The highlight of her birding excursion was the sighting of a scarlet tanager!
I thought this spread that I had sketched out for my Sketchbook Project story would make an appropriate image for the IF theme "sink". Today I added watercolor and colored pencil to get it to a more finished state. The paper in the sketchbook is pretty flimsy and not the best for wet media, so the book's pages are a bit wrinkled. I'm hoping they'll flatten out if I put a weight on the book when I'm all done.
I've been working on the final pages of my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. If you haven't heard of it, check out http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject2012 .
This is Illustration Friday 's word of the week, "Brigade" in its black and white stage---I will try to get the colored version posted this evening. Ideally there should probably be more elves in the gift brigade, but maybe these are just the stragglers.
Working on a sketch for the Illustration Friday theme of "vanity"---a vain cat on a vanity.
Finishing up a busy weekend by posting this week's Illustration Friday image. I used black prismacolor pencil, vine charcoal, and Lunar Black watercolor on a smooth heavyweight paper.
Glad to be finally posting my Illustration Friday drawing for this week's theme of "scary". It was pretty scary around my house for the last few days as we didn't have power or heat for over 24 hours, due to a record-breaking October snow storm. We had about 20" of wet heavy snow in my area. Fortunately our power came on late last night, although many people are still without electricity all up the East Coast. It's so odd to see fall foliage and this much snow on the ground at the same time! But we're expecting temperatures warming into the 50's this week, so much of it will be gone. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my unexpected day off from school!
Added a little color to yesterday's black and white version of this week's Illustration Friday theme.
After a very busy weekend, I only had time to complete the black and white image of my idea for IF "scatter". I'm planning on adding watercolor this week, and will post the colored version when it's done.
Can a simple contraption work to recapture her pet rabbit?
I spent the day at the Portsmouth Open Market at Strawberry Banke, manning the booth/tent with Vita. This was our final Sunday of the season, and the nicest one for weather. It felt more like a summer afternoon than the first weekend of Fall. It was definitely better than our first Sunday in June when it rained most of the day, and the wind kept knocking over the art work. While hanging out at the booth today, I worked on this sketch for the Illustration Friday theme of "ferocious". 
I took a lot of pictures of the rocky coast on Mount Desert Island. when we visited Acadia National Park in August. I thought the colors of the rocks and ocean would make interesting block print images. This is a four-color print of a view at the end of the Otter Point trail. The trail begins at Sand Beach and takes you by Thunder Hole, and along the coast for several miles of easy hiking with spectacular views.
Our summer vacation's over,
Vita and I will be selling our art at the Portsmouth Open Market tomorrow, Aug 14th from 10am--4pm. Hoping for good weather and big crowds! See you there!
On recital day, no one cared a bit that the little dancers' routine was imperfect.
Imagine the reaction when Mom and Dad give her concert tickets for her birthday!
Maybe this would be the year she broke her habit of perennial tardiness.
In my last post I showed the reduction print version of "Beach Roses". This one is made using the black final layer of the block, with the addition of watercolor. The colors are a bit brighter, which I like, but it loses some the details and depth of the original.
This is a new print I made recently to sell at the Portsmouth Open Market at Strawberry Banke. I ended up printing 6 layers---yellow, light green, pale pink, deep pink, dark green, and black. I am also doing another version of this print where I only print the black layer and paint the colors in with watercolor.
This week's topic for Illustration Friday is "gesture", so I thought I'd go with the idea of a drawing class where students are warming up with gesture drawings of their model.
"Can't we stay longer!"
This week's prompt for Illustration Friday made me think about one of my favorite childhood memories of summer. My family did alot of camping, and we always roasted marshmallows around the fire at night. When my own girls were younger, we traveled with our pop-up camper and continued the tradition.
Here's a picture of my dad, sister, and me sitting around our campfire at Rangely State Park in Maine in 1968.
I'll be at the Portsmouth Open Market tomorrow at Strawberry Banke. Vita Mechachonis and I are sharing a booth from 10--4pm, rain or shine (we're hoping for more shine than rain). If you're in the Portsmouth area, stop by!
Just a quick illustration for this week's prompt---shadows. The weather is warming up, and I imagine everyone would like to sit in the shade with a cold drink.
I've been very busy trying to get ready for my first Open Market day in Portsmouth that's coming up on Sunday the 12th. My friend Vita and I are sharing a booth and selling our wares at Strawberry Banke from 10--4. Hoping for great weather and lots of visitors!
