Hello!

Where have I been all these months you might ask.  My blogging on this site kinda took a back seat while I concentrated on my fine art and an exhibit of about 30 paintings.

This summer, amidst a ten week kitchen renovation and visitors, I have been working diligently on an idea I had for a children's ABC book with quirky animals.  Although it's going well, I seem to keep defeating myself by adding ideas just when I think I'm done with an illustration, which complicates the process (that's when you need an editor):))
I'm trying to take my time so I won't have to redo pages, which I'll probably still end up doing anyway since the creative process sometimes takes me places I do't plan on going.  But then again, I quite often find that I end up in a great place!!!

I have decided on all the animals for each letter but am still noodling on the title page while working  through the alphabet letter by letter.

Anyway, thought I'd give you a sneak preview of the first few finished letters….. so let me have some feed back!

Still working on my ABC book project and have finished painting a couple more letters
"B is for Batting Badger" and  "C is for Cute Cow".  I have also worked up a couple more sketches and thought you might like to see what's in the works for the future, so here we have
"Jumping Jackrabbit" and "Itchy Iguana"…

...Enjoy!!!!

   

I've finally finished a couple of painting commissions and now I hope will be able to find time to work on some cover ideas for storybooks.  I plan on making it a priority in the new year.
Now, with Halloween so close I'm revisiting a book idea I had put aside late last year.  It's working title is "When You Meet a Witch".
Here is the cover sketch and finished color for you to see, plus one other finished color illustration from the book.
I'm hoping to add more in the coming weeks….

 

 


Besides working on illustrating children's books themselves, I also love designing the covers and hope to do more of that in the future.  Here are a couple of examples.

                                                                                   

Cabin Boy is a story I was illustrating for a very dear friend of mine, Margot Theis Raven.  Margot was a well known children's book writer and one of my best friends. Margot unfortunately, succumbed to cancer a year ago.  Cabin Boy is one of my favorite of her stories but was never published, we were working on it together before she became ill and I'm happy to share the cover illustration with you.
Please do look up this amazing writer's historical fiction books, they are all simply wonderful, moving stories that bring history to life for young readers.

                       

Some of Margot's books that you should consider introducing your children to: