New Sketching Friends

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A couple of weeks ago I met Roz Stendahl, who is a local graphic designer and illustrator. She keeps a blog about journaling and too many other topics to list: Roz Wound Up. Well when I met her I asked if I could paint her portrait and she said yes. We got together Friday. To warm up we both sketched her rubber chicken puppet named Gert. (I have known her only a short time and already I know that she names everything!) I had so much fun sketching Gert that Roz graciously allowed me to take Gert home for a few weeks—until we get together for more sketching.

We spent so much time sketching Gert that we ran out of time for me to sketch Roz. But I did get this one sketch in, so the mind and hand are thinking about it. Also Roz was overjoyed that I'd sketched her in my journal because of her Project Journal Infiltration which you can read about here.

You can see some of the many sketches that Roz has made of Gert on her website and blog.

Gert over text.


Gert black and white.

Gert face on.

Gert with a fortune.

Two views of Gert.

You get the idea. And those are just from her website. Gert is all over her blog. Obsessive isn't it? Yeah, I like it too.

Cover Proof for "That's No Excuse…" Has Arrived

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We are one step closer. The cover proof for That's No Excuse… arrived in yesterday's mail. I'm thrilled with the endorsements the editor was able to gather! If it turns out to be a popular book will there be plush toys in my future? A girl has gotta hope.


(A huge thank you to Janice whose lovely cat modeled for Bill in looks, not attitude.)

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

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The other day, perhaps because the temperatures were warming, I decided it would be a good idea to take fluid acrylics into the park and sketch the geese. Big laugh. Other painters may have great success traveling out and about with fluid acrylics, but I found that it was a lot more equipment to lug around. (I needed to carry a water bottle and two former yogurt containers to hold my rinse water; several brushes; paper towels; a flat plastic tray for a mixing palette; plastic jars to hold some paint; and my collapsible chair.)

The good news is that I knew I'd be sketching geese so I only took three small jars of paint (blue, orange, and white). (The small plastic jars have lids and they fit into a palette—which I didn't have at this time, but now do. Art Alternatives makes them. They are pretty spiffy.) So essentially it was as if I were painting with inks, holding little bottles.

You can see the original sketching brush strokes in the unfinished portions of the goose on the right. Frankly, it wasn't that warm after all. And the wind was causing a skin to form on my paints when the jar lids were off.

Definitely not a well-thought out plan. Thank heavens for gouache! But it was great fun to see the geese back in the park. Eight pairs so far.

A Peek at a New Project

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Above is character sketch I was working on the other day. I don't know that this project is going to come to anything yet, but I thought you might enjoy seeing a little bit of it.