My old teddy

I didn't have time to create something new for Illustration Friday - in fact this was painted many years ago. The real bear sat too close to a fire once and has a singed ear, but I repaired that in the picture.

Rhinoceros

This is a piece I started before I left and just finished today. I'm trying to increase my Photoshop skills and illustrating poems where the printed text is integrated into the illustration is one way to do that. I like the way the rhino is looking friendly and eager to meet the little girl at the top, but is rolling his eyes (a little sadly) at the fickle human at the bottom.

Scotland

This is a collage I did some time ago which I titled Northern Light because it was created from memories of being in the north of Scotland. And Scotland is where I'm off to for the next week, visiting family. I won't have much access to a computer let alone a scanner so I won't be posting again till I get back. I'm hoping that then my head will be filled with new ideas and images.
I just heard that my Figgy Oatmeal recipe was posted on They Draw and Cook. Go here to have a look.

Developing a taste for reading

You can't start too early... This one was done in different shades of grey marker. I'll have something more colorful for tomorrow.

Playing with cars

When my brother was little he could play for hours with his cars and trucks, creating elaborate road systems for them. Neither of my sons was all that interested, but this post is for all little boys (and let's face it, it almost always is boys) who like being down on the floor with their wheeled vehicles. I was trying to show the same child in four different poses. I think it mostly worked.

Illustration Friday - cultivate

The snow is melting, the bulbs are starting to come up, so when I see the word "cultivate" I think of cultivating new life in the garden.

Collage

I have done quite a lot of work in collage. I find it helps me to be bolder with my colors and to simplify shapes while still allowing visual interest with the surface textures. I can try out color juxtapositions before gluing them down and sometimes discover combinations of colors that I might not have thought of but that really sing.

This close up shows how the background is made up of pieces that have been carefully cut to fit to each other while the giraffes and the border shapes were added on top. I usually find bits of old paintings to cut up though sometimes I paint the paper specially. Because I'm using watercolor paper the end result is quite thick and I will often use a piece of mat board to glue the whole thing down on so that it doesn't buckle.