A foggy situation.

So, I know you've heard the stories of Captain Morgan, William Kidd, Anne Bonny, and of course the infamous Blackbeard. The pirates of the Caribbean. But did you know the story of Captain Noah and his infamous Ark? Scholars are still a little foggy with the details, but I can assure you that Noah has been around the world and had his fair share of animal pirate booty! Legend says he had 2 of every animal aboard his rigger, and that the infamous Ark has not been found to this day!

Jack Stacks, or, hoarding

Awhile back I started working on a book about Jack, who collects and stacks stuff. In the end he learns the old adage, 'tis better to give than receive. This drawing is one of the pages. I guess it was partly a 'self-help' action, to write about someone with too much stuff so I could identify. Anyway, it got shelved and now I'm working on one of the many other ideas I have for books. Maybe I'll revisit this one day...

In the beginning...

Here is my newest painting about Adam and Eve, titled, "The Story of Us". I'm working on a couple other bible stories also. There is so much rich imagery in the bible so I thought I'd flesh out a few in my own way. Next up is Samson fighting the lion.

Also I thought this could work for Illustration Friday this week, punchline. I've been trying to think of a punchline for this and here is what I came up with: "I don't feel like making dinner tonight, maybe just fruit will do..." Kind of cheesy I know. Let me know if you think of other punchlines for this, I'd love to hear what you come up with!

A Day in the Life...

I was tagged by "Lil Kim" with "a day in the life" meme. Hers was great and it sounds fun, so here goes (I tried to wait until I had a more exciting day than "eat breakfast, go to work, watch american idol, sleep!):

Thursday, May 22, 2008...

* Get up about 7 and stumble around for awhile, make coffee, eat some cereal.

* Then it's onto email, blogs, general electrono-socialization and keeping up on the state of the world. A little facebook, poke a few people, chat, etc.



* Onto more seriousness, check email and time to print some cards for an Etsy order from the Woody Mart, as well as a print for someone. Maybe it's like 9:30-10 now... not really sure.

Etsy Buy Handmade WoodyMart

* Two cups of coffee in me and I'm starting to wake up, so I put on some "This American Life" podcast, then a Rob Bell podcast talk while printing and a little studio cleaning.

* Around 11 am I start a painting of Ted Kennedy I drew the other day for my portfolio, I figure it's good to have some portraits in there and he's been in the news lately. Very fun character to draw! Music: Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs (the new album is awesome, hooray for pop music!)

* Finish a couple small paintings started earlier this week, while doing layers on Ted.




* Let the cat out while I grab some lunch, around 12:45. Water plants, and back to work.

* Finish Ted. Listening to Kaki King - Until We Felt Red.



* Quick cat nap at 3:30 (me and the cats!)

* Up and working on one of my stories for a picture book about the moon. No music, writing and "early" creative idea work needs silence!

* Jessica comes home (maybe around 5-5:30), tired, so we take a rest, talk, I do the dishes (much neglected!), and we finally make some home made mac and cheese! Can't beat that!

* After dinner and a little "Reaper"(see below), I pull my butt off the couch and ride the stationary bike as well as lift some weights.



* Now it must be like 8:30pm or so, I open some wine (Boeger 2006 Barbera) and take the laptop outside to write some more (this time, editing some of "The Fabulous Forest Band"). It's been windy all day so it's a little chilly, a clear night, perfect for writing! Finally, around 10:30 I call it quits, head in, finish this post and crawl in bed next to my already dead to the world wife and cuddly cats.

Good nighhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gift!



P.S. I'm supposed to tag a few people as well, so I'd like to see a day in the life of
Mike Baker
Joni Stringfield
Lisa Victoria
Laura Zarrin
and Kathleen Rietz

Illustration Friday - Wide

One way Harry the Octopus found friends was to draw them in with his tropical island. Before you land yourself upon a nice acquaintance, take a wider view and see what's underneath!

I am working on another piece for "Wide", but I thought this one might fit as well. So here is a teaser.

Spring cleaning surprise!

A piece I did for the SCBWI illustrator contest (for which I won Honorable Mention last time!). Here is the idea:

"In a spring cleaning frenzy, the star of your story finally reaches the last closet. It hasn't been opened in a long, long time, and when the door is thrown wide...
WHAT'S INSIDE?"

...and of course what's inside my closet? ANIMALS!! (and free bananas) I can't decide on a title, it's between-

"Surprise closet clean-up"
"Want a banana?"
"Secret closet creatures"

So we'll see how I do in the contest, there could be lots of really cool entries for this one! Good topic!

Primitive escape!

A piece I did for my portfolio that I thought could work for Illustration Friday. There isn't a story behind this yet, but I'm working on a companion piece so it's developing slowly... For now, here is the "primitive" escape!

Also, I won honorable mention in the SCBWI (Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators) illustration contest titled "Finish Line" this month. See the winners (my last blog post is my entry) here.