quote of the week

I haven't posted for awhile...pretty busy with holiday card orders, but I thought I'd do the quote of the week. In honor of Seattle's All City Youth Soccer Tournament which started this week - here's the quote -

"Keep your head in the Game!"
~said by every coach on every team in every sport in every city and town everywhere!

(So far, my daughter's team is undefeated, but it's still early in the tournament. Go Lasers!)

IF - the zoo

Here's my entry for the theme of 'the zoo', over at Illustration Friday this week. When my kids were little, we had a lot of flashcards around the house, so I decided to create my own little set of cards and a chalkboard to lay them on. I drew the animals, scanned them into Photoshop, then created the rest of the elements digitally. It was really fun to do, I enjoyed working on this one! Of course, I enjoy working on all of them! Oh, the wonders of Photoshop! It's an amazing tool!

love this site!

I love, love, love this site 3191, a year of mornings! It's a collaboration between Stephanie Barnes and Maria Vettese. Stephanie lives in Portland, Oregon and Maria in Portland, Maine. They live 3191 miles apart and each morning they each take a photograph. Stephanie sends hers to Maria and Maria makes a diptych of the two photos and posts them on their site. Nothing is planned ahead, except that they will each take a photo of something in their world each weekday. The colloboration is almost always visually stunning and completely unique. The images are so fresh and crisp!

They have been doing this since January and plan to do it through until the end of the year, which is almost over! I wish I would have found out about this site earlier to follow along each morning. I hope they plan to do a year of afternoons in 2008!

i've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Marci! Which also means I have to tag 5 other people and write 5 things about myself! I decided to tag some fellow IF participants, since that is how I know Marci. Here are the rules for the tag.

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on thier blog.

Here are my 5 things:

1. When I was about 6 years old, I was riding in the back of my Dad's little car (it was a turquoise and white Metropolitan, so cute!) and I was playing around with a pencil, sticking it in my ear. He turned a corner and the pencil went right into my ear, breaking off the lead inside of it! I screamed like crazy, my Dad freaked out and I ended up having to have surgery to remove the lead!

2. My favorite colors change all the time, but right now they are red and mustard yellow. I love all colors except colors that are too bright.

3. My daughter turned 13 this year so now I have 2 teenagers in the house! It's fun, though...so far.

4. When I lived in Bend, OR I had a black dog named Jessie and I would put a long leash on her and she would pull me around town on my roller skates. It was a blast, but sometimes she would go so fast, I got scared!

5. One of my favorite foods is salad. Call me crazy, but it is!


I am tagging Mika, Michelle, Jeope, Elizabeth and Kim.

IF - superstition

step on a crack, break your mother's back

My entry for the IF challenge of superstition. Thank goodness for all the mother's out there that this is only a superstition and never comes true! This little guy is getting some enjoyment out of jumping on the cracks to see if it will come true and "ouch", this time it did!

new on etsy

I just added these 4 original mixed media paintings to my Etsy shop. I love these pieces and they are just sitting in my studio in a pile with other assorted artwork. They need a home!
Check out my etsy shop right here. Thanks for stopping by!

quote of the week

"The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does."
~James M. Barrie

IF - scale

Going to school with scales on my arms

The summer right before I entered fifth grade, I contracted a case of ringworm from our family dog. My arms were covered with really gross ring shaped scales that were red and blistery. The entire first week of school I wore long sleeves, even though it was still 80 degrees outside! This was, of course, one of the most horrifying and embarrassing events of my grade school life and a memory I will never forget. So, when I saw the word of the week was 'scale' over at IF, I had to try to capture my experience.
I was going for a look of horror and embarassment on her face...I'm working on trying to capture emotions better with my people. What do you think, does this work? What could I have done better? Any tips would be greatly appreciated from all you wonderful illustrators out there.

Illustration Friday

Penelope Dullaghan, the genius behind the ever popular website Illustration Friday, posted a beautifully written article about the community of illustrators that submit regularly on Illustration Friday. After reading it, I realized all over again, what an amazing group I had stumbling upon while surfing abound on blogs one day. It's not a club, where you have to be invited to join, you don't need to be "good" to enter the challenges. No one is judging you or saying hurtful things. I can't say it any better than she has right here.

IF - hats

Penguins have always been one of my favorite animals and penguins wearing top hats... is, of course, pretty darn cute! So, here's my entry for the IF challenge of the week - hats. Nothing too original or clever, but if you are a penguin lover, like me, I think you will like this one.

My aunt Lucy had a stuffed penguin in her room at my grandmother's house, that I loved to play with on visits there. Lucy was grown up and gone from the house, but the penguin stayed behind, waiting for me to visit and play with it. Sadly, Lucy and the penguin are both gone now, ...so this one's for them and a fond childhood memory.

quote of the week

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."
~Lou Holtz

I'm not sure who Lou Holtz is, but I like this quote because it reminds me that attitude is the key to success in anything we try to do..

A Muse window - sneak peek

Here's a little sneak peek at the window props I used in A Muse's retail shop display today. After Halloween, we had to do a winter theme and Santa bird was perfect for it. Linda found a great branch to hang from the ceiling, I made an old basket into a nest and created Santa bird from some foamcore. We also hung a bunch of snowflakes from the ceiling. It turned out pretty cute. Hopefully, Linda will bring her camera and take some photos of the finished product and post them on the A Muse News blog, soon.