A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. ~Author Unknown
illustration
Highlight
“Sing like no one’s listening, love like you’ve never been hurt, dance like nobody’s watching, and live like its heaven on earth.” ~Mark Twain
The ladies at Shady Acres Estate got quite a thrill when Reginald, feeling far less than his 75 years, got up and did the Lambada in the community dining room. The other fellas in the crowd were far less amused. Did Reggie care…. Heck no! He had a full dance card!
It Started with a Sketch
Often I’m asked, “What medium do you use?”
While I used to use watercolor and colored pencil as my medium… I started painting digitally about four years ago. I try to make my digital work have the same organic feel of traditional mediums.
It starts with a pencil drawing, sometimes very sketchy, that I take into Photoshop and clean up a bit. Often I paint over or eliminate the lines altogether, but If I’m going to leave the line work, I’ll ink them first and clean them up digitally.
After I’ve separated the layers, I usually always work over a layer that had been under painted with a darker color. This gives the illustration a luminous quality and helps define the natural contours and highlights. Here, I want them on a white background so that I can paste them into a another illustration later.
Next I paint in the details on a separate layer with a brush that has a texture added to it. This allows some of the under painting to show through and gives the illustration a pastel feel. I always turn the opacity and flow down to about 40. Then I go back and add more details and highlights on another layer. Clean it up and it’s done. This is a very brief explanation I know, but I’ve learned and continue to learn by playing with my medium and making mistakes….. only now I get to push undo! Ctrl+Alt+Z… Ctrl+Alt+Z…Ctrl+Alt+Z
Messenger
A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men.
~Martin Farquhar Tupper
…. and you thought the stork brought them. :)
Warm Weather Christmas
All I want for Christmas is a real good tan
Take me to the islands
Put my feet in the sand
Rockin’ to and fro with the rhythm of the ocean
Singin’ silent night with the palm trees a blowin’
~Kenny Chesney
2012 SCBWI Tomie dePaola Award Entry ~ Sinking
“The sky is falling, the sky is falling!”
This is my entry for the SCBWI Tommy dePaola Award. It was great fun to work on it! If you click on the image you can see the details better.
The text Tomie chose this year is from Chicken Licken by P.C. Asbjörnsen.
So they went along and went along until they met Turkey Lurkey“Good morning, Goosey
Loosey, Ducky Daddles, Cocky Locky, Henny Penny, and Chicken Licken,” said Turkey Lurkey, “where are you going?”
“Oh, Turkey Lurkey, the sky is falling and we are going to tell the King!”
“How do you know the sky is falling?” asked Turkey Lurkey.
“Ducky Daddles told me,” said Goosey Loosey.
“Cocky Locky told me,” said Ducky Daddles.
“Henny Penny told me,” said Cocky Locky.
“Chicken Licken told me,” said Henny Penny
“I saw it with my own eyes, I heard it with my own ears,
and a piece of it fell on my tail!” said Chicken Licken.
“Then I will go with you,” said Turkey Lurkey, “and we will tell the King!”
Separated
Long story, short…. Josephine was going to be booted out of her title as Mistress by her lover. He wanted a new mistress, so he introduced Josephine to Napoleon, who was instantly smitten!
Josephine….. not so much!
Rather than face living in the streets with her two children, she decided to marry Napoleon, although she did not love him. In fact, she did everything in her power to be as far from Napoleon as possible, even feigning pregnancy to forgo traveling with him. While he was away she would attend balls and parties and was known to have many lovers.
When Napoleon finally caught word of her behavior he rushed home to confront her telling her she had killed his heart. The irony? Josephine had finally fallen in love with Napoleon… too late!
It’s said that as she lay dying of diphtheria, “Napoleon” was her last uttered word.
The letter says:
I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil.
Sweet incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect you have on my heart!
Are you angry?
Do I see you looking sad? Are you worried? …
My soul aches with sorrow, and there can be no rest for your lover; but is there still more in store for me when, yielding to the profound feelings which overwhelm me, I draw from your lips, from your heart a love which consumes me with fire? Ah! it was last night that I fully realized how false an image of you your portrait gives!
You are leaving at noon; I shall see you in three hours.
Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire.
Bonaparte