Vote for Zoo-Mates!

I don't mention my other job-- my day job, real job, paycheck-wielding job, however you want to put it-- very often on this blog, but today I want to highlight a really great program and ask for your support.

I work at the Center for Community Engagement at the University of Cincinnati. One of the coolest programs we get to take credit for is called Zoo-Mates. Zoo-Mates pairs college students with children experiencing homelessness for yearlong mentoring relationships. The pairs meet once a month at the (incredible!) Cincinnati Zoo and once a month at the children's school or another place in the community (the art museum was one!)

I don't run this program--one of our fantastic graduate assistants handles that quite capably--but I tag along whenever I can. You'll see why once you take a look at these pictures and stories: zoomates.blogspot.com.

Now we've stumbled upon an organization called True Hero, which awards funding to deserving student service projects based on votes from community members. So can you do me (and my community! and the kids!) a favor? Click here and vote just once for this fantastic, innovative project, and allow it to keep working.

Thanks!

Love is in the air

These illustrations will, respectively, grace the front and back of a wedding program I'm putting together for two very good friends who are getting married next week.

I'm not sure I've ever done finished work in black and white before. I'd definitely do it again! The first is my traditional pastel. The second is ink pen and (dare I confess?) wite-out on grayish printer paper. Now that's fine art!

Prints for Sale!

I'm very excited to announce that several of my favorite illustrations are now available for purchase (at pretty reasonable prices, I think!) through Imagekind. Click the link below... to peruse, perchance to purchase.

If you see something on my website or on this blog that you'd like to see printed, let me know. Up next: printing on surfaces other than paper. Stay tuned!

Scenes from the green isle

Preparing for something memorable

I'm going to Ireland in two and a half weeks. Until I land in Dublin, my international experience will have been limited to 24 hours in Niagara Falls, the Canadian half. And, I guess, lots of strolls past embassies when I lived in DC. And the UN in New York. But basically, this is my first REAL international experience. I'm incredibly excited. So I've decided I'm going to try, one more time, to keep some semblance of a journal while I'm there.

Now, journals and sketchbooks and I have a checkered past. I always have great intentions and awful follow-through. So I decided to make my own journal, in the hopes that I could make what I need. I ended up with two:




One with lots of different kinds of pages, lined and unlined, different colors, etc. This will be for anything and everything. Thoughts, sketches, notes, directions. Whatever I want. Whatever I do with it will be what I intended, because I also think I need permission to fail, to be mundane, to write poorly, to clutter it up. It'll be what it'll be, and it'll be fantastic.



And one that I'm modeling off something my Mom came up with for one of our family vacations when I was younger. She used a tablet of sample paper (somehow we always had paper samples lying around the house) and labeled each sheet with a letter of the alphabet. The whole trip we recorded things we saw, heard, ate, whatever on the appropriate alphabet page. Sometimes with explanations and/or illustrations, but sometimes just a word or two. It was a low-key, simple way to document a trip--and I recall it being awesome.

So I'm going to try it for Ireland. Wish me luck!

And if you've been to Dublin and want to share stories, tips, good eateries (esp. cheap and/or vegetarian!), best things to see and do, etc.-- don't hold back! Drop me some comments.

Illustration Friday: INTRICATE

Anyone remember Maniac Magee? I don't remember much, but I remember there being an impossible knot that needed untangling. And I remember loving it. It may be time for a re-read...

Illustration Friday: BREEZY

Listening to the Reds-Yankees spring training game on the radio right now. It sure is breezy in Sarasota, Florida, and every breeze is blowing toward the outfield. Eight home runs so far between the two teams!

I'm playing with oil pastels today because someone guessed in an earlier comment that I was already using them. I usually use dry pastels, but I did use a lot of oil pastels back in high school, so I thought they'd be fun to revisit. Pros: Oil pastels are easier on dry, winter skin. They don't come in pencil form, so they force me to loosen up. They work much better on the "pastel paper" I just bought for fun than do my dry pastels. Cons: They don't come in pencil form, so I have much much less control over my artwork. I can't build up as many layers of color, nor can I smear them with my fingers to blend.

Still, a fun experiment!

Pastel sketches

Look, ma--no pencil sketch first! Just some idle doodling, directly in color.

Illustration Friday: CELEBRATE

You can keep your Valentine's Day. I'm celebrating Pitchers and Catchers Report Day. Happy spring (training)--and go Reds!

FABULOUS!

And while I'm at the blog, I totally forgot about a "Your Blog is Fabulous" award I got from Nikki way back in December. I've been tagged to share five obsessions of mine.

1) I'm not a random TV watcher, but I do get quite involved in the shows I take the time to watch. My obsession with all things The West Wing is already well-documented here. My current TV obsession is Lost. It's mind-bogglingly fabulous these days. I like my television like my acquaintances: literate, witty, and with a big heart.

2) The Cincinnati Reds, of course. Pitchers and catchers report on February 14th, and, meanwhile, football season ends TODAY. I am a happy camper.

3) Anytime I get the chance to go to a garage sale or a thrift store, I take it. I love treasure hunts, bargains, and one-of-a-kind finds. Right now I'm wearing a church sale blouse, sitting at a Goodwill desk, with a garage sale mug holding my pencils, and with my back to my World's-Longest-Yard-Sale art desk.

4) The library! Cincinnati has one of the best systems in the country, and I take full advantage of it. There are many things I miss about living in Washington, DC, but their library system has got nothing on ours here. I'm definitely a regular at my neighborhood branch (where, recently, I spotted the back of Sarah Jessica Parker's head. Long story.)

5) I really, truly love grocery shopping. I live around the corner from an IGA, so I go several times a week, for a few things here and a few things there. I also make special trips once in a while to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, and in the spring and summer, I can't get enough of the various farmers markets near me. I love reading labels, exploring new foods, seeing what's on sale or in season, and thinking up recipes.

Thanks for thinking of me, Nikki!