These illustrations were created by moi but carefully hand glittered by Darcy of Pretty Girl Designs for her Etsy shop. This was years ago, so you won't find them currently posted in her shop, but you will find lots of other lovely stationery items. Check it out! PrettyGirlDesigns.

Tiki Time

It's raining today. It rained yesterday, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow and then the white stuff arrives. Time to head for the islands! It's Tiki Time! Where's my ticket, I'm ready to go!

More Poppy Sketches

I'd love to fly to Paris for a cup of hot chocolate, especially if I could do it with the help of a hat instead of a plane trip! Here are a couple more sketches-to-finish illustrations of Poppy and Her Magic Hat.

Poppy sketches

Here are a few pages from Poppy and Her Magic Hat, along with the preliminary sketch that preceded each final illustration. It's always interesting to see the progression of an artist's work, from the concept to the final. Sometimes there is very little difference, but sometimes the transformation can be significant! In order to prevent revisions after the artwork was in the final stage, I was very careful to keep the preliminary sketches as detailed as possible so that the editor would have a good idea of what the final versions would look like.

Poppy and Her Magic Hat

It's finally out, my first published coloring book! It was fun to write, and even more fun to illustrate. Poppy discovers a very special hat that gives her the ability to fly. She embarks upon a series of adventures, sailing in and out of the neighborhood library and corner grocery store before flying through New York City. From the top of the Statue of Liberty she sees the Eiffel Tower, so she flies to Paris for tea with new friends. What child wouldn't like to fly anywhere their imagination could take them? Tomorrow I'll post some of the preliminary and final inked pages. In the meantime, if you are so inclined, you can order a copy for your special little friend from the publisher Dover Publications or through Amazon.com.

Inky Sketch

I have finally put away my snow pants and sled. I don't ever want to see them again! It takes forever for summer to come to Minnesota, but when it does, it is splendid!

Inks and Watercolor and Collage

As I'm sorting through files I discovered some sketches done for previous assignments. It's fun to travel back in time to when I was using different mediums.

Canada Lynx

I took out my artistic license here, with my imaginary cookie-cutter tract homes in Montana.  As civilization consumes his habitat, the lovely lynx is contemplating a long downward dive. From my "Numbered Days" series of oil paintings.

Long-eared Owl

This curious fellow is another from my "Endangered Species" series.

Long-eared owls are more nocturnal than any other North American owl species. When disturbed, he will raise his ear tufts, compress his feathers tightly against his body and freeze, mimicking tree bark or a broken limb. Should he decide to fly the coop, he will take off with his ear tufts flattened against his head. But of course I will never see this, as I will be fast asleep.

Oil on canvas, 40" x 30"

It's Always Darkest Before

.....spring! I do think it's coming! I smelled it in the air when I opened the back door, and somewhere a bird sang a few notes. I know I shouldn't even declare such news, I'm sure to put a jinx on the whole affair. It's only mid-Janury after all. I'm off to the studio. Eventually I'll post some artwork, but for now my eyes are glued to the sky.

Reflections of a New Day

The theater of sunrise continues in my little backyard. Early this morning I opened the back door to let Suzi out, and I loved seeing the neighbor's house reflecting the sky, and the glowing green of the fence posts. What a great way to start my day!

Frosty Sunrise

The holidays are over. Hallelujah! Let the New Year begin! I'm so ready for it. I'm not so ready for this dreadful cold winter, though. This morning's sunrise was a brief treat and a good way to start another cold morning. The temperature? Minus eleven, but with the windchill factor it feels like minus twenty-five degrees. That's a good 57 degrees below the freezing mark. Welcome to Minnesota. Come for the culture, stay and your car won't start.

Over the River and Through the Woods

Time to put up a tree with some lights! It's been so dreary and murky outside lately, I could use some sparkle! (I also could use a snappy little multicolored convertible).

Art Attack 2014

"Art Attack", my studio building's annual fall sale, is this weekend. So forget the yard work, get on your bike and c'mon down! You'll see artwork in every imaginable form, over 250 artists in one building. Added perks include free parking, creative food truck dining, and various musicians performing for free in the building during the weekend event.

Hours are:

Friday Nov. 7 - 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Saturday Nov. 8  - Noon to 8 p.m.
Sunday Nov. 9 - Noon to 5 p.m.

Northrup King Building
1500 Jackson Street NE
And don't forget to come see me in Studio 350!

For more information and schedule of events, check out the building's website: NorthrupKingBuilding.com.

A Scary Neighborhood

Be scared. Be very very scared.  Happy Halloween!

Mr. Pumpkin Head Lurks on the Terrace

a detail of Mr. Pumpkin Head

Run!

Apparently this ghoulish guy has a twin - here he is in another lawn!

Fall's Last Fling

I'm getting ahead of myself. I just posted an entry that announced my studio sale next weekend.  IT'S NOT NEXT WEEKEND! It's the following weekend, November 7, 8 and 9! I just removed that post. Sorry about that. What was I thinking? I'll post that announcement next week (again) but for now, I'll share a photo of my neighbor's tree, along with all the fallen leaves that will be keeping him busy with his rake! This weekend is for the trick-or-treaters. We've had such beautiful weather and great tree color, but it's fading fast.

Dad's Sketches

I took a break today to do a bit of cleaning. I started to sort through Dad's sketchbooks, now stored in my basement. He was a prolific sketch artist. His favorite medium was water soluble pencils, and he loved to sit at the mall and sketch people as they went about their business or sat in the food court. He didn't limit himself to sketchbooks, but anything that was handy - napkins, scraps of paper, the back of an envelope. This little 5" x 7" sketch was typical of his style...loose and well, sketchy! I loved how he always seemed to capture the essence of his subject, even when they were unaware that they were being sketched.

Pajama Weather

Now that the weather is chilling out, I thought about these flannel pajamas today, as they were quite cozy. I created these illustrations, as well as many more, for a pajama company years ago. Unfortunately they are no longer on the market, but as I recall, they were very cozy pajamas! Here's another one for the food lovers, with signature meals of countries worldwide:

As I recall, it was a thrill for me to sleep in my illustrations!

Birds and More Birds

Here's another pattern that I was commissioned to create by Sublime Stitching, the contemporary embroidery company I mentioned in my last posting. This assignment might have been simple for most artists, but for some reason, it gave me a real run for the money. I find birds to be a challenging subject matter. They are so streamlined and uncomplicated in shapes, and yet I wrestle with them as if I were drawing the blueprint of a submarine. You can view and/or purchase this pattern "Songbirds" on Sublime Stitching's website here.

Because I tend to always overcomplicate things, I am a big fan of the illustrator Charley Harper. His knack of simplifying his subject matter and rendering it with graphic boldness and often sweet humor is brilliant. Check out these great images, courtesy of Audubon.org:

"Green Jay, 1956"

"Cardinal", 1960

"Red-eyed Vireo", 1959

"Eskimo Curlew", 1957

"Baltimore Oriole", 1959

"Water Turkey", 1958

I find it really amusing, as well as inspiring, to know that these simple designs and graphic clean lines came out of this chaotic studio...it makes me feel a whole lot better about my own messy studio!

Charley Harper

Housing Development

I mentioned a while back that I created some illustrations for a fabulous contemporary embroidery company, SublimeStitching.com. I think my favorite was the Atomic 50's ranch house...or maybe the fairy tale cottage, both sketches featured above. You can view and/or purchase the final pattern on Sublime's website here: HOUSES.