Dell

My dear friend, Dell, turned an important "0" birthday this month. I tried to capture his love of rock art (he has forgotten more than anyone remembers), his dog and the twinkle in his eye. He is also an incredible artist. Happy Birthday, dear friend!

A gift...

A long time friend told me that more than anything, she wanted one of my new style paintings.
This one is an 8"x10" canvas, acrylic/house paint, pastels.

Mixed Media: Tissue paper, paint, pastels

I recently took my second class from artist, Lynn Whipple. This time around besides using house paint and pastels, she added tissue paper.

I know I have a thing about yellow-headed blackbirds.

Frank and the Brown Thrasher

Six years ago my dear friend, Sandra Thorne-Brown, asked if I would be interested in illustrating a children's story she had written. I kept putting it off, because I can be a procrastinator and because I needed to draw a Brown Thrasher bird and it is just a brown bird the size of a Robin and I couldn't see how to do it.

January 2016, I told myself, "Either you are going to do this or give it back."
 Here it is, all edited and ready for reading!

Illustrations created in Photoshop with a Wacom Stylus.

Fourteen illustrations in all.

Including a coloring page.

Still....mice...

I still have mice; although, I have relocated nine to the Oregon Trail so far.

I was up in the middle of night and wondered if I would meet one of my mice.

One day Lee called to me to see a new mouse trap. A mouse had fallen or jumped into a garbage can in the garage. It was just tall enough that the mouse couldn't jump out. That didn't stop the mouse from jump,jump, jumping to try. I carried the can outside and freed the mouse.

The next morning I heard a thump, thump, thump. Sure enough, either the same mouse or a different mouse was jump, jump, jumping. I guess I need to put a little drop of paint on him to see if it is the same mouse.

Papier Maché

There is something immediate about Papier Maché. It is so simple; just a bit of flour and water and strips of paper are all you need.

Occasionally, the ease of this medium calls to me. I was looking at some Christmas ideas on Pinterest. There was an idea about making a swag wall/door hanging out of a hanger and greenery. The way they had bent the hanger made me think of a woman's body.

Giving myself permission to drop everything and play with paper, flour, water, a hanger, paint, a bit of glitter and vegetable bags.

Here are five lovely ladies.

Meeses

I  had a mouse problem this Fall. I found one mouse who like to chew on olive pits under the sink. It didn't make it easy to think of killing an olive-loving mouse! So, I got a non-lethal trap and started to relocate the mice out to the sagebrush on the Oregon Trail near our home. Imagination took over...the first mouse was indignant because he thought he was going to the Oregon Coast. 

I interrupted the second mouse in the studio.

And, the sixth mouse who was relocated to the Oregon Trail met up with an earlier mouse who had settled in out there. 

Well, at least that is my story.

Done on Yupo paper, graphite and watercolor.