Plain Plane

Plain- Illustration Friday prompt for January 18. Vincent was excited to see his cat in his new aeroplane. He didn't even know cats knew how to fly!

It is also plain to see my scanner is still not hooked up to my new PC! Darn Vista!

Illustration Friday Catch up

Stitch- Illustration Friday. Sally was sad when her favourite telling time pillow lost one of it's numbers, but grandma knew just what to do. She grabbed her sewing kid and told Sally..."don't worry, Sally, grandma will sew this nine back on in no time! Besides, everyone knows a stitch in time saves 9!"
Horizon and Soar- Illustration Friday. Felix was having the best of days!
My new Ott Light! Thank You Santa!!!! 100% (Fruit Juice)-Illustration Friday. Jim knew that apple juice came from a tree, he just couldn't figure out how to get it in the glass!

What's on the art table right now. Fine tuning the CD cover for "Cartwheels at Midnight." You will find more information over at Blog Me Till Midnight.

Excess

Excessive- Illustration Friday 11/28.

EXCESSIVE amounts of candy canes make elves do crazy things like EXTREME snow sculpture!

Artists notes:

I really, really enjoyed making this picture! The various "thug snowmen" were a challenge but creating different personalities was fun. Sorry, no colour until I get my new 'puter hooked up and get the hang of Adobe Photo shop and my Wacom.

Zoo Doo- Unique Holiday Gifts

The Zoo - Prompt from Illustration Friday for November 23. So you say you have no idea what to get Aunt Matilda for Christmas. She has EVERYTHING...well, I'm betting she doesn't have this...it's Zoo Doo or Poo Pets. Endangered Feces.They are animal feces that have been heat treated (so there is no smell at all) and formed into animals. You set them in your houseplants and water over them. They slowly dissolve and provide your plants with a fertilizer that will enhance the health of your plants!

I still can't imagine the guy that comes home after landing the job at the "Zoo Doo" plant. "What is it you do again, honey?" "I do doo. I sculpt doo doo into animals!" "Really...and they pay you for that?!"

Other Poop-ular sites:

Poo Pets

Ranger Rick Article (includes Moose Poop earrings)

Doody-Heads at Woodland Park Zoo

"Fall Fecal Fest" Zoo Doo Drawing Contest- Sorry you missed it!

Super-stitious or just a little-stitious?

"Andrea didn't really believe herself to be superstitious by nature; but, if she didn't start her holiday shopping on 'Black Friday' she felt she would have bad luck the rest of the season!"
Superstition- Illustration Friday prompt for November 16.

Scales

Scales- Prompt for Illustration Friday, November 9, 2007.

I did this for a prompt in 2005 for I-Fri. I can't believe I have been with this site that long. Actually since the beginning of I-Fri in 2004. WOW! I have NEVER gone as far as I have with my art until Penelope started this site. Well, being out of work for eight weeks and finding "HysterSisters.com" also helped. Thank You Penelope...you have my vote for the patron saint of online artists for sure!!!!!

Hats

"Harold was always prepared for his cases right down to picking the 'winning' tie; however, he had the worst luck with picking out 'winning' hats!

Trick or Treat- Illustration Friday

"Trick-o-Treat" - Illustration Friday's prompt for Oct. 26, 2007.
Since I dedicated the prompt "Extreme" to Trick or Treating two weeks ago...I thought I would finish this fall piece I started last week.
Hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Grow- Illustration Friday

Grow- Illustration Friday challenge for Oct. 19, 2007.
I was walking with my dog gathering fall leaves to put on my art table for inspiration when I decided to paint this leaf. I wanted to "immortalize" it's beauty for all to see. To me Fall is celebration of growth.

Extreme...Trick-or-Treating

Extreme- Illustration Friday prompt for October 12. Whew! My computer has been acting up and I almost didn't get this in on time. Frustrating when you have it done days earlier!
"Tommy invented "Extreme Trick-or-Treating" last year when he got that new camera with the zoom lens for his birthday. He shows up the day before Halloween and extorts candy from his neighbors!"

Open...Canvas

"Open" -Illustration Friday prompt for October 5th (My daddy's birthday! Happy Birthday Dad!)....as you can see this is a culmination of four year's worth of Illustration Friday's. I call it "Open Canvas." All my characters from past pieces are lobbying for "lead role" in my next Illustration Friday entry. I will be adding colour to this later.
Thanks for looking...you art voyer you! ;)

Blue- Illustration Friday

The Blues- Illustration Friday prompt for Sept. 28,2007.
Harold was anxious to get home. He was going to get his telescope out to look at the blue moon. Being the only kid in his class who was born to smurfs, he was the only blue child in the whole school. Most of the time he was picked on because of his blue colour. But, tonight would be different.
He was convinced that anything was possible under a blue moon... and this evening he would test that theory!
Artist's note:
Not happy with this piece. I should have left it with out colour and added it in the computer. However; thanks to a dear friend I now have Adobe Photoshop 7.0 to go with my Wacom tablet! Yesterday, after reading Wynlan's "The Giraffe has Five Legs" newsletter I have hooked up to Mike Tackett's tutorial on using layers effective in Photoshop and Painter. I hope to have something I'll be more proud to show next week...that is if my scanner starts working properly again!

Juggle

Juggle... Illustration Friday challenge for Sept. 21.
A dedication to an old friend....Rest in Peace Marcel...rest in peace.

Alpha-Bets Illustration Friday

Alpha-Bets- Illustration Friday challenge for Friday August 31, 2007.

As you can see there are simple ways to look at these challenges and then there is my way of looking at them.

Sorry I have been away for so long. Another wedding in the family, several yearly committments and some new ones have all taken some of my time. I think I will hang around for a while now that it is fall again! I am excited to say a recent project I have an illustration in is now published!!! My book that I am writing and illustrating is coming along, and the CD album cover is near completion. There have been other arty stops along the way and I will share at a later date. I miss I-Fri and am glad to be back!

Geeky for I-Fri and Introducing Kristen Smith

Illustration Friday Challenge- Geeky.

Geek- geek (gēk) Slang.n.
A person regarded as foolish, inept, or clumsy.
A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.
A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken.tr.v., geeked, -ing, geeks.

Keeping this in mind I was going to draw a bunch of "nerds of the animal world" with glasses and pocket protectors... when I came accross this animal and figured he needed no modification at all. He must have been treated like a" geek" by other monkeys! LOL!!

I travel a lot going from store to store checking my company's product and setting displays. Occassionally I am in the right place at the right time and I find/meet a gem. Last week that gem was a young lady named Kristen Smith of Maryland. While sitting and chatting I discovered we both have art in common. Right away I asked if she knew about "Illustration Friday" and she said she did but was committed to Deviant Art. We chatted about art while and looked at my art that comes up on the screensaver of my laptop. She asked for a pen and paper and proceeded to draw this picture...which she gave to me. (This will be framed and hanging in my new studio as I love to have other artist's work hanging to inspire me!) I was so impressed with her talent I thought I would share with you. Please stop by her site and give her encouragement! http://nightshade-lacrimosa.deviantart.com/

Camouflage- Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday Challenge- Camouflage.
Margaret was very proud of her new line of clothing. She called it..."Camouflage for the Urban Jungle!"
I'll add colour later...getting ready to drive 7 hours North this week end to my nephew Mike's graduation Luau in NY!! I don't think we'll be wearing any of Margaret's clothing line though! LOL!!

Rejection- Illustration Friday

"Mildred probably shouldn't have eaten the entire cake. She could see how her daughter had rejected her decision. But, there would be no more making comments about her daughter's eating habits from here on out! That's for sure!!!"

Catchup!

OK , So I have been slacking in the art department lately...but our daughter is getting married again, my nephew graduates this year and my four year old grandson seems to need more attention than he did when he was three for some reason. But I have still been sketching out each word as they come along in Illustration Friday. So that has to count for something. Right? Crude as they are here are some of the past few prompts Citrus and Car along with the current one- Suit.























Since the popularity polls have the President at an all time low in relation to the War in Iraq he decided to try alternate methods of trying to find a solution about what to do.
"Oh great one......I'm in need of your wisdom....I'm needing help with my Iraq situation.....I'm needing a sign of which direction to head....I'm...I'm...I'm...Peach? OW!"

Remembering Neighbors

Remember/Neighbor- Illustration Friday challenge for 4/27 and 5/4.

When we were young we did a lot with our neighbor's the Pierce family and the boy down the street Randy Hess. Wayne, Betty, Tammy and Doreen were the Pierce kids. What I loved were the shows we had in the back yard for all the neighbors to see, playing baseball in the side yard, selling mud pies door to door and of course the "Fleming Flop" club house. It didn't look exactly like this but you get the idea!!

OK...this is the past two Illustration Fridays combined. I have been busy on a few projects. One is a book I am working on that I can't wait to share with you all soon. Another is described, somewhat, below. Apologies about the roughness of the pic. I'll finish and post another day.

Cartwheeling Kids

I have been holed up working on a challenging project for some time now. You would think it would be easy..."draw kids cartwheeling." Right? Well this turned out to be a bit more of challenge as you can see in these drawings.

You can see the actual evolution of this project in the sketches I share here.

Running, hopping, maybe even swinging from the trees I could handle. This cartwheeling thing had me for a while.

More on this project coming soon.....