September Watercolours

Does it make sense that while we were without water (the old cistern was being replaced) I just had to paint with watercolour?

8x10" watercolour

A Roadside, 2.5 x 3.5" watercolour

September Tree, 3.5 x 2.5" watercolour

The bright clear days, fields changing to autumn hues, and trees clinging to summer green-- I had to paint something! And washing out oil painting brushes without running water was not very appealing.

I've had to stick close to home a lot lately, and after a much needed (but very short) ramble one evening I did some quick watercolour sketches while colors and places were fresh in my mind. This is such a beautiful time of year.

Happy to have water again, and hoping to work on some of my incomplete oil paintings very soon.

Binksie & Bep

Today I worked on illustrating.
I'm publishing a children's book, which will hopefully be coming out sometime early next year, and tonight I completed sketching the last of the 21 illustrations in ink.
They still have to be painted, but it's great to be able to get a tangible idea of what my book will look like once it's completed.
I'm so excited about this project! It's been so much fun, but a lot of work too. I've decided to go the self-publishing route, which for me translates to lots of control (yay!) but also doing virtually all the work myself (yikes!).
I've learned a lot over the past year, through the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and other resources, about publishing and all that goes along with it. Lately I've been learning more about formatting, layout, ISBN, distribution, and all that fun stuff.
There's still a lot more to learn and do, but I've been so blessed by my family and others who have critiqued, advised, and put up with my rambling, "out loud" thinking as I pursue this adventure.

Stick around and you'll no doubt get an ear-full about this book!
For now here's one of the ink illustrations.

A little sketch

Sometimes the hardest things to draw are the things I'm most used to seeing. I think sometimes I'm so used to seeing certain things or places, that I forget to actually look.

I'm working on sketching things more as I'm seeing them, or shortly thereafter when they're still fresh in my mind.
The following is a sketch of a narrow strip of land in the frozen Mississippi River.

Scribbles

December has been a very busy month. I haven't been able to do as much painting as I'd like.
Mostly I've scribbled.