Hello Summer

Illustration Friday - Sight

As in this would be a dadgum strange sight:

Here's some sketches from my current picture book project out for submission, 12 Months of Monsters:

Monsters in the pool, very apropos for the 90 degree temps we are having in Music City

Monsters stealing hotdogs..... did you see the hotdogs in the first picture?

Monsters dressing up on Halloween is a strange site to the jack-o-lantern

And when the year is almost done December snow tingles monster's tongue.

This project has certainly been through a lot of variations just in the last few months. For those wondering how it works these are all small thumbnails from which a larger sketch for the dummy will be made.

Do these jeans make me look blind?

It's been drowned out by the news of Yemen's underwear and Obama's marriage proposal but last week we were all on our seats hearing news of the daring escape of Chen Guangcheng, the blind lawyer who escaped the barbed wire prison wrapped around his house by the Chinese government and landed on the doorstep of the American Embassy. After the Chinese lied through their teeth about how they would investigate his plight, America sent him to the hospital. From that point the government beat his wife and threatened to kill her, and Chen's seven year old daughter, if they didn't hush up. To this point their fate is unknown. All of this happened with Secretary of State Clinton and Treasury Secretary Geithner mere miles away.

Lovely people we're doin' business with.

So I drew this cartoon in protest. If a blind guy can jump over a wall, risk his life, and try to stop his hateful government from treating people like trash, why can't we stop buying the cheap crap that funds their habit? Think about it when you see Made in China in the mirror:

Yay! my first sale on Etsy!

Last night I sold this piece:

A few years ago, Jim Dear and I traveled to Yachats, Oregon and stayed in the Heceta Head Lighthouse. What a cool trip. The lighthouse is one of the most photographed in the US and sits on a dark green, rocky outcropping hundreds of feet above the crashing 15 foot waves of the Pacific Ocean. I was inspired to paint this piece after that trip.

I also listed some new pieces on Etsy, starting with my Enchanted Series. Check out my shop to the right to see the first two Enchanted Ocean and Enchanted Forest.