6th annual Doctors & Derrieres

Currently work on my annual Doctors & Derrieres contribution... Here's the scoop on the event:

"Doctors and Derrieres is a unique fundraising event in its 6th year where medical students pose nude for talented local artists and sculptors. Art pieces in diverse mediums celebrating the human body are then donated by each artist to be auctioned off at the main event."

Here's the sketch, done from life. I was only able to attend one drawing session this year, sadly! I've never submitted a sketch of a man before, so cross your fingers that I can turn this into somthing great.

Oh, and as a side note - I've given up facebook for lent. Wish me luck!

Santa Series, painting #1

I've finally finished one of the santa paintings from my new series for my agent (she's taking them to Surtex in NY this year). Thoughts before I finish the other three (here's the link to the sketches for the series)?

March Free Colouring Page

Here's my March free colouring page. Print it, share it (with your school, library, etc), colour it. Please email me photos or scans of the finished coloured pieces, I'd love to post them on my blog! Printable copies are now available in the colouring page section of my website. Click here to print or view past creations.

First Linocut!

Had a crazy good time experimenting making my first little linocut seahorse. I'm hooked, going to buy a whole bunch more carving pads and go crazy in the evenings carving and stamping. Next on the list is making some herbs to put on teatowels to give as gifts. So much fun!!! Yahoo!

Winner of 3rd Giveaway!

Congratulations Mandy of Edmonton, Alberta! Mandy is an illustrator and mother to two wonderful boys. She is the lucky winner of the $60 gift card to CSN stores. Have fun shopping Mandy, thanks for following the blog!

$60 CSN Giveaway - CLOSED

It's that time of year again... CSN stores has approached me asking if I'd like to give my readers another $60 gift card to their online store. I said - why not!? The store is fabulous, selling things like swing sets, a cars themed art desk, and even Michael Kors bed set, with many items that include free shipping...

It's just too easy to enter. Simply visit the wayfair.com, find something you'd love to spend your $60 on and then leave a comment on my blog. Bonus entries for anyone who follows me on twitter, blogger or facebook (one extra entry per follow). You've already seen what I'd pick (links above), so get browsing! Good Luck. Draw is in one week, Wednesday, February 16 at 2pm.

Save & Close

Santa Series

Working on a new santa series for my licensing agent, Elaine. Coming in the next couple weeks is another CSN giveaway of $60 for anything in their stores... stay tuned!

February Free Colouring Page

Here's February's free colouring page. As always, feel free to print it, pass it on, colour it, use it for your classroom, local library, playgroup, whatever! Email me for a larger, more printable version. One day, I promise to set up a link on my website where you can download them right off the net instead of responding to all the emails.

Family Day

There's a couple of new things happening in the studio these days. First of all, I've temporarily moved into a lovely office at The Met Agency while I do some technical illustrations for a few weeks. Secondly, I volunteered to help co-ordinate a free family day event in our local community. Here's the poster - if you're in Edmonton, pop on in and I'll paint your face for you.

Art Show at Alder Flats Elementary School

Our Growing Up Exhibition through TREX (via the Art Gallery of Alberta) is currently up at my old elementary school - the Alder Flats Elementary School (the art is making it's way around Alberta in various settings, mostly schools). I made a quick visit to grades 4, 5 & 6 and loved the questions they had for me. It was such a treat to have my art hang in the town I grew up in!

Clothing Swap!

There have always been several things in my life I can't seem to shake. One of them is, you know... doing the "green thing" (recycling, using cloth diapers, etc) and the other is saving money (I'm otherwise known as Mrs. Cheap-o). Luckily, though, sometimes being a cheap hippy has it's upside. I'm throwing a clothing swap! It's just a little shin-dig at my house - ladies only (sorry boys) in February. What happens is guests will bring some no longer wanted gently used clothing, dump them in a beautiful heap of splendor on my living room floor and once everything has been sorted, guests will take some new pieces home to love and cherish. The remaining clothes get donated to a local women's shelter (and last time I hosted an event like this had 16 garbage bags left over) - and I had an entire new wardrobe to waltz around in. Fabulous! Can't flippin' wait.

Here's my poster, which I will allow anyone to take from my site and turn into a poster for their own event. Just add the date and address and let me know how it goes! (Okay, if you're going to print it, please email me first for a larger copy. I'd just hate to have my drawings printed at a quality so ugly that it made my doll look like a lego person. In fact, if you ask nicely enough, I'll add a date and address on there for you - just pass on the "green" love!).

January Colouring Page

Here's January's colouring page. Sorry I'm late! Feel free to print this, pass it on, colour it, use it for your classroom, local library, playgroup, whatever! Email me for a larger, printable version.

Tools For Schools - Finished!

Here is my final Tools for schools illustration - C for Clothing. Finished! It was pretty hard to piece together after I scanned it. Whew... now, onto paying work (after the sketchbook project and this it feels like all I've been doing is charity & personal work for months).

Details:

Sketchbook Project - Finished!

It's over. The sketchbook is finished! That little brown craft moleskin, with it's rather thin pages and 40 double spread pages of blank could-be-anything starkness has graphite scribbled on everypage, new covers of illustration board secured on each face and contact details inscribbed on the inner covers. Daunting. But finished. And I'm so darn happy about it.

Cover details:

Back Cover:

Sketchbook Project Finished!

It's over. The sketchbook is finished! That little brown craft moleskin, with it's rather thin pages and 40 double spread pages of blank could-be-anything starkness has graphite scribbled on everypage, new covers of illustration board secured on each face and contact details inscribbed on the inner covers. Daunting. But finished. And I'm so darn happy about it.

Cover details:

Back Cover:

Holiday Commission

I had a commission this holiday season. A man requested a portrait of his wife with their dog, Hiccup. What a fabulous name for a dog! Pet portrait commissions come to me almost every year around Christmas. I wonder if I should start marketing myself as a pet portrait artist? With the busyness of the holiday season, however, I actually forgot to scan the final piece, which is too bad, because it involved some heavy-duty carving and looked kind of neat. Next time!

Here are the two photos I took of it in progress:

And the sketch (which I scanned, whew - got one thing right!)

Sketchbook Project Pages 32 - 40

The sketchbook project is finished... or at least, the interior is! Read the entire story from the beginning here. If you're just checking in now and don't know what the sketchbook project is? Read about it here. Enjoy! Cover to come (it's due on Jan 15).

Tools for Schools Project - Sketch 2

Here is the updated sketch for a book I'm working on a book called 9 Degrees North: The ABCs of Northern Ghana (I got "c" for clothing). Revisions were made from the initial sketch to correct technical/cultural errors and to give the scene more education components in regards to Ghana clothing and how it is made. All there's left to do now is start painting. The book is entirely pro-bono and involves some seriously amazing illustrators... I'm excited to see what they come up with!

This was the original sketch:

Tools for Schools Project

I'm currently working on an book called 9 Degrees North: The ABCs of Northern Ghana. It's a charity Picture Book project by the Tools for Schools Africa Foundation, organized in part by illustrator friend Mike Boldt. Each illustrator involved in the project has been given a letter and it's corresponding word, mine being C for Clothing.

I was thrilled to see this quote on the site:

"This is just a note to thank the many artists who have joined this educational project. It is important for Ghanaian kids to have a resource to help them learn English by seeing both the familiar and the unknowns in their own part of the world. This is primarily a children’s picture book but at the same time will be a wonderful tool for teachers to use in the classroom as there will be an appendix at the back with information on each subject."

Here's my first sketch. Still thinking about ways to improve the sketch but I'll let the organizers have a peek too.

Sketchbook Project Pages 28 - 32

What is the sketchbook project?

See the entire story here (as it progresses). There are less than 10 pages left to go! The project is due on January 15, only one month to go. I have cut new covers for the book, as I've been very disappointed by the quality of the paper in the book and want to upgrade it.

Here are pages 28 - 32.