First Freebie!

I have not been to many holiday parties before. Somehow, this week, I ended up going to TWO on the same day and volunteering to bring the ubiquitous veggie plate to both. The veggie plate!  Could there be a more slighted and ignored dish on the appetizer table?

This baby needed some attention, so I doodled out a happy little banner with an Alice-esque command. The banner did its duty and the plates were (almost) clean when I brought them home.

Download here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/quesara/8249170935/sizes/l/in/photostream/ .

Feel free to print out one for your own party! Print onto cardstock. Fold just before the “Eat”. Glue around a wooden skewer. Plant somewhere in mounds of baby carrots and broccoli bits.

Do your part to encourage healthy snacking this month! Vive la veggie plate!

(Let  me know how it turns out!)

IF – Bounce

I did not want to do a rabbit for this Illustration Friday theme. I did not. Could not. Would not.  Not a rabbit or a frog or a cute little kangaroo or something inspired by the Pixar jackalope and his pink sheep friend. Nope. But I was working on something else…and there was this bit of paint left on the palette…and it was just the colors of our Mr. Comfrey, the- house-rabbit….

So here is a bunny, bouncing.

More technically a ‘binky’, the wild gleeful sprint around the room/crate ending with a mid-air twist of the feet. Comfrey (rescue bunny) is still getting used to the idea of having room to exercise in, so he does little baby-binkies: jump! twist! FLOP!

Let’s make this easy…

There is a week or so left until my birthday. It’s not a big one – no 0 or 5 involved, but here is my birthday list, in case you were wondering.

* List of suitable Gift Card sources

• blueridgebakery.com (I would like to take the gnocci class! Or Indian.)
• kiwigelato.com (Because it’s delicious)
• canvas.landsend.com (The sales on these two are my wardrobe staples!) 
• sundancecatalog.com
• anthropologie.com (I’ve never gotten to order from either of these two. I just drool over the catalogs…)
• ruche.com
• etsy.com (Because anything can happen on Etsy.)
• parkseed.com (Maybe, for the sale later this spring?)
• newleafgardenmarket.com (Pleeease?)
• coedcinema.com (Popcorn not included.)

Any of those. But it’s not special unless you promise to go on the shopping trip with me.

 ** You know what? I don’t really need anything for the MP3 player – shucks, I barely have music on it yet! Except I did just get a free download of an Allie Moss album on NoiseTrade. Spent last night listening to it and like it quite a lot. You should download it too!
http://www.noisetrade.com/alliemoss

Squirrel Dreams

 

A big little illustration for a White Squirrel Day contest. All the things that I imagine squirrels dream about….chasing their friends, gathering nuts, tightroping over the highway, teasing dogs and cats, stealing birdseed and making daring leaps from tiny branch tip to tiny branch tip.

I didn’t realize until I was finishing up that this guy would do just lovely for Illustration Friday’s ‘jump’ theme too! Jump, little squirrel!

Progress!

This is a page from the little local history children’s book that I’ve been working on. Today, it moved from being a sketch in a notebook, to being inked neatly onto tidy tracing paper, to being scanned into the computer, ‘colored’ and having text added. Whew! (Oh, I forgot to add an arrow up there after “But others were very different”…) I love being able to see it all so neat and clear.

Of course, something’s off. I’m not quite sure what it is… but I’ll rejoice in this little bit of progress!

Letters, letters, letters!

All these daily alphabet projects floating around got my juices running, so I started doodling a little one in the margin of my journal every night. The last one was today!

Museum Snippets

Last week I had a chance for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Museum Preservation Center at the Carl Sandburg house. Through the fog of a cold there were two things that impressed me – make that three: 1) museum curators get awesome green uniforms 2) sliding metal lockers are very very cool and 3) even the most ordinary things are beautiful when collected and given a little respect.

Mrs. Sandburg’s glasses  (THOUGHT – we have at least 2-3 pairs of ‘heirloom’ glasses in the attic: mama’s baby cat eyes, gmas’ wirerims – we should shadowbox them!)

Ribbons from the dairy goats + notes from craft camp + quote that I must not forget.

(Loving my new Moleskine!)

The Last One

Last assignment of the illustration course is finished… (er, maybe – the colors could be boosted a fair bit.)

Through the last four weeks, I have learned how much I really do enjoy illustrating and for the first time, I was having illustrations pop into my head for stories that I hadn’t invented yet. I don’t think I’ve ever been in an illustration “zone” like that before.

Definitely want to keep practicing, make a stronger habit of sketching and learning… The new sketchbook that I’m getting for our Craft Camp on Tuesday will help. And maybe I’ll take up Illustration Friday again too. Prepare yourselves.

Another bit from the illustration course that I am taking…

The Lord keeps repeating a few words of advice in almost every creative venture that I’m working on right now:

Stop worrying about what other people think/do!

Don’t apologize for your work!

But, oh, it’s so hard to cultivate a pride for my work when there are other people out there, from my world, younger than me and growing younger by the year, who can make a world bloom on paper! It’s not a pride so much that I crave, at least not the haughty, bad sort. Just to be able to hold my head up and say, “yes, I did that”. With no excuses. “Oh, it’s just a sketch, really.” “Oh, well, I tried.” “Look how wonky all those lines are over here!”

I feel like one of the servants from the Gospels, standing here with my little bag of gold. Will I hide them in the earth, keep them safe from critique and disillusion? Or will I be faithful in these few things, practice, flex my creative muscles and make them grow?

I’m reading “To Kill A Mockingbird” right now and just reached the chapter where Miss Maudie says “People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.” Funny timing, just as I was thinking about this post. I think she may be right. So, I’ll keep looking out for a word that will describe the sort of creative pride, ownership that I want to experience, and in the meantime, follow the third piece of advice that I keep getting:

Practice!!

Characters

I’m taking an online Continuing Education class from SCAD (!!!) and these are the little characters for my story. 🙂 This week I’m creating a world for them to live in!