Illustration Friday: Packed

Sorry for the big copyright © over the image, but the congress has been trying to sneak through the Orphan Works Bill which would weaken current copyright law, and make it a lot easier for our artwork and even photos of our families to be stolen out from under us. The thief would merely need to claim that the original owner could not be found. We would most likely see more companies stealing from our image galleries such as how Virgin Mobile already stole a photo from Flickr last year to use in their ad campaign without the owner's permission. The Senate already passed the bill by hotlining it, and Wired was told just today that the House would not look at the bill until after the election, but a few hours ago the Illustrator's Partnership sent out an email saying the bill is in the House now. If we wish to keep the strength of our copyrights they urge us to call Congress now. More information is available on their blog.

Illustration Friday: Island

When we were kids my little brother and I used to lay out the sofa cushions and pillows all over the floor, and pretend they were islands, and that the carpet was the ocean with shark-infested waters. Too bad our carpet wasn't blue like this to help add to the illusion. On a side note, the only color of shag carpet that ever made any sense to me was green, so you could pretend it was freshly mowed grass. :)

Illustration Friday: Clutter

Sorry for the ugly copyright notice, but I've found this image stolen & used on several blogs without my permission. I know it is old art, and I shouldn't care, but it irritates me when people don't respect an artist's work. Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it is free to steal.

Baking cupcakes with mom is a lot of fun, but it does cause quite a bit of clutter all over the kitchen countertop. :)

I'm not yet sure where I want to go with the colors, so I'm posting a work in progress sketch somewhat colored in photoshop to squeak in before the IF deadline. I need to work more on a final technique, but I've also been working on making progress with my drawing skills. I've been feeling the need to step it up to make my children's illustration portfolio stronger.

Illustration Friday: Memories

Summer watermelon memories
hand drawn sketch digitally colored in photoshop with multiple texture layers

When I first read the topic this week my shoulder was hurting, and I was remembering that it was caused by stubbornly needing to carry every bag of groceries in at the same time the night before. I have a thing about not doing multiple trips, and now with the cloth shopping bags that fit a ton of stuff, and have big strong handles I can really pile it on. So, all in one haul I managed to carry 3 liters of 7-up, 2 quarts of Tropicana OJ, 1 gallon of milk, 1 very large head of cauliflower, (I literally gasped with delight when I saw how big and beautiful it was), other various veggies, several 6 oz. Yoplait yogurts, 2 bags of Tollhouse chocolate chips, 2 64oz glass bottles of cranberry juice, some frozen cod, 1 32oz bottle of Strawberry Kefir, and one large seedless watermelon. Needlesstosay, I won't have to go to the store again for a good while. I was going to illustrate this feat, but I lost interest in that idea, and decided to focus on the watermelon which I've been enjoying all week. I've been downright addicted. I've been seasoning it up similar to how my good friend from Mexico introduced me to years ago. I think she sprinkled on Lucas chili seasoning, but since they were found to contain lead a few years ago I haven't bought them, so I made my own recipe.

I just sprinkle on:
a dash of chili powder
a dash of cayenne pepper
a dash of salt
a dash of sugar
a sprinkle of lemon juice

The lemon juice starts to macerate the watermelon, so it needs to be eaten quickly or you'll have more water than melon. It sounds crazy, but it's mmm, mmm good, and really great for my sinuses! I wanted to make sure I enjoyed the goodness of watermelon before summer in this hemisphere is all but a memory.