Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Sketchbook Tuesday

Just some straightforward sketches tonight so I can cross off "post in blog" on my to-do list.

First some poses from my illustrator's group. This is Anna who we drew a while ago, I posted about it here. She is always a beautiful subject:

Then some more thoughts on black and white illustrations:


What's this crazy bug all about?
And another take at Sophie's Fish first spread:
And because I don't think i've posted the first sketch from this piece here's the first two attempts:

I keep playing with the angle of Sophie and Jake on the left page, trying to get a bit more drama out of the connection between the two.... any thoughts dear readers?

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The Opening

The weather was beautiful, the beer was local, and the crowds were furry. Asheville is really such a fabulously liberal town.... I've never seen so many dogs accompany their owners out on the town. This past weekend Jim Dear, Fry, Sprout, Grandmama and I made our way across the Smokies to visit the opening of ZaPow. After driving all day, delivering a couple more pieces to the gallery, and finding the cabin we were renting for the weekend, Jim Dear and I speed showered and were still an hour late getting back for the opening. We needn't have sweated - folks in Asheville like to party late. A large crowd filled the gallery, people and pets listened to tunes of a local punk-a-billy band, drank some microbrews and even bought a few of my prints. Well, the people did most of the drinking and the buying. I talked to several local folks and other artists, including Daryl Slaton, whose work was hanging near mine. His work was lovely, with lots of color and details. Several of the attendees commented on how our work complemented each other. Hopefully ZaPow will be a success for both of us.

Besides ZaPow we also visited Carl Sandburg's house in nearby Flat Rock, NC. Besides using this leafy mountain retreat to write, the Sandburgs' also raised prize goats .....which, happily, are still there.


A Return to Sketchiness....
Life, and the dwindling pages of a sketchbook, has - as usual - interrupted my daily sketchings but i do have this to share. After completing my portfolio facelift in color, i've decided to do a few black and white pieces. These will be done for an older audience, think tween chapter books. I'm really looking forward to not worrying about color and just focusing on tone which is what I think brings out the drama in a piece anyway. Here's a scaly character and his feathered friend... or is it his lunch?

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Zapow Gallery

My work is now represented by Zapow Gallery in Asheville, NC. Zapow specializes in comic, illustrative and pop art images. I'm hanging framed and unframed prints of my work. Check it out! It's not on their on-line gallery yet but here's the image they sent after hanging my pieces in the real world gallery.  I'll be headed out to Asheville in a couple of weeks for the opening.