Saying Goodbye to A Year... and My Dad.

In my other blogs, I posted my thoughts and goodbyes to my Dad, but while cleaning off the hard drive as part of my year’s end activities this morning, I found a few of the illustrations that I’d made for a Father’s Day iPhoto book for my father a few years ago.  Since this blog is supposed to be the place to share my drawings, I thought I’d tuck them here.

Sing or Talk to your Kids at Bedtime...

One of my earliest memories is my Dad singing me a lullaby at night, a tradition I carried on with my own girls.  Reading, talking, praying or spending time with your children as often as you can before they go to sleep is something that will give them roots and love as they grow.  This is becoming a bit more of a challenge as they hit their tweens and teens and like to read in bed on their own, but I will eventually find the new balance that keeps us close but respects their changing desires for more independence.

Always Reach For Your Dreams...

My Dad was the ultimate, impulsive dreamer.  I learned that spark of believing that almost nothing is impossible from him, but thankfully also got  the practical planning necessary to accomplish goals from my Mom!  Encourage your kids to follow their dreams!  Too often, grownups explain in very practical terms why certain impossible dreams could never work.  Instead, why not give them the tools or help they need to try to see if they could make their dreams a reality (within reason and budget of course) because they just may surprise you!

Happy New Year Everyone! Keep Dreaming and Doodling!

Time for some Holiday FUN!

I’ve just finished revamping my Dragon Dreams website and am working on the final touches to change some of the artwork on my Dragon Doodles website for 2010, so I thought I should add a little contest for some co-creativity holiday fun.

A larger version of this picture can be found HERE so that you can print out a copy and use your imagination.  Drawing ability helps, but when my daughters and I sit down to pick the winners on December 21st, we’ll look at who really used their imagination as well.  The prizes will be 3 hand drawn ATC (Artist’s Trading Cards) created especially for this contest!

To enter, scan in your entry, post it to a site like flickr or blogger where you can share a link and post that link in your comments to this entry.  You have until midnight (Atlantic Standard Time) on December 20th to enter and you may enter more than once.

I can’t wait to see how creative you are...

Trying to give back when you were given to...

Sometimes... I have to draw it instead of say it.  I tied this into my Inhaling Creativity blog, but when I heard the sad news yesterday, I thought in pictures first.

This song was one of the first recordings I remember listening to where I understood the words.  It also was the fist song that made me want to create something so that I could re-work an ending to a story.

When I was little, I thought that Puff was sparkly blue or pink until I realized that people always seem to associate those colours with gender, which this dragon has never needed.

Goodbye Mary.  I am thankful that your creativity and music made a difference in my life... and that is really what Art is all about.

Learning From Kids...

Part of the Grade 4 and 5 curriculum is a component in Health where the kids have to fill out sheets about themselves.  I have seen several variations on this theme and blogged about it on Friday in my Inhaling Creativity blog.  

Since this blog is a place where I can show off my doodles, I thought it was worth posting here too...

Luckily, this page turned out better than the cooking adventure I wrote about there.  Maybe I can turn that into a children’s book idea someday... I will be able to picture the grimaces on my family’s faces for quite some time!

A Special Day to PLAY!

The bio on my  Dragon Doodles website says it best:

"Crayons DRAW better than they TASTE!"  

On this, my 44th birthday, I went back to my childhood roots and pulled out my big box of 96 Crayola crayons.  Remember the fun of getting a new box of crayons where all the tips were pointy and none of them were broken?  Illustrators are really just little kids at heart who love to have new art supplies to play with.  We never outgrow the longing to sniff a new box of crayons, reach out and touch the surface of the paper to see what kind of tooth or grain it may offer, and marvel at the way the paint swirls off our brush to make clouds in the water of the jar as we rinse between colours.

I had booked the day off for my birthday but was going live with an adventure counting down 365 days of Creativity today called Inhaling Creativity, so I wanted to have fun and just PLAY with the painting for this blog.

Happy Birthday to Me!

The Beginning of a New Adventure...

     This blog is the beginning of a whole new adventure looking into the trials and tribulations, the highs and lows and the challenges of being a children’s book illustrator... the adventure of drawing the impossible in a way that brings it alive.

     I need a place to share sketches, work through ideas and promote myself to a wider world.  I hope you will enjoy what you find in these pages.

     Like any grand adventure, this one has to begin with a single step... or in this case, a single page from my sketchbook, coloured in Photoshop as I play with my tablet.  

     I already know that the “DELETE” button can be both a blessing and a curse.  One of the reasons that I switched to sketching in pen after the SCBWI conference in Los Angeles last summer was because of one speaker who challenged us to get away from the fear of making mistakes that can hold so many of us back from truly chasing our dreams and finding our path.  It will take some time not to be incredibly fussy about getting things “right” with the tablet when so much of my life has been spent drawing and colouring things by hand.

     What is the point of going on an adventure if you aren’t willing to learn new things, explore new horizons and stumble once or twice along the way?  Time to just step out onto the path and explore!