There is a Fairy in the Garden!

One of my favorite things to draw are fairies.  My Mom used to send me outside to look for the fairies when I was little.  I was always sure I would spy one.   So, here is a piece with a little garden fairy flying by to check on the flowers, done in cut paper.

First the sketch.

Next, I did a watercolor background on watercolor paper, of coarse!  My new favorite skill is linocut. So, I made some leaves and stamped them in the background.  Then I start cutting up colored paper and gluing them down.

Here is my hand gluing a flower in place.  These flowers were kind of thick with layers so, I really had to hold them down for awhile.  Just a minute or two.

And the finished illustration!  Notice I changed her back wing.  They are both done with tracing paper now.  Looks better I think.

I hope she is happy in her little garden home.  I sure had fun making it for her.

Working on New Things

I went recently to an illustration retreat.  It was held at Silver Falls State Park. Very nice.  The retreat was put on by SCBWI Oregon/Washington groups.  So, a lot of people attended.  Forty eight illustrators to be exact and two instructors.  LeUyen Pham and Caldecott winning illustrator Eric Rohmann.  I was star struck to say the least.

I learned so much, my head can't hold all the information.  I had a great time.
Eric Rohmann had us play with some lino cut.  I had never done that before.  Didn't really know what I was doing.  But, have been playing with it since I got home.

Here is a wee angel I made.  I think I'll make some Christmas cards with her.

Then, I thought...hey why don't I do lino cut artwork for the background of some of my cut paper art?
Might be interesting.  It turns out it was interesting to me.  Yay!

Here is the beginning of a new piece.

And the finished work.  Lino cut for the background town and trees. I printed the town and colored it with colored pencil, then cut it out.  Cut paper for the boy on the bike and the street.  The background map is just that, a paper map.

 Thanks for visiting my blog.  Whoever you are.

Commissioned Artwork

Well, those of you who know me, know I almost never do commissioned artwork for people.  I have had way too many times when it didn't work out well for me.
I do lots of commissioned work for publishers and love that.  Probably because I have an art director telling me what they want and I know I'll get paid in the end.  Anyway, a very nice gentleman convinced me to do a piece of art for him.  Here it is.  I must admit, I enjoyed making this very much. 

It is for a very special girl.  A girl who has been through some very difficult times in her short life.
It is based on a dream she had recently.  A dream that convinced her that her life would get better and the good news is...it has.  I hope this artwork will always be a reminder to her of how strong she is and the care and love others have for her.  This work was commissioned by her CASA workers.
In case you are not familiar with CASA , it stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates.  In other words, regular folks in the community volunteer their time to help hurt and abused children.

Here is a close up of the jack rabbit in the background.  The snow covered hills in the background are pages from an old Bible.  My hope was that this young girl may find comfort someday in the words.
I used the 25 Psalm and a few others as well.

O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

I am not a super religious person but I am spiritual.  I guess I would not have taken this project on if I wasn't.

 Thanks for checking in with me and my blog!