Illustration Friday: THE BLUES

This illustration had quite the long and winding road. I started it two years ago, as a response to Hurricane Katrina. I couldn't get it where I wanted it to be, so I abandoned it. But I brought it with me when I moved from DC to Cincinnati (it was damaged a bit in the move) and when I set up my drawing table in my new apartment, this got taped up, sort of off to the side. That was a year ago. I've fiddled with it a few times since then but didn't have any breakthroughs. Then came this week's Illustration Friday topic, and I knew the time had come to revisit this constant presence on my drawing board.

I'm still not entirely satisfied with it (too busy on the left? Maybe I'll eliminate some of the frills and just keep the white birds and the kokopeli-like sax player on a mottled blue background.) But thanks, IF, for getting me to finally "finish" this piece!

The Westing Game (part two)

Just rounding out the other half of Sam Westing's heirs from Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game. You can see the first half here.

Illustration Friday: JUGGLE

Strawberry shortcake time!

If you like this illustration and have a bit of time, I'd love some feedback on this piece, which I'm considering for my next mailing. Thanks for stopping by!!

The Westing Game

[Click on each picture for a larger view.]

Thought I'd try out some character studies, so I give you a handful of Sam Westing's heirs from Ellen Raskin's magnificent The Westing Game (which I reread at least every year). I'll probably round out the group later, with the rest of Sam's "sixteen nieces and nephews" who get roped into playing his game. Meanwhile, if you haven't read this brilliant story, for goodness sakes go do it! It's incredible.

Illustration Friday: WEDDING (ish)

So right as I opened up this new post, the UPS man arrived at my door with an exciting package-- copies of the October issue of St. Anthony Messenger, containing my first professional illustration!! (Follow the link to my portfolio page to see the illustration.)

Anyway... Illustration Friday...

So I found myself very uninspired by this week's topic and almost didn't submit anything. But I'm running out of free time (I got a full-time job! Yay!) so I thought I'd do something while I still had the time. This is a stretch, but the book I'm proposing a new cover for ends with a wedding, so... yeah, it's still a stretch. I'll learn to live with it if you will. I hope to do this mock book cover in pastel at some point, but it's still in sketch form now, which means COMMENTS and CRITICISMS welcome-- there's still plenty of time to change!

Separately, I'd like a little feedback on the following: Banned Books Week is coming up, and I'd like to take this opportunity to read something from the frequently challenged list which I should have already read. The candidates are The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I'd love to hear your thoughts on which one I should read next week.

Vote for my photos!

Cincinnati.com and CiN Weekly and have launched a new photo contest called "Capture Cincinnati," to collect the best photos of the people and places of the Greater Cincinnati area for a coffee table book showcasing our city. If you're from the area and have pictures to share, I encourage you to share them! If you're not, maybe you could click on the photos I've submitted and (if you're feeling generous) vote for them! If nothing else, you'll get to see some lovely shots of the Queen City.

An unconventional sketchbook

I promised doodles in the subtitle of my blog, but haven't yet shared any. So here's a sampling, gleaned from the margins of work meetings, trainings, and phone message notes. Just for fun!

Animal sketches

My recent adventures drawing the quick brown fox and the lazy dog convinced me to continue drawing animals, for practice. These were drawn from photographs I took during a visit to a farm this past spring. I actually think that right now I'm better at photographing animals than drawing them, so I'm also going to share my favorite animal photos from my visit to Turner Farm.

Merry Christmas from Porkopolis

I mentioned this piece in an earlier post-- done for a Christmas card art contest for a local paper/card company. (If you're not familiar with Cincinnati, I should explain that we're a little obsessed with flying pigs. They've sort of become our trademark, I think dating back to our days as a major meatpacking center.) Haven't heard the results of the contest yet, but I wanted to share the artwork anyway. Maybe it will entice some cool weather my way, or at least some precipitation.

Madeleine L'Engle

“Why does anybody tell a story?” Ms. L’Engle once asked, even though she knew the answer.

“It does indeed have something to do with faith,” she said, “faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

This is from the NY Times obituary for one of my favorite authors , Madeleine L'Engle, who died this week. Troubling A Star, A Ring of Endless Light (which was a Newbery honor book), Many Waters, and, of course, A Wrinkle in Time (a Newbery medal winner) were among my favorites. She created some wonderful characters (Vicky Austin, Charles Wallace Murray, Adam Eddington), some thrilling situations, and she was a master of insightful titles, but I'll always remember the way she wove morality and values so deftly into her stories that you just pulled it in with all the action, almost by accident.

Illustration Friday: MOMENTUM

The momentum here is both the apple gaining speed as it falls (hurray for gravity!) AND the momentum gained in the middle of a job you enjoy doing (here, both the girl's apple picking and my drawing!)

In other news, congratulations to Irene Ng for correctly identifying the source of my blog title:
"My guess is a quote from an episode of West Wing where Josh has just proudly finished a project and is commending himself and declaring that he should get 'the finest muffins and bagels in all the land.' Loved that episode."

The full quote (with apologies and appropriate groveling to Aaron Sorkin) is, "Victory is mine, victory is mine! Great day in the morning, people, victory is mine. I drink from the keg of glory, Donna. Bring me the finest muffins and bagels in all the land." So, Irene, enjoy a big gulp from the keg of glory and don't spend your ten and a half points all in one place. Thanks for playing!

Ilustration Friday: ALPHABET (take two)

I was at my parents' place today and I came across this old high school art project. Our assignment was to create our own alphabet. I went the illustration route and made the letters from storybook moments. The drawing is pretty bad and the overall look is really sloppy, but I'm still pretty impressed with some of the designs my 14-year-old self came up with. Maybe I'll revisit these in my sketchbook....

Here's A, C, G, M, N, and W. I hope the stories are obvious, but in case they're not, their titles each match the letter they're forming.