Cowgirls/cowboys and baby apparel

My second week with Lilla Rogers' MATS B course focused on the baby apparel market. I've printed on many onesies for my Etsy shop over the years, but I know very little about creating a pattern, or the popular market, so I was looking forward to this one.

The assignment was to create a cowgirl/cowboy-themed print for a onesie and/or baby dress. I thought it was a super cute theme, and I messed around with a few cowgirl and silly horse characters, but I just couldn't get into it. I then tried some collage forms and chunky "yee-haws!," but it just wasn't coming together for me. So I decided to simplify, and I began gesture sketching horses running and galloping. And though it didn't turn out very baby-ish, I really enjoyed drawing for this.

Below is my final submission, followed by a couple of other sketches.
Your comments are always welcome!

Another class with Lilla Rogers begins...

The much-anticipated e-course with Lilla Rogers started this past Monday. If you've read my previous posts, you know that I really love taking classes with Lilla. Something about her approach keeps art-making exciting, and not so scary. I find myself more courageous and enthusiastic, and I truly value what I learn in each week's assignment.

This first week of Part B focused on the Paper Market — greeting cards, stationery, journal covers, etc. Lilla begins every assignment with a creative warm-up, or a "mini," where we spend two days just exploring and sketching a specific subject (not concerning ourselves with any end result). This week's mini was about penguins and igloos. After some research, I realized quickly that I was very attracted to the Emperor Penguin, and I spent a great deal of time drawing these penguins with colored pencils, ink and watercolors.

On Wednesday, Lilla asked us to take our sketches and ideas and turn them into a greeting card. I wanted to translate my penguin sketches to a bolder style, and I began to work in collage. I tried some initial cut outs, just to help me visualize the shapes, and then I began to assemble my various penguins.

Directly below was my final submission. Further below are some of my other creations from throughout the week. As always, your comments are encouraged and welcome!

Day 4 of Von Glitschka's 21 Day Drawing Challenge

For Day 4 of Von Glitschka's Drawing Challenge, the task is to draw your own non-dominant hand in several ways. I drew a lot of hands, but it was difficult for me to work in different styles. No matter which style I had in mind, I still kept drawing a similar type of hand. A challenge for sure. Here are some of the less-same sketches of my hand...

Day 3 of Von Glitschka's 21 Day Drawing Challenge

For Day 3 of Von Glitschka's 21 Day Drawing Challenge, we were provided a print out filled with random shapes. The task is to fill in the shapes and "draw what we see."
Here's a section of what I've created so far...

Von Glitschka's 21-Day Drawing Challenge, Day 1

I love Lynda.com, and I'm a huge fan of Von Glitschka's videos. When I saw that Von had come out with a 21-Day Drawing Challenge a few weeks ago, I knew I wanted to do it.

After a brief (and insightful) introduction to the purpose and usefulness of drawing, I started Day 1: draw a cat. Any cat and in any way. Just begin.

I chose my cat and companion, Milla, as my subject, and I decided to sketch her with a pencil -- something I rarely do anymore. Not sure how I'll finish her up, but stay tuned for Day 2...

Jewels and Gems: my final assignment for Make It In Design's summer school

Thursday afternoon was the deadline for my third and final beginner's assignment for Make It In Design's free summer school course. The pattern focus was jewels and gems.

Aside from my wedding ring, I am a jewelry-less person and I just wasn't sure how I was going to get inspired. So I bought toned papers and white pencils, and I drew lots and lots of geometric shapes and sparkly bursts. As I continued to look around at gowns and haute couture, though, I realized that I was drawn to more chunky (and sort of klunky) gems. And I felt collage was a better way for me to go.

Navy is my favorite color, so I paired that with a silvery-white gem collage and submitted this design below. Some of my other ideas and runners-up follow.

I'd love to know what you think, and which one you like best?

Just found this reminder for the Tomie dePaola contest (and now I'm a semi-finalist!)

I keep a large NeuYear calendar on my studio wall. It's so big that I had to cut it into four sections. I can post two sections up at a time, which gives me a good six months of reminders and goals that I want to look at — in large type — every day. The reminders are generally about upcoming freelance work, deadlines or doctor's appointments. The goals are often written months in advance: "complete postcard mailer," "contact this agent," "submit to such-and-such contest." The goals might feel unattainable at the time that I write them on my calendar, but by looking at them daily, I feel much more prepared when the time comes.

Anyhow, as I packed up section 2 of my calendar, to make way for section 4, I saw this little reminder about the Tomie dePaola contest. It says "Don't give up."

I had written this message to myself several weeks before. When that week finally arrived, it ended up being a very busy time for me. Had I not re-read this note, I might not have submitted anything at all.

And now, guess what? I'm a semi-finalist! In a few days, I'll be getting my next assignment, and you can bet I'll be tacking up encouraging notes to myself all over my house. (It really helps!)

You can check out my initial post about my 2014 submission here, or check out all the semi-finalists' work on the SCWBI website here.