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.

November Watercolour ACEOs

Late autumn and watercolours just might be made for each other.

Watercolours are ideal for depicting the often moody sky, and more than a few frosts have left the colors of the land subdued.

These are the paintings I've been working on the past few days. They're all ACEO/ATC size-- 2.5 x 3.5", and done in watercolour.

I should be getting some new watercolour brushes in the mail in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait to try them out.

It's been a beautiful autumn, and I hope it lasts a while longer.
Just now there are snow flurries blowing past the window. I may be painting snow-covered landscapes soon.


































And yes, I realize I stink at formatting my posts! Need to figure this out...

November Plein Air

This is my somewhat-faithful dog. She came with me today on a short tramp through the woods to find a place to plop myself down and paint.
I settled on a spot in a pasture, and Somewhat-Faithful stuck with me as my companion and watchdog... until a herd of deer showed up. After the excitement of routing a whole herd how could she possibly be expected to settle down and keep an unusually boring person company? S.F. decided she'd live up to a dog's loyal reputation some other time.


It was a beautiful afternoon today. Calm and sunshiny. The sun's position in the sky this time of year creates some wonderful highlights and shadows, but the cold that also tends to be present makes painting out of doors pretty unappealing most days.
I decided on a hill full of shadows and uneven ground.
Basically scribbling on my canvas...
Trying to correct some color issues...

Working on the trees...
By this time the wind had picked up, the shadows were getting long, and my hands were so cold! Time to call it quits.

Hannah C. Heyer
November 2, 2010 Plein Air
5x7" oil on cotton

Tale of the Koala Princess, part two

The copies I ordered of The Tale of the Koala Princess came today!

I ended up using Lulu.com, since I was in a hurry and had heard pretty good things about that company.

I was a bit disappointed that the only format I found that had few enough pages for this little story was their photo book, but there were a lot of page layout options and over all it worked out well.

The printing looks good, and I really like how clear the pictures are.
The cover looks good too, but the illustrations inside all have a slight pinkish hue to them, which I'm not crazy about.

But my little niece LOVES pink, so I don't think she'll complain. ;-)
I can't wait till she gets it!

Quiet Time

Quiet Time, 7 x 5" watercolour on cotton paper

I miss these people.
I did this painting earlier this year, during my stay in Australia with my sister and her family. I was fiddling around with my watercolour paints at the table when they settled down to read. (The book is The Jesus Storybook Bible, in case you were curious :-) )

I just noticed the beautiful afternoon light coming in from the window, the long legs of my little nephew who's growing up so quickly, and petite niece with her big personality and sleepy eyes.
I began it then and there, and though they had long since run off to play by the time I finished, I hope I managed to capture a little bit of the moment.
Special thanks to my brother-in-law for pointing out that the chair had a handle for the footrest. Details! ;-)

Summer Revisited

In body, I spent the day in a drafty house, wearing slippers and keeping the oven going to take the chill off. But in my mind's eye it was late summer again, with newly baled round-bales casting long shadows in the warm evening.
I'm using a plein air painting I did this summer as a reference, or study. I like doing this, as painting on location helps me get a better feel for the lighting, detail and layout of the landscape-- and also because my camera is an inveterate liar.
It's been a long time since I've been able to devote a whole day to painting, and it felt mighty good. And spending time with my crazy-fun family kept things interesting. Burnt coffee beans, anyone?

Tale of the Koala Princess, part one

Yesterday I began the illustrations for what will hopefully become a charming bit of a book for my niece for her 4th birthday.
The story is a funny little improvised tale told to her one day by her mother. I loved it, and my niece's reaction to it, and have been wanting to illustrate it since.
There are ten illustrations in all. Right now they're just in the ink stage, but I plan to complete them with watercolour soon.