Illustration Friday "faded"

For this week's IF theme---faded, I was picturing faded, comfortable clothing. Then I had a "Little House" moment, and drew this young girl in her faded cotton dress, somewhere on the lonesome prairie.

It's been a lovely Memorial Day here. There was barely a cloud in the sky all day. I managed to get up for an early long walk, ate breakfast on the back porch while watching the birds at the feeder, and the squirrels and chipmunks foraging around underneath. This was all before 9am, when my husband and I walked down to Main Street to see the small Memorial Day parade our town puts on. In the proper spirit of thankfulness to our troops, I came home to finish putting in some tomato and zucchini plants. This weekend of beautiful summer-like weather makes me feel less than enthusiastic about going back to work tomorrow. In New England, this is our reward for living here, and making it through the cold, snowy winters.

Illustration Friday "sight"

Kitty was entranced by the sight of the bubbles.

Working a new blog header for June, so I tried to tie it in with Illustration Friday's theme of "sight". It's been a very busy weekend with one daughter's prom, and the other daughter's college graduation, plus gallery sitting all afternoon today. Fortunately the weather was fabulous for all the events!

Illustration Friday "kernel"

                                                 So delicious, she's trying to eat every kernel!

I'm looking forward to summer, and having some fresh corn on the cob! The weather was beautiful here all weekend, very warm and sunny with temperatures in the 80s. Mother's Day was great as my two girls were here, and my mom and dad came for a visit also.

"Hitched"

Illustration Friday "Hitched"
A good theme for Spring weddings!

Sadie

This is my cat, Sadie, hanging out next to my desk. When I'm working on the computer or painting at my table, she often sits nearby. Other times, she gets in my way by walking over the keyboard, blocking the computer screen, or whacking me in the face with her fluffy tail. 

Below is a pen and ink with watercolor that I did a few years ago. She has very irregular markings which I find make her challenging to draw.

Recently I completed a reduction block print of a cat named Billy, who lives in the UK with his owner, Jane and her husband. I couldn't resist making a print from a photo that Jane had posted on her blog,      Jane's Journal

Billy has wonderful markings that made him a perfect subject for a print. I used one "soft-cut" block to create this 5-colored image (white, gray, light brown, dark brown, and black). The challenge was keeping the layers registered properly while printing, and figuring out what areas needed to be carved away before inking each new color.

I'm currently working on the jigsaw flower print that I posted recently, but I'm sure another cat print won't be far behind.

JUMP!!

Illustration Friday "Jump"

With the sun shining and the weather getting warmer, this week's IF prompt made me think about some of my favorite summer memories, most of which involved going to camp or camping with my family. I've tried to illustrate the moment of flight (and a little fright) before one makes the splash into the water.

What I'm working on...jigsaw print

My newest printmaking project is a jigsaw print. I'm using a soft-cut block in which I have cut out different areas so that I can ink them separately and hopefully be able to use a wider variety of color. Normally when I do a reduction block print, I have to layer all the colors, and plan what sequence will work best with those colors. It's easier if the final image will be more monochromatic, but trickier if I'm using complementary colors. 

Inking up the yellow and blue pieces

 Reassembling the pieces

The first layer

Now I'm going to cut away the areas that will stay yellow, and the areas to remain that shade of blue. This is my first try using this technique, so I'm not sure how it will all work out, but I'll keep you posted.