IF - Stay

The first thing I thought of when I saw the Illustration Friday prompt, "stay," was my son in pre-school. At one point, he was having a hard time coping with his Dad being in the hospital and he did not want to be at school. I will never forget the look that stopped me in my tracks and those heart wrenching words, "Mom, stay." I guess we were both having a difficult time.

IF - Shadows

It's been a while since I have posted to Illustration Friday. And I'm sorry that I've been a bit too preoccupied to be a good blog visitor these days. I am looking forward to getting back to posting and visiting. Well, one bit of news to share is that my website is up...hooray! I've also finally joined twitter (still learning about it), and I have designed a new blog header for my group blog, Smells Like Crayons . I also just yesterday finished a six-week weaving workshop with fifth and sixth graders which I will soon be posting about on my Mrs. P's Art Blog. Right now you can see the Famous Americans project I did with second graders in March.

So that's what's new. The image above, however, is not so new. But I do like finding images from the past that fit the theme. And if there is a witch involved, even better!

New Ways of Working

This is the blog header I recently finished for my group blog Smells Like Crayons. We are an SCBWI illustrator critique group. We meet once a month to share work, ideas, advice, and usually food, too!

This started as a drawing and some gouache experiments, but it ended up being mostly Photoshop. I'm thinking about my work in new ways...more like collaged layers where I can use painted and drawn elements--organic and imprecise--combined with the precision and efficiency of Photoshop. It's a cool combination!

Velveteen Rabbit - My Cover Redesign

I spent the weekend at the 2011 NESCBWI conference. This year was the 25th anniversary of the New England conference.

The above is my poster submission. The assignment was to redesign a cover of a book that you consider to be a milestone.

The Velveteen Rabbit is high on my list of favorites. Though this has been illustrated several times since the original was published in 1922, I think there was room for another cover idea. For me, the rabbit meeting the fairy who stepped out of the flower that grew from his tear, was a pivotal moment.

I also posted about the conference here at my group blog Smells Like Crayons.

Illustration Friday - Bottled

Make a wish!

Illustration Friday - Toy

My mom told me about tough times growing up in Italy during World War II. During certain years, they were lucky to have enough to eat. As for toys, well children had to often create their own.

I thought one story was particularly funny and sweet. My mom and her sister did not own any dolls. They would take a kitchen towel and drape it over one of their hens. She became--a bride!

Illustration Friday - Stir