Stare into my eyes

I just love the way dogs will study their owner's face to pick up clues as to what their big buddy is thinking. Like, is she going to give me a hug? A treat? Like, what's up? Is it dinnertime yet?

Holiday rush

Can someone please tell me how it got to be December 12th? Where oh where is the time going? Apparently I'm not going along with it, I got left behind at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Well, I'll just get in my car and get shopping and decorating and soirée planning. First I'm going to get my dictionary and find out what a soirée is so I can have one.

Sweater Girl

It's definitely sweater weather around here. In fact, it's becoming heavy coat weather - snow is falling this morning, but not in earnest. Just enough to coat the freeways and make the commute miserable for folks with jobs outside the home. On days like this, I count my blessings for my in-home office/studio! Now I'm going to commute to the kitchen and make a cup of coffee.

Blazing Trees

Oh awesome Autumn! From the top of the world to the bottom, it is a captivating sight! The tree in front of my house is illuminating the gray skies, and in the backyard, Suzi-Q blends in with the leaves. It's the "Where's Waldo" effect! Hope you are enjoying the fall wherever you are.

Halloween is tomorrow - still can't decide what to wear!

Art Attack 2011

It's time to open the doors and share the art! If you are in Minneapolis next weekend, come to the Northrup King Building for an afternoon, and an overload, of art! There are over 200 artists working in a wide variety of media, from fine arts and crafts to furniture, fabrics and more. I'm in studio 350 - stop in!

Here's more information about the event, directions, and the artists.

Walking the dog

Today, while walking my dog, I lost my house keys. I got home and discovered this fact, and fortunately I was able to get into my house because I had forgotten to lock the back door. It didn't seem to be a good beginning for my day! I wondered if the key had fallen out of my pocket while I was pulling the plastic doggie "pick-up" bag out of my pocket. Every morning before our walk, I say to myself, "Don't put the key in the same pocket as the doggie bag, because your gonna lose it some day when you pull the bag out." I never listen to myself! For some perverse reason, I always stuff the bag and the key in the same pocket.

So I went back to the big open field, covered in fall leaves, and walked around. Within five minutes a sparkle caught my eye, and there lay my key! Amazing!

Just so you know, I was not wearing high heels and Suzi is not a Poodle, but it makes for a good beginning to this story!

Green grape catastrophe

Yesterday my dog Suzi-Q gave me such a scare! I came home to find her eager to see me, but she had vomited greenish puke all over the floor - and a single green grape lay underneath the coffee table. Yikes! Grapes are toxic, lethal, to dogs. On my way out the door previously, I had been carrying a bunch of grapes in my hand, and one (or more?) must have fallen to the floor where she found it and ate it in my absence.

She is fine today, but I think I may give up grapes (and chocolate) so I won't have any more accidents like this!

Fall grasses

Every year I wait for the tassels to sprout on top of the prairie grass in my garden. From my window I can see them swaying in the autumn breeze, highlighted by a sun that is slowly backing away from us Northern climate folks, soon to abandon us to winter's austere presence. I love fall....winter, not so much!

Another sketch, another cover

Here's another peek into the advertising world, this time the front cover of that 2004 Target electronic catalog which was the subject of the previous post. It's always helpful for an advertising designer/art director to have an illustrator sketch out what the art director is envisioning for the layout. But sometimes, when they arrive at the photographer's studio to do the final photography, it just doesn't look right! Maybe there have been last minute alterations. Maybe new props are added, or the product is substituted, or the pose needs to change. So right there on the spot, the sketch becomes a starting point rather than the final say.

Aren't these models the cutest? (I am never given photos of the models when I am sketching, I just invent them, so it's always a fun surprise to see the final version). And I love the color combinations!

From sketch to cover

Pardon my lapse in posting, but I've been working working working, for Target on upcoming printed materials, so now that I'm in a lull, waiting for revisions to hit the fan, I thought it might be fun to show how a finished cover evolves from a sketch. This is the back cover of Target's 2004 electronic catalog. You can see how the position of the boy and his dad remained the same (although flopped), but changes were made in the product - from two to only one. It always amazes me to see my drawing become a photograph, no matter how it transitions. I also liked the Mid-century feel of the type/script, since I'm partial to retro!

Catalog work

I often do sketching for retail companies, such as Target or Kohl's, and my friends ask, "Yes, but what do you DO???"

Well, I sketch! Those circulars, or mini-catalogs that fall out of the back of the Sunday paper, the ones that have all the photos of goodies that you need to buy, SOMEBODY has to do the preliminary sketches of all the products. Otherwise, how would the photographer know what to do or how to photograph all the merchandise that is brought to the photo studio?

Here are some sketches from the kid's toy circulars from previous years. I just love drawing kids and toys, it makes me feel like I am seven years old again!

Millenium Park

Nothing like getting spit on when it's a hot day in downtown Chicago! I visited my friend Marilyn over the weekend, and we toured Millenium Park, complete with this fun and popular wading pool. The rotating projected images are of the citizens of Chicago, and they are not static images..every so many minutes, they blink their eyes, or purse their lips and spit a fountain of cool water over the delighted kids.

Workout Miss

Every spring I make the same horrible discovery - I CAN'T FIT INTO MY CLOTHES! Every spring I say, "How did this happen?" I'm sure my clothes shrank from too many washings over the winter (roll the eyes), but I guess it wouldn't hurt to ramp up the exercise regime.

Paper Dolls

I loved paper dolls as a kid, so it was really fun to do a grown up version while creating concepts in an ad agency. The art director needed different outfits to present to his client, and this was the barbecue outfit. The final version, which I don't have, was in full color.

TAKE ME HOME!

Alfie


Sidney

I met an angel at a dinner party last week, and she was trying to pretend she was just a normal human being. But I could tell she was special, especially when she got to the part in her story about the seven dogs sleeping on her bed at home while we were having this lively dinner conversation. It turns out that St. Cheryl is a volunteer for Second Chance, an animal rescue organization here in Minneapolis. Second Chance was recognized by City Pages Magazine as the Best 2010 Charity (you can read the article here). Cheryl, like other foster moms, provides a home for dogs who have been abandoned or rescued until they find their "forever home" through the organization.

This is a special cause for me, since I am an animal lover, and now that the economy has forced so many people into tight situations, their pets are suffering, too, being abandoned or put up for adoption. The equally sad situation is that due to budget cuts, many shelters are closing their doors, and the need for private home foster care is so desperately needed.

Alfie and Sidney, above, need a home. You need a dog or cat. Who can't benefit from a little unconditional love and a nice warm hairy greeting committee when you walk in the door? So check out the list of adorable little creatures who need homes on SECOND CHANCE's website.

The next adoption date is March 12th - go for a visit and take your friends! - It will be the Petco in Roseville between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. For more information, see the website.

I adopted my Suzi years ago and you can see what a difference a little TLC can make with the following photos - her face went from worry lines to snotty confidence. Her TLC made a big difference in my face too, but that's another story:



DAY 1


Several months later

Ice Skater

Ice skating always looks like so much fun, until I get on the ice and realize that my brain and my feet have lost communication! This is another illustration for Pretty Girl Designs.

Night Fall with Snow Fall

This is my front porch at 10:00 o'clock last night. I had to push the door open against the snow piled in front of it to take this photo. (I forgot to adjust the camera, the night and the snow were not this yellow!) Somewhere there are steps winding down to the street. Maybe by spring I will find them. The snow is almost to the top of the porch railing!

I would complain, but aside from the hassle factor, it is a beautiful sight.

Happy Holidays

Winter Arrives

Our beautiful Indian Summer is SO OVER! These photos are from last weekend, when we had eleven inches of snow dumped on us. Yesterday was the coldest Thanksgiving Day in 25 years, with the day starting out at a nippy 2 degrees. Let me remind you, that is 30 degrees below the point of freezing. Time to dust off the skis and brew up some hot chocolate!