It's been a while!

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted on this blog!

Here's a post in honor of the first anniversary of 

I'll Take My Chances, 

written by Mark Burrows and illustrated by me.

To quote the Galveston County Daily News...

"This is the perfect picture book for parents to use 

to encourage young readers to put themselves out there 

and keep on keeping on."

Here's hoping you'll check it out!

"My First Hidden Picture" Illustration of the Year Award

In late March, I was surprised to get a wonderful award 

from Highlights High Five Magazine,

"The Hidden Pictures Illustration Award".

This Award was for the Hidden Picture

I illustrated for the May 2013 issue of High Five,

titled, "Riding My Pony"

Thanks to Kathleen Hayes, Editor, Christine French Cully, Editor in Chier,

Kelley Cunningham, the Art Director 

and everyone responsible for granting me this award,

as well as Jody Taylor Brown, who got me started doing Hidden Pictures.

I am extremely grateful for their appreciation!

Young Authors' Awards Ceremony 2014

These lovely flowers were a gift 

from Morningside Elementary School in Port St. Lucie, FL

and my friend, Mrs. Peggy McBee,

the coordinator of the Young Authors program there.

This was my 3rd year to be a participant

in the awards ceremony for the very talented group 

of young authors from grades K-5. 

It was a delightful opportunity for me to witness their creative ways 

of combining words and pictures into books.

Thank you, Morningside and Congratulations, Young Authors!!

PBAA Flip Book App

The PBAA Flip Book is available...

and it's FREE in the App Store!

Check out all the Kooky Characters you can make

 out of characters illustrated by members of Picture Book Artists,

 my mermaid included.

Fun!

"...the little dog laughed..."

Here is the finished illustration. 

As you can see, it has been through some alterations!

Now, the whole series needs to be unified.

This will mean some adjustments to the other illustrations.

Stay tuned!!

Work in Progress "....the little dog laughed"

Still unfinished, this post shows

 the many adjustments that have been made to my current illustration. 

The good thing is, by blogging about it, 

I am seeing what I like and what I'd like to change.

How wonderful that the corrections are so easy to make

on the computer.

Here is the latest illustration with a head from a previous sketch. 

The face seems a little more fun to me.

This is what I thought was a finished composition....

I really like the sketchy quality of the following preliminary drawing. 

I will try to recreate the same feeling in the finished artwork.

And below are the color sketch and original idea.

I think I have some more work to do!

Hey, diddle, diddle......

It seems that summer provides a chance for me to move on 

with some digital painting.  

Continuing the series on the nursery rhyme, "Hey, diddle, diddle",

here's a progression from "the cat and the fiddle",

an, as yet, unfinished digital illustration.