Story Seamstress: Dressing Ideas in Pictures

The Little Dressmaker (if: Forward)

2012-01-28T21:35:00.000-08:00

Pencil with digital color

The Footman and the Little Dressmaker from Eleanor Farjeon's story, "The Little Dressmaker." Here she models the Duchess's sunbeam gown--but she must look forward to tomorrow's ball and hurry home to finish the next dress!

This is my first Illustration Friday post for 2012.

Here are my collected 2011 IF entries!

Art Nouveau: Moon Dreamer

2012-01-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

Pen & Ink with digital color

Converting my original images to vectors gave it this stylized look.
I wanted the image to have the feel of art nouveau stained glass.

(1) scanned pen and ink drawing (2) vectorized line art (3) digital color (4) vectorized color (5) color and line art vectors combined

$1.99 DiGiStAmP

300 dpi .jpeg & .png image files--download now!

A Year of Illustration Friday: 2011

2012-01-14T10:54:00.000-08:00

I'm quite ashamed to see how few Illustration Friday prompts I finished in 2011.

2012 resolutions, anyone?

IF: Messenger

2011-12-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

Pencil sketch, rather badly photographed

Mary Lou always begged to be Grandpa's messenger--it was such fun to talk into his ear trumpet!

I ♥ Jane Austen

2011-11-27T20:31:00.000-08:00

Random sketches paired with a bumper sticker a friend brought from Bath:

Oh yes.

(Though "I ♥ Tilney" would, perhaps, be slightly more accurate; who can resist the witty hero whose room is strewed with his litter of books, guns, and greatcoats, and who is, if not quite handsome, very near it?) :)

Steampunk Teatime: Part 2

2011-11-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

Pen & Ink with digital color

Uncle Robert had grown resigned . . .

Part 1: Aunt Kitty

$1.99 DiGiStAmP

300 dpi .jpeg & .png image files--download now!

Steampunk Teatime (if: Vanity)

2011-11-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

Pen & Ink with digital color

Aunt Kitty was rather vain of her new motoring goggles

and firmly refused to remove them, even for tea.

Part 2: Uncle Robert

$1.99 DiGiStAmP

300 dpi .jpeg & .png image files--download now!

Autumn Walks . . . .

2011-10-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

Pencil sketch--needs ink and watercolor. Soon. :)

Yikes. Lately I've been too busy with Getting-Ready-For-Winter activities to blog much--though I have been drawing and enjoying the fall colors with my gold gel pen.
But . . . I will be busy brainstorming story ideas in November for Picture Book Idea Month!

The Princess and the Goblin

2011-09-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

Pen, ink wash & watercolor

Irene and Curdie in the mountain--a scene from one of my favorite childhood books,
The Princess and the Goblin.

Here's a bit of the process:

The Story of Cedric (IF: Disguise)

2011-08-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

Pencil sketch (while traveling; thus the wobbly spelling) with digital color

From "The Story of Cedric," narrated by the strictly-truthful Mr. Mulliner:

"You ask me to put on yellow shoes with morning-clothes?" he whispered, the face beneath his shining silk hat pale and drawn.
"Yes."
"Here? In the Park? At the height of the Season?"
"Yes. Do hurry."
"But . . ."
"Mr. Mulliner! Surely? To oblige me?"

And, recollecting that this girl is not only the daughter of an Earl, but also related to the ffrench-ffarmiloes (not Kent ffrench-ffarmiloes but the Dorsetshire lot), he agrees to switch his tasteful black boots for her fiance's yellow atrocities--and spends the rest of the story trying to disguise his shocking footwear, which will ultimately turn him into a Revolutionary and (this is Wodehouse, after all) an engaged man.

Rapunzel. I think. (IF: Influence)

2011-08-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

Pencil with digital color

I'm sure that Rapunzel spent many hours creating elaborate new ways to fix her hair . . .

This is another "I should be working on something else but I want to draw long hair!" picture. (Yes, this happens to me frequently, which is why I 'specially enjoyed this custom blogger template.) Her dress is quite influenced by my favorite fashion era, the 1910s.

What I'm working on . . . custom blogger design

2011-08-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

This custom blogger design was a fun project. On the left is my original sketch, on the right is the cleaned up, digitally colored finish. Now I think it's time to work on my picture book dummy . . . :)

Anniversary Watercolor (& IF: Gesture)

2011-07-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Watercolor, Pen & ink

My parents recently celebrated their anniversary, and this was my gift to them. They were married next to a river, so I pulled out the old wedding photo albums for inspirations on clothing, setting, and poses. (I love the Gunne Sax dresses!)

5 Children & It

2011-07-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

Today I discovered a new blog, Uncovered Cover Art, and was inspired to create a cover for one of my favorite children's books, "Five Children and It," by Edith Nesbit. (If you've never read or listened to Edith Nesbit, you should do it now!)
Here is my entry
I rendered the illustration using the liquid ink pen in Corel Painter X. Looking at the intricate silhouettes of Arthur Rackham (right) is inspiring--and challenging!

A bit of Jabberwocky

2011-06-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Pen & ink

The Bride of Lammermoor (if: Shadows)

2011-06-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

Whenever I read Sir Walter Scott I want to draw scenes from his books. Lately I've been reading The Bride of Lammermoor (a vintage thrift-store find!) and wishing to do some Art Nouveau-style lettering . . . put them together, and there you are!

It's been too long since I've posted--I've been designing and sewing a wedding dress for my sister-in-law, which kind of squeezed out my sketching time. The dress is now finished, ironed, and ready for the wedding--which will, I am quite sure, end much more happily than the Bride of Lammermoor's. :D

if: Bicycle

2011-04-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

Perhaps next time a walk would be safer . . .

Pen & ink with digital color

The Fairy Princess

2011-04-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

Pencil sketch with digital color

A few days ago the Fairy Princess found me at my drawing table and offered to grant a wish.

"But," she said, "my wand has been having problems lately, so it might take months or years to come true."

"If it takes years, how will I know that your wand made it happen, or if it was something that would have happened anyway?" (I do like to ask confusing questions when fairies visit!)

"Oh, it will be the wand!" she assured me.

And after all, who can disbelieve a seven-year-old fairy with purple wings?

if: Duet

2011-04-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Pen & Ink and Watercolor

A watercolor I did of my sister a few years ago. Maybe she's practicing Mozart's tabletop duet--one sheet of music with each person reading from the opposite end. Very clever. :) {listen to the duet on youtube}

IF: Toy

2011-03-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

ink & watercolor

Who needs toys when there's a muddy springtime world outside?

Postcard design

2011-03-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

IF: Cultivate

2011-03-24T21:56:00.001-07:00

A super-quick digital sketch capturing my sister's reaction to the jar of homemade sauerkraut.

She'll have to work on cultivating a taste for it!

if: Warning

2011-03-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

Pen & Ink and Watercolor

Warning: Keep arms inside at all times. Secure loose clothing and personal items.

. . . but then, Aunt Kitty never had paid attention to warnings . . .

This was a fun picture to work on--if you look at last week's post you can see a few more sketches from this story. Back in November I drew my first hot air balloon picture. I think I'm hooked. :)

IF: Layer

2011-02-23T10:19:00.000-08:00

My desk is currently covered with layers of papers and sketches. Someday they'll all come together neatly.

Someday. :)

I'll also link an older post which goes perfectly with the "layer" prompt.

Nineteen layers of feather mattresses . . . to say nothing of the pea at the bottom!

The Princess Spent a Miserable Night

IF: Of love, golf...and a sweater. Or something.

2011-02-14T12:23:00.000-08:00

I have never played golf, and probably couldn’t (even my croquet playing is so terrible that tea-party hostesses come up to me in pity, begging me to stop--true story!), but even a supremely uncoordinated person such as myself can enjoy P.G. Wodehouse’s golf stories.

This particular story starts when James and Peter, long-time golfing friends, fall in love with the same girl. Eagerly they watch the progression of her knitting project, convinced it's a sweater for one of them--but which one?

Pen & Ink wash & watercolor

The whole thing hung on one point--to wit, what size the sweater was going to be. If it was large, then it must be for Peter; if small, then James was the lucky man. Neither dared to make open inquiries, but it began to seem almost impossible to find out the truth without them. No masculine eye can reckon up purls and plains and estimate the size of chest which the garment is destined to cover. Moreover, with amateur knitters there must always be allowed a margin for involuntary error. There were many cases during the war where our girls sent sweaters to their sweethearts which would have induced strangulation in their young brothers. The amateur sweater of those days was, in fact, practically tantamount to German propaganda.

Peter and James were accordingly baffled. One evening the sweater would look small, and James would come away jubilant; the next it would have swollen over a vast area, and Peter would walk home singing. The suspense of the two men can readily be imagined. On the one hand, they wanted to know their fate; on the other, they fully realized that whoever the sweater was for would have to wear it. And, as it was a vivid pink and would probably not fit by a mile, their hearts quailed at the prospect.

Finally, they ask who the sweater is for:

"It is not a sweater," replied Miss Forrester, with a womanly candour that well became her. "It is a sock. And it is for my cousin Juliet's youngest son, Willie."

Read the complete short story here. It's Wodehouse--you won't be disappointed!

IF: Surrender

2011-02-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

Unwilling to surrender his hat to the capricious wind . . .

Pen & Ink Wash

"When last I saw an old gentleman running after his hat in Hyde Park, I told him that a heart so benevolent as his ought to be filled with peace and thanks at the thought of how much unaffected pleasure his every gesture and bodily attitude were at that moment giving to the crowd."

I recently read G. K. Chesterton's essay, "On Running After One's Hat." There were a few quotes that were too good not to share! As I sniffled and snuffled my way through a sickish Monday, I reminded myself that . . .

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.

An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.

Knitting as Art

2011-01-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

Pen & Ink and Watercolor

My youngest sister recently learned to knit. At a gathering last week she soon attracted a curious audience:

"What is that? What are you doing? Can I try?"

In the spirit of this sensational painting modeled after "The Reader," I've based my illustration on Emile Munier's painting, "A Special Moment." It was fun to pull details (the color scheme, clothing inspiration, vine-covered wallpaper, and purple flowered carpet design) from the painting and give them a new twist!

IF: Dusty

2011-01-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

This week I took out my spinning wheel (it's a Kromski Polonaise--a fun name for a really beautiful wheel). Was it ever dusty! I think it needs a tune up and lots of oil before it's ready to go again.

That reminded me of a picture I started a summer or two ago when I was experimenting with spinning milkweed down. I thought it would make a good fairy tale: the princess who spins the thread for her ball gown of milkweed down.

I discovered that it doesn't really spin that well (the fibers are too short and slippery)--but what's the fun of being an artist if you don't take artistic license once in a while?

IF: Chicken

2011-01-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

My sister is devoted to her flock of chickens, so it wasn't hard to find inspiration for this week's prompt.
We were gone over the weekend so grandpa collected the eggs--along with a golf ball or two!
I guess they all feel the same in the dark and the cold. :)

Pencil sketch with digital color

if: Resolutions

2011-01-03T17:56:00.000-08:00

One resolution I don't need to make: Read Lots of Books. It just happens. :)

This is part of a salvaged watercolor from my first drawing for the Spooky Wodehouse Story post back in October. I loved the girl's shoes . . . but the rest of the picture just wasn't working. Can I throw away a piece of watercolor paper? Of course not! (Anyway I like having unique, artsy bookmarks.)

Collected 2010 Illustration Friday posts

A Year of Illustration Friday: 2010

2010-12-25T14:04:00.000-08:00

It's fun to look back and see the year as a thumbnail gallery.

IF: Winter

2010-12-25T13:42:00.000-08:00

Ink & Watercolor

It's been too long since I've had a chance to post anything, but this Christmas afternoon I found a little bit of time for a watercolor. So here are two little wintertime visitors waiting to be invited in!--or, if they're like my niece and nephew, they just suddenly appear in the entryway. ("Oh, you're here again, are you?") :)

if: savour (spelled the British way)

2010-11-30T15:42:00.000-08:00

Digital illustration

We had a houseful of guests for Thanksgiving, including several toddlers and crawlers.

Lots of kids + lots of food = lots of food on the floor =

"Hey, what are you doing? Let me see if you have something in your mouth . . .

. . . oh, no, you don't want to eat that!"

if: Sneaky

2010-11-23T11:52:00.000-08:00

For this IF prompt, I dug into my archives for some quick sketches I did for the Swedish folk song "Nikolina". There was a sneaky couple! I remember my grandpa singing this in Swedish. The words always make me laugh--though I must quote Jane Austen:

I leave it to be settled, by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience.

    When you're in love, you're in an awful torture,
    whoever's tried it would not disagree.
    I was so very fond of Nikolina
    and Nikolina just as fond of me.

    I asked her papa for her hand in marriage
    and got the answer in the strangest way.
    I never yet have left from any doorstep
    in such a hurry as I did that day.

    Then I went home and wrote to Nikolina,
    "Oh, Nikolina, won't you meet me soon!
    Meet me in the woods on Wednesday evening,
    and be there with the rising of the moon."

    And there I met a figure disconcerting,
    the moon no greater glory could attain.
    The one I met was Nikolina's papa,
    armed with the meanest, most disturbing cane.

    And all at once my knees began to tremble,
    I tried to run but there was not a chance,
    for in the woods when on my knees I stumbled,
    the cane began to do a polka dance.

    Then I went home and wrote to Nikolina,
    "There's not the slightest bit of hope in me.
    If you don't end me of this awful torture,
    I'll end it all by jumping in the sea."

    And Nikolina answered in a hurry,
    "Oh, darling Karl, don't be so unwise!
    A suicide is nothing but a dumbbbell,
    why don't we wait until the old man dies?"

    And now I wait and so does Nikolina
    to see the old man kick the bucket soon,
    and on his grave we're planting for remembrance
    the cane he used upon me `neath the moon.

IF: Burning, among Other Things

2010-11-18T12:47:00.000-08:00

Illustration Friday . . .

This is my Illustration Friday entry for "Burning," illustrating something that I try to avoid burning...but sometimes I'm distractible. :) This was also my entry for They Draw and Cook, and it will be published in the TDAC cookbook!

. . . & Other Things

When I get a few sketching moments, I've been working on an illustration inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's beautiful poem, "The Last Ship." There are still a lot of willow leaves to finish . . . and sketching has been a bit slower because I've also been working on . . .

. . . a new 18" doll dress pattern, inspired by the "Hooverette" house dresses of the 1930s, now available for download at my sewing pattern site, Hint of History.

And . . .

If you love golden age illustrations like I do, here's a link to the online book Old French Fairy Tales, with high-resolution illustrations by Virginia Frances Sterrett.

They Draw and Cook

2010-11-11T21:24:00.000-08:00

They Draw and Cook is a fun blog full of recipes that are pictures--er, pictures that are recipes . . . well, something like that! One hundred recipes were chosen to be included in the to-be-published TDAC cookbook, and I was surprised and delighted to find that my recipe illustration will be among them! The illustration is pen and ink with watercolor, and then a bit of digital touch-up on the highlights. (Oh, and the black bean & chicken soup recipe? It's one of our favorites!)

IF: Afterwards

2010-11-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

Over the summer I read The Wind in the Willows to my youngest sister. As we neared the end of the book I started to wonder . . . what happens afterwards? Toad will surely need a new hobby . . .

. . . perhaps stamp collecting?

pencil & digital color

Or perhaps not . . .

pencil & digital color

What do YOU think?

IF: the Princess spent a miserable night

2010-11-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, there was a Princess who found herself alone on a stormy evening, knocking at the gate of a strange castle. How she came to be in this predicament I cannot say, though I think it was most likely the fault of the Royal Travel Agent. Presently the gate opened, and the Princess cried, “Oh, kind sir, please let me in out of the rain--I am a poor lost Princess, and so cold and wet and miserable!”

Now, when the Queen of the castle heard there was a strange Princess knocking at the gate, she was delighted, for she was on the lookout for Princesses. She ordered the second-best guest room to be prepared, and went to make sure the maid had aired the mattresses properly.

The second-best guest room had only nineteen feather mattresses (the very best guest room had twenty-three, and the Royal Bedchambers even more), but the maid was still likely to skip a few mattresses to save time. As the Queen examined the bed, she slipped a single pea beneath the bottom mattress. (I am sorry to say that she also removed a shriveled pea from last week’s test, which tells you something about the maid’s mattress-airing habits.)

    At last the bed was ready and the Princess was shown to her room for the night.

    “How did you sleep?” the Queen asked anxiously next morning.

    “Alas!” cried the poor Princess in great misery and distress, “I slept very, very poorly--not even a wink!”

    “Do not distress yourself,” the Queen said artfully. “I am sure that the rest of your party will turn up in a month or two--if the dragon hasn't gotten them,” she added as a cheerful afterthought.

    “I wasn’t worried about that,” the Princess replied.

    “Indeed,” said the Queen. “What did keep you awake then? Indigestion?--excessive travel fatigue?--that shocking cold you've caught from standing in the rain?”

    “Oh, no,” answered the Princess. “None of that troubled me in the least. What kept me awake was the horrible lumpy-bumpiness of the mattress! I could have slept as well in a stone-field--I am sure I am all over black-and-blue.”

    “Excellent!” exclaimed the Queen, which the Princess thought quite unfeeling in a hostess until she explained about the pea.

    “Now that I know you are a True Princess, my dear, will you marry my son?” asked the Queen.

    “Certainly, if I like him and he likes me,” the Princess answered.

     This, fortunately, turned out to be the case, so the Princess and the Queen's son were married. The Queen never tired of telling how she discovered a True Princess with the aid of a pea--though I think it more likely that the maid forgot to air the top mattress and the feathers had got all in clumps.

Whatever the case, they all lived

        Happily
               Ever
                  After.

IF: Racing

2010-10-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

A quick pencil sketch for a picture book idea. Unfortunately, it involves drawing cows--which isn't exactly my strong point. I have two plastic cows living on my desk, recruited from the toy box to serve as models. (I recently told someone that my current life goal is to learn to draw cows. They gave me a funny look--I can't imagine why! What's wrong with that life goal?) ;)

IF: Spooky + Happy Birthday Plum!

2010-10-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

     "Do you believe in ghosts ?" asked Mr. Mulliner abruptly. I weighed the question thoughtfully. I was a little surprised, for nothing in our previous conversation had suggested the topic.
     "Well," I replied, " I don't like them, if that's what you mean. I was once butted by one as a child."
     "Ghosts. Not goats."
     "Oh, ghosts? Do I believe in ghosts?"
     "Exactly."
     "Well, yes—and no."

When the Illustration Friday word "spooky" fell on the birthday of P. G. Wodehouse, naturally I thought of his "haunted house" story, Honeysuckle Cottage.

   "A pretty name."
     "A nasty, sloppy name," said Mr. Mulliner severely.

Miss Pinckney, the cottage's original owner, wrote Squashily Sentimental novels. When her nephew James Rodman (writer of sensational mystery stories) moves in, strange things begin to happen. At Honeysuckle Cottage life reads like a Pinckney novel, and James fears he can't escape the inevitable happy ending!

Pen & ink, digital color

     "Do you know," he said, "you might be one of my aunt's heroines yourself? You're just the sort of girl she used to love to write about."
     Her face lit up.
     "Oh, do you really think so?" She hesitated. "Do you know what I have been feeling ever since I came here? I've been feeling that you are exactly like one of Miss Pinckney's heroes."
     "No, I say, really! " said James, revolted.

(Ok, maybe it's not exactly spooky, but it's definitely a lot of fun!)

IF: Transportation

2010-10-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

IF: Beneath

2010-10-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

Pen & ink wash, watercolor

Shhh . . . lights out! Wait--what's that hiding beneath the blankets?--a book and a flashlight?

(Not, you understand, that I ever read books when I was supposed to be sleeping!)

Featured

2010-10-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

What a surprise this morning to see my old-fashioned entry

as the pick of the week on Illustration Friday's homepage!

IF: Old-fashioned

2010-09-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

Pen & Ink, Watercolor

Sitting under a tree, reading a book, wearing an old-fashioned dress. Mmm--three things I love!

I started this picture a while ago, but once I got to the watercoloring stage I discovered the paper was so old that the watercolor went on in a spotted, speckled sort of way. Demotivational for sure!

By the way, If you're in the mood for some old-fashioned end-of-summer reading, be sure to check out Booth Tarkington's hilarious 1915 novel, Seventeen: A Tale of Youth and Summer Time and the Baxter Family, Especially William.

IF: Acrobat

2010-09-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

Pen & ink, digital coloring

When you're small, even the simplest things can require a certain amount of skill!

IF: Proverb

2010-09-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Pencil drawing--unfortunately photographed rather than scanned :)

For centuries past the ruling monarchs of Barodia had been famous for their ginger whiskers. "As lost as the King of Barodia without his whiskers" was indeed a proverb of those times. A King without a pair, and at such a crisis in his country's fortunes! It was inconceivable.

A. A. Milne, author of "Winnie-the-Pooh," also wrote a fairy tale called "Once on a Time." If you like Milne--or fairy tales--or both--you might want to check out the free Gutenburg e-book (with illustrations by Charles Robinson). No time for reading? There's also a free LibriVox audio dramatization!

IF: Dessert

2010-09-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

What more needs to be said?

IF: Mr. Bennet Remains Immovable

2010-08-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

After realizing how many literature-inspired entries I've done recently, I decided that Pride and Prejudice couldn't be left out any longer! I have to admit that the quote is actually from the '95 movie version, so it is not strictly canonical Austen. Oh well. :)

Pen & Ink wash

Lydia

I should love to go sea-bathing!

Mrs Bennet

A little sea-bathing would set me up for ever.

Mr Bennet

And yet I am unmoved.

Custom blog header

2010-08-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

I spent most of yesterday evening working on a blog design for my latest client. (Ok, it's my sister, but anyway . . . ) We brainstormed ideas and finally came up with one we liked.
I started with a quick, small pencil sketch, then transferred it to the computer with my wacom tablet. The finished picture was created in Corel Painter. (I had fun making the repeating wallpaper/background design, too!)
It's amazing how easy it is to draw quickly when the picture is already clear in your head. Although . . . I woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and realized that this character didn't come wholly from my imagination . . .

IF: Atmosphere

2010-08-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

IF: Star Gazing

2010-08-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

Just got home from a busy weekend to start a busy week, so for this week's Illustration Friday post I'm using an ATC-sized watercolor I did a while ago. I was experimenting with salt to create a star effect in the sky, but my wash must not have been quite right, or my salt was the wrong sort, and the effect didn't come out quite as I had hoped. Time to try again!

IF: "Caged" at Cranford

2010-08-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

Were I a morbid artist, for the word "caged" maybe I would draw the mouse that ran across my desk last week, then later--at least I hope it was the same mouse--expired in a two-liter bottle (don't ask me how it got there). But, as I am not a morbid artist, and as I drew a mouse for an Illustration Friday challenge already, I turned instead to Elizabeth Gaskell's short story, The Cage at Cranford.

Pen & Ink wash

Miss Pole said:
‘Although I am not accustomed to give an explanation of my conduct to gentlemen, yet, being insulted in my own house by — by Mr Hoggins, I must appeal to the brother of my old friend — my very oldest friend. Is this article a lady’s petticoat, or a bird’s cage ?’

Exploring

2010-08-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

Pen and ink drawing, digital shading

What's behind the old wooden door? I'm not sure--but even baby and the dog will get in on the adventure!

IF: Artificial

2010-08-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

"Artificial" made me think of an incident in Jerome K. Jerome's book Three Men in a Boat. An enormous stuffed trout in a glass case catches their attention, and, one after another, five different men--including the landlord--wander through the room and tell the story of how they caught it. Who was telling the truth?

Pen & Ink wash

     It really was a most astonishing trout. The more we looked at it, the more we marveled at it.
     It excited George so much that he climbed up on the back of a chair to get a better view of it.
     And then the chair slipped, and George clutched wildly at the trout-case to save himself, and down it came with a crash, George and the chair on top of it.
     "You haven't injured the fish, have you?" I cried in alarm, rushing up.
     "I hope not," said George, rising cautiously and looking about.
     But he had. That trout lay shattered into a thousand fragments - I say a thousand, but they may have only been nine hundred. I did not count them.
     We thought it strange and unaccountable that a stuffed trout should break up into little pieces like that.
     And so it would have been strange and unaccountable, if it had been a stuffed trout, but it was not.
     That trout was plaster-of-Paris.

IF: Double

2010-07-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

We have two male turkeys who spend all day trying to out-show each other.
They strut across the yard in perfect step, and even gobble in unison!

All-digital illustration

Book Sale Finds

2010-07-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Two great picture-book finds at the library book sale yesterday!

The Cataract of Lodore, a poem illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein, makes you feel like you're falling down, and down, and down the cataract along with the poet and his three children. The Wild Baby, illustrated by Eva Eriksson, is the aptly named story of Baby Ben, who is always in trouble--think Calvin, minus Hobbes!
Ahh . . . filling my shelves with good books makes me happy. (And for only fifty cents each--that makes it even better!)

IF: Breakfast at Bag End

2010-07-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

There was a fearful mess in the room, and piles of unwashed crocks in the kitchen. Nearly every pot and pan he possessed seemed to have been used.

We spent the weekend at the lake, and I happened to pick up The Hobbit for the first time in several years. I love the beginning--Bilbo's harried politeness to the uninvited guests and his dismay at the large amounts of washing-up the next morning. But really, what else can you expect when you have a houseful of hungry dwarves over for breakfast?

Pencil sketch, digital color

Making Jam

2010-07-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

The best part of making raspberry jam--at least this little girl thinks so!

Watercolor and pen and ink.

IF: Diary

2010-07-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

What is a diary? According to Gwendolen, it is . . .

I never travel without my diary.

One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

--Gwendolen, from The Importance of Being Earnest

I started on my thumbnail sketch and was suddenly reminded of this painting by Jean-Honore Fragonard. So, I looked up the image and somewhat modeled my painting's composition and color scheme after "The Reader." I used my trusty faber-castell pens because I was too lazy to get out my dip pen. :) After I painted it, I scanned it in and added a few highlights in Painter--I have a terrible time keeping highlights in watercolors.

When I saw this week's word at Illustration Friday, several diary-related quotes (besides the one I decided to illustrate) instantly came to mind:

It reminds me of the journal I opened with the New Year, once, when I was a boy and a confiding and a willing prey to those impossible schemes of reform which well-meaning old maids and grandmothers set for the feet of unwary youths at that season of the year--setting oversized tasks for them, which, necessarily failing, as infallibly weaken the boy's strength
of will, diminish his confidence in himself and injure his chances of success in life.

--Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad

Not keep a journal! How are your absent cousins to understand the tenour of your life in Bath without one? How are the civilities and compliments of every day to be related as they ought to be, unless noted down every evening in a journal? How are your various dresses to be remembered, and the particular state of your complexion, and curl of your hair to be described in all their diversities, without having constant recourse to a journal?

--Henry Tilney, from Northanger Abbey

[She] wrote in the diary which, with that magnificent freedom from human weakness that marked every aspect of her live, she kept all the year round instead of only during the first week of January.

--P.G. Wodehouse, The Coming of Bill

Personally, I am full of human weakness and my attempts to keep a diary are always dismal failures. But take heart! We have this bit of wisdom from Oscar Wilde's Miss Prism (and as someone who has written a three-volume novel, is she not a trustworthy authority?)

Memory, my dear Cecily, is the diary that we all carry about with us.

Custom Wedding labels/place cards

2010-07-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

Another fun project for the Midsummer Night's Dream themed wedding reception: custom labels/place cards with blank spaces for the guests' names and a wedding date seal. I enjoyed weaving together quotes from the play and lots of scrolling "love-in-idleness" flowers. Look closely and you'll see a pair of little figures hiding in the border, too!

IF: Giant

2010-07-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

"One more day," she thought, "and then I'll pick my asparagus."

But she waited one day too many....

(I wonder what she'd find at the top?)

All digital illustration, with my wacom tablet and Corel Painter X.

Mud Soup

2010-07-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

On our front deck there is an old red pot for the amusement of small girls. It holds an ever-changing "soup": pond water, grass seed heads, clover, bits of soft wood or broken pieces of sticks--it's amazing what fun (and what messes!) can be made with just a few old dishes and a little bit of imagination.

IF: Satellite

2010-07-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

If you give one child a ride, you will soon be surrounded by a host of eager satellites clamoring for a turn!

Illustration Friday: Paisley

2010-06-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

I think maybe she's a Wodehouse heroine. Which one, I wonder?

A quick ink-and-watercolor sketch to test the new bottle of ink that arrived this afternoon. I often use Pitt artist pens, but an actual dip pen gives so much more variety--and is also much less predictable!

Illustration Friday: Trail

2010-06-07T19:52:00.000-07:00

She wanders down a woodsy trail, the sunlight making shadowed patterns with the trees . . . .

This is a quick sketch with my wacom tablet and Corel's Painter X, using mostly chalk variations. I enjoy coloring digitally, but for sketching--I've decided I'd usually rather have a good old pencil and paper!

Custom Wedding Table Cards--Midsummer Night's Dream Watercolors

2010-06-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

I'm putting the last touches on a set of custom wedding table cards. The ink-and-watercolor drawings are based on characters from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. I had drawn six of the characters before, but this time around added Oberon and Peaseblossom. What a fun project! I want to get a good scan of the finished watercolors, then they're off to the bride-to-be.

Don't forget to check out my etsy shop for a double-sided ACEO set which includes Titania, Puck, Lysander, Helena, Demetrius and Hermia!

Illustration Friday: Slither

2010-06-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's June already--I missed posting the whole month of May! But now I'm back, and belatedly thinking of slithery subjects for this week's challenge . . .

You find all sorts of slithery things living at the edges of ponds and rivers. I think this boy is determined to catch one of them!

Magnetic Dolls now at Etsy!

2010-04-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

From Etsy:
This 5.5" x 4.25" magnetic sheet features seven dolls and their accessories. The father is 2.5" tall and the baby measures just under 1". Cut them out with a sharp pair of scissors, and they're ready to play all across your fridge, file cabinet, or any other magnetic surface!

Printed on high quality vinyl material; will not bleed or smudge.

These magnetic dolls have been kid-tested and are WILDLY popular with little girls!

Take a look!

Illustration Friday: Detective

2010-04-20T10:12:00.000-07:00

"Who's been tasting my porridge?"

"Who's been sitting on my chair?"
"Who's been sleeping in my bed?"

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is most likely the first "whodunnit" story we hear as children. Nowadays my favorite detective reads are probably Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter novels. Oh, and the Brother Cadfael series.

This is one of my new just-for-fun projects: one-page illustrations of familiar stories and fairy tales. I plan to color the pen-and-ink illustration digitally. Now to decide on the palette . . . .

Illustration Friday: Linked

2010-04-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

Summertime at the lake. Reading a good book.

For me, these are linked together in some great memories!

Pen & ink and watercolor illustration

Queen of the haystack

2010-04-09T23:04:00.000-07:00

An afternoon on the haystack is endless fun.

Climb up . . . slide down . . .

Digital ink--and a digistamp!

Illustration Friday: Dip

2010-04-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

The hardest part is getting up the courage to dip that first toe into the water.
(It's a digistamp, too!)

Magnetic Dollhouse

2010-04-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

One of my projects this week has been drawing a set of magnetic dollhouse figures. I scanned in my pen and ink outlines and colored them digitally. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the finished magnets!

Illustration Friday: Rescue

2010-04-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

This week my desk is drowning in random sketches and rough drawings, and sometimes I feel like I am, too! (Don't even ask my family--they've known for years that I need rescuing from my overabundance of ideas....)

Illustration Friday: expired

2010-03-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

When I read the word "expired", I thought of the euphemistically worded directions on our "mouse cube" mouse trap: "Check the trap frequently so the mouse will not expire." (I thought that's what mouse traps were supposed to accomplish, but apparently not...) Maybe this little girl checked the trap frequently enough to catch an un-expired mouse, and decided to keep it as a pet.

Illustration Friday: Subterranean

2010-03-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

It's maple-tapping time here! The sap, stored in the subterranean roots all winter long, is rising with the warmer spring days.

Illustration Friday: Brave

2010-03-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

Bravery

is only obtuseness to the perception of contingencies.

I wasn't sure where to take the week's IF word until I remembered this quote from a Thomas Hardy book. It's a rather pessimistic attitude (hey, it's Hardy--what did you expect?), but the quote always makes me laugh, and it seemed to fit the theme of this picture.

Is the moon following me?

2010-03-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

I remember watching from the car window as the moon followed us home. Just last night I heard the same thought from a little girl: "Look how big the moon is! Will it be at our house, too?"
And I was inspired. :)
A black-and-white version of this image is now available on my new digital stamp website. Take a look!

Illustration Friday: Perspective

2010-02-27T16:24:00.000-08:00

What's your perspective?
Maybe it depends on which end of the binoculars you're looking through!

A black-and-white version of this image
is now available on my new digital stamp website.

Take a look!

Illustration Friday: Propagate

2010-02-23T11:13:00.000-08:00

Propagate: "Transmit from one generation to the next," which is just what this old-world Grandma is doing as she teaches her granddaughter to knit. Maybe the yarn was spun on the spinning wheel sitting behind them.

Apparently I haven't scanned the finished watercolor, so the pencil sketch will have to do for now!

Bluegrass, take two!--with watercolor

2010-02-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

Here she is, ready to enjoy the music! I'm quite happy with the instruments and the little girl, but the background might need some help.

On my desk: Bluegrass!

2010-02-16T21:52:00.000-08:00

I was inspired by watching my niece as she wandered through a group of tall guys playing bluegrass, bobbing her head to the music. A quick sketch, the pen-and-ink tracing, and now the partially-finished watercolor is sitting on my desk waiting for the final touches.

Illustration Friday: Adrift

2010-02-16T08:54:00.000-08:00

The spires of the castle seem to be adrift in a sea of mist,

and the lights flickering through the windows are obscured.

Illustration Friday: muddy

2010-02-06T07:24:00.000-08:00

She slipped into the pond; her mother will be glad it wasn't too muddy!

(Personally, I'm still in knee-high snow mode--no mud for another month or two.)

Illustration Friday: Focused

2010-02-04T20:52:00.000-08:00

So intent is his observation of the ant hill that he is quite oblivious to his sister--whose attention is focused elsewhere!

Illustration Friday: clumsy

2010-01-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

She wishes her canoeing partner was not so clumsy . . . .

(Check out my portfolio to see the other half of the picture!)

Illustration Friday: wilderness

2010-01-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

Losing yourself in the wilderness of a good book--the perfect way to spend a cold winter's afternoon!

On my desk: Postcards!

2010-01-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

Here is my new promotional postcard.

Illustration Friday: confined

2010-01-11T12:27:00.000-08:00

McElligot doesn't seem to mind his confining fishbowl . . . .

Illustration Friday: renewal

2010-01-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

Oh, the excitement when the hens first start to lay!

On my desk: a Very Thingish Notebook

2010-01-04T20:53:00.000-08:00

Two cardboard coasters I knew I'd never use (but who can throw away nice pieces of stiff cardboard?), a quote from The House at Pooh Corner, and a free afternoon turned into this Thingish Notebook. I bound it in some sort of loosely Coptic style, and the elastic band is quite necessary to keep it closed.

Illustration Friday: pioneer

2009-12-30T22:14:00.000-08:00

We often see the old year out with a sledding party, and there is always a jump or two on the hill for those who want an extra thrill. This jump looks like it would take a fearless poineer to test it out--with a big grin!

Illustration Friday: undone

2009-12-21T21:09:00.000-08:00

I have had considerable experience with hairstyles for small girls. Oh the trials of an undone braid that needs re-braiding to match the other side!

On my desk: a shadow-box poem

2009-12-18T18:33:00.000-08:00

THE splendour falls on castle walls
And snowy summits old in story:
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

O hark, O hear! how thin and clear,
And thinner, clearer, farther going!
O sweet and far from cliff and scar
The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!
Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying:
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

O love, they die in yon rich sky,
They faint on hill or field or river:
Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
And grow for ever and for ever.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

I drew five different scenes drawing on the poem's descriptions, then cut and layered them--scans, not my originals!--for depth and detail.

Spoonflower fabric image

2009-12-14T18:38:00.000-08:00

First, I did a quick watercolor sketch for a baby shower card a few weeks ago. It turned out to be so cute that I almost didn't want to give it away!--so instead I used my wacom tablet and painter x to make a digital version.

Next, I discovered spoonflower.com, a site where you can print your own designs on fabric! I suppose you could call me a fabric junkie (yeah, don't ask my family about that!) so Spoonflower is exactly my kind of site.

Third, I found out about the spoonflower fabric design contests, and decided, why not? So here is my bouncing baby entry for the cartoon characters fabric contest.

On my desk: memories of summer

2009-12-10T17:40:00.000-08:00

A quick pencil sketch tinted with watercolors.