Day 8 of 21 (part three.)

Cornfed Wine. It's new, it's fresh, it's exciting. Make sure you don't miss out on this next craze! Go get yours today!

Thursday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a really pleasant child to be around for the summer and beyond.

IF_Canned

Shortly after being canned from the corner market display, the Peas took the "no label" can with him in hopes she would turn out to be his Carrots.

Day 7 of 21 (part three.)

These little gators are just waitin' for a new wino to take the plunge. It's the Pinot with a bite!

Wednesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a day of web design. It's painful but very, very rewarding!

Day 6 of 21 (part three.)

This label was inspired from a movie I saw today. Took the family to see "Chimps in Space" and although the movie was just a luke warm OK at best, I liked the whole space theme. Thought it could transfer well into a wine label.

I am going to the John Mayer Colby Calet concert tonight and am hoping for some inspiration for tomorrow's post! Can't wait to see and hear this venue, I love both John and Colby!!

Today, I was given an early birthday present. It was unexpected. It was over the top but greatly appreciated. It is so nice when you are taken by surprise. Has anyone ever surprised you? When you weren't looking, have you ever gotten the nicest little morsel handed to you on a shiny platter? Boy it is so great when things like that happen. Here is my birthday present.

Anyone going to the SCBWI conference this coming weekend in LA? If so, please email me so we can meet!!

Tuesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for surprise birthday presents!

Day 5 of 21 (part three.)

Inspired by the Blues music scene from the Mississippi Delta region, where the uniquely American musical genre was born. Pioneering blues artists like Charley Patton and Tommy Johnson in the 1920s and '30s influenced younger musicians such as Son House, Robert Johnson, and Bukka White, who in turn inspired blues greats like Muddy Waters, who eventually took the blues northward to Chicago in the 1940s and contributed to the emergence of both American and British rock and roll.
I am a BIG, BIG fan of the blues and this wine would indeed roll right over your tongue and tinge your mouth with wistful soul baring pureness as the blues will do to your heart.

Monday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a silly group of friends who will go out dancing on a Monday night just because the mood struck us. Gotta LOVE that!

Uck. So Gross!!!

Discussion in the car from 3 days ago:

Frizzle: Mom, tell me a really gross story.
Mom: OK, but it's really, really gross, so be prepared. There was this girl who was at a conference talking to another girl she had just met. This girl was cute, dressed nicely and very chatty. Well, as she was talking, the girl stuck her finger in her ear and dug around for a bit then pulled something out with her fingers, rolled it in between her fingers and stuck it in her pocket. OK, the first girl thought, that was weird but whatever. Then the other girl did it again but this time she stuck her finger in her MOUTH! OH! SO! GROSS!
Frizzle: That's it?
Skippy: That isn't gross.
Puppy: Yeah, that is nothing.

My sister (mom) and I just looked at each other, very grossed out and thoroughly disgusted that the 3 kids sitting behind us in the car didn't even find this even remotely gross. What is this world coming to? Because that is VERY gross!!

Sunday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a free night to finish my new novel. It's riveting!

Day 4 of 21 (part three.)

Here's what buzzin' cuzzin', it's time to rock around the clock all you local cats. Go ape as you blast on out of Nowheresville with The Big Daddy Merlot. It's radioactive!

Day 3 of 21 (part three.)

My third label for this illustration session. Not so retro but inspired by a novel I am staying up way too late to read. Today, I started another painting but if I posted it right now, you'd only see a black canvas. Yes, black not blank. I am starting with a black base this time to try something new.

If anyone reading this is going to the SCBWI conference in Los Angeles next weekend, please email me and let me know what days you are going. I am going on Sunday and would love to meet a fellow illustrator/author. It should be very fun!!

Saturday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for good friends. A friend honored me today with very, very kind words. For that, I am always very grateful!

Day 2 of 21 (part three.)

Another label for the 21 Day Challenge. A retro feel, not so much but I do like the simplicity this label offers. I know you are not supposed to pick out wines by the label but I can't help the artist in me when I am standing before a wall full of wines and I look at all the labels trying to determine which one to buy. Oh yes, a nice label will sucker me in every time. Should learn my lesson but I can't be helped. Must send out the troops to pick the wines for I fail miserably every time. I would try this one because of the label and since it doesn't exist, I'll just tell you it is fabulous, light and fruity on the palate!


Just finished reading this book. I couldn't put it down. Stayed up way too late two evenings just to see what would happen and now I had to run out to get the next book which is this one.


Friday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a lovely afternoon on the beach, watching my boy tackle the waves on his boogie board.

Day 1 of 21 (part three.)

One more round of the 21 Day Challenge, I can't resist. This time I am making the goal of continuing in the quest for the retro feeling but all in wine labels. Yup, 21 days of wine labels. This one is a nod to the illustrator I met today at Comic Con, Mr. Brandon Ragnar Johnson himself.

Comic Con reigns triumphant!

Went to Comic Con for the first time. Ever. It was awesome. Much, much more than I had ever expected. My friend Barron and I talked to numerous illustrators, and not just comic book illustrators either. Illustrators of all kinds with kids books, posters, cards, etc. Row after row, table after table. So nice they all were too. In fact, we got a few signatures being the groupies that we really are. Guess who signed the books that we purchased? Ragnar. He is an incredible illustrator, very talented and so very nice. Barron is standing in front of Ragnar's posters and art. The photo of a giant Pikachu and myself was strictly for my boy's enjoyment. He was so incredibly jealous when he saw this. Next year, I'm taking him with me!

Thursday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for my friend who took my son for the afternoon so I could oogle illustrators all day long.

Foney Baloney.

'nough said. When you are looking for it, life really delivers bits of wisdom in candy coated idioms. Life is just a big giant candy dish!

Wednesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a delicious meal at Hash House this morning. I shined my daily power walk and it was SO worth it!

Food for friends.

I am beginning to realize how true this statement really is!

Cha Ching.

Is there a chance my son has been watching too much Spongebob lately? He came up to me tonight and said, "Cha-ching, Cha-ching, there's nothing like the smell of money!" I didn't know whether to sit right down on the floor and start crying because the consumers have brainwashed my baby or laugh out loud because that is the most obscure thing I have heard in a long time. Looking at my perplexed face, he reassured me, "That's what Mr. Crabs says on Spongebob!" Oh, well blow me barnacles!

Tuesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for the Kettlebell I just bought and want to start using tomorrow. (Kettlebell is a iron weight used with specific routines.)

It's Summer and we ARE having a great time--DARN IT!

This is a little logo I am working on for my jewelry making friend. We are creating a website for her and today she informed me she wants a new look. More fun and whimsical. OK, I'm all about that so here we go...

What a crab I am today. That's it plain and simple. My brain is literally fried from 30 hours of investment talk over the weekend and work, work work stacking up and a house full of small guests this afternoon. I am not complaining however, really, although it seems that I am, I am not. I like to be busy, I am productive when I am busy and I am effective, motivated and organized when I am busy. This is summer though and I am supposed to be having a lazy, leisurely, fun summer with my son and somehow when my work piles up I become less fun for him. So, this makes me crabby because I feel guilty that I am not holding up my side of the summer bargain that I created in the gaping holes of my brain. Hopefully he doesn't know about my guilt, that would give me even more to be guilty about then now, wouldn't it? Anyway, enough about the guilt thing, I'll just leave that on the doorstep when I take my son to camp tomorrow and try, try, try to cram a whole bunch of work into a few hours. THEN we'll have some fun--darn it!

Monday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for coffee. I know I am supposed to be weaning myself off the stuff but today the coffee gnomes delivered! (I'm kidding, I had to walk 4.5 miles to get it and boy was it worth it!)

Sunday's Gratitude

I am so grateful for the time spent playing a board game tonight. Simple, clean fun to be had by all.

IF_Enough and Day 21 of 21 (part two!)

Poor little Madeline. She really, really loved polka dots and wore them every single day. Even her shoes always had dots. But the day she got chicken pox was the day she had enough. Way too many dots she thought and was going to give stripes a try next!

Day 20 of 21 (part two.)

Oh, to just get out of town. That's what I'd like to do right at this moment. Just hop in a cute little red car and speed right out of town.

Saturday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for an evening filled with laughs with my Gala Girlz. Thanks, I needed that!

Day 19 of 21 (part two.)

Some more summer laundry to air.

I was attending a conference today about real estate and investing. Like most artists, this is not a forerunner in the mind so a 12 hour conference could do me some good. Well, this particular one goes Friday, Saturday and Sunday, packing a full 30 hours of intensive investment strategies into 3 days. My mind is fried but ready for more. Hopefully I will be full steam ahead for tomorrow's information because it promises to be quite a bit. For now, I'll just take my 20 pages of notes and review while I call out for sleep. Oh, me pea sized brain is aching!

Friday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn about a subject that I find very interesting but very dry. Alas, I hope to expand my mind and for that I am so grateful!

Day 18 of 21 (part two.)

Summertime laundry.

Wow, what a day. I could not be anymore tired than I am at this moment. A long power walk this morning topped off with an afternoon of playing by the pool makes for a very, very tired girl. This is a very good kind of tired and I'll sleep well tonight! Hope you do too!

Thursday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a brother-in-law who never balks at watching my son. In fact he says it's a pleasure. That is something to be truly grateful for and I am!

A spoonful of sugar...

Just got back from a nice dinner out with my very good friend Barron. (My graphics guru and partner.) We celebrated his birthday which seems to extend out to a month long of parties and festivities, which is exactly how birthdays should be celebrated! We ate at Bandar which is a Persian restaurant, one of my favorites. Good food, good wine and good company. Happy birthday my friend!


This is what I made him for his birthday. It is a list of 45 things I like about him, and I could have made it 100 but he has to live a few more years to earn THAT list!

Wednesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for the multitude of projects in the line up. I'll be busy until the end of the year! For that, I am grateful!

Kindness rules.

Got this quote off a tea bag. I really liked it. Thought I'd share.

Tuesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for an accomplished day. One where I can go to bed and rest my head without running an undone to-do list through it. Ever so grateful for that!

Monday's Gratitude

I am so grateful my logo was picked as the winner for the Traveling Sketchbook 2008. That makes me feel really, really good!

Illustration Friday_Foggy

Little Audrey, oh how she loved to swing. But she didn't have the foggiest notion it would lead her to a life of trapeze artistry later on. For her, it was just about catching some air. The future could wait.

Day 17 of 21 (part two.)

Well, I promised fabulous for my illustration tonight but I believe I have fallen short. No doubt she is cute but I had to make it a quick one so on my next round of 21 day illustrations I promise fabulous. I seriously have a great idea and hope it come out fabulous.

This little illo is for a fabulous little girl who had a birthday party that we attended today. It was a jumpy house party so all the kids were busy jumping in inflatables and the parents got a chance to talk, or jump if they were so inclined. Unfortunately I ate the cake, which I told myself I wasn't going to, but I succumbed with weakness at the last minute. It would have been insulting to not eat it as it was a homemade cake! Right?

Sunday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a nice well needed power walk I took this morning. Boy that felt good!

What is this world coming to?

More logo design work. 21 day illustration is being shoved to tomorrow. I promise to work up something fabulous for tomorrow though!

Tonight was date night and we were out on the town, trying out a new restaurant called Cowboy Star, recommended by a friend who is a "foodie". While walking to the restaurant (after finding a prime parking spot downtown even during a baseball game!) we came across a man laying face down on the sidewalk. You have two options when you come across something like that, you can look the other way and walk on by, thinking to yourself that the pitiful drunk should get out of the walkway lest you ruin your shoes OR you can stop and see if he needs some medical attention. I watched several people choose option one so I went over to him and asked him if he needed help. Well, what do you know, he did! And he didn't bite, cuss us out or threaten our lives. In fact he was appreciative of the help. Imagine that! I lept into action, grabbing a passerby who was lurking and my husband to help lift this man and then I called 911. I seriously think that even though he was drunk, he was having some serious health problem. He had severe chest pain and was near tears. His wife and brother were there and not quite sure what to do. The fire truck quickly came with paramedics and took control of the situation.

However, the whole incident made me contemplate what is wrong with people these days? Why do people just walk by someone who needs help? I know it is inconvenient and all but come on. If we can't at least rely on someone to call for help when we need it, how is our world going to look when we are older? Much older? Of course I hope I am never face down on the sidewalk 20 years from now but who knows what kind of help I may need sometime? Not sure I am liking that picture.

Saturday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a nice meal, conversation and an excellent glass of wine.

Another Fine Day.

The jury is still out on these t-shirts!

Another night of relaxing with a friend, chatting away without a care in the world. This is what summers are made of and I am indulging as much as I can and every moment I am available. This group of girls, a large gaggle of friends has come into my life at just the right moment, a time that is ripe for enjoying friendships. I have always had a lot of male friends and a few female friends for most of my life. It just seemed easier, more natural and less work. However, my girlfriend list is growing and growing and I am hoping it never stops.

Friday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for another day of painting and getting another graphics job almost completed. Bring it on weekend, bring it on!

Day 16 of 21 (part two.)

OK, I'm back to my 21 days of illustration project. Got a little distracted, my how that happens so easily. This little illo is of a gaggle of friends. I am trying to work more people into my illustrations as well as the retro feel. Haven't figured out the retro thing but life is a journey so I'll forge ahead. It'll come one day, I know it will. (If my Gala girls are reading this, please don't think this is an illo of us. There is no one that resembles these characters. No one, you hear me? I don't want to hear any complaints later about who is who and who got left out. Hee-hee.)

I was talking to my new walking buddy about friends and how I have always wanted a group of girls who go off without their families and have a fun filled weekend in another city. And they do it for many, many years. Well, my friend has always wanted that too so we said we'll start our own group and then we extended the idea to our Gala group and now guess what? We have a group of 10 girls who want to go off to another city one weekend a year! Just like that! Whoo-hoo! We are officially the "Gala Girlz" and our first trip is planned for a weekend in November in Palm Springs. WOW! Imagine if you threw all your wants out to the universe and it all happened just like this? Imagine. I'd have nothing to complain or rant about.

Thursday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful to be off to a fashion show at the posh Ivy Hotel downtown tonight. Yipee.

They are DONE and out the door!

I've got 5 Artist Trading Cards. One is spoken for but if anyone would like to trade one of the other four, email me. I'd LOVE to trade! They are hand painted works of art. (Just little bits though, being only 2.5"x 3.5".)

I just got done watching Indochine. I have wanted to see that film for a long time but it is so rare I am in the mood for subtitles. What a movie. Beautiful scenery, interesting characters and even a little history lesson. Loved it. But beware, it's a long one. I am so in love with Catherine Deneuve--she's awesome!

Wednesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a bit of a head start on my new website.

It's Artist Trading Card time!

I am participating in a little trade of artist's cards called ATC. They are small works of art you create and the only restriction is that it has to be 2.5" x 3.5". No less and no more. These are two of the cards I received from Krissy Folk Art and they are up on my inspiration board. LOVE THEM! Thanks Krissy! I am finishing up mine and will post later but if anyone wants to do a trade with me, let me know and I'll send you one! It's fun!

This is another painting in my inspired series. I am working on another, the message is not speaking to me at this moment so a blank canvas sits on my easel until the inspired thoughts "speak" to me. Tomorrow I am confident I'll be "hearing" some inspiration.

Tuesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a nice long, hilly walk and some inspiring conversation.

It was a painting day.

I painted a mural today. It was for a baby's room and one parent is from Canada and the other is from Australia (hence the flags on the beach sign.) I love painting murals. Unfortunately for me that part of my business has slowed down. A few summers ago I was so busy that I was going to have to hire an assistant to help me out but over the past few years, the economy has slowed things down to a crawl. Anyway, I treasure the murals that I DO get to paint and this is one of them!



Monday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for meeting new people and making new friends.

My eyes, my eyes!

This post is of a logo and business cards I did a while back. I have been working on a very in depth style guide all day (over 12 hours) and I cannot look at my computer one second longer. So, I will have to post a closet resurrection I am afraid. None the less, it still is a creation so I can't wallow in disappointment for too long tonight. I must go rest my eyes, they are killing me. It's no wonder I needed glasses!

Oh, by the way, I did get my glasses and when I wear them I feel a little nauseous. I think that is normal but it sure affected my bowling yesterday. Since I don't bowl well anyway, the glasses really made a mockery out of me. Then halfway through I realized the blasted things were a hindrance so I took them off and my bowling improved 200%!! I wonder if I can go trade my eyeballs in for a new model? Maybe lease a pair? I think I'd try a brown pair...

Sunday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful I am finished with a really big project. Couch, here I come!

Saturday's Gratitude

I am so grateful for a fun filled afternoon of bowling with another family. I bowl maybe once a year and only when I have to at best so you can imagine how low my score was! Have to say it was fun though. Great place to people watch!

Illustration Friday_Sour

She sure is sweet on the outside but don't be fooled by the hand picked daisies, the cute little freckles and the crisp pinafore jumper. She can be quite sour on the inside! She forgets the sugar when she makes lemonade, pinches her little brother and tells white lies whenever the opportunity arises!

Day 15 of 21 (part two.)

Happy 4th of July!

Friday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for the freedom we experience in America and a spectacular fireworks show just steps away from our neighborhood.

Day 14 of 21 (part two.)

Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering to fly.--anonymous

Thursday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a day of painting and hanging out with my son. My own personal little angel.

Grady's turning 5!!

This is a little illo I did for our friend's youngest child. We ironed them onto aprons and they turned out so dang cute. Wish I took a photo of the apron. Our good friends have three kids, boys in fact, and their youngest one just turned 5! Other people's kids seem to grow so fast. And I just thought my child was!

Don't you remember when you were young wanting to be just one more year older? I'd tell people that I was not just 7 but 7 and 1/2!! I wonder if time flew by as quickly for my parents as it is for me. Hmmm, wish I would have asked my dad that question.

Wednesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for the two hours of bookstore time I will be enjoying in about 45 minutes. I LOVE bookstores!

Day 13 of 21 (part two.)

Over at justonemorebook.com there is a little call for logos. So, I couldn't resist and here is what I submitted. That website is a great resource for children's book authors and illustrators and I know I'll be lurking over there quite frequently.

The journey...

Don't know where I am going but I am sure enjoying the journey. This is my 8th painting in my inspired series. I haven't placed a number on how many there will be but as long as the concepts with the energy behind it keep showing up, I am obliged to let them in and set up home. I am getting to the point where I have to paint something almost everyday. I am drawn like a sheet of metal to the magnet of my canvas and the list of what to paint keeps growing longer. I may never stop.

"Do something creative everyday" is a motto I have adopted and am holding on tight to. It truly feeds my creative soul, this doing. This painting. This stretching the mind. The writing. It's all I seem to be focusing on, I think about creating something every single day and quite a few minutes and hours out of those days. Maybe you are creative too. Maybe you should try to create something, anything, every single day. Give it a try and I'll bet you will never go back!

Tuesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for the air I breathe and how my lungs take it all in every single day, every single moment, never stopping. That I am very grateful for. Life. Living.