't done a pet portrait in a while and enjoyed working with black verithin and regular prismacolor pencils to get the textures of the fur and grass.